When Shaniah Reece ’23, information systems, now a Ph.D. student in computer science at Emory University, was navigating her academic journey at UMBC, there were times she felt like giving up. One evening, around 10 p.m. at night, she was exhausted and considering not submitting an important application. But then Michael Hunt, director of the McNair Scholars Program, with which she was affiliated, gave her a call.

“He said, ‘There are two hours left, and I haven’t seen any indication that you’ve submitted it,’” Reece relates. “I could hear his family and the TV in the background—he was off the clock, at home—but he still made that call. That moment was so impactful because he thought about me, believed in me, and pushed me in a moment when I was too weak to push myself.”

It’s just one example of the many times that Hunt ’06, applied mathematics, Ph.D. ’25, language, literacy, and culture, has shown up for students in just the ways they need. Since 2019, Hunt has directed the federally funded UMBC McNair program with a goal of empowering students from underrepresented segments of society to earn research-based doctoral degrees. Not only does he support the 30 students who enter the full program each year—he’s worked hard to extend opportunities to affiliated students, through a program now called the Retriever Graduate Preparation Network, and to spread the supportive culture of the McNair program across the university as a whole. 

On October 29, Hunt’s contributions will be recognized when he receives the 2025 Outstanding Staff award from UMBC’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. 

Showing up for students

What makes Hunt such an effective mentor? For one thing, he asks students what they need and makes their voices and experiences a central part of his relationship with them. He strives to support them holistically, including emotional, cultural, and academic support. He wants the mentor-mentee relationship to be reciprocal, to honor the value of the mentee’s contributions, and to extend into a wider network of community support. 

The approach, called holistic critical mentoring, has been central to the McNair Scholar’s Program under Hunt’s leadership. Hunt even wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the subject and his interviews of former McNair scholars showed how much they valued the mentoring philosophy.

“I am one of the many UMBC students whose trajectory was forever changed by Dr. Hunt’s mentorship,” says Ting Huang ’21, psychology, the program coordinator for UMBC McNair Scholars Program and a former scholar herself. “I didn’t know my path until I stumbled onto McNair as an undergraduate. Through the program, I conducted research virtually for the first time during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the remote nature of those years, I had never felt more connected to a community. That sense of belonging was cultivated by Dr. Hunt and his team, showing how intentional leadership can overcome even the most isolating circumstances.”

Building community

Hunt says the experience of reaching out to current and former McNair program participants to request their help supplying information for his dissertation research was ultimately very gratifying. He wondered how many would respond, given their busy schedules, but a large number were eager to engage.

“I was genuinely surprised, I didn’t expect that number of responses. But then my mentor pointed out: That’s what happens when you build relationships,” Hunt says.

Hunt says the continued support of program alumni makes him feel like he is making a difference. He’s happy that former participants, some as far away as California, regularly offer to serve as volunteer mentors for current students.

This summer, Hunt had the opportunity to sit in on the dissertation defense of one of the first students to go through the McNair Scholars Program under his watch.

“It’s wonderful to see these alums thriving,” Hunt says. “We are building community. And while we stood on the shoulders of giants, we’re making sure to also be the shoulders that others can stand on next.”

Mark your calendars for the 2025 Alumni Awards on Wednesday, October 29, at 6 p.m., and consider joining the UMBC community at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena to celebrate Michael Hunt and the many remarkable individuals receiving awards. The event will be livestreamed for those unable to join in person. You can learn more at alumni.umbc.edu/alumniawards.

During International Education Week, join Center for Global Engagement staff for training and knowledge sharing in these global topics: 

Passport to Possibility: Demystifying Study Abroad

Monday, Nov 17 - 12PM - Virtual

Discover how UMBC students can take their learning global. This myth-busting brown bag session will clarify the study abroad process, highlight key resources, and explore how faculty and staff can get involved in supporting global learning.

RSVP HERE

Getting Involved in International Student Recruitment

Tuesday, Nov 18 - 12PM - UC 310

Join the International Student Recruitment team to learn about existing projects to connect with prospective international students around the world and how your program or department can connect with our team to support outreach to prospective undergraduate, masters, or doctoral international students.

RSVP HERE 

F-1, J-1, and H1-B Crash Course

Thursday, Nov 20 - 12PM - UC 310

This session will provide staff and faculty with a basic understanding of the F-1, J-1, and H-1B visa categories. We will cover the key characteristics of each visa type, focusing on employment options available to international students and scholars. This will be a fast-paced and high level discussion. Our Office of International Students and Scholars team is always available for questions about more nuanced cases upon request.

RSVP HERE 

Global Grant Application and Fellowship Support

Thursday, Nov 20 - 12 PM - UC 204

RSVP HERE 

Intercultural Connection Games

Friday, Nov 21 - 12PM- UC 204

“There’s a little engineer in all of us. Because the truth is you’re iterating all the time. You’re failing, but you’re learning from those awesome failures.” 

Jamie Gurganus ’04, M.S. ’11, Ph.D. ’20, mechanical engineering, doesn’t believe engineers need to be geniuses; she also doesn’t believe failure means it’s the end of the road—so much so that her winding and impressive career over the last twenty years has been a product of taking chances, accepting the small failures, and still marching onwards. 

As an undergraduate, Gurganus pursued an opportunity to teach STEM subjects in local middle schools. The experience sparked her interest in engineering education. Her desire to help everyone see that they, too, could become an engineer has driven her professional life ever since. Students praise her for lifting them up when they felt discouraged and always encouraging them to aim high.

Gurganus’ tireless advocacy for students and continual innovation in teaching will be recognized on October 29, when she will receive the 2025 Outstanding Faculty Award from UMBC’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. 

