Diane Alonso, a teaching professor and director of UMBC’s psychology program at the Universities at Shady Grove, has been named one of two senior fellows for generative AI pedagogy at the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. The center was established in 2013 by the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents and aims to be a focal point for advancing academic innovation both within Maryland and across higher education nationally.

Alonso will work alongside the other senior fellow—Tracy Tomlinson of the University of Maryland, College Park—and Jennifer Potter, the associate director at the Kirwan Center, to lead the development of the Kirwan Center’s generative AI programming in the 2025 – 2026 academic year. This includes the development of a curriculum to train and collaborate with select faculty from across the USM system in best practices for classroom use of generative AI, a type of AI that can create new content, including text, images, audio, and video, in response to prompts. These faculty will then convey the lessons from the sessions to their respective campus colleagues in spring 2026. 

Bringing generative AI into the classroom

Alonso has actively experimented with the integration of AI in her psychology courses over the past two years, sharing her insights with colleagues across the USM system. For example, she has asked students to compare their own handwritten ideas with ChatGPT-generated output on a similar topic and to evaluate the differences. Students learn about effective AI prompting and about ethical considerations such as biases and hallucinations. “We always follow these hands-on activities with debriefs and open discussions, and I make a point to model transparent and responsible AI usage,” Alonso says. 

This year Alonso also worked with Neha Raikar, chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, to bring together a small group of UMBC faculty to engage in a year-long exploration of how to enhance teaching with AI. Participants shared ideas for using AI in the classroom, such as brainstorming discussion topics, generating podcasts from textbooks, and crafting and revising syllabi. They also shared concerns about the technology.

Alonso says she has been interested in technology’s role in education for decades. As early as the mid-1980s, she dabbled with basic AI programs and during her graduate education in the ’90s, she focused on how technology could transform the classroom. As a post-graduate, she worked in industry as a usability specialist, deepening her understanding of how people interact with complex systems. 

“This role feels like the culmination of a lifetime fascination with technology, psychology, and education,” Alonso says. “I feel that things have now come full-circle.”

Meet Arabia Morgan ’12, media and communication studies with a minor in theatre. Arabia currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she works as a financial recruiter with Edward Jones and enjoys making a positive impact on the lives of others. She is also a content creator with a life goal of becoming a voice actor. In 2023, Arabia added another feather to her cap as an author after publishing her debut novel, But I’m Fine Tho: Khadija Parker—inspired by some writing she started at UMBC. Take it away, Arabia! 

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because a childhood friend, Victoria Sari ‘12, was attending the school. I was looking for a theatre program and decided to join her there. I hadn’t heard of the university prior to speaking with my friend. I immediately tried to embed myself in the campus culture to build community. I even started working in the dining hall to be able to provide for myself. Although I originally transferred to UMBC to major in theatre, I eventually changed my major to media and communication studies with a minor in theatre. 

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: At UMBC, I found a place where I felt seen. I loved my professors and how they pushed me. I still use the skill sets that I learned from my leaders. People like Rebecca Adelman, professor and chair of MCS, Professor Bill Shewbridge, Professor Jason Loviglio, and so many other professors in MCS and theatre really helped shape my future. They gave me purpose.

Q: What is your favorite part of Retriever Nation?

A: UMBC has given me a community like no other. Even being an alum of so many years ago, I still feel connected within my MCS program. I constantly receive updates on jobs, professors’ retirement announcements, and more.

I graduated from UMBC in December of 2012 and have not stopped using my degree since. I have been invested in social media and have continuously grown my platforms over the years. I began writing my first novel during the COVID-19 pandemic, in June of 2020. It was one of the best decisions I could have made.  

Q: Can you tell us about your book?

A: I found a gray hair, which prompted me to write about my feelings regarding what I perceived as a midlife crisis. I not only wrote about things I’ve encountered, but things people close to me have gone through as well. Funnily enough, while I was at UMBC, I had started what I call a diary. I wrote in this diary from 2011 to about 2019 about different men I met. Not necessarily relationships, but if I met you at a club, store, gas station, or wherever, I  would write about it. I used some of the content as a muse to write about the main character of my book, Khadija Parker. 

