New research by UMBC’s Glenn Wolfe and collaborators is shaping how scientists understand the fate of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in Earth’s atmosphere.

Of the greenhouse gases, methane has the second greatest overall effect on climate after carbon dioxide. And the longer it stays in the atmosphere, the more heat it traps. That’s why it’s essential for climate models to properly represent how long methane lasts before it’s broken down. That happens when a methane molecule reacts with a hydroxyl radical—an oxygen atom bound to a hydrogen atom, represented as OH—in a process called oxidation. Hydroxyl radicals also destroy other hazardous air pollutants.

“OH is really the most central oxidizing agent in the lower atmosphere. It controls the lifetime of nearly every reactive gas,” explains Wolfe, an assistant research professor at UMBC’s Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology. However, “globally, we don’t have a way to directly measure OH.” More than that, it’s well understood that current climate models struggle to accurately simulate OH. With existing methods, scientists can infer OH at a coarse scale, but there is scant information on the where, when, and why of variations in OH.

New research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by Wolfe puts scientists on the path to changing that. Wolfe and colleagues have developed a unique way to infer how global OH concentrations vary over time and in different regions. Better understanding of OH levels can help scientists understand how much of the ups and downs in global methane levels are due to changing emissions, such as from oil and natural gas production or wetlands, versus being caused by changing levels of OH.

A flying laboratory

NASA satellites have been measuring atmospheric formaldehyde concentrations for over 15 years. Wolfe’s new research relies on that data, plus new observations collected during NASA’s recent Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission. ATom has flown four around-the-world circuits, sampling air with the aid of a NASA research aircraft.

This “flying laboratory,” as Wolfe describes it, collected data on atmospheric formaldehyde and OH levels that illustrates a remarkably simple relationship between the two gases. This did not surprise the scientists, because formaldehyde is a major byproduct of methane oxidation, but this study provides the first concrete observation of the correlation between formaldehyde and OH. The findings also showed that the formaldehyde concentrations the plane measured are consistent with those measured by the satellites. That will allow Wolfe’s team and others to use existing satellite data to infer OH levels throughout most of the atmosphere.

“So the airborne measurements give you a ground truth that that relationship exists,” Wolfe says, “and the satellite measurements let you extend that relationship around the whole globe.”

Wolfe, however, is the first to acknowledge that the work to improve global models is far from done. The airplane measured OH and formaldehyde levels over the open ocean, where the air chemistry is relatively simple. It would be more complicated over a forest, and even more so over a city.

While the relationship the researchers determined provides a solid baseline, as most of Earth’s air does, indeed, float above oceans, more work is needed to see how OH levels differ in more complex environments. Potentially, different data from existing NASA satellites, such as those tracking emissions from urban areas or wildfires, could help.

Wolfe hopes to keep refining this work, which he says is at “the nexus of the chemistry and climate research communities. And they’re very interested in getting OH right.”

Getting it right

The current study did consider seasonal variations in OH, by analyzing measurements taken in February and August. “The seasonality is one aspect of this study that’s important,” Wolfe says, “because the latitude where OH is at its maximum moves around.” Considering seasonal shifts in OH concentrations, or even multi-year shifts caused by phenomena like El Niño and La Niña, could be one angle to explore when trying to improve global climate models.

Looking further at OH levels on a global scale using satellite data validated by airplane data could also help scientists refine their models. “You can use the spatial variability and the seasonality to understand at the process level what’s driving OH, and then ask if the model gets that right or not,” Wolfe says. “The idea is to be able to poke at all these features, where we haven’t really had any data to do that with before.”

This new research is one step in the journey to enhancing our understanding of the global climate, even as it is rapidly changing. More accurately understanding how, for example, cutting methane emissions would affect the climate, and how quickly, could even influence policy decisions.

“It’s not perfect. It needs work,” Wolfe says. “But the potential is there.”

Image: The NASA research aircraft used for the ATom mission. Photo by Susan McFadden for NASA.

UMBC’s communications team has earned an Excellence in News Writing Award for research, medicine, and science news writing from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). UMBC was one of just two universities to receive the award in the mid-Atlantic, CASE’s largest district, representing 700 U.S. and Canadian colleges and independent schools.

The UMBC entry, “Big Reach, Big Impact,” focused on how writers in UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement collaborate with partners across the university to produce and distribute stories that resonate with broad audiences. While Retriever Nation is a core audience for UMBC News, articles also often reach news media, organizations that support research, and prospective students, faculty, and staff, who are still getting a sense of what UMBC is all about.

Using new tools to understand nature

“Big Reach, Big Impact” included four articles from diverse research fields.

Sarah Hansen

“Two species of ravens nevermore?”, written by Sarah Hansen, M.S. ’15, biological sciences, highlights a groundbreaking study, almost 20 years in the making, on “speciation reversal” in ravens. This term describes two distinct lineages hybridizing and eventually merging into one.

“We examined genomic data from hundreds of ravens collected across North America,” says Anna Kearns, the study’s first author. She’s a former UMBC postdoc who is now at the Smithsonian Center for Conservation Genomics.

Kearns explains that advances in next-generation genomics have made new findings possible, but there are still major hurdles. She shares, “Integrating all of the results across so many individuals, and from such diverse datasets, has been one of the most challenging aspects of this study.”

Two ravens preening. Photo by John Marzluff.

Joining Kearns in authoring the Nature Communications paper were PI Kevin Omland, professor of biological sciences, and researchers from multiple universities in the U.S. and abroad. In the typical UMBC way, undergraduates played an important role in the research, analyzing mitochondrial DNA. Both Jin Kim ’16, biological sciences, and Hayley Richardson ’17, statistics, are coauthors on the study.