Building confidence

Gurganus says that as a college student, she never expected to end up where she is today: “I didn’t think I’d ever be faculty or get a Ph.D.”

But when she got a National Science Foundation-funded fellowship in 2002 from the Teaching Enhancement Partnership Program at UMBC’s Shriver Center, she found herself enjoying the STEM classes she was teaching at local schools, especially connecting with students who may have assumed their options in life were limited.

“Many of these students came from precarious situations and weren’t thinking about going to college, much less having a STEM career,” Gurganus remembers of the Title I schools, which means they had high percentages of children from low-income families.

Gurganus taught as part of the partnership program for almost three years, and then proceeded to earn a graduate fellowship both through NSF and later NASA, which in turn cultivated a real passion for teaching and research. 

Gurganus also became a substitute teacher for the Anne Arundel County public school system, focusing on teaching mathematics. “My goals were fostering engineering awareness in these kids and showing them they, too, could do this—and showing them the real-life applications of it all.”

Breaking down the basics of math and engineering got the kids excited. As they got excited, they became more engaged, and as they became more engaged, their grades began to improve significantly. It might not have been the only reason for the successful outcome, but Gurganus believes being a young college student played a hand in it all. The breadth of knowledge and sense of authority was always present but packaged in a way that the students weren’t familiar with.

While in graduate school at UMBC, Gurganus also helped lead professional development for Project Lead The Way, a national nonprofit organization that provides STEM education programs for PreK-12 students, and Engineering is Elementary, which provides engineering teaching materials. In 2012, she became an instructor in mechanical engineering and assistant director of engineering education initiatives in the College of Engineering and Information Technology at UMBC, transitioning to a faculty role in 2014.

Over the years, Guganus’ skills, passions, and love for her students have improved UMBC’s course offerings, reputation, and quality of education. Currently, Gurganus is the associate director for STEMed Research, director for the Center for the Integration for Research, Teaching and Learning in the Graduate School and an assistant teaching professor in the engineering and computing education program. She also serves as a faculty fellow in entrepreneurship for the Alex. Brown Center For Entrepreneurship and Innovation, has mentored around 150 engineering teams under the senior capstone design course (including teaming up with Steve McAlpine to guide the kinetic sculpture team this year), and is an honorary faculty coach for UMBC’s softball team. 

Reaching across borders, she has also built international partnerships in Brazil, Portugal, Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and collaborates widely on STEM education initiatives.

Embracing the journey

If her professional progression comes across as linear and like it unfolded at breakneck speed, Gurganus is here to assure you it did not.

“It’s been an interesting journey,” she says. “I stopped trying to plan my future and just accept (and expect!) the unexpected. I just take it on and see what happens.”

She’s never strayed from that principle, letting the journey—and the experiences it’s unveiled—guide her to new milestones. One of those milestones has been the nurturing of a strong undergraduate teaching fellows network on campus. Remembering her own experiences as a student and then seeing much of the same insecurity in the local middle school students from years ago, Gurganus struck out to find students who could guide other students by relating to the stresses of failure they might feel. 

“I had this mission to foster a community of individuals who never thought of themselves as being ‘smart enough’ to teach others in their own technical field,” Gurganus says. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s how Gurganus expresses she felt as a student herself.

While the teaching fellows program was started nearly 20 years ago as a tool for undergraduate students to assist faculty, and more importantly their peers, in classes, Gurganus has expanded the program in an organic way. 

“These students just became friends and bonded over their common interests or maybe their similar experiences in undergrad,” she says. 

“The teaching fellow program laid a foundation for growth and confidence-building in the formative stages of my career,” says De’Shaunna Scott ’19, computer engineering, who is now a principal RF integration engineer at Northrop Grumman. “I quickly felt overwhelmed and out of my element, but Dr. Gurganus was the guiding light I could always turn to. There were times, I would just show up after work and sit in Prof’s office unloading all the stresses I endured. Without fail and without question, Prof listened to every one of those complaints and provided words of advice that I still use to this day.”

“Prof G profoundly shaped my life and inspired me to become faculty,” adds Shannon Clancy ’19, mechanical engineering, who is now an assistant professor of engineering at Elizabethtown College. “As her teaching fellow and research assistant, I experienced mentorship rooted in care, unwavering support, and high expectations—even during my most uncertain moments. The teaching fellow program was the catalyst to get my Ph.D. I wanted to teach undergraduate students and build a community in my own way like Prof had.”

The fellows’ connection with each other, as well as the students they teach, has fueled the community’s growth. Gurganus begins naming fellows who are thriving post-UMBC, having gone on to receive master’s degrees, Ph.D.s, research fellowships, and more. It’s an obvious point of pride for her as she recalls the impact of all the work being a two-way street—for both her and the students.

“To teach is to engineer,” she adds. “You try it, you make it better, you bring your own spark, to keep improving with purpose and heart.”

By Nikoletta Gjoni ’09

Mark your calendars for the 2025 Alumni Awards on Wednesday, October 29, at 6 p.m., and consider joining the UMBC community at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena to celebrate Jamie Gurganus and the many remarkable individuals receiving awards. The event will be livestreamed for those unable to join in person. You can learn more at alumni.umbc.edu/alumniawards.

In the crisp autumn air, Jackie King laces up her running shoes, her white cane—affectionately named Amigo—tucked nearby. The UMBC alumna is training for the New York City Marathon. The effort underscores a life shaped by triumphs and relationships, rather than her gradual loss of sight.

After years of misdiagnosis, in 2017, King finally learned she had retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition causing progressive vision loss. Today, King is legally blind—and yet she radiates resilience and positivity. “I have chosen this,” she says firmly. “I could choose to be like, ‘Oh man, this sucks,’ every day, all day. But I’ve chosen not to.”

