Kennedy Lamb and Jethro Ssengonzi are finishing their final semester with uncertainty about the world, but also a sense of hope. To cope with the challenges of graduating during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are drawing on resilience built through past challenges they’ve faced as UMBC scholar-athletes.

On the surface, Lamb ‘20, English, and Ssengonzi ‘20, mechanical engineering, didn’t have much in common when they arrived on campus. Lamb brought her academic and softball talents from the town of Mexico, New York, 35 miles north of Syracuse. Ssengonzi left Cary, North Carolina, to become a Meyerhoff Scholar and member of the Retriever swimming and diving team. Both connected early on with mentors who would support them in their most difficult moments.

Academics “kept me going”

In high school, Lamb was a Syracuse.com three-time First Team All-League softball player. She was also student council president and a student member of her local Board of Education. Her drive, leadership, and commitment to community fit with UMBC’s culture, but she struggled in her first year on campus. Lamb played in just nine games as a Retriever freshman and nearly did not return the next fall.

“Coming from upstate New York to Maryland with no connections, no family or friends, or really any form of support, was extremely difficult,” said Lamb. “I suffered from anxiety and depression that wasn’t diagnosed until my junior year of college. I truly almost pulled the plug and dropped out on numerous occasions, but I couldn’t give up on my dream of playing DI softball.”

Lamb credits two mentors in particular for helping her over the hump during that tumultuous freshman year. Assistant Athletic Director Abbie Day served as her first athletics’ academic advisor. Science writer Sarah Hansen, M.S. ‘15, biological sciences, a communications manager in UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement, helped guide her toward new opportunities for her writing. 

“In a way, my grades are what kept me going—I always knew I had that to fall back on,” says Lamb. “I loved all of my classes at UMBC and I knew the professors wanted me to succeed.” 

“I took a great deal of pride in my GPA freshman year—and well, all of the years—because I knew if athletics was frustrating me, or something in my personal life wasn’t going quite right, I always had school to keep me motivated and focused,” she shares. That focus would pay off.

“I’ve had to adjust”

Ssengonzi came to UMBC after a distinguished swimming career at Green Hope High School. In addition to being a Meyerhoff Scholar, he quickly engaged with UMBC’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program. The program, which began just as he arrived at UMBC, gives students opportunities to work on multi-disciplinary teams to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing society today. 

Ssengonzi’s sophomore year started off strong. Beyond swimming and coursework, he presented his summer research at the UMBC Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day in 2018.

But throughout that 2017-18 year, Ssengonzi struggled as his father, Robert, was diagnosed with cancer. Robert lost his battle with the disease in the fall of 2018. Dealing with day to day life at school while staying engaged with family was difficult.

“The last three years or so have been tough on my family,” Ssengonzi says. “I’ve had to adjust to many things. Fortunately, I’ve been able to forge ahead with the help of several people.”

He credits his massive swimming and diving family and his fellow Meyerhoff Scholars for their support throughout his UMBC journey. He also thanks mentors Maria Sanchez, professor of the practice in mechanical engineering and COEIT’s director of education and outreach, and adjunct professor Joseph Washington, Ph.D. ‘15, mechanical engineering.

“Most importantly, he cares about people”

Ssengonzi flourished over the past two years. The team selected him as one of their captains in 2019-20. And despite dealing with a troublesome quad injury, he posted lifetime bests in all of his swims. His last moments in the water as a Retriever were spent celebrating the team’s third consecutive America East championship.

“Jethro is driven and focused, sensitive and hard-working, and most importantly, he cares about people,” said head swimming and diving coach Chad Cradock ‘97, psychology.

During spring break, Ssengonzi returned to North Carolina. He has not been back to campus since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. But he feels fortunate to stay connected with Retriever Nation remotely, and is already looking forward to his next steps. 

Ssengonzi will pursue a Ph.D. in civil engineering at nearby North Carolina State University this fall. There, he will focus on the restoration and improvement of urban infrastructure. It’s a topic fueled by his involvement with UMBC’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program.

Path to the championship

Lamb has also enjoyed tremendous growth and success since connecting with mentors and building her community of support. She was one of nine students selected to participate in the first UMBC Interdisciplinary CoLab in summer 2018. Her three-member team worked closely with the UMBC Sustainability Office and Climate Action Steering Committee. They created four engaging informational videos on the importance of environmental sustainability at UMBC. 

Under the direction of CoLab founder Carole McCann, professor and chair of gender, women’s and sexuality studies, Lamb also launched an independent project. She produced, directed, and filmed the video that UMBC now uses to publicize the CoLab program.

On the field, Lamb played in a career-high 27 games in 2019. But it was her steady, veteran leadership that helped the Retrievers to an improbable run to capture the 2019 America East Championship and compete in the NCAA Tournament. 

There, she also received the America East Elite 18 award. This honor recognizes the student-athlete with the highest GPA in each America East championship game.

“Kennedy Lamb is one of the hardest working, most caring, dedicated student-athletes I have had the privilege to work with over the years,” said head coach Chris Kuhlmeyer. “She is a prime example to all student-athletes at UMBC and across the nation of what it takes to live an exemplary life academically, athletically, and personally.”

