When the dust settled on Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 Americans were dead, including seven members of the UMass Lowell family, who in their deaths left behind six spouses, 10 children, nine parents and 13 siblings. Yesterday they were remembered as the university's circular stone Sept. 11 memorial, "Unity," along the Riverwalk on the East Campus, was rededicated.

The 1,463 freshmen of the Class of 2015 listened as Chancellor Marty Meehan, Dean of Students Larry Siegel, Lowell Mayor James Milinazzo and Vernon Wall, director of educational programs and publications for the American College Personnel Association for College Student Educators International, provided words of welcome, encouragement and advice as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.

Fifteen years after UMass Lowell began offering online classes, students enrolled in a record-breaking 18,558 online courses in the 2010-11 academic year, the university reported last week.

4D Home is an "ultra-efficient house" to be showcased in Washington in October as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011. Team Massachusetts, that designed the house, includes about a dozen University of Massachusetts Lowell students, mostly studying solar-energy engineering.

One final tweak to its 2010 national championship season was necessary before the UMass Lowell field hockey team totally embraced its No. 1 national ranking heading into this season.

This fall, UMass Lowell will begin offering a professional master’s degree in polymer science that will allow students to complete the advanced degree without writing a thesis.

Ready to get hands-on in the danger zone -- from afar? That's precisely what an enterprising team of University of Massachusetts Lowell researchers are working to achieve with a little Redmond-supplied assistance.

The search for relics of the lives of Massachusetts’ original Irish immigrants has taken teams from UMass Lowell and Queens University-Belfast to the front lawn of St. Patrick’s Parish in Lowell.

Computer science teacher Michael Penta has trouble pulling his students away from their computers for an outdoor break during his weeklong game programming summer workshop at UMass Lowell Design Camp.

Littleton's Kristina Oakland, an incoming senior in UMass Lowell's Environmental Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, started her internship at NECN on June 1, the day deadly tornadoes struck western Massachusetts. Haverhill's Heather Jaffe, a 2011 graduate, has been interning since January. They work closely with NECN weather host Danielle Niles, herself a 2008 graduate of the UMass Lowell Meteorology program.

UMass Lowell program puts middle schoolers on the river to learn the sport of crew.

For the first time in its history, the Tsongas Center was named in the top 20 in the world for venues with a capacity between 5,001 and 10,000 by Venues Today Magazine. The facility entered Venues Today's mid-year rankings at No. 20.

Todd Fry, the executive director of the Merrimack Valley Sandbox, talks about the initiative's first few months have gone and to explain further what exactly an ideas sandbox is.

Robert Caret, the new University of Massachusetts president, wants to increase investment in the state's university system -- both emotional and monetary -- of taxpayers, elected officials and alumni.

To increase scholarly and popular understanding about Thoreau’s influence on history, the Thoreau Society has partnered with the Walden Woods project and the University of Massachusetts Lowell on a new online collaboration called “Mapping Thoreau Country.’’

A Quincy boy who stopped breathing while at his swim class today was revived by lifeguards [including UMass Lowell junior Joseph Benoit] who pulled him from the water and performed CPR, city officials said.

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian is teaming up with UMass Lowell professor James Byrne to create a research partnership designed to provide Koutoujian information he can use to shape policy and decide where to allocate funding.

The New York Mets announced the signing of UMass Lowell junior Jack Leathersich (Beverly).

It wouldn't be summertime without family activities in Greater Lowell, and officials at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell apparently agree. The venue plans a free concert series for all ages on Thursday evenings, beginning June 30. The so-called "Backyard Music Series," will be held fro 6-8 p.m. on the back lawn of the center along the Merrimack River.