For Rachel Brewster, professor of biological sciences, “science has always been visual,” she says. Her laboratory focuses on developmental biology, using zebrafish as a model organism. Zebrafish have transparent embryos, and imaging them as they grow and change is a core element of her group’s data collection. 

“There is endless complexity and beauty captured in the images we generate using increasingly advanced imaging technologies,” Brewster says. “To me, this is not unlike the experience of viewing great works of art, such as impressionist paintings that bring the natural world to life through color, texture, and contrast.” 

To that end, Brewster endowed the new Havelock and Jennifer Brewster Art of Science award in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS). The award recognizes one CNMS student per year who produces original, visually stunning photographs, illustrations, or data visualizations that effectively communicate an important aspect of research.

“Scientific imaging that captures both beauty and meaning takes time, skill, and perseverance,” Brewster says. The new award acknowledges that “this kind of work deserves recognition not just within the scientific community, but beyond, because it has the power to spark curiosity, inspire others, and make science more accessible and engaging to the wider public.”

Opening people’s minds to the art of science

Maggie Wang, a junior biochemistry and molecular biology major with a minor in art history and museum studies, is the first recipient of the new award. Participating in UMBC’s SCIART program, a collaboration with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, initially “opened my mind to the intersection of science and art,” Wang says. 

As an undergraduate researcher in UMBC’s Molecular Characterization and Analysis Complex (MCAC), Wang’s desire to better understand the research equipment in the MCAC led her to produce detailed illustrations explaining the purpose of various instruments and the techniques they employ. With the encouragement of Cynthia Tope Niedermaier,MCAC facility manager, Wang polished her illustrations to help others learn about the equipment.

This summer, Wang will develop educational diagrams of more MCAC instruments. In addition to her scientific art, she works with graphite, ink, and yarn to create pieces that frequently focus on themes of Chinese culture and women’s fashion. Wang plans to pursue additional study in medical illustration after she graduates from UMBC. 

“Making art is a cathartic experience that allows me to express my creativity and emotions,” Wang says. “It also helps me connect with people from different backgrounds, opening the door to new perspectives and meaningful connections.”

Giving back in gratitude

Brewster strongly believes in UMBC’s mission to bring together and support students from a wide range of backgrounds, a goal she lives out daily within her own research group. Recently she also became co-lead of UMBC’s Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program, which offers financial support and a close community feel to promising STEM students from all backgrounds. 

“I have seen firsthand the powerful role the program plays in building the next generation of scientists,” Brewster says. “The Meyerhoff Program offers a proven framework, showing that by engaging all those who have something to contribute, we can continue to thrive as a nation.”

Brewster’s gift to fund this award is also “a small expression of my deep and lasting gratitude to my late parents, whom I love and miss every day,” she says. UMBC has also had a major role in shaping her identity. “UMBC has been my home since 2004. It is here that I have grown, not just as a scientist, but as a person. A big part of who I am is inextricably linked to this university.”

A dynamic research ecosystem was on display in a series of events showcasing existing projects and encouraging new collaborations across the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) this spring.

On April 11, the second annual COEIT Research Day brought together more than 180 students and faculty from COEIT’s four academic departments, as well as outside speakers and visitors. Attendance increased by around 20 percent from last year’s inaugural Research Day. 

More than 100 researchers presented either talks or posters at the meeting, and several students won awards for their posters and were recognized at the COEIT Awards and Celebration event on May 4.

“A major success of this year’s Research Day was the presence of visitors and speakers from industry, nonprofits, and government,” says Vandana Janeja, the associate dean for research in COEIT. “The event gave these guests an opportunity to visit UMBC and to engage in the vibrant research happening within COEIT, making connections with our research community that we hope to see grow into long-lasting partnerships.”

The college also launched a new call for COEIT Interdisciplinary Proposals. Last year, COEIT funded 11 projects from teams made up of researchers from two or more academic departments. The teams presented their results at this year’s event, on topics ranging from cybersecurity in manufacturing to thermally stable energy-harvesting materials. 

On May 2, the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering also hosted its annual research day, bringing together faculty, staff, and students to highlight the department’s latest advancements in research, from robotics to AI weather forecasting.

Dong Li, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE), and Konstantinos Kalpakis, associate professor in CSEE, were recently awarded funding from the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research to support the development of innovative healthcare technology. Both UMBC researchers are partnering with colleagues at UMB on their projects.