Like many seniors, the COVID-19 outbreak has delayed Kennedy’s post-graduation plans. She awaits news about graduate school and internship opportunities in science writing at leading institutes.

High achievement with strong support

Athletic Director Brian Barrio sees Lamb and Ssengonzi’s experiences as reflecting something essential about the values of UMBC and UMBC Athletics. “The magnificent performance of Retriever student-athletes in the classroom speaks volumes about the values of this department and of UMBC as a whole,” he says. “I could not be more proud of the young men and women who put the work in to achieve these GPAs while also competing for championships on the playing fields.”

This fall, UMBC’s seventeen teams combined for a school-record grade-point average of 3.19 and 46 student-athletes earned President’s List honors (4.00 GPA). In addition to Lamb and Ssengonzi, two other UMBC scholar-athletes were valedictorian candidates for the Class of 2020. 

Abbey Farmer. Photo by UMBC Athletics.

Abigail “Abbey” Farmer, who hails from nearby Crofton, Maryland, is a dual major in health administration and policy and psychology. Before college, she swam with the Retriever Aquatics Club. Now, she is graduating in just three years with a 4.0 and as an active swimmer. She will begin a master’s degree in public policy at UMBC in the fall. And she’ll continue her swimming career.

Ilia Rattsev is completing his B.S. degree in bioinformatics and computational biology, along with a minor in computer science and a certificate of language studies in German. Rattsev came to UMBC from Moscow, Russia. He recently earned Eastern College Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Meet honors and the America East Elite 18 Award as the top student athlete at the championships, with a 3.97 GPA.

Rattsev has completed research in the lab of Maricel Kann, associate professor of biological sciences, where he developed a passion for cancer research. After graduation, he plans to continue his career in cancer research. He’s currently weighing graduate school and lab research options.

Barrio’s mind is always on how to support UMBC’s student-athletes in reaching their goals, whether that’s in the lab, on the field, or in their communities. For now, that support reaches students from a distance, but he’s already thinking ahead to when competition resumes post-pandemic. 

“The next time you come watch our teams compete,” Barrio says, “take a minute to reflect on how hard these Retrievers are working in all phases of their lives.”

Featured image: Jethro Ssengonzi (r) with fellow swimmer Diego Morales ’23 (l) at a home meet. Photo by Ian Feldmann ’20, courtesy of UMBC Athletics.

Article written by Steve Levy, associate athletic director for athletic communications.

UMBC has begun planning for the fall and a gradual return to campus. See the Retrievers Return Roadmap here for the latest.

Many things came up to an abrupt end on March 12. At UMBC, students began leaving campus and their dorms for an early start to spring break, student-athletes saw a sudden stop to their season, and employees were figuring out plans to work from home for the foreseeable future. 

Stacy Carone, associate athletic director for sports medicine, summed up the Retriever community’s feelings succinctly: “We felt as if our identities were challenged and we…lost a big part of our ‘why.’”

In the wake of so many life-defining activities suddenly curtailed, many other things continued nevertheless—namely the indomitable UMBC spirit showcased in the grit of students whose academic plans now looked dramatically different and by campus decision makers who had to make quick, tough calls to elevate the safety and health of our Retriever Nation. 

As many campus activities transitioned to online formats, it’s fair to mourn what was lost: Commencement, final championship games, shaking your professor’s hand at the end of the semester, the last hug with suitemates before move out day, the final nostalgic meal at True Grit’s. Yet, it’s also important to celebrate the folks behind the scenes making these transitions for the community as smooth as possible.

The necessity of being nimble

When it became clear that UMBC would transition to distance learning for at least two weeks after spring break, John Fox, director of Residential Life, and his team immediately started brainstorming how to serve the students who, for a variety of reasons, would not be able to make a trip home. With an exceptions process in place, around 200 students stayed through the first few weeks, and when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s stay-at-home order came, 65 students continued to remain on the nearly empty campus.

“Dealing with the unknown as a college student is a unique experience,” says Fox ’91, information systems management. “There’s a lot students have to juggle on a day-to-day basis, so they react well to knowing the knowns and the constants. Right now, we’re trying to guide them through this process as smoothly as we can, but, of course, they have a lot of questions, and we’ve been trying to respond to each student’s needs.”

On a case-by-case basis, this means letting students access their rooms to retrieve medicine or class notes left behind. On a wider scale, it involves considering safe ways to allow the residents to return to collect their belongings without compromising their health. “The important thing for us,” says Fox, “is to be nimble and pivot as information comes down from the governor, to the University System of Maryland, then to individual campuses.”

A small group of students and staff remain living in campus housing during COVID-19.

That flexibility involves reaching out to—and listening to—the students. This outreach Fox sees as vital to serving the student population, but also invaluable as students were pulled from their communities so suddenly. “Residential advisors are still connecting with their floors, trying to give students some closure to an unusual semester,” shares Fox.

Resident advisor for Chester apartments, Rileigh Matson ’21, psychology and visual arts, is checking in with her residents on a weekly basis. “In comparison to the conversations that occurred before COVID-19 closed campus, not much has changed,” says Matson, but the importance of staying connected feels much more weighty. Matson, who hopes she can return as an RA next semester, says that students are coping fairly well by staying busy with pre-pandemic activities, like school and pop culture, although some have taken up new hobbies or make taking walks a bigger priority during this time of isolation. 

