Robert Provine, professor of psychology, was quoted in media across the globe recently regarding a new study on the evolution of laughter in apes.

Provine, an expert on and an international expert on the neuroscience of laughter, yawning and other contagious behaviors, has long studied the distinctive, panting laughter made by apes and other primates when they are tickled.

He was quoted in print and online media across the US and Europe regarding a new study led by Marina Davila Ross, a primatologist at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Davila Ross and her colleagues tickled juvenile apes and human babies, and recorded the sounds produced. The study concluded that the similar sound patterns due to ticklish laughing in humans and apes are likely based on a common ancestor that lived 10 to 16 million years ago.

"I think that it's about time we get out there, start tickling the dogs and the cats, and the pigs, the rats, as well as the chimpanzees," Provine said in a National Public Radio feature on the research. "I think we'll learn a lot about what we have in common, as well as our differences."

Provine’s thoughts on the study were featured in hundreds of media articles and broadcasts, including, NPR’s "All Things Considered,” the Associated Press, Nature, New Scientist, AAAS Science Now, The Guardian (UK) and Wired.

The Folger Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" has connections to UMBC experts in mathematics and the humanities.

Michelle Osherow, assistant professor of English, associate director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities and dramaturg at the Folger, recruited Manil Suri, professor of mathematics and noted novelist, to give several talks on the mathematics of theater over the next few weeks.

“Arcadia” tells the story of a math prodigy, and features a lot for a mathematician to love – fractals, chaos theory and the geometry of English garden design.

To watch video of Suri discussing the math of "Arcadia," click play below:

Brian Maguire, clinical associate professor of emergency health studies (EHS), has won a 2009 Fulbright Scholarship to expand his groundbreaking research on the occupational risks among ambulance personnel. Maguire will spend four months in Australia in 2010, working on his research and teaching at three Australian universities: Edith Cowan, Charles Sturt and Flinders.

Maguire's previous research projects were the first to document the occupational injury and fatality rates among emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the U.S. EMS workers face a host of on-the-job health risks: everything from common back injuries, strains and sprains to more serious injuries caused by ambulance accidents and assaults by patients.

"The occupational injury and fatality rates for American EMS professionals are far above the national average,"said Maguire, a former New York City paramedic, emergency services manager and health care administrator. "But because of a lack of research on the topic, it's been hard to convince people outside the profession of the serious occupational hazards. As a result, little has been done to make the job safer."

"The Fulbright award will permit me to work toward developing lessons learned and best practices to protect the lives and health of emergency services personnel around the world."

The UMBC EHS department provides the only graduate program of its kind in the world. For over a decade it has been providing graduate education online and has drawn students from Europe, Asia, Africa and all over the U.S. The department has been providing emergency medical services (EMS) education since 1982, including a bachelor's degree, certification programs that have been offered on-site in dozens of countries and a program that trained the 10,000 members of the National Disaster Medical System.

Maguire has been a member of the EHS faculty since 1999. He is associate director of the emergency health services graduate program and director of the Center for Emergency Education and Disaster Research (CEEDR). He has been a consultant to the Department of Homeland Security and numerous health departments in the areas of bio-terrorism and disaster preparedness, an international consultant for systems development as well as a committee member for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Ambulance Association in the areas of ambulance and workforce safety.

Photo Caption: A four-hour SAE Baja race is a muddy marathon.

Safety goggles are required gear in many campus labs. Mechanical engineering graduate student Sam Markkula and his teammates just prefer one that also requires a helmet, rollbars and lots of mud.

Markkula is a member of the UMBC chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), a student club of hands-on engineers who design, build and race an off-road vehicle for Baja SAE, a series of annual endurance races against national and international competition.

The group just returned triumphant from the SAE Baja East race in Auburn, Alabama, with the best overall score (7th out of 100 teams) in UMBC SAE history. Team UMBC finished ahead of cars from Georgia Tech, Auburn University, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Bucknell, Virginia Tech and other prestigious universities.

“Our months and countless hours of hard work have definitely paid off,” said Mark Foster, a senior mechanical engineering major and president of UMBC Baja SAE.

In addition to a four-hour long endurance race, Baja SAE teams are graded on their cars’ maneuverability, suspension, traction, speed, ergonomics and production cost. The 2009 UMBC team continued its tradition of excelling in the cost category, achieving their Top 10 overall results with the cheapest-to-produce car in the field.

“UMBC's Baja SAE team is now in the top 10 nationwide, but in our eyes, they are number one,” said Shlomo Carmi, professor and chair of mechanical engineering. “It is especially impressive that during this difficult budget cycle, they delivered again on the ‘best bang for the buck.’ We are so proud of this team of outstanding students.”

