Currently, Brian Souders is the associate director for global learning in the Center for Global Engagement at UMBC. But Brian, who came to UMBC in 2000 to be the university’s inaugural study abroad coordinator, has worn a number of hats in his 20+ years as a Retriever. He’s a two time alum (Ph.D. ’09, language, literacy, and culture, M.A. ’19, TESOL), and after years of helping faculty and students achieve their overseas learning and research goals, Brian recently took part in his own Fulbright exchange program. Take it away, Brian!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I have been a global soul since my first international experience as a high-school exchange student in Finland several decades ago. That initial experience led me to a career in international exchange that has lasted more than two decades at UMBC. My UMBC path also led to doctoral work in the language, literacy, and culture program, as well as a master’s degree in our TESOL program.

Q: Tell us about what you love about where you work.

A: I work in UMBC’s Center for Global Engagement (CGE), and our mission is to support international opportunities for both our incoming degree-seeking students, our English-language learners, and our outbound study abroad students. Having been at the CGE for what I call a non-insignificant amount of time has allowed me to see just how much we have grown and changed to support the global learning aspirations of our UMBC community. 

Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place? Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: I came to UMBC because I was offered the opportunity to build a structure for UMBC students to study abroad. I had worked as a study abroad advisor at a Big 10 university for several years, but I wanted to take those skills and apply them elsewhere. In 2000, I saw a job advertisement to serve as the inaugural study abroad coordinator at UMBC in what was then called the International Education Services Office. I interviewed for and got the job. I moved to Maryland, and I have not looked back since!

Q: Tell us about the people who are helping you grow at UMBC, and why their HOW made such a difference to you.

A: There are too many people to name! It was an honor to work with Arlene Wergin, the director of the International Education Services Office until her retirement in 2016. She was a constant source of professional and personal support during the initial years of my time at UMBC.

David Di Maria, our associate vice provost for international education, led me to dream big, when I transitioned away from education abroad administration to a role focused solely on my current work of fellowships advising with a focus on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Katie Heird, UMBC’s inaugural director of study abroad and global learning, has been a partner in global collaboration for 15 years—and it was with her encouragement that I applied for my own Fulbright, which I received this year.

Q: What did you learn from your own Fulbright experience, and what did you bring back from that to offer to UMBC students and faculty?

A: Probably the biggest lesson I took from the seminar is that the German-American educational relation is a strong one—in spite of the differences in our educational systems. There are aspects of the higher education landscape that make for some challenges in semester-length exchanges, but there is an incredible enthusiasm among our German university colleagues and partners to host American students and scholars. I can happily tell our faculty and staff that Germany’s institutions of higher education are beyond enthusiastic and welcoming to American faculty and students to come learn more about what their country has to offer. 

Q: What do you love most about your job?

A: I get to fulfill dreams. I work with both talented students and our amazing faculty and staff to find funding opportunities to go global. In my job, I work with the UMBC community to put their dreams into words. Working with the Fulbright Program—the largest educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State—allows me the chance to help build future leaders in global affairs. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

* * * * *

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.

Before you let your imagination run wild, we’re going to go ahead and temper whatever expectations you may have upon hearing the phrase “biology band.” Nobody is banging on a centrifuge in lieu of drums. Test tubes aren’t lined up as a makeshift xylophone. The final rock flourish is not a shattering of beakers. In fact, when the band members of Fever Dream get together, they leave biology in the lab and concentrate on what matters—the music. 

“We are incredibly lucky to be able to do important research on the topics that we are interested in while at the same time being able to share our knowledge through teaching and mentoring students,” says Jeff Leips, professor of biological sciences.

“But our department also definitely embodies the motto of ‘work hard, play hard.’” 

“I’ve been involved with music my whole life and was actively looking for opportunities just like this, so it came at a perfect time,” said Michelle Moyer, M.S. ’22, a current biological sciences doctoral candidate. “I’m blown away by how much the idea has developed into a true passion project for all of us.”

The concept of a departmental band started simply enough. In his capacity as chair of the biology department “Fun Committee,” Leips asked around at his lab to see if anyone played an instrument and would be willing to play during their end-of-year departmental party. Leips joined the UMBC community in 2001 and this annual event has become one of his favorite traditions. The same year that Leips came to UMBC, he bought his first guitar.

Meet the band

Over the years, Leips has continued to gather a new musical cohort every few semesters with minimal practices and a one-time-only performance. While the revolving door of students each year allowed for new and exciting instruments to add to their sound, retention and growth were issues.

Last spring, Leips put out a call to see who would be interested in standing up a more permanent band, and soon his guitar and ukulele were joined by vocals, percussion, keys, and more.

Fever Dream is currently made up of biological sciences faculty member, Steve Caruso ’94, Ph.D. ’02, biology, on drums; Michelle Moyer, M.S. ’22 and a current biology doctoral candidate, on vocals and percussion; Ph.D. student Anthony Rosenthal ’20, biochemistry and molecular biology, on bass and harmonica; biochemistry doctoral candidate Winny Sun on keyboards and contributing vocals; Ryan Bacon ’23, biology doctoral candidate, on lead guitar; and Jeff Leips on guitar and vocals.

“I know Dr. Leips has previously labeled me as lead guitar, but I feel that might overpromise on my skill set! But it’s been a lot of fun,” says Ryan Bacon ’23, biology doctoral candidate, of his involvement.