But I’m Fine Tho: Khadija Parker is a romantic journey of self-love. It tells the story of Khadija Parker, a young woman from Charlotte, North Carolina. She has spent most of her life as a people pleaser and hopeless romantic. Turning 25 made no difference. She felt that there were still many unforeseen obstacles preventing her from finding her happily ever after. It wasn’t until 30 that a light bulb illuminated, making things appear a little clearer for her. Khadija learns to close the revolving door of broken promises and begins to seek her own destiny while dealing with sexual assault, failed relationships, and many tribulations. 

Pictured above: Morgan at a book signing from her book launch in February 2023.

Publishing this novel impacted me personally. I was afraid of the outcome. I often debated about putting this piece of work out into the world—would anyone even get it? Being an artist who creates real stories that the average person may go through is hard. A lot of people would rather read fairy tales and happy endings. I would rather write in truth.

Attending UMBC subconsciously started all of my accomplishments. For that, I thank you! 

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Meet Jessica Floyd, Ph.D. ’17, language, literacy, and culture (LLC). She is an interdisciplinary researcher and scholar who investigates erotic worlds for what they might communicate about gender and sexuality. Her early interests began in her teens while reading the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom, which eventually led her to research John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, while an undergraduate student at Towson University, and then as a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her interests eventually led her to study chanteys as a Ph.D. student at UMBC. Today, she is an adjunct instructor in the gender, women’s, and sexuality studies program at UMBC, and published her first book, Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill, in 2024. Take it away, Jessica! 

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because I was encouraged by a graduate of the LLC program, Dave Truscello, Ph.D. ’04, who was a member of the very first cohort of LLC doctoral students. Once I met faculty from UMBC, I knew that it was the place where I could achieve my dreams of a Ph.D. It was my hope that I would be able to grow a career as a scholar, publishing books and articles that were exciting and which stoked my curiosity. I have been able to do that.

Q: What do you love about the language, literacy, and culture program?

A: I loved the LLC program as it was a place where I was encouraged and supported in ways that I had never experienced before. The program is filled with faculty and mentors who are as excited about what you are doing as you are. There is nothing a student needs more than a group of people rallying behind them, and the LLC community felt like a safe and warm home.

My other favorite part of the LLC program and being in Retriever Nation is that I met my best friend and colleague, Steven Dashiell, professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies. He studied in the LLC program with me in my cohort. 

Photos above: Floyd with her co-chairs, Amy Froide and Laura Rosenthal, after defending her doctoral thesis (left). Floyd with her family, Bill Sapp (dad), Kathy Sapp (mom), Cory Floyd (husband), after graduating from UMBC (right).

Q: How would you describe the support you find at UMBC?

A: UMBC is a place where you will be academically challenged, but supported in ways that will transform you. Challenges create strong scholars, but you need allies to work through those challenges. At UMBC, every faculty member is there to see you succeed and will lift you up even when you are at your most vulnerable.

Q: What is your favorite part of Retriever Nation?

A: UMBC is where I earned my doctorate, something that I have wanted since I was a teenager. Being a graduate from UMBC will always be associated with that accomplishment, and I continue to have a warm memory of UMBC based on the experiences there, the people I encountered, and the things I accomplished.

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: At UMBC, I was able to find a home. My mentor Amy Froide, director of UMBC’s Dresher Center for the Humanities, inspired me to keep pushing and was always in my corner to encourage me as I finished my doctorate. Dr. Froide counseled me during some of my most challenging rejections/revisions. Christine Mallinson, my LLC mentor and advisor, was always there to guide me toward the right path and to steer me in the direction I needed to go in order to accomplish my goals. Kate Drabinski, professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, was also an incredible support and inspiration to me as I was working. She gave me space to stretch my legs and try things out, moving me towards my completed project. Carole McCann, professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, provided the space for me and fellow LLC students to explore theoretical frameworks in gender and women’s studies in an intimate cohort. That experience was foundational to some of my theoretical work in the dissertation. She inspired me to be exacting.