Li’s research aims to develop a reliable method to monitor blood pressure with a smartphone. High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects more than 1.3 billion people globally, and while conventional devices to monitor blood pressure are accurate, they are bulky and impractical in everyday life, Li says. As an affordable and accessible alternative, Li is testing if a smartphone, outfitted with ultrasound sensors to measure blood flow and using the built-in microphone to record heart sounds, could deliver reliable readings. Li’s partnership with UMB will allow the team to conduct clinical trials, with both healthy individuals and those with hypertension, to rigorously evaluate the system’s accuracy and effectiveness.

In a separate project, Kalpakis and his colleagues are developing a new approach to help trauma physicians make better-informed treatment decisions quickly. The team is working on a machine-learning framework that can help ER doctors predict medical outcomes, such as which patients will experience severe complications from trauma such as hemorrhaging, and what their blood transfusion needs may be. Unlike other machine learning models, the new approach can update over time and deliver measures of uncertainty, helping clinicians place more trust in the model’s guidance. 

“These projects highlight how interdisciplinary collaboration between UMBC and the University of Maryland School of Medicine can drive innovations in medical care and improve public health,” Li says. “I’m excited and proud to take this work forward.”

Art historian James Smalls, a professor of visual arts, researches the intersections of race, gender, and queer sexuality in both 19th-century art and the broader visual culture of the Black diaspora. Smalls is on a thrilling adventure to uncover the life and legacy of Senegalese performer known as Féral Benga and restore him to his rightful place in art history, and in a twist of timing fate, his research might also protect Benga’s final resting place. Smalls spent nine months in 2024 at the Getty Research Institute in California as part of their Getty Scholars Program, which gave him time to work on his next book, Féral Benga: African Muse of Modernism, and continue connecting the dots of Benga’s artistic impact.

Q: What led you to research Féral Benga?

A: I found a black and white photo of a sculpture by Richmond Barthé, an African American sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance. It’s a beautiful sculpture of a Black man holding aloft a kind of saber, doing this hypnotic dance. It was titled Féral Benga, and I thought, ‘Well, what’s that? Is that a type of dance that I’m looking at or something else?’ Eventually, I found out that this is the stage name of François Benga, who adopted the name when he began performing at the Folies Bergère [a famous cabaret music hall in Paris]. Benga was a very statuesque sort of dancer. His dance technique combined African dance with classical ballet and acrobatics. I wanted to learn more, which led to years of research trying to create an archive of his life and art.

Q: How did Féral Benga‘s statue inspire the next step of your research journey?

A: I discovered that Benga became a muse for visual artists during the early part of the 20th century and that he had a very interesting personality. 

He was a very magnetic sort of person and had many amorous affairs. Benga was gay and belonged to a gay circle of avant-garde artists. Jean Cocteau was one of those people and included him in his first avant-garde film, The Blood of a Poet, in 1932.

Q: What were some of Féral Benga’s contributions before and after World War II?

A: Before WWII, Benga owned a cabaret and a Senegalese restaurant in Paris where he performed. After WWII, he again established a nightclub, a cabaret called La Rose Rouge, where young African artists and students gathered and created works, leading to the beginning of the Négritude movement within the performing arts. [The Négritude movement was an anti-colonial cultural and political movement founded by a group of African and Caribbean students in Paris in the 1930s who sought to reclaim the value of blackness and African culture.]

I want to dispel the notion that women and people of color did not contribute to modernism and the avant-garde movement. They are sort of written out of art history. I’ve learned Benga contributed greatly to these two movements. Through my research, I want to bring that to the surface so that people are aware of that, that they’re just not on the side. 

Q: Did your research bring any unexpected finds?

A: I put an alert out on eBay for any imagery of Féral Benga. For a while, I didn’t hear anything. Then, suddenly, something came up. A woman in France started selling photographs of him without knowing who he was. She had this huge box of images and wanted to sell them piecemeal to make money. Each time she sent me a photo, she added some candid shots of the dancer. One shows him smoking a cigarette at a party, and another in a park. Suddenly, Swiss art dealers bought the rest of the collection. They have agreed to let me use the photos for my book.

It turned out the woman’s father was an estate dealer. He found this box of photos in a house in Châteauroux, in central France, that I later discovered was Féral Benga’s house.  

Q: Did you find additional traces of Benga’s life during your trip to France?

