For the 11th year in a row, UMBC has been recognized as a 2020 Great College to Work For. UMBC is the only university in Maryland represented on this year’s list.  According to survey results conducted by ModernThink, UMBC achieved recognition in the following categories:

• Collaborative Governance
• Respect and Appreciation
• Work/Life Balance
• Confidence in Senior Leadership
• Teaching Environment 
• Diversity
• Tenure Clarity and Process

“This recognition is particularly meaningful as faculty and staff completed the survey in January-April 2020, a time of very rapid change and uncertainty, when remote work and learning began,” says Valerie Thomas, chief human resources officer and associate vice president for human resources.

“UMBC really is a community and that is perhaps most evident in the administration’s belief in shared governance,” says Bobby Lubaszewski, president of UMBC’s Professional Staff Senate. Lubaszewski ‘10, English and history, is assistant director of marketing for the Division of Professional Studies. He shares, “We are constantly looked at as a model of strong shared governance by our peer institutions  because the administration actually listens to what we have to say.”

UMBC Together

UMBC is working to maintain connections within the University community at a time when most faculty and staff are working remotely. The UMBC Together group was convened to develop resources, provide spaces to connect, and share opportunities to bridge the gap in the current virtual environment. 

“To me, UMBC Together signifies a community, being a part of a family that challenges you, comforts you when you need it, asks hard questions, laughs with you, and helps put you in a position to be your very best,” says Greg Simmons, M.P.P. ’04, public policy, vice president for Institutional Advancement.

Shared values

The University’s commitment to diversity resonates especially strongly with faculty and staff. One employee shared with the survey group, “UMBC’s diverse, welcoming environment truly allows students, staff, and faculty to learn and develop beyond what the standard university experience has to offer.”

In an ever-changing environment, many employees share that they feel heartened by the University’s response to challenging issues. “In these difficult times UMBC has continued to go above and beyond to support its faculty and staff by putting our safety first in response to COVID-19, and by repeatedly demonstrating its unwavering commitment to eradicating structural racism and other forms of inequality,” says Orianne Smith, associate professor of English and Faculty Senate president. 

In addition to this Great Colleges accolade, UMBC has also been named to Money’s 2020 Best Colleges in America list, the 2021 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges rankings, and Princeton Review’s The Best 386 Colleges 2021 edition.

Banner image: UMBC Academic Row. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

A team of researchers led by Charissa Cheah, professor of psychology at UMBC, has found that a high percentage of Chinese American parents and children have witnessed and experienced an increase in racial discrimination since the outbreak of COVID-19. 

The team was one of the first to receive a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award to examine an issue related to COVID-19. The study is titled “RAPID: Influences of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak on Racial Discrimination, Identity Development and Socialization.” The researchers’ findings are now published in Pediatrics. 

The impacts of experiencing racism

The data reveal that large percentages of Chinese Americans are experiencing racism at interpersonal, institutional, and collective levels, both in person and online, during COVID-19. These experiences harm both adults’ and children’s mental health, and reflect a history of racism against Asian Americans in the United States. 

Charissa Cheah.
Photo courtesy of Cheah.

The team suggests that public health strategies are urgently needed to decrease fear, stigmatization, and discrimination. They recommend that schools develop strategies to address racism targeting Asian American youth. They also note that healthcare professionals need to be educated on how to address the mental health needs of this population.

Cheah is a cultural developmental psychologist. She completed the research with co-investigators Shimei Pan, assistant professor of information systems at UMBC, and Cixin Wang, assistant professor of school psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Sharing research with the public

Cheah has shared different aspects of the research with the media.

In The Washington Post, she cautioned against using language to describe COVID-19 that could fuel discrimination against Asian Americans. In an interview for WYPR she explained the prevalence of racism against Chinese Americans as a result of the pandemic. She commented on the negative health outcomes caused by persistent discrimination in The Baltimore Sun.

Cheah also spoke in a video for Science Magazine about the mental health of Chinese American children and teens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Banner image: The Coronavirus. Image by Alachua County, used under Public Domain Mark 1.0.

UMBC’s reputation for academic excellence and welcoming community has encouraged students to remain focused on progressing toward their degrees in a time of significant global challenges and uncertainty. The University has also seen a notable increase in students returning to UMBC to complete their degrees after years away from higher education.

“Our strong enrollments this fall affirm that, even with the challenges our world is facing, our new and continuing students value the UMBC experience and recognize the importance of staying on track with their degrees,” says Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, health science and policy, vice provost for enrollment management and planning.

