• Reservable Study Rooms: These 15 rooms can be reserved up to five days in advance. Reservations are limited to 3 hours per person or group each day. Book yours today!
  
• Open Study Rooms: These 12 rooms are left open for students to use on a first-come, first-served basis. Each room has four seats.  They are located on the Quiet Floors: rooms 553-558 and 653-658.

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Please take a few moments to fill out the following survey about Critical Social Justice: Rise. 

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
IN MATHEMATICS, THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

Students interested in a research career in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering are invited to apply to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program. Established by Congress in 1986, Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation operates an educational scholarship program designed to provide opportunities for outstanding U.S. students with excellent academic records and demonstrated interest in, and potential for, research careers in STEM fields.

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit to students who are sophomores or juniors during the current academic year and who have excellent academic records and demonstrated interest in and potential for research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. The scholarship covers undergraduate eligible expenses for tuition, fees, books, and room and board to a maximum of $7,500 per academic year.

ELIGIBILITY

To be considered for nomination, a student must:

• Have one or two years of undergraduate
• study left and be pursuing a bachelor’s degree on a full-time basis. (A current sophomore student in a two-year college who plans to transfer to a baccalaureate program may be nominated.)
• Have an average of at least B or the equivalent.
• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
• Have a demonstrated interest in a research career in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
• Be nominated by his or her college or university on the official online nomination application provided by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Scholarship recipients nominated as sophomores can expect to receive a maximum of two years of scholarship support.

Scholarship recipients nominated as juniors are eligible for a maximum of one year of scholarship support.

HOW TO APPLY

Colleges and universities nominate students for Goldwater Scholarships. Information may be obtained from the designated Goldwater Scholarship Campus Representative* (Dr. April Householder) at your institution.

SELECTION

A distinguished committee of educators; deans; and mathematics, natural science, and engineering faculty members will review the nominee’s credentials and recommend a pool of qualified individuals to the Board of Trustees of the Goldwater Foundation. The Trustees will make the final approval.

Interested students should contact Dr. April Householder, Director of Undergraduate Research and Nationally Competitive Scholarships.

Attend the Goldwater application workshop on: Wednesday, 11/22 at 12:00pm in 003 Sherman Hall (Meyerhoff Conference Room).

A reflection by student staff member, Sydney, about her experiences with body image, working out, and how these things connect with her feminism and self love.

Trigger Warning: This blog deals with body image, body dysmorphia, and unhealthy eating practices. Please use self-care.

We live in a day where thick (curvy, slim-thick) is in but what this really means is women with thick thighs/large butts/ big boobs and a TINY waist. One thing thick still doesn’t seem to mean is fat. The media, men, and other women are still always critical of unwanted fat/cellulite/stretch marks and ways to get rid of them… especially in a time where “Fitspo”  has become popular. Let me start off by saying I’m a feminist who believes in radical self love… I’m also a feminist who has a love-hate relationship with working out. I grew up being a year round competitive athlete, basketball, cross country, track, soccer (you name it!), so any time outside of school was spent in gyms or outside practicing skills. I never thought about my body much as an athlete- let me rephrase that… I never thought about the good my body was doing when I was an athlete. I knew I was strong but I thought it was because I was large. “I’m bigger than my friends therefore I have to be stronger than my friends”. Was I actually bigger than my friends though? The photos say no. It never occurred to me that my perception of my body was completely warped. I saw myself as overweight, much bigger than my friends, and was constantly aware of what I was wearing and how people perceived me. And as a young girl who was in Catholic School (Catholic guilt is the real deal), didn’t know much about feminism , and had a mother with body image issues, I was stuck in the perfect storm. My body was always at the front of my mind. I binge ate, starved at some points (why did I throw away so many lunches when I LOVE food?), and was just overall unaware of how toxic my mentality was.