A: I went to the Saint-Denis cemetery in Châteauroux and found the family tomb where he is buried. I’m still researching the family, which is difficult because there are no records. It’s interesting work because I’m trying to piece together this life that was very popular and well-known at the time but then suddenly sort of disappeared from history.

The concession [rights to the plot of land] on the family tomb is set to run out in 2028—the French government will disinter the remains and put them in different ossuaries. I’m petitioning the French government to preserve Féral Benga’s grave because he is an important icon of Black diasporic modernism. 

Q: Are there connections between this research and the research for your first book, The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face, Private Thoughts?

A: Carl Van Vechten was a great patron of the Harlem Renaissance, a writer, and a photographer. If you see old photographs of African Americans from the Harlem Renaissance, portraits of people in music, dance, theater, and cultural people, those images are by Carl Van Vechten. He was very well known during the period. He also did a lot of private erotic photography, which is what my book was about.

The connection to my new book is that Féral Benga arrived in New York City in 1937, and Carl Van Vechten invited Féral Benga over into his studio apartment and took many interesting photographs of him.

It’s been a great journey piecing all this research together. Now, I must finish the book.

Learn more about UMBC’s Department of Visual Arts.

Dionne Cole, a native of Montgomery County, came to UMBC expecting to pursue a career in biology. But after a few semesters, she found her true calling lay in the intersection of social work, public health, and social justice. Guided by her faith as well as the support of her family and the community she built at UMBC, Dionne took on a dual degree, combining her newfound passion for social work with biology. She did her social work field placement at Retriever Essentials—a partnership advancing food access at UMBC—this year and became an advocate for students experiencing food insecurity, impressing everyone with her hard work and determination to make a difference. She plans to take time next year to work, before returning to school to get her master’s in public health.

Q: What made you decide to come to UMBC?

A: During the college application process, I was actually looking to go overseas because I love traveling and also because my family is from London. But I ended up coming to UMBC because I received a good award package, and I saw how they really valued community. That was a value that I cultivated in high school that I wanted to continue fostering in college. And then, because I was interested in being a bio major, seeing how research-oriented UMBC seemed, was also appealing as well. I think I made the right choice.

Q: Did you find the community you were looking for?

A: Yeah, in a big way. My faith is a big aspect of my life, so a lot of that community that I was looking for came through a group I joined called Bethel Campus Fellowship. Just being able to be around people who are like-minded and can also support and encourage you while you are a college student—that’s a lot. I also found community in the Social Work Student Association and the Public Health Council of Majors where I was able to connect with people who had similar interests. That was empowering because I wanted to go into a field that really valued public service and valued people. Being a member in those two clubs really reinforced that for me. And my internship at Retriever Essentials, which I am just wrapping up now, has been within itself a community of people who really care about other people and want to serve.

Q: How did you choose to be a dual degree student? 

A: I came in as a bio major and early on, I started realizing that I was being prepared to either go into STEM research or medicine. Those are great fields, but that’s not really what I want to do. I talked with my cousin about the healthcare field, and she explained to me the value of social work. And then I talked to a social worker at my mom’s workplace and started doing my own research, and I was like, “okay, this is a field that has what I’m looking for.” 

I didn’t switch right away. I took two intro to social work classes just to see if I would like it. I fell in love with the core values, particularly social justice. I am social justice-oriented, so once I learned more about social work, I thought: This is it for me—I’m going to add social work to my degree plan and start pursuing opportunities that are more in line with that. But I still kept the bio background because I love biology.

Q: How did you end up at Retriever Essentials and what was that like for you? What did you learn?

A: I started at Retriever Essentials as a community liaison with Maryland Food Bank, largely doing SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] outreach on campus. When it came time to choose my field placement for the social work curriculum, I chose Retriever Essentials. I learned how prevalent food insecurity is on college campuses and how much of a public health issue it is. I found out food insecurity is more prevalent on college campuses than it is among the general population because of the cost of higher ed and all of these other compounding factors. 

I think that was probably the biggest thing that I learned. I didn’t know it was a public health issue when I originally came in. Through managing their Save-a-Swipe program, I met with students who were experiencing food insecurity and I assessed their situation. And that was a very interesting experience, just sitting with students and hearing them talk about all the ways in which food insecurity affects them. A lot of the students I met with were international graduate students and their stories impacted me a lot because they traveled all this way—they’re coming here to advance their education—and yet their basic needs aren’t being met. And that was just really hard to hear. But the one thing I will say about social work is that it teaches you how to take the things that you see that are very frustrating to you or heartbreaking to you, and use them as fuel to try and advocate and make things better. 