“The bottom line is [speciation reversal] is a natural evolutionary process, and it’s probably happened in hundreds or almost certainly thousands of lineages all over the planet,” explains Omland.

He notes, “One of our biggest goals is to just have people aware of this process, so when they see interesting patterns in their data, they won’t say, ‘That must be a mistake,’ or, ‘That’s too complicated to be correct.’”

The Washington Post, The Guardian, National Geographic, Atlas Obscura, Science Magazine, and several other news outlets covered this research.

UMBC’s CASE award entry also included an article by Hansen on how UMBC physicists discovered that African wildfires are impacting climate in unexpected ways. The study was the work of Zhibo Zhang, associate professor of atmospheric physics, Ph.D. students Chamara Rajapakshe and Zhifeng Yang, and collaborators from across the U.S. and China.

The team examined what happens in clouds when smoke from fires in central and southern Africa is swept westward over the Atlantic Ocean. They used data from a LiDAR system on the International Space Station to solve this highly complex puzzle.

View from a data-collecting aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean, where a layer of smoke is visible above the clouds. Photo from NASA/Kirk Knobelspiesse.

Honoring a collaborative community of scholars

Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque

Another article in UMBC’s winning entry highlights the research achievements of several history faculty. Written by Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque, the piece opens by introducing Christy Ford Chapin, associate professor and author of Ensuring America’s Health. After writing her in-depth history of the U.S. health insurance system, Ford Chapin received a Kluge Fellowship to immerse herself in the banking and finance collections of the U.S. Library of Congress.

The article describes that Chapin “loves how historians seek answers buried in documents, archives, museums, libraries, basements, attics and forgotten filing cabinets.”

“We have to be like private investigators,” Chapin told Dansberger Duque. “I was really intimidated by the research aspect early on in my graduate career, but then I fell in love with the hunt for primary sources and the process of putting together pieces of the evidence puzzle.”

Also featured in the article is Meredith Oyen, associate professor, who held a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellowship, studying the resettlement of refugees in China after WWII. Oyen followed a paper trail from Shanghai to Taipei, London, and Washington, DC to gather clues on what occurred.

Meredith Oyen in the UMBC Commons.

Marjoleine Kars, associate professor and chair, and Kate Brown, former professor, who is now at MIT, completed Braudel Senior Fellowships at the European University Institute. While there, Kars worked on her book about one of the largest rebellions of enslaved people in Atlantic history. Brown continued her research on the lasting impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

What made these faculty fellowships possible? Kars shared, “One core aspect of UMBC comes to mind: our collaborative community of scholars. This is what makes it possible for us to explore unique research opportunities around the world, and what draws us back to UMBC each time, to share what we’ve learned.”

Building international cybersecurity connections

Megan Hanks Mastrola

A series of articles on UMBC’s research impact would be incomplete without highlighting the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park. An article by Megan Hanks Mastrola announced UMBC’s new iCyberCenter, designed to help international cybersecurity companies establish a U.S. presence.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced plans for the center during a trade mission to the United Kingdom in 2017. The iCyberCenter later launched with a focus on intensive training for the executives of select international companies seeking to connect with the U.S. market. The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and Technical.ly Baltimore covered this important news and later developments in UMBC’s cybersecurity collaborations.

UMBC Pres. Freeman Hrabowski announces the launch of UMBC’s iCyberCenter@bwtech.

Always more stories

Dinah Winnick

Dinah Winnick, director of communications and content strategy and UMBC News editor, accepted the award on behalf of UMBC at the CASE District II conference in Philadelphia earlier this spring. The communications team previously received an Excellence in News Writing Award in 2017 for a series of stories demonstrating UMBC’s joint commitment to research and teaching.

2018 CASE Achievement Awards included articles written through June 2018. Since then, UMBC News and UMBC Magazine have published dozens more articles highlighting a remarkable diversity of UMBC research projects.

Among popular pieces in the last few months are articles on faculty mentors helping undergraduates build their research skills, award-winning aquatic research by Ph.D. students, more inclusive scholarship on medieval women, and laser-based IED detection technology for combat zones.

Sign up on UMBC News to receive UMBC’s weekly Top Stories email.

Featured image: UMBC’s campus in spring 2019. Photos are by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC, unless otherwise noted.

The COEIT Celebration has quickly become a defining annual event for the community of faculty, staff, and students in UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). The celebration showcases the achievements of COEIT’s numerous highly active student organizations and senior capstone projects. It’s also an opportunity for COEIT Dean Keith J Bowman to reflect on the year and to honor those whose work has been essential to the College’s impact and growth.

Throughout the year, innovative research and strong teaching have contributed to student success, and have also helped faculty establish new connections and opportunities. “The COEIT Celebration allows our community to acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments of our faculty, students, and staff at all levels,” Bowman says.

Student achievements

Each academic program recognized students who have demonstrated strong leadership during their time at UMBC.

Information systems recognized Victor Cho and Musarrat Khan as Superior Students. Noah Owens and Michael Piccinini, both in business technology administration; computer science’s Aditya Kaliappan; and Edward Hanson, computer engineering, received Student Leadership Awards. Chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering (CBEE) recognized Elizabeth Tan and mechanical engineering honored Shannon Clancy with Student Leadership Awards as well.

Two departments also presented special named awards. Information systems honored Jana Burns with the Vijay Jose Award for exceptional involvement in student life. CSEE presented Emily C. McGovern with the Manoharshyam Joshi Award for a computer science student who has demonstrated exemplary achievement in a multitude of areas across academics, service, and leadership.