While the group may have come together as a hodgepodge, their dedication was clear from the outset. “Anthony said he was just learning guitar, so I suggested that he learn bass. He borrowed the bass from our drummer and started playing and actually got pretty good, pretty fast,” said Leips.

In addition to jumping in feet first to learn how to actually play the instruments, the members of Fever Dream have also put in the time—upping their practice schedule to two nights a week, three hours per session—to make their ultimate goal of playing a show a reality. 

The group works together to choose songs they think will speak to their skillset, with classics like “Piano Man” (with the added bonus of highlighting Rosenthal’s harmonica skills) and hits from Tom Petty and The Doors. But the students also become the teachers, introducing Leips to music he’s never heard of from bands like alt-J. The band is looking forward to showcasing their sound at a few biology department gatherings this semester and they’re kicking around the idea of potentially branching out to local venues.

It was all a (fever) dream

And to answer your burning question—why the name Fever Dream? It’s both a bittersweet tribute to a dedicated fan and an explanation of their musical selections, which are “all over the place,” says Leips. When Leips first got his PA system, his dog Chiku would stand listening at the door. “If I made a mistake, she would look at me like she knew,” muses Leips.

After sharing a photo of Chiku visibly dreaming in front of the PA system, Leips’ pup became the band’s unofficial mascot. And when she sadly died, the group decided to make it permanent, inking her on their band shirts and settling into their official name. 

Ultimately, the group is just glad to have found each other and have an outlet for their passion.

“When Jeff invited me to join a low-stakes, fun-oriented band, it seemed like a great idea,” said Caruso, who studies phage biology. “I’ve learned that while I really like playing the drums, I love playing with other people. Making music with people is just a wonderful kind of thing that people need to do to understand.”

Meet Tim Besse, M.A. ’17, management of aging services, a veteran of the United States Army who now works as an advocate for veterans with neurological injuries or diseases. As a student in the Erickson School, Tim made connections with a fellow student that sticks with him to this day. Thanks for sharing your story, Tim!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: As far back as I can remember, I aspired to go to college and pursue a career that was dependent upon my college education. I enlisted in the U.S. Army (USA) at age 18 to take advantage of the GI Bill for education. During my 1973 – 1980 USA years, I completed the first three years of a University of Maryland Global Campus baccalaureate degree. In 1981, I completed my degree that was focused on social sciences, and I started a Department of Defense civilian career that ended in my 2016 retirement.

I was active in my community during my career, working with older adults, people with disabilities, and refugee families. In September 2016, two weeks into retirement, I entered the Erickson School at UMBC to earn my M.A. in the management of aging services. Today I am an affiliate of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, wherein I advocate for veterans who are neurologically injured or who suffer from neurologic diseases.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you found here?

A: That support will be a gift to themselves for a lifetime.

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: I have many who supported me on my journey through the Erickson School. The person who stands out is my classmate Cynthia Garner [’16, M.A. ’17, management of aging studies]. The classmate closest to my age was 10 years younger than me. The classmate furthest from my age, Cynthia, was 40 years younger than I am. We were kindred souls, out to prove something to ourselves as well as to others! We were committed to each other not to let the other one fail. Cynthia once said to me: “Because I am young, people don’t think I know anything!” I responded to her, “Because I am old, people don’t think I know anything either!”

Regardless of the difficulty of the assignment, and regardless of the tight timeline, working with Cynthia, I knew we would pull through it! Cynthia was not only very bright, but she was ethical, unafraid to work hard to be successful, always gracious, and shared her talents to help others succeed too! On the day we graduated, I said to myself, “If there are just a few more like Cynthia, the world will be okay!”

Q: What did you love most about your program of study at UMBC?

A: The Erickson curriculum strives to enable its students to understand the needs of older adults and to be able to bring resources to meet those needs. For many of my classmates, the course content was abstract; it pertained to others and not yet to themselves. The course content was personal to me because I am an older adult. Many scenarios are used as examples, such as aging parents, changes in physical stamina, and cognitive changes. Also, traits that may improve with age include resilience and crystallized intelligence (wisdom) are current life events.

The curriculum enabled students to grasp the difficulties encountered by older adults and potential solutions for those difficulties. For those students who are older adults, the course content was as much about them as it was about an entire aging cohort. Every day, I work with older adult veterans and their families. My insight into myself allows me to understand the constraints age has placed on these veterans. My insight enables me to recognize their right and their need for self-determination and explain to well-meaning family members why it is vital for their veterans to guide their lives.

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because it offered the education I needed to work with older adults at my desired level of expertise. I stay engaged with UMBC and the Erickson School for the aid it provides me to improve my job skills.

Q: Where are you working now, and what do you like about it most?

A: I am a national service officer in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Our veteran population is aging. The average age for a veteran is 68. The average age for a Vietnam-era veteran is 72. Besides being older adults, these men and women have an extra layer on top of being an older adult. Veterans are more likely to contract Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Multiple Sclerosis.

PTSD is more prevalent amongst veterans, especially combatant veterans. Veterans are more likely to fall than non-veterans. And then there is loneliness. It is gratifying to work with these older adults with their special needs. At my age my credo is if it’s not fun, I’m doing it! I anticipate I am not going anywhere.

* * * * *

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.