For Fox’s part, the phone calls and emails with students serve to show him that even during pandemics, UMBC students are still exemplary. “I’m constantly reminded that we have thoughtful, understanding students who ask good questions. It reminds me that UMBC is a place that puts value on the individual and that each student feels attended to and that their individual circumstances matter.”

Provisions in a pandemic

Dining Services staff, like Residential Life, needed essential staff to stay and continue to serve the remaining student population. Tim Dunn, campus executive chef talks through the game plans his team created in discussions with UMBC leadership. “UMBC was incredibly proactive with action plans of all essential associates,” says Dunn. “So early on we worked through potential scenarios, and how we would respond.”

The inside of True Grit’s before the transition to a contact-free food pick-up process.

This included modifying their offerings to comply with the necessary physical distancing, which happened in stages. First, they strongly encouraged taking food in to-go containers; this quickly turned into a total grab-and-go operation. In late April, remaining students and staff on campus select their meals online and pick them up at the door.

After resolving how to continue feeding the dwindling campus population, Dunn also needed a plan to distribute the semester’s worth of overstocked food. “We found a home for most of our products at St. Agnes Hospital,” he says, “and donated some other perishables and non-perishables to Catonsville Emergency Assistance.”

Tim Dunn, campus executive chef, delivers food to Catonsville Emergency Assistance. Photo courtesy of UMBC Dining.

Despite the unexpected upheaval of COVID-19 to campus operations, Dunn says that their “staff is building even stronger relationships with the students who are remaining on campus.”

Be purposeful in all you do

As a member of UMBC’s Incident Management Team, Carone in Athletics had a sneak peek of what was coming, “but I could not possibly prepare emotionally for that day.” She’s referring to March 12, when Athletic Director Brian Barrio got in front of the students to explain that in order to stall the spread of a lethal virus, spring sport seasons were canceled. 

Despite this decision coming at the expense of students’ athletic careers, what Carone remembers “is an overwhelming sense of pride; looking at the faces of our UMBC student athletes as they processed the gravity of what was happening in the world around us; watching them not hang their heads in defeat, but do what Dogs always do, come together, have heart, show grit, and do what is right, not what is easy.”

The UMBC Event Center, home to sports teams and Commencement activities, is closed.

Carone, who supervises seven athletic trainers and strength coaches, outlined the resources Athletics would continue to provide via telemedicine and encouraged the students to remain connected to one another and to reach out for help in these unprecedented times.

“We usually interact with student athletes on a daily basis for four hours a day,” says Carone. “Replacing that time with screen time interactions has been challenging.” As a result, Carone and her staff are encouraging the student athletes to find routines. “Their days are usually extremely structured from morning to evening… so they’re trying to adjust to this new normal with lack of structure and without sports, which are usually a huge outlet for them.” 

Currently all workouts are completely voluntary for student athletes, according to the NCAA. UMBC coaches are posting training videos mainly as a way to keep in touch with their teams and give the athletes a sense of normalcy that practicing might give them. In response to COVID-19, the NCAA has extended an additional season of eligibility to seniors playing spring sports, and Carone says that at this time, 10 student athletes have committed to returning next year.

Carone’s biggest piece of advice to her staff and students as they adjust to this time away from “normal” is to continue to live life with intention, be purposeful in all they do. As well as engaging in weekly wellness check ups with staff and distance workouts with coaches, Carone suggests students can always use “more time to be slow and still.” Her final piece of advice: “Stay connected as much as possible; be good to yourself and one another.”

Recreating essential in-person resources

In the Academic Success Center, it was clear that tutoring and supplemental instruction would be more important than ever if UMBC did move to a distant learning model. In early March, preparing for news that could come at any time, Amanda Knapp, associate vice provost and assistant dean, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, and others in ASC began gathering tools to help their staff of nearly 200 student tutors transition to online services. 

As a testament to their efforts, says Delana Gregg, director of Academic Learning Resources, Assessment, and Analysis, ASC’s complete catalog of services was available online the day after spring break. To lighten the load on students seeking help and mimic the one-stop-shop of services that ASC offers, a new website compiled the list of available resources and how to access them. 

The Academic Success Center has made the most of the University’s transition to remote learning. Photo courtesy of Delana Gregg.

“So far,” shares Gregg, Ph.D. ’19, language, literacy, and culture, “students tell us that having a staff member who they can talk to—who can help them develop a plan for success—makes all of this so much better.”

International Education Services (IES), which serves a population of students uniquely affected by COVID-19, has also seen an increase in webinar attendance and online traffic to their Town Halls and a new website with resources for UMBC’s current and incoming international students. 

These resources are the result of a series of surveys IES proactively sent out to international students and scholars before spring break, asking what resources they needed and how IES could best serve their needs during the COVID-19 disruption. International students face strict restrictions when it comes to working and supporting themselves in the United States, says Michelle Massey, associate director of International Student and Scholar Services. With many businesses closing or furloughing employees, international students are increasingly uncertain about their student status, while also carrying the burden of worrying about their families in other countries, some of which have closed their borders.

“It’s very difficult to know that so many of our international students are suffering financially, and not have more solutions to offer,” says Massey. “We encourage students, and each other within our team, to focus first and foremost on taking care of yourself, so we can still do our best work and contribute to the community as best we can.”