When I graduated high school, I stopped playing sports and focused on school. I turned to feminism and activism to help me understand myself and the world, and I still worked out pretty regularly… I also gained 40 pounds. But guess what else happened? I learned to love my body. Now don’t get me wrong, I still look at my stretchmarks or fat rolls and sometimes feel like a “lazy loser” but I also know that my body does amazing things just to keep me alive, that I am strong, and that all bodies are good bodies. Here’s an important disclaimer though- I’m overweight, my doctors bring it up, my friends notice it, my parents comment on it, and guys tend to tell me “I love bigger women” but overall I’m still seen as “normal” by society. I can still find clothes in most stores, my fat is distributed pretty equally over my body, and I can still move throughout space with ease. I realize that due to this I experience both thin privilege and fat shame at different times. I have come to understand that my experience is a privilege because I CAN find a break from the constant judging in certain spaces.

Like I said, I still like to workout. I like the discipline of it that I learned through sports, and I think I always will. There are major benefits to working out. I like to go into the gym and lift weights or kickbox or do something that makes my muscles scream afterwards. For me, this is a form of radical self love, but it isn’t for everyone, and moreso this love can turn to hate really easily. I workout to feel strong, not skinny, but those two are easy to conflate and I often find myself walking the fine line, and falling on the toxic side if I’m not careful. What is supposed to be about strength and love can turn into weight and fat in the blink of an eye, and it is a constant game of checks and balances (going to the gym…but not twice a day… appreciating my body…but not weighing myself) to make sure I don’t go there. So just as much as I workout to get in a good mental space, I also often have to stop working out to remain in that good space. Even when doing this, I constantly struggle with the guilt over not working out or the guilt of working out for the wrong reasons. Let me just say this- deciding to love your body does not mean your body issues disappear.

I found Bikram Yoga to be a very healthy way to workout and feel strong- I was feeling confident and in touch with my body while not worrying about weight. The problem- Bikram Yoga as well as fitness classes are EXPENSIVE (I’m talking over $100 a month here), which leads me to my next point. Fitness is a feminist issue AND an intersectional one. Some women don’t want to workout to feel self love. Some do and can’t afford it, and some aren’t represented in the fitness world at all. Sidenote, if you hate running, don’t do it! Hate the gym? Don’t go! What works for some and what some see as self love isn’t for all and it would be pretty antifeminist to try and insist it does.

We know poor women are more likely to be overweight and that curvy figures are more accepted by women of color, but what does this mean for women who want to workout or engage in health related activities but don’t have the funds or don’t see themselves represented? If you search “fit woman” on the internet what do you get? White women. White women with muscles. White women with no body fat. Now that, in itself, is an issue, but add in that these women are all able bodied (Inspiration Porn is real too yall, don’t even get me started), they are feminine, and they have all the trendy gear and equipment they need.

Let’s be real here, I haven’t worked out in months. I’m a grad student taking a full course load and working two jobs- when that’s done, I just want to go to bed. I still miss it… specifically lifting… but right now self care means something different. I also still feel guilty about it- especially when my clothes don’t fit or I’m “feeling fat”, but I’ve also been better about putting things in perspective and keeping a healthy mindset. I don’t have all the answers here. Fitness and feminism is a hard issue and not everyone has a healthy relationship with working out, (like I said, sometimes I don’t either) but I needed a space to discuss the fact that this is a conflicting issue with me, that I struggle, and that I’m trying my best. I think other women could use this space as well. So here’s to figuring it out together,

“All bodies are good bodies. You do not need to lose weight to have a good body. All bodies are real bodies. You are perfect at whatever size you like best. I preach this loud and proud to my friends, to my niece, to my mother, to my girlfriend. Honestly, I truly believe it. I also believe in giving a big middle finger to society’s standards of beauty, and I think it’s completely true that anyone can be healthy at whatever size they are.” – Sarah Hansen

Note: I purposefully left my weight out of this blog. I went back and forth on this decision but ultimately decided it would not do any good or help my point by just adding numbers in.

