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URA Faculty Recommendation Form
URAs provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research, scholarship, or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor. UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work.
Applications require a research proposal and mentor statement of support.
Questions? aprilh@umbc.edu
Applications are open for the Women's Center at UMBC's internship opportunities!
Complete the Google Form and send us your resume, cover letter, and a writing sample here.
The Women's Center offers for-credit internships for the fall semester with the potential to be considered for a paid position for the following spring semester. People on our student staff team work with us in a supportive and collaborative environment, advancing gender equity at UMBC and achieving their own personal/professional goals.
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When Puigpardines was Lord of Karditsa
India Kelly, Ancient Studies
Mentor: Michael Lane, Ancient Studies
In “When Puigpardines Was Lord of Karditsa,” I aim to understand what life was like in Frankish Greece under the rule of Catalonian Lord Pedro de Puigpardines. The circumstances surrounding Puigpardines’s rule were peculiar: there are no traces of his residence, no administrative records left behind, and only a single ruined church left to suggest his possible alliance with a particular French knight. Focusing on the relationship between Lord Puigpardines, the existing Frankish nobility, and the Greek peasantry, this project argues that Puigpardines was an absentee landlord who, astonishingly, allowed the enemy he once fought in battle to retain control over his territory in the province of Boeotia. This project draws information from secondary sources written in English, Greek, and Catalan and relies on local informants and material culture sources during my visit to the town of Karditsa (now Akraifnio). I also employed online mapping to find possible areas for Puigpardines’s castle. As few primary sources exist about the period of Catalonian Rule during the Duchy of Athens, this project will be the first work specifically about the lordship of Karditsa during the period, and one of the few works other than “The Chronicle of the Morea” on Frankish Boeotia.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
Degree Mentors
Why did you choose to major in INDS?
I graduated high school knowing that I wanted to combine my interests in architecture and meteorology, as well as my academic skills in engineering-related sciences, to major in something similar to architectural engineering. I had no plans on moving out of state, so when I came for freshman orientation at UMBC, I met with Dr. Kenneth Baron to discuss my aspirations, and he advised me to major in INDS to craft my own degree that would incorporate all of these disciplines as none of the existing majors encapsulated my interests fully. It was so interesting to hear that was possible, and I am fortunate to this day to have had that opportunity at UMBC.
Since that day, the INDS department has supported me and helped guide me to refine my degree to include not only architecture, meteorology, and engineering, but also the crucial component of social science, which helps address how to meet communities’ needs when making structures, and the community itself, more resilient. I strongly feel my current comprehensive understanding of the field was only possible because I was able to take an interdisciplinary path through different departments’ courses. The overall experience contributed to my confidence and passion in this field, so I am always excited to talk to others about both my degree and the INDS program overall.
What are your plans for after graduation, and how do you see using your INDS degree?
I originally sought to immediately obtain a Master of Architecture in graduate school, but am now instead planning on working at a location that will assist in paying for graduate school as I want to utilize that degree to assist with licensure and other future career opportunities. In the long term, I aspire to work for either a state or federal agency, such as FEMA, and provide a perspective that better incorporates communities’ needs when preparing them for natural disasters, and especially assisting after disasters, by making the structures and community more resilient.
EXTRACURRICULAR
For more information on Yeva-Kristina's INDS journey please click here:
The Politics of Unwanted Pregnancy: A Social Work Perspective
Tessa Cone, Social Work
Lisa Vetter, Political Science; Jayshree Jani, UMBC, Department of Social Work
In a country where bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom are no longer guaranteed, social workers have a responsibility to understand the current political climate and legislation, educate themselves and others on safe sex practices, and advocate for increased services and resources for pregnant people. Through a variety of qualitative and quantitative research, including first hand experiences, this research will guide social workers as they continue to provide support to pregnant people who have unwanted pregnancies in the post Roe era.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
Exploring Barriers to the Hispanic Community of Baltimore: Perceived Discrimination in the Workplace
Natan Lichtman, Social Work
Kerri Evans, Social Work
Many Hispanic immigrants, especially those that are undocumented, endure poor working conditions and long hours while maintaining jobs that are significantly underpaid (Fernández et. al., 2021). That being said, their stories often remain unheard due to language barriers and/or not speaking up in fear of consequences. This research takes a deeper dive into a previous quantitative study with Dr. Evans regarding barriers to employment experienced by the Hispanic immigrant community of Baltimore, MD. The initial results found that many participants reported not having experienced discrimination, contradicting what we know to be true. To understand this discrepancy, 20 individuals from varying demographics that attend the Esperanza center, a social service organization that supports this population, participated in a 45-minute to one-hour interview regarding their pay, opportunity for advancement, workplace relationships, treatment by their employers, and discrimination based on various identities. At this point, the results have showed the common theme of a paradoxical relationship with their employers: on one hand, they pay them below minimum wage, deny requests off, and laugh off their attempts at self-advocacy; on the other, they provide them the opportunity to work in this country and support their families, and for that they are grateful.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.