Diane Casey Riccio, Dan Riccio, Michael Angelini and Bargmann to receive honorary degrees at May 31 event
Cori Bargmann, PhD, head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, and the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor at The Rockefeller University, will serve as speaker of the 47th Commencement Exercises at UMass Medical School on May 31, according to Chancellor Michael F. Collins.
Honorary degrees will be awarded to Diane M. Casey Riccio, PhD, and Dan Riccio, both highly accomplished graduates of the University of Massachusetts and committed supporters of biomedical research at UMass Medical School; Michael P. Angelini, Esq., a civic leader in Central Massachusetts who serves as chairman of the Worcester-based law firm Bowditch; and Dr. Bargmann.
As a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a former investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cori Bargmann, PhD, is an internationally known neurobiologist, geneticist and scientific thought-leader. Her research at The Rockefeller University and previously at UC San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducted primarily in C. elegans, has produced groundbreaking insights into how genes and neural pathways influence behaviors—discoveries that have implications for the understanding of systems as complex as the human brain. During President Obama’s administration, Bargmann helped establish goals and strategies for the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, which continues to investigate brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, depression, and traumatic brain injury. In addition, as head of science at CZI since 2016, Bargmann leads an ambitious initiative to help accelerate basic science research and support the science and technology that will make it possible cure to prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century. Her numerous accolades and recognitions include the 2012 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience and a 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. R&D Magazine named Bargmann its “2017 Scientist of the Year.”
Diane M. Casey Riccio, PhD, and Dan Riccio, Massachusetts natives and UMass graduates, are the most generous alumni donors in the history of the medical school, having committed millions to meaningfully advance neuroscience and ALS research initiatives at UMMS. In 2018, the Dan and Diane Riccio Fund for Neuroscience was established to support investigation, collaboration and innovation in the neurosciences throughout UMMS and beyond; and to begin a seed grant program at UMMS that recently distributed four awards to faculty. Diane Riccio earned her PhD from the GSBS, studying cell motility in the lab of professor George Witman, PhD. She works to raise awareness of and support for the Alzheimer’s Association and, until 2016, was executive director of the Youth Science Institute, a not-for-profit organization in California that teaches physical, earth, life and social sciences to 30,000 students annually. Dan Riccio earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at UMass Amherst and now leads at the highest echelons of the global innovation industry, as senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, Inc.
Michael P. Angelini, Esq., is a pillar of the City of Worcester and Central Massachusetts, who, for more than 50 years, has been an integral contributor to one of Worcester’s most high-profile and preeminent law firms, Bowditch. A celebrated trial attorney and business advisor, Angelini was appointed the firm’s first chairman in 1997 and has argued cases in federal and state courts that have shaped the field of business law. He has further advanced the legal profession by founding the Worcester County Bar Foundation, serving as a former member of the Judicial Nominating Committee of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a special prosecutor for the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct, and the Criminal Justice Act Board for the Federal District of Massachusetts. He twice received the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Community Service Award. Angelini is widely regarded for dedicating substantial time and talent to service on numerous civic and corporate boards, including as board chair for the Massachusetts Port Authority, Hanover Insurance Group, Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, and United Way of Central Massachusetts; and as a member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Commerce Bank and Trust, former University of Massachusetts Medical Center Foundation, and Worcester Chamber of Commerce boards. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Duke University School of Law.
Commencement 2020 will take place on Sunday, May 31, on the campus green, with more than 225 students from the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Nursing and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences expected to receive degrees. Guest seating will begin at 11 a.m. with the processional starting at 11:45 a.m., and the ceremony, which will be available to view live at www.Facebook.com/UMassMed, will start promptly at noon.