She is an a Biological Sciences major with a minor in Statistics. She was also a presenter at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in 2016. Her project focused on measuring the binding interaction between small molecule ligands and the Core Encapsidation Signal of HIV-1 RNA as a potential drug target. Her future goal will to include obtaining her MD/PhD. She would like to open her own research lab, or have a teaching position at a university or be a clinical researcher. In her free time she is a member of the UMBC gospel choir and Learning Assistant for Biology 141.

Ugonna's research will focus on understanding how and in which orientation certain classes of ligands bind to the recently determined CES structure. Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) has become a worldwide epidemic with a high rate of infection. HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and advance to AIDS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The purpose of this project is to develop therapeutics that target functional RNA elements within the highly-conserved 5′-untranslated region (UTR). The core encapsidation signal (CES) was identified as a minimal region within the 5’- UTR that is independently capable of directing the packaging of the virus’s unspliced dimeric genome.

Read more about her research here…

Undergraduate Research Awards provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor on an original project. 

UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they will remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work.

This is an award for all majors!  Visual artists, filmmakers, photographers-- we want your projects!

Apply Now!

He is an American Studies and Political Science major as well as a McNair scholar. His career goal is to become an academic and an editorial writer. Prior to his research, he was more interested in policy than discourse analysis. Now, he would like to eventually write books on different types of discourse within America, particularly of a political nature or relating to African-American issues.

Richard's research will explore the cultural and linguistic approach that was used to analyze the effect that speeches by members of the right-wing Tea Party Caucus have had on conservative political discourse. The rhetoric of these politicians after their ascendance in the 2010 congressional elections was compared to the rhetoric used by John McCain, the Republican nominee in 2008, and Donald Drumpf, the Republican nominee in 2016 and current POTUS. This analysis could explain the mind set of the oval office.

Read more about his research here…

The Twenty-first Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day

April 26, 2017

Become an URCAD presenter!
All disciplines welcome!
Now accepting applications!

Meet Renee,

She is a English major and an URA Scholar. She is also a staff writer for The Retriever Weekly and is involved with UMBC’s creative arts journal, Bartleby. Rene also has some advice for future researchers... "Don’t doubt the merits of your research project. Even if your project is very different than many others, don’t let that discourage you. You’re bringing your own perspectives and ideas to the table, and they deserve to be heard just as much as everyone else’s ideas do."

Rene's research project explores the effects from people who were children at the time of 9/11 in order to look at how those attacks were a common point of awakening among the members of her (Rene's) generation. The research also plans to look at how the attacks continue to affect those individuals today. I plan to take elements of the recollections collected, as well as my own, and combine them into a nonfiction book. The aim of this book is to appeal to a wide range of ages, from middle school-aged children through the Millennial Generation. An effect of the timeline will emphasize the enormous impact that one single day can have on an entire generation.

Read more about her research here…

Meet Flora,

She is an Ancient Studies major and an URA Scholar. She is also a Designer for UMBC’s Student Events Board, a student assistant at AOK’s Special Collections and is the secretary for the Ancient Studies Club. Her future goals will to become a museum curator, preferably specializing in an ancient roman field.

Flora's research will examine Roman coins from the second and third centuries CE and their use as a means of communication for Rome’s emperors. She will investigate how the physical characteristics of the coins – the amount of silver, the weight, the level of wear and use – all contribute to the emperors’ strategies of communication throughout the period. She will also examine the imagery of coins based on category (tradition, military problems, dynastic emphasis, personal preferences, disasters, and civic prosperity), one can begin to identify trends and their correspondence to contemporary events.

Read more about her research here…

Meet Maniraj,

He is an Interdisciplinary Studies major and an URA Scholar. He also received the La Noue Scholarship to attend the 2016 Association of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) conference in University of Ottawa, where he presented his interdisciplinary research; a board game that teaches cardiovascular health. His future interests includes medical anthropology and social entrepreneurship, his final goal is to become a physician.

Maniraj's research will explore the leading cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease. Understanding the sociocultural construction of this non-communicable disease would advance our knowledge of how to improve care to vulnerable populations. Focused on a specific district in India, the purpose this study is to identify cultural beliefs and attitudes towards cardiovascular health among adolescents. His project was an organic transformation of his extracurricular project in educational health games.

Read more about his research here…

Meet DeVenna,

She is an Environmental Studies major and an URACADian*. Devenna is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Lambda Phi chapter. She would like to continue her research regarding human/environment interaction and how they impact each other. Specifically, how African American’s are impacted by the environment and vice versa. Her future plans will be to join the Peace Corps.

She is will be creating a film that will explore “What does it mean to be Black in America?” Devenna will conduct interviews with a variety of subjects (known and unknown volunteers from the street) before and after the 2015 Baltimore uprising. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the reality of the Black American experience. Moreover, the ultimate goal was to gather individual feelings, to prove that stereotypes should not be used, and that everyone has a different understanding of what it means to be Black.

Read more about her research here…

*URCADian ~ One who participates at URCAD.