2026 News 2026: Inside UMassD February 5, 2026

Campus Community Accomplishments

Associate Dean and Professor Shaun Spencer (Law) published opinion pieces in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and CommonWealth Beacon concerning the proposed Massachusetts Data Privacy Act. Dean Spencer backed strong consumer privacy protections, including data-use limits, breach safeguards, sensitive-data rules, and bans on ads to children, while urging broader small-business exemptions aligned with other states' laws.

Professor Lance Fiondella (Electrical & Computer Engineering) was featured on the Cybersecurity Guide podcast, discussing in depth the educational opportunities available to students.

Professor Brian Glyn Williams (History) was interviewed about the raid on Venezuela and the larger global oil geopolitics at play. 

Assistant Teaching Professor Basil H. Aboul-Enein (Health & Society) recently co-published "The Use of Puppetry-Based Approaches in Dental and Oral Health Promotion for Children: A Scoping Review of Interventions" in the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry. The article explores the use of puppets and puppetry-based approaches to promote dental and oral health among children, as well as the applications of puppetry in dental hygiene. 

Assistant Professor Kristopher Jackson (Nursing) co-published "Nursing Approaches to Safety for Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender-Expansive Patients: A Roy Adaptation Model Application" in Advances in Nursing Science. The article applies Roy's Adaptation Model to the concept of safety for transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive patients, demonstrating how nursing theory can guide affirming, equitable, and adaptive care to a vulnerable population. 

UMass Dartmouth's online programs are among the nation's best in seven categories, according to the 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings. The university's online bachelor's programs placed 117th overall among 348 qualifying institutions nationwide. In a separate ranking highlighting services for student veterans, the programs ranked 73rd in the country, reflecting UMass Dartmouth's continued focus on affordability and support for student veterans.

Commonwealth Professor Liudong Xing (Electrical and Computer Engineering) was recently named to the 2025 Stars in Computer Networking and Communications list by N2Women, a global organization of women in networking and communications. Xing is one of only 10 scholars worldwide to receive this honor.

Professor Robert Fisher (Physics) and Vrutant Mehta (Engineering & Applied Science Doctoral Candidate) won the 2026 APS Division of Computational Physics (DCOMP) image competition. Mehta's stunning winning image depicts the complex turbulence, shock, and detonation structures in the first seconds of a nascent white dwarf supernova. Vrutant obtained this result using supercomputer simulations of the 3D white dwarf system.

Associate Professor Monika Schuler (Nursing) earned the Certified Addiction Registered Nurse–Advanced Practice (CARN-AP) credential, a national advanced practice specialty certification recognizing expertise in evidence-based care for substance use disorders and complex co-occurring behavioral health conditions.

Kamran Walsh (SMAST Doctoral Candidate) was selected as one of four recipients nationwide of a 2025 NOAA Fisheries-Sea Grant Fellowship in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics for theproject "State-Space Growth Modeling and Socioeconomic Covariates for Characterizing Recreational Fisheries Discards".

Kate Hancock (MBA '08, JD '27) has earned second place in the Stein Memorial Writing Competition, sponsored by the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.