UMBC-Shady Grove STEM Exploration Day – Join Us!

UMBC-Shady Grove invites you to attend STEM Exploration Day, an in-person event at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland, on Thursday, April 16th from 3:00–7:00 pm.

This is a great opportunity for Computer Science or Mechanical Engineering students who are interested in completing the last two years of their degrees at our Montgomery County campus to see the facilities and meet the faculty!

Participants may attend the afternoon session (3:00–5:00 pm), the evening session (5:00–7:00 pm), or both. Throughout the event, rotating interactive activities will highlight our Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Translational Life Science Technology bachelor’s degree programs.

Event activities include:

• General information sessions for each academic program

• Guided lab tours and simulations

• Student organization highlights

• Campus tours

Light refreshments and parking waivers will be provided.

Please see the attached UMBC-Shady Grove STEM Exploration Day flyer for additional details. We look forward to welcoming you to campus and connecting with you!

For questions, contact sgcoeitadvising@umbc.edu.

ADVANCE and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) is hosting an ADVANCE Distinguished Speaker event:

🗓 Thursday, April 16
🕓 4:30–5:30 PM
📍 UC 312

Dean Jeanne M. van Briesen, Dean of COEIT, will present “Confluences in Life and Research.”

This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from and connect with the new Dean of COEIT. We encourage our members to attend and to share this event within your networks.

Please see the attached flyer for additional details.

Get ready to boost your financial know-how and take control of your future!

Join us for our annual Money Smart Week (Monday, April 13, 2026 – Friday, April 17, 2026), a week dedicated to helping you build smart money habits and make confident financial decisions.

Explore engaging workshops, interactive sessions, and valuable resources designed to meet you where you are—whether you're budgeting for the first time, learning to invest, or planning for your future!

Check out the full schedule by downloading the attached Money Smart Week 2026 Schedule

Visit the Events tab to view all session offerings

Pre-register for sessions directly in myUMBC through each event posting

Don’t miss this opportunity to invest in yourself, grow your financial skills, and have some fun along the way. We can’t wait to see you there!

The quest begins April 18th, and the rewards are worth fighting for!

Participate in the HackUMBC Mini Hackathon for a chance to win some amazing prizes:

🚁 Holy Stone Drone

🎮 Nintendo Switch 2

📺 Amazon Firestick 4K

This is your chance to show off your skills, build something awesome, and walk away with some incredible loot. Don't miss out! The quest begins April 18th! 

Stay tuned for more details and we hope to see you there!

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD)

Come out and support our researchers at URCAD 2026!

Visit the RAC on Wednesday, April 22, to see our students and your peers in action. Be sure to stop by their poster sessions and presentations to engage with their work and show your support.

School of Social Work Student Presenters

• Stephanie Williams & Willow Brandy
  Beyond the Lecture: Evaluating Game-based Training to Foster Empathy & Perspective-taking in Future Helping Professionals | abstract
  Mentor: Kerri Evans
  RAC 230 | 11 – 11:15 a.m
• Amy Taylor & Margot Anthony
  Power and Control: The Impact of Religious Cults on the Lives of Women | abstract
  Mentor: Lauren Allen
  RAC Arena | 2 – 3 p.m | Poster #67
• Ashwathi Menon, Claudia Gerry, Abigail Asare, Bekkah West
  Dance and Equine Therapy: Alternative Approaches to Applied Behavior Analysis | abstract
  Mentor: Lauren Allen
  RAC Arena | 10 – 11 a.m | Poster #60

For the full schedule see: urcad.umbc.edu

Join us in conversation with author of A Room in Bombay: A Memoir, Manil Suri, and English/MCS Alumnus, Aditya Desai. The event will be held on Thursday, April 16th, starting at 4:30PM in the Library Gallery!

Food will be provided.

About the Author: Manil Suri is the author of the forthcoming memoir, A Room in Bombay, three internationally acclaimed novels, The Death of Vishnu, The Age of Shiva and The City of Devi, and a book on popular mathematics, The Big Bang of Numbers.