Beyond these specific awards, the College and Provost’s Office recognized nearly a hundred graduating seniors for their outstanding achievements in academics and research.

Faculty and staff honors

During the COEIT Celebration, the Provost’s Office presented five COEIT faculty members with awards for their commitment to excellence. Jeffrey Ray, a graduate faculty member in the systems engineering program through the Division of Professional Studies, and William Ryan, an adjunct faculty member in information systems, received Adjunct Faculty Excellence Awards.

Jianwu Wang, assistant professor of information systems, received the Early Career Faculty Excellence Award, and Carolyn Seaman, associate professor of information systems and interim director of UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology, was presented with the Mid-Career Faculty Excellence Award. During the Celebration, Mariajosé Castellanos, senior lecturer in CBEE, was recognized for her innovative pedagogical approach with the Excellence in Teaching Award.

The COEIT Dean’s Office also honored staff members for their dedication and service. Joshua Abrams, assistant director and advisor of COEIT’s Undergraduate Student Services; Lina Chung, program management specialist in information systems; and Michael Frizzell, engineering technician in CBEE, were recognized with 2019 Staff Awards for Superior Service.

“The COEIT Celebration is a day of fun for students, faculty, and staff. It is truly a celebration, and a chance for graduating students to share the festivities with family, friends, and mentors,” says Catherine Bielawski, assistant dean for undergraduate student services in the College. “This annual spring event exposes underclassmen to the breadth of opportunities offered at UMBC.”

Read more stories of COEIT student achievement on UMBC News, on students who have had transformative study abroad experiences; who have created their own highly unique UMBC paths; who have found inspiration in their life experiences; and who have come to UMBC from abroad and found meaningful personal connections on campus.

All photos by Chris Ferenzi Photography.

Commencement 2019—around 2,000 brilliant graduates destined to change the world, droves of mentors whose support made everything possible, and one tornado warning that tried to rain on our parade. But as is the UMBC way, we weathered the storm.

This year’s spring commencement exercises featured memorable special guests. Distinguished speakers included Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski, Jr., Ph.D. ’17, public policy; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop, and National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow. And don’t forget a special appearance by the world’s most photogenic service dog, Chief.

The Class of 2019 is remarkable in so many ways, with their dogged drive and relentless commitment to pursuing their passions. They also have a deep focus on international exploration, whether they’ve come to UMBC from abroad or travel the world with UMBC as a home base.

UMBC’s new graduates boast a Rhodes Scholar finalist and a co-founder of the Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference, the nation’s first conference for Black women economists. And a record 14 new and recent UMBC grads were just named Fulbright Scholars. But even with all they’ve already achieved, we know the best is yet to come for these leaders.

Linda Wiratan, biochemistry and molecular biology, and Samiksha Manjani, political science, represented the Class of 2019 as valedictorians. Their inspiring messages focused on the importance of working together to enact real change in the world.

Congratulations, UMBC graduates!

Graduates and those cheering them on can share memories, well wishes, and photos through #UMBCgrad. View UMBC’s Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter accounts for coverage of the festivities. Videos can be found on UMBC’s YouTube page.

All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

In 1989, Baltimore philanthropist Robert E. Meyerhoff sat down with then-UMBC vice provost Freeman Hrabowski with a bold vision for the University—to create a program that would offer high-achieving African American men a doorway into STEM scholarship at the highest levels. Thirty years later, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program is a national leader on the forefront of efforts to increase diversity among future leaders—both women and men—in science, engineering, and related fields. Because of that, UMBC is also the leading producer nationally of African American undergraduates who go on to earn M.D./Ph.D. degrees.

This spring, as the program celebrates its 30th anniversary with its more than 1,100 alumni worldwide, Meyerhoff and Hrabowski sat down again to discuss the impact of what they started. This is an edited excerpt of that conversation.

Hrabowski:  Bob, you may recall that at that time UMBC was having a challenge in that young African Americans were coming in wanting to major in science or pre-med, and they were not doing well. They were not doing well….

Bob Embry of the Abell Foundation called me and he said, “Bob Meyerhoff has an interest in talking to you.” And when I got to you, it was like a marriage made in heaven, because all you did, the whole time, was ask me questions. You were trying to understand the problems, and the issues, and you did tell me, I will never forget it, that you truly believed that if children were given the same opportunities as your children, with the same support, they would do just as well. They would do quite well. And that’s how we got started.

Meyerhoff: And, there’s no question about it, that I was impressed right from the beginning with the first class. the students you had … were really impressive….And almost every year, they are more impressive.

Hrabowski: And let me just say, the fact that [the] Howard Hughes [Medical Institute] has put so much money into replicating the program at other places, and that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is just starting this process out in California, replicating the program, says a lot. The most important thing is…you have to have people who really care, and as you said at the beginning, who believe these young people can do it. And then we have to be clear about those expectations…And then we have to evaluate and be honest about what works and what doesn’t work. That makes the difference.

Meyerhoff: I’m so proud. I mean, if I wasn’t proud of them, I wouldn’t like the idea they call themselves Meyerhoffs. It’s complimentary to me that they’re called Meyerhoffs. I mean, they’re all much more educated in science than I am, and they have accomplished much more in science and engineering than I have or ever could. So I’m so very proud of the fact that they are where they are. They’re just so outstanding, and they’re just proving day after day after day how successful the program is.

