Dear UVM CEMS Community,
Happy winter!
I am happy to be reporting to you from the award-
winning STEM complex at UVM. We are open, functioning, and running in-person as well as mixed mode (in-person/remote) classes, and remote and online instruction. Research is underway, and the faculty have all broadened their portfolio of teaching approaches and techniques. In fact, the average student rating of instruction in the college increased! And – through creativity and commitment – our wonderful community of faculty, staff, and students are still progressing towards our strategic objectives!
One key strategic objective is embracing our land grant mission. The new program developed by CEMS and the UVM College of Education and Social Services to certify K-12 teachers in computer science education is a wonderful example of our commitment to help Vermont improve STEM education across the state.
Another strategic objective is to grow research and scholarship. You will see many examples below of new grants in artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic fairness, and support of the Cold Region Research Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). Our scholarship is being recognized through new books and national press.
There is much more to celebrate, but I will let you enjoy the stories and we will share more next time. Until then – my best wishes for a safe spring!
The new facility houses dozens of laboratories and clean rooms that required complex mechanical-electrical-plumbing system coordination. The dense systems include large HVAC installations, laboratory plumbing services, unique lighting and electrical distributions, automatic building control, and life safety systems. 
Congratulations to Jeff Marshall and the UVM/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL) team on being awarded $3M from the Department of Defense. The group will develop the technologies necessary to provide commanders working in cold climates advanced, state of the art decision-making tools that will enable operational superiority. This has been in the works for many years — Marshall and Richard Galbraith led the initial efforts with CRREL and Senator Patrick Leahy's office — and it is exciting to see it come to fruition! There will be great opportunities for faculty and students with this new collaboration. Stay tuned!
A multi-institutional team led by Dr. Joshua Bongard (UVM) was awarded a $500,000 NAIRI Planning Grant to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research and promote work on large-scale, long-term research projects. The team's proposal, one of only 11 out of 166 proposals awarded (6.6%), is a major preliminary step towards $20M NSF NAIRI Award in 2022. 
In episode #168 of popular podcast “
Chris Danforth and Peter Dodds and the team behind the Hedonometer have seen a lot of press in recent weeks! See the 
There are more than 200 million malaria cases every year. As climate change affects the delicate balance of human and mosquito populations in places such as Africa, that number could be affected-potentially for the worse.
Graduate student Diarmuid Gregory, who has worked with Mechanical Engineering professor Dryver Huston, won the best poster competition at the 33rd Rhode Island Transportation Forum.
A team from UVM got help from the Northeast Cybterteam to develop an 