In her early 20s, King built a graphic design business in Baltimore, mixing paints and hand-lettering signs when she could still see clearly. But by age 30, dark flecks were regularly drifting across her field of vision, making night driving and dim spaces like movie theaters challenging. 

As her vision faltered, a recurring dream of a college campus spurred her to enroll at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) as an art history major, but she shifted to psychology after a professor’s nudge. “I fell in love,” she recalls. “Studying behaviors and people—it seemed so natural.” King arrived at UMBC in 2002 as a Ph.D. student in human services psychology.

The vision to see others’ potential

King’s dissertation evaluated Baltimore’s Sisters Circle mentoring program for middle and high school girls, revealing that unstructured, long-term relationships boosted self-esteem and academic drive—and the benefits often extended to mentees’ families. Earning her Ph.D. in 2009, King joined UMBC as assistant director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, and today she is the associate director of the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE), which replaced MARC. In that role, she applies her research, guiding hundreds of students through graduate school applications and academic and personal challenges.

“I often see so much more in them than they see in themselves,” King says. “Seeing their potential is my gift—and then I get to let them in on the secret.” Sharing her own struggles with students builds trust, modeling that seeking help is a strength. 

Phyllis Robinson, U-RISE director and a professor of biological sciences, praises King as “the linchpin that makes the program run smoothly.” Robinson supports King’s pursuits on and off the road, admiring her “compassionate and caring approach” amid her vision challenges.

Adapting hasn’t been easy for King, though. She hasn’t driven in a decade, and reading text on paper is now impossible. Adopting the cane 18 months ago, she admits, was “the hardest hurdle.” Yet she reframes her loss: “I would not be as compassionate or empathetic without this journey. It could have been otherwise—but the fact that it isn’t? I’m making the best of it.”

A healthy mix of challenge and community

Running anchored King. At age 45, she trained on UMBC’s 1.8-mile loop for her first marathon. She ran the Baltimore race with Team in Training, fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As running alone grew riskier, she was thrilled when Achilles International, a nonprofit that supports athletes with disabilities, launched a Baltimore chapter in April 2024. Now, 15 to 30 athletes—visually impaired, neurodivergent, amputees, stroke survivors, and more—and their volunteer guides gather each Saturday in Patterson Park to train. 

“I came for the challenge; I’ve stayed for the community,” King says. “No one’s judging your pace—6 minutes or 17. There’s a place for you with Achilles.”

After seeing how much the organization has meant to her mom, King’s daughter, Demerise King, is fundraising for Achilles International as she also trains for NYC this fall. “I’ve watched my mom navigate her vision loss for as long as I can remember,” she shares. “She’s given me a gift by illustrating what it looks like to push past obstacles. Knowing that she is safe while running with the Achilles community gives me a sense of peace.”

King’s forthcoming memoir reflects her reluctant embrace of her condition. “I did not want to be here, but I am,” she says. As King tapers for NYC, she takes a spiritual approach to her situation, affirming that “I’m  preparing for what’s been prepared for me.” As her vision dims, she runs with an illuminated heart, lighting the path for hundreds of UMBC students and others along the way.

Learn more about UMBC’s Ph.D. program in human services psychology.

The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences is home to high-tech scientific instrumentation alongside traditional infrastructure like water pipes and HVAC systems, all of which UMBC researchers and students rely on. That equipment also requires regular maintenance and occasional upgrades, and it’s the often-invisible work of UMBC’s skilled and experienced building managers that keeps things humming. Four CNMS building managers welcomed us into their world, sharing everything from what it takes to succeed in their roles to the hidden gems found in their buildings.

Meet the building managers:

• Erik Crowe, Physics Building
• Dennis Cuddy, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building
• Brian Moravec, Meyerhoff Chemistry Building
• Sam Williams, Biological Sciences Building and Schwartz Hall

Erik Crowe
Building Manager, Physics Building

Erik Crowe brought five years of hands-on expertise as a laboratory specialist in the UMBC physics department and prior experience at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to his current role as physics department building manager, which he assumed in 2019. Today he supports faculty, staff, and students in physics—including the Earth and Space Institute and Quantum Science Institute—overseeing everything from HVAC systems to lab renovations. Crowe thrives on the blend of technical innovation, educational support, and collaborative spirit he gets to practice in his role.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I appreciate that every day presents new challenges to problem-solve and support occupants of the Physics Building. My position allows me to leverage my technical background in facilities management and in educating students, staff, and faculty about prototyping and precision machine operations in the machine shop. I also appreciate my collaboration with my colleagues. We have a wonderful staff team in physics, and I couldn’t be successful in my position without their support. The faculty, staff, and students are always finding new ways to push me to expand my skill set.

Q: What brought you to UMBC? 

A: I started my career as a process engineer developing and fabricating cryogenic detectors, devices that use ultra-low temperatures to very sensitively detect particles, for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I thoroughly enjoyed the work, but working in a cleanroom is grueling, and I was looking for something new. Encouraged by my former college advisor, I applied for the lab specialist position at UMBC and was hired in December 2014. It was the change that I needed. I have grown both professionally and personally over the last decade, hitting career goals and growing my family. 

Q: What are some of your proudest moments?

A: I am particularly proud of collaborating with the structural maintenance department in facilities management (FM) to renovate approximately 40 spaces in the building over the course of a year and a half. These included research labs, office spaces, and our graduate student wing. It is a tremendous amount of work to plan, organize, and facilitate a project of that size, but we were able to do it with minimal interruption and impact to the building occupants.

I am also proud of the ongoing work to improve the HVAC system within the Physics Building. Over the last decade, we’ve gathered data and addressed the underlying issues, so completing the HVAC study last year was a huge milestone for me. We have a lot of work left to do, but we are moving in the right direction every day.

