Supporting Undergraduate Research

 

UMBC’s emphasis on undergraduate research is one of its most distinctive strengths. Opportunities to conduct independent research—both on and off campus—are supported with grant awards and faculty support, so that research can be a part of any undergraduate’s learning experience. Each year, the UMBC community celebrates the scholarly and creative accomplishments of its undergraduates at Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). On Wednesday, April 27, approximately 60 students will present their work to the campus community and the general public. (Events will be held on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library.)

Founded in 1997 by the Office of the Provost, URCAD features oral presentations and poster sessions, as well as artistic exhibits and performances. Students can also apply for Undergraduate Research Awards (URA) to fund their research; 28 such scholars received 2004-05 URA awards and are among this year’s URCAD participants. Four students will go on to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

“The importance of undergraduate research is re-enforced each year at this time,” said Provost Arthur Johnson, “as I hear about URCAD participants and Provost Undergraduate Research Award winners receiving their acceptances into graduate school or winning their first job, due in large part to their experiences and success with undergraduate research. This is another UMBC opportunity that offers students a learning experience with intrinsic as well as practical value.”

For most UMBC undergraduates, research experience—and support from both the Provost’s Office and their academic departments—is a central part of their education, and begins long before they apply to present at URCAD. What’s more, the depth of the experience prepares them for graduate school and professional careers.

Senior Aaron Ralby, English/modern languages and linguistics, whose research on a poem by W.B. Yeats initially began as a project for the English Honors Program, said, “My undergraduate thesis has not only taught me how to write a longer scholarly work, but has also prepared me to go into graduate school with confidence. Next year, when I work toward a master’s in philosophy at Cambridge University, I will have to submit a thesis of approximately the same length as the one I am writing now. I know that my research has given me the training to succeed in graduate school.”

URA recipient and visual arts major Cindy Claros, who will also present her research on contemporary Mexican art at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, said that receiving financial support from the Provost’s Office provided important travel resources. “The URA gave me the opportunity to visit Mexico last summer. Part of my research included interviews with Mexican artists, and during the ten days I was there, I was able to meet with six of them residing in Mexico City. The award helped me a great deal by taking away the major concern of finances and allowing me to focus on my research,” said Claros.

Undergraduates also appreciate the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom, and work with professors who are experts in their fields. History major Patrick Arnold, who will present his comparison of political cultures and elections in New Hampshire and Vermont at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, said, “My research experience has allowed me the opportunity to apply many of the skills and values taught in the classroom. It helped me to hone analytical and interpretive skills. In addition, my mentor, Professor and Chair of History John Jeffries, provided constructive criticism and endless encouragement.”

Kenneth Gibbs, biochemistry major, agrees. “My research experience has allowed me to apply what I learn in the classroom and develop my critical thinking skills. Professor of Biological Sciences Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg has been a great mentor during my project; she advised me about graduate schools and allowed me to travel to scientific conferences.” Gibbs, who will attend the Ph.D. in immunology program at Stanford in the fall, said his research helped him decide what area to focus on after graduating from UMBC.

Like Gibbs, Elena Spieker, a psychology major, and Stefanie Watson, a music major, said their experiences confirmed their research interests. “I had positive experiences with my research at UMBC, thanks in large part to my advisor, Professor of Psychology Zoe Warwick. Her knowledge in the areas of taste and satiety reinforces my desire to try to discover new connections between food and the effects on satiety.”

Watson, who is studying collaborative piano, said, “Being encouraged to conduct research as an undergraduate has been a very important part of my education, largely because this is an area I intend to pursue in the future. Discovering more about it now has helped me to be sure that I do want to continue.”

For many UMBC undergraduates, their research experiences lead to opportunities to present at professional conferences. On May 1, interdisciplinary studies major Laura Jones will travel to Prague to present her research on Czech and Slovak republics at an international conference on “Redefining Europe.” Jones said UMBC’s study abroad program played an important role in her research success. “My research made use of both Czech and Russian language skills I learned at UMBC and during study abroad—I would not have been able to do this project without them.”

URCAD will be held on Wednesday, April 27 on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library. The complete schedule is available online.

On Thursday, April 28, the Graduate Student Associations at UMBC and the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) will host the 2005 Graduate Research Conference at the UMB campus.