Overall, 13,497 students are enrolled in UMBC this fall. At a time when many campuses across the nation are seeing double-digit enrollment declines, UMBC’s study body is down just 0.8% compared to fall 2019. UMBC’s current undergraduate population is 10,932 strong. The graduate student population has increased by 0.9% to 2,565. 

Proactive advising has played an important role in UMBC students’ continued progress toward their degrees. “Connecting our students with caring and informed members of our University community is essential to help them navigate through these massive changes,” says Kenneth Baron, assistant vice provost for academic advising and student success.

Popular programs

Some new international graduate students have deferred for a semester or year, due to difficulty with travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, UMBC has seen very strong enrollment among returning master’s and Ph.D. students and an increase in new domestic graduate students in master’s degree programs.

“The online and hybrid format seems to be an attractive option for master’s students, in particular,” says Janet Rutledge, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.

“We’ve seen growth in attracting students to UMBC’s excellent graduate programs in education,” notes Christopher Steele, vice provost, Division of Professional Studies. More students have enrolled in UMBC’s master’s programs in teaching, education, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

“We should also be very proud of how UMBC is showing up in Montgomery County,” says Steele. He’s reflecting on a 13.5% growth in UMBC student enrollment at the Universities at Shady Grove, in part thanks to expanding programs such as data science.

Approaching the Finish Line

Another positive development this year is an increase in students working to complete their degrees through the Finish Line initiative. More than 120 students have returned to UMBC through Finish Line, some after several years away from college. “Their lives may have required that they disrupt their education for a little bit,” says Mozie-Ross, “but we’ve…leveraged this moment in time…when most of our classes are online, and gone out and pulled them back in.”

For former students now looking at UMBC’s online learning experience and considering the possibilities, Mozie-Ross shares, “It’s never too late to finish that degree.”

“We get it,” she says. “Life gets in the way sometimes…and that’s okay. We still believe that degree has value for you as a lifelong learner…and we want to help you finish.”

Featured image: UMBC in summer 2019. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

The 2021 U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges rankings affirm that UMBC remains one of the top universities in the nation, with a uniquely distinguished profile. 

UMBC has advanced to #11 for undergraduate teaching and holds the #9 position on the list of most innovative schools in the nation, among other prominent rankings. UMBC is the only Maryland school represented in the top ten in innovation, standing alongside such universities as Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Caltech. 

“We are delighted to again receive external recognition for creating a purposeful curriculum,” says Katharine H. Cole, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “We are inclusive and innovative, and this drives our continuing ability to offer a distinctive educational experience to UMBC students.”

Student Government Association (SGA) President Mehrshad Devin ‘22, biology and physics, echoes Cole’s focus on inclusion and purpose. “The students of UMBC form a tightly-knit community,” he says. “We support each other and provide one another with the scaffolding needed to build something for the greater good, something greater than each of us individually.”

UMBC also placed within the top 80 public universities and ranked #160 on the overall list of top national universities.

A foundation of success

Karl Steiner, vice president for research, sees these rankings as reflecting UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence and collaboration. At some institutions, teaching and research are more separate endeavors. But at UMBC a foundational commitment to quality teaching drives collaborative research success, and research is a learning experience.

“We are proud of our successful history of including undergraduate and graduate students in our diverse portfolio of research and creative achievement,” says Steiner. These students have unique opportunities to make a real impact through their UMBC research. Many alumni then advance to high-impact research careers serving the public good.

UMBC research across all disciplines has historically focused on addressing inequalities, and this continues during the time of COVID-19. “We are actively working on federally-funded projects to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and its broader impact on members of our communities,” says Steiner.

Charissa Cheah, professor of psychology, is leading an NSF-funded research project addressing how Chinese-American communities are experiencing discrimination related to COVID-19, and how they are coping. Fei Han, of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, received a COVID-19 Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) award for research to help predict and reduce patients’ risk of being hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Foad Hamidi, information systems, received an NSF Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant to increase high-speed wireless internet access to communities in Baltimore during the pandemic. Dipanjan Pan, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, received National Institutes of Health grants for research on a rapid, affordable COVID-19 test. 

Katherine Seley-Radtke, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received a Fast Grant to test antiviral compounds developed in her lab for effectiveness against COVID-19, with collaborator Chuck Bieberich, professor of biological sciences. 

Students play an essential role in completing much of this research, from working in Seley-Radtke’s lab to interviewing families through Cheah’s study.

University growth

UMBC’s engineering programs performed strongly in the 2021 U.S. News rankings, tied with Villanova, Tulane, Howard, and University of Alabama. U.S. News just launched a new computer science program ranking this year as well, including UMBC in the nation’s top 100.

