The mysteries of autism. The art of animation. A chronicle of a blue-collar Baltimore neighborhood. The potential of rattlesnake venom as a drug delivery system.
These are just a few of the topics to be found at two upcoming campus events that put UMBC students’ intellectual curiosity and artistic creativity front and center.
The 12th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) will be held Wednesday, April 23, followed by the 30th annual Graduate Research Conference (GRC) on Friday, April 25. Both events are extraordinary opportunities to discover original research and to enjoy free arts performances and exhibits.
Led by the Office of Undergraduate Education, URCAD gives students valuable experience preparing for graduate school or future careers, and in many cases, competitive grants of up to $1,500 over an academic year to support selected work. Over 130 student participants are expected at this year’s event.
“URCAD allows students and faculty from all departments to benefit from the research, scholarship and creative work of our undergraduate students,” said Teresa Viancour, associate vice provost for undergraduate education. “URCAD presenters have made the transition from ‘student’ to ‘young professional.’ They are engaged in the creation of new knowledge and the sharing of that knowledge with their colleagues. The scope and importance of their work marks them as contributors to their fields of study.”
The GRC is a partnership between UMBC and University of Maryland, Baltimore and is sponsored by UMBC’s Graduate Student Association (GSA). Through its mentorship, support, outreach, social life and advocacy efforts, the GSA serves the more than 2,300 graduate students on campus. This year’s GRC keynote speaker is Diane Auer-Jones ’88, assistant secretary for postsecondary education with the U.S. Department of Education. Over 80 UMBC and UMB graduate students are scheduled to present at the GRC.
“The GRC is an important opportunity to present research results in an interdisciplinary setting to peers, faculty members, the University of Maryland community at large and the public,” said Archana Ambike, the GSA’s graduate research chair.
“The GRC demonstrates what UMBC is all about: outstanding research within a dynamic, supportive, community,” said Jessy Warner-Cohen, president of the GSA. “The conference tops off an outstanding year for the GSA.”
Selected highlights of 2008 URCAD and GRC presentations and performances include:
URCAD will be held on Wednesday, April 23, 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the University Center and Fine Arts Building. A morning session will be devoted to dance and music presentations and an afternoon session will focus on film and video. For more information, visit the URCAD Web site.
The 2008 Graduate Research Conference will be held on Friday, April 25, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the University Center. For more information, please visit the GSA’s Web site.
(4/21/2008)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>UMBC alumni have created an award winning documentary about Adventures for the Cure’s (AFC) annual bike trip to raise money for diabetes research. “Adventures for the Cure,” which recently received the People’s Choice Award at the Beloit International Film Festival, will be screened at UMBC on Tuesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. in Lecture Hall 3 (Administration Building).
Directed by Phillip Knowlton ’03, visual arts, the film chronicles the 6500-mile trek made by Adam Driscoll ’04, information systems, AFC president and cofounder; Alex Driscoll ’07, environmental science; and Jesse Stump ’06, mechanical engineering. The three men rode single-speed, fixed-gear bicycles to raise money and awareness for diabetes and to help disabled children in Kenya. “Adventures for the Cure” focuses on Adam, who as a Type-1 diabetic has to manage his illness while riding up to 150 miles a day through rugged terrain, and on the stories of two diabetic children the group meets along the way.
“Our documentary is not just a movie about biking across the country,” said Adam Driscoll. “Its about living your life to make a difference in the world – using the skills and talents that you have and love to really get out there and make it happen. We want to show people what friends can do when they make an effort to do something worthwhile.”
Additional alumni involved in the documentary and AFC are Patrick Blair ’03, computer science, vice president and co-founder of AFC and a Race Across America ’08 cyclist, and Greg Saylor ’05, environmental science, member of the Race Across America ’08 support crew. Current UMBC students working with AFC to promote the film are Tawny Barin, Cleo Thomas, Lauren Anthony, Mike Mene, Alanna Bradley and Daniel Edlow.
AFC seeks to raise awareness for diabetes, to show those diagnosed with diabetes and their families how leading a healthy and active lifestyle can move patients beyond their perceived limits and to raise funds for diabetes research.
For more information, visit www.adventuresforthecure.com. Watch a trailer for the documentary here.
