Social, cultural, and scientific advancements have helped people live longer. Not only are people living longer, but they also have fewer children than at any previous time in human history. This shift will present a unique situation where there will be more older adults outnumbering infants and teenagers in about four decades. How will the world take care of this burgeoning population?

Christine A. Mair, associate professor of sociology and gerontology and director of UMBC’s Center for Health, Equity, and Agingin the department of sociology, anthropology, and public health, examines the presence or absence of family and non-family ties. Mair seeks to document how social integration and support (or lack thereof; e.g., “kinlessness”) shape mental health, physical health, end-of-life experiences, and other aspects of well-being especially cross-nationally.

“Many of these older adults will also be unpartnered due to never marrying, divorce, or their eventual widowhood. These three intersecting trends of high longevity, low fertility, and low partnership will culminate to produce a growing population of people who are both unpartnered and childless. This group is sometimes referred to as ‘kinless,’” Mair explains to Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and host of The Academic Minute, a daily show featuring faculty from colleges and universities worldwide speaking about their cutting-edge research.

UMBC’s Academic Minute series

Mair joined six other UMBC scholars this fall in UMBC’s first Academic Minute series, featuring the latest research in media and communication studies; modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication; language, literacy, and culture; philosophy; gender, women’s, and sexuality studies; and history. This series is republished on NPR podcasts and Inside Higher Ed.

Learn more about Christine Mair’s research:

• “Less is (Often) More: Number of Children and Health Among Older Adults in 24 Countries.” Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences
• “End-of-Life Experiences among ‘Kinless’ Older Adults: A Nationwide Register-Based Study.” Journal of Palliative Medicine
• “Widowhood, Social Networks, and Mental Health among Chinese Older Adults: The Moderating Effects of Gender.” Frontiers in Psychology – Psychology of Aging

Learn more about UMBC’s program in sociology, anthropology, and public health.

For centuries, media has portrayed Arab culture as misogynistic and homophobic, leaving little room for the possibility that queer Arab communities exist and thrive. Adding to this sense of erasure is the belief some Arab communities have in thinking that homosexuality is not inherently Arab but something the Western world brought to the Arab world. However, the reality queer Arabs and those in the diaspora live is much more positive and complex. 

Mejdulene Bernard Shomali, a queer Palestinian poet and associate professor in the department of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies,wrote the first study of desire that addresses the contemporary cultures and lives of queer Arab women in her book, Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives (Duke University Press, 2023). 

“My research looks at how Arab people experience and narrate their queerness in unexpected ways. For example, Arabs may be in same-sex relationships but might not claim gay or lesbian identities,” Shomali explains to Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and host of The Academic Minute, a daily show featuring faculty from colleges and universities worldwide speaking about their cutting-edge research. “Many queer Arabs might not check off Western benchmarks of LGBT identity, like being ‘out.’ Some of the existing Arabic terms for queer people have negative connotations and are also not popular.” 

UMBC’s Academic Minute series

Shomali joined seven other UMBC scholars this fall in UMBC’s first Academic Minute series, featuring the latest research in media and communication studies; modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication; language, literacy, and culture; philosophy; gender, women’s, and sexuality studies; sociology, anthropology, and public health; and history. This series is republished on NPR podcasts and Inside Higher Ed.

Learn more about Mejdulene Bernard Shomali’s research:

• She is currently a 2023-24 Society for the Humanities fellow at Cornell University, where she is working on a project called Palestine Matters: Aesthetics, Embodiment, and Pleasure in Palestine and also teaching a seminar called “Feeling Free: Radical Aesthetics and Political Affects.”
• Her essays on gender and sexuality in transnational Arab culture include:
  • “Scheherazade and the limits of inclusive politics in Arab American literature”
  • “Political social movements: Homosexuality and queer movements” 
  • “Dancing queens: Queer desire in Golden Era Egyptian Cinema”

Learn more about UMBC’s gender, women’s, and sexuality studies.

A new study using data from the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET)instrument on the International Space Station has found evidence for nearby, young sources of cosmic ray electrons, contributing to a greater understanding of how the galaxy functions as a whole. 

The study included more than seven million data points representing particles arriving at CALET’s detector since 2015, and CALET’s ability to detect electrons at the highest energies is unique. As a result, the data includes more electrons at high energies than any previous work. That makes the statistical analysis of the data more robust and lends support to the conclusion that there are one or more local sources of cosmic ray electrons. 

“This is one of the primary things that CALET is made to look for,” says Nicholas Cannady, an assistant research scientist with UMBC’s Center for Space Sciences and Technology, a partnership with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and a leader on the study. With this paper, he adds, “We were really able to push into the realm where we have few events and start to look for things at the highest energies, which is exciting.”

A better understanding of the galaxy

Current theory posits that the aftermath of supernovae (exploding stars), called supernova remnants, produce these high energy electrons, which are a specific type of cosmic ray. Electrons lose energy very quickly after leaving their source, so the rare electrons arriving at CALET with high energy are believed to originate in supernova remnants that are relatively nearby (on a cosmic scale), Cannady explains. 