Keith J Bowman, dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT), attributes this recognition to a trend of healthy program growth across the college, such as the expansion of data science to UMBC at the Universities at Shady Grove. “UMBC’s unique set of engineering, computing, and business-related bachelor’s degree programs have undergone extraordinary student growth in recent years. That growth has enabled us to hire an outstanding cadre of new faculty,” says Bowman. 

A place for all students

UMBC jumped up seven places on the list of Best Colleges for Veterans, and is again one of the top schools in the nation for ethnic diversity. Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, health science and policy, vice provost for enrollment management and planning, shares, “We take great pride in being a historically diverse institution that has welcomed and continues to welcome students of all backgrounds. And it is our unwavering commitment to inclusive excellence that makes UMBC such a unique and special place.”

Speaking to the work COEIT has done, Bowman shares, “Our student growth has been especially strong among African Americans and women,” both historically underrepresented groups in engineering and computing on a national level. 

“The inclusive nature of UMBC is what makes the institution so exceptional,” says Devin. “From the moment a student commits to UMBC, the path towards success is laid out for them, with bold neon signs that push them to do more, even if they don’t yet know how.”

Banner image: Students gather at The Forum, a public artwork near UMBC’s Performing Arts and Humanities Building, 2016. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

Kait McCaffrey and Dinah Winnick contributed to this story.

It’s a mere hour after sunrise, and Wajhee Zaidi, a student at Howard Community College (HCC), is out in his neighborhood, looking for birds, insects, and whatever other critters he can spot. “Never would I have thought that I would go out at 7 a.m. just to look for different species of animals,” he says. “It got me out of my comfort zone.”

Zaidi’s early morning birding and bug-hunting was part of a three-week program collaboratively organized by HCC and UMBC. The practicum immersed HCC students in an authentic environmental science research experience and helped them connect with UMBC faculty.

Orioles and orb weavers

Each morning, Kevin Omland, professor of biological sciences, and Chris Hawn, assistant professor of geography and environmental systems, guided the students through activities like analyzing data on Caribbean orioles, collecting spider webs for air quality monitoring, and safely seeking out and documenting local creatures.

The students gained foundational research skills like observation, data collection, and collaboration. They also made real contributions to research and service projects. “They participated in three ongoing scientific research projects, all from their living rooms,” Hawn says.

As part of a service-learning project for Baltimore Green Space, the students created tutorials about how to use the iNaturalist platform. And Omland shared their analysis of the interactions between the endangered Bahama Oriole and the parasitic Shiny Cowbird, which lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, with his lab’s research partners at the Bahamas National Trust.

Hawn also asked the students to test protocols for a program designed to help communities take greater control of their air quality. Hawn has found that analyzing the chemistry of spider webs works well as a proxy to measure hyper-local air quality, and they’re launching the program in Baltimore and Portland, Oregon in partnership with a non-profit. This project also introduced the students to the importance of citizen science.

“My goal for the students was to capture what I think is the most important part of scientific research—curiosity through observation,” Hawn says. By training their eyes and learning to see in new ways, Hawn says, “People were making discoveries literally inside their houses, or on a walk, or in their yard. It was really wonderful to see that transformation.” 

“It was great to have this real, authentic experience,” shares Mary Lenahan, an environmental science major at HCC and an aspiring reptile field researcher. “I didn’t realize I’d be able to learn this much in just three weeks,” she added, a feeling echoed by the other participants.

A broader view

“This experience has broadened my view of research,” says Oluwasemilore Oluwagbenro,a general studies major at HCC who wants to be a doctor. “Researchers aren’t just either looking at the internet and books or confined within the four walls of a laboratory—research can also be walking in your backyard.”

Beyond expanding their perspective on what research can be, the summer experience offered new insight shaping how the students imagine their future careers.

Pilar Thomas, a life science and nutrition major at HCC, says, “This research experience helped me get to know this whole sector of biology that I hadn’t really looked at at all, because my biology classes focused on human biology and physiology.”

Zaidi, who also plans to pursue medicine, agrees. “Understanding all life and species plays a big part in medicine, so I think this definitely helped me toward my career goal by offering some insight and background knowledge.”

Oluwagbenro put it simply: “In the end, who is a good medical doctor without understanding the environment?”

Digital fluency

In addition to learning quite a bit about birds, spiders, and the scientific process, the students gained digital skills. They became proficient in Blackboard, UMBC’s learning management system, and learned how to use various online tools for their culminating project, a digital story.

Thomas was excited and surprised to learn more than science. “Prior to this research collaboration I could barely take a video on my phone,” she says, “so it was so cool to go through the process of making a final digital story, using screenshot slideshows, screen recordings, and everything. I would never have thought I would gain those types of skills in three weeks, so it helped me learn more about myself as a student, too.”