He has served as a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and is a distinguished university professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is a passionate promoter of both mathematics and the humanities, and has motivated audiences worldwide to embrace both, rather than just one or the other.

Aditya Desai, who will be in discussion with Manil Suri during the event, is a writer, editor, teacher, and activist living in Baltimore, Maryland. He also works with several arts & racial justice organizations in Baltimore including the CityLit Project, Baltimore Youth Arts, and the Asian Pasifika Arts Collective.

More about the book: Indian American author Manil Suri grew up in a large crumbling apartment in Bombay (now Mumbai) which his parents, who were Hindu, shared with three Muslim families. Their single room, at times a refuge from the religious and territorial tensions pervading the apartment, was also a prison that held them captive―his parents stuck in an unhappy marriage, the author unable to explore the dawning realization he might be gay. At age 20, Suri managed to break free and come to the US, where he finally found the freedom to embrace his sexuality and find a life partner. But the room, which still held his parents hostage, kept wrenching him back to Bombay.

By now real estate prices had risen so much that neighbors had begun conspiring to take over the room, causing Suri’s parents to dig in even more. Eventually it was only his mother, Prem, left, who had staked all her happiness on her son but was unable to escape the room’s hold on her. When a rash of mysterious incidents seemed to beset the room, Suri realized how little time he had left to convince Prem that a happier life might await beyond the four walls that both enthralled and imprisoned her.

This remarkable, gripping memoir explores how an abode can shape destiny, while delving into the difficult question of how much to prioritize our parents’ happiness over our own. Inspired by over 2,700 letters the author wrote home over three decades, it is ultimately a testament to the abiding, unbreakable bond tying a son to his mother.

This event has been organized by Asian Studies with support from the Global Asias Initiative.

This event is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

See the original post here.

Hi Everyone!

Our Free Farmers Market for today and next week will be held in the Center for Wellbeing. We hope to see you there!

Join the Center for Social Science Scholarship for an important conversation on Food Justice!

 Monday, April 20, 2026 · 4 - 5:30 PM In-Person · Library and Gallery, Albin O. Kuhn : Gallery

Sign up here

Hanna Garth, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Princeton University

Food justice activists have worked to increase access to healthy food in low-income communities of color across the United States. Yet despite their best intentions, they often perpetuate food access inequalities and racial stereotypes. Hanna Garth shows how the movement has been affected by misconceptions and assumptions about residents, as well as by unclear definitions of justice and what it means to be healthy. Focusing on broad structures and microlevel processes, Garth reveals how power dynamics shape social justice movements in particular ways.

Drawing on twelve years of ethnographic research, Garth examines what motivates people from more affluent, majority-white areas of the city to intervene in South Central Los Angeles. She argues that the concepts of “food justice” and “healthy food” operate as racially coded language, reinforcing the idea that health problems in low-income Black and Brown communities can be solved through individual behavior rather than structural change. Food Justice Undone explores the stakes of social justice and the possibility of multiracial coalitions working toward a better future.

Special Offer and Giveaway:

Dr. Garth’s book is available from UC Press at a 40% discount using code: EVENT40.
In-person attendees of the lecutre will have the opportunity to enter a raffle to win one of five free copies of the book!

Hosted by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health.  Co-sponsored by the Center for Social Science Scholarship, the Department of American Studies, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Department of Biological Sciences.

CS3 sponsored events are open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Sign up here

We will be meeting in ITE 231 from 12:00 to 12:45. We will be discussing our next upcoming range trip and other firearm-related topics. 

Ready to travel the world without leaving campus? 🌍✨

Join us as we continue our Grad Student Appreciation Week and celebrate the incredible tapestry of traditions and backgrounds that make UMBC so unique. It’s Grad Cultural Day, a time to come together, share our stories, and honor the diverse cultures that enrich our community every day!

Today in UC Ballroom from 12-4pm!

What’s Happening?

Global Vibes: Enjoy an afternoon of music and interactive games.

Test Your Knowledge: Challenge your friends to cultural trivia.

Community Spirit: Meet new people and celebrate what makes us "us".