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: It takes large doses of patience, persistence, organization, and communication skills to be a successful building manager. You have to prioritize different issues that arise on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. There are emergencies where a building system might go down or malfunction. In those situations, you have to stay calm, gather data, run through your contact list, formulate a plan, communicate the impact, and follow up to make sure all aspects of an issue are addressed. You also have to be prepared to pivot when things don’t go smoothly. 

I submit work orders every day to keep the building running. There are small maintenance and renovation projects where I meet with the FM shops to discuss our approach, there are large-scale projects that can significantly impact occupants and their academic and research activities, and everything in between. My day is never the same and the requests I receive ebb and flow. 

Q: What are some of your favorite spaces or hidden gems in the building?

A: The machine shop is my favorite space in the building. Over the last decade, I have built the shop to match the department’s needs. I am proud of the resource it has become and my interactions with students, staff, and faculty to help them develop their technical skills. I am excited about the future of the space, and how we can continue to grow its capabilities and educational programming. It’s a lean facility, but it packs a punch.

Not all of our research activities are performed inside the building. We installed a dedicated research platform on the roof in 2018, which gathers data for atmospheric physics and astrophysics research. But the roof doesn’t just house equipment—it also provides some of the best views on campus of the Baltimore skyline.

Dennis Cuddy
Senior Facilities Manager, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building and beyond

Dennis Cuddy, administrator of the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) and senior facilities manager in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, is in his 26th year at UMBC and his sixth in his current role. Cuddy’s career exemplifies innovative problem-solving and dedication to UMBC’s scientific ecosystem, from orchestrating the renovation of the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building to managing dozens of classrooms, labs, and core facilities that support hundreds of students and researchers. 

Q: What do you appreciate about your role?

A: UMBC has allowed me to use my strengths in organization, scheduling, and operations while exposing me to skills like web development, event planning, and major construction operations—above and beyond what I could offer when I was hired. Now, I handle building operations across colleges and consult for administrative departments I’ve worked with over the years. It’s fulfilling to be asked your opinion about how things can run better.

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: I answered an ad in the Baltimore Sun for a chemist, which listed managerial duties similar to what I was doing at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. I still have the ad somewhere at home.

Q: What are some of your proudest moments? 

A: I oversaw the renovation of the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building from 2002 to 2005. When we needed additional funds to finish the project, I wrote a construction grant to the National Center for Research Resources that was awarded. Being tasked with reporting the research activities going on in the renovated space for 20 years after the fact was the price I paid, but it was worth it. 

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: It takes patience, good communication, organization, and being proactive when needed (and knowing when that is). You have to be a representative of the university and a good steward of state-appropriated funds. Helping colleagues when needed is essential, because even buildings with dedicated facility managers often lack backups.

Q: What are some of your favorite spaces or surprising facts about the building?

A: The lobby by the third floor elevators is pretty amazing, with the green roof and double helix staircase to the fourth floor, but I find that sitting in the main lobby, anonymously taking in the beauty of the space and the energy of the students, is the most rewarding. Most people don’t know that the ILSB sits on a redirected creek bed, and even during the driest times, the water table is only eight feet beneath the basement floor. 

Brian Moravec
Building Manager, Meyerhoff Chemistry Building

Brian Moravec honed his skills through two decades in USDA molecular biology labs. For the last six years, he has ensured that research and teaching go smoothly in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building as its building manager. Moravec coordinates repairs and maintenance, manages inventories, and supervises the department’s glassblower and teaching lab manager—turning potential disruptions into opportunities for safety and efficiency.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I like that my responsibilities change from day to day. One day I may spend most of my time in the office completing administrative tasks, and the next day I might respond to an urgent water leak. I also like that my colleagues in the department, college, and facilities management all have the same goal: Keep things running safely and smoothly to serve our community’s education and research needs.

Q: What brought you to UMBC? 

A: I worked in a molecular biology lab at the USDA in Beltsville, Maryland for 20 years. Near the end of that time, I was able to take temporary work as a facility operations specialist at the National Agricultural Library and the National Arboretum. These temporary jobs boosted my interest in the field of building management and operations. When I saw an opening at UMBC in a STEM field, I decided to make a switch.

Q: What are some of your proudest moments?

A: I am proud of the water damage mitigation I helped with during the 2022 Christmas flood. Our building was damaged, but we didn’t lose any scientific equipment because I had prepared some items in advance, just in case we needed to divert water around million-dollar instruments. I am also proud of the safety record in both the teaching and research labs in the building. Our building can be dangerous, with flammable and toxic materials, but the safety training and equipment we provide helps keep what can be a dangerous place very safe.

Q: What is something you want people to know about the building or your role?

A: People should know that sometimes the building smells—it’s old! There are a lot of different chemicals in use, but a strange odor by itself is not dangerous. Also, I consider myself a problem solver. People come to me with all sorts of difficulties and issues. I may not be able to fix them all, but I can almost certainly find someone that can help.

Sam Williams ’99
Building Manager, Biological Sciences Building and Schwartz Hall

Sam Williams ’99, history, has dedicated 24 years to UMBC, serving the last 11 as building manager for the Biological Sciences Building after 13 years as assistant athletics director for facilities and operations. His role spans routine maintenance, crisis response, vendor coordination, budget oversight, and safety compliance.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I appreciate the fact that no day is ever the same. I feel like we have a great department, from the students to the faculty and staff, which makes coming to work a lot easier. 

Q: What are some of your proudest moments? 

A: I’ve been a part of two major events: COVID and the great flood in December of 2022. Both of these events brought their own set of challenges. However, the biggest goal for both was making sure that research continued and building occupants were able to work in a safe environment. I have a lot of memories from both.