Enthusiasm “right through the screen”

The students and their instructors were surprised by the strong connections they were able to forge online. Hawn and Omland set the tone for a collegial, challenging, and fun experience. “I like to say that I throw them in the deep end and then cheer really hard and give them good advice,” Omland says with a smile. With Omland and Hawn’s coaching, the students learned to swim quickly.

“They expected a lot from us, and they also answered any questions we had. We had a lot of fun moments,” Thomas shares, “and with Dr. Hawn and Dr. Omland, I definitely felt connected.” Lenahan agreed, saying that working with the faculty was “like talking to a colleague.”

As colleagues, the group worked on solving problems together. “Like real research, there were problems. We had to figure out different ways of doing things,” Omland says, from teaching the students how to identify birds, to collaboratively working to find the best way to display their data, all without being together in person. “I gave them plenty of responsibility, and they came up with great solutions,” Omland says.

Omland and Hawn’s excitement for their work also made a powerful impression on the students. “We got to know them as people, and to know why they were passionate about this and what drove that fascination,” Thomas says. “You could just feel their enthusiasm through the screen.”

For example, “I was telling Dr. Hawn about this spider that I found with this really awesome web, and they started telling me all about it,” Lenahan says, “and you could really see the joy that they had knowing that I experienced the same sense of awe that they had about these creatures.”

A VIP view

Even though the students weren’t physically on campus, the summer program gave them plenty of chances to get to know UMBC. Each afternoon, a panel discussion with staff and faculty from different departments introduced the group to a different aspect of the university.

Scholars programs, service learning, academic support opportunities like the Writing Center and advising, financial aid, and admissions all made an appearance. So did the Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, and Belonging, which includes the Interfaith Center, Pride Center, and Mosaic Center; and resources for transfer and commuting students, like the Transfer Student Network and Off-Campus Student Services.

Learning about the transfer process “made everything smoother, because you’ve met all the right people already,” Oluwagbenro shares. Thomas adds, “The transfer department talked to us about everything, like financial aid, and applying, and how to get involved early with the Transfer Student Alliance. That really helped solidify everything.”

The panels were even tailored to the particular students participating this year, several of whom are interested in medical careers. By getting to ask questions about academic preparation for health professions and learn about research opportunities with faculty in different departments, “We got a VIP view of UMBC, which was really cool,” Oluwagbenro says.

Collaborative creation

All the elements of the program worked together to help prepare students for transfer—to UMBC or another institution. “We want to give students lots of opportunities to think deeply about their educational goals and trajectories,” Sarah Jewett says, “but also to build the skills, knowledge, and connections that will really help them to transfer more successfully.”

Jewett, director of innovations in transfer research and practice, designed the summer program in collaboration with Hawn and Omland, as well as Charlotte Keniston, Kasey Venn, and Emily Passera at the UMBC Shriver Center. Jewett learned about birds and spiders alongside the students, and the students appreciated her engagement throughout the experience. 

As with last year’s program in Baltimore’s urban forest patches, Patricia Turner, Dean of Science, Engineering and Technology at HCC was a critical partner in the summer program. She recruited the students and provided the field supplies for their investigations.

Expanding and evolving 

The program, funded by the UMBC provost’s office, has so far focused on environmental science research themes. Now, Jewett is brainstorming ways for it to evolve. This year’s model, with multiple, one-week sessions on thematically connected topics, could translate well to other disciplines. “What might that look like in history, or in art, for example?” Jewett asks. She’s already been meeting with UMBC faculty in other departments to explore options.

The program’s format might also evolve to meet more students’ and instructors’ needs. “Last year, we were completely outside for eight weeks, and now we’ve been completely online for three weeks,” Jewett reflects, “So now, where do we mix those pieces together? What would a hybrid model look like for next year?” 

For now, at least these four students have found new opportunities, new ways to think about science—and even new neighbors in their own local environments. Lenahan, for example, spotted a basilica orb weaver and its dome-shaped web near her house for the first time.

“I love nature and going out and exploring, so the fact that there was this common spider in my backyard that I had never noticed before was so weird to think about.” Lenehan’s orb weaver is much like UMBC to many students at the region’s community colleges—compelling and right in their backyard, yet sometimes not on their radar. Thanks to this summer’s UMBC-HCC partnership, these students are seeing the possibilities.