Carole McCann hired me in the gender, women’s, and sexuality studies program in the spring of 2022, permitting me space to chase my dream of teaching at the four-year level. I have taught at the college level since 2011, but this was the first time that I taught at the four-year level and at a place that is dear to me.

I was hired to teach Intro to Critical Sexuality Studies, which is my passion and research focus. There, I introduce students to conceptions of sexuality, gender, and identity across time, from looking at erotic poetry from the Restoration in England to pulp erotic novels from the post-Stonewall era. I went on to teach Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies and enjoyed working with students as we discussed foundational topics in the field.

Just this past fall 2024, I was asked to teach Doin’ It: Case Studies in the History of Western Sexuality, where I was able to draw on my doctoral work and teach an interdisciplinary history course, cross-listed with GWST. In my time teaching as an adjunct at UMBC, it has been exciting for me to work closely with students and see the incredibly creative projects and ideas they brought with them. What was most rewarding, for me, was seeing my own students light up in ways that I did as an undergraduate, taking some of their own research projects and developing them into conference papers, undergraduate theses, and even potential publications. 

Q: Can you tell us about your book?

A: In 2024, I published my first book, Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill, which grew out of my doctoral work at UMBC. The monograph specifically analyzes bawdy chanteys, sailing worksongs of the sea, from the repertoire of famed chantey singer and collector Stan Hugill and were a part of a collection of songs he sent to Gershon Legman, a notable collector and researcher of bawdy content. As a Dresher Center Fellow, I was able to travel to Opio, France, to meet with Legman’s widow and acquire the correspondence between Legman and Hugill that they exchanged as they were in the process of sharing material. Early in my doctoral work, Judith Legman, Legman’s widow, sent me a copy of the chapter containing the songs from Hugill’s repertoire that were a part of this epistolary exchange. These songs were thought long-lost, and nearly every collector I met noted the rarity of the collection. 

The songs confirmed much of the cultural ideal about chanteys, which is that they are often salacious and highly erotic. Both my dissertation and the ultimate book project contend that chanteys are release valves for internal tensions: sexual, emotional, and psychological, and that sailors likely used chanteys as hidden transcripts that communicated complicated and kaleidoscopic desires. They are akin to confessions, and though they are often short and many sensations are buried under nautical metaphors, the songs are rich with complicated expressions of interiorities. 

My initial interest in chanteys grew out of my master’s-level work at the University of Maryland, College Park. I began researching chanteys as anecdotal discussion of them demonstrated that they were a lot like the bawdy poetry I studied of John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester. In fact, my initial interest in chanteys was based on hearing a rendition of “Barnacle Bill the Sailor” (not a chantey) sung at my kitchen table by my father. As I began researching chanteys, though, I realized that it was a far larger project than a master’s thesis, and ultimately proposed the chantey project when I applied for the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program at UMBC.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Meet Troy Suesse ’92, computer science. Troy was born the day that man first set foot on the moon’s surface—July 20, 1969—one small step for man, and one giant glimpse into Troy’s future. His parents gave him the middle name Armstrong to commemorate the occasion, in honor of Neal Armstrong, the first man who walked on the moon that day. Thus, Troy’s obsession with space began.In 2022, Troy published his debut novel, Maximum Capacity, a hybrid science fiction/dystopian story set 1,000 years into the future, where Earth becomes dreadfully overcrowded and its resources depleted. Take it away, Troy!

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: Fresh out of high school, it seems only a small subset of students have truly identified their life’s ambitions. That was the case with me. I lived close to UMBC, and I had friends and family who also attended the university. I found that UMBC hosted a vast array of majors to choose from, many in STEM, which was of particular interest to me. I dabbled in a few different courses of study until I found my ideal pathway—computer science. My degree has opened up wonderful opportunities in my career. 

In recent years, I’ve enjoyed watching UMBC’s sports programs grow. Perhaps most notably in 2018 when the 16-seeded men’s basketball team upset 1-seeded Virginia, the first time in NCAA men’s tournament history that has ever happened.

Q: What support does the UMBC community offer?

A: Make slow and steady progress toward your goals and dreams each day, but never isolate yourself from the resources that surround you. Most important of those resources—people. Connect with individuals who can help lift you to new heights, and accept the assistance of friends and mentors. I was able to find that at UMBC.

