Carol Hess, associate professor and chair of dance, is the recipient of the 2008 Maryland Council for Dance Award for Outstanding Service to Dance in Maryland.
Associate Professor of Dance Elizabeth Walton praised Hess’ work in leading UMBC’s dance department, training future dance teachers and bringing dance into public schools. “Under Carol’s leadership as chair of the dance department, our enrollments have doubled. She instituted Project REACH, which brings dance into public elementary and middle schools and also provides an opportunity for UMBC students to perform and teach master classes. The Methods of Teaching Dance course, which she developed, has trained many UMBC students who hold positions in dance education throughout Maryland.”
For more than ten years, Hess’ groundbreaking choreography has focused on the interaction between dance and video. Many of her dances for the stage feature the use of live camera feeds and/or pre-recorded images. She is the co-director of the award winning Baltimore Dance Project, UMBC’s resident dance company, originally founded in 1983 as Phoenix Dance Company.
“Carol is an outstanding, energetic, creative and visionary force in the UMBC and Maryland dance community,” said Doug Hamby, associate professor of dance and co-director of the Baltimore Dance Project. “Through her research and teaching at UMBC, her choreography for the Baltimore Dance Project and Project REACH, she has expanded the understanding and appreciation of dance. Through her work with digital media she has expanded the relationship between the body in motion and interactive technology. She is an example of an artist who is always looking for a new approach and a generous teacher who delights in sharing her expertise and love for dance with others.”
Hess’ work has been screened at film and video festivals in the United States and abroad. Her most recent video, Substrata, was a 2007 Rosebud Festival nominee, and was screened at the Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore’s Artscape, Tucson Shortfest and the Dallas Video Festival.
Trained as a dancer in New York, Hess earned her B.A. in Dance from Barnard College and her M.A. in Dance Education from Columbia Teachers College. In New York she performed with Hannah Kahn and Dancers, The Rondo Dance Theater and DANCES/Janet Soares. Her choreography has been presented in New York at the Cubiculo, Dance Theater Workshop, the Grand Finale, the New York Fringe Festival, and in Germany and The Netherlands. Hess has appeared at Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and other major venues.
Hess has been on the faculty of the International School of Dance at Carnegie Hall, New York, and has been a guest teacher for Dance Masters of America, the Maryland Council for Dance and the Dance Teachers Club of Boston with the American Society of Teachers of Dance.
Video: Work by Carol Hess
(11/5/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Confused about how an American democracy works? You are not alone.
A new Web site – www.USDemocrazy.net — designed by Economist magazine cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, artist-in-residence at UMBC, aims to demystify and explore America’s crazy 50-state democracy in a fun and engaging way.
Designed and hand-drawn by Kal for UMBC’s Imaging Research Center, USDemocrazy.net was built and researched by an interdisciplinary team of UMBC students, including visual arts, web design and social sciences majors.
The site features in-depth portraits of all 50 states through exclusive Kal animations, offbeat trivia and factoids and local color from experts in each state. An animated “Uncle Sam” explains idiosyncrasies of America’s democratic system, such as the Electoral College. On the USDemocrazy.net blog, Kal, along with students and faculty from UMBC, will follow America’s electoral process through the presidential race and into the next administration.
The interactive site is compiling first-hand portraits of each state from local experts in history, politics, journalism and humor through its “Crazy Talk” state survey. Click here to take the survey.
Visit USDemocrazy.net to view Kal’s Mission Statement video.
(10/15/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Students who’ve participated in the International Field Research Program in Switzerland come back with something to talk about. For one week in June, they have the opportunity to travel to Switzerland for field research study, where they are immersed in the Swiss culture and influenced by Swiss habits and policy. When they return, some have solidified their future career paths and others have decided to go in a new direction.
“This course has played a critical role in my decision to continue my education beyond my undergraduate degree,” said Lauren Atkinson ’08. “This program has been my most positive memory of UMBC.”
The Switzerland trip is one part of a three-credit course, Introduction to International Field Research (IFR): Culture, Policy and Practice. Students enroll in either Sociology/Health Administration and Policy Program 403 or Sociology 663 during the spring semester and then travel to Switzerland June 15-21, 2009 to complete their research. They are able to choose their own subject areas, and most students pick topics related to their intended field of study. For many, it is a first-time study abroad experience.