Banner image: An American Goldfinch perches at a bird feeder. Photo by Jim McGlone. Used under CC BY-NC 2.0

By Kevin Omland, professor, Biological Sciences, UMBC; Evangeline Rose, Ph.D. ’20, biological sciences, UMBC, and Karan Odom, Ph.D. ’16, biological sciences, Cornell University

Americans often idealize scientists as unbiased, objective observers. But scientists are affected by conscious and unconscious biases, just as people in other fields are. Studies of birds’ vocal behavior clearly show how research approaches can be affected by the people who do the work.

For more than 150 years, dating back at least to Charles Darwin’s writings on sexual selection, scientists have generally considered bird song to be a male trait. The widely accepted view was that bird songs are long complex vocalizations produced by males during the breeding season, whereas such vocalizations in females are generally rare or abnormal.

But over the past 20 years, research has shown that both males and females in many bird species sing, especially in the tropics. For example, our group has studied female song and male-female duets in Venezuelan troupials, a tropical species that sings year-round to defend territories. And we have studied female song in eastern bluebirds, a temperate species in which females sing to communicate with their mates during the breeding season.

Recent findings have shown that female song is widespread, and it is likely that the ancestor of all songbirds had female song. Now, rather than asking why males originally evolved song, the question has become why both sexes originally evolved song, and why females have lost song in some species.

In a recently published study, we reviewed 20 years of research on female bird song and found that the key people driving this recent paradigm shift were women. If fewer women had entered this field, we believe that it likely would have taken much longer to reach this new understanding of how bird song originally evolved. We see this example as a powerful demonstration of why it’s important to increase diversity in all fields of science.

New voices lead to new perspectives

Traditionally, white men working in countries of the Northern Hemisphere have conducted much of the research on bird song. Researchers in countries such as the U.S., Canada, England and Germany have focused much of their work on migratory birds that breed in the north temperate zone.

But starting in the 1990s, new research began to contradict this view. Studies pointed out the bias toward temperate zones in previous work, and indicated that in the tropics, females of many species are prolific singers. Researchers began to study how female birds use their songs, how females learn songs and why females in some species join their mates to sing precisely coordinated duets.

We noticed that women had written many of the key papers on female song published in recent years and wondered whether this was a general trend. To see whether women were significantly more likely to publish about female bird song than men, we identified all papers with “female song” in the title or abstract that had been published in the last 20 years. Next we assembled a set of papers generally published in the same journals in the same years, but focused on “bird song” more broadly.

Male and female troupials. Both sexes are elaborately colored, and both sexes sing. Karan Odom, CC BY-ND

For each of these papers we determined the genders of all authors, including the first author, middle authors and final author. Final authors frequently are the senior authors – for example, research group leaders.

Focusing on first authors, we found that 68% of female song papers were written by women, whereas only 44% of the bird song papers were written by women. Therefore, men were 24% less likely to study female song than bird song. Conversely, women were 24% more likely to study female song.

Middle authors on female song papers were also slightly skewed toward women. However, last authors were much more commonly men for both female song and bird song papers. In other words, the team leaders on these projects were still more likely to be men.

For female song studies, 58% of last authors were men. In our view, although ornithology is now a relatively gender-balanced field, more women need to be promoted into senior leadership positions, so that they can lead key decisions on research directions, funding and student projects.

Diverse perspectives help drive scientific progress

A major goal of our study was to recognize and promote the diverse perspectives of researchers with different backgrounds and identities. However, we felt it was crucial for our study to look back at least 20 years, since that was the time frame over which this key paradigm shift occurred. Many authors from that far back would be difficult to contact directly for a variety of reasons.

In the future, allowing authors to self-identify for studies of gender and authorship in a range of fields would likely produce more correct gender data and allow researchers to identify as nonbinary or non-gender-conforming.

Our case study on bird song provides dramatic evidence that who researchers are, where they are from and what experiences they have had influence the science that they do. More diverse groups of researchers may ask a broader range of questions, utilize more varied methods and tackle problems from a wider range of perspectives.

Gender is just one aspect of identity that could influence topics, conceptual approaches and specific methodologies used in a wide range of scientific disciplines. Many other factors, such as race, ethnicity, geographic location and socioeconomic standing, could also have important impacts on scientific research.

Recent events have vividly illustrated the effects of racial biases in areas ranging from criminal justice to outdoor recreation. Our study shows why it is important to address racial, gender and other biases to improve the outcomes of research, teaching and outreach at colleges and universities around the world.

*****

Casey Haines ’19, biological sciences, a recent undergraduate student at the UMBC, was lead author of the study on which this article is based. Michelle Moyer, a PhD student at UMBC, helped with this work.

