CADVC will host a public talk featuring Shannon Collis and Liz Donadio of Baltimore-region artist collective, Collis Donadio, on March 4 at 6 pm. Their work, “Conflux: Variation” will be on view nightly from sundown until 2 am between February 14 and June 30, 2025 at the Fine Arts Building at UMBC.

“Conflux: Variation” (2025) is a public video art projection that explores the intersections of industry and the environment in Baltimore, where water meets land.

Between 2023 and 2024, collaborating artists Shannon Collis and Liz Donadio recorded video and audio documentation in sites where industry has reshaped local habitats, such as the Curtis Bay Water Tower and Baltimore City’s marine terminals. The artists think of this documentary research and resulting installation as a “speculative exploration of the future, using moving images to convey transformation and transition.”

Learn more at cadvc.umbc.edu/collis-donadio.

Images: Some images may only visible in the MyUMBC Groups application. 

From top: Collis Donadio, Conflux Video still, 2025 Courtesy of the artists (A barren landscape with dark piles of rocks and soil under a blue sky with scattered clouds) Shannon Collis & Liz Donadio, Courtesy of the artists (Shannon Collis & Liz Donadio face forward. Collis, on the left, wears a black shirt and has long brown to blond hair. On the right, Donadio wears beige and has short dark hair. Both have light skin tones and stand in front of blooming foliage.)

Check Out Evan McRae's Experience from the GameSound Conference 2024: 

What happens a Gaming Sound Conference:
Sessions featured game audio professionals covering a range of beginner to advanced topics in game soundtrack design (unique compositional challenges for non-linear media, implementation details, dynamic mixing tools and techniques, impacts on gameplay experience, etc), including examples and demonstrations of the techniques in practice and how they are achieved.

What did you learn at the conference?

My particular focus was on Audiokinetic Wwise, a leading middleware solution in the game industry for integrating dynamic soundtracks into game engines, for which I watched the majority of my session replays. These conference resources have gone hand in hand with Audiokinetic’s online Wwise certification course series, which I have also individually pursued over the winter session. In addition, I have bookmarked sessions on other popular audio frameworks, such as Unreal Engine’s MetaSounds and FMod, which I intend to review on my own separate from my primary goals in Wwise.

My access to Game Sound Conference recordings has helped me achieve my learning objectives to become a more versatile and technically proficient soundtrack designer for video games.

How do you plan to use what you learned?
I intend to apply these skills towards my INDS Capstone Project, which will involve composing, producing, and implementing a dynamic soundtrack for a video game I have also helped develop in the UMBC Game Developers Club. In the future, I hope to attend Game Sound Conference events in person in order to take full advantage of the networking opportunities with industry professionals, but this was perfect timing for my current needs.

Thanks to INDS:
I am very grateful to the INDS department for funding my remote attendance of the 2024 Game Sound Conference. Though I did not have time to attend sessions live due to the conference dates overlapping with my busy Fall semester, I was fortunately able to watch through replays of several presentations during the winter session in order to gain an equivalent experience.

Thank Evan for you experience!

Public Policy Professors Nancy Miller, Zoë McLaren, Mir Usman Ali, and student Zach Starr published a new working paper with the Retirement and Disability Research Center at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

The paper "Assessing the Prevalence of COVID-19 and Post-COVID Condition in Adults with Disabilities in the United States: A Systematic Review" explores how COVID-19 impacts the health of people with disabilities compared to the general US population, through a systematic literature review.

Read more here.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK EXPERIENCE IN GREECE, SUMMER 2025

Preliminary Meeting for Sharing Information & Discussing Academic Opportunities

Wednesday, February 19th, 2025, 12.00–12.50 p.m. (the “free period”)

Performing Arts & Humanities Building,

Room 441 (the Ancient Studies Seminar Room)

All UMBC students are invited. Any major is eligible.

Contact Dr. Michael Lane (mflane@umbc.edu) for more information.

See also https://kocecola.umbc.edu & http://tinyurl.com/2phmfmwk

In the 1960s, Black writers in Baltimore utilized Chicory, a poetry magazine published by the Enoch Pratt Free Library from 1966-1983, as an artistic form for activism. Its five editors published the work by everyone from children to seniors, from social workers to people in prison about everything from bad housing and schools to celebrations of Black joy.  Visit this enlightening exhibition that explores this radical publication.