The Baja SAE endurance race is a sensory overload of noise and nerves. Drivers have to resist the urge to drive at top speeds so the car can last the entire duration without being disqualified, tumbling down steep hills, or crashing into logs, rocks and other cars. Other team members serve as pit crew for fuel or repair stops.

“Imagine over 100 lawnmowers all running in close proximity,” said Markkula. “It’s quite loud. We cleaned off at least 30 pounds of mud from each car, and the drivers probably have breathed in at least a half pound by the end of the race.”

This year’s team owes a tip of the helmet to nearby Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Catonsville. A change to an independent rear suspension required moving and custom-designing the gearbox. The UMBC team was fortunate to receive help from Bill Werneke, an expert machinist and instructor of CCBC-Catonsville’s manufacturing technology program.

Werneke programmed blueprints for the gearbox design into computer-assisted manufacturing and design software, and built the rig in the workshop with the help of his students. Werneke and the CCBC program serve as an apprenticeship path and hands-on training for future machinists from across Maryland. 

Baja SAE is open to graduate or undergraduate students willing to contribute their time, learn how to operate the shop tools and who are in good academic standing. UMBC Baja SAE is advised by mechanical engineering professor Tony Farquhar.

The UMBC team’s next race is in Wisconsin in June. For more information, visit www.sae.org and click on the Baja SAE link.

To watch video of UMBC’s Baja SAE team in action at a 2008 event, click on the video player below:

(4/22/2009)

Bill Thomas, professor of the Erickson School, is a man on a mission: to change our concept of nursing homes, aging and eldercare forever.

Thomas, a self-described "nursing home abolitionist," took his mission to the national airwaves on April 2, as a guest on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation."

Learn more about the Erickson School at UMBC and Dr. Thomas at his blog, www.changingaging.org.

Theresa Good, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, works to slow the toll of Alzheimer’s, one of the world’s most devastating illnesses. Her peers recently voted her as among the most talented in her field, electing Good as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

The Rochester, NY native came to UMBC from Texas A&M in 2002. A former Peace Corps volunteer who taught biology and chemistry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Good has always been drawn to real-world challenges.

About 10 percent of the population over age 60 and 50 percent of those over age 80 develop Alzheimer’s. The progressive, fatal disease causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior.

Good’s lab specializes in a protein found in senile plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in the brain.  Senile plaques are large globs of protein that grow to about the same size as brain cells.

Good is grateful for the AIMBE recognition, but says that her true passion is working with undergraduate and graduate students and helping them to develop into researchers.

“I’m pleased that my colleagues recognize my contributions, but to be honest, the GSA mentor award (Good won the Donald Creighton Memorial Faculty Award for Graduate Student Mentoring in 2007) meant a lot more. 

I like to teach undergraduates at UMBC; they’re talented, they’re funny and every day is different. It’s wonderful to be recognized for producing useful research, but another thing I help to produce is people.”

“Theresa is a tremendous role model to her students and will go to any length to ensure that they are both growing intellectually and succeeding in their efforts,” said Julia Ross, professor and chair of chemical and biochemical engineering.

Good and her colleagues study beta amyloid protein (BAP) as a target for potential new Alzheimer’s drugs. A buildup of BAP in the brain is linked to most forms of the disease, including early-onset Alzheimer’s, impacting some patients as early as in their 40’s. 

Alzheimer’s is an especially challenging adversary since it is difficult to diagnose in the early stages. “The brain is redundant; people compensate for memory loss until the damage to brain cells reaches the catastrophic stage,” said Good. Her lab is examining if fluorescent or metal nano-molecules can be used as tools for earlier diagnoses.

According to Good, there is room for cautious optimism for Alzheimer’s research and possible new therapies. “I think there will be something in clinical trials in the next five years to help prevent further neural damage, but it won’t be perfect,” she said.

(4/3/2009)

Theodosia Gougousi (left) and Haijun Su, who uses virtual reality in his research, are UMBC's latest NSF CAREER award winners.

Two UMBC scientists were recently recognized as among the nation’s top young faculty in their fields by the National Science Foundation (NSF), receiving the NSF’s CAREER award, an honor that comes with five years of research funding and support.

Theodosia Gougousi, assistant professor of physics, is helping to find the next-generation hearts of consumer electronics. Haijun Su, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, uses 3-D virtual reality to make design innovations faster and cheaper for manufacturers.

Nano-scale Paving Stones

Without the expertise of physicists like Gougousi, beloved consumer electronics like iPhones, Blackberries and iPods would drain their batteries in half an hour. “Silicon-based technology has reached its limit,” Gougousi said. “Gallium Arsenide is a possible next-generation material." 

