May 15, 2020
Megan Hanks

Naghmeh Karimi is the most recent UMBC faculty member to receive a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant, totaling approximately $500,000 over five years, will support her work to investigate how device-aging related risks compromise the security of cryptographic devices.

Karimi explains that cryptographic chips offer continued advances in authenticating messages and devices as well as preserving the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information. They do so by implementing cryptographic algorithms in hardware. These chips combine the benefits of cryptographic applications with the speed and power advantage of hardware implementations. 

Despite their significant benefits, cryptographic chips can be compromised by adversaries who have gained physical access to the chips. Current protections against such attacks do not consider the aging of devices, which can shift device parameters over time.

Addressing security vulnerabilities 

Aging makes cryptographic chips operate slower and, ultimately, results in their malfunction, says Karimi. She explains that the typical lifetime of integrated circuits is 7 to 8 years. As the devices age, their performance decreases. Karimi is exploring the specific security vulnerabilities of aged devices and how they can be protected.

“We want to preserve the security of devices over their lifetime,” Karimi says.

Karimi and her research team will study whether the success of the side-channel analysis and fault-injection attacks increase in older devices. Karimi will create and test several countermeasures to protect devices against such attacks.

Connecting students with opportunities in tech security

The CAREER Award funding will support several UMBC undergraduate and graduate student researchers working with Karimi to develop long-lasting security solutions for hardware platforms. 

At the same time, Karimi will also develop and launch a new course in UMBC’s computer science and electrical engineering department on cryptography, hardware security, and testing. She will also work with the UMBC Cyber Scholars Program to connect students with internship opportunities focused on hardware security, to give them additional hands-on experience in the field. 

“The success of this project will enable us to develop long-lasting security for trusted hardware platforms,” Karimi says. “This will result in aging-resistant security solutions that benefit society through devices that remain secure over their lifetime.”

Image: UMBC’s ITE building. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Keisha McIntosh Allen

Assistant Professor, Department of Education

“The Souls of Black Teachers: Theorizing Black Teachers’ Spiritually Grounded Professional Lives”

While Black teachers’ spirituality has historically been the backbone of Black education rooted in both why and how teachers teach, it is missing from current conversations about Black K-12 teachers’ engagement with pedagogies rooted in social justice as well as how they engage spirituality to navigate racially mediated experiences. We position Black teacher spirituality as a justice-focused literacy that not only guides Black teachers’ practice but also how they navigate racism within the profession. This study utilizes semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and document analysis to theorize how Black social justice-oriented teachers engage spirituality in their professional lives. Findings from this research can be used to develop relevant professional development opportunities and supports for Black teachers to retain them in the profession.

Irina V. Golubeva

Associate Professor, Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication

“Intercultural Competence for College and University Students: Towards Social Change and Better Employability”

The overall goal of this project is two-fold: to pilot the methodology offered in the book which I am currently co-authoring, and to finalize the book manuscript based on the collected feedback data in collaboration with my colleague who is based in Europe. Focused on intercultural competence, this book addresses and links together three topics that we believe to be extremely important yet treated relatively separately in the current literature. First, how intercultural competence increases the potential for peace and positive relationships between people from different cultures. Second, how intercultural competence links to communicating effectively across cultures as well as to addressing issues of equality, diversity and inclusion – both domestically and worldwide. Third, how intercultural competence can also support them in terms of employability and career success.

Zoë McLaren

Associate Professor, School of Public Policy

“Data Visualization Approaches to Communicate Clearly, Inspire Policy Action and Achieve A More Inclusive Policy Environment”

This project seeks to determine the formats in which data visualization communicates information about equity most efficiently (i.e. with the least complexity or extraneous information) and most effectively (i.e. the most intuitive for end users to understand and in a way that is actionable).  This proposal has three specific aims: (1) develop and validate a set of measures of health equity; (2) produce a portfolio of data visualizations using Stata, R and Tableau Public; (3) perform semi-structured interview testing of visualizations to generate guidelines for inclusive engagement in data visualization. The project will produce six specific outcomes: (1) a set of validated health equity measures; (2) an electronic portfolio of data visualizations; (3) one policy brief about inclusive data visualization for policy communication; (4) at least one external funding application; (5) at least one peer-reviewed publication; and (6) instructional materials for an “inclusive engagement in data visualization” workshop for UMBC colleagues.  Producing data visualizations that are accessible to a broad audience of underserved populations is a critical step in creating a more inclusive policy environment.