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: I feel like you need patience and the ability to adapt. Things can change by the minute, so being prepared and prioritizing is an essential skill. I would also say that problem-solving is one of the best skills I’ve learned. Having a good working relationship with building occupants and FM makes my life a lot easier, too.

Rishi Nixon, a senior biological sciences major and member of the Honors College, brings a kaleidoscope of interests and skills to his time at UMBC after transferring from Montgomery College. He’s been a performing storyteller for more than 10 years, originally with his 4-H youth club and now independently. Nixon conducts research on Parkinson’s disease at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and plans to pursue a medical degree after UMBC.  

Q: Tell us about someone in the UMBC community who has inspired or supported you.

A: Meeting Kendyl Walker, my honors college advisor, on my first day of classes made UMBC feel like home. Especially coming into this new environment after leaving my community college—she met me where I was on day one and continues to make me feel supported every time we meet. 

Q: Tell us about what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.

A: My honors college seminar on race, poverty, and gender in Baltimore, taught by Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye (“Dr. K.”) opened my eyes to issues facing the city and was one of my most impactful UMBC courses. It helped cut through the ways the city is sometimes talked about in Maryland politics, emphasizing the importance of funding programs that help lift up Baltimore. 

This past summer, I had the opportunity to complete a second seminar with Dr. K: an applied community service experience at a nonprofit organization in the city called Moveable Feast, which helps deliver medically-tailored meals to Baltimore residents experiencing food insecurity.

In August 2025, I engaged with the city for the first time in my capacity as a performing storyteller. I performed at the Irvington Peace Park for an annual summer camp organized by Cynthia Wagner, teaching professor in biological sciences, for youth who live in her West Baltimore community. The peace park—a beautiful space built by community members from clearing a vacant lot—was a magical site for the camp, and the kids were a wonderful audience.

Photo right: Rishi Nixon at the National Storytelling Conference in Georgia with the vice chair and vice chair-elect of the board of the National Storytelling Network.

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

A: Something Dr. K. said once sums it up: “UMBC is a small town.” I see UMBC as a really welcoming place for students who are comfortable leaning on their advisors, mentors, and supporters. It’s very comforting to see faces you recognize each day all over “town.”

Q: What brought you to UMBC? 

A: I came to UMBC because of its excellent reputation for undergraduate teaching and scientific research opportunities, but also to maintain the small-town feeling and one-on-one learning I received at Montgomery College.

Now that I’m here, UMBC’s research reputation has proven true. I’ve conducted research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and also in my coursework. At UMSOM, I study a neuron protein called proSAAS that helps unclump misfolded proteins in the brain that are responsible for neuron death in Parkinson’s disease. 

And in my Experimental Biology Lab course, taught by Dr. Tracy Smith, associate teaching professor in biological sciences, I got to participate in ecological research. We visited on-campus sections of the West Branch of Herbert Run to measure the diversity of macroinvertebrates (e.g. fly larvae, water beetles, etc.). We collected them from the stream bed, logged their abundance and the number of types of organisms, and drew a conclusion about the stream’s overall health and pollution levels based on an index of biodiversity levels associated with different degrees of stream health. 

Our calculations determined that the stream is very healthy, which is probably a result of UMBC and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund investing in restoring the streams. In fact, the most abundant species of macroinvertebrate we found (damselfly larvae), are actually sensitive to pollutants, yet they were thriving in campus streams when we surveyed in September 2025.

Q: How has UMBC supported your “why”? 

A: UMBC’s Honors College has been core to supporting my “why.” They have been huge supporters in connecting me with opportunities for research, and their seminars are excellent for deep one-on-one learning in very niche areas (e.g., Dr. K. and Baltimore). It’s hard for me to imagine my UMBC experience without the Honors College. Its staff and programming helped deepen my existing interests, including pursuing service in Baltimore after my coursework on the city and taking a seminar in neuroscience after conducting research in neurobiology.

Q: What would you tell other transfer students about UMBC?

A: I would encourage other transfer students to apply to the Honors College—I think the small class sizes and the one-on-one advising preserve a similar experience at community colleges. I am also very grateful that UMBC is able to provide generous merit scholarships to support transfer students coming from honors programs at Maryland community colleges.

Inside the dark, swirling chaos of a cell, drama unfolds. A viral molecule, rendered in electric blue and menacing curves, attempts its invasion. A therapeutic compound swoops in to intercept it like a fighter jet defending its home from alien forces. This is not science fiction; it is the meticulously crafted vision brought to life by Cameron Slayden ’99, interdisciplinary studies, founder, CEO, and creative director at Microverse Studios. 

Slayden’s team of animators specializes in creating detailed, stunning visuals for biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies, illustrating how their technologies operate at the most granular level—on a cellular and molecular scale. “We never copy other people,” says Slayden. Instead, his team embraces metaphor—visualizing neurons as jellyfish tentacles or lightning bolts—and superimpose that artistic aesthetic onto the scientific imagery.

It’s not enough for Slayden to just be a 3D animator. He also needs to fully understand the science—satisfying practicing scientists with his two-minute animation while compelling venture capitalists to invest millions. “I have to balance clarity of message to reach multiple levels of audience with enough accuracy so that the underlying message is unimpeachable,” says Slayden. 

This unique balance of artistic flair and scientific rigor is the direct result of a path galvanized over three decades ago. For his pioneering work in scientific visualization, combining the rigorous inquiry of science with the persuasive power of art, Slayden is being recognized with an Outstanding Alumni award at the 2025 UMBC Alumni Awards on Wednesday, October 29. His career exemplifies the interdisciplinary spirit UMBC fosters, proving that to truly understand the world, one must be able to both analyze it like a scientist and appreciate it like an artist.

