The University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced a $10 million gift from alumnus Jerome (’60) and Linda Paros to the College of Engineering in support of atmospheric research and hazardous weather warning systems.

The gift will support the translation of ongoing and future research aimed at improving hazardous weather predictions, alert systems, and policies. It will provide discretionary support for the new Paros Center for Atmospheric Research and funding for the Paros Fellows/Scholars Endowed Fund for graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships, and establish the Paros Chair of Atmospheric Research and Hazard Mitigation. Funding will also enable researchers to expand the original mission of the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere to explore frontiers in atmospheric measurement, science, and technology.

Jerome Paros is the founder, president, and chair of Paroscientific Inc., Quartz Seismic Sensors Inc., and related companies. The couple previously endowed a fund in measurement science at UMass Amherst.

“This transformative gift is a recognition of the tremendous talent and expertise we have at UMass Amherst,” said Sanjay Raman, dean of the College of Engineering. “Jerry and Linda Paros are enabling us to build on our established track record of accomplishment in ways that will have a profound impact on our nation and the global community. This gift will greatly enhance our capability to translate research in areas such as radar systems, the internet of things, data science and artificial intelligence, and unoccupied aerial vehicles into real-world hazard-mitigation systems.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/studio023)