Hope on the horizon

One day, campus will reopen. No one knows what that will look like yet, but Michael Pound, director of Environmental Safety and Health and logistics chief for UMBC’s Incident Management team, is excited to think about it. Pound and his team led the charge to safely shut down campus and think through closing buildings where ongoing research occurs. 

UMBC leaders are working through what step are necessary to eventually re-open campus.

With graduation being the priority, some students were able to complete their experiments in time, others had to find alternative ways to finish. “That was the toughest part,” says Pound. “Telling students about to graduate, who only needed six more experiments to complete their work or graduate students not able to finish their dissertation research, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t keep doing this here.’” 

After Pound’s team successfully closed down most campus infrastructure, while providing for the skeleton crew of staff and students remaining, he was relieved to be able to focus on what it will take to gradually re-open campus and bring back high levels of research. 

“We know the mission of UMBC,” says Pound. “We’re all here to support students, and we’re excited to think about what that will look like when campus can reopen.”

*****

All photographs, unless otherwise noted, by Marlayna Demond ‘11.

Times Higher Education has just named UMBC one of the top universities worldwide for social and economic impact. Now in their second year, the Impact Rankings assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UN Member States adopted these goals in 2015 to boost progress toward gender equality, clean energy, sustainable cities, and 14 other key priorities by 2030. 

The newly released rankings include 766 institutions spanning 85 countries, an increase from the inaugural year’s 76 countries. UMBC is one of only 31 universities recognized from the United States. UMBC is also the only university in Maryland represented on the list. 

“As a globally engaged university, UMBC serves as an engine for cultural, economic, and workforce development in our region. UMBC also works to find solutions to many of the world’s most pressing challenges, from food security to gender equality to COVID-19,” says David Di Maria, associate vice provost for international education.

UMBC ranks within the top 55 universities globally on several of the SDGs, including reducing poverty, improving gender equality, reducing inequalities, life below water, and life on land. These rankings are based on information provided by the university on UMBC’s research and engagement. 

“This new ranking shines light on UMBC’s impact within local and global contexts,” says Di Maria. “I’m very pleased to see UMBC’s light shine as brightly on the world’s stage as it does here at home.”

Banner image: UMBC campus. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has honored UMBC’s Ciara Christian with its 2020 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award. Christian, M.A. ‘18, sociology, is a doctoral student in the language, literacy, and culture program. She is one of just seven graduate students out of 117 applicants from across the country to earn this honor. 

The award honors graduate students who are dedicated to teaching and learning in higher education. It highlights students whose exemplary work shows their commitment to academic and civic responsibility with a focus on equity and inclusion. 

Michele Wolff, director of UMBC’s Shriver Center and Christian’s mentor, describes her as a clear choice for this award. “She is a scholar and a visionary thinker,” says Wolff.

Working with communities, abroad and at home

Christian has long demonstrated a strong commitment to equity and inclusion in her work. Before enrolling at UMBC, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda. During her service, she helped to create curriculum and workshops to train incoming volunteers and Peace Corps staff. The volunteer training practices and materials she established actively addressed issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

After Rwanda, Christian joined UMBC as a Shriver Peaceworker Fellow, combining her graduate program with community service leadership and ethical reflection. She also served as a Sondheim Nonprofit Leadership Fellow. In that role, Christian assisted the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance with Baltimore Data Day. The day convened over 300 organizations to learn how to best use data to support Baltimore communities.

As a graduate assistant during her master’s program, Christian helped to develop the Grand Challenge Scholars Program. She worked with Marie desJardins, former associate dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology, to launch the program in 2016. 

Supporting major campus initiatives

Deepening her commitment to equity and inclusion work, Christian began to serve as a leader in campus-wide initiatives. She was part of the steering committee that established UMBC as one of ten AAC&U campus centers for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. She continues to work with the Shriver Center on how to better incorporate those principles in the center’s work. These insights help them improve their programs, marketing practices, and recruitment.

More recently, Christian collaborated with Michele Wolff and Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, on a landmark project for the university. She served as the graduate assistant who helped develop UMBC’s application for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. UMBC received this classification from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching this spring.

“Ciara has shared her perspective, insights, and expertise to enhance the learning of others,” says Wolff. “She continues to deepen her understanding, passion, and area of research, which contribute to our community. I’ve learned—and I know I will continue to learn—so much from her!”

Continuing transformative conversations

Christian was formally acknowledged for her work at the AAC&U conference earlier this year. As she furthers her doctoral studies, she will continue working with Michele Wolff and other campus leaders on new, high-impact projects. Now, Jasmine Lee, director of inclusive excellence,and Christian are helping first-year residential students develop skills for intercultural dialogue. This project will shift to meet student needs during the current distance learning period. 

Whether students are living together on campus or connecting online, “empathetic listening and understanding cultural backgrounds, ideas, and beliefs are key to building relationships,” says Christian. “These are the cornerstones of equity and inclusion work.”

Banner image: Ciara Christian. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

When junior Linehan Artist Scholar Etai Fuchs heard about the economic devastation the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking on the music industry, he knew he needed to respond. And as a music technology major, he realized he was in a unique position to help bands that had lost income because of canceled shows.   