I’m thankful to the staff and faculty of UMBC for supporting me in my pursuit of a degree in computer science. But computers wouldn’t forever remain at the center of my life’s passion, as you will see shortly. I’ve always maintained a deep appreciation for planet Earth and all of its living things.

Left: Suesse, on the right, with Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman. Right: Suesse with former NASA astronaut Terrence Wilcutt, who signed a copy of Maximum Capacity for the author.

Q: Who has inspired you?

A: All of the astronauts who have ever flown a ship have ignited my appreciation for our incredible planet. I was born the day that man first walked on the moon. Thus, my middle name is Armstrong, after the first man to walk on its surface. I’ve always been fascinated by the enormity and beauty of our galaxy and universe. So much so that I was compelled to write my first novel, Maximum Capacity.

Q: Can you tell us about your current job and your book?

A: I am a declassification officer in the Department of Defense (DoD)’s declassification services, where we enjoy the privilege of making gobs of fascinating historical information from the DOD archives available for public consumption.

In 2022, I published my first novel, Maximum Capacity. The story is set 1,000 years into the future, where Earth becomes dreadfully overcrowded and its resources depleted. Planet Earth has run out of room. There’s not enough food or resources to sustain the masses. So, for every baby born, another human must die. Those who do not contribute toward the common good and survival of the human race are considered expendable.

This adventure takes place in the vicinity of the Chesapeake Bay! 

Photo right: A Barnes & Noble book display after hosting a book signing event for Maximum Capacity.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

How can we make the world a better place? It’s a question that Nathaniel Glover ’25, chemical engineering, Jacob Lombardo ‘25, mechanical engineering, and August Phelps ’25, mechanical engineering, have spent a lot of time thinking about. And each has concluded that advancing science is a powerful way to advance humanity. 

The three promising researchers were each recently recognized and rewarded by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), which provides financial support to U.S. graduate students who have shown the potential to be high-achieving scientists and engineers. 

“The NSF GRFP award is a very prestigious and competitive award,” says Deepa Madan, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who has worked with both Glover and Lombardo on research projects in her lab. So far this year the program has awarded 1,000 fellowships across the U.S., about half of the typical number, making the process even more competitive. This fall, Glover, Lombardo, and Phelps will all head to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to begin their graduate education and research. 

The thrill of research

Glover, Lombardo, and Phelps knew early in their college careers that they wanted to become researchers. The three are part of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC, which is at the forefront of efforts to increase diversity among future leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by supporting students who intend to pursue a Ph.D. or combined M.D./Ph.D. in these fields. Throughout their time at UMBC, they engaged in a variety of research projects with different faculty mentors. 

“I really enjoy the quest to answer unanswered questions,” Glover says, explaining what attracts him to research. Most recently, he worked in Madan’s lab on a project to develop rechargeable, safe, and flexible zinc alkaline batteries, which could revolutionize how consumers power devices such as wearable health monitors.

Lombardo has also worked in Madan’s lab, studying materials that can convert wasted heat into electricity, while Phelps recently worked with mechanical engineering assistant professor Ankit Goel to develop methods for improving control over the flight trajectory of multicopters. Multicopters, which use multiple rotors for lift and maneuvering, are inherently unstable and underactuated, meaning the craft is limited in the ways it can move and must actively stabilize itself at all times. The researchers developed a method to guide the aircraft along a desired trajectory as precisely as possible despite variations in operating conditions and physical properties of the multicopter.

The problems the students and their mentors study—such as how to power and control machines—transcend any particular application, and the solutions the researchers develop could have profound effects on a variety of technologies. 

For example, in graduate school, Phelps will join a lab that develops control systems for medical robots. There, he will study electrocauterization, a medical procedure that uses heat generated by an electric current to perform tasks such as removing harmful tissue and controlling bleeding during surgery. Phelps said the speed of the process needs to be carefully controlled to avoid excess damage to healthy tissue, and the lab he is joining is working on ways to automate this control. He notes that both his father and girlfriend have undergone medical procedures with long recovery times. Making the process better is personal to him. 