Links for further reading:

The complicated relationship between feminism and fitness
How to work exercise out of self love not fat shaming

Intersectionality of fitness

About how you don’t always have to love your body

Some other blog posts about bodies:

Making my body a brave space

How my feminism intersects body consciousness with health benefits

Naomi Mburu ’18, chemical engineering, is the first student in UMBC history to receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Established in 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship award in the world. Each year, 32 young students from the United States are selected as Rhodes Scholars, through a process representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead. Past Rhodes Scholars include Bill Clinton, Rachel Maddow, Cory Booker, George Stephanopoulos, and Susan Rice. UMBC now stands shoulder to shoulder with the best and the brightest. 
 
“As a Rhodes Scholar, I will be completing a Ph.D. in engineering science and likely conducting my research under Dr. Peter Ireland at Oxford University to work on heat transfer applications for nuclear fusion reactors,” says Mburu. “I believe the Rhodes Scholarship will allow me to foster a strong community amongst my fellow scholars.”

Mburu is currently working with Gymama Slaughter, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, to to develop a bioreactor to extend the viability of human organs awaiting transplant. The sensors will track glucose levels, lactic acid, and nitric oxide to ensure that the organ remains healthy as it is transported to the recipient. “As a mentor, I’m fortunate to work with the best and brightest students at UMBC, including Naomi, who have a strong desire to change the world. Naomi’s aspiration is to become an advocate for scientific advancement in renewable energy sources and education equality. The Rhodes scholarship is a well-deserved recognition of the positive impact she will have in the field of nuclear engineering and on the human condition across the world," says Slaughter. 

Naomi has co-authored two publications with her mentor, and also presented her research at multiple conferences and at URCAD. Naomi's other undergraduate research experiences include internships at world-class research institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt University, Intel, and at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. One of only ten Americans selected for the CERN experience from three hundred applicants- and the only African American female in her cohort- Naomi combines great tenacity and drive with a strong sense of self and a deep understanding of others. While she was studying abroad in Geneva, Naomi came to appreciate the benefits of doing research as part of a team of international scientists with diverse viewpoints and ideas. The Rhodes Scholarship will provide Naomi with superb opportunities to develop her talents and deepen her connections to people from around the world who are all working to solve global problems related to nuclear energy. 

Mburu’s success shows that UMBC’s commitment to research and unique undergraduate academic opportunities is working, explains April Householder, Director of Undergraduate Research and Nationally Competitive Scholarships. "Naomi took advantage of everything UMBC had to offer during her time here as an undergraduate student- engaging with dedicated faculty mentors, being involved in academic support programs like the Honors College and the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, dedicating herself to undergraduate research, giving back to the community as a Sherman STEM classroom coach, receiving a Goldwater Scholarship, serving as a student leader in NSBE, and studying abroad. It takes a well-integrated team of dedicated support staff to prepare a candidate for this process. I was impressed by  how Naomi listened humbly to every piece of advice that she was given by our team in Undergraduate Academic Affairs throughout the rigorous application process.” She adds, “I am delighted that Naomi is the first Rhodes Scholar in the history of our institution.With Naomi's success, we can say with confidence that UMBC has finally arrived as a national leader in innovation, teaching, and student success. This is a monumental accomplishment and we couldn’t be more proud."

Naomi adds, “Being the first Rhodes Scholar from UMBC is a tremendous honor! I am excited for the recognition that this is bringing UMBC, and I am elated that UMBC's first Rhodes Scholar went to an African American female in STEM! That really shows the power of the minority STEM recruitment and support at UMBC.”

The office of nationally competitive scholarships helps support high-acheiving students to study within the U.S and abroad, by providing funding for graduate school and research opportunities. These scholarships are recognized as some of the most prestigious in the world, and their purpose is to develop outstanding students into leaders whose research and careers will have far-reaching impacts on the world. UMBC provides direct support to students seeking to apply for nationally competitive scholarships. If you are interested in applying for one of these opportunities, contact Dr. April Householder at aprilh@umbc.edu. Before beginning this process, please review the eligibility guidelines for the scholarship(s) you are interested in.