Spiders, robots, climate change, Vaudevillian history, and more—this year’s GRIT-X event had something for inquiring minds of all kinds, with explorations into elements of the past, our collective present, and possibilities for the future. 

Back for its seventh year, GRIT-X returned to the Fine Arts Recital Hall during Homecoming 2023 with presentations from faculty and accomplished alumni addressing some of the most pressing issues facing society now and throughout history, and how UMBC scholars are working to build a better tomorrow. 

“The goal of GRIT-X is to provide a sneak peek behind the scenes of some of the exciting and impactful research and creative achievement initiatives across our campus community,” says Karl V. Steiner, UMBC’s vice president of research and creative achievement. “[GRIT-X] takes you around the whole campus and beyond.”

“Disruptive” and intercultural thinking in the workforce 

GRIT-X 2023 showcased how UMBC alumni are working to fuel innovation within the workforce and how faculty are strengthening the employability of future graduates. Melanie Harrison Okokoro, Ph.D. ’11, environmental science, opened this year’s GRIT-X with her discussion on how “bold and disruptive thinking” can help executives to lead, innovate, and transform their companies in the 21st century. Okokoro is the co-founder and CEO of Eco-Alpha, a firm that provides environmental compliance services and engineering workforce development training. Her talk outlined how leaders can create “disruptive strategies” in order to stay at the forefront of changes happening in their industries. 

“Disruptive thinking is in my DNA,” said Okokoro during her presentation. “It defines how [Eco-Alpha] outcompetes our competitors in the marketplace and allows us to target a segment of the population that’s been traditionally overlooked.”

Similarly to Okokoro, Zhensen Huang, M.S. ’00, Ph.D. ’04, information systems, used bold thinking to propel himself forward in his current career as CEO and founder of Precise Software Solutions, a firm that helps government and private sector clients modernize their IT systems. Huang spoke of his student experience at UMBC after emigrating to the U.S. from a small rural village in China—a future he says he didn’t think was possible when growing up. He shared how UMBC helped even when “It’s hard for us to make a connection between what we’re doing now to the great possibilities down the road,” says Huang. 

“Embrace the present and envision the future,” Huang shared during his talk. “Sometimes you don’t know what your future possibilities are, and that’s okay. What’s important is to embrace what’s in front of you, especially the challenges.”

Irina Golubeva, professor and director of UMBC’s intercultural communication graduate program, is working to address some of those challenges students face, such as navigating culturally-diverse environments. Her GRIT-X presentation focused on her research on intercultural learning, which includes the InterEqual training program she created based on student feedback. Golubeva shared how she’s helping UMBC students develop their intercultural competence as they prepare for their professional careers. 

“We cannot ignore and disregard these tendencies of job markets, and we must prepare our students to work and live in multicultural societies by equipping them with essential intercultural and language skills,” says Golubeva. 

Investigating earthly phenomena with math and science

Justin Webster, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, explored the “relationship between mathematical models and the phenomena in the world” during his presentation. He highlighted specific examples of how mathematical modeling can deepen our understanding of infrastructure disasters like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse of 1940, and how his mathematical process helped researchers find a possible hypothesis for detecting the onset of glaucoma.

“Mathematical modeling is a scientific empowerment tool. Anyone, anywhere, can do math modeling and study anything that they’re interested in,” says Webster. “That’s why it is so important that our students at UMBC, and students more broadly, are mathematically competent and excited so that they can go on to be students of the world.”

Charles Ichoku, director of the UMBC-led Goddard Earth Science Technology and Research (GESTAR) Center II, also explored a phenomena that’s causing global concern—how rapidly the Earth is changing. Ichoku explained in his GRIT-X talk how climate change, people, and wildfire emissions are contributing to those changes to the Earth and the work he’s done with NASA’s Fire Energetics and Emissions Research project to understand causes of climate change. 

“The world is warming dangerously, and human activities are driving the warming trend through the emission of heat-trapping long-lived greenhouse gasses (GHGs), particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), which has continued its upward trend over the last several decades. Wildfires are [also] contributing significantly to that,” shared Ichoku. 

Similarly, Carlos Romero-Talamás, associate professor of mechanical engineering, explained in his presentation how most sources of energy produce carbon and GHGs, and the work that’s being done to bring the global energy-related CO2 emission levels down to net zero. He discussed the benefits of using fusion energy to achieve that goal, which includes the work he’s doing as the principal investigator of the Centrifugal Mirror Fusion Experiment, a research effort between UMBC and the University of Maryland, College Park that explores a promising alternative to traditional fusion power approaches. 

“Fusion energy is considered the ultimate source of energy—the fuel is abundant and is non radioactive,” says Romero-Talamás. “It is urgent to decarbonize our economy and our energy infrastructure because we are harming the planet [and] are running towards a climate disaster.”

Past histories and future possibilities 

Michelle R. Scott, associate professor of history, brought the GRIT-X audience back to a moment in time in which Black Vaudeville performers used economic empowerment as a form of resistance in the 1920s. Scott explained her research into the institutional history of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association’s (T.O.B.A.) origins, which she wrote about in her book T.O.B.A. Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners’ Booking Association in Jazz Age America(University of Illinois Press, 2023). 

“The [Vaudeville] circuit itself—its success—was a testament to Black excellence in terms of business, Black artistic skill, and a momentary period of interracial cooperation. It was truly an example of Jazz-age resistance,” Scott said during her presentation. 