Hrabowski: That’s right. And you have been a pioneer in being a visionary for this program, and these students are pioneers, because many have become the first African American, for example, or the first woman to complete these degrees. And once the first does it, then other people say, “I want to be like that.”

Meyerhoff: Right.

Hrabowski: “And I want to do that.” And that’s for every race in the program, for every possible group, they have been leading and showing other kids that it can be done…

You know when I think about it, this 30th anniversary, Bob, represents two things. Number one, your belief in the dream. The dream that these young people could excel. And number two, the magical notion that this is a time that we celebrate dreams realized. These are dreams realized, when you look out and you see hundreds of young people who are now serving society as scientists, and engineers, and physicians, we can’t help but think dreams realized. We continue to hold fast to dreams.

For more information about the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and the 30th Anniversary Celebration, visit meyerhoff.umbc.edu.

*****

Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11. 

At a hackathon last year, two UMBC students took a stand against online harassment through tech innovation, forming a partnership that would become MindStand Technologies. Founders Michael Ogunsanya ‘20, M28, economics, and Eric Solender ‘20, computer science, believe there is such tremendous potential to make headway on this problem that, as Ogunsanya explains, “We want people to connect with the idea before they connect with the company.”

Together, they’ve developed a tool that can detect troubling online behaviors, like cyberbullying. It provides an interactive dashboard and real-time alerts based on a powerful algorithm that is already gaining attention.

To get to this point, they’ve taken advantage of support from UMBC’s entrepreneurship programs. Last fall, MindStand Technologies earned second place in UMBC’s 2018 Idea Competition, hosted by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, confirming for the team that their idea could really take off and have a positive impact. Now, they’ve won second place at UMBC’s sixth annual Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC).

Connecting student entrepreneurs with mentors

The Shark Tank-style CBIC is an annual opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students who are serious about starting a business, and have already begun realizing their ideas, to present to a panel of judges before an audience of community members, including faculty, staff, alumni, and corporate partners. Ahead of the event, each team is paired with an industry mentor who provides guidance and professional advice.

The structure of the event and its focus on mentorship are inspired by the vision of entrepreneur Greg Cangialosi ‘96, English. Throughout the process, the teams have access to support from Cangialosi and Vivian Armor ‘73, American studies, director of UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship.

Using technology to address challenges across industries

First prize in the competition went to Dan Lee ‘19, computer science, for Dentuit Imaging, which he hopes will help dentists diagnose patients with challenging conditions. The technology will identify and annotate possible problems on patients’ dental images.

Lee is working with collaborators, including Joe Weissman, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. student focusing on machine learning, to develop a prototype that he hopes will be available in the summer. One key part of the work will be training the system to identify potential dental issues. “The more labeled images there are, the better,” Lee explains.

Akshay Peshave, M.S. ‘14, Ph.D. ‘19, computer science, earned third place for Karotene, which works to connect researchers in fields from medicine and physics to computing with information and data needed to do their work. The technology, explains Peshave, allows researchers to more easily address pain points as they are conducting research, including challenges related to collaborating with people across the country and around the world.

Peshave will use the funding that he earned through CBIC to finalize the legal paperwork needed to officially launch the company. He is also working to build Karotene’s advisory board, while refining the product for market release.

Utilizing networking opportunities at UMBC

MindStand Technologies, the second place winner, has already begun moving forward in significant ways. Ogunsanya and Solender have secured office space in bwtech@UMBC’s North campus. There, they spend time each week working to advance their technology and grow their business.

Ogunsanya and Solender are particularly focused on connecting with experts beyond tech fields who can provide insights essential to making their tool effective and ensuring it is used in thoughtful, ethical ways. Project collaborator Pamela Rakhshan Rouhakhtar Ph.D. ‘22, psychology, describes MindStand Technologies as a “true multidisciplinary team.”

Jason Schiffman, professor of psychology, provides valuable mentorship to help the group keep their mission, ethics, and philosophy at top of mind at all times — asking if each decision is both correct and good. Rouhakhtar and Solendar met while working in Schiffman’s psychology lab. They share that he often talks about the importance of working at the intersection of what you love and what you are good at, and that this is what MindStand Technologies is all about.

Taking advantage of the networking and skills-building opportunities at UMBC has been key to his company’s success, Ogunsanya says. He encourages future student-entrepreneurs to not shy away from “using all of UMBC’s channels” to turn their ideas into a reality.

Banner image: The MindStand Technologies team. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

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Many students come to UMBC with the goal of leaving the familiar behind to take on new challenges and gain a fresh perspective. Once they’re on campus, that’s also what inspires some Retrievers to explore international learning opportunities.

Balancing course requirements, activities, research, and other responsibilities, while also pursuing study abroad, can prove challenging. But for these four UMBC students earning undergraduate degrees this month, it’s also been transformative.

Building self-confidence for any situation

When Aliyah Smith ’19, mechanical engineering, started at UMBC as a Meyerhoff Scholar in 2015, she knew right away that she wanted to study abroad in her first year. She was also worried that it would be a challenge to graduate on time in an engineering major if she pursued study abroad, so she took a very strategic approach: an international summer internship. It worked out seamlessly, with Smith enjoying a nine-week mechanical engineering internship at the University of Oxford. That summer also left her with an intense travel bug.

Smith became determined to find a semester-long study abroad opportunity that could fit her degree plan, and that could immerse her in a culture different from others she had experienced before. She spent the spring 2018 semester studying at American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. With help from her department and UMBC’s Education Abroad Office, she coordinated her course plan to make all the pieces fit together.