“I created an online record label called Gardenhead Records,” he explained, “and released a  compilation recording that features and raises money for musicians whose performances have been canceled.” 

In all, Fuchs was able to include twenty-six tracks by twenty-six different bands, and the resulting album — Pandemic Artist Relief: Music in the Time of Covid-19 — was released exclusively on Bandcamp on April 10. All proceeds from sales of the recording will benefit the artists. 

“The best outcome would be to continue raising money for these musicians,” said Fuchs. “Some of them have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay rent, so my priority is to try and help these people out in any way that I can. Also, it’s great to be able to help promote music that I genuinely enjoy by lesser-known artists.” 

One song was authored by Tom Waterworth (writing under the pen name Firesites), an undergraduate at Newcastle University in the UK who studied music technology at UMBC as an exchange student.

Putting Skills to Work

The project engaged many of Fuchs’s music technology and entrepreneurship skills—he contacted the artists, started the label, created the artwork, reached out to media, and mastered the compilation. He’s also working on plans to livestream a concert featuring some of the artists.

“We are so proud of Etai’s project and its potential for positive impact during a difficult time!” said Linda Dusman, chair of the music department. “Etai’s work exemplifies the extraordinary creativity fostered in all of our music majors. Our faculty and students embody that creative spirit as performing, teaching, and composing musicians who contribute to the community through their artistry.”

Fuchs also recently released his own solo album, Bloodletting, which he describes as a collection of “very introspective indie folk and dream pop” written about core memories and experiences. After graduating, he plans to record and perform his music, organize music releases, book shows, and freelance in production and graphic design.

Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, applauded Fuchs’s efforts, as well.

“Etai Fuchs’s project, so perfect for this moment, also embodies UMBC’s long-standing values,” he said.  “It exemplifies entrepreneurship in the arts, and it reaches beyond our university community to assist other artists challenged by COVID-19 and the loss of live performance opportunities.”

Header image by Tom Waterworth.

New research on the structure of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has revealed a promising novel drug target for treating HIV infection, which affects more than 1 million Americans and 40 million people worldwide. The findings, published today in Science, show that the virus’s genetic code can be read in two different ways by the cells the virus has infected. The result is that infected cells make two different forms of the virus’s RNA.

“This functional diversity is essential for the virus to replicate in the body. So the virus has to have a proper balance between the two forms of RNA,” says Joshua Brown, Ph.D. ’18, biochemistry, and lead author on the study. “For decades, the scientific community has known that two different structural forms of HIV RNA exist—they just didn’t know what controls that balance. So our discovery that a single nucleotide is having a huge effect is a paradigm shift in understanding how HIV works.”

Crucially, “You can imagine that if you could come up with a drug that would target the genetic code at that one specific spot, and shift it to one conformation only, then it could prevent further infection, theoretically,” Brown says.

A new trajectory

“One of the things we’re working on now is testing different molecules that could shift the equilibrium between the two forms, so that it could potentially be used as a treatment for HIV,” says Issac Chaudry ’21, biochemistry and molecular biology, another author on the paper.

This exciting work comes from a research group led by Michael Summers, Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and Distinguished University Professor at UMBC. Summers has been conducting groundbreaking research on HIV for decades. Typically, the group’s focus is on basic science.

“Drug discovery isn’t the direction that the Summers lab usually goes, but this was such an impactful finding in a very attractive area, we took the initiative to start looking into it,” Brown says. “But we’re still in the very early stages.”

More effective treatments for more patients

Thanks to significant research on HIV over the last few decades, today AIDS is a manageable disease. Still, therapies can come with side effects, medication regimens can be complex, and treatment options can be limited for patients with other conditions, such as liver or kidney problems.

Many therapies, even if they come in the form of a single pill, contain several drugs targeting different parts of the virus’s replication cycle. That’s necessary because the HIV genetic code, which is made of RNA, mutates rapidly. This allows the virus to adapt and become resistant to current HIV therapies. If a drug targets an area that has mutated in a given patient, the drug may no longer work for them. By using several drugs at once, it’s more likely that the regimen will continue to work for longer.

But the area of the HIV RNA genome that this new research focuses on is “highly conserved.” This means the rate of mutation is less than other places in the genome, explains Ghazal Becker ’19, biological sciences and an author on the paper. The result is “there’s more chance of a drug that targets that region being effective for longer,” she says.

It might also mean that one drug would be enough, rather than patients needing several drugs to get the job done. “If you’re targeting a conserved region, you can potentially come up with a treatment plan that uses only one drug,” says Aishwarya Iyer ’18, M26, biochemistry and molecular biology, and an author on the paper. “It might have fewer side effects and could offer more treatment options to people with different health conditions.”

Expanding the research horizon

This new research opens up a range of opportunities for Brown’s research group and others. “We’re very interested to see how other labs will interpret our results, expand upon them, and possibly find other applications for this type of RNA function,” Brown says.

Those future results and any new therapies they enable could have a major impact. “Every time we get a new drug in HIV, we exponentially improve the chances of individuals finding a drug that works for them, where resistance is a little less likely,” says Hannah Carter ’17, biochemistry and molecular biology, and an author on the paper. “Every time a new drug can get on the scene, that’s a significant improvement for the lives of HIV patients.”