Kevin Omland, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Evangeline Rose, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Maryland, and Karan Odom, Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University

Header image: Female song is common among fairywrens, like this red-backed fairywren. Paul Balfe/Flickr, CC BY

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Dipanjan Pan, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, and collaborators have published a seminal study in Nature Communications that demonstrates for the first time a method of biosynthesizing plasmonic gold nanoparticles within cancer cells, without the need for conventional bench-top lab methods. It has the potential to notably expand biomedical applications. 

Conventional laboratory-based synthesis of gold nanoparticles require ionic precursors and reducing agents subjected to varying reaction conditions such as temperature, pH, and time. This leads to variation in nanoparticle size, morphology and functionalities that are directly correlated to their internalization in cells, their residence time in vivo, and clearance. In order to avoid these uncertainties, this work demonstrates that biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles can be achieved efficiently and directly inside cancer cells without requiring conventional laboratory methods.

The researchers examined how various cancer cells responded to the introduction of chloroauric acid to their cellular microenvironment by forming gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticles generated within the cell can potentially be used for various biomedical applications, including in x-ray imaging and in therapy by destroying abnormal tissue or cells. 

Expanding biomedical applications 

In the paper, Pan and his team describe their new method of producing these plasmonic gold nanoparticles within cells in minutes, within a cell’s nucleus, using polyethylene glycol as a delivery vector for ionic gold. “We have developed a unique system where gold nanoparticles are reduced by cellular biomolecules and those are able to retain their functionality, including the capacity to guide the remaining cluster to the nucleus,” says Pan. 

They also worked to further demonstrate the biomedical potential of this approach by inducing in-situ biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles within a mouse tumor, followed by photothermal remediation of the tumor. Pan explains that the mouse study exemplified how “the intracellular formation and nuclear migration of these gold nanoparticles presents a highly promising approach for drug delivery application.”

“Gold is the quintessential noble element that has been used in biomedical applications since its first colloidal synthesis more than three centuries ago,” Pan notes. “To appreciate its potential for clinical application, however, the most challenging research ahead of us will be to find new methods of producing these particles with uncompromised reproducibility with functionalities that can promote efficient cellular binding, clearance, and biocompatibility and to assess their long-term term effects on human health. This new study is a small but important step toward that overarching goal.”

In addition to his appointment at UMBC, Pan is a professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine and pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) as part of his dual appointment with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Coauthors on the paper are affiliated with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; UMSOM; and Cytoviva, Inc.

Banner image: UMBC’s Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Salamanders regenerate their tails. Sea stars regenerate their arms. Most species of planaria, a type of flatworm, can regenerate everything from their heads (complete with brain) to their digestive organs. But if you lose part of a finger in a shop class accident, or while chopping vegetables for dinner, you’re out of luck—for now.

“Why can the worm do it, and we cannot?” asks Daniel Lobo, assistant professor of biological sciences. That’s not really the question, though, he explains.

“We were able to generate ourselves when we were embryos. So we have all the information of how to generate a new hand, for example,” Lobo points out. “The genes are there. You have the same information in your cells.” So why can’t humans generate body parts after that early stage of development? 

“Actually, we could,” Lobo argues, if we could somehow reactivate the same genes that enabled us to develop in the womb. So, “Can we reactivate them?” he asks. That’s the real question, which he is working to answer with a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Restoring independence

Lobo is tackling this question through a unique combination of techniques: wet lab experiments with planaria, and machine learning approaches that use computers to help deduce genetic regulatory networks. Previous work successfully restored the regeneration capacity of a species of planaria that had lost that ability. While still a long way from growing a human finger back, it’s a sign that the promise of reclaiming regeneration is not so far-fetched.  

This line of research could eventually make it possible for people with limb loss, such as injured veterans, to regrow lost body parts. By increasing understanding of genetic regulation, Lobo’s work might also enhance knowledge of development and developmental diseases, and how cancerous tumors work around regulatory networks to grow unchecked.

The right worm for the job

Lobo uses an approach known as systems biology to tackle these big ideas. “We mix the fields of math, computer science, and biology,” he says. “We use computational techniques to extract knowledge from biological data sets.” The result is mathematical models that can explain observations the team makes in the lab. The models can also make predictions, which researchers can test in the lab.

Planaria are the ideal model organism for lab work, because of their astonishing ability to regenerate. Even a worm in eight pieces will grow back into eight complete worms with proper proportions. Like mammals, the worms also grow when they have enough to eat. However, when hungry, rather than simply getting thinner, their whole bodies shrink to maintain proper proportions. So, beyond regeneration, “The general idea is to understand how gene regulation works to specify shapes and forms in biology,” Lobo says.

Teamwork and flexibility

“This program is too hard to do with just wet lab or just computational approaches,” Lobo says. “You need both.” 

