• Kayla Addai | Biological Sciences 
  Identification And Characterization Of A Bacteriophage That Infects The Species Streptomyces Mirabilis 
  Mentor: Steven Caruso
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Gabriela Salas | Gender and Women’s Studies 
  The Use And Accessibility Of Contraception For College Aged Female Students At UMBC 
  Mentor(s): Amy Bhatt
  UC 312 | 10 – 10:15 a.m.

• Shadia Musa | American Studies 
  Combating Academic Inequity: A Community Based Approach To Cultivating A Love For STEM Within Students Of Color 
  Mentor(s): Tamara Bhalla
  UC 310 | 2:15 – 2:30 p.m.
• Lydia Coley | American Studies 
  “A Model Negro Village”: How Environmental Racism Affects The Health Of African-Americans In Cherry Hill 
  Mentor(s): Nicole King
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Maia Parker | Education 
  Is Baltimore City Meeting The Needs Of Students: The Integration Of Latinx Students Into Baltimore City Schools 
  Mentor(s): Jennifer Mata-McMahon
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

John Martinez

Mentor: Corrie Parks, Visual Arts
Location: Fine Arts Recital Hall | Time: 2:15 – 2:30 p.m.

What You Mean To Me, a 2:15 minute animated short film, is about a hulking, daisy creature that falls in love with a small, daisy flower and his attempt to help it in in order to gain the flower’s love. This piece is a self-portrait, based on my first love. I wanted the style of the film to come off as soft and heartwarming, so I used pastel colors and round shapes to achieve that tone. Animated in Photoshop, I was able to digitally draw everything and puppet the individual parts of the creature and flower so that I could move the parts frame by frame. By composing the music myself, I could match the timing of the visuals to the music, emphasizing the visuals and adding harmony to the whole piece. The decision to not include sound effects was to add more focus on the emotion that the body language of the creature and music create. In the end, the individual pieces of the short film come together to present a relatable, bitter sweet story of love that could not be.

URCAD is April 24th!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Hello! My name is Celeste Chung and I am a second semester senior pursuing a degree in Biology with a minor in Psychology. I am on the pre-pharmacy track and actually just accepted admissions to the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy for the class of 2023! I hope to go into clinical pharmaceuticals and specialize in pediatrics. 

Tell us about how you are involved on campus.

I spent my whole sophomore year as a Learning Assistant for CHEM 351 and continued as an SI pass leader for Summer 2018, Fall 2018, and now Spring 2019! This past year, I was also the President of Phi Sigma Sigma. 

How and why did you get involved in beinga SI PASS Leader?

After being a learning assistant for a year, I realized how much I love teaching other students, especially in Organic Chemistry. Although being an asset in the classroom was rewarding and fun, I felt like I could give better assistance to students in an active learning setting. SI PASS sessions create a comfortable environment for students to work through problems, ask questions, and even teach each other. 

What is your favorite thing about being a SI PASS Leader?

The most rewarding part about being an SI PASS leader is the feedback I received from students after an exam or after the semester was over. I loved hearing that my techniques and explanations helped others understand fairly complex concepts. Last semester, I had a group of students that felt that they really benefited from my sessions and continued to attend every session of the semester!

Why should students utilize SI PASS?

Students should take advantage of SI PASS because it is an environment where students are encouraged to talk through concepts of difficulty. It isn't a learning setting where I stand up and lecture the concepts. Instead, students practice problems that challenge them to understand material conceptually and be able to replicate that material to all types of problems. It also gives students a chance to teach other students what they know and bounce ideas off of each other. 

What advice would you give students about how to prepare for a SI PASS session? 

SI PASS sessions aren't lectures, so students should come prepared with knowledge about the material taught in their lectures by the professor. SI PASS gives students an opportunity to practice problems to build off the knowledge learned in lectures. 

When and where can someone work with you through the Learning Resources Center?

For anyone taking CHEM 351 this semester, my sessions are every Tuesdays and Thursday's from 4:00-4:50 PM in Sherman 150!

Maia Parker

Is Baltimore City Meeting The Needs Of Students? The Integration Of Latinx Students Into Baltimore City Schools

Mentor: Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Education

Location: UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

With the recent influx of Latinx immigrants the demographics of Baltimore City have changed within communities and schools, which has lead to a need for schools to adjust. While some schools now have a majority Latinx population others have a small percentage, however, many of the obstacles faced by the schools in order to support the students are similar. Integration,viewed as a systemic support of students academics, culture, community, and language, plays a large role in the success of the children coming into these schools. By analyzing how Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) assist in integrating Latinx students, it is clear that by incorporating different cultures, it benefits all students. By interviewing 12 school administrators and 12 ESOL coordinators/teachers from six BCPS, a better understanding of the services provided to assist Latinx students’ integration was achieved, as well as a description of the perceived impact these services have on students’ overall success.