“As an engineering student and future engineer, I believe gaining a global perspective is imperative,” Smith says. “My goal as an engineer is to help solve the world’s problems and studying abroad has helped me view problems through a different lens.”

“Studying abroad has taught me how to connect and form relationships with people that are different from myself. It has allowed me to see the similarities and differences among cultures and more particularly, appreciate the differences,” Smith says.

From a practical, professional angle, she notes, “Most research groups are comprised of engineers from around the world. It is very important that I know how to collaborate with the people in these groups.”

Smith’s international experiences have also helped her grow in ways that apply to aspects of her life beyond academics. “At eighteen, I had to figure out how to travel from country to country and problem solve on my own, forcing me to be more outgoing and self-reliant,” she shares. Through study abroad she grew her self-confidence and fine-tuned skills “that I can apply to any situation and in any job, such as interpersonal skills, diligence, and persistence.”

In the fall, Smith will attend Stanford University’s Ph.D. program in aeronautics and astronautics. She also recently shared her experience as a Meyerhoff Scholar in a special segment on WYPR, Baltimore’s NPR station.

Growing international experience

As a 14 year old, Gabriela “Gabi” Salas ’19 traveled to Ecuador for a service trip and was troubled by inequalities experienced by young women in the community where she worked. That trip “solidified my commitment to service” she says. It also led her to apply to UMBC’s Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar program and to major in global studies and gender and women’s studies, to prepare her to have an impact through her career.

On campus, Salas became actively involved with the Hispanic Latino Student Union and with the Global Brigades and Human Rights Brigade programs. An alternative spring break program with Global Brigades took her to Panama. “It did so much for me in terms of adding to my experience of working with Latin American women.” That trip also confirmed for her that working on reproductive health research and policy in relationship to Latinx women was the path she wanted to follow.

Salas earned an Undergraduate Research Award to develop a project on the use and accessibility of contraception for women students at UMBC, mentored by Amy Bhatt, associate professor of gender and women’s studies. She evaluated what contraception women at UMBC access through surveys and interviews. Her goal was to explore whether or not stratified reproduction is embedded in our society enough to impact the reproductive rights of college-aged women.

Salas also had the opportunity to spend a summer researching Mexican-American women’s reproductive health with a faculty member at Columbia University. This work furthered her interest in the field and her commitment to earning a Ph.D. to pursue sociological research on reproductive health. Along the way, she says, UMBC’s Sondheim Scholars and Shriver Center communities have supported her vision and goals, and helped her pursue her passions.

Seeing global challenges from different perspectives

Emily Duan ‘19, mechanical engineering, had always been intrigued by German design and engineering and longed to experience an extended stay in a country where she did not speak the language.

The Center for Women in Technology Scholar got to do just that through the International Winter University program at the University of Kassel in 2018. During the three-week intensive study, language, and cultural immersion program, Duan completed an environmental engineering course on renewable energy sources, an intensive German language course, and lived with a host family in Kassel, Germany.

Duan noted that she studied in Germany with students from around the world and that doing so allowed her to “view global challenges from different perspectives.” She shares, “It taught me to approach problems cautiously to avoid making erroneous assumptions, as well as appreciate the value of diversity in a group.”

Duan was especially happy to find the winter program in Kassel as she devoted her college career summers to internship experiences. She worked in automotive and energy research at Oakland University in 2016, at Baltimore Gas and Electric with the Distribution Systems Operations Support Group in 2017, and as a Robotics Institute Summer Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University in 2018.

In the fall, Duan will attend North Carolina State University’s Ph.D. program in mechanical engineering program.

Bridging multiple fields and approaches

With a double major in applied mathematics and mechanical engineering, Lucas McCullum ’19 worried that study abroad would simply be out of reach. But he wasn’t willing to give up on the dream. He had a feeling that an immersive and boundary-breaking international learning experience could have a big impact on his perspective and his sense of life and career possibilities.

McCullum found a way to fulfill this goal through Public Health in the Netherlands, an intensive international learning opportunity conducted through the Council on International Educational Exchange in Amsterdam. The course “allowed me to take a step outside my comfort zone and tackle challenges outside of my traditional academic path,” he shares. It also complemented his core research interest: using medical imaging to improve health outcomes.

As it turned out, McCullum was the only engineering student in the cohort. Although he initially felt uncertain, he says, “I used this as an opportunity to grow as a person and student.” In the end, he says, “it increased my self-confidence and sense of individuality.”

McCullum built off that experience and continued to grow his sense of confidence in collaborative problem-solving as a member of UMBC’s Kinetic Sculpture Race Team.

McCullum further pursued his interest in advancing medical imaging through research. He earned an Undergraduate Research Award to study the use of piezoelectric materials (which generate electrical charge in response to mechanical stress) for more cost-effective tumor screening. He has already presented this research at the 2018 conference for Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS), and it will soon be published in UMBC Review.

Mark Zupan, associate professor of mechanical engineering and a mentor of McCullum’s, sees tremendous value in his drive to explore diverse learning experiences. Zupan, a strong proponent of international learning opportunities, reflects that McCullum “has truly had an enriched experience at UMBC while completing an immensely difficult double major and actively and successfully performing multiple types of research.”

After commencement, McCullum will complete a summer internship with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he will work with a supercomputer to simulate fluid flow around a wind turbine. Next, he will begin Stanford University’s interdisciplinary master’s program in computational and mathematical engineering, with a focus on imaging sciences.

McCullum looks forward to pursuing every new opportunity with a sense of anticipation and possibility. As he shared in 2017, when highlighted for his work as a student researcher, “I believe that when we open ourselves up to new experiences, we allow new doors to open and new lights to shine.”