The research could have effects beyond HIV, too. “Some HIV research has laid the groundwork in how we understand coronaviruses,” Carter adds. “All basic science in HIV ends up having a ripple effect throughout all of virology.”

The ripple effect might go even farther. “The idea that a single nucleotide difference is changing the structure and function of RNA that is thousands of nucleotides long could open up a whole new aspect of cell biology,” Chaudry says. “It could be possible that there are mammalian genes that operate in a similar manner, and the entire mechanism might be something that’s applicable to other human genes as well. I think that whole paradigm could provide a new perspective for RNA biology.”

Carrying it forward

While these findings sound straightforward as described in the new Science paper, they represent a very large number of experiments completed by a dedicated team. “‘I’m very fortunate to have such a great group of students, because without them and their effort this definitely would not have been possible,” Brown says. The undergraduates on the team “were just as invested in this project as I was,” Brown says. “I really feel like they should get a Ph.D. out of this, too.”

Publishing in Science, arguably the most prestigious scientific journal in the world,is a big deal for any researcher. It’s very rare to have undergraduate authors on papers of this caliber; the new paper has 15 undergraduates and two Maryland high school student co-authors. All of them met the strict requirements for authorship: making a significant intellectual contribution to the research. Having such an accomplishment on their resumes will certainly help propel their research careers forward. 

“Everyone in the group felt the project was ours, and I think that really came out in our work ethic and the time we were willing to put into it,” Chaudry says. “Josh is really good about asking us what we think and bringing us into the experimental design process, so the undergrads and high school students actively participated in a lot of the problem solving and critical thinking that went into this paper.”

“Josh had really high expectations for us, which gave us really high expectations for ourselves,” Iyer adds. “That’s something I think all of us continue to carry when it comes to other lab experiences.”

These students, and the additional 11 authors who were undergraduates at the time they contributed, are all still working in labs. Brown completed his Ph.D. at UMBC in 2018, and just finished his M.D. at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He’s continuing to work in the Summers lab until he begins his residency this summer, unless he’s called up early to serve during the COVID-19 pandemic. Iyer is in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Becker is preparing to apply to medical school. Chaudry is beginning to apply for M.D./Ph.D. programs while finishing his bachelor’s degree at UMBC. Carter is in an M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan.

So, to Brown’s comment about earning a Ph.D. through this research, Carter says with a smile, “We’re working on it.”

Banner image: Joshua Brown, Ph.D. ’18, in the lab. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The UMBC Cyber Dawgs ranked #1 among university teams in a challenging cybersecurity competition hosted virtually by the University of Maryland, College Park on April 18. 

The Capture the Flag event was designed to test teams’ abilities to solve a variety of realistic cybersecurity problems. UMBC went head to head with both collegiate teams and teams of professionals from the industry, placing third overall and #1 among the universities.

Charles Nicholas, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and a Cyber Dawgs faculty advisor, says that the team’s win shows how well-prepared UMBC students are for careers in cybersecurity, and how committed they are to excelling in intercollegiate competition. “It speaks volumes about our students, their enthusiasm, and their character,” he says.

Reflecting on the Cyber Dawgs’ #3 overall finish, Nicholas shares, “The teams that beat us are made up of experienced cyber professionals, who do this sort of work for a living.” To end the competition as the leading university team and trailing just two professional teams was quite a feat, he notes, saying, “Our faculty and our university are very proud of these students.”

The Cyber Dawgs recently won the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. They are preparing for the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which will be held virtually in May.

Banner image: A person typing on a computer. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

by Lucy Wilson, Professor of Emergency Health Services, UMBC

As the grim reality of COVID-19 unfolds, families and health care workers in the United States are faced with dealing with the horrifying magnitude of deaths from this novel disease. This tragic situation brings forth the question of whether the bodies of patients who have died from COVID-19 provide a risk of infection in others.

I have worked for many years as an infectious disease doctor and public health official, during emerging disease outbreaks, such as Ebola virus disease in 2015. I have witnessed the extra challenges families experience when faced with the death of their loved ones from a highly transmissible infectious disease. For this current pandemic, here are the safety guidelines for dealing with deceased loved ones and the reasons why, from a scientific perspective.

Contagion risk decreases after death

Public health authorities have set out guidance for the management of the deceased based on current knowledge of both susceptibility to and transmissibility of the coronavirus.

The recommendations for handling those deceased from COVID-19 are based on knowledge that this novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is most commonly transmitted by respiratory droplets that are projected by a living person through coughing and sneezing. Therefore, after death, the risk from this respiratory mechanism is no longer present. However, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) can also be transmitted from indirect contact: that is, touching a surface contaminated with the virus and then self-contaminating by touching one’s eyes, nose or mouth.

Preventing transmission when handling the deceased is achieved by “contact precautions,” which includes wearing a gown and gloves and hand-washing after removing these barriers. The deceased is placed in a body bag and the bag is then wiped down with EPA-approved disinfecting wipes prior to transportation.

This guidance holds in the funeral home setting as well, except there are additional instructions for preventing airborne transmission of coronavirus when certain body processing procedures, such as embalming, are performed.

This type of guidance in the health care setting is fairly standard for handling the deceased who is potentially infectious, given the risk of indirect contact of the patient with surrounding medical equipment, bedding and furniture.