Illustrations have more value than just beauty

Even as a 16-year-old student at Suitland High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Slayden was already balancing his passion for art with his love of science—but he had yet to discover how the two intertwined. At this time, Slayden had won multiple Gold Key awards, the highest regional prize in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a competition for students in grades 7-12, which, he admits, had given him a “hugely inflated ego.” Then, during one biology class, inspiration struck while studying chloroplasts, the organelles in plant cells that are responsible for photosynthesis.

“The illustration in the textbook was awful, really ridiculous, extremely simplified,” says Slayden.

Next to the illustration, however, was a cross-section of the cell created from a tunneling electron microscope, which creates images at an extremely small scale, down to resolving individual molecules. Immediately, Slayden began to notice differences between the illustration and the tunneling electron micrograph. That’s when his pencil got to work. He began to sketch a more detailed illustration of the chloroplast that better represented the intricate details of the organelle. 

“When I was done with that drawing, I remember realizing that that illustration had more value than just being pretty,” says Slayden. “It carried real information about the world, and it was valuable to humanity in that way. And at that moment, I realized that was the kind of art that I wanted to do.”

The rest of Slayden’s life would be guided by that moment. From then on, he used every opportunity to hone his craft—to envision how each tiny detail would translate to paper.

“When you’re drawing something, you’re bringing it through your visual cortex and through all of the processing,” explains Slayden. “Your brain is creating a three-dimensional model of the object in your head, and then you’re bringing it out through your motor cortex onto the paper. You come away with a much deeper understanding of the thing that you were just drawing.” 

Fruitful friction

Around the same time Slayden was looking into colleges, something big was happening at UMBC. Earl and Darielle Linehan, with a deeply held belief in the importance of the arts in society, had recently made a generous gift to the university to establish the Linehan Artist Scholars Program. Slayden applied in the program’s inaugural year and was then offered a full ride to UMBC as one of the first cohort of  Linehan Artist Scholars.

Slayden seized the opportunity, working with his advisor, Stephen Bradley, to craft an interdisciplinary course load that seamlessly merged UMBC’s stellar biology program with the visual arts curriculum. While the science courses provided the foundational accuracy, it was the friction in the art program that proved transformative.

“There was an artistic journey that I had to go through,” says Slayden. “UMBC’s art program forced me to dig deep and crack open my inner reservoirs of creativity and start to actually explore producing an emotional response in my audience.”

Today, that emotional engagement is the key to the success of Microverse Studios, transforming dry scientific information into a memorable, persuasive story. However, the greatest impact UMBC had on Slayden and his career was not a class or a professor, but a fellow student—Olivia Rogers ’99, psychology—now Olivia Slayden, his wife.

Photos above: Slayden and Adam Mueller ’02, M.S. ’03, at the UMBC Jiu-Jitsu club, which he helped found in 1999. Slayden is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a second-degree black belt in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu (left). Slayden and Olivia Rogers, now Olivia Slayden, at Cameron’s graduation (right).

Following graduation, Slayden got a job doing medical illustrations for legal cases, but found the work to be “too dark and draining.” He eventually landed the role of scientific illustrator at Science Magazine, creating medical illustrations for the publication and designing a dozen magazine covers. However, after three years, he realized, “I wasn’t at the top of my game.” At the same time, Olivia was also unhappy with her job. It was time for a change.

After Slayden received his master’s degree in medical illustration from Augusta University in Georgia, he and Olivia founded Microverse Studios in 2005. Cameron serves as CEO and creative director, while Olivia serves as chief commercial officer.

“I had no idea what I was doing running a business,” says Slayden. “And in the intervening 20 years, I think I’ve kind of finally figured it out, at least for the most part.”

Leaning into new tech

Today, Microverse Studios is a full-service scientific and medical animation studio serving high-profile clients like Pfizer, National Geographic, Bausch + Lomb, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) as well as notable startups like Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Slayden and his team specialize in taking an idea and turning it into a deployment-ready video for a wide range of audiences, from research scientists to investors and venture capitalists, as well as healthcare providers. 

Slayden attributes the studio’s success to their commitment to staying on top of science and new animation technology. The shift to cloud rendering means complex, high-quality animation that once took a week to output can now be rendered in “literally an hour.” Slayden also believes artificial intelligence will continue to play a larger role in the studio’s work. Rather than viewing it as a threat, he sees AI as another tool at his disposal—the next evolution in how artists create their work.

Mark your calendars for the 2025 Alumni Awards on Wednesday, October 29, at 6 p.m., and consider joining the UMBC community at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena to celebrate Cameron Slayden and the many remarkable individuals receiving awards. The event will be livestreamed for those unable to join in person. You can learn more at alumni.umbc.edu/alumniawards.

Rising Star is a worthy award for alum and Linehan Artist Scholar Courtney Culp ’20. During her time at UMBC, Culp was both an athlete and an artist, playing Division 1 soccer and pursuing a degree in visual arts. Now, this star has continued to rise higher, earning an M.F.A. in arts and entertainment at the Savannah College of Art and Design and working as a graphic designer at Warner Bros. Discovery—combining her degree and athletics experience into a role that creates key art designs for TNT Sports—NBA, NHL, U.S. Soccer, MLB, and more. 

Culp chats below with fellow Linehan Scholar and UCM intern Kayla Logue ’27 about balancing athletics and the arts, her experience as a Linehan Artist Scholar, and how her time at UMBC has led her to a dream career. 

Q: How does it feel to win an alumni award just a few years after graduation?