“This class is open to all majors and is a good course for those who want an introduction to international research,” said Cathy McDonnell, program coordinator. “Through this experience students learn basic qualitative field research methods that can be useful in a variety of personal and employment situations.”
Research conducted in past years have been wide ranging, including Swiss health insurance, adolescent health, drug rehabilitation, HIV, environmental protection, the impact of global warming, public transportation, juvenile justice, immigrant health, and emergency preparedness. Past students’ majors have included health administration and policy, sociology, dance, psychology, economics, public policy and biology – just to name a few.
For students interested in doing research with a focus on health policy or long-term care while in Switzerland, a scholarship opportunity is available – Health Scholars Travel Fellowships are awarded based on GPA and an application essay. This scholarship provides financial assistance and academic honor to students’ CVs and resumes.
Along with academic honor and new research knowledge, students also gain a sense of camaraderie among their peers. McDonnell said students come back from the program saying they’ve found “friends for life” through this experience.
Students interested in applying for the 2009 International Field Research Program in Switzerland still have time to apply. Health Scholars Travel Fellowships are still available for those interested in health-related research topics. All applications are due Friday, December 5. For more information and a complete application, visit http://www.umbc.edu/happ/health/IFR.htm. Students may also contact Cathy McDonnell at cat@umbc.edu with questions.
(11/14/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Duff Goldman ’97 is the founder and owner of Charm City Cakes. Linnyette Richardson-Hall ’84 is the creative director and principal consultant of Premiere Event Management. Bill LaCourse is chair of UMBC’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and co-founder and CEO of Aurora Analytics.
What do these three have in common? They are all entrepreneurs.
“There are many different types of entrepreneurship,” said Vivian Armor, director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. “There are a variety of things a person can do. Most people have no clue until they discover the entrepreneur in themselves.”
Finding their inner entrepreneurship skills proved successful for Goldman, Richardson-Hall and LaCourse. But they didn’t all start out thinking they’d someday operate their own businesses.
Goldman admitted he was a graffiti artist until a high school teacher encouraged him to use his art in a more productive way. After graduating from UMBC, he worked at a restaurant in Fell’s Point in Baltimore where he discovered baking as his true calling. He went on to graduate from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, California, and then worked as an apprentice at several restaurants afterward. He returned to Baltimore in 2000 and founded Charm City Cakes, a custom cake bakery. Charm City Cakes has grown in popularity with not only a two-year waiting list for cakes but also a weekly program on the Food Network, “Ace of Cakes.”
Richardson-Hall found her inner entrepreneurship skills not through her profession in financial services but through something more personal – her wedding.
“I had a good job, but it wasn’t fulfilling,” she said.
What was fulfilling was planning her wedding in 1993. That and the “entrepreneurial spirit” she said she always had deep down. Following her interests and enthusiasm led Richardson-Hall down a path of achievement. She is now one of thirteen wedding planners featured on the Style Network’s weekly program, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows as well as in print publications.
For Bill LaCourse, it’s about playing two different roles.
“I like being an educator, and I like running a business. I get to live two lives,” he said.
Upon joining the chemistry and biochemistry faculty at UMBC, LaCourse pursued his research interests in pulsed electrochemical detection (PED) and its applications to bioanalytical problems in the areas of pharmacy, toxicology, forensics, and environmental and life sciences. Motivated by his desire to apply his research and work with industry, he co-founded Aurora Analytics in 2004, headquarted at bwtech@UMBC’s Incubator and Accelerator. Aurora develops and manufactures consumer and research diagnostic products. The company also assists other incubators as “helpful, good neighbors.”
“I love to tinker, discover and invent for something good. We all need a purpose for what we do. I think, for most entrepreneurs, there is a bit of altruism underneath the surface,” LaCourse said.
Goldman, LaCourse and several other entrepreneurs will be featured speakers for events at Global Entrepreneurship Week, an event hosted by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. This week includes a variety of workshops and discussions held from Monday, November 17, to Friday, November 21. Events throughout the week promise to be insightful, engaging and filled with interested entrepreneurs. An Evening With Duff Goldman on Thursday, November 20, is already sold out.
“We’re hoping to touch different audiences and help people of all backgrounds to discover the entrepreneur in themselves,” said Armor.
