Shawn Bediako, Associate Professor, Psychology, Honors College Faculty Fellow

Over the past 10 years at UMBC, Shawn Bediako has been a leader in the advancement of mentorship and professional development for faculty members and their academic careers.

Bediako’s professional accomplishments have been fundamental in supporting the academic career advancement of other UMBC faculty members. He has mentored a wide range of faculty and postdoctoral scholars at UMBC and beyond. Most recently, in collaboration with other campus faculty, Bediako created the UMBC Summer Writing Accountability Group (SWAG) to help participants maintain their work/life balance and increase their research and writing productivity within a supportive community environment. Over the course of 19 weeks, a total of 60 faculty, administrators, and instructional staff collectively logged more than 1,800 hours of writing time toward advancing their manuscripts, book chapters, and monographs.

Through his passion for cultivating a career that aligns personal values with professional goals, Bediako has used his experiences to help UMBC faculty balance their work and life by teaching techniques that optimize efficiency so that they find greater fulfillment as scholars and researchers.

Bediako is a leader in the field of community health psychology and is internationally known for his research on the clinical implications of sickle cell disease stigma and its impact on health-related outcomes. His honors include, among others, the Innovator in Academic Hemoglobinopathies Research Career Development Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Champion Award from the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. He also is a member of the UMBC Executive Committee on the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Underrepresented Minority Faculty and one of the founders of the UMBC Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity.

Bediako received a B.S. from the University of Central Arkansas and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Stony Brook University.

Name: Linda Wiratan

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: UMBC Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Position Title: Research Assistant

Major(s)/Minor(s): B.S. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Honors College

Expected Graduation Year: May 2019

Briefly describe your internship, co-op,  or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

I am a member of Dr. Ptaszek's organic chemistry research group (at the UMBC Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry), whose focus is on the development of hydroporphyrins (chlorins and bacteriochlorins) for a wide variety of optical and photochemical applications, particularly photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT is a prospective cancer therapy that involves the use of a photosensitizer (light-activated probe) to localize within and kill cancer cells through the formation of toxic species. Hydroporphyrins are relatives of the familiar compounds heme and chlorophyll, and their properties can be tuned to give them potential to become PDT probes.

My daily responsibilities are carrying out experiments pertaining to my specific research project, which examines the dependence of specific hydroporphyrin properties on solvent polarity. I typically measure absorbance and emission scans for a variety of hydroporphyrins in different solvents, analyzing the data. I look for correlations between solvent polarity and quantum yields of singlet oxygen and fluorescence.

The greater goal of my research is to help identify characteristics of hydroporphyrins that may contribute to the development of PDT probes that are more selective and sensitive in cellular environments. While measuring and graphing data may not seem like much in terms of demanding lab work, it can be very time consuming and requires meticulous tracking of volumes and careful protection of solutions from ambient light. I'm happy that my hard work paid off, though; I am an author in a paper being submitted for publishing right now, and I'm waiting on the acceptance of an abstract I submitted in order to present in the ACS National Meeting this fall!

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I was actually a senior in Centennial High School when I obtained this research position. I was a student in Biotechnology Academy, a two-year G/T biotechnology career preparation program offered by the HCPSS Applications and Research Laboratory. Through this program I learned fundamental biological/chemical research and laboratory skills that allowed me, in my second year, the opportunity to find a position in a real scientific research lab. Among the options I had, I was most interested in Dr. Ptaszek's lab because I had no real knowledge of organic chemistry research and it sounded interesting. Dr. Ptaszek accepted me in October 2014 and I have been a lab member ever since.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

I enjoy the challenge! As a freshman with almost no background in organic chemistry or quantum mechanics, it has been an intense journey to bring myself up to speed on the fundamentals of these topics, along with familiarity of the past few decades of hydroporphyrin research. It is immensely satisfying when I am able to explain to myself in minute detail why certain observations are the way they are, and it is even more rewarding when I am able to discuss my research with professionals in organic chemistry fields. There is still a great deal of information that I have not yet been able to understand, so it is also a humbling experience to admit that this challenge will be one I cannot master anytime soon.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I hope that the greatest contribution of my work will be to the improvement of photodynamic therapy and related "light-utilizing" cancer therapies, which have the potential to be minimally-invasive and non-toxic treatment options. One way to improve PDT probe specificity is to develop ones with behaviors sensitive to certain intra-cellular regions; this is what I am trying to address with solvent polarity dependence, as a cell has regions of differing polarities. The international interest in the advancement of PDT probes has grown steadily over time, so research in this field really has an impact on prospects for tightly regulated therapies in the future.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

To a student (shout out to all the freshmen doing research!) interested in doing research but with little background knowledge of the topic the research lab focuses on: it can be done! There is a lot of implicit personal accountability for being able to understand what the research is, how and why it is being done, but it is far less of a burden if you are genuinely interested in the research instead of just adding a "professional experience" to a resume. Have confidence in yourself and know that you can only go so far as you are willing to try.