This story was written by Sarah Hansen and first appeared on news.umbc.edu

New research on the structure of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has revealed a promising novel drug target for treating HIV infection, which affects more than 1 million Americans and 40 million people worldwide. The findings, published today in Science, show that the virus’s genetic code can be read in two different ways by the cells the virus has infected. The result is that infected cells make two different forms of the virus’s RNA.

“This functional diversity is essential for the virus to replicate in the body. So the virus has to have a proper balance between the two forms of RNA,” says Joshua Brown, Ph.D. ’18, biochemistry, and lead author on the study. “For decades, the scientific community has known that two different structural forms of HIV RNA exist—they just didn’t know what controls that balance. So our discovery that a single nucleotide is having a huge effect is a paradigm shift in understanding how HIV works.”

Crucially, “You can imagine that if you could come up with a drug that would target the genetic code at that one specific spot, and shift it to one conformation only, then it could prevent further infection, theoretically,” Brown says.

A new trajectory

“One of the things we’re working on now is testing different molecules that could shift the equilibrium between the two forms, so that it could potentially be used as a treatment for HIV,” says Issac Chaudry ’21, biochemistry and molecular biology, another author on the paper.

This exciting work comes from a research group led by Michael Summers, Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and Distinguished University Professor at UMBC. Summers has been conducting groundbreaking research on HIV for decades. Typically, the group’s focus is on basic science.

“Drug discovery isn’t the direction that the Summers lab usually goes, but this was such an impactful finding in a very attractive area, we took the initiative to start looking into it,” Brown says. “But we’re still in the very early stages.”

More effective treatments for more patients

Thanks to significant research on HIV over the last few decades, today AIDS is a manageable disease. Still, therapies can come with side effects, medication regimens can be complex, and treatment options can be limited for patients with other conditions, such as liver or kidney problems.

Many therapies, even if they come in the form of a single pill, contain several drugs targeting different parts of the virus’s replication cycle. That’s necessary because the HIV genetic code, which is made of RNA, mutates rapidly. This allows the virus to adapt and become resistant to current HIV therapies. If a drug targets an area that has mutated in a given patient, the drug may no longer work for them. By using several drugs at once, it’s more likely that the regimen will continue to work for longer.

But the area of the HIV RNA genome that this new research focuses on is “highly conserved.” This means the rate of mutation is less than other places in the genome, explains Ghazal Becker ’19, biological sciences and an author on the paper. The result is “there’s more chance of a drug that targets that region being effective for longer,” she says.

It might also mean that one drug would be enough, rather than patients needing several drugs to get the job done. “If you’re targeting a conserved region, you can potentially come up with a treatment plan that uses only one drug,” says Aishwarya Iyer ’18, M26, biochemistry and molecular biology, and an author on the paper. “It might have fewer side effects and could offer more treatment options to people with different health conditions.”

Expanding the research horizon

This new research opens up a range of opportunities for Brown’s research group and others. “We’re very interested to see how other labs will interpret our results, expand upon them, and possibly find other applications for this type of RNA function,” Brown says.

Those future results and any new therapies they enable could have a major impact. “Every time we get a new drug in HIV, we exponentially improve the chances of individuals finding a drug that works for them, where resistance is a little less likely,” says Hannah Carter ’17, biochemistry and molecular biology, and an author on the paper. “Every time a new drug can get on the scene, that’s a significant improvement for the lives of HIV patients.”

The research could have effects beyond HIV, too. “Some HIV research has laid the groundwork in how we understand coronaviruses,” Carter adds. “All basic science in HIV ends up having a ripple effect throughout all of virology.”

The ripple effect might go even farther. “The idea that a single nucleotide difference is changing the structure and function of RNA that is thousands of nucleotides long could open up a whole new aspect of cell biology,” Chaudry says. “It could be possible that there are mammalian genes that operate in a similar manner, and the entire mechanism might be something that’s applicable to other human genes as well. I think that whole paradigm could provide a new perspective for RNA biology.”