A: It honestly hasn’t hit me just yet, but I’m overjoyed with gratitude and am really looking forward to giving back to the community. I can see the steps that I took to get here and how UMBC played a huge role in my development. I want to pour back into the school, back into the campus, and the faculty and students. That’s what I’m really looking forward to, especially with the Linehan Scholars mentorship group.

Q: What motivated you to apply to the Linehan Artist Scholars Program? What did you find most valuable from this select experience?

A: The program’s mission statement and framework was something that really sparked my interest. I really enjoyed being surrounded by different types of creatives who pushed you to see things from other perspectives and become the best artist you could be. The extracurriculars, in terms of exposing us to the arts in different places, I thought were extremely valuable. Those experiences I believe made me not only a better and more well-rounded artist, but as a person as well.

Q: What was your experience being both an athlete and an artist at UMBC? Did those two parts of your life overlap in any way?

A: I always had two passions growing up: playing sports and the arts. Finding a school where I could excel in both of my passions was extremely important. At UMBC being an athlete and an artist was so much fun. Lots of early mornings at practice and late nights in the studio. Overall, I would say those two parts of my life have overlapped in every way possible. I enjoy using the arts to tell stories about my own and other’s lived experiences. In my senior year at UMBC, I produced A Mile in My Cleats, a documentary about Black women in sports. It explored their stories about having intersectional identities and how that impacted them as Division 1 athletes.

Q: What clicked for you here? Was there a specific time you remember having that realization that UMBC was the right community for you?

 A: I played soccer my whole life, and always wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps of playing collegiate sports. In high school, my family and I would go to different soccer camps across the country and see different schools that I was interested in. On my way back from one camp, we passed by UMBC’s campus, and we were like, ‘Let’s go drive through there, see what’s going on.’ We loved the campus immediately, my parents and I. Eventually going to soccer camp at UMBC, seeing the breadth of diversity on campus, the emphasis on educational advancement, and the dedicated arts programs, I knew that I would be seen, heard, able to thrive in the space that UMBC had built.

Q: Is there someone from UMBC who inspired you, and how?

A: Then-President Freeman Hrabowski spoke to a group of Linehan Artist Scholars on our orientation day. With the authenticity that he spoke with and the real joy that he felt being among his community, I felt very safe and appreciated being at UMBC. It didn’t matter who you were. Every time you saw him, he greeted you with a smile, a handshake, and asked how you were doing. So, just a really, really great person and that energy trickled down to the entire UMBC community.

Corrie Francis Parks, an associate professor of animation and interactive media, was definitely a big influence on me. Going into UMBC, I thought I wanted to be an animator. I took my first 2D animation class and realized I didn’t love the process of animating frame by frame. But she really showed the breadth of the animation pipeline and all the different things that you can do in the industry. That really sparked my curiosity for learning about different disciplines and mediums, and encouraged me to pursue Intermedia as my degree path. Having a wider foundation of knowledge and skillsets set me up for success in the entertainment industry as the work is extremely collaborative and interdisciplinary.

My two professors from studying abroad, Kimberly Anderson and Lynn Cazabon, were incredible. While in Rome for a month, they made sure that the students were okay and having fun. They were great at translating what we learned in textbooks to seeing it in real life right before our eyes. They really took an interest in the way you viewed the world and the ideas that were important to you.

All of my friends on the soccer team were great. The fitness tests, the early mornings—they’re bonds that have really stuck with me through life. We’re going to each other’s weddings now, which is crazy to think about for me. I still talk to my group of friends that I made in class over papier-mâché making in the Linehan Freshman Seminar. We’ve all stuck together and really support each other through different stages of life.

Q: What is your current role at Warner Bros. Discovery?

A: I am a graphic designer for Warner Bros. Discovery, specifically TNT Sports. I help create the key art designs for our entire sports portfolio— NBA, NHL, U.S. Soccer, MLB, and more. Our work is seen across promotional video campaigns, digital ads, and posters and billboards. We work closely with our broadcast teams designing logos for studio shows and building and designing physical sets. We aim to create best-in-class work that allows fans an exciting, quality experience while watching their favorite sports teams. We also work as an in-house creative studio, providing company needs like designing merchandise and redesigning the corporate offices.

Q: What do you find most fulfilling about your profession? 

A: Knowing that you’re a part of someone else’s joy. Knowing that there are such huge sports fandoms and people who look to sports as a way of entertainment or a way of connecting with those they love and their community, it’s really, really fun. It’s also a huge responsibility for me to make sure that we’re doing the best work that we can for the person on the other end. I’m always thinking of “younger me” or people who look for these moments as a source of joy throughout their day. That’s super, super important to me.

Q: Have you done any more projects building off your senior year documentary, A Mile in My Cleats?

A: My whole life has kind of been working through that lens because, while I love soccer, what really draws me to the sport is the connection it brings me to my family over a shared passion, and the growth formed from obstacles and challenges that make you a better person. My heart and my way of expression has always been through the arts and creativity. Being a Black woman in sports (or any other profession), there are a lot of things that we go through that others may not know or understand.

Now, working in the sports industry, the foundation of the work is always storytelling. How do we bring in the audience to connect with the product? The most authentic way is by sharing the experiences of the athletes, the teams, and coaches that allow others to see themselves in someone else’s journey.

Mark your calendars for the 2025 Alumni Awards on Wednesday, October 29, at 6 p.m., and consider joining the UMBC community at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena to celebrate Courtney Culp and the many remarkable individuals receiving awards. The event will be livestreamed for those unable to join in person. You can learn more at alumni.umbc.edu/alumniawards.

“I have been in your shoes.” Erwin Cabrera ’10, biological sciences, often finds himself sharing these words during monthly meetings for Stony Brook University’s Simons STEM Scholars. Some of the bright-eyed students in front of him are the first in their family to attend college. Others may be nervous about upcoming exams or graduate school application deadlines. All are striving toward careers in STEM within the program’s supportive community—and these “family meetings” are one element of that support. 

