Avanti Mehta
B.A., Anthropology
Cum Laude
Hometown: Clarksburg Maryland
Plans: M.D., George Washington University School of Medicine

“My sophomore year was incredibly difficult…medical school seemed impossible. I considered lightening my course load [but] my faculty and staff mentors disagreed; they told me that I hadn’t worked so hard for so many years to take the safe route… It was an incredibly difficult semester but I…learned that I thrived under pressure. Now, as a senior on my way to medical school in the fall, I can say with confidence that I look forward to all the challenges that life throws my way because UMBC has taught me to have grit and always persevere.”

Avanti Mehta has a lot to be proud of during her time as a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar and Honors College member at UMBC: making Dean’s List and President’s List, serving as vice president of the Oxfam Club and vice president of the Phi Mu Fraternity for Women. But she shares that the greatest reward she takes with her as she graduates from UMBC is her grit.

Mehta’s mother earned her Ph.D. at UMBC in molecular biology in 1993, so she grew up hearing stories about UMBC her entire life. When Mehta herself became a Retriever, she enjoyed all of the opportunities UMBC offered, but sometimes found it challenging to balance her diverse interests. Mehta was one of the first Sondheim Scholars on the pre-med track; she enjoyed studying anthropology, biology, and Spanish, she worked on campus and served as a student coordinator for an education-based Latino outreach group through the Shriver Center.

Sometimes Mehta’s confidence in her ability to juggle it all waivered. At one point, Mehta realized that because her mother graduated from UMBC, the Albin O. Kuhn Library would have a copy of her dissertation. In moments of stress, Mehta would work in that library, studying near her mother’s dissertation to draw strength from her mother’s experience completing a Ph.D. while working full-time and starting a family. She shares that her mother’s legacy has inspired her to always strive to become her best self.

Mehta will attend medical school at George Washington University this fall. She also plans to earn a master’s of public health to better support medically underserved populations.

Image: Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

Arlene Cuanias 
B.S., Psychology
Summa Cum Laude
Hometown: Rockville, Maryland
Plans: M.S.W., University of Maryland School of Social Work

UMBC gave me the confidence to go after what I want. I have been given the tools to be successful both in school and in my personal life. The faculty and staff are amazing and it has been a privilege to have worked with them.

Arlene Cuanias has maintained a highly distinguished undergraduate academic career while also serving as a leader in the UMBC community at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), fostering a culture of caring. She was the first student member of the USG Culture of Care Network, an organization designed to look out for the well-being of all students, faculty, and staff, and she was instrumental in creating the “I Am Enough” campaign.

Cuanias served as vice president of the Tau Sigma Honors Society, was a member of the UMBC Peer Advisory Team, and earned a USG Academic Achievement Award and Distinguished Achievement Award in Psychology at UMBC. Arlene is also a Montgomery County Business Hall of Fame Scholar. She will pursue a master of social work degree at the University of Maryland, Baltimore beginning in the fall.

Images: Arlene Cuanias launches the USG Culture of Care Network, fall 2015, with the theme “I Am Enough”; photo courtesy Arlene Cuanias. Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

A Hybrid Task Graph Scheduler API

Tim Blattner, UMBC

10:30am Monday, 25 April 2016, ITE 346

Scalability of applications is a key requirement to gaining performance in hybrid computing. Scheduling code to utilize the parallelism is difficult, particularly when dealing with dependencies, memory management, data motion, and processor occupancy. The Hybrid Task Graph Scheduler (HTGS) API increases programmer productivity to develop hybrid applications by creating a multiple-producer, multiple-consumer workflow system. HTGS improves upon existing task graph solutions with its design of execution pipelines that enables multi-GPU computation through data decomposition and task graph clustering that are bound to physical GPUs. The HTGS API is also capable of managing dependencies between tasks, represents CPU and GPU memories independently, overlaps disk I/O and memory transfers, and utilizes all available compute resources. We demonstrate the HTGS API by comparing a hybrid microscopy image stitching application with and without HTGS. By using HTGS in image stitching, code size is reduced by ~25% and shows favorable performance compared to image stitching without HTGS.