(4/21/05)

Conducting Research for the Iraqi Special Tribunal

 

In his last semester of law school, Ian Ralby, modern languages and linguistics/M.A. intercultural communication ’02, is taking an unexpected course and, in fact, helping to shape the course of history. Along with 20 other William & Mary law students, he is working for the Department of Justice (DOJ), providing legal support for the judges who will try Sadaam Hussein and his top lieutenants.

The students are working in small groups; each is researching one of ten legal questions submitted by the DOJ that will be presented at the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Ralby and his partner recently filed a 60-page answer to their assigned question. That answer will be reviewed by the DOJ, translated into Arabic, and given to the Iraqi judges to help them decide the cases against the individuals who bear the greatest responsibility in the crimes committed by the Baath regime.

“This is the most significant and important thing I’ve done,” Ralby told the Virginian Pilot during one of many press interviews about the project. “I’m not sure where it will lead, but it’s definitely an honor and a privilege to be part of something so historic.”

Ralby, UMBC’s Class of 2002 valedictorian, graduated at 19 with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. A Humanities Scholar and Rhodes Scholar semi-finalist, he was also one of the first recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, considered one of the most generous awards of its kind in the U.S.

After his first year of law school, Ralby worked as a summer intern for the U.S. Army JAG Corps at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he was given a significant amount of responsibility in the prosecution of a rape and child molestation case. The defendant is now serving a 12-year sentence in military prison. In addition, Ralby has worked for two years on the William & Mary Law Review, first as a staff member, and this year as a note editor.

Ralby says UMBC prepared him for the challenges of law school and his work for the tribunal. “UMBC gave me a fantastic liberal arts foundation that has allowed me to easily branch off into many different areas. Studying modern languages and linguistics and intercultural communication instilled in me not only a deep interest in international affairs, but a sensitivity to and understanding of the people and politics foreign to how many of us in the U.S. function. Some of the theoretical models I studied have helped me to clearly articulate and recognize the social, cultural, economic and political dynamics at play in many regions of the world, including Iraq.

“Most importantly, however, UMBC nourished my intellectual curiosity, making me open to academic adventures which have provided me with unbelievable opportunities such as working in criminal prosecution for the U.S. Army JAG Corps, or as a clerk for the Iraqi Special Tribunal,” said Ralby.

Ian’s younger brother, Aaron (English, modern languages and linguistics) also led a distinguished undergraduate career at UMBC. He will graduate in May and head to Cambridge University this fall.

(4/11/05)

A “Research Laboratory” for Contemporary Chamber Music

 

Video: Ruckus Performance

Founded in 2000 to promote the performance of contemporary chamber music, Ruckus, UMBC’s resident professional contemporary music ensemble, plays important roles both on and off campus.

“With all of UMBC’s music faculty sharing a research interest in contemporary music, the Ruckus ensemble provides an important public face for UMBC’s reputation for cutting-edge research,” said Linda Dusman, professor and chair of the Department of Music. “The ensemble also serves as an important outreach tool and contributes to the cultural life of UMBC and the Baltimore-Washington region.”

Ruckus bookends its UMBC performance on April 12 with concerts at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston on April 3 and at Stanford University on April 17 and 22 (as part of a week-long residency). Ruckus has also performed at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution and at universities along the East Coast. The UMBC performance includes the premiere of Dusman’s Magnificat 3: Lament, with interactive animation by UMBC visual arts professor Alan Price.

For these performances, Ruckus features flutist Lisa Cella, cellist Franklin Cox, percussionist Tom Goldstein, clarinetist E. Michael Richards, violinist Airi Yoshioka, pianist Thomas Moore and conductor Brian Stone.

To watch members of Ruckus perform Milton Babbitt’s Composition for Four Instruments, click on QuickTime links below. (Produced by UMBC’s New Media Studio)

View video in QuickTime:  

For optimal viewing experience, viewers should
download Quicktime 6

Visit the streaming media@UMBC Web site.

(4/4/05)

 

Soccer Star Brandi Chastain Leads Hundreds of Middle School Girls, Parents, Teachers, in day of fun, hands-on, high-tech

Women's soccer icon Brandi Chastain takes aim at the technology gender gap instead of Olympic gold as she joins hundreds of middle-school girls, parents and teachers from across Maryland for Computer Mania Day at UMBC on April 9.

Best known for her championship-winning goal on a penalty kick in the 1999 Women's World Cup, Chastain brings a "you can do anything," girl-power message to Computer Mania Day at UMBC, an annual day of free, hands-on, high-tech, fun activities for adults and kids.