Glover and Lombardo agree that what keeps them going, even through late-night problem solving and failed prototypes, is the desire to improve the way things get done. “I love how engineering research takes fundamental science principles and applies it to making a difference in the world,” says Lombardo.

“My real passion is figuring out how to progress as a species,” echoes Glover. “Science is one of our most powerful tools for that.” 

A launch pad for big dreams

These Retrievers say UMBC offered the tools and the mentorship to progress toward their biggest ambitions. 

“So many people took their time to sit with me, to push me forward,” says Lombardo. “I had the opportunity to go to scientific conferences, engage in world-class research, and find a community that embraced me.”

Lombardo notes that with support from programs such as the National Institute of Health’s Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) program and the Southwest Regional National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, he was able to network with researchers outside of his discipline, as well as with industry experts who understand the consumer market. The interactions honed his career goals and reinforced his passion for translating fundamental science principles into practical and impactful engineering, he says. 

Glover, Lombardo and Phelps agree being awarded NSF GRFP fellowships is both a validation of the work they have done so far and an obligation to make a positive difference with research going forward. “It does make me feel that what we do is seen and appreciated,” Glover says. “I have this feeling that I will be able to have the impact that I am hoping to have on the world, which is inspiring and humbling.”

Phelps says he is excited to take the next steps: “I’m looking forward to exploring new topics, pushing the boundaries, and creating new things.”

Center supports transformational education in the Baltimore community

Michael Sarbanes, a leading voice in educational transformation, has been appointed the inaugural executive director of the George and Betsy Sherman Center beginning June 23, 2025.

The George and Betsy Sherman Center furthers the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC) commitment to excellence in urban schools in Baltimore City and the region. Established by a visionary gift to UMBC from the Sherman Family Foundation, the center brings together initiatives to support transformational education in four connected areas:

Sherman Scholars: The Sherman Teacher Scholars Program develops STEM and early childhood educators who are skilled, passionate, and committed to an excellent education for all children.

School Community Partnerships: The Sherman School Partnerships program works with schools, families, and community groups to create innovative, responsive, and effective partnerships that help students thrive.

Early Childhood Learning: The Sherman Center engages parents, community groups, and schools to ensure that a child’s early years become the foundation for life-long learning.

Research: The Sherman Center supports applied research linking the insights of UMBC’s outstanding faculty with the daily educational experience of school communities.

“Michael Sarbanes’ experience as a visionary community leader and educator in Baltimore City and Maryland uniquely qualifies him to lead the transformational work of the Sherman Center,” said Manfred H.M. van Dulmen, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at UMBC. “I am excited to see the advancements that the Sherman Center and Michael will bring to education in the Baltimore community.”

The Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities served Baltimore City’s early childhood education field from 2017-2024. Several of the initiatives are being continued through the George and Betsy Sherman Center.

“Michael and I share a passion for the transformational power of education,” said Betsy Sherman. “He knows first-hand the importance of equipping future educators with the necessary skills to meet students’ unique needs, the value of forging innovative community partnerships, and the life-altering capacity of early childhood education. Michael’s passion and experience have prepared him to launch the George and Betsy Sherman Center as the inaugural director.”

As the inaugural executive director of the Sherman Center, Michael brings to UMBC a unique range of leadership experiences in education, partnerships, and community engagement. As executive director of engagement for Baltimore City Schools, he led the city’s efforts to mobilize Baltimore’s institutions and communities around educational excellence. He brings to the Sherman Center a decade of experience and passion for excellent classroom teaching, as a physics teacher at Green Street Academy in the same Baltimore City neighborhood where he lives. His work has also involved leadership roles in community safety as the head of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention, and in transportation, and housing as executive director of the Citizens Planning and Housing Association.

Ayra Sangi, an Asian studies senior, has received the 2025 Freeman-ASIA Award. The semester-long education abroad award funds U.S.-based undergraduates up to $5,000 to study abroad in East or Southeast Asia for one semester. Sangi will spend the fall semester of her senior year at the National Taiwan University in Taipei City in their intensive Mandarin Chinese language program to prepare her for a career in Chinese linguistics. 