As the program’s inaugural executive director, Cabrera isn’t just leading a replication of UMBC’s renowned Meyerhoff Scholars Program: He’s channeling the same cohort spirit, rigorous support, and unyielding belief in students’ potential that transformed him from a self-described “rough around the edges” undergrad into a champion for emerging scientists from all backgrounds. On October 29, Cabrera will receive a 2025 Outstanding Alumni Award from UMBC’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. 

Cabrera’s journey began in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Cabrera initially resisted considering UMBC, despite his older brother, Ramon Cabrera ’09, a Meyerhoff Scholar, already thriving there. At Meyerhoff selection weekend, two days of activities for students offered admission, he changed his mind. Amid UMBC’s nerdy reputation, Cabrera saw peers who looked like him, dreamed like him, and supported one another fiercely. “I could see myself there,” he says. 

Achievement grounded in love

Cabrera dove into research with Phyllis Robinson, professor of biological sciences. She “gave me a lot of grace” as he stumbled early on, Cabrera recalls, recognizing his potential before he had smoothed some of his edges. He balanced lab work with the UMBC’s Major Definition hip-hop dance team with mixed success—at his request, an advisor once showed up at rehearsal to remind him of study time. Later in his UMBC career, Cabrera, an M18 (the shorthand Meyerhoffs use to designate their cohort), served as a Meyerhoff Summer Bridge counselor and peer mentor for younger cohorts. “This is a lot of emotional labor, but super fun,” he remembers thinking of those roles, which would anticipate his career.

After UMBC, Cabrera earned a Ph.D. in neurobiology and neuroscience at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, followed by a postdoc. Yet his heart was in administration. “I love science, but what I loved the most was teaching people in the lab and the impact it could have on folks’ lives,” he says. In 2019, he became director of the Research Aligned Mentorship (RAM) Program at Farmingdale State College, which is loosely inspired by Meyerhoff principles. It integrates research as an undergraduate retention tool, drawing economics and business students alongside STEM majors. 

In October 2022, Cabrera made his next big career move, becoming the first Meyerhoff alumnus to helm a full replication. A $2.5 million Simons Foundation grant to UMBC seeded the adaptation at Stony Brook, located on Long Island, and later Stony Brook received its own major grant from Simons to fully develop its program. Now in its third year, the program mirrors Meyerhoff’s core—cohort-based community, intensive mentoring, Summer Bridge, and research immersion—while adapting for the local context. 

“New York students are very different. They’re highly independent; some of them are regularly traveling three hours on the subway,” Cabrera notes. Early challenges included combating “hyper independence,” where some scholars struggled to trust that program leaders had their best interests at heart. His solution? “I just upped that love factor,” Cabrera says. He gets to know students “through and through,” offering tough love rooted in consent: “Do you need me to show up?” he asks, while also encouraging ownership. “This is yours at the end of the day,” he reminds students.

From UMBC to New York and beyond

At Stony Brook, Cabrera wears two hats: He’s a research professor in neurobiology and behavior, teaching honors courses and advising juniors through grad school applications. He also interfaces with program funders, manages the budget and staff, and more. Somehow he also travels to Kenya and Switzerland to support study abroad partnerships. 

“It’s all-encompassing,” he admits. Yet the success of the program keeps him going. Last summer, three Simons Scholars interned at Harvard and two at Stanford. “As a Meyerhoff from UMBC, I know the legacy of the program,” Cabrera says. “It’s my job to provide that vision here at Stony Brook, when this program did not exist three years ago. To see it coming to fruition is overwhelming in the best way possible.” 

“Everyone’s watching. It’s pressure because I’m the first,” Cabrera confesses. But amplifying UMBC’s ripple effect feels like a privilege. Since 1988, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program has supported over 1,800 undergraduates. Alumni have earned 488 Ph.D.s—including 80 M.D./Ph.D.s—making UMBC the nation’s top baccalaureate origin for African American M.D./Ph.D. recipients. Over 70 Meyerhoff alumni hold faculty posts at elite institutions like Harvard and Duke; more than 200 are in grad programs. Meyerhoff participants are 5.3 times more likely to pursue STEM Ph.D.s than students offered admission who decline.

This success has sparked over a dozen replications nationwide. HHMI’s 2013 – 2018 Meyerhoff Adaptation Project tailored the model for Penn State and UNC Chapel Hill. Howard University’s Karsh STEM Scholars and Stony Brook’s Simons initiative build on key elements like research engagement. International efforts at the University of Toronto Mississauga and University of the Philippines Los Baños adapt for local contexts, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative founded programs at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. Collectively, these efforts have empowered thousands of students, turning UMBC’s vision into a movement. “I am guided by the quote, ‘To whom much is given, much is required,'” Cabrera says, highlighting his passion for his work.

Cabrera has kept in touch with Meyerhoff staff Keith Harmon and Mitsue Wiggs, who occasionally connect him with current UMBC students for mentoring, and remembers the influence of the late LaMont Toliver, an early director of the Meyerhoff program, fondly. He also stays connected through UMBC’s Filipino American Student Association and Alumni Advisory Board. 

In the midst of the demands of his role, Cabrera preaches and models balance. This fall, he vacationed in Japan with his spouse. “You need to see me take a break—we’re not robots,” he says, reminding his students not to obsess over performance. “You don’t have to be perfect; I want you to be a college student, and learn about who you are,” he tells them. In doing so, Cabrera serves his scholars as whole people—ensuring UMBC’s legacy of inclusive excellence endures, one resilient scholar at a time.