Learn more about UMBC students’ international learning experiences and plans for the coming months through this feature on the fourteen UMBC students and recent alumni just selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student program—a new university record.

Featured image: Aliyah Smith visiting India during spring break while studying abroad in the UAE. Photo courtesy of Smith.

Many students see graduation as an opportunity to embark on entirely new and different experiences. For others, graduation is one more step forward on an already clear path—a chance to delve wholeheartedly into passions they fostered while at UMBC. These five students fit firmly in that second group, committed to applying their talents to specific community-centered initiatives that have shaped their UMBC journeys and that strengthen their local ties.

Transforming research into activism

Being a valedictorian for me is about honoring South Asian women feminists whose achievements were not as visible when I was growing up. It is also about the need to transform research and community service skills into direct activism.

—Samiksha Manjani

During her two years as a student staff member at the UMBC Women’s Center Samiksha Manjani ‘19 has connected with and provided support for many people who have experienced sexual violence. Inspired by their courageous living, she sought to understand the roots and effects of gender-based violence. Her research, through her political science and sociology majors, has focused on inequitable sentencing of sex offenders.

In addition to research, internships have provided Manjani extensive insights into the legal field. This includes work with the Maryland State Attorney’s Office, Police Integrity and Public Trust Unit in Baltimore City, Montgomery County Police Financial Crimes Section, and Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia Family Division. 

These experiences prepared Manjani to be active in UMBC’s Retriever Courage initiative, focusing on improving the university’s prevention of and response to sexual violence and other forms of sexual misconduct. Manjani served as a member of the student accountability committee and leader of the police reform subcommittee. Both experiences revealed to her the need to improve integration between the law and social work in working with vulnerable populations, something she plans to pursue through a combined J.D. and M.S.W. degree.

Human trafficking is the byproduct of so many other inequalities. Bringing together artists to create art and community in the name of awareness is one way to help dismantle inequalities at all levels.

—Mia Rickenbach

Mia Rickenbach ‘19, theatre, is the founder of Create Freedom, a new Baltimore City non-profit that combines her love of the arts and commitment to increasing public awareness of human trafficking. Rickenbach became aware of the scale of human trafficking through reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide as part of UMBC’s New Student Book Experience. The book informed her of the many industries that create and sustain a demand for human trafficking around the world.

Rickenbach was able to explore her next steps through an Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Research Award, granted by UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. It was an opportunity to combine both her passions through a community arts organization. The award helped her research the idea, complete a feasibility study, develop a business plan, and map out a timeline for implementation.

Create Freedom is now home to artists committed to creating community and awareness. Throughout the year, the organization will host events where local artists and community members can gather to create and sell art to build awareness about human trafficking and build a network of like-minded people.

Mindful education

Today is a moment. I don’t have to judge it. I just accept it. Being open to the present opens you to a world of peaceful possibilities that help to manage great challenges.

—Phillip McKnight

After two years walking through the UMBC campus, Phillip McKnight ‘19 will walk across the stage this May to receive his master’s degree in instructional systems design and then walk along the Appalachian Trail for five months. The trek is part of his lifelong practice to live a mindful life.

McKnight, a fellow in UMBC’s Shriver Peaceworker Program, strengthened his practice through guided meditation during his time in Jamaica as a Peace Corps volunteer. Meditation helped him overcome challenges that came with being away from home and engage meaningfully with the community he was placed in.

During his graduate studies, McKnight helped connect Baltimore youth to urban green spaces through the Patterson Park Audubon Center. On his return from the Appalachian Trail, he plans to work with children in Baltimore City to further develop their mindfulness skills as an additional strategy for lifelong success.

Science is everywhere and for everyone

Science is everywhere, but it is also personal. The power of science comes from understanding how it applies to the communities we live in.

—Olivia Grimes

Olivia Grimes ‘19 has crafted her own individualized major around improving children’s access to science education using culturally and geographically relevant teaching practices. While sharpening her teaching skills in Baltimore City through the Sherman STEM Scholars Program, she realized science was not covered in the same depth as state-tested subjects. Seizing the opportunity, Grimes began to develop place-based science lessons that students would find fun, engaging, and relevant to their lives.

Grimes adapted environmental science lessons relevant to students’ neighborhoods and lives through an afterschool program at Lakeland. She also brought her passion for place-based science to her student teaching placement at Maree G. Ferring Elementary/Middle School. She plans to continue to adapt more science curriculum to support teachers in implementing lessons into tested subjects through fun experiments as a Baltimore City early childhood educator after earning her UMBC degree this month.

Science has always been my happy place, but as a first-generation college student from Dundalk/Essex, Maryland, I didn’t know how I could afford college. Through a lot of hard work, with the support of my family, and the UMBC community, I was able to find my place as a gay scientist in the geosciences.

—Zachary Hunter-Lee Little

Zachary Hunter-Lee Little’s life as a scientist began while playing on the Ocean City shoreline. As he let the current take him down the shore he became aware of how the sand and water interacted. He began to ask questions about how the natural world worked, and years later, this curiosity led to him to major in geography and environmental science (GES).

To support his UMBC education, Little ’19 worked as a maintenance assistant in Residential Life and as a lab proctor. During the summers, he took advantage of unique research experiences. The National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students (RESESS) program enabled him to work in Boulder with UNAVCO, a university consortium that supports Earth science research. The next summer, the scholars program connected him with a research opportunity at Duke University.

Those experiences helped Little sharpen his research skills and develop his identity and confidence as a scientist. Before long, he was presenting his own research at geoscience conferences across the country.