Sponsored by UMBC's Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT), the half-day event helps to get girls interested in technology and computing careers while teaching parents and teachers ways to sharpen their own computer skills. While boys are welcome, the focus is on girls because of their continuing under-representation in science, technology, engineering and math.

Research shows that the information technology (IT) gender gap opens as early as the middle school years, when girls are most image-conscious and do not want to be labeled as "geeks" or "nerds." Girls also make up only 14 percent of Advanced Placement students in computer science, a key to success in IT-related fields at the college level.

Computer Mania Day offers free, fun, hands-on activities for kids and adults plus free lunch and the chance to meet Chastain. Workshops are led by positive female role models from UMBC along with business, government and education leaders.

Girls' events highlights include "Hardware Rocks," digital art and imaging, and the physics of do-it-yourself hot air balloons. Adult workshop highlights include how to prepare your kids for college, "Computers 101," and "Cyber Safety: Keeping Your Child Protected Online."

Recognizing Outstanding Faculty Research

 

Two UMBC faculty recently received one of the highest honors in the humanities and related social sciences. Professor of English Christoph Irmscher and Associate Professor of History Marjoleine Kars were awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for University Teachers. This year, only 14 percent of applicants received this prestigious one-year fellowship, which recognizes faculty research that contributes to scholarship or to the general public’s understanding of the humanities.

Irmscher will use his award to complete a cultural biography of biologist/geologist Louis Agassiz (under contract with the University Press of Virginia). Regarded as the most famous scientist in 19 th century America, Agassiz was a prolific writer known for his opposition to evolutionism and his theories on the Ice Age. “He was a cultural force whose work provides valuable insight into mid-19 th century American society and culture,” said Irmscher.

Irmscher’s previous books have received numerous awards, including the dissertation prize of the German Association of English Studies, the American Studies Network Prize, the Literature and Language Award of the Association of American Publishers and The Bloomsbury Review ’s “Editor’s Favorite.”

Kars, an historian of early North America, will use her award to complete research on a longtime interest in Latin American and African history that also allows her to use her Dutch language skills. She is writing a book on one of the largest 18 th century slave rebellions, which took place in Berbice, a Dutch colony in the Caribbean, now part of Guyana. “The only two books on the rebellion were written in Dutch in 1770 and 1888, so it is important to bring this rebellion to the attention of an English-speaking public,” said Kars.

In 2004, Kars received a Mellon Research Fellowship by the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, where she is currently studying the role American Indians played in the Berbice rebellion.

Thomas Field, Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics and Director of the Center for the Humanities, received a NEH Fellowship in 2003, but chose to delay his award until June 2005. Field will build a Web-based database on the earliest texts in Gascon, an endangered Romance language spoken in parts of France and Spain. His work will also be incorporated into a larger database on medieval texts at the University of Birmingham.

A former Maryland Teacher of the Year (Awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) and Presidential Teaching Professor at UMBC, Field frequently gives lectures and workshops in linguistics, culture and the uses of computing in language teaching.

Read a Q&A with Irmscher, Kars and Field on how faculty research connects with the undergraduate experience at UMBC.

(3/25/05)

 

Making a Mark on Research

 

Ishita Shah has, in her own words, a passion for science. Just ask her about molecular biology, and as she talks about her research, her experience, and her time at UMBC, it becomes clear.

“My research is about bacterial transcription activation,” Shah said. “Mainly we study the bacterium E. coli. We look at oxidative stress responses and how certain transcription activators work and respond to stresses, and then regulate genes that combat superoxide and other oxidative stresses.”

A Ph.D. student in the molecular and cell biology program, Shah is co-author of several papers, most recently a 19-page entry published last October in the Journal of Molecular Biology. The paper, which she co-authored with her faculty mentor, Richard E. Wolf Jr., provides evidence for “pre-recruitment,” a new mechanism for regulating gene expression recently proposed by Wolf and his research group in the Department of Biological Sciences. “This work might change the way future textbooks write about regulation of bacterial transcription,” Shah said.

Born in India, Shah earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Saint Xavier’s college in Ahmedabad and an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Baroda before making the move to UMBC. In 2000 she was accepted into the molecular and cell biology program with a full stipend, allowing her to concentrate on research.