Vivek Moorthy
B.S., Financial Economics; B.A., Mathematics
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Ellicott City, Maryland
Plans: Business Management Analyst at Northrop Grumman

Assets like the Career Center and The Shriver Center, coupled with accessible faculty, create a space for students to engage with their campus and push their own boundaries. In this environment, I met hard-working and highly motivated people who pushed me to work and think more passionately than I ever have before. I will strive to carry this passion into everything I do.

As a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar and member of the Honors College, Vivek Moorthy has committed himself to Walter Sondheim’s vision of integrating research, teaching, and learning for the benefit of society.

Throughout his undergraduate career at UMBC, Moorthy completed varied and challenging coursework that helped him realize his passion for economics and mathematics research. His numerous academic achievements include being invited to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Omicron Delta Epsilon, and completing a year of graduate-level course requirements in economics and mathematics.

Moorthy worked closely with The Shriver Center and Career Center to land internships at T. Rowe Price and Northrop Grumman. He will begin a new position at Northrop Grumman after graduation, with plans to eventually pursue a Ph.D. in economics.  

Images: Vivek Moorthy with his fellow Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars, whom he credits for guiding, inspiring, and challenging him throughout his four years at UMBC; photo courtesy of Vivek Moorthy. Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Hailey Lynch
B.S. Mathematics
Summa Cum Laude
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Plans: Investment Fellow, T. Rowe Price

The education I have received at UMBC has undoubtedly prepared me to enter the professional world. I truly believe that I would not be the thinker that I am today had I chosen to attend another institution.

Hailey Lynch is an academic powerhouse, earning her degree in mathematics with a perfect 4.0 record, supported by numerous competitive university and state scholarships. She has also worked hard to take advantage of prestigious internship opportunities that have opened the door to an engaging industry career. While at UMBC, Lynch has completed internships with the Hershey Company and UMBC’s department of physics. She says UMBC’s Career Center support was instrumental in preparing her for a career upon graduation.

Lynch shares that she is particularly thankful for the nurturing and supportive faculty, staff, and students who helped shape her educational experience. “I am surrounded each and every day by peers who continue to astonish me with their intelligence and drive,” she says.

Images: Hailey Lynch shares her personal story with prospective students and their families at UMBC’s New Student Day; photo courtesy of Hailey Lynch. Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

Markus Proctor
B.S., Interdisciplinary Studies
Cum Laude
Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Plans: CEO of EduPal, Inc.

UMBC is an institution that fosters academic excellence, inspires creative thinking, and nurtures character in every student. There are opportunities for students to achieve their highest academic potential at UMBC no matter what their goals are in life. UMBC has allowed me to craft my own journey through the INDS program and that has prepared me more than I could have ever imagined.

Markus Proctor is walking the walk with his interdisciplinary studies degree. He created his own major, Technology Entrepreneurship and Organization Management, not just to prepare for a career as a tech entrepreneur, but while founding and building his own company: EduPal, Inc.

Proctor’s work on EduPal has already earned him several accolades, including 3rd prize in the Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition, 2015-16 UMBC Entrepreneur Scholar of the Year, 2015-16 PNC Entrepreneur Scholar, and 2nd prize in the SEFA National Design Competition. He is also the 2015-16 Joseph and Frieda Faiman Eisenberg/VPC Scholar and was featured as a speaker on the panel “Youth and Diversity in Entrepreneurship” at Baltimore’s inaugural Light City U Creative Innovation Conference in April 2016.

Proctor plans to continue operating EduPal after graduation, transitioning it into a nonprofit “that provides free, innovative technology for students in order to support their rise to academic and career excellence.”

In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Proctor has served as vice president of the Interdisciplinary Studies Council of Majors. He has been invited to serve with the UMBC Alumni Council, UMBC’s Chapter of Black & Latino Alumni, and the Baltimore Emerging Leaders Roundtable.

Images: Markus Proctor with his mentors Greg Cangialosi ’96, English, and Vivian Armor ’73, American Studies; photo courtesy of Markus Proctor. Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.