This year marks the first Global Entrepreneurship Week. Last year, it was held on a national level.
For more information on Global Entrepreneurship Week, go to http://www.umbc.edu/entrepreneurship/pdf/EntrepreneurshipWeekFlier2008.pdf.
To read complete profiles of the entrepreneurs above and learn more about the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, go to http://www.umbc.edu/entrepreneurship/.
(11/10/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>For two decades, the UMBC Honors College has motivated students both academically and personally – and continues to do so. It has awarded over 1,000 Certificates of Honors to graduates, provided students the chance to study and travel abroad and promoted numerous service learning opportunities and internships as formal components of its curriculum.
In its 20th year on campus, the Honors College has grown in member diversity and is in line with the diversity of the UMBC campus, something that is unusual compared to other national schools. The current membership is 68 percent Caucasian, 32 percent minority, while the campus is 63 and 37, respectively. This diverse community has reached its largest enrollment since it began funding in 1989.
“The Honors College has consistently provided students with exposure to ideas and concepts beyond their fields of expertise; the opportunity to develop exceptional writing, thinking and speaking skills; and the chance to be members of an ever more diverse and energetic academic community,” said Honors College Director Anna Shields.
That academic community, which boasts a 3.66 average GPA, has grown from 81 students in its first cohort to 433 students today. As the program has grown in numbers, it has become more selective, challenging and diverse.
“Good test scores and grades are not enough,” said Shields. “We seek well-rounded, intellectually curious students who show great interest in learning and leadership, no matter what their area of specialization may be.”
Honors College students are engaged in the honors curriculum throughout their time at UMBC through honors seminars, study abroad opportunities and service projects. Through seminars, students are able to participate in day trips to museums and historical landmarks. Students and faculty are also involved in co-curricular activities that include trips to the theatre, symphony and opera. Students also have the option of staying in the Honors College Living-Learning Community (LLC), which was recently recognized in a national study of LLCs and housed in Susquehanna Hall.
When it comes to staffing such a large and diverse group, faculty and staff play a vital role. Faculty fellows at the Honors College are selected through an application process. Once appointed, fellows teach one seminar per year for a two-year term.
“Seminars are an essential aspect of the honors curriculum, giving students and faculty a small-class setting in which to work together closely,” said Shields. “The seminars provide faculty with the chance to explore new topics and experiment with innovative teaching methods.”
The current Honors College staff includes Shields, Simon Stacey, associate director and affiliate assistant professor of political science; Maureen McCormick, program coordinator; Margaret Major, program management specialist; and Lisa Bolton, administrative assistant. The first cohort of faculty fellows (select faculty chosen to teach in the College) began teaching the Honors Seminars in fall 2008.
When looking to the future, Shields has many goals.
“We plan to increase the number of faculty fellows who teach seminars in the Honors College and to increase the variety of disciplines those courses cover,” she said. “We would like to increase our student research and study abroad awards in future years as well by growing our UMBC Foundation Fund and our Jay Freyman Scholarship Fund.”
Shields also hopes to expand the Honors College Living-Learning Community and attract more transfer students.
A special reception will be held Saturday, October 25, 3-5 p.m., in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery in honor of the program’s anniversary. To RSVP to this event, click here.
For more information on the Honors College, go to www.umbc.edu/honors.
(10/24/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>New Music. Experimental. Avant-garde. Contemporary.
Their music has been described in many ways, and in November Jeff Arnal ’97, John Dierker ’88, Will Redman ’98, Jonathan Vincent ’97 and former student Marc Miller, will combine their efforts as a cohesive group for the first time. The event, which promises to raise questions and welcome new discoveries, mirrors how the five musicians met � at UMBC, through music.
“This particular group has never performed together before as a quintet, but we have worked together in other capacities,” said Redman, percussionist and organizer of the event. “Even though we all work in the avant-garde or experimental realm, we have very different approaches to what we do.”
Brooklyn resident Arnal, a new father, is a percussionist who accompanies modern dance classes and teaches private lessons. Dierker, a first wave reedman, has been influencing the Baltimore music scene for more than 20 years with his improvisational, versatile style. Miller, former member of the Baltimore band Oxes, now plays with Dierker and Redman in Microkingdom, and is known for his use of a telecaster, Fender tube amp and volume pedal. Redman, also a new dad, not only plays in Microkingdom but is also a composer and teacher at Towson University and recently completed a massive graphic score, Book. Vincent, who runs a music teaching business in Washington, DC, has written an apocalyptic noise rock opera and two vaudeville musicals based on works by Jean Genet and Gore Vidal.