Mercedes Burns, assistant professor of biological sciences, explained a different kind of history—the history of arachnids. Burns, who received an NSF CAREER Award earlier this year, enlightened the audience with her research on spiders, opiliones (commonly known as daddy longlegs), and other kinds of arachnids. She outlined reasons why we should appreciate these “unloveable” creatures. 

“Spiders have been living their lives for much longer than any vertebrate has —they’ve persisted over a millennia,” Burns explained in her GRIT-X talk. “Arachnids…thoughtfully consume unloveable things in our habitats. Arachnids are [also] quite attentive to their environment. They are master architects and material scientists. If you’re curious about the organisms that surround you and you’re interested in learning more or appreciating what those organisms do for the environment and their ecosystem, that leaves no room for fear.”

As a result of her being the first known female African American arachnologist, Burns had a species of trapdoor spiders named after her in 2021, called Ummidia mercedesburnsae. She reflected on the accomplishment, saying “Having experienced that honor of being the matranim of a described species really underscores the legacy that I want to leave.”

Fellow UMBC NSF CAREER Award recipient Cynthia Matuszek, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, brought the GRIT-X audience into the future with her presentation on the possibilities of human-robot interaction. Matuszek explained how humans and robots can interact and exist in the same space and how robots can be more useful. 

Her work in UMBC’s Interactive Robotics and Language Lab focuses on using grounded language—which refers to language that has meaning in and pertains to the physical world—as a tool to build robots that can perform tasks in real-world environments, instead of being programmed to handle a fixed set of predetermined tasks. 

“In order to have robots that are useful in human spaces, we need robots that are flexible and capable of interacting in a variety of contexts,” Matuszek explained in her presentation. “When people use language, we don’t just use words. We use gestures, we point to things, we look at things, and we use body language. Useful language learning for robots needs to take all of these factors into account.” 

Learn more about GRIT-X 2023, past speakers, and their research.

Meet Aysia Miller, a senior on the America East championship women’s volleyball team at UMBC. Originally from Mililani, Hawaii, Aysia is majoring in biology and minoring in bioinformatics. As a student-athlete and scholarship recipient, Aysia says she’s found a community at UMBC that lets her dive deep into the STEM fields that interest her while supporting her on and off the volleyball court.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here? 

A: UMBC has people that can fit you perfectly. There will always be someone that you can relate to and build bonds with. I love that I have people around me who support me and are willing to help me no matter how small or big the task.

Q: Tell us about what you love about the volleyball program at UMBC.

A: UMBC volleyball is such a special program to be a part of. I love that we all come from different cultures and backgrounds but we are able to be a collective unit. We accept challenges together and strive to become better.

Q: Can you tell us more about the Maui Wildfire Awareness Night being held by UMBC Volleyball this week and what it means to you to have this sort of community support?

A: As many people may know, deadly wildfires greatly impacted the community of Lahaina, Maui leading to one of the greatest natural disasters in modern U.S. history. Although I wasn’t directly affected, I mourn and ache for my home. Hawaii is more than beautiful beaches and palm trees. The people are what make the culture so rich. Being able to bring a part of my home to UMBC is so important to me. This has been my new home for the past four years and I want to be able to inform people of everything that is going on in the islands. With our match on November 11th, we are hosting a Maui Wildfire Awareness Night. This disaster is affecting thousands of people and doing a small thing like raising awareness allows me to feel like I’m making an impact. I have to thank the people at UMBC for making this night possible. Having people that care about where I come from is amazing. I wouldn’t be able to do something like this anywhere else. I’m eternally grateful for this opportunity and I hope I am able to help those in need.

Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place? Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: Being from Hawaii, I would have never expected to end up on the East Coast, let alone Maryland. But I chose UMBC because of three things. One of the major factors of my choice was the volleyball program. I found that every aspect about the athletics program was what I was looking for. All of the people involved with athletics were so friendly and helpful. 

As I was introduced to the school, I loved that it is a medium sized school close to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It would allow for great opportunities to make connections. I also really valued the elite STEM programs. I prided myself in finding a school where I could get a good education and play volleyball at the same time. With this in mind, I came on a visit to see UMBC, and I knew it was home. 

Q: You’re a scholarship recipient. How has that changed things for you at UMBC?

A:  I have two scholarships, academic (Dean’s Fellow) and athletic aid. Obviously, I am eternally grateful to have the opportunity to pursue higher eduction at a fraction of the cost. I honestly don’t think I would have ended up at UMBC if it wasn’t for the aid I am receiving. This place has become a second home and it will always leave an impact on me. When I was younger, I always knew I didn’t want to attend school at home, but finding UMBC was something I never expected. However, this small decision led to even greater impacts. I’ve been able to shape myself into the person I am today because of my experiences at UMBC. I pride myself on my academics, as well, and to have that pay off from high school truly made all my hard work worth it. Being from out of state, it is even more difficult to find an affordable eduction, but my journey has all been worth it. I am getting an amazing education and playing volleyball at a high level like I’ve always dreamed. 

Q: What advice would you give to a student athlete considering coming to UMBC, and why?

A: To those considering UMBC, this place not only excels in education, the people are what make this place great. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed as a student athlete and finding people that support you is important. Every single person in the athletic department is dedicated to making our student athlete experience amazing. I can go down the list and about everyone in the department has shown that they not only care about my team but me as an individual as well. Over time, building these relationships with people have made my experience at UMBC incredible. I am so fortunate to play the sport I love with people that have my back.