Because the work requires such a range of techniques, it also requires team members with a range of skills. Lobo’s lab includes undergraduate and graduate students in math, computer science, bioinformatics, and biology. The new grant will also allow him to bring on two new postdoctoral fellows, one on the wet lab side and one computational.

“We will be able to create that synergy and get people trained in both fields in the same lab,” says Lobo. He describes the interactions between lab members from different fields as essential to the success of the research.

Rather than fund a specific project, Lobo’s new Outstanding Investigator Grant will fund the lab as a whole. “It gives you a lot of freedom to adapt to whatever discoveries you make,” he says. “You have the flexibility to pursue the details that you need to.”

Teaching computers so they can teach us

The computers the team uses are powerful, but for now, they still benefit from some human guidance. To give the computers a head start on figuring out the genetic regulatory networks, the team inputs certain rules before they add loads of data from their own experiments and other labs’ work. That also ensures the computers don’t come up with a solution that is biologically impossible.  

“We know that genes generally interact in certain fashions, and those interactions can be represented in different ways mathematically,” Lobo explains. “So we can tell the computer what kinds of interactions a gene can have. And then it is free to put those interactions together in ways that make sense.”

Lobo compares it to working with Lego blocks. “How many structures can you make with Legos? Unlimited, right?” he asks. “So the computer also has an unlimited space to search, but only with things that can be put together. You cannot make a perfectly round Lego ball, for example, if you only have square blocks.”

Speeding up the science

Combining wet lab and computational approaches will drastically increase the pace of discovery. A high performance cluster of computers can come up with a probable solution by testing more than a billion possible models of a regulatory network in a few days—a task that would take infinitely long for a team of humans.

Using computers to come up with plausible models, testing the models’ predictions in the lab, and then feeding the new data back into the computers to refine the model will bring researchers ever closer to understanding how different biological systems work. Research teams can apply the same investigative process to any number of biological questions, from regeneration to metastasis.

Some biologists may shy away from programming, but as Lobo says, “Biology is more and more computational. We are reaching a point that without a computer to process the data you cannot do almost any experimental work in biology.” 

He argues that interdisciplinary teams like his are the future—that diverse groups of researchers will increasingly combine multiple approaches to answer the big questions, to speed up scientific progress in ways that will have real, positive impact.

Banner image: Daniel Lobo in front of the Biological Sciences Building mural. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Eleven recent UMBC alumni are recipients of 2020 – 2021 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards, including seven from UMBC’s Class of 2020. Each year over 11,000 students apply and just over 2,000 are selected from hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States. The award secures funding for U.S. students to pursue international graduate study, research, internships, or teaching.

While COVID-19 has presented a range of challenges and uncertainties for Fulbright recipients, UMBC is proud to celebrate their hard work and achievements. 

“This year’s recipients have demonstrated great flexibility and maturity as they navigate the changes that our current global situation requires,” explains Brian Souders, M.A.‘19, TESOL and Ph.D. ’09, language, literacy and culture. He serves as associate director of global engagement opportunities in UMBC’s office of International Education Services. 

Souders, who is also UMBC’s Fulbright program advisor and scholar liaison, says that these hurdles have also not deterred UMBC faculty, students, and alumni from applying for the 2021 – 2022 Fulbright award.

Souders with Fulbright class of 2019 – 2021.

UMBC’s 2020 – 2021 Fulbright U.S. Student Program award recipients

Middle East

• Kiplyn Jones, M.P.P. ’20, public policy, Jordan, English Teaching 

East Asia

Osia on campus.
Photo courtesy of Osia.

• Hannah Jang ’20, global studies, Korea, English Teaching Assistant
• Phillip McKnight, M.A. ’19, instructional systems design, Laos, English Teaching Assistant
• Samina Musa ’20, chemical engineering, Malaysia, English Teaching Assistant
• Uchenna Osia ’19, computer science, Malaysia, English Teaching Assistant

Europe and Eurasia

• Brandon Ables, M.F.A., ’20, intermedia and digital arts, Romania, English Teaching Assistant
• Alida Hartwell ’20, bioinformatics/computational biology, Latvia, English Teaching Assistant
• Matthew Linz ’20, modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, Kazakhstan, English Teaching Assistant
•  Idania Ramos ’20, psychology, Spain, English Teaching Assistant
• Jocelyn Wilkins ’20, mechanical engineering, University of Porto, Portugal, Master’s Program

Kashett in Costa Rica, where he previously studied abroad. Photo courtesy of Kashett.