Linking the musicians’ connections to one another is as hard as explaining their music in one word. But one thing that brought them together was music at UMBC.
Vincent made connections with Arnal and Mike Cerri, former studio director and professor, and began experimenting. There other members of the November quintet became acquainted.
“Arnal somehow convinced Cerri to let us use an entire room in the music department. We collected recording equipment, old car parts and a broken electric piano in the room with two baby grand pianos tuned a quarter tone apart,” Vincent said.
“I slept in there, learned music I never thought I could play but eventually did, and we practiced there for many times a week with the mysterious saxophone player named John Dierker, whom we discovered playing late at night in a locked room on the third floor.”
When it comes to learning about the experimental sound perfected in that lone studio, one name was continuously mentioned.
“I think we’d all agree that studying with Professor Stuart Saunders Smith was a significant formative experience in all our musical lives,” Redman said. “I can only speak for myself when I say that Smith had an incredibly profound influence on the direction that my musical career took.”
“I played a cassette tape of my music for him, and he looked at me with an expression that suggested a mandate for an instant reappraisal of my whole world view. I literally felt alive again,” said Vincent.
Of his experience with Smith, Arnal said his world was “turned upside down” and everything “started to look and sound different.” He said Smith played a large role in his interest in improvisation and experimental music.
Smith had equal praise for this group of former students, stating it was their “strong personalities” that aided in their success.
“I encourage each student to let composition emerge from their unique self, unfeathered by commercial culture. And each of them did that,” Smith said. “Ninety-eight percent of making art is hard work, and all of these composers work hard. They always have. I’m very proud of them.”
Presented by the UMBC Department of Music’s TNT series, this performance will be Thursday, November 6, at 8 p.m., in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. To purchase tickets, order online through MissonTix or call 410-752-8959. Tickets will also be available at the door.
(10/29/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Click here to view stops along the trail with commentary by Ed Orser.
Baltimore’s well-known and diverse neighborhoods are linked by a lesser-known urban trail that is described by W. Edward Orser, UMBC professor of American studies, in his new book, The Gwynns Falls: Baltimore Greenway to the Chesapeake Bay. Orser’s book uncovers the environmental and human record of this 15-mile urban landscape that binds the city’s Westside, a path Orser refers to as “Baltimore’s string of pearls.”
The trail follows the Gwynns Falls for most of its route, linking roughly 2,000 acres from the hills of the city’s northwest border at the end of Interstate 70 to waterside gateways at the Inner Harbor and Middle Branch. Along the way, the area’s history is evident at sites once occupied by flourishing mills and in the tracks and viaducts of still-active rail lines, among the earliest in America.
The trail connects 30 Baltimore neighborhoods, from the city’s most affluent to some now experiencing economic stress. The Gwynns Falls also explains the role of race in shaping the heritage and social character of these neighborhoods along the Gwynns Falls.
“Indelibly marking the experience of residents of those communities, past and present, is the history of race relations�traditions of racial segregation and discrimination, as well as the ongoing struggle for equality and opportunity,” Orser writes in the book’s preface.
A member of the UMBC faculty since 1969, Orser’s community studies projects have provided American studies students with important research and fieldwork experiences investigating the social and cultural aspects of Baltimore-area communities, including the Gwynns Falls. A recent example includes students in the current senior American Studies Honors Program, who recently read the book, then accompanied Orser on a field trip to sites along the trail.
“In follow-up essays, the students�Katelyn Chiarello ‘09, Susan Kane ‘09, Samantha McGarity ‘08 and Alex Hyland ‘09 – wrote about how the history of the area could be interpreted to school or public groups, especially highlighting such topics as Native American and African American heritage, environmental history and social activism,” said Orser.
Orser conducted research for the 30 informational panels that have been placed along the trail by the Gwynns Falls Trails Council under a grant from the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways program.
The Gwynns Falls amplifies Orser’s research beyond what could be conveyed on the panels.