* * * * *

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 Diane Tichnell ’70, a political science graduate of UMBC’s very first class of Retrievers! As a member of UMBC’s “Founding Four” group of alums from the university’s first four graduating years, Diane has stayed involved with her alma mater, participating as an editor of This Belongs To Us, a collection of Founding Four stories, and establishing the Tichnell Aging Gracefully Graduate Scholarship to support students in the Erickson School of Aging Studies. Take it away, Diane!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I have been a loyal Retriever since that first day on campus, September 19, 1966, and have tried my best throughout the development of my family life, career, and alumni activities to maintain that Retriever spirit!

Q: What would you want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you found here?

A: Frankly, once you are a member of the UMBC community, you are a member of a solid family! You are always welcome on campus. Faculty, staff, and even the students take time to chat with an alum!

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: Mimi Haw Dietrich ’70 has encouraged me through her continuous involvement and support of UMBC to maintain contact with our Retriever roots consistently. Together with two other alums we feel we have helped to preserve some of our Founding Four history by editing a collection of stories by Retrievers on campus those first four years and publishing the collection this year.

Q: Tell us what you love about being involved as an alum.

A: The UMBC Alumni Association reaches out frequently to keep alumni engaged in and aware of all the great things happening within the thriving, growing UMBC community. We stay connected no matter where we are in the world. The connection is lifelong and beyond! The association can help an individual stay engaged through a number of legacy giving opportunities which can actually extend long after life ends!

Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place? Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: My “why” in 1966 was a desire to receive a solid education for my future in a way that was affordable to me. My parents had many compelling financial obligations then and could only provide me with a limited amount of financial support for higher education. UMBC was in close proximity to my home, was a choice of many of my friends, and offered an exciting opportunity to be a kind of pioneer at a brand new university in Maryland.

Q: Since you’ve been a part of the UMBC community, how have you found support of your WHY?

A: The creative and competent faculty and staff at UMBC in 1966 made me totally comfortable with my decision and made me excited about the career in journalism which I had dreamed of. I had planned to possibly transfer to College Park to complete the journalism major, but I totally fell in love with the unique UMBC environment and changed my major to political science, which was still an awesome preparation for a journalism career. My political science professors as well as the incredible visiting personalities of those first four years prepared me with an open mind and solid principles on which to base my future. Professors in every area of my studies played an integral part in shaping my ability to think, plan, envision, and experience what I needed to do to follow my dreams. UMBC was just what I needed to equip me for my life and its effects are with me even today.

Q: As an alum, what’s your favorite part of Retriever Nation?

A: Seeing the great growth and the direction that UMBC is heading make me so happy to be a part of Retriever Nation! We had no idea in 1966 that this campus would become the amazing, accomplished place it is! What a thrill it is to experience it as it continues to thrive and become much more than just a college campus! It is having a significant impact on the entire area surrounding it and beyond!

Q: You recently established the Tichnell Aging Gracefully Graduate Scholarship to help students in the Erickson School of Aging. Tell us about what that means to you.

A: The Erickson School of Aging Studies intrigued me from the moment of its conception! It is not just a program designed to teach students how to administer senior communities! It goes way beyond that by insisting that students examine every facet of the aging process! Looking at the psychology of aging, as well as the physical, social, and economic realities of that time of life equips the students with a total understanding and appreciation of the process. I recently began the process of endowing a scholarship for graduate students in the Erickson School of Aging Studies. It was easy to do and I am so excited to participate in it!

Partnering with UMBC is really just an extension of being here all those years ago. It makes me feel that I have never left the campus I walked onto that first day. Its growth and current compelling state have never left me behind! I love being a part of it still!

* * * * *

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.

Written by Ivan Erill, professor of biological sciences, UMBC

Have you ever wondered whether the virus that gave you a nasty cold can catch one itself? It may comfort you to know that, yes, viruses can actually get sick. Even better, as karmic justice would have it, the culprits turn out to be other viruses.

Viruses can get sick in the sense that their normal function is impaired. When a virus enters a cell, it can either go dormant or start replicating right away. When replicating, the virus essentially commandeers the molecular factory of the cell to make lots of copies of itself, then breaks out of the cell to set the new copies free.

Sometimes a virus enters a cell only to find that its new temporary dwelling is already home to another dormant virus. Surprise, surprise. What follows is a battle for control of the cell that can be won by either party.

But sometimes a virus will enter a cell to find a particularly nasty shock: a viral tenant waiting specifically to prey on the incoming virus.

I am a bioinformatician, and my laboratory studies the evolution of viruses. We frequently run into “viruses of viruses,” but we recently discovered something new: a virus that latches onto the neck of another virus.

A world of satellites

Biologists have known of the existence of viruses that prey on other viruses – referred to as viral “satellites” – for decades. In 1973, researchers studying bacteriophage P2, a virus that infects the gut bacterium Escherichia coli, found that this infection sometimes led to two different types of viruses emerging from the cell: phage P2 and phage P4.

Bacteriophage P4 is a temperate virus, meaning it can integrate into the chromosome of its host cell and lie dormant. When P2 infects a cell already harboring P4, the latent P4 quickly wakes up and uses the genetic instructions of P2 to make hundreds of its own small viral particles. The unsuspecting P2 is lucky to replicate a few times, if at all. In this case, biologists refer to P2 as a “helper” virus, because the satellite P4 needs P2’s genetic material to replicate and spread.