During the Ebola pandemic, much stricter guidance was enforced, but this was also related to the tremendous amount of infectious fluids that were produced by a symptomatic patient, including profuse diarrhea. These precautions also took into consideration the extremely high mortality rate from Ebola.

At that time in 2015, I was working as a public health professional, and was involved in the determination of the best procedures to prevent cross-contamination when transferring a deceased patient with Ebola to the hospital morgue or elsewhere. A team of doctors, nurses and public health practitioners developed a protocol in a biocontainment unit with a patient mannequin and special chemical markers that could reveal contamination of surfaces via ultraviolet light.

This team was able to determine that multiple body bags were needed to prevent external contamination of the body bags being used. A careful manipulation of the patient, the bedding, proper personal protective equipment for staff and two stretchers was needed to achieve this level of caution.

Post-mortem safety for families

For families, there are many sad realities that need to be considered in the event of a death from COVID-19. While currently families are not allowed in the hospital to visit their loved ones, deaths in the home of those suspected of COVID-19 infection have been reported.

Again, given that breathing has stopped, the risk of transmission from coughing, sneezing and other mouth secretions is no longer a concern, but contact with surfaces that the patient could have previously contaminated remains. It is known that the virus can stay viable on surfaces for days, so all nearby surfaces should be considered infectious. Family members should thoroughly clean surfaces and bedding, wearing gloves and a washable or disposable cover up, if available.

Regarding funerals, when it is deemed safe to have a small gathering, or if exposed family members have completed their 14 day quarantine period, there is guidance on safety in those situations. There is no known risk of being in the same room at a funeral or visitation service with the body of someone who has died from COVID-19.

The CDC recommends not touching, kissing or hugging the deceased, though acknowledges that touching a hand or clothing after the body has been prepared for viewing is lower risk if hand-washing can then immediately occur.

Those at higher risk of complications of COVID-19 should use extra precaution in this setting. If there are important religious or cultural practices, such as shrouding or washing of the body, funeral home staff and local cultural and religious leaders can be involved to optimize reducing the risk of exposure.

Processing of the deceased can be achieved by cremation or embalming, and burial is allowed. For people who have died outside of the United States or need transportation for funeral services, federal and state guidelines need to be followed. For international transport, bodies can be transported if cremated, if embalmed and placed in a hermetically sealed casket or if the remains are accompanied by a CDC permit. This permit must be issued by the CDC director and allows for the importation of a person known or suspected of death from a quarantinable communicable disease.

How families can prepare

1. Know your risk of complications from COVID-19.
2. Know how to care for yourself and someone sick in your home.
3. Know the warning signs of COVID-19 complications needing emergency medical care.
4. Understand your hospital policy on visitation of someone sick with COVID-19.
5. Learn the infection control and visitation policy in your family member’s nursing home or assisted living facility.
6. Discuss end-of-life decisions with loved ones: living will, advanced directives, funeral and life ceremony wishes.
7. Know the CDC recommendations for handling the deceased in the home and in funeral homes.
8. Prepare personal wills and child care plans in the event of death or prolonged hospitalization.

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Header image: Workers wearing protective gear remove bodies of people who have died from COVID-19 from a New Jersey nursing home morgue. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Image

Lucy Wilson, Professor of Emergency Health Services, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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

by Kathryn McKinley, Professor of English, UMBC

The coronavirus can infect anyone, but recent reporting has shown your socioeconomic status can play a big role, with a combination of job security, access to health care and mobility widening the gap in infection and mortality rates between rich and poor.

The wealthy work remotely and flee to resorts or pastoral second homes, while the urban poor are packed into small apartments and compelled to keep showing up to work.

As a medievalist, I’ve seen a version of this story before.

Following the 1348 Black Death in Italy, the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio wrote a collection of 100 novellas titled, “The Decameron.” These stories, though fictional, give us a window into medieval life during the Black Death – and how some of the same fissures opened up between the rich and the poor. Cultural historians today see “The Decameron” as an invaluable source of information on everyday life in 14th-century Italy.

Boccaccio was born in 1313 as the illegitimate son of a Florentine banker. A product of the middle class, he wrote, in “The Decameron,” stories about merchants and servants. This was unusual for his time, as medieval literature tended to focus on the lives of the nobility.

“The Decameron” begins with a gripping, graphic description of the Black Death, which was so virulent that a person who contracted it would die within four to seven days. Between 1347 and 1351, it killed between 40% and 50% of Europe’s population. Some of Boccaccio’s own family members died.

In this opening section, Boccaccio describes the rich secluding themselves at home, where they enjoy quality wines and provisions, music and other entertainment. The very wealthiest – whom Boccaccio describes as “ruthless” – deserted their neighborhoods altogether, retreating to comfortable estates in the countryside, “as though the plague was meant to harry only those remaining within their city walls.”

Meanwhile, the middle class or poor, forced to stay at home, “caught the plague by the thousand right there in their own neighborhood, day after day” and swiftly passed away. Servants dutifully attended to the sick in wealthy households, often succumbing to the illness themselves. Many, unable to leave Florence and convinced of their imminent death, decided to simply drink and party away their final days in nihilistic reveries, while in rural areas, laborers died “like brute beasts rather than human beings; night and day, with never a doctor to attend them.”