The study’s results are “a strong indicator that the paradigm that we have for understanding these high-energy electrons—that they come from supernova remnants and that they are accelerated the way that we think they are—is correct,” Cannady says. The findings “give insight into what’s going on in these supernova remnants, and offer a way to understand the galaxy and these sources in the galaxy better.”

CALET is a collaborative project built and operated by groups in Japan, Italy, and the United States, led by Shoji Torii. The lead contributors to this work in Japan are Torii, Yosui Akaike, and Holger Motz at Waseda University in Tokyo, and Louisiana State University is the lead institution in the U.S. The findings were published in Physical Review Letters.

New data lead to new cosmic ray sources

Previous work found that the number of electrons arriving at CALET decreased steadily as energy increased up to about 1 teravolt (TeV), or 1 trillion electron volts. The number of electrons arriving with even greater energy was extremely low. But in this study, CALET did not see the expected dropoff. Instead, the results suggest that the number of particles plateau, and then even increase, at the highest energies—all the way up to 10 TeV in a few cases. 

Previous experiments could only measure particles up to about 4 TeV, so the highest energy event candidates above that in this study are a crucial new source of information about potential nearby sources of cosmic ray electrons. Cannady led the effort to individually analyze each of those events to confirm they represent a real signal, and a deeper dive into those events is forthcoming. 

Addressing challenges

It’s difficult to distinguish between electrons and protons at high energies, and there are many more protons arriving than electrons, which poses challenges to an accurate analysis. To tell the particles apart, a program developed by the researchers analyzes how the particles break down when they hit the detector. Protons and electrons break down differently, so comparing the cascade of particles they create in that process can filter out the protons. However, at the highest energies, the differences between protons and electrons decrease, making it harder to accurately remove only the protons from the data. 

To address this, Cannady led the CALET team’s effort to simulate the breakdown patterns of both protons and electrons coming from the exact direction each of the high-energy events arrived from. That increased the team’s ability to determine whether the events are electrons or protons as accurately as possible. 

Based on that work, “We believe we are evaluating the likelihood of events being protons in a realistic fashion,” Cannady says. Enough presumed electrons remain in the dataset after that careful analysis to conclude there is a real signal. 

Pushing boundaries

T. Gregory Guzik, professor of physics at LSU and the U.S. CALET collaboration lead, is excited that further analysis of the data suggested that electrons coming from the three best candidates for nearby supernova remnants can explain the high-energy arrivals.

“These CALET observations open the tantalizing possibility that matter from a particular nearby supernova remnant can be measured at Earth,” Guzik shares. “Continued CALET measurement through the life of the International Space Station will help shed new light on the origin and transport of relativistic matter in our galaxy.”

For Cannady, “The most exciting part is seeing things at the highest energies. We have some candidates above 10 TeV—and if it is borne out that these are real electron events, it’s really a smoking gun for clear evidence of a nearby source,” he says. “This is essentially what CALET was put up to do, so it’s exciting to be working on this and to finally be getting results that are pushing the bounds of what we’ve seen before.”

Spiders, robots, climate change, Vaudevillian history, and more—this year’s GRIT-X event had something for inquiring minds of all kinds, with explorations into elements of the past, our collective present, and possibilities for the future. 

Back for its seventh year, GRIT-X returned to the Fine Arts Recital Hall during Homecoming 2023 with presentations from faculty and accomplished alumni addressing some of the most pressing issues facing society now and throughout history, and how UMBC scholars are working to build a better tomorrow. 

“The goal of GRIT-X is to provide a sneak peek behind the scenes of some of the exciting and impactful research and creative achievement initiatives across our campus community,” says Karl V. Steiner, UMBC’s vice president of research and creative achievement. “[GRIT-X] takes you around the whole campus and beyond.”

“Disruptive” and intercultural thinking in the workforce 

GRIT-X 2023 showcased how UMBC alumni are working to fuel innovation within the workforce and how faculty are strengthening the employability of future graduates. Melanie Harrison Okokoro, Ph.D. ’11, environmental science, opened this year’s GRIT-X with her discussion on how “bold and disruptive thinking” can help executives to lead, innovate, and transform their companies in the 21st century. Okokoro is the co-founder and CEO of Eco-Alpha, a firm that provides environmental compliance services and engineering workforce development training. Her talk outlined how leaders can create “disruptive strategies” in order to stay at the forefront of changes happening in their industries. 

“Disruptive thinking is in my DNA,” said Okokoro during her presentation. “It defines how [Eco-Alpha] outcompetes our competitors in the marketplace and allows us to target a segment of the population that’s been traditionally overlooked.”

Similarly to Okokoro, Zhensen Huang, M.S. ’00, Ph.D. ’04, information systems, used bold thinking to propel himself forward in his current career as CEO and founder of Precise Software Solutions, a firm that helps government and private sector clients modernize their IT systems. Huang spoke of his student experience at UMBC after emigrating to the U.S. from a small rural village in China—a future he says he didn’t think was possible when growing up. He shared how UMBC helped even when “It’s hard for us to make a connection between what we’re doing now to the great possibilities down the road,” says Huang. 