Back at UMBC, he grew his science communication and advocacy skills as an eco-ambassador and Blue Water Baltimore volunteer. And he’s always supporting more students along his journey, encouraging them to apply for research opportunities and internships that can help them reach their goals.

Little’s hard work is paying off. He recently learned that he’s been awarded a highly competitive three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He’ll soon begin an M.S. at North Carolina State University in biological and agricultural engineering.

As Little looks toward the future, his mind goes back to that moment on the Ocean City shoreline and knows his heart will remain with local waterways and communities.

Banner Image: Photo of Samiksha Manjani at Take Back the Night, courtesy of the UMBC Women’s Center. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

He’s a bassoonist and chemical engineer. She’s a dancer and social justice advocate. UMBC students have a lot of focus, but that doesn’t mean they have to focus on one thing. For many, the UMBC experience is about figuring out how to combine their passions, not chose one or the other. Here, four UMBC students graduating this spring share how they have found their own unique balance.

Pitching an idea

Senior Jeff Carr can easily recall one of the most pivotal moments of his first year at UMBC. Jason Schiffman, psychology, was speaking to the new cohort of Retrievers and simply told them “this place will be what you make it.”

“It really resonated with me. This was a place where I could restart and find myself,” remembers Carr. “I get kind of emotional looking back over my four years…I’ve done a lot here and I think part of that is the faculty and the community just motivated me to want to do so.”

For Carr, financial economics, sports were part of life. Growing up in nearby Linthicum, he spent much of his time crouched on a baseball diamond as his high school’s catcher. A shoulder injury ultimately derailed his athletic career, but coming to UMBC allowed him to turn that passion into a future profession.

A chance meeting with a member of the athletics department led to an introduction with Liam Bowen, associate head baseball coach. Carr joined the team as baseball manager, filling in wherever he was most needed, from booking catering to helping with scouting reports.

Carr’s biggest contribution came in his sophomore year. “Players would chart pitches during the game using pencil and paper and then I would have to total everything up by hand. One day, I had the realization that the strike zone is basically a graph with X-Y coordinates, so we could just chart pitches using some type of phone app,” explains Carr.

As a result of this epiphany, Carr set out to develop pitchTrax, an app that would track pitches and log the results in a spreadsheet, eliminating the need for hand tabulation.

“Three years ago, I told him that I was interested in tracking our pitchers’ statistics at a granular level and getting the information organized in a way that they could use,” says Bowen. “Jeff took off with the idea and created a system where we could see virtually every aspect of our pitchers’ performance. I have used the information that he has gathered countless times with our players and our program is very much in his debt.”

Carr enlisted the help of economics professor Scott Farrow to turn his ideas into reality. Farrow suggested Carr use heatmap quadrants and helped him refine the visual representation of the pitching data. “Jeff is a great example of becoming outstanding by following a particular interest and then having new opportunities grow from that success,” says Farrow.

Carr has continued to develop his expertise in sports analytics and will soon begin his master’s degree in sports management at the University of Michigan. But he won’t forget his roots anytime soon.

“I feel like my experience here…I’ve been very lucky, but I’ve also been around the right people,” says Carr. “The community here is so welcoming and that’s the most important part, for me. Everyone has a story like mine and we didn’t do it on our own—it’s all thanks to the people [at UMBC] supporting us.”

Justice through performance

The individualized study program at UMBC encourages students to take the road less traveled, or never before traveled, and create their own major. Alexia Petasis jumped at the chance to combine her passion for choreography with her commitment to social justice, a pairing that would define her time at UMBC.

“Dance has always been a big part of my life, but throughout college I became equally interested in social justice activism. When I came to UMBC, I was able to explore the intersections between them,” says Petasis. “I started learning how they could work together to create and inform empathetic dances that grow an individual’s understanding of an issue.”

Taking courses in psychology, sociology, dance, and gender and women’s studies helped Petasis to envision how she could use elements from each in developing a cohesive piece.

“She is consistently looking for new ideas and ways to communicate through the body,” says Doug Hamby, associate professor of dance, of Petasis’s work. “Once she sets out on an creative journey she expands and deepens her exploration until the dancers embody every nuance Alexia intends to communicate to her audience.”

Petasis’s most ambitious work eventually became her capstone project, an evocative dance piece that “brings to light the experiences of survivors of domestic sex trafficking from the point of view of the victim.”

Petasis explains, “This dance, titled ‘Becoming Survivor,’ calls attention to the various ways a victim can become trapped in the life of human trafficking and offers a deeper understanding of the manipulation into exploitation that occurs.”

“In addition to showing her dance, Alexia saw the importance of using this opportunity to share community resources and have a dialogue about sexual violence in our communities,” says Jess Myers, director of UMBC’s Women’s Center. “Alexia’s dance has brought communities together—We Believe You, the Women’s Center, other on-campus and off-campus partners—to help create space for our UMBC community to have complex conversation about consent and sexual violence.”

Myers lauds Petasis’s keen ability to encourage others to see themselves as people who can have a social impact. She notes, “Alexia uses dance to tell stories that often go unheard. Her interdisciplinary work is grounded in inclusion and inviting others to care about issues they may not have otherwise known mattered to them.”

Taking the skills the she’s learned and the advice from the mentors she’s met along the way, Petasis is pursuing a teacher’s assistant program in France. “My time at UMBC has allowed me to pursue my passion and research interests with guidance, mentorship, and an overwhelmingly supportive network.”