After the bleak description of the plague, Boccaccio shifts to the 100 stories. They’re narrated by 10 nobles who have fled the pallor of death hanging over Florence to luxuriate in amply stocked country mansions. From there, they tell their tales.

One key issue in “The Decameron” is how wealth and advantage can impair people’s abilities to empathize with the hardships of others. Boccaccio begins the forward with the proverb, “It is inherently human to show pity to those who are afflicted.” Yet in many of the tales he goes on to present characters who are sharply indifferent to the pain of others, blinded by their own drives and ambition.

In one story, a dead man returns from hell every Friday and ritually slaughters a different woman who had rejected him during his lifetime. In another, a widow fends off a leering priest by tricking him into sleeping with her maid. In a third, the narrator praises a character for his undying loyalty to his friend when, in fact, he has profoundly betrayed him over many years.

Humans, Boccaccio seems to be saying, can think of themselves as upstanding and moral – but unawares, they may show indifference to others. We see this in the 10 storytellers themselves: They make a pact to live virtuously in their well-appointed retreats. Yet while they pamper themselves, they indulge in some stories that illustrate brutality, betrayal and exploitation.

Boccaccio wanted to challenge his readers, and make them think about their responsibilities to others. “The Decameron” raises the questions: How should the rich treat the poor during a time of widespread suffering? What is the value of a life?

In our own pandemic – with some of the most well-off now clamoring for the economy to re-open, despite the ongoing spread of the disease – these issues are strikingly relevant.

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Kathryn McKinley, Professor of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Header image: A tale from The Decameron, by John William Waterhouse, Public Domain.

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

UMBC students are no strangers to ingenuity. When a fire alarm went off during last year’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD), presenters rolled up their posters and continued discussing their work outside without skipping a beat. This year, due to COVID-19, the 24th annual iteration of URCAD calls for creative dexterity at a whole new level. 

Now spanning April 22 – 29, the event has transitioned to a week-long online symposium. (See project sneak peeks here!)

The virtual celebration of undergraduate achievement will allow presenters to showcase their research and interact with UMBC attendees through the VoiceThread (VT) platform. Students’ posters and slides—including art, performances, and video games—will be available all week long for any attendee to enjoy. 

Visitors can simply visit the URCAD presenter listing and click on the VT icon by any student project to access it. Projects will also be viewable by department.

“The students have shown an amazing amount of resilience during the transition to moving their presentations online for URCAD,” says April Householder ’95,visual and performing arts, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships. 

“This, in itself, is a valuable research skill,” she shares. “One of the benefits of participating in URCAD is students learn that part of the research process is being able to adjust to ever-changing circumstances. Sometimes technologies fail. You lose data. Experiments don’t work. The ability to persevere and adapt is so important.” 

New platform, same depth of research

At the virtual event—like every year—viewers can expect robust research spanning a wide range of subjects. VoiceThread will facilitate audience engagement to mirror the in-person presentation experience. Those with a UMBC login will be able to make comments on the projects. And student presenters can receive feedback and respond to questions throughout the week.

Projects rooted in the humanities and social sciences will cover topics from around the globe, in the present and the past. One project examines South Africa as a case study in supporting a wide array of languages within a society. Others focus on inclusive sexual health education in public high schools and how the New York Times has covered immigration policy over time. One student will discuss “de-cyborging” herself by consciously detaching from her phone for set periods of time. 

Some of the research feels especially prescient as UMBC students take on issues in health and medicine. One project enhances and visualizes human disease networks to reduce healthcare costs. Another group of students is working on more effectively treating HIV, with research that could improve therapies targeting the HIV-1 replication cycle.

Other projects work to create technical solutions to real-world needs. Examples include voice-activated assistants for individuals who are blind as well as a design for an autonomous, low-cost, and accessible electric mobility vehicle.

Bypassing technical hurdles

While each discipline faces challenges in adapting to the new format, the visual and performing arts have additional barriers. Some of the showcases, originally meant to be staged as live performances, could not be filmed prior to social distancing. 

Now, students are working around the limitations by submitting rehearsal footage or stills in lieu of performances. Others are reimagining their performances in an online environment, using new recording technologies, says Householder. 

• “terminal,” choreographed by Emily Godfrey ’20, dance. Image courtesy of Godfrey.

Despite the change to a virtual venue, of the original 350 URCAD presenters, 330 still plan to participate in the event. This number nods to UMBC students’ resiliency in the face of this challenging moment.

Preserving the “spirit of URCAD”

Householder is heartened, but not surprised, by the ways UMBC students have risen to meet this challenge. After all, UMBC’s community of inquiring minds is not limited to a specific location.

With the students bringing their all to the event, she’s now working to encourage the UMBC community to join in as well, to appreciate and engage with students’ research and creative work.

“We invite faculty, staff, and students to ask questions, give feedback, and offer constructive criticism,” says Householder. “Our presenters will take those community reflections back to their labs, desks, and studios, to make their work even stronger.”

Featured image: From URCAD 2020 presenter Liam Garrett’s project “The Digital Art Movement: Its Role In Spreading Awareness About Endangered Animals.” Image courtesy of Liam Garrett ‘21, graphic design.