“Embrace the present and envision the future,” Huang shared during his talk. “Sometimes you don’t know what your future possibilities are, and that’s okay. What’s important is to embrace what’s in front of you, especially the challenges.”

Irina Golubeva, professor and director of UMBC’s intercultural communication graduate program, is working to address some of those challenges students face, such as navigating culturally-diverse environments. Her GRIT-X presentation focused on her research on intercultural learning, which includes the InterEqual training program she created based on student feedback. Golubeva shared how she’s helping UMBC students develop their intercultural competence as they prepare for their professional careers. 

“We cannot ignore and disregard these tendencies of job markets, and we must prepare our students to work and live in multicultural societies by equipping them with essential intercultural and language skills,” says Golubeva. 

Investigating earthly phenomena with math and science

Justin Webster, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, explored the “relationship between mathematical models and the phenomena in the world” during his presentation. He highlighted specific examples of how mathematical modeling can deepen our understanding of infrastructure disasters like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse of 1940, and how his mathematical process helped researchers find a possible hypothesis for detecting the onset of glaucoma.

“Mathematical modeling is a scientific empowerment tool. Anyone, anywhere, can do math modeling and study anything that they’re interested in,” says Webster. “That’s why it is so important that our students at UMBC, and students more broadly, are mathematically competent and excited so that they can go on to be students of the world.”

Charles Ichoku, director of the UMBC-led Goddard Earth Science Technology and Research (GESTAR) Center II, also explored a phenomena that’s causing global concern—how rapidly the Earth is changing. Ichoku explained in his GRIT-X talk how climate change, people, and wildfire emissions are contributing to those changes to the Earth and the work he’s done with NASA’s Fire Energetics and Emissions Research project to understand causes of climate change. 

“The world is warming dangerously, and human activities are driving the warming trend through the emission of heat-trapping long-lived greenhouse gasses (GHGs), particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), which has continued its upward trend over the last several decades. Wildfires are [also] contributing significantly to that,” shared Ichoku. 

Similarly, Carlos Romero-Talamás, associate professor of mechanical engineering, explained in his presentation how most sources of energy produce carbon and GHGs, and the work that’s being done to bring the global energy-related CO2 emission levels down to net zero. He discussed the benefits of using fusion energy to achieve that goal, which includes the work he’s doing as the principal investigator of the Centrifugal Mirror Fusion Experiment, a research effort between UMBC and the University of Maryland, College Park that explores a promising alternative to traditional fusion power approaches. 

“Fusion energy is considered the ultimate source of energy—the fuel is abundant and is non radioactive,” says Romero-Talamás. “It is urgent to decarbonize our economy and our energy infrastructure because we are harming the planet [and] are running towards a climate disaster.”

Past histories and future possibilities 

Michelle R. Scott, associate professor of history, brought the GRIT-X audience back to a moment in time in which Black Vaudeville performers used economic empowerment as a form of resistance in the 1920s. Scott explained her research into the institutional history of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association’s (T.O.B.A.) origins, which she wrote about in her book T.O.B.A. Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners’ Booking Association in Jazz Age America(University of Illinois Press, 2023). 

“The [Vaudeville] circuit itself—its success—was a testament to Black excellence in terms of business, Black artistic skill, and a momentary period of interracial cooperation. It was truly an example of Jazz-age resistance,” Scott said during her presentation. 

Mercedes Burns, assistant professor of biological sciences, explained a different kind of history—the history of arachnids. Burns, who received an NSF CAREER Award earlier this year, enlightened the audience with her research on spiders, opiliones (commonly known as daddy longlegs), and other kinds of arachnids. She outlined reasons why we should appreciate these “unloveable” creatures. 

“Spiders have been living their lives for much longer than any vertebrate has —they’ve persisted over a millennia,” Burns explained in her GRIT-X talk. “Arachnids…thoughtfully consume unloveable things in our habitats. Arachnids are [also] quite attentive to their environment. They are master architects and material scientists. If you’re curious about the organisms that surround you and you’re interested in learning more or appreciating what those organisms do for the environment and their ecosystem, that leaves no room for fear.”

As a result of her being the first known female African American arachnologist, Burns had a species of trapdoor spiders named after her in 2021, called Ummidia mercedesburnsae. She reflected on the accomplishment, saying “Having experienced that honor of being the matranim of a described species really underscores the legacy that I want to leave.”

Fellow UMBC NSF CAREER Award recipient Cynthia Matuszek, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, brought the GRIT-X audience into the future with her presentation on the possibilities of human-robot interaction. Matuszek explained how humans and robots can interact and exist in the same space and how robots can be more useful. 

Her work in UMBC’s Interactive Robotics and Language Lab focuses on using grounded language—which refers to language that has meaning in and pertains to the physical world—as a tool to build robots that can perform tasks in real-world environments, instead of being programmed to handle a fixed set of predetermined tasks. 

“In order to have robots that are useful in human spaces, we need robots that are flexible and capable of interacting in a variety of contexts,” Matuszek explained in her presentation. “When people use language, we don’t just use words. We use gestures, we point to things, we look at things, and we use body language. Useful language learning for robots needs to take all of these factors into account.” 

Learn more about GRIT-X 2023, past speakers, and their research.