For those who have gotten to know Tessa Lyman during her time at UMass Boston, it came as no surprise when she was honored as the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Ryan Award at Fall Convocation. 

As the global pandemic closed the doors of schools, offices and public buildings worldwide, online teleconference platforms, such as Zoom, WebEx, Teams and many more have become the places where people gather to get work done. Yet, as anyone who has dragged themselves to back-to-back meetings or wrestled with the mute button knows, online conferencing software brings its own malady—so-called “Zoom burnout.”  Worse, the move to online work can exacerbate feelings of isolation.

A year after holding its Qualifying Exam Recognition Ceremony on Zoom, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School gathered in the Albert Sherman Center Auditorium on Tuesday, Sept.