At home in the lab…and on stage

“The world needs more Justins!” exclaims Kim Leisey, associate vice president of Student Affairs, when you ask about senior Justin Hosten. Leisey met Hosten when she taught a class for new Residential Life student staff. “If you want to know him, listen to him play the bassoon—it’s soulful and expressive,” she says. “Justin travels UMBC with gentle humility and care for others” in all that he does.

Hosten has a rare skill set—pursuing majors in both chemical engineering and music performance—and he firmly believes that this combination has improved his problem-solving skills.

“In music, we’re taught to look for patterns and I use this thought process in solving engineering problems. Looking for patterns helps determine what steps need to be taken to reach a solution and that’s integral in the engineering curriculum,” explains Hosten.

At the same time, Hosten notes, “In engineering, we’re taught to use all the tools we have to solve the problem fully. I take this into account when I look at all the ways I can create  beautiful sounds.”

After graduating from Bowie High School in Maryland, Hosten hit the ground running at UMBC, with both his music and his passion for engineering, in equal measure. He joined the university orchestra and wind ensemble and is both a Meyerhoff Scholar and a MARC U*STAR Scholar.

Hosten cites his Meyerhoff acceptance as something that makes him particularly proud, and that has had a major impact on his experience. “It’s been a huge part in making sure that I have been successful and helping me to be where I am today,” he shares.

Hosten’s current research explores how nanocapsules could be added to dental resin to revolutionize fillings. Should a person’s filling crack, the nanocapsules would break and the void in the tooth would be filled without a trip back to the dentist. Presently, Hosten is working to coat the particles with a silica shell to keep them uniform and prevent bursting.

One of Hosten’s mentors, Erin Lavik, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, appreciates how his lab work is positively influenced by his stage work.

“It is challenging to be a chemical engineer, but to do that while also being a tremendous musician is humbling,” says Lavik, who herself has experience with theatre. “There’s also a critical interplay between the two,” she explains. “It isn’t surprising to me that Justin can approach a challenge from multiple perspectives and come up with elegant, creative solutions.”

This fall, Hosten will pursue his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering as part of a joint program between the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University.

Making waves

“I started swimming because my mom told me that my local summer team needed more kids my age…which was a complete lie. The reason she wanted me to swim was so that I wouldn’t drown when I went to the pool.”

It’s not exactly the auspicious beginning you would expect from a Danish national swimming champion, but that’s exactly how Alexander Gliese’s story begins.

The Danish-born competitor has a score of swimming accolades attached to his name, but he didn’t develop a true love for the sport until he was a teenager. “I was swimming competitively on a year-round team and it wasn’t until I was about 14 that I began to really like the sport,” says Gliese. “At this point, I started to win events at the Maryland state championships.”

When the time came to look at colleges, UMBC immediately stood out to the young swimmer. And once he committed, he never looked back. “I’m happy that I chose UMBC as the coaching staff and my teammates have helped me grow into the person that I am today,” he reflects.

While his numerous athletic achievements would be impressive alone, Gliese managed to perform just as well in the classroom as he did in the pool. The Meyerhoff Scholar is graduating with a mechanical engineering degree this May and dedicated his time to researching energy harvesting and design optimization. He also credits his academic work for helping him improve his athletic performance.

Soobum Lee, UMBC assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has served as mentor for Gliese and has been impressed by his research contributions. “Alex has consistently shown promise and commitment” as a researcher, offering “a unique perspective” while applying the research experience to his own learning, says Lee.

“During his involvement of my energy harvesting research for wind turbine monitoring, Alex proactively and voluntarily worked on brainstorming, CAD modeling, and testing,” Lee explains. “His diligence seriously accelerated the project, and his sincerity positively affected my graduate students.”

“I think that my swimming and my academics intersect very well since I have always been interested in how I can maximize my efficiency in the pool,” Gliese says. “I feel that my knowledge from mechanical engineering has helped me to understand what positions and movements in the water will help me to swim faster in the pool.”

His success in research and swimming are also connected by the same underlying work ethic and tenacity. Neil Rothman, professor of practice in mechanical engineering, shares that as busy as Gliese was with U.S. and international swimming competitions, “he would show up to class with a smile on his face. I had him in four different courses over a period of three years and he was consistently an excellent and dedicated student. The busier he got and the harder work became, he seemed to enjoy it even more.”

Gliese’s approach of applying his classroom knowledge to the pool can certainly be deemed a success. He’s a two-time CCSA Champion, two-time America East champion, 2019 America East Most Outstanding Male Swimmer, two-time America East All-Academic Team member, two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American, UMBC record holder in 100 backstroke and 200 medley relay, and the Danish national record holder in 200 backstroke. He even broke Michael Phelps’ 16-year-old NBAC record during the back split of the 400 medley relay in January 2019.

Head swimming and diving coach Chad Cradock ’97, psychology, says Gliese “has always been well-balanced in the classroom and in the pool. They say the price of excellence is discipline. Alex is one of the most disciplined, focused, and hardworking swimmers I have ever worked with and has earned his way to the world stage each and every day.”

After commencement, Gliese will compete in the World University Games. He will then take time to train for the Danish Olympic swimming qualifiers before pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.

As much as he’s made a mark on UMBC, Gliese thinks about the mark UMBC has made on him. “UMBC has helped me to not only grow as a student and a swimmer, but as a person.” Sharing that the UMBC community is like family, he says, “it’s allowed me to thrive and create bonds that will last a lifetime.”

Banner image: Alexia Petasis ‘19, left, at UMBC’s fall Senior Dance Concert. Photo by Marlayna Demond ‘11.