Carrying it forward

While these findings sound straightforward as described in the new Science paper, they represent a very large number of experiments completed by a dedicated team. “‘I’m very fortunate to have such a great group of students, because without them and their effort this definitely would not have been possible,” Brown says. The undergraduates on the team “were just as invested in this project as I was,” Brown says. “I really feel like they should get a Ph.D. out of this, too.”

Publishing in Science, arguably the most prestigious scientific journal in the world,is a big deal for any researcher. It’s very rare to have undergraduate authors on papers of this caliber; the new paper has 15 undergraduates and two Maryland high school student co-authors. All of them met the strict requirements for authorship: making a significant intellectual contribution to the research. Having such an accomplishment on their resumes will certainly help propel their research careers forward. 

“Everyone in the group felt the project was ours, and I think that really came out in our work ethic and the time we were willing to put into it,” Chaudry says. “Josh is really good about asking us what we think and bringing us into the experimental design process, so the undergrads and high school students actively participated in a lot of the problem solving and critical thinking that went into this paper.”

“Josh had really high expectations for us, which gave us really high expectations for ourselves,” Iyer adds. “That’s something I think all of us continue to carry when it comes to other lab experiences.”

These students, and the additional 11 authors who were undergraduates at the time they contributed, are all still working in labs. Brown completed his Ph.D. at UMBC in 2018, and just finished his M.D. at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He’s continuing to work in the Summers lab until he begins his residency this summer, unless he’s called up early to serve during the COVID-19 pandemic. Iyer is in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Becker is preparing to apply to medical school. Chaudry is beginning to apply for M.D./Ph.D. programs while finishing his bachelor’s degree at UMBC. Carter is in an M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan.

So, to Brown’s comment about earning a Ph.D. through this research, Carter says with a smile, “We’re working on it.”

Banner image: Joshua Brown, Ph.D. ’18, in the lab. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

This story was written by Megan Hanks and first appeared on news.umbc.edu

Jianwu Wang, assistant professor of information systems, is the most recent UMBC faculty member to receive a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Wang’s NSF grant totals more than $500,000 over five years. It will support his work to develop more efficient and reproducible causality analytics for use in climate science.

Understanding cause and effect is fundamental to research in many disciplines. There are some unique challenges in using climate data to discover cause-effect relationships. Wang explains that Earth changes so rapidly that climate scientists studying it must continuously capture a huge volume of data. Each point in time yields distinct information about the planet’s environment, and there is no way to retest the climate to confirm causal relationships. 

Rapidly available climate data can be challenging for researchers to keep up with, explains Wang. “Computation and data techniques have become the third and fourth paradigm for science in many disciplines,” he says. “The novel computational and data science techniques we will study through this award could help climate or Earth scientists to quickly find interesting patterns from data and use data to conduct hypothesis testing.” 

Using big data to study Earth

Wang is exploring new ways of applying artificial intelligence and data science to studying Earth and its climate system. He has collaborated with faculty across UMBC, including in the physics department and the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, where he is an affiliated faculty member. These connections have helped him better understand the needs of climate scientists. 

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and data science give hope to studying Earth from a data-driven perspective. Yet climate scientists are challenged by the need to process terabytes of data collected about Earth, Wang has learned. The data’s volume and complexity can make it very difficult to examine, which could mean missed opportunities for insights.

Wang hopes that his work will help climate scientists better understand the data they have already collected, and find better ways to test their causality-related hypotheses. The end goal of the research is to develop a climate causality analytics platform that is scalable and reproducible. 

Research opportunities for students

As he plans next steps, Wang is particularly looking forward to providing students with research opportunities. He will connect with graduate and undergraduate students through UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology, McNair Scholars program, and Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. He will also connect with local high school students through UMBC’s Shriver Center.

The range of perspectives these students bring will help Wang address the challenges posed by climate data, ultimately making it more useful and accessible. “We expect our research will help climate scientists efficiently discover causal relationships from complex climate datasets and easily share their findings with others,” he explains. 

“These findings could help us better understand how Earth’s climate system works,” Wang says. “Eventually, they could help us better predict and adapt to many specific climate-related events, such as extreme heatwaves, droughts, and floods.”  

Banner image: The California Current System. Photo by: NASA/Goddard/Suomin-NPP/VIIRS, used under CC 2.0.