Kate Brown, a professor of history, and Honors College Faculty Fellow, has received a prestigious research fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and is one of just 33 scholars nationwide recognized for their significant scholarship in humanities and social sciences as part of the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program.

Brown was selected from a nomination process that entailed three levels of review and began with the Corporation seeking recommendations from more than 600 leaders from universities, think tanks, publishers, and nonprofit organizations nationwide. Fellows were selected based on originality, promise, and impact of their research, and each fellow will receive up to $200,000 in research support.

Brown’s proposal, titled, “Chernobyl’s Pale: Health, Controversy, and Science in Determining the Contours of Nuclear Disaster,” is a two-year study that is a continuation of her American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowship to study the long-term effects of low doses of radiation on human health in the context of the Chernobyl disaster nearly three decades ago. Brown will use the fellowship to conduct a large scale investigation to historically analyze three decades of medical research on Chernobyl.

This year’s Carnegie Fellows class will conduct research aimed at addressing some of the world’s most pressing and urgent challenges, and the program supports established and emerging scholars, journalists, and authors whose work informs leaders in science, law, technology, business, and public policy.

“I’m hopeful that this fellowship will help bring greater visibility and support to the high-level scholarship that exists in the humanities and social sciences not only nationwide, but also here at UMBC,” Brown says. “I’m extremely grateful to my colleagues for their support during this process and to President Hrabowski for his nomination for this fellowship.”

“Our founder, Andrew Carnegie, charged Carnegie Corporation with the task of creating, advancing, and diffusing knowledge in order to enlighten American society and strengthen our democracy,” Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian said in a news release announcing this year’s fellows. “This outstanding new cohort of 33 Carnegie Fellows is a result of that mandate.”

Brown is an award-winning author of A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (Harvard, 2004), Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford, 2013), and Dispatches from Dystopia: Histories of Places not yet Forgotten (University of Chicago, 2015). She received the 2015 University System of Maryland Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship/Research/Creative Activity. 

The anticipated result of each Carnegie Fellowship is the publication of a book or major study.

Susan Hockfield, president emerita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), chaired the panel of jurors responsible for reviewing this year’s proposals, and noted that, “the large number of truly outstanding proposals makes the jury’s task difficult, but it also renews our confidence that social science and humanistic perspectives will- and must- contribute to designing solutions to today’s most complex challenges.”

For news coverage of the announcement, see below:

Image: Kate Brown. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

Six members of the UMBC community, including one current undergraduate and five recent alumni, have received highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Awards for 2016.

“Through the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the nation invests in those individuals who have shown great potential to excel in STEM graduate programs and become the next generation of research leaders,” explains Janet Rutledge, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at UMBC.

The high number of UMBC students and alumni who receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awards demonstrates national recognition of the quality of a UMBC education, which is particularly well regarded for providing robust research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Gaurav Luthria ‘16, bioinformatics; Nicholas Rogers ‘15, chemical engineering, Honors College Alum; Akua Nimarko ‘15, biological sciences and psychology; Abraham Beyene ‘08, chemical engineering; Abigail Jackson ‘15, biochemistry and molecular biology, Honors College Alum; and Hythem Sidky ‘11, chemical engineering, all received fellowships for 2016. The three-year-long awards support students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Luthria will use the fellowship funding to support a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and integrative genomics at Harvard Medical School, beginning in the fall. “Since coming to UMBC, I have received tremendous support and exposure to a wide array of research projects,” he says. “I am very excited for graduate school and hope to conduct significant research and develop computational tools to help doctors, scientists, and patients understand, diagnose, and treat human disease.”

Rogers received offers from ten Ph.D. programs, and is now deciding where he will pursue his degree.“The NSF GRF is a tremendous honor for me. It reflects my growth as a researcher and the mentorship that has guided me along this path,” he says. “Many others who have won this fellowship before me have emphasized that the impact of this award stretches beyond what I can see now, and I am very excited to see what opportunities it provides!”

The Noordbrabants Museum in the Netherlands has opened a new exhibition commemorating artist Hieronymous Bosch’s 500^th anniversary. Honors College Professor Ellen Handler Spitz wrote a detailed review and analysis of the exhibition in New Republic.

In her article, Spitz gives the reader a glimpse into her lifelong interest in Bosch’s work and grapples with the complexity and ambiguity of his art.

“Like many of my peers, my first exposure to his shape-shifting, spell-binding world came in the form of glossy reproductions, color plates in massive art books,” Spitz wrote. “Our family’s volumes weighted down the bottom shelves of mahogany bookcases in front of which I sprawled poring over details—tiny details that rewarded hours of staring. Painted in sure strokes with small brushes, sometimes not more than a single hair, and brilliant hues, Bosch’s teeming human-scapes exuded an aura of the