The Thessaloniki, Greece native studies the properties of nano-scale insulating materials suitable to integrate in Gallium-Arsenide-based transistors, a small but vital part of computer chips. The materials must be in the form of very thin films – 1,000 to 10,000 times thinner than human hair - and are made with a process she compares to building a patio at the atomic level.

“It’s somewhat like putting down paving stones to make a patio; we stack layers of atoms one on top of the other. Our stones and glue are organic molecules and water. Our goal is to understand the interactions of these materials at the atomic level and develop techniques to produce a dependable, good quality film.”

For Gougousi, the CAREER award is justification for years of effort, but more importantly, it provides an opportunity to focus more time in the lab, the classroom and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

“Show Me the Motion”
Su uses virtual reality to save companies real money. His particular passion is on the early design stages of small, precise machine parts that need almost human levels of flexibility and movement.

 “We use virtual reality, or VR, as a tool to design machine systems, especially those with flexible parts,” Su said. Su’s toolkit, known as the VR design environment, adds a crucial third dimension to early-stage design and prototyping.

“You need a lot of freedom to explore for the designer. Typical computer-aided design (CAD) software is bounded on a two dimensional screen and operated with a two dimensional mouse. So I say, okay, show me the motion.”

Su and his students use a virtual reality helmet, interactive glove and a pen-like gizmo known as a haptic device, which lets users feel a virtual prototype. Their goal is designing machine parts capable of precise - sometimes delicate - motions at the different scales.

His lab helps design complex and crucial parts for vehicles, robotics, precision or medical instruments, and even power tools.

“An example is the tip of a robot’s grasper arm in a factory assembly line,” said Su. “It has to be able to be flexible in order to accommodate errors. If it’s too rigid, it doesn’t work correctly.”

The key for Su’s lab is using VR to cut overall product development costs in the early, concept-design stage which itself costs little but is responsible for 75 percent of product development expenses. “The earlier you make changes, the more money you save,” Su said.

Su is honored by the CAREER award, and hopes it will enable him to spend time on another passion: educating the next generation of engineers. Hosting and teaching a two-week summer course for high school students was part of his award proposal.

Gougousi and Su are the latest in a growing number of UMBC faculty members to receive the prestigious NSF CAREER award. Half of the chemical and biochemical engineering faculty have received the honor, and since 2001, the university has had 12 honorees. 

Photo caption: (back row, from left) Richard Blissett, Justin Donlan, professor Andrea Kalfoglou, Michael Young, (front row from left) Mary Rhee, Jacqui Wanjohi, and Melissa Chapman attend the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference at Harvard University.

Three members of the UMBC Bioethics Student Association (BSA) presented research papers at the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference at Harvard University March 13th and 14th.

Melissa Chapman, a junior biological sciences major and vice president of BSA, discussed the ethics of genetic testing of Ashkenazi young adults to determine if they are carriers of Gaucher’s Disease. Some organizations have advocated not informing carrier couples due to the availability of a new enzyme replacement therapy treatment. Chapman argued that not informing couples denies them the right to make informed reproductive decisions.

Richard Blissett, a junior bioinformatics and computational biology major and treasurer of the BSA, discussed the ethics of continuing to market preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) to patients seeking in vitro fertilization for infertility. The screening is controversial due to a lack of evidence that it increases pregnancy rates and consensus in the US and EU scientific community that it should be considered "experimental." Blissett argued that with the recent change in NIH funding for embryo research, PGS for infertile couples should only be offered in the context of well-designed clinical trials where patients are not expected to pay $5000 for the cost of the screening.

Finally, Mary Rhee, a sophomore double major in philosophy and biological sciences and public relations director for BSA, discussed the ethics of facial transplantation. Rhee argued that in most of the severe cases, the transplant is not simply cosmetic, but life altering, and that patients ought to have the freedom to consent to the surgery -- even if the immunosuppressant drugs required to prevent rejection will shorten their lives-- because it so dramatically improves their quality of life.

Andrea Kalfoglou, BSA faculty sponsor and assistant professor in the Health Administration and Policy Program said, “I was so proud of our UMBC students. Their presentations were thought provoking and professional. I think bioethics has really captured the imagination of UMBC students from many different disciplines.”

Calla Thompson, assistant professor of Visual Arts, received a 2009 Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council.

The video profile below was produced by the Visual Arts department and gives insights into Thompson's work and recent exhibitions.

Chris Corbett - a veteran journalist, novelist, humorist and professor of the practice of English at UMBC - discusses his recent book "Orphans Preferred: the Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express."

"UMBC in the Loop" is a production of UMBC's New Media Studio and the Research Channel.