While the diversity of academic and research programs convinced her to come, she credits hard work and great faculty support for her success. “Faculty support has been a key ingredient in my graduate studies because a perfect blend of guidance and independence forces the generation of new ideas which can result in developing new research designs,” Shah said.

Wolf says that Shah’s contributions to his research have been invaluable. “As a graduate student and a colleague, Ishita represents the best of the best. She’s bright, hard-working and creative. More importantly, she has an engaging personality and freely gives her time and energy to others in the lab who have questions or would like to take advantage of her vast research experience. She’s irreplaceable, but her mark on our lab and her field will remain for many years.”

Shah plans to finish her Ph.D. in the spring of 2005 and will begin a post-doctoral fellowship at the Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburg Cancer Institute.

(3/1/05)

 

Studying Iraqi Fire Pollution

 

Beyond its massive human and financial cost, the ongoing war in Iraq has also had an impact on the environment. Recently, UMBC volcano expert Simon Carn led a group of earth scientists to study how an explosion at a sulfur plant near Mosul, Iraq produced pollution rivaling one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recent history.

On June 24, 2003, dense clouds of sulfur dioxide were produced by an explosion at the Al-Mishraq State Sulfur Plant when arsonists set massive amounts of the gas ablaze. The fire burned for nearly a month, causing widespread respiratory problems in residents and at least two deaths, and by the time it was extinguished, its sulfur dioxide emissions equaled more than half of those released by the 1980 eruption of Mt. Saint Helens.

“That’s nearly 30 times as much as the most polluting power plants release in a year,” said Carn, a research associate at UMBC’s Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET). “It was the largest man-made release of polluting sulfur dioxide ever recorded.”

Carn and his team probed the 800-mile plume for 18 days, taking measurements of the emissions based on data collected from TOMS, located on NASA’s Earth Probe satellite. Composite photos of the sulfur clouds were also taken from the Aqua and Terra satellites, showing the concentration of polluting gases and the plume that stretched as far as Syria, Iran, Azerbaijan and the Persian Gulf.

The explosion ultimately cost the region $20 million in refined sulfur and $40 million in local crops, and would have seriously damaged surrounding villages and released dangerous pollutants in the Tigris river had it not been contained. Despite its immediate consequences, scientists speculate that the fire will not have long-lasting effects on the environment.

As part of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) volcanic emissions research group Carn helps develop techniques to detect volcanic gases and activity using satellite monitoring systems.

Carn’s team announced their findings in the Oct. 29 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. The research was also featured in Nature News on October 25, 2004.

In the future, the team hopes to monitor coal-burning power plants using an Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which can track smaller amounts of sulfur dioxide discharge. “With actual measurements, we can find out if a power plant is putting out more sulfur dioxide than it says,” said Carn. Information from OMI, which is based on NASA’s Aura satellite, is expected to reach the team in the next few months.

(2/14/05)

 

Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University.  Learn more about our past award winners.
Life Sciences
Sheldon Broedel, 1984 M.S. and 1990 Ph.D. Biological Sciences, is chief executive and science officer of Athena Environmental Sciences. This 10-year-old company, headquartered at techcenter@UMBC, specializes in “ecologically responsible and economically sound solutions to environmental problems.”
Humanities
Sean Carton, 1990 English, is Dean of Digital Design at Philadelphia University, the author of Dot Bomb and a frequent contributor to Wired magazine. As co-founder of Carton Donofrio Interactive, a web and multimedia design firm in Baltimore, he created a multi-million dollar company with numerous Fortune 500 clients.
Visual and Performing Arts
Brian Dannelly, 1997 Visual and Performing Arts, whose first feature film “Saved!” was released in 2004. It was reviewed by major national media and is now on DVD. Dannelly has several other feature projects under way.
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Renato A. DiPentima, 1984 Ph.D. Public Policy, is president and CEO of SRA International, a leading provider of technology services to clients in national security, government, health care and public health. Fortune magazine has named SRA as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for five consecutive years.
Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Yue (Joseph) Wang, 1995 Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, leads a $5.5 million breast cancer research effort. He was recently inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for his contributions to biomedical informatics.
Distinguished Service Award
Walter Kerr, 1996 B.S. and 1997 M.S. Emergency Health Services, a flight paramedic with the Maryland State Police, provides in-flight clinical training for UMBC paramedic students, a unique opportunity available only at UMBC thanks in large measure to his efforts.