Q: Did you find places at UMBC to make your voice heard?

A: Yes. I have a friend [Emmanuella Osei ’26, public health] who was also interested in food insecurity, and she had her own research project just surveying the prevalence of it on this campus. Mine was evaluating Retriever Essentials and how it’s doing at helping students overcome food insecurity. We decided to merge our projects and, with the help of my field instructor—Sue Poandl, who is also her McNair Scholar mentor—we actually got a meeting that is next week with Dr. Renique Kersh, the vice president of Student Affairs to talk about that research. 

UMBC listens because when we went to my field instructor and the leaders of Retriever Support Services and Retriever Essentials about what we wanted to do, they were very much supportive and said: How can we help you get this in a place or in front of a person who can actually do something about it?

Q: Social work can be very emotionally demanding. What have you learned about self-care while you’ve prepared yourself for a career in social work and public health?

A: My field instructor says to lean on your people. I had a lot of days where, after meeting with a bunch of students, I would feel the weight of their stories and it would be very hard for me to process and think. And that goes back to having community, particularly in my faith,and being able to go to my friends who are not social work majors. They can only understand what I’m going through to a certain degree, but just being with them makes me feel lighter—even if I’m not necessarily talking about what’s bothering me. And verbally processing with them, just being able to be in their presence and have their prayers and stuff like that—it was really helpful. 

Q: What impact do you think you contributed to UMBC that will be here after you are gone?

A: I would hope that it’s community—the same value that I came in wanting to foster. I hope it’s the same value that I leave behind: valuing community in every way. Because you don’t get to the finish line without your community. And community can come in so many different forms. What I get out of my fellowship community is not necessarily the same that I got out of my Retriever Essentials community. But they both helped me, and they both did their part in getting me to the finish line, and also taught me so many things that have helped me grow as a person. 

I really hope that people see from me the value of the community that is around them academically. There are so many professors and staff and faculty who took jobs at a university because they wanted to help and empower students to fulfill their dreams: lean on that. Some professors might seem scary, but lean on them because most of them just want to help. Same thing with student orgs. The people who run them don’t only enjoy the interest that the club is for, but genuinely believe in the gathering of people. And yeah, I hope that I’ve added to the value of community that this university already had.

With such a large population of Marylanders at UMBC, it’s not that unusual to run into someone you went to high school with. But when that someone is from your high school in Canberra, Australia, that’s a little more unexpected. 

It was the love of the game that unexpectedly brought senior Annie Grove, biology,and junior Erin Behel, mechanical engineering,back together a few years after and a few thousand miles from where they first became friends. Behel is a softball player and daughter of a U.S. Marine, so moving was a regular family pastime. When she found herself in Australia (her mother’s home country) in grade seven, she met Grove, a soccer player, in high school. Once Behel’s father’s contract ended in 2018, she returned to Maryland. Unbeknownst to one another, they were both looking for athletic opportunities in the United States. 

“I posted my announcement on social media saying I committed to UMBC, and I started getting all these messages from friends in Canberra saying ‘We’re pretty sure that’s where Grove is going!’” recalls Behel. “It was just insanity that out of all the colleges in the U.S., we’d both end up here.” 

The friends can’t remember their first on-campus meeting (probably either the first student-athlete meeting or a visit to Behel’s dorm where Grove recalls “seeing all her pretty plants!”). But it’s certain they’ve enjoyed each other’s support since reconnecting and cheering from the stands at one another’s games.

There’s no “I” in team

Grove and Behel are just two of the many international student-athletes who have made UMBC their home away from home and support is at the forefront of those decisions. 

Bruna De Padua, media and communications studies, originally traveled from Brazil to a small university in rural Missouri to pursue swimming. After a few months, she knew the fit wasn’t right and joined the NCAA transfer portal. Enter UMBC. 

“As soon as I committed to UMBC, the process was so different from my other university,” De Padua says. For example, she appreciated how head swim coach Matt Donovan made sure she knew who to contact around campus for questions and help. Behel and Grove echo these sentiments, especially as it pertains to being able to focus on academics. 

“I’ve heard from former teammates at other schools that they feel like they’re being punished if they choose to go to class and I’ve never, ever felt that,” says Behel. 