This story was written by Sarah Hansen and first appeared on news.umbc.edu

Since it launched at UMBC in 1997, the MARC U*STAR Program has connected nearly 500 hundred UMBC students with research opportunities and invaluable support. After years of remarkable results, the program is now at an important moment of transition.

MARC U*STAR stands for Maximizing Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research. The NIH program was founded on three key elements that are proven to increase students’ persistence and success in research careers, especially for students from underrepresented groups in biomedical sciences. These elements include recognizing and recruiting outstanding, passionate students; offering excellent research mentorship; and providing strong administrative support and advising.

A striking 95 percent of UMBC’s MARC U*STAR Scholars have graduated with STEM degrees, around double the national rate for students who begin STEM programs. And 91 percent have continued their education in graduate programs, with 80 percent pursuing Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., or M.D. degrees. UMBC’s MARC U*STAR graduates have been almost five times more likely to attend graduate school than their academically comparable peers.

“If I was not a part of the MARC program, I would not be where I am today,” says Robin Bailey ’20, biological sciences. Today, she is about to graduate from UMBC having presented her research at national conferences and written two academic papers. She spent a summer researching at Harvard, and now has committed to pursuing her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Bailey’s experience is a familiar one in UMBC’s MARC U*STAR program. This unequivocal, long-term success is not an accident. 

Growth mindset

As the final year of the current MARC U*STAR grant comes to a close this May, UMBC has received a new five-year grant from the NIH. This new grant is part of the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE). It will build on the strong legacy of MARC U*STAR at UMBC, providing $7.7 million over five years to support the same activities offered by MARC U*STAR, plus a few more.

“The MARC grant is 23 years old, and it’s had great success,” says Phyllis Robinson, program director for MARC U*STAR at UMBC and lead on the new U-RISE grant. “So we’re going to take all the good things, and then add a few new things.”

MARC U*STAR provides students intensive academic advising and funding for conference travel and toward tuition. Advising includes traditional guidance on course selection, as well as support in preparing for and obtaining research positions and help with the graduate school application process. Monthly lectures from external STEM professionals connect the scholars with experts in various fields and give them opportunities to network.

Nurturing student passion

Perhaps most importantly, the MARC program helps create a sense of community among the scholars. “Being a part of the MARC family is advantageous not only because you’re getting extra support to go to conferences, but you’re surrounded by all these people that are interested in science and want to improve people’s lives with science,” reflects Andreas Seas ’17, biochemical engineering.

Seas particularly notes the support of Lasse Lindahl, Robinson’s predecessor; Jackie King, assistant director of the MARC U*STAR program at UMBC; and his peers and research mentors. Today, Seas is pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. degree at Duke University.

“The MARC program solidified my love for research and science,” adds Erwin Cabrera ’10, biological sciences. “It provided me with the mentoring and one-on-one advising that was pivotal in my success at UMBC.” Cabrera is paying that mentorship forward in his current role as director of the Research Aligned Mentorship Program at Farmingdale State College in New York.

 Resilience on the rise

The new U-RISE funding will offer all of the same programming as MARC for up to 35 students per year. On top of that, U-RISE Scholars will participate in two training workshops. One will examine rigor and reproducibility in research. The other will focus on how to work with big data, which has become ubiquitous in so many research fields. U-RISE will also fund training for faculty mentors in how to best support their diverse mentees. 

Current MARC Scholars will be able to continue with the program through graduation.

This is all heartening news for Bailey. “The MARC program has provided me with countless opportunities to improve my skills in the laboratory and develop a scientific mind. The program also pushes MARC Scholars to show proof of these skills at scientific conferences,” she says. “Where I once lacked confidence in my ability to think critically and present publicly, I now have a resilient drive to overcome obstacles.”

Until now, “for students who want to pursue a research career in biomedical sciences, the MARC program has been the place to be,” Bailey says. Now, that place will be U-RISE.

While the name will be new after 2020, the work and commitment of faculty mentors and advising staff will hold steady. Under Robinson’s leadership, they’ll continue to help UMBC students see themselves as future leading scientists and find their paths to research careers.

Banner image: Academic Row at UMBC in springtime. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC unless otherwise noted.