(4/21/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Timothy Stubbs, a scientist at UMBC and NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, has won funding for a project that sounds like equal parts Ray Bradbury and early David Bowie: studying how electrically charged dust moves across the moon and how it could be a hazard to humans and robots exploring the lunar surface.
Stubbs was selected by NASA to join the science team for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, being built at Goddard and scheduled for launch later this year. The LRO is NASA’s first step in plans to return humans to the moon by 2020. Stubbs is an assistant research scientist with UMBC’s Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center.
Most of the evidence for a lunar dust “atmosphere” dates back to the Apollo mission era. NASA scientists analyzing images returned by the Surveyor landers noticed a ‘horizon glow’ close to the surface after lunar sunset, believed to be caused by sunlight scattered by ultra-tiny (smaller than a few microns – a millionth of a meter) dust particles. While astronauts in orbit observed a high-altitude horizon glow (over 62 miles high) just as their spacecraft was passing out of the shadow of the Moon.
According to the “dust fountain” model developed by Stubbs and colleagues at NASA Goddard, the high-altitude dust grains inferred from the horizon glow are probably highly-charged and have been lofted upward by electric fields close to the lunar surface. Once above the lunar surface electric field, the dust grains then fall back toward the Moon under gravity, with their trajectories resembling the arc of a water fountain.
Like the rest of the lunar soil, the dust was created over billions of years by the countless impacts of tiny meteorites. It gets its electrical charge from the sun’s ultraviolet light, X-rays and the moon’s surrounding plasma (electrified gas of ions and electrons) environment. The dust’s electrostatic charge makes it move about the moon’s surface and also gives it a static-cling stickiness that can be hazardous to astronauts and their equipment.
The tiny dust fragments are sharp and jagged since there is no air or water on the moon to smooth them over time. The dust was a nuisance to the Apollo astronauts, sticking to their spacesuits and tracking inside their spacecraft.
But what was a minor annoyance for the relatively brief Apollo missions could be dangerous during the next-generation, long-duration missions being planned by NASA. Astronauts who regularly inhale the sharp dust fragments over time could develop lung diseases similar to those caused by asbestos or coal dust. The dust could also cause problems with sensitive equipment and instruments.
“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be directly involved with NASA’s return to the moon, as well as very excited about all the great new science that will be achieved with this historic mission,” said Stubbs.
Stubbs’ project will use instruments on the LRO and other spacecraft to measure how much lunar dust there is and map the moon’s electric fields to better understand when and where the dust is most likely to be a problem for the manned missions planned for 2020 and beyond.
(4/15/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>As the UMBC community continues to honor the men’s basketball team’s historic first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament, the campus is positioned to host the 2008 President’s Cup, known as the “Final Four of College Chess,” on April 5-6.
Admission is free and spectators are invited to attend this United States Chess Federation (USCF) National event, which determines the 2008 National Collegiate Chess Team Champion. All matches will be held in the UMBC Game Room (2nd floor of The Commons).
To get the campus community excited about hosting the Final Four, UMBC has organized “Chess Week,” a week’s worth of events, activities and giveaways leading up to the 2008 President’s Cup. Events include a pep rally, a giant chess match between some of UMBC’s finest chess team members and much more.
The President’s Cup features the top four American college chess teams from the prestigious 2007 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. This year’s finalists are “Pan Am” champion University of Texas-Dallas (UTD), UMBC, New York University (NYU) and Miami-Dade College (MDC).
Rounds 1 and 2 will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., respectively, on April 5. Round 3 is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6, with a tiebreaker match (if necessary) at 2:30 p.m.
UMBC’s legacy as a chess power includes four Final Four victories (2003-2006) and seven Pan-Am titles (1996, 1998-2002 and 2005). UTD is a three-time Final Four champion and a six-time Pan-Am winner.
UMBC and UTD are the only Final Four winners since the event’s 2001 inception. Alan T. Sherman, director of the UMBC chess program and organizer of the 2008 Final Four, considers NYU and MDC to be respectable challengers for this year’s championship.
“We eagerly await the opportunity to avenge our narrow second-place finish to UTD at the Pan-Am,” Sherman says.