Subsequent research has shown that most bacterial species have a diverse set of satellite-helper systems, like that of P4-P2. But viral satellites are not limited to bacteria. Shortly after the largest known virus, mimivirus, was discovered in 2003, scientists also found its satellite, which they named Sputnik. Plant viral satellites that lurk in plant cells waiting for other viruses are also widespread and can have important effects on crops.

Viral arms race

Although researchers have found satellite-helper viral systems in pretty much every domain of life, their importance to biology remains underappreciated. Most obviously, viral satellites have a direct impact on their “helper” viruses, typically maiming them but sometimes making them more efficient killers. Yet that is probably the least of their contributions to biology.

Satellites and their helpers are also engaged in an endless evolutionary arms race. Satellites evolve new ways to exploit helpers and helpers evolve countermeasures to block them. Because both sides are viruses, the results of this internecine war necessarily include something of interest to people: antivirals.

Recent work indicates that many antiviral systems thought to have evolved in bacteria, like the CRISPR-Cas9 molecular scissors used in gene editing, may have originated in phages and their satellites. Somewhat ironically, with their high turnover and mutation rates, helper viruses and their satellites turn out to be evolutionary hot spots for antiviral weaponry. Trying to outsmart each other, satellite and helper viruses have come up with an unparalleled array of antiviral systems for researchers to exploit.

MindFlayer and MiniFlayer

Viral satellites have the potential to transform how researchers understand antiviral strategies, but there is still a lot to learn about them. In our recent work, my collaborators and I describe a satellite bacteriophage completely unlike previously known satellites, one that has evolved a unique, spooky lifestyle.

Undergraduate phage hunters at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County isolated a satellite phage called MiniFlayer from the soil bacterium Streptomyces scabiei. MiniFlayer was found in close association with a helper virus called bacteriophage MindFlayer that infects the Streptomyces bacterium. But further research revealed that MiniFlayer was no ordinary satellite.

MiniFlayer is the first satellite phage known to have lost its ability to lie dormant. Not being able to lie in wait for your helper to enter the cell poses an important challenge to a satellite phage. If you need another virus to replicate, how do you guarantee that it makes it into the cell around the same time you do?

MiniFlayer addressed this challenge with evolutionary aplomb and horror-movie creativity. Instead of lying in wait, MiniFlayer has gone on the offensive. Borrowing from both “Dracula” and “Alien,” this satellite phage evolved a short appendage that allows it to latch onto its helper’s neck like a vampire. Together, the unwary helper and its passenger travel in search of a new host, where the viral drama will unfold again. We don’t yet know how MiniFlayer subdues its helper, or whether MindFlayer has evolved countermeasures.

If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it is that our supply of antivirals is rather limited. Research on the complex, intertwined and at times predatory nature of viruses and their satellites, like the ability of MiniFlayer to attach to its helper’s neck, has the potential to open new avenues for antiviral therapy.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 250 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.

Written by Kerri Evans, assistant professor of social work, UMBC; Ishara Casellas Connors, Texas A&M University, and Lisa Unangst, SUNY Empire State College

Pursuing higher education is often a pathway to higher income and overall better well-being. College graduates are less likely to rely on public benefits. Therefore, it’s beneficial for education leaders and policymakers to help newcomers – including asylum-seekers and refugees – to access higher education in the U.S., whether it be community college, taking advanced English courses, obtaining a certificate through training programs or going to a four-year university.

Despite these clear benefits, we have found that higher education can often be an elusive goal for people who’ve fled their homeland in search of a better life in the U.S.

We all study policy and education issues that affect refugees. Over the past year and a half, the three of us – Kerri Evans, Ishara Casellas Connors and Lisa Unangst – teamed up to learn more about higher education pathways for refugees, asylum-seekers, recent Afghan parolees and people with temporary protected status, in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. area.

We partnered with Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, one of the largest refugee resettlement agencies on the East Coast. We as researchers established a community advisory board of local refugees and other immigrants to guide the research process.

While our findings have implications for all refugees and asylum-seekers, we see our findings as particularly relevant for the nearly 77,000 Afghans who entered the U.S. with temporary immigration statuses from 2021 to 2023. Most arrived with parole status, which allows temporary stay and work in the U.S. for only two years. After that, renewals are needed. Parole status confers no option for lawful permanent resident status, unlike what happens when people fleeing their homeland arrive with official refugee status.

Enrolling in college can be difficult for this population because of the uncertainty of their immigrant status and future in the U.S.

Obstacles to higher learning

To identify the barriers to higher education for refugees in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., area, our research team interviewed 82 immigrants, all of whom were over 18 at time of arrival in the U.S., and two-thirds of whom were from Afghanistan and arrived since 2021.

We also interviewed 22 people who work for the Lutheran resettlement agency, the majority of whom were refugees or other immigrants who were resettled through the program in prior years. In reviewing the findings with the research team, the community advisory board implemented an additional survey to enhance our research by using both qualitative and quantitative data. Forty-three people – ages 22-55 – who would like to attend college in the U.S. chose to answer the survey, and 37 of them were from Afghanistan.