“The book covers the distinctive rowhouse communities of southwest Baltimore, the streetcars that once passed through to Catonsville and Woodlawn, the three members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame who grew up playing on westside sandlots and the decades of community opposition to the proposed east-west expressway through critical sections of parks now used by the trail,” said Orser.
Click play to view stops along the trail with commentary by Ed Orser.
(10/30/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>New Music. Experimental. Avant-garde. Contemporary.
Their music has been described in many ways, and in November Jeff Arnal ‘97, John Dierker ‘88, Will Redman ’98, Jonathan Vincent ’97 and Marc Miller, former student, will combine their efforts as a cohesive group for the first time. The event, which promises to raise questions and welcome new discoveries, mirrors how the five musicians met – at UMBC, through music.
“This particular group has never performed together before as a quintet, but we have worked together in other capacities,” said Redman, percussionist and organizer of the event. “Even though we all work in the avant-garde or experimental realm, we have very different approaches to what we do.”
Brooklyn resident Arnal, a new father, is a percussionist who accompanies modern dance classes and teaches private lessons. Dierker, a first wave reedman, has been influencing the Baltimore music scene for more than 20 years with his improvisational, versatile style. Miller, former member of the Baltimore band Oxes, now plays with Dierker and Redman in Microkingdom, and is known for his use of a telecaster, Fender tube amp and volume pedal. Redman, also a new dad, not only plays in Microkingdom but is also a composer and teacher at Towson University and recently completed a massive graphic score, Book. Vincent, who runs a music teaching business in Washington, DC, has written an apocalyptic noise rock opera and two vaudeville musicals based on works by Jean Genet and Gore Vidal.
Linking the musicians’ connections to one another is as hard as explaining their music in one word. But one thing that brought them together was music at UMBC.
Vincent made connections with Arnal and Mike Cerri, former studio director and professor, and began experimenting. There other members of the November quintet became acquainted.
“Arnal somehow convinced Cerri to let us use an entire room in the music department. We collected recording equipment, old car parts and a broken electric piano in the room with two baby grand pianos tuned a quarter tone apart,” Vincent said.
“I slept in there, learned music I never thought I could play but eventually did, and we practiced there for many times a week with the mysterious saxophone player named John Dierker, whom we discovered playing late at night in a locked room on the third floor.”
When it comes to learning about the experimental sound perfected in that lone studio, one name was continuously mentioned.
“I think we’d all agree that studying with Professor Stuart Saunders Smith was a significant formative experience in all our musical lives,” Redman said. “I can only speak for myself when I say that Smith had an incredibly profound influence on the direction that my musical career took.”
“I played a cassette tape of my music for him, and he looked at me with an expression that suggested a mandate for an instant reappraisal of my whole world view. I literally felt alive again,” said Vincent.
Of his experience with Smith, Arnal said his world was “turned upside down” and everything “started to look and sound different.” He said Smith played a large role in his interest in improvisation and experimental music.
Smith had equal praise for this group of former students, stating it was their “strong personalities” that aided in their success. He tried to help them by encouraging them to pursue new avenues.
“I encourage each student to let composition emerge from their unique self, unfeathered by commercial culture. And each of them did that,” Smith said. “Ninety-eight percent of making art is hard work, and all of these composers work hard. They always have. I’m very proud of them.”
Presented by the UMBC Department of Music’s TNT series, this performance will be Thursday, November 6, at 8 p.m., in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. To purchase tickets, order online through MissonTix or call 410-752-8959. Tickets will also be available at the door.
(10/30/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Designing for social change is something Distinguished Professor David Yager works toward as director and founder of the Innovation and Design Laboratory (IDL) and as executive director of the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC). Now that Yager is the recipient of the University System of Maryland’s (USM) 2008 Wilson H. Elkins Professorship, he is one step closer.
Working with the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) and Erickson School, Yager and the IDL team are constructing solutions to address the complex challenges in pediatric medicine. Under Yager’s leadership, the team at IDL develops a wide array of solutions to improve safety, patient care, communications and family well being. Yager believes that bringing the design process into the healthcare setting can positively influence not only the individual patient experience but the overall quality of medical care. An artist, designer, and innovator, Yager continuously researches and oversees prototype design and the production of new technologies and processes to simplify and make more efficient and more effective the healthcare process and delivery to improve patient health outcomes.