UMBC features four International Grandmasters: Sergey “The Stealth” Erenburg (Board 1, Israel), Timur Gareev (Board 2, Uzbekistan), Pawel “The Polish Magician” Blehm (Board 3, Poland) and Katerina “The Kiev Killer” Rohonyan (Board 4, Ukraine). Rohonyan, a senior computer science major, will remain at UMBC to study for her PhD.
The President’s Cup uses a Team Round Robin format scored by total individual points. Each team has four players and up to two alternates. Standard USCF rules apply.
Throughout each round, international Grandmaster Sam Palatnik will provide free move-by-move commentary in Commons Room 329. All games will be broadcast move-by-move at www.monroi.com.
(3/31/2008)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Hailed as a national model for preparing students of all backgrounds for careers in science and engineering-related fields, the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program will mark its 20th anniversary April 4 and 5 with a scientific symposium and celebration expected to draw 600 participants from across the nation.
Nearly 200 Meyerhoff alumni will join students, families, mentors and supporters in honoring the program’s success. The weekend includes poster sessions and scientific presentations demonstrating the talent and accomplishments of Meyerhoff alumni and students; panel discussions on “Building a Diverse Science and Engineering Workforce” and “Diversifying the Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. Pipeline” featuring Meyerhoff alumni, mentors and supporters; and department open houses.
“Our Twentieth Anniversary event is a special milestone for a program that has already established many milestones in advancing diversity in the STEM fields,” said Michael Summers, chair of the symposium, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “The impact that Meyerhoff alumni have on the world as scientists, medical doctors, engineers, educators and more is inspiring. We are especially excited that corporate and foundation partners and representatives from federal agencies will attend in order to connect with Meyerhoff talent.”
Earnestine Baker, executive director of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, said, “The Meyerhoff Program’s success is built on the premise that, among like-minded students who work closely together, positive energy is contagious. By assembling such a high concentration of high-minority students in a tightly knit learning community, our Meyerhoff Scholars continually inspire one another to do more and better. Therefore, it is fitting that we bring our alumni back to campus to reconnect, share research and network.”
Currently, 200 Meyerhoff alumni have completed graduate degrees, and 250 more are in graduate school. “The Meyerhoff program is truly making a difference,” said LaMont Toliver, director of the Meyerhoff Scholar Program. “Meyerhoff Scholars are twice as likely to graduate with a science or engineering major than students who decline the scholarship offer. Their GPAs in science, math and engineering are higher, and they are significantly more likely to enroll in a graduate program in a technical field.”
At every gathering of Meyerhoff Scholars, UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski reminds students of the importance of persistence, asking them to recite the Langston Hughes poem expressing that sentiment:
“Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.”
A symbol of the Meyerhoff Program’s culture and a reminder of the importance of their shared goals, these words reinforce the value of investment in personal aspirations and those of an entire community.
Hrabowski said, “UMBC has become a national model for excellence and inclusiveness in higher education. Science magazine has identified the Meyerhoff Program as one of the nation’s leading initiatives ‘for training minorities and women scientists,’ specifically citing ‘institutional leadership’ as one of the program’s strongest components because our leading faculty and staff have embraced the program.”
For more information on the Meyerhoff program, visit www.umbc.edu/meyerhoff.
(4/1/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>The J. Craig Venter Institute recently announced the creation of the world’s first wholly synthetic bacterial genome. For better or worse, this achievement by the celebrated and controversial scientist and his team marked the beginning of human-designed life on Earth.
On April 2, the entire UMBC campus community and the public are invited to an interdisciplinary symposium, “The Ethical Implications of Synthetic Life.” A panel featuring top experts in bioethics, genomics and policy will discuss the social, political and moral implications of this rapidly growing technology with vast potential to be either friendly or a 21st-century Frankenstein.
The symposium was organized by Andrea Kalfoglou, assistant professor of sociology/anthropology in the health administration and policy program, who has studied reproductive and genetic ethics for nearly 20 years. Kalfoglou was already developing an ethics lecture series when she arrived at UMBC six months ago.
Then she met UMBC interdisciplinary studies major Laura Dress, who recently completed her capstone project on standardizing and regulating synthetic genomics. The two attended a lecture by Venter on his new autobiography and his latest commercial venture in synthetic genomics, which crystallized the symposium’s focus.
