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CACT is a collective of students, faculty and alumni striving to engage and support a diverse group of researchers and educators in engineering and science

CACT was created in 1990 by Professors Charles Thompson and Venkatarama Krishnan from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a vision to support students and faculty in interdisciplinary research, education and service. Our research focus is on computational modeling of acoustic, communications and stochastic systems. In the last three decades, over two hundred students from CACT have graduated with degrees in Electrical, Computer Engineering and Computer Science gaining experience in undergraduate and graduate research. The Center promotes the engagement of students in community service and supports their development as mentors and role models.

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Recent CACT News

CACT Faculty and Students Present Papers and Moderate Sessions at the 2026 American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference, Charlotte, NC June 21-24, 2026

Prof. Caitlin Morris, Assistant Teaching Professor in Chemical Engineering presented her work on Beyond the Algorithm: Comparing Human and AI Systems Analysis of Outcomes of an Engineering Summer Bridge Program in the Session: Evolution of Engineering Leadership Education: Assessment, Industry Alignment, and AI (Engineering Leadership Development Division (LEAD), Co-Authors: Kavitha Chandra, Susan Tripathy, Orlando Arias, and Elizabeth Often. This paper applied data from the 2026 RAMP program to three different AI systems and compared AI analysis to expert analysis by Dr. Tripathy on mentorship and leadership outcomes. The presentation can be accessed here: BeyondTheAlgorithm_ASEE2026_LEAD_FINAL This paper won the best paper award for LEAD division.

Prof. Chandra moderated the Women in Engineering Division (WIED) poster and technical paper sessions.

Flore Norceide presented her paper on Translating Industry-Sponsored Neuromorphic Vision Research into Modular Learning Units for Engineering Courses in the Session on College-Industry Partnerships.

Gayathri Boopathy presented her work on Engineering and Health Science Collaborative Model for Assessing Augmented Reality and Vision-Based Hand-Tracking Systems in the Multidisciplinary Engineering Division Session

CACT students (Emi, Stecie, Gayathri) received Best Student Paper Award at IEEE SysCon 2026 on Neuromorphic Vision Sensor Driven Digital Twin

Presentation at the INCOSE Annual Systems Engineering Conference

Dr. Ola Batarseh from Dassault Systèmes led a presentation on the unified architecture framework (UAF), featuring a case study on drone-based medical delivery to remote areas, alongside Prof. Kavitha Chandra and CACT student Emi Aoki. This work highlights how systems engineering techniques and tools play an important role in addressing complexity and improving coordination across the healthcare ecosystem!

Prof. Chandra delivers a keynote presentation during the HumanTech Day 3 event at Politechnico Di Milano

The Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering at the Politechnico Di Milano held their year 3 HumanTech project event on January 29, 2026 at the Bovisa Campus in Milan, Italy. Prof. Chandra, one of two keynote speakers, presented a historical overview of the role of Lowell, Massachusetts in the industrialization of the US, the textile manufacturing industry and its connections to the Francis College of Engineering and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The talk also addressed the need for systems thinking models in engineering education and presented the potential of systems engineering frameworks to support this need. The presentation can be accessed here: HumanTech_Prez1.

CACT and Physical Therapy and Kinesiology (PTK) researchers partner to apply immersive technology for remote physical therapy and assessment

CACT graduate students are designing augmented reality applications to support physical therapy for people recovering from strokes and injuries to the hand and collaborating with graduate students and faculty in the PTK department of our College of Health Sciences. A recent UML article highlights the human studies experiments we recently conducted at a rehabilitation clinic. Click for More Information.

Prof. Thompson chairs session on Microfluidics at the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustical Society of Japan at Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 2025.

Profs. Chandra and Thompson co-chair special session on Cyber-Threats and Acoustical Systems at the 186th Meeting of the ASA, Ottawa, CN, May 2024.

Profs. Max Denis (UDC) and Charles Thompson edit special JASA Issue on Acoustofluidics

The Acoustical Society of America, published in 2021 a JASA Special Issue that seeks to address the fundamental science impacting the application of acoustically driven fluid motion. Guest Editors: James Friend (UCSD), Charles Thompson (UML), Kedar Chitale (FloDesign Sonics) and Max Denis (UDC). More on this.

Innovations in Graduate Education: Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering

CACT researchers developed novel graduate education models co-created with faculty and industry during the National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award (2021-2025). More on this project.

JASA publication presents a model for the Great Seal Bug, the 'Thing'

In this paper entitled, Analysis of a passive radio frequency excited acoustic transducer, authors Hu, Thompson, Remillard and Chandra model the physical processes that govern the operation of a passive acoustic transducer. Research models the Great Seal Bug or the ‘Thing’ which was hidden in the US embassy inside the seal of the US by the Soviet Union in 1945. See More

CACT Graduates 2026

Congratulations to CACT students
Stécie Norcéide (PhD) and Vinh Tran (MS) on completion of their dissertations and degrees. See CACT Alumni

Graduate Certificate on Digital Engineering

Designed and taught by CACT Faculty and Industry Experts, four three credit courses provide students requisite background in: (i) System thinking and digital engineering (EECE 5492); (ii) Model-Based Systems Engineering (EECE 5494); (iii) Physical systems and their interactions with embedded digital sub-systems (EECE 5496) and (iv) Methods for decision making and risk management (EECE 5498). Click for More Information.

Collaborative Research on Future of Work using Augmented Reality and Neuromorphic Vision Sensors

This research explores the role of AI-Assisted Augmented Reality systems and Neuromorphic Vision Sensors in training future workforce, improving inter-generational communications, and sharing knowledge across disciplines. The interdisciplinary team from UMASS Lowell and Univ. of the District of Columbia will apply tools from Participatory Action Research to hone research questions and design workflow processes. More on this project.