Labs and facilities

The center is not a building. It is a set of laboratories and instruments across four UMass Lowell colleges, run by the faculty listed on each one, and open to collaborators on the terms described below.

Advanced Communication Networks Laboratory (ACNL)

Vinod M. VokkaraneElectrical and Computer Engineering

The director's group, working on optical and 6G transport, smart grid cybersecurity, and the AI that runs both. Doctoral students here build and test on real instruments and real data rather than on paper alone.

What it offers collaborators

Multi-band and space-division multiplexed optical network simulation
Grid intrusion detection and federated anomaly detection
Reproducible benchmarking through the open-source FUSION framework
The NATIG cyber-physical co-simulation testbed (HELICS, GridLAB-D, ns-3)

Students in the group FUSION on GitHub

SUMMIT federated smart grid testbed

Vinod M. Vokkarane, with Arias, Tseng, Lin, and SrivastavaNSF Major Research Instrumentation, Track 2

A three-site instrument linking real-time power system simulation with control, networking, and cybersecurity hardware in the loop across UMass Lowell, NYU Tandon, and West Virginia University, delivered to collaborators as hardware-in-the-loop Simulation-as-a-Service.

What it offers collaborators

RTDS real-time digital simulation of the Northeast transmission grid
Network emulation for latency, loss, and attack scenarios
Optical, RF, and FPGA equipment for transport and edge layers
Wide-area software-defined networking between the three sites

SUMMIT project page

Integrated Nuclear Security and Safeguards Laboratory (INSSL)

Sukesh AgharaChemical (Nuclear) Engineering

Research, education, and training tools for global nuclear security and safeguards, alongside the UMass Lowell research reactor.

What it offers collaborators

Safeguards measurement and detector response modeling
Security of nuclear facilities and robotic platforms for hazardous environments
Training through the IAEA-funded Intercontinental Nuclear Institute

INSSL

Printed Electronics Research Collaborative (PERC) and the Raytheon UMass Lowell Research Institute (RURI)

Alkim Akyurtlu, with Oshadha RanasinghaElectrical and Computer Engineering

Additive manufacturing and printed electronics for RF and microwave devices, wearables, and functional printable inks, with RURI as the industry-facing research institute.

What it offers collaborators

Aerosol-jet and inkjet printing of functional materials
RF and microwave device characterization
Fully printed micro-supercapacitors and energy harvesting devices
Hardware authentication for printed and flexible devices

PERC RURI

Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology (LoCSST)

Supriya ChakrabartiPhysics and Applied Physics

Space experiments and instrumentation, from hyperspectral imaging across the ultraviolet to the near infrared through lidar and exoplanet observation.

What it offers collaborators

Optical instrument design, build, and calibration
Balloon and sounding-rocket payload development
Hyperspectral imaging and lidar systems

LoCSST

UMass Center for Digital Health

Yu CaoMiner School of Computer and Information Sciences

A multi-campus partnership across Lowell, Worcester, and Boston working on digital health innovation, from medical imaging to platforms that move clinical data safely.

What it offers collaborators

Medical imaging and multimodal deep learning
Validation and evaluation of digital health tools
Clinical data platforms and academic-industry partnership

Center for Digital Health

Center for Energy Innovation and the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy

Christopher Niezrecki, with Murat InalpolatMechanical and Industrial Engineering

Renewable energy systems and structural health monitoring: wind turbine dynamics, inspection of blades and bridges, and the sensing that keeps large structures safe.

What it offers collaborators

Structural dynamics, vibration, and acoustic testing
Wind turbine blade inspection, including drone-based methods
Structural health monitoring for bridges and buildings

Center for Energy Innovation Rist Institute

Researchers outside UMass Lowell who want time on an instrument, and companies looking for a testbed or a co-op pipeline, should write to SCyPS@uml.edu or to the faculty member who runs the facility.