“For years the mantra has been, how will technology challenge older adults?” he said. “My mantra is how technology can be a source of stimulation, such as stimulation of the brain or a tool to help exercise the aging body.”
Yager credits his Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) as the underpinning of his interest. CADVC’s 20-year mission of exploring the social and cultural issues that are directly linked to visual culture has earned the Center great success. The IDL tackles similar social issues, keeping the future in mind.
“Design will be one of the most important disciplines in the next 20 years,” he said. “In business, design is a critical success factor in differentiating companies and products in a competitive marketplace. Design can contribute to solutions that directly address social problems. Design impacts business that positively affects our global market and economy. Design thinking helps you consider more deeply and more broadly the many dimensions of the global questions that must be addressed.”
The principle IDL partner alongside Yager is George Dover, M.D., the pediatrician-in-chief and given professor of Pediatrics at JHMI. Dr. Dover finds the collaboration mutually beneficial.
“The collaboration with David Yager and the UMBC graduate students has opened up a whole new area of innovation and problem solving in the Children’s Center,” Dover said. “Our rounds have a completely new dimension, which has led to some real advances in communication, in patient care and in the area of design.”
And now that Yager has received the USM Elkins Professorship, he feels even more progressive advancements will be made.
“This support will give us the opportunity to hire students, purchase more equipment, tools and software, and our discoveries will be realized sooner with this award.”
Yager’s artwork can be viewed as part of the Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition 2008 from Thursday, October 30, to Saturday, December 13. The event was organized by the CADVC and features work from UMBC’s visual arts faculty and staff including the areas of film, video, animation, photography, graphic design, print media, installation and performance.
The Elkins Professorship honors those with a record of achievement in a particular discipline, evidence of achievement beyond one’s discipline, a demonstrated desire to lead students and the ability to pursue opportunities beyond the USM level. For more information on the USM Wilson H. Elkins Professorship, go to http://www.usmd.edu/usm/academicaffairs/elkins.html.
To learn more about the Innovation and Design Laboratory, go to http://idl.umbc.edu/.
(10/15/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>Watch an interview with Frank Turano of Plant Sensory Systems.
At Plant Sensory Systems, a husband-and-wife startup technology firm located at the bwtech@UMBC Incubator and Accelerator, the market for green technology is growing almost as fast as the genetically-modified plants in their lab.
According to Chief Research Officer and Co-founder Frank Turano, the company is focused on two booming markets for plant-based technology: biofuels and agriculture. “We move genes into plants that increase their ability to grow,” said Turano.
Since starting the company in 2007, Frank and Kathleen Turano have received grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. Their latest honor is a Maryland Daily Record’s Innovator of the Year award. This puts them in the running for Top Innovator of the Year, which will be presented Wednesday, October 15.
“We’re very excited about the nomination,” said Frank Turano. “It’s nice to see our work get some recognition and validation.”
The Innovator of the Year award honors “people with vision” and those “with the ability to see a need and fill it.” The Turanos recognized an environmental need and decided to use their technology to increase the nitrogen efficiency of plants, which helps save farmers money while reducing the environmentally harmful runoff. This also helps the global green picture, since nitrogen-based fertilizer production has a heavy carbon footprint.
“One of the major costs for farmers to increase productivity is nitrogen-based fertilizer,” said Turano. “Unfortunately, about 50 percent of that nitrogen runs off into rivers and streams, which is a problem for the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways.”
Another Plant Sensory Systems research project is working to increase the production of plant seed oil, an important component of biodiesel and other alternative fuels. Their lab is full of racks of Arabidopsis plants, a species related to cabbage and mustard which are valued by researchers since they go from seed to flower in just five to six weeks.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Turano was an associate professor of biology and genetics at The George Washington University and prior to that worked for 10 years as a plant molecular biologist and geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Kathleen Turano was formerly a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The Turanos are excited to be at UMBC. “We chose bwtech@UMBC because of its track record for launching successful businesses and its interactive environment. We have been very pleased with our choice. We receive excellent support from the staff and ongoing critical advice regarding how to grow our business,” said Kathleen Turano.
To learn more about Plant Sensory Systems, click the play button below.
(9/24/08)
© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �
]]>