Grove agreed, sharing, “Our coaches have always said that we need to go to class. And there’s so much emphasis on communication.” 

Follow the leader

While they all agree the coaching staff has been invaluable in making their time at UMBC successful, they’re also grateful for fellow Retrievers who have helped throughout their journey. 

De Padua is navigating her junior year now and knew she needed an internship to fulfill her academic requirements. After doing commercial modeling at an agency a fellow swim team alum Rola Hussein ’24 from Egypt worked for, De Padua was able to parlay that into her own spring/summer internship opportunity for the agency, doing social media and marketing. 

She’s not the only one who was helped academically by her peers. Behel recalls a mechanical engineering softball player several years ahead of her who “paved the way for us to be able to show our coach and ourselves it’s possible to do both.” 

In turn, Behel, De Padua, and Grove all seek to offer others support. “I’ve had so many conversations with people about how to get a bank account, how to get a phone number…really adult tasks that I had to figure out early on and now I’m passing it along,” says Grove.

They see UMBC as their home away from home and would encourage any international student-athlete to consider joining them. When asked what advice she would give to any new Retrievers from across the world, Grove simply summed up her experience by suggesting, “Just say yes to things and see what happens.” 

The following message was shared with the UMBC community on May 19 to announce nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert Alice Middleton as the new executive director of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce that following a national search Alice Middleton has been selected as the fourth executive director for The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, effective June 1, 2025. Alice is a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert and brings a wealth of experience to Hilltop.

Alice joined Hilltop in 2017 as chief of staff, became Hilltop’s deputy director in 2022, and has been serving as Hilltop’s interim executive director since May 1, 2024, following the retirement of Cynthia Woodcock. Alice will continue to provide leadership on programmatic strategy, direction, and delivery of client engagements for research, policy analysis, and data analytics on Medicaid, health care financing, and delivery system reform. She will lead Hilltop’s work with the institute’s long-time partner, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). She will also continue to serve as the steering committee chair for AcademyHealth’s State-University Partnership Learning Network.

UMBC originally established The Hilltop Institute in 1994 as the Center for Health Program Development and Management in a unique partnership with the Maryland Department of Health acting as a non-partisan health research organization, with expertise in Medicaid and in improving publicly financed health care systems, dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of people and communities. It comprises close to 60 staff members with a broad spectrum of expertise, from social sciences, financial analysis, economics, law, and programming.

Alice came to Hilltop from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was deputy director of CMS’ Division of Eligibility and Enrollment and was responsible for establishing national Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility and enrollment policies for low-income children and adults. Prior to that, she held various director-level positions at the MDH, such as deputy director of the Office of Medicaid Planning and the director of eligibility policy and special projects in the Office of Eligibility Services. She served as the MDH’s liaison to the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange during the launch of Maryland Health Connection, the state’s insurance marketplace.

Alice earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2005. She also has a bachelor’s in women’s studies from Towson University.

Please join me in congratulating Alice on this well-deserved position.

Karl V. Steiner
Vice President for Research and Creative Achievement

* * * * *

Learn more about the work of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC.

The following message was shared with the UMBC community on May 19 to announce Alice Middleton, a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert, as the new executive director of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce that following a national search Alice Middleton has been selected as the fourth executive director for The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, effective June 1, 2025. Alice is a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert and brings a wealth of experience to Hilltop.

Alice joined Hilltop in 2017 as chief of staff, became Hilltop’s deputy director in 2022, and has been serving as Hilltop’s interim executive director since May 1, 2024, following the retirement of Cynthia Woodcock. Alice will continue to provide leadership on programmatic strategy, direction, and delivery of client engagements for research, policy analysis, and data analytics on Medicaid, health care financing, and delivery system reform. She will lead Hilltop’s work with the institute’s long-time partner, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). She will also continue to serve as the steering committee chair for AcademyHealth’s State-University Partnership Learning Network.

UMBC originally established The Hilltop Institute in 1994 as the Center for Health Program Development and Management in a unique partnership with the Maryland Department of Health acting as a non-partisan health research organization, with expertise in Medicaid and in improving publicly financed health care systems, dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of people and communities. It comprises close to 60 staff members with a broad spectrum of expertise, from social sciences, financial analysis, economics, law, and programming.

