Tom Beck, Chief Curator, in the Baltimore Sun and Republican American

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Tom Beck, Chief Curator, Library & Gallery, was recently quoted in The Baltimore Sun about the Library Gallery’s N. Jay Jaffee exhibit. The exhibit highlights a talented artist who has not received much recognition. “Jaffee never worked as a professional photographer,” says Tom Beck, chief curator at UMBC. “His career was in printing. So it was always a matter of balance between his business and personal obligations, his family. And he never worked very hard at getting exhibitions.”

Read the entire article here.

Beck was also quoted about Lewis Hine in the Waterbury, Connecticut Sunday Republican-American. The Library Special Collections holds 5,000 Lewis Hine child labor photographs.

Congratulations to three LLC doctoral students -- Erin Berry, Emerald Christopher, and Latasha Eley, who presented to an overflow crowd at UMBC's Women's Center on "Policing Bodies & Beings: The Politics of Black Womanhood" on Thursday, February 20th. Thank you for your presentation!

Interested in getting a graduate degree at UMBC? Learn about the UMBC Master's Degree in Public Policy (MPP) at an information session on Monday, March 10 at 7:00 pm in Room 438 of the Public Policy Building. Enjoy a light dinner and talk with faculty and current students about the field of public policy, career opportunities, and how to apply to our MPP and combined BA/MPP program. Those interested in the PhD degree are also welcome to attend.

This event is open to prospective students on and off campus. To register, e-mail your name, year and major to Sally Helms (helms@umbc.edu).

Most scientist accept the RNA world hypothesis, which states that RNA was the first biological molecule due to its ability to copy itself and pass along genetic traits. However, Nicholas Hud, a chemist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wasn’t convinced.

A recent article in WIRED, courtesy of Quanta Magazine, discusses Hud’s experiment with the building blocks of RNA. The experiment made a breakthrough with the discovery of a chemical recipe that points to the existence of a molecule that might pre-date RNA.

Quanta interviewed Stephen Freeland, director of UMBC’s interdiscipinary studies program, for the article. “In my opinion, nothing like this has been seen before,” Dr. Freeland said, before going on to say that the experiment leads to conceptual progress, even if it did not use the exact components of the unknown molecule.