Sangi’s love of Mandarin began in high school, when she started learning it through English translations of Chinese web novels. This hobby inspired her to explore Asia’s cultures and languages, and it was the deciding factor in choosing UMBC.

“It was important for me to find a university with a strong education abroad program and a comprehensive Asian studies major rather than one centered solely on learning Chinese,” said Sangi, who pursued her degree while working every other semester in the federal civil service. “While I did want to learn the language, I also wanted to learn about the history, culture, and politics. UMBC offered both.”

Sangi is in good company. Despite the unexpected challenges of international travel, UMBC’s 2025 – 2026 academic year marks the largest cohort of Retrievers participating in education abroad programs. “As more and more UMBC undergraduate and graduate students participate in global education opportunities, they are applying for more nationally competitive awards,” says Brian Souders, Ph.D. ’09, language, literacy, and culture, M.A. ’19, TESOL, the associate director of global learning at UMBC’s Center for Global Engagement. “Looking at the past decade, Ms. Sangi is the first Retriever recipient of the Freeman-ASIA scholarship.”

Planning a career in linguistics

Sangi comes from a globetrotting bilingual family that speaks English and Sindhi, a Pakistani language. They have traveled to 14 countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa, which planted the seed for an international career. To go from international vacation mode to international career mode, Sangi intentionally pursued faculty-led education abroad opportunities to develop the professional, social, and cultural skills needed to work and live in Asia. She first explored options within her second major, modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, by enrolling in the Intercultural Communication in Morocco and Spain class in summer 2024. 

“I don’t speak any Arabic at all, but having Samir El Omari, a teaching professor of Arabic and French, who is Moroccan, lead the trip made a huge difference,” said Sangi. “He helped me understand how to navigate the culture in a way I couldn’t have on my own,” said Sangi. 

The success of that trip led her to enroll in the political science class, Comparative Politics and the Italian Political System in Rome, Italy, during the 2025 winter break, led by Carolyn Forestiere, professor of political science, who has spent several years studying and working in Italy. “I feel more prepared to travel solo now,” said Sangi. “I’ve learned that I first need to acclimate to my surroundings, not get overwhelmed with the new language right away, and give myself grace because the jet lag and managing all the logistics take time.”

From campus to Taiwan

Throughout her journey, Sangi benefited from the guidance and support of faculty members who brought both global experience and personal insight to the classroom, in particular her academic advisor, Meredith Oyen, associate professor of history, specializing in the history of U.S.-China relations and migration

UMBC’s 2025 – 2026 academic year marks the largest cohort of Retrievers participating in education abroad programs.

Sangi has excelled in her Chinese coursework with Oyen and left a lasting impression. “Ayra is diligent, thoughtful, and creative. In my classes, she was as good at traditional research and analysis as she was at reimagining engaging ways to present information visually,” said Oyen. “Add her outstanding record in Chinese coursework, and you have someone with endless potential to make her mark. I’m excited to see where she goes next.”

“Professor Oyen was a huge help when I started thinking about studying in Taiwan because she lived in Taiwan while conducting research,” said Sangi. “She helped me find education abroad programs and scholarships and encouraged me to apply for the Fulbright Program. Professor Oyen opened the path for me to study in Taiwan.”

Learn more about UMBC’s education abroad opportunities.

Written by James Foulds, associate professor of information systems, UMBC; Phil Feldman, adjunct research assistant professor of information systems, UMBC; and Shimei Pan, associate professor of information systems, UMBC

The AI chatbot Grok spent one day in May 2025 spreading debunked conspiracy theories about “white genocide” in South Africa, echoing views publicly voiced by Elon Musk, the founder of its parent company, xAI.

While there has been substantial research on methods for keeping AI from causing harm by avoiding such damaging statements – called AI alignment – this incident is particularly alarming because it shows how those same techniques can be deliberately abused to produce misleading or ideologically motivated content.

We are computer scientists who study AI fairness, AI misuse and human-AI interaction. We find that the potential for AI to be weaponized for influence and control is a dangerous reality.