The panel features Kalfoglou’s friend and colleague Glenn McGee, author of New York Times best seller Beyond Genetics, and editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Bioethics, along with top experts from The Johns Hopkins University, MIT and the International Center for Technology Assessment.
Kalfoglou hopes the symposium is an opportunity for a broad cross section of the UMBC community to explore this important issue of synthetic genomics. She said, “For the moment, the promise is more hype than hope; however, genetic technology moves much faster than the regulatory process. Huge corporations like Dupont are investing heavily in synthetic genomics development, so it is coming whether we are ready for it or not.
“The advantages of synthetic genomics are open to the imagination,” said Kalfoglou. “We might be able to produce cheaper food, clean water and clean, cheap sources of fuel. But, like any new technology, this will develop within our social and economic system that is not always focused on using technology to the betterment of humanity.”
“There are issues of justice in terms of who will reap the benefits and whowill bear the burdens. There are also reasonable concerns that the technology could be used for nefarious purposes including bioterrorism, and, like many new technologies, there will be unanticipated consequences. For instance, we might create an organism capable of cleaning up oil spills, but those new organisms could have unexpected negative effects on the environment,” added Kalfoglou.
“The Ethical Implications of Synthetic Life” is free and open to the public. The event will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2 on the seventh floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library, with a wine and cheese reception to follow. Signed copies of Beyond Genetics will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/synthlife.
(3/26/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>The Department of Theatre presents the third annual IN 10 Festival, featuring new theatrical works for young actresses and all audiences, including the winning play of UMBC’s IN10 International Short Play Competition, by Francesca Sanders, a work by IN10 finalist Shirley King, and the world premiere of two commissioned short plays by renowned playwrights Tina Howe and Naomi Wallace.
Inaugurated in 2006, the annual IN10 International Play Competition seeks to address the scarcity of strong roles for young women in contemporary American plays. By creating an international competition for 10-minute long plays that feature solid acting opportunities for young actresses, the Department of Theatre hopes to help commence a new era in contemporary playwriting. The winner is awarded a $1,000 cash prize and performances at the Festival. Additionally, each year the IN10 Festival and International Play Competition commissions a new work by a noted playwright.
The winner of the 2008 IN10 Competition is Francesca Sanders, whose work, The Rudy, will be staged along with the work of another finalist, Markers by Shirley King. Directors will include UMBC theatre professors Alan Kreizenbeck, Xerxes Mehta, Lynn Watson (chair) and Susan McCully (IN10 founder).
The IN10 Festival will be held March 5-9. Click here for information about the plays, show times and ticket information.
(3/3/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Troy Grant, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture, knows that years of research are ahead as he explores how to make education curricula more relevant and practical for at-risk students.
However, Grant, 38, also knows how far he has traveled from the New Haven, Conn., housing project where he grew up. A self-described �rambunctious� boy, Grant was placed in a school for developmentally disabled children when he was 9. At 11, authorities arrested him for breaking into a Woolworth�s store.
Grant persevered. He graduated from high school, joined the Air Force and completed his bachelor�s at City University of New York at 28 before earning his M.A. in Education from The Johns Hopkins University. Grant�s teaching experience includes several years at the New Era Academy in Baltimore.
�Here I am now, in a Ph.D. program. So the question I ask is, �What happened where education didn�t find a place for me when I was a child?� � Grant said. �What do you do with someone who has my kind of potential?�
Although Grant will explore those questions in his doctoral work, he has also addressed them in his book, An Autobiography of an Unknown Man (Spencer Publishing, 2005). The Barnes & Noble bookstore at Baltimore�s Inner Harbor recently honored Grant�s achievements with a signing and reading from the newly released second edition.
�Being in an interdisciplinary program such as the LLC program is quite a complement to my own unsettled thoughts about how the world has been constructed and structured, especially regarding inequality in education,� Grant said. �The LLC program encourages and pushes me to create new knowledge. My first year has been rather demanding but I feel better prepared as a result of the academic sharpening.�
For more about Grant, click here to view coverage from the ABC news affiliate in Philadelphia after he recited the U.S. Constitution before a live audience.
(3/3/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Senior physics major Philip Graff will follow the path of science greats Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking to Cambridge University as the second UMBC student in the past two years to win the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, one of the world’s most selective academic awards.