Alice came to Hilltop from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was deputy director of CMS’ Division of Eligibility and Enrollment and was responsible for establishing national Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility and enrollment policies for low-income children and adults. Prior to that, she held various director-level positions at the MDH, such as deputy director of the Office of Medicaid Planning and the director of eligibility policy and special projects in the Office of Eligibility Services. She served as the MDH’s liaison to the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange during the launch of Maryland Health Connection, the state’s insurance marketplace.

Alice earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2005. She also has a bachelor’s in women’s studies from Towson University.

Please join me in congratulating Alice on this well-deserved position.

Karl V. Steiner
Vice President for Research and Creative Achievement

* * * * *

Learn more about the work of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC.

Toward the end of 2018, Chhaya Kulkarni, Ph.D. ’25, information sciences, was working as an IT analyst in India and contemplating pursuing higher education. Her mom, who had earned her own master’s degree in the ’80s, praised the mind-expanding potential of graduate work, and her cousin, who had already forged a path to UMBC, showcased the value of a Retriever education. In 2019, Kulkarni arrived on campus and began a fulfilling journey that will culminate as she dons her academic robes and is formally “hooded” at the graduate commencement ceremony on May 21. In the fall, she will be joining Towson University as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, where she will continue her research in Earth observation science and data analysis. 

Q: What were your first impressions of UMBC?

A: When I came to UMBC, I was initially just going to get my master’s. I enjoyed learning and interacting with the professors—it was a completely new world for me. Here the emphasis is on: What have you understood? What’s your take on a subject? And I really felt that I belonged. So I started thinking, “What if I do a Ph.D.?” The thought had always scared me and I had read somewhere that the thing that scares you, that’s the thing that’s going to change your life. 

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced? 

A: Throughout my life, I had instances where I would start something and then, once the thrill was gone, I just gave it up. So getting the Ph.D. was in a way a test of my ability to pursue something which is intellectually challenging, but you know, it can get tedious after a while. Also, I had a baby in 2023, and afterwards it was very challenging for me to understand how to prioritize and balance work and life tasks.

Q: How did you meet those challenges? 

A: My advisor, Dr. Vandana Janeja, has had a profound impact on my time at UMBC, and I’ve looked to her as a role model. What stood out to me from the very beginning was her ability to think several steps ahead—she has a visionary approach to research and leadership that always kept me inspired. And she inspires me to not get bogged down by hurdles in life. I remember I once spoke to her about a problem and she listened to me very patiently and then she asked me, “Okay, so what are you going to do about it?” And I realized what she was telling me was that I have the ability to fix problems. 

Also, sometimes when I was overwhelmed by a task that seemed really complex and daunting, I’d talk to my mom. And she would tell me: “Why don’t you just start doing something? And you know, you’ll figure it out eventually.”

So those two things that Dr. Janeja and my mom told me—getting started and then determination to see it through—have left a profound impact on me.

Q: Are there qualities of your professors at UMBC that you’d like to emulate as you begin your own journey as a professor?

A: Yes, absolutely. When I was a teaching assistant, my supervisor was Dr. Jennifer Carter. I was struck by the care and thought she put into her teaching. She continuously refined her assignments and delivery to challenge students meaningfully. And she was so patient listening to students’ concerns. Her dedication and innovative teaching style made me reflect on how I want to teach—engaging, evolving, and impactful. 

And then Dr. Janeja again. I learned so much from how she manages her time and balances multiple roles with grace, whether as a mentor, researcher, leader, or collaborator. She is incredibly strong technically and deeply organized, and yet she carries all of that with remarkable humility. Working with her shaped not just how I approached research but also how I strive to show up professionally—with clarity, purpose, and compassion.

Q: How would you describe your research to the public?

A: Well, first off, one of the best parts of my UMBC experience has been the chance to explore so many different topics across data science and computing—often outside my original comfort zone.

My dissertation focused on the glaciers in Greenland. We used a new type of data analysis technique to visualize vulnerable regions where the most amount of melt is happening. And the idea is that scientists can then concentrate on these regions, to better understand why they are melting faster than other regions, or to try to slow the melting. As the glaciers melts, it contributes significantly to sea level rise. 

During my time at UMBC, I also received the NASA GESTAR II Fellowship, which gave me the opportunity to work with Dr. Nikki Privé, a scientist at NASA, on high-resolution digital twin simulations, which is where they make a virtual replica of the entire Earth’s atmosphere. In this case, we were using it to understand satellite data better. It was a valuable experience that connected my research to real-world applications.