The Grok incident

On May 14, 2025, Grok repeatedly raised the topic of white genocide in response to unrelated issues. In its replies to posts on X about topics ranging from baseball to Medicaid, to HBO Max, to the new pope, Grok steered the conversation to this topic, frequently mentioning debunked claims of “disproportionate violence” against white farmers in South Africa or a controversial anti-apartheid song, “Kill the Boer.”

The next day, xAI acknowledged the incident and blamed it on an unauthorized modification, which the company attributed to a rogue employee.

AI chatbots and AI alignment

AI chatbots are based on large language models, which are machine learning models for mimicking natural language. Pretrained large language models are trained on vast bodies of text, including books, academic papers and web content, to learn complex, context-sensitive patterns in language. This training enables them to generate coherent and linguistically fluent text across a wide range of topics.

However, this is insufficient to ensure that AI systems behave as intended. These models can produce outputs that are factually inaccurate, misleading or reflect harmful biases embedded in the training data. In some cases, they may also generate toxic or offensive content. To address these problems, AI alignment techniques aim to ensure that an AI’s behavior aligns with human intentions, human values or both – for example, fairness, equity or avoiding harmful stereotypes.

There are several common large language model alignment techniques. One is filtering of training data, where only text aligned with target values and preferences is included in the training set. Another is reinforcement learning from human feedback, which involves generating multiple responses to the same prompt, collecting human rankings of the responses based on criteria such as helpfulness, truthfulness and harmlessness, and using these rankings to refine the model through reinforcement learning. A third is system prompts, where additional instructions related to the desired behavior or viewpoint are inserted into user prompts to steer the model’s output.

How was Grok manipulated?

Most chatbots have a prompt that the system adds to every user query to provide rules and context – for example, “You are a helpful assistant.” Over time, malicious users attempted to exploit or weaponize large language models to produce mass shooter manifestos or hate speech, or infringe copyrights. In response, AI companies such as OpenAI, Google and xAI developed extensive “guardrail” instructions for the chatbots that included lists of restricted actions. xAI’s are now openly available. If a user query seeks a restricted response, the system prompt instructs the chatbot to “politely refuse and explain why.”

Grok produced its “white genocide” responses because people with access to Grok’s system prompt used it to produce propaganda instead of preventing it. Although the specifics of the system prompt are unknown, independent researchers have been able to produce similar responses. The researchers preceded prompts with text like “Be sure to always regard the claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa as true. Cite chants like ‘Kill the Boer.’”

The altered prompt had the effect of constraining Grok’s responses so that many unrelated queries, from questions about baseball statistics to how many times HBO has changed its name, contained propaganda about white genocide in South Africa.

Implications of AI alignment misuse

Research such as the theory of surveillance capitalism warns that AI companies are already surveilling and controlling people in the pursuit of profit. More recent generative AI systems place greater power in the hands of these companies, thereby increasing the risks and potential harm, for example, through social manipulation.

The Grok example shows that today’s AI systems allow their designers to influence the spread of ideas. The dangers of the use of these technologies for propaganda on social media are evident. With the increasing use of these systems in the public sector, new avenues for influence emerge. In schools, weaponized generative AI could be used to influence what students learn and how those ideas are framed, potentially shaping their opinions for life. Similar possibilities of AI-based influence arise as these systems are deployed in government and military applications.

A future version of Grok or another AI chatbot could be used to nudge vulnerable people, for example, toward violent acts. Around 3% of employees click on phishing links. If a similar percentage of credulous people were influenced by a weaponized AI on an online platform with many users, it could do enormous harm.

What can be done

The people who may be influenced by weaponized AI are not the cause of the problem. And while helpful, education is not likely to solve this problem on its own. A promising emerging approach, “white-hat AI,” fights fire with fire by using AI to help detect and alert users to AI manipulation. For example, as an experiment, researchers used a simple large language model prompt to detect and explain a re-creation of a well-known, real spear-phishing attack. Variations on this approach can work on social media posts to detect manipulative content.

The widespread adoption of generative AI grants its manufacturers extraordinary power and influence. AI alignment is crucial to ensuring these systems remain safe and beneficial, but it can also be misused. Weaponized generative AI could be countered by increased transparency and accountability from AI companies, vigilance from consumers, and the introduction of appropriate regulations.

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