Welcome to URCAD “25”!
April 19-25, 2021

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) is celebrating its 25th anniversary! Due to the COVID-related campus closure, URCAD XXV will be held online again this spring. You will be able to view presentations, watch films, see video of dance and music performances, view artwork, and interact with presenters during the asynchronous event.

How Do I View Presentations?
To access student presentations, use the dropdowns above to search by the student’s name, or, you can browse by department. Click the VoiceThread (VT) icon, then click the play button. Many presentations have narration, sound, or video, so make sure to turn your speakers on. The number of slides in the presentation is listed at the top. You can view presentations all week, April 19-25, 2021.

Have a Question? Want to Interact with Presenters?
You can give feedback, ask questions, etc. by leaving a text, voice,or video comment for the presenter (videos are preferred!) You should receive a response from the student within 24 hours, and you will be notified via email when the response is ready (keep notifications enabled). Make sure you are signed in to VT, and then simply Click on the + icon at the bottom of the slide to post a comment. Record your comment and click save. (Note: UMBC account holders can post a comment using their UMBC credentials. For visitors without a UMBC email account, in order to post a comment on a VoiceThread, you will first need to create a free non-UMBC VoiceThread account at https://voicethread.com.)

How can I see the Keynote Address? Can I ask Questions?
Just click the URCAD XXV Keynote Speaker bar on the right to view the video by Keynote Speaker Klaudine Wakasa. We will host a live Q&A on Wednesday, April 21st from 12-1pm. You can ask questions and Klaudine will answer them live!

What else is planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of URCAD?
Check out the fireside chat with URCAD founders Diane Lee, Kathy Sutphin, Bee Pennington, and Janet McGlynn, as they reminisce about the early days of URCAD and talk about the history of the event. And don’t forget to take a selfie and upload it to our Selfie Contest to win a gift card to the UMBC Bookstore! Top prize is $250 for the Best Selfie with the number “25” in it! 

How can faculty encourage students to attend URCAD?
Click the dropdown For Faculty above to see examples of past extra credit assignments given by UMBC faculty. Encourage students to attend and report back to your class about what they learned!

For more technical information and to troubleshoot, click the Event Information tab above.

Please email aprilh@umbc.edu with any questions.

URCAD.umbc.edu

Four UMBC students have been named 2021-2022 Goldwater Scholars, setting a new university record for the most Retrievers to earn this prestigious undergraduate award in a single year. They are Joshua Slaughter ‘22, computer engineering; Kaitlynn Lilly ‘22, physics and mathematics; Gerson Kroiz ‘22, mathematics; and Karan Luthria ‘22, bioinformatics. 

The goal of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program is to provide the United States with “a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers” to move the nation forward. UMBC’s prior Goldwater Scholars, including Rhodes Scholar Naomi Mburu ‘18, chemical engineering, have gone on to top graduate programs and promising research careers.

That four UMBC students won awards, from over 1,250 STEM student applicants across the country is remarkable, notes April Householder’95, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships at UMBC. “Winning the Goldwater means that Slaughter, Lilly, Kroiz, and Luthria join a legacy of scholars who have gone on to become this country’s leading scientists, engineers, and mathematicians,” she says. 

Please see the latest updates on UMBC’s Retriever Ready website. Questions? Email covid19@umbc.edu.

Fall 2020 Semester Report

• Check out an overview of our work in the Fall 2020 semester, including student feedback, an overview of health and safety processes on campus, and student academic performance compared to pre-pandemic semesters.

COVID-19 Health & Safety

• UMBC’s Public Health Dashboard was updated with new data on April 14. There were 13 new positive on-campus cases during this reporting period.

• Testing on Fridays? Please Read This: If you are taking an on-campus COVID-19 test on Friday, it is important that you take and drop off your test before noon so that results can be processed before the weekend. This will help us get timely support to those who may need it.

Fall 2021 Semester Academic FAQs For Undergraduates

• Undergraduates: Check out our new UMBC to Return to On-Campus Academics and Student Support Services webpage for the Fall 2021 semester.

UMBC Together

• Visit the UMBC Together website for recent social media posts and the UMBC Together myUMBC group for information on upcoming events.

This is a repost on behalf of the Women’s Center. Original post can be found here.

The events, activism, discussions, support, and stories that stem from Sexual Assault Awareness Month are some of the Women’s Center’s most significant and special. Take Back the Night (TBTN) is one of the largest events the Women's Center hosts every year. To honor this special event that centers survivors stories and healing and invites our community to dismantle rape culture, we created a virtual TBTN experience.

We invite our community to visit this platform and engage in the visual and audio content. Spend time alone or with others sitting with the reflection questions and action items. Share your thoughts on social media using #UMBCtbtn.

Join the Women's Center on April 20th at 4pm to be in community as we experience virtual TBTN 2021 together!

Thank you to the student who shared their voices to make the experience a richer and deeper experience for the UMBC community. Special thanks to OIA staff, Bryan Barnes and Kevin McGuire, who took a glimmer of idea and turned it into a reality.

To learn more about UMBC's Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming and resources, visit our SAAM 2021 myUMBC post.