On Tuesday, July 19^th Human Resources and MSRP Nationwide will be hosting a Pizza lunch and learn titled:  “Secrets to Achieving Financial Independence” in UC 312 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm.  This seminar addresses the challenges of our younger workers (age 35 and under) face today saving for their future and achieving wealth.  We would appreciate you sharing the following information with your departmental faculty & staff.  

Space is limited, pizza will be provided by Nationwide.  

To Register, visit http://my.umbc.edu/groups/training/events/41231

Other scientists thought it couldn’t be done. One called it “ridiculously impossible.” But Michael Levin, a biology professor at Tufts University, disagreed. Levin hired Daniel Lobo, now an assistant professor of biology at UMBC, to help solve a biological mystery: How does a flatworm grow a head here and a tail there? How can it regenerate a complete body from less than one percent of its original form? What could explain the tiny creature’s amazing feats of regeneration?

Levin saw that Lobo had “the right combination of computer expertise and interest in biology” to tackle a challenge like this, writes Cynthia Graber in “Replicating Life in Code” on PBS.org. So Levin took Lobo on as a postdoc and he got to work.

First, Lobo had to turn all the existing scientific data about flatworm growth (more than 1,000 experiments) into a database that a computer could understand. “Lobo created a standardized language and a standardized mathematical approach that represents the shapes of the worm’s regions, its organs, and how they’re interconnected,” writes Graber. “The end result was a searchable database of results, which is now available to all flatworm biologists.”

Next, he wrote the simulation program, “a virtual worm on which candidate models would test their results,” writes Graber. To run the program, Lobo and Levin rented time on a supercomputer owned by the University of Texas. As the program runs, “the models receive scores based on how well they predict the outcomes seen in flesh-and-blood flatworms,” Graber explains. If a model more closely matches reality, the program allows it to “reproduce,” or recombine its characteristics with other models, just like in real-life evolution. Then the next generation of models is tested against the database. The process continues until the program generates a model that matches all the data.

After six billion simulated experiments and 26,727 generations, a model emerged that matched every real-life experiment. It predicted experiments that had never been done, so Lobo and team tested them and found the model had predicted the results accurately.

Lobo’s success led him to explore other applications for this type of modeling approach. A graduate student in Levin’s lab ran experiments to collect data about pigmentation in tadpoles (as a model for melanoma), and then Lobo created a program that evolved to model why some tadpoles develop cancer and others don’t. The winning model predicted the results of all but one existing scientific paper. The team reran that experiment and got a different result—one that agreed with the model.

In his UMBC lab, Lobo uses similar modeling methods to discover how bacteria produce certain compounds. Bacteria already produce some therapeutic compounds, such as insulin. If scientists could trigger bacteria to produce other compounds based on what we learn from computer models, the results could revolutionize drug development. Lobo is also now “trying to reverse-engineer cancer tumors to attempt to discover the best possible treatments to cause them to collapse,” writes Graber.

Lobo and Levin agree that using artificial intelligence in the form of evolving computer models to answer biological questions is a major field of growth with tremendous potential. Lobo is on the cutting edge of this work, where computer science and biology meet.

Read more in “Replicating Life in Code” by Cynthia Graber on pbs.org.

Image: Planaria, a variety of flatworm commonly used as a model organism in experiments; photo by Jennifer Connelly.

Why do half of U.S. doctoral students leave before earning their degrees?  A new article in The Atlantic examines graduate student experiences to understand the factors that contribute to this troubling statistic, and what universities like UMBC are doing to support doctoral students in completing their graduate programs.

Janet Rutledge, vice provost and dean of the graduate school, suggests in the article that lack of clear communication between faculty and graduate students can lead to negative outcomes. Faculty members, busy juggling research, teaching, and service commitments, don’t always communicate the full reasoning behind what they say and do, Rutledge says. She suggests, “it is only natural that a student makes certain assumptions based on what they have been able to observe,” which can lead to miscommunication and leave students feeling unsupported.

The Atlantic article highlights how communication can impact a student’s sense of academic performance and likelihood of success through the experience of Marcella Wilson ‘08 Ph.D., computer science, now a lecturer in information systems at UMBC. Wilson earned her undergraduate degree from a small, close-knit institution. When she arrived at UMBC to pursue her Ph.D. she remembers missing those close ties, and losing confidence in her ability to complete her degree.

Rutledge introduced Wilson to PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. The statewide collaboration, with a particularly strong presence at UMBC, supports the academic and professional development of graduate students, particularly those pursuing degrees in STEM fields and those from underrepresented populations.

“Once I began to believe I could graduate, I realized that it was not about [the professors],” said Wilson, of the PROMISE program’s impact on her education. She shared, “I have good relationships with them all now.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education, in a new article on faculty diversity, credits PROMISE with increasing enrollment and degree completion in STEM Ph.D. and master’s degree programs at UMBC over the last ten years. Describing what makes the program tick, PROMISE Director Renetta G. Tull told the paper about the close mentorship, sense of community, seminars and other personal and professional development resources that support underrepresented minority students in completing graduate degrees.  

“We put a lot of family structure in these programs,” said Tull. “We took down a lot of cold boundaries of academic walls.”

Read the full articles “Why Do So Many Graduate Students Quit?” in The Atlantic, and “To Diversify the Faculty, Start Here,” in The Chronicle for Higher Education.

Image: Janet Rutledge speaking during the Graduate School Commencement in 2015. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.