Graff, who will pursue a Ph.D. in physics, was one of just 45 U.S. winners chosen from more than 600 applicants and 119 finalists. He is UMBC’s second consecutive Gates Cambridge Scholar, following alumnus Ian Ralby ‘02, who won in 2007.
A native of Manalapan, NJ, Graff came to UMBC on a full scholarship through the University Fellowship program and is a member of the Honors College. “Philip’s combination of self-confidence, high social intelligence and understanding of his work made it very difficult for my colleagues to believe that he was only beginning his junior year,” said Markos Georganopoulos, research assistant professor of physics at UMBC and Graff’s mentor. “He built an excellent physics and mathematics background, which will serve him extremely well as he advances toward his Ph.D. His success is a living proof of what can be achieved at UMBC.”
For Graff, the Cambridge experience will be an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of history’s greatest physicists (such as Isaac Newton) and hopefully to meet a personal hero, Stephen Hawking of A Brief History of Time fame. “It’s said that Cambridge has been home to more Nobel Prize winners than all of France, so it’s an amazing honor to study there,” said Graff. “I consider Hawking one of the great minds in the field, so I really hope to meet him.”
An astrophysicist, Graff studies what gravitational waves (caused by the interactions of binary stars and other massive bodies) can tell us about the large scale structure and history of the universe. He created a computer model of quasar radiation as an undergraduate at UMBC and worked with one of the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), during a National Science Foundation fellowship at Caltech. His quasar work is the topic of a research paper currently under refereeing with the Astrophysical Journal.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship was created in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donated $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust. The award fully funds one to four years of graduate study in any field at Cambridge University. Other U.S. winners for 2008 included students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton and other prestigious universities.
(2/25/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>The Wall Street Journal on February 16 featured 12 innovators and entrepreneurs in the field of aging services who are having “the biggest impact on the future of retirement” in America. One-third of the “change agents” singled-out for honor are affiliated with UMBC’s Erickson School, including school founder John Erickson, faculty member Bill Thomas and a prominent student and a guest-instructor in the school’s new graduate program.
In an Encore-section cover story, “12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement,” The Wall Street Journal identified the nation’s leading pioneers who are “shaping the way Americans will live, work and play in later life.”
Four of those 12 pioneers are affiliated with UMBC’s Erickson School, which is becoming a national center for thought leadership in the fields of aging services, policy and research.
John Erickson
Erickson Retirement Communities Founder and Chairman John Erickson was featured for his pioneering work to shape the way Americans age. Erickson has launched several enterprises intended to establish a new standard in retirement living, including Retirement Living TV and The Erickson School at UMBC.
Erickson helped launch The Erickson School of aging, management and policy in 2004 with a $5-million commitment. With an explicit focus on preparing leaders for the 21st century, the School provides professional education, public policy leadership and applied research. The School offers a B.A. and M.A. in the Management of Aging Services. (MAgS).
Bill Thomas
An internationally-recognized authority on aging, Bill Thomas is a professor at the Erickson School and a leader in the culture change movement to promote elderhood as an honorable and valuable position in our society. Thomas is founder of the Eden Alternative, a philosophy and program that de-institutionalized nursing homes world-wide over the past 20 years. Most recently he developed the Green House, a radically new approach to long term care where nursing homes are torn down and replaced with small, home-like environments where people can live a full and interactive life. Read more about Thomas’ unique views on aging at his blog, www.changingaging.org.
John P. Stewart
As Executive Director of the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education, John P. Stewart is responsible for advocating, designing, funding and delivering services to the City’s 105,000 older adults. In the fall of 2007, Stewart enrolled in the first class of graduate students in the Erickson School’s MAgS program. Stewart is working on a blueprint to make city services such as health care, transportation and employment more receptive to the needs of older adults.
Katherine Freund
In the 1990s, Katherine Freund developed the Independent Transportation Network in Portland, Maine, to provide car rides to older adults who can no longer drive. She is now president of ITNAmerica, which has grown into a national organization that provides affordable, round-the-clock rides to thousands of older adults. Freund was tapped as a guest-instructor to help launch the Erickson School’s graduate program in the fall 2007.
Read the full Wall Street Journal story.
Watch John Erickson and Bill Thomas discuss the future of aging and The Erickson School.
(2/18/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
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