I feel the most rewarding part of my research is seeing how it can be used by other people to advance science and our understanding of the world.

Q: What are some of your most memorable moments from your time at UMBC?

A: I was part of the National Science Foundation-funded research institute called iHARP, which works to integrate data science and polar science to better understand the polar regions of the Earth. There were a lot of other Ph.D. students there, and I met so many of my friends there. It was nice to meet in the hallways, ask about each others’ research, and joke around. We made many happy memories. 

One of the most meaningful experiences was teaching Ethical Issues in Information Systems. While I built on existing course materials, facilitating the class helped me grow as an educator and engage students in important conversations about technology and responsibility.

Q: How do you feel about staying in Maryland after you graduate?

A: When I was applying for jobs, in the back of my mind I did always have the hope that I wouldn’t have to leave Maryland. So when I got the offer from Towson, I was thrilled. Maryland feels like home. I love the greenery around here, and I love going on hikes. In the summer I go a lot to Patapsco Valley State Park. And I love taking my son to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. That’s another place I proudly endorse.

Jordan Fisher, visual arts, discovered a nurturing environment in commonvision, UMBC’s student design and print center, where he could apply the graphic design skills he learned in his academic courses. There, he found mentors—Emma Hagen ’14, Laura Schraven, and Katie Chrzanowski ’07—who sustained him throughout his undergraduate experience.

Q: How did you decide to come to UMBC?

A: It was pretty straightforward for me. I started thinking about college when I was in high school. I went to Sollers Point Technical High School in Dundalk, Maryland, and that had a program where I could spend half the day at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) during my senior year. Then I got into the CCBC honors program and from there it was guaranteed admission into various colleges. I picked UMBC because the location worked and because it had a design program that I liked.

Q: How did you choose your major?

A: It was kind of spontaneous. I transferred from CCBC with an associates degree in computer science, but I figured out during my last semester at CCBC that I didn’t want to do computer science. It was around this time that I started drawing a lot, and I stumbled upon some YouTube videos teaching graphic design. So I binged those for a good week or a month then, and I started making some designs of my own. This would have been in 2019 or 2020. It just felt like something that I really liked doing, and something that I wanted to know a lot more about. But risky—riskier than computer science probably! I didn’t quite know what graphic design was when I was getting into it and feeling it out, but I felt like it just came to me.

Q: Who has helped you along your academic journey?

A: Definitely all my supervisors at commonvision—Emma Hagen, Laura Schraven, and Katie Chrzanowski. They’ve all been instrumental to my growth professionally and academically here at UMBC. As far as professors go, I would say Guenet Abraham—a big influence in my academic training, and the first graphic design professor I had. Our relationship continues—we still run into each other and catch up. Her teachings have influenced my work a lot.

Q: What are you most proud of from your time at UMBC?

A: I’m proud of the skills I’ve gained and the work that I’ve done. If there was one particular thing that I would be proud of the most, it would be my work for UMBC Review. I did the design for the 24th volume of the UMBC Review a couple years ago, and that was a monumental task, partly because I made it a monumental task for myself. I really pushed myself on that, and I’m really happy with the result.

Q: What has been the best part of your UMBC experience?

A: In these last couple years, I’ve really opened up and met a lot more people who maybe I had been just acquaintances with before. Now I feel much more personally connected to the people around me every day. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everybody in my design classes. Also, commonvision has enabled me to gain real-world design experience and create work that has had a lasting impact on the campus community.

Q: What advice would you give to an incoming graphic design student?

A: Try to see your classmates as your network of friends, not as people with whom you’re competing in the job market. Chances are they’re probably lovely people, so just be sociable. You can’t really design in a vacuum or make art in a vacuum, so you have to build connections with the people who are around you, who are experiencing the same things that you’re going through, and get inspired from their work as well. So make those connections.

Q: Do you have a favorite graphic designer? Is there someone whose work inspires you?

A: I really admire a lot of the work that my classmates do. If I were to name professional designers, I would say I’ve really enjoyed listening to designers Kel Lauren and Elliott Ulm. They have a podcast I was actually just listening to just now. Their perspectives on graphic design are really eye opening to me, and their design work is great.

Q: What’s next for you after you graduate? What are your plans and aspirations?

A: I would definitely like to work in a place like commonvision—a design studio where you have multiple clients. It’s not an in-house studio—It’s just whoever comes to you, because I like that kind of variety.