Through our research, we identified three main barriers for adult asylum-seekers and other immigrants who wanted to go to college or get advanced degrees.

1. Getting their degrees recognized

The process of getting degrees recognized is lengthy, difficult and involves a fee for immigrants.

More than half of participants experienced a barrier with either certifying the degrees they already earned back home or with curriculum requirements that differed from those of their home country. For instance, U.S. colleges may not accept high school and college degrees from other countries. Or participants may not meet all of the requirements for internships or to take specific courses in the U.S.

A female resettlement staff member who is from Afghanistan explained that the problem is having documents from their home country, such as diplomas and work credentials, evaluated here in the U.S.

“For example … let’s say, they have their bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in Afghanistan,” the resettlement staff member said. “But when they arrive in here, somehow, (the degrees are) lost,” she continued, explaining that immigrants often choose to attend college all over again and get the degree in the U.S.

2. Insufficient guidance

Half of the Afghan migrants we interviewed indicated they would like more help applying to college and graduate school programs than they’re getting.

Without guidance, many said they had lost precious time trying to navigate the higher education system. Some said they wanted more help with writing college application essays. Two-thirds of the Afghans wanted a personal connection with university alums or professors who could guide them through the college application process and be a mentor during their time in college.

3. Financial

Newly resettled refugees and others who were forced to flee their country struggle to pay their bills as they restart their lives in the U.S. Often they are relegated to low-wage jobs.

Nearly three-quarters of the 43 migrants said they couldn’t afford college tuition for themselves. About two-thirds indicated they would need information about scholarships and other financial resources in order to reconsider applying for college – information that is not always easily available for those who aren’t graduating from high schools in the U.S.

“I have to pay for rent. I have to pay for a car. I have to pay for oil. I have to pay for everything,” said one male from Afghanistan, reflecting on the fact that there is no money left for tuition payments. “Whatever I’m earning is a zero.”

Another male from Afghanistan observed: “We do have families. We have to support them, and at the same time, education fees are so high here.”

To overcome these barriers, our research team and community advisory board members recommend the following strategies:

• Identify scholarships for which immigrants and refugees would be eligible and share them with those who are interested.

• Educate resettlement staff on the nuances of legal status for in-state tuition so they can help asylum-seekers and refugees to determine if they are eligible.

• Create webinars and videos that include an overview of U.S. higher education and the financial aid rules for immigrants and refugees.

• Recruit mentors to help asylum-seekers and refugees apply to college.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 250 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.

Van Helsing straddles the vampire, brandishing her cross and wooden stake. The undead—mouth and shirt stained with blood—had just confessed to a brutal kill when the vampire slayer brings down her stake. A half second delayed, a comically small amount of blood spurts from the wooden prop. Van Helsing, played by Franchesca Parker ’25, acting, and the rest of the group in the theatre rehearsal space titter at the anticlimactic moment. Tessara Morgan Farley, production stage manager, and Sierra Young ’23, the fighting and intimacy director, immediately jump in to triage a better death for the vampire, Lucy (played by Liza Mupende ’25, action and information systems technology).

It’s stage blood rehearsal day for UMBC’s fall production of Dracula: a Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really by Kate Hamill, directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer (running November 2 – 12). Snags like this are the reason the crew is spending four hours on a Monday evening trying out blood capsules, strawberries (aka, mini bags of stage blood), sponges loaded with blood dye, and grits mixed with edible stage blood for various effects on stage. 

What does it take to pull off a veritable bloodbath on stage for six performances? That’s what this crew of staff and students aim to find out.

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Left to right: Baggies of edible stage blood called strawberries; a crew member cleans the rehearsal floor during practice; various types of blood and props waiting for trial and error. (Kiirstn Pagan ’11/UMBC)

Tools of the Trade
1. 2,000 ounces of stage blood, some homemade, some bought
2. LOTS of baby wipes
3. Several mops and buckets
4. A taste for corn syrup 

Step 1—Finding the right vein

For Morgan Farley and Emerson Balthis ’24, theatre design and production, assistant scenic designer and newly-christened stage blood mixologist, finding the perfect combination of purchased and homemade stage blood was a multi-month project. Several of the pressing questions at hand: Some of the blood needed to be edible—could they make it taste at least OK? Was anyone allergic to the substance? Most importantly, could it be washed out of the costumes every night? Oh yeah, and how to stay on budget?

“It’s going to be a bloodbath on stage,” says Morgan Farley, “but also not being too excessive to the point where it becomes funny. We’re trying to go more in the vein of reality versus comical, which also influenced our choice of color for blood. Of course, we were looking for washability, but we were also looking at the color and the viscosity.” 

In order to stretch the budget, Morgan Farley and Balthis found ways to water down what they bought and manufacture the rest— simmering vats of chocolate syrup, corn syrup, food coloring, and various thickening agents dissolving into a viscous, sugary brew.

Step 2—Out damned spot

Moods are high, hands are stained red, and it’s obvious the student actors are having a blast (and most likely, a sugar high, based on the recipe). Standing in a six-foot-long pristine white cape—except for a few new blood smears—with a curved collar another foot high, Cece Smith ’24, acting, who plays Dracula, is nearly giggling with glee. 

“I’m having so much fun,” says Smith. “I honestly don’t see a downside to the blood, even when it gets all sticky and nasty—it makes me feel pretty badass.”