URCAD IS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24TH!

Alexia Petasis

Becoming Survivor: Understanding Human Trafficking Through Dance

Mentors: Steven McAlpine, Individualized Studies; Doug Hamby, Dance Department

Location: Dance Cube 337 PAHB |10:30-10:45 a.m.

This live dance performance, titled “Becoming Survivor”, explores the issue of human trafficking from a survivor’s perspective. Thanks to an Undergraduate Research Award, Alexia traveled to NYC to shadow activist choreographer Sarah Panayiotou, founder of BABEL Movement. BABEL Movement is a social justice dance company that uses dance to initiate social change. BABEL Movement partners with other social justice organizations to increase the rate at which they make an impact in addressing issues of inequality, racism, human trafficking, and more. This research included conducting interviews with dancers and audience members, participating in field studies, and observing Panayiotou’s choreographic process to gather information on the most effective ways to choreograph social issues. As a result of this research, this piece was choreographed to raise awareness about the realities of domestic sex trafficking in the United States. This dance was researched and developed with some of the methodologies and advice from Panayiotou. This piece calls attention to the various ways a victim can become trapped in the life of human trafficking and offers a deeper understanding of the manipulation into exploitation that occurs.

•  Airiel Herrera | Political Science 
  Who Are Hogan’s Democrats And Why Are They Voting For Him? 
  Mentor(s): Ian Anson
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Samiksha Manjani | Political Science 
  The Injustice Of Inequitable Sentencing Of Sex Offenders 
  Mentor(s): Jeffrey Davis
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Elborz Mazanderan | Political Science 
  Could It Happen Here?: American Attitudes Towards Authoritarianism During FDR’s Second Term 
  Mentor(s): William Blake
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

• Zane Poffenberger | Political Science 
  How Does The Rise Of Far Right Rhetoric And Proposals Affect The Attitudes Of Americans And Italians Towards Immigrants? 
  Mentor(s): Carolyn Forestiere
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Dave Tandy | Political Science 
  Postmaterialism And The 2018 Midterm Elections In Baltimore County 
  Mentor(s): Ian Anson
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

•  Katherine-Ann Carr | Physics 
  Classifying Galaxy Morphology Using Machine Learning 
  Mentor(s): Meg Urry
  Fine Arts Recital Hall | 11:45 – Noon
• David Fialkow | Physics 
  Characterizing The Mechanical Oscillatory Properties Of Nanostructures 
  Mentor(s): Matthew Pelton
  UC 204 | 3:15 – 3:45 p.m.
• Ellen Gulian | Physics 
  Asynchronous Optical Sampling For Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy 
  Mentor(s): Michael Hayden
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Blake Hipsley | Physics 
  Asynchronous Optical Sampling For Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy 
  Mentor(s): Michael Hayden
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Adurshsiva Iyer | Physics 
  Examining The High-Energy Radiative Processes Occurring In Radio-Loud AGN Jets With Fermi-LAT Observations 
  Mentor(s): Eileen Meyer
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Wambugu Kironji | Physics 
  Ceilometer Comparisons And What Their Data Says About Backscatter And PBL 
  Mentor(s): Belay Demoz
  UC 310 | 9:30 – 9:45 a.m.
• Wambugu Kironji | Physics 
  Overview Of The Remote Sensing Profiling Network Testbed 
  Mentor(s): Belay Demoz
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Max Mason | Physics 
  Correcting For Inertial Artifacts In Geolocated Polarimetric Remote Sensing Imagery 
  Mentor(s): J. Vanderlei Martins
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Rachel Morin | Physics 
  Microscopic Processes That Shape The High Energy Universe: Teaching Physics With Art 
  Mentor(s): Markos Georganopoulos
  UC 310 | 3:45 – 4 p.m.
• Emmanuel Newsome | Physics 
  Symmetric Convergence Dynamics 
  Mentor(s): Belay Demoz
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Arman Setser | Physics 
  Coupling Quantum Bits Formed By Three Electrons In A Double Quantum Dot 
  Mentor(s): Jason Kestner
  UC 310 | 4 – 4:15 p.m.
• Meredith Sperling | Physics 
  Reducing Wind Power Prediction Uncertainty With Atmospheric Characterization And Machine Learning Models 
  Mentor(s): Ruben Delgado
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Stuart Storm | Physics 
  Critical Review Of Plasmon-Exciton Coupling Classificationsin The Published LUC 204rature 
  Mentor(s): Matthew Pelton
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Lasya Tallapragada | Physics 
  Air Pollution (PM 2.5) As It Relates To Asthma 
  Mentor(s): Belay Demoz
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

• Daniel Taylor | Physics 
  Overview Of The Remote Sensing Profiling Network Testbed 
  Mentor(s): Belay Demoz
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.