UMBC continues to show its strengths in undergraduate research, innovation, value, teaching programs, and several other areas highlighted in the 2023–24 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges undergraduate rankings. This year, the university moved up in the national rankings in numerous categories, showcasing UMBC’s growth in several key areas. 

The 2023–24 U.S. News college rankings, released today, were calculated using 19 key measures of academic quality, evaluating nearly 1,500 four-year bachelor’s degree-granting institutions in the country. For the second consecutive year, UMBC has moved up several slots on the list of Best National Universities (tied at #133). UMBC also climbed 38 slots in the category of best value schools, coming in at #69 nationally. 

The university remains a leader in undergraduate teaching programs, ranking #12 nationally. UMBC also maintains its longstanding position as one of the nation’s most innovative universities, ranking #15 this year. 

Since receiving a Research 1 Carnegie designation in 2022, UMBC has advanced nearly 20 slots in the undergraduate research and creative projects rankings, now nationally ranked at #27. Those research efforts culminated in UMBC students receiving prestigious Goldwater and Gates Cambridge scholarship awards within the last year. 

“This impressive jump shows that internal and external stakeholders have really taken notice of the incredible work that our undergraduates are engaged in,” says April Householder ’95, visual and performing arts, UMBC’s director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships. “The faculty and staff at UMBC nurture a culture of research across all disciplines, supporting academic excellence from the humanities to the sciences.”

See the full UMBC News story here: https://umbc.edu/stories/us-news-best-colleges-2023-24/

Applications for the '23-'24 MLE Cohort can be found HERE. 

The Multicultural Leadership Experience (MLE) is a collaboration between Campus Life and Initiatives for Identity Inclusion & Belonging (i3B), that seeks to: 

Engage participants in a multicultural development and leadership learning program; 
Enhance participants' understanding of their social identities, leader identity, as well as their capacity to lead; 
And enable participants' development through authenticity, self-awareness, relationships, and capitalizing on difference. 

The Unwritten Rules of Graduate School Exposing the Hidden Curriculum of Succeeding in Grad School Online Join us on October 19th from 6-7pm for a unique workshop to help you gain skills to navigate graduate school and finish your program in a timely matter. Getting your degree might entail earning good grades and long hours doing research, but with the right mindset and tools it can take much less time. Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale has helped hundreds of students at UMBC to successfully complete their degrees while serving as an academic advisor, mentor, and dissertation coach at the Graduate School at UMBC. Her services include helping students navigate sticky situations, leverage productivity techniques, and overcome barriers to promptly complete their degree. This event is open to all graduate students in any year of study, but will particularly help students who are new graduate students, first-generation graduate students, international students unfamiliar with academic culture in the United States, and those students who have found themselves struggling to navigate interpersonal challenges with their advisor or within their departments. The information shared is based on research on retention efforts for underserved and underrepresented communities in graduate school. Dr. Carter-Veale has over 15 years of experience in graduate education. She has presented her dissertation writing workshops and boot camps for MIT, Duke University, Howard University, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, and the Dissertation Institute to name some.  She is the CEO of PhDCompletion.com, co-founder of the PROMISE Dissertation House, the on campus dissertation coach at UMBC, and has authored 4 books about PhD completion (Mastering the PhD Completion Process, Ph.D. Completion: If You Can Write a Master's Thesis You Can Write a Dissertation, PhD Completion: Practical Steps to Selecting a Dissertation Topic and PhD Completion: Methods Journal). To learn more about Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale please visit her webpage.  All graduate students are invited to attend this event.   If you need any accommodations or have questions, please contact Yarazeth Medina at yarazeth@umbc.edu. Accommodations can be made if requested a week before the event.

Submission Deadline Extended to this Friday, 9/22!

The UMBC Review is a peer-reviewed publication, completely directed by UMBC undergraduate students. All of the articles published in the UMBC Review go through a rigorous peer review process. The Review is indebted to the anonymous off-campus faculty reviewers who volunteer their time to assure the high quality of our publication. We are proud to produce the publication in print format.

Submissions for the 25th edition are being accepted through 9/22. We invite researchers of all disciplines to submit their work to our journal. The Review offers a rewarding opportunity to get your undergraduate research published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, improve your writing, and add to your resume!

Publish your research from a summer REU, capstone, honors thesis, or other independent work. All majors welcome! Boost your resume or grad school application by becoming a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

Free copies of the current issue are available for pick up at the Office of Undergraduate Research (AOK Library, 216 D).

https://ur.umbc.edu/umbc-review/

Contact the editors at umbcreview@umbc.edu

Meet Garrett Hill, a FOUR-TIME URA Scholar! 

Garrett attended Mount Hebron High School in Howard County, where he had the opportunity to participate in the Biotechnology Career Academy at the Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL)   program and conduct research at UMBC during his senior year at Hebron. He is a senior Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major, a Meyerhoff Scholar, and conducts research in the Marten lab.

Research Title: Characterization of the PrkA Protein Kinase in Aspergillus nidulans

Describe your project:

 My project aims to investigate the way that mold repairs its cell wall after damage and how the cell organizes structures related to this repair. New understandings gained through this research can contribute to how we use fungi to make drugs and enzymes and may even help others to design new antifungal medications.

Who is your mentor for your project? 

         I work with Dr. Mark R. Marten in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering. As a high school senior, I was a part of a program that allowed me to participate in research at neighboring institutions, and I came across Dr. Marten and his lab when searching for research I may be interested in. After meeting and talking about the work done in the lab, something that stood out to me was how Dr. Marten stressed the importance of project ownership. Being the “expert” in the lab on a project gives students a unique level of both responsibility and drive, and this is what drew me to joining his lab.

How did you become interested in this project?

         Before starting work on this project, I had assisted some graduate students with their projects, and that’s when I learned that I had an interest in both the molecular genetics and the fluorescence microscopy that we do in our lab. This project seemed to combine both interests, so I decided to choose it when looking for a project of my own.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? 

         Something that really took getting used to was the number of setbacks I faced in my project. I quickly learned that in research, it takes many tries to get something right, and failure became much more familiar to me throughout my journey as an undergraduate researcher.

What has been the most rewarding part?

         I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to engage in research at almost every stage a projects life. I started with comprehensive literature reviews, where I then formulated my own hypotheses, and under the guidance of my mentor, I designed experiments to test these hypotheses. I also got experience communicating my science in conferences and presentations, allowing me to get a great view of what research really feels like.

How will you disseminate your research?

         I plan to present my research next spring at URCAD and look forward to the prospect of attending conferences to potentially present my work.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?

           I think getting involved in research can seem a little daunting at first, so I would recommend that people just take the leap! There is a lot of exciting research being done at UMBC, so I would say to just see what’s out there and if something seems interesting, reach out to the lab to see if you can get involved. Now is the time to experiment and see what you want to do in your career, and there are many mentors here that could help you on that journey.

What are your career goals?

         After graduating UMBC, I plan to pursue a PhD in microbiology. The prospect of staying in academia and becoming a mentor for others is exciting to me, but I also look forward to exploring what other career paths I might be able to follow after graduate school.

Read more about UMBC's URA Scholars:

ur.umbc.edu