Enter the people responsible for wardrobe and laundry: Margaret Caster, assistant costume shop manager and wardrobe supervisor, and Jennie Hardman ’23, theatre studies and environmental studies, wardrobe head for the show. While they could potentially see downsides galore, the duo is taking their tasks in stride.

“It was a little bit of ‘oh no,’ if I’m going to be honest,” says Hardman, who has worked on many UMBC shows in her time as a student, but this is her first as wardrobe head. “When you read the script, there is so much blood. So you think, ‘We’re going to do this with real red liquid. On white colored clothing. Oh boy, that’s going to be my problem, isn’t it!’”

“I’ve done blood shows before, so it’s not my first blood rodeo,” says Caster, “but I like to think of it like ‘How do you wrangle the blood?’ Because as you can see, it spreads everywhere. So my side is to think, ‘How can we contain it?’” 

Their answer? Overnight soaks in Oxiclean and Shout spritzes for the tougher stains.

Step 3—Making the magic happen

In her role as an intimacy and fight director, Sierra Young has done vomit, has done other bodily fluids, has done blood—but never this much blood. Her job, as she puts it, “is to choreograph all of those big heightened moments so that they’re specific, repeatable, and narratively dynamic. And then give the actors tools to create a culture that is consent forward and trauma informed so they can feel secure in that space to create.” 

In a feminist revenge fantasy based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, unsurprisingly, there are a lot of opportunities for staging violence and intimacy, often at the same time. The added layer of Young’s already substantial task is designing the choreography so that the blood effects can be effectively masked. 

This means actors are subtly handing off blood capsules to each other, picking them up from behind stage props, or accessing them from hidden pockets. “In terms of choreography, how do I hide these things, because stage combat is the illusion of danger. It’s a lot of magic tricks and misdirection.”

“We’re doing this show on purpose,” adds Eve Muson, associate professor of theatre and chair of the Theatre Department at UMBC. “These extravagant elements are for teaching purposes.”

Step 4—In pursuit of a good death

Back to rehearsal and the problem of Van Helsing’s stake and the paltry amount of blood it produced. The actors, Parker and Mupende, are game to try any workarounds suggested by Morgan Farley and Young. They finally land on a blood strawberry that Parker-as-Van Helsing will place upstage of Mupende-as-the-vampire-Lucy. 

While writhing after Van Helsing’s stab, Lucy puts the baggy of blood in her mouth and chomps down. She bends over to gasp her last undead breath, spewing the leftover plastic at the same time, looking as much like viscera as imaginable. The entire rehearsal space erupts in applause at the successful, bloody death.

On the stage of the 35th annual Alumni Awards, awardees and their nominators repeated a shared theme: the freedom and flexibility to grow at UMBC—not alone—but in community.

Presented by the Alumni Association Board of Directors, the event recognizes inspiring alumni in a range of fields, as well as a rising star and an outstanding faculty and staff member. Rehana Shafi, recipient of the inaugural staff award, emphasized that she was only able to do so much “with so many.” Shafi, director emerita of the Sherman Teacher Scholars Program, said: “This work, this way, isn’t an individual endeavor….Impact happens inside of relationships.”

The full circle moment

Several of the alumni recipients have come back to work at UMBC. Recipient of the Outstanding Engineering and Information Technology alumna award, Annica Wayman ’99, mechanical engineering, called it her “full circle” moment. Wayman, now associate dean for Shady Grove Affairs in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, said, “Now that I’m on the ‘inside’ as a faculty member, it’s the same as I observed as a student and alumna—UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence, innovative teaching, and supportive community is authentic and I have the chance to see it every day working with UMBC faculty and staff.”

Annica Wayman ’99, left, and Josh Michael, right, speak at the 2023 Alumni Awards.

Josh Michael ’10, political science, Ph.D. ’22, public policy, found his why at UMBC. “I knew I was planted in the right place,” he said, “a place where I would evolve and grow…. It is here at UMBC where I developed a voice and confidence to lead in public education.” Michael, the awardee for Outstanding Alumnus in Social and Behavioral Sciences, is dedicated to public service and community engagement.

A former Baltimore City math teacher and now executive director of the Sherman Family Foundation, Michael took the opportunity on the stage to remind the audience, “For as a community, it is how we treat other people’s children that demonstrates our collective belief in our future.”

Creativity rooted in big ideas

Another teacher was honored for his long commitment to Maryland’s children. James Dorsey ’05, music technology and vocal performance, is in his 19th year as an elementary music teacher. He shared that, “All of our creativity is rooted in big ideas. Ideas that relate to our shared human experience and how we interact in our world.” 

Dorsey, who received the award for Outstanding Alumnus in the Visual and Performing Arts, said, “I’m blessed to get to help students express their messages and respond to their cultures through creating. It sets a precedent that the arts are a natural way to respond to the issues of our community, self-expression, coping with change, and social justice.”

Other 2023 Outstanding Alumni awardees include: Humanities—Aaron Ralby ’05, English and modern languages and linguistics; and, Natural and Mathematical Sciences—Kay Bidle ’91, biological sciences. The Rising Star award was given to Asif Majid ’13, interdisciplinary studies, and the Outstanding Faculty award was presented to E.F. Charles LaBerge, Ph.D. ’03, professor of the practice in computer science and electrical engineering at UMBC.

Find out more about the 2023 Alumni Awards and past award winners.