Western Hemisphere

• Daniel Kashkett ’19, global studies, Mexico, Bilateral Internship Program

Top Fulbright producer

The Fulbright U.S. Student program is highly competitive, and recipients are chosen based on academic or professional achievement and demonstrated leadership potential. UMBC’s ten 2020 – 2021 recipients include students from a broad range of majors. And they’ve been selected for a diverse range of experiences, as English teaching assistants, interns, and graduate students in Europe, East Asia, Western Hemisphere, and the Middle East. 

This success comes after UMBC was named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for receiving fourteen Fulbright U.S. Student awards in 2019 – 2020. Only a small portion of institutions participating in the Fulbright program are designated as top producers each year, an honor granted by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

Both the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program are designed to help build networks to support cross-cultural understanding. They connect people from the United States with people from around the world to dispel stereotypes and help each other reach common goals.

Faculty Fulbright for research in Southeast Asia

Beyond the student program, faculty are eligible to apply for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program to further research on critical world problems in all disciplines. This year, UMBC’s John Rennie Short, professor of public policy, has received a Fulbright award to conduct research in Southeast Asia on the geopolitics of the South China Sea.

Rennie Short with local university students and staff in Nanchang, China.
Photo courtesy of Rennie Short.

The award will support Rennie Short’s research in Malaysia and the Philippines and allow him to visit Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. He will interview scholars and foreign policy analysts while at the Asian Center at the University of the Philippines Diliman and the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism at the University of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Rennie Short also plans to give public lectures and seminars about U.S. public policy and other topics while in Southeast Asia.

Kuala Lampur, one of the places Rennie Short will visit for research.
Photo courtesy of Rennie Short.

This research will inform Rennie Short’s second book on East Asian maritime issues. “The book will widen our understanding of the complex and troubled geopolitics of the South China Sea,” he explains. “It will provide an Association of Southeast Asian Nations perspective to counter the dominant Chinese and U.S. narratives.” 

Rennie Short’s first book on East Asian geopolitical issues, Korea: A Cartographic History (2012, University of Chicago Press), tackled the East Sea versus Sea of Japan naming dispute between South Korea and Japan. He has also written “Troubled Waters: Conflict in the South China Sea Explained,” republished in U.S. News & World Report.

Other recent UMBC faculty recipients of Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards include Charissa Cheah, professor of psychology; Guenet Abraham, associate professor visual arts; Chuck Eggleton, professor and chair of mechanical engineering; and Marc Zupan, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Abraham in Ethiopia as a Fulbright Scholar in 2018. Photo courtesy of Abraham.

Banner image: International hanging from the ceiling of UMBC’s Commons. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

UMBC’s Taka Yamashita has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences for an innovative three-year research project on how adult literacy impacts success in community college STEM education and job training programs. Yamashita is an associate professor of sociology and faculty member in the UMBC/UMB gerontology Ph.D. program. He will explore how the literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills of adults (ages 18 and over), can be indicators of career and academic readiness in community college STEM programs.

Meeting workers’ and STEM industry needs

Many workers with limited academic credentials or skills face the need to expand their skill set to fit a rapidly changing STEM-focused labor market. The wide range of skills needed for STEM jobs creates both challenges and opportunities for workers to begin “middle-skill” positions, which do not require four-year undergraduate or graduate degrees. Career training programs can make a significant difference for these workers.

Yamashita notes that community colleges are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of adults who seek STEM skill training. However, in addition to knowledge and work skills, many workers also need to learn the basic skills to manage college level coursework, he explains.

“While community colleges can offer a path, students’ community college readiness may present a barrier to completing the training and entering the STEM workforce,” shares Yamashita. He explains, “Recent national data clearly showed that many of the adults seeking to aquire new new knowledge and skill sets do not have the sufficient basic reading and math skills needed for higher education coursework in the U.S.”

The power of three perspectives

This research project is led by Yamashita, principal investigator; Rita Karam, senior policy researcher at RAND Corporation; and Phyllis Cummins, assistant director of research at Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University of Ohio. The team will gather quantitative and qualitative data from three community college STEM programs. These include programs at Clover Park Technical College in Washington state, Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio, and Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana. 

The researchers will assess students’ basic math, reading, and technology skills to predict their academic success in STEM skills training programs. They will also analyze national data and create the first national profile of basic skills across different segments of the adult population for a variety of STEM industries.

“We’re seeking to explore relationships between basic skills, college readiness, and academic outcomes,” says Yamashita. “Our goal is to better understand the underlying themes and/or key factors that are linked to enhanced basic skills and academic success in the STEM-related sub-baccalaureate programs.” These findings, Yamashita notes, could have a long-lasting positive impact on current and future workers’ lives as well as the STEM labor market.

Banner image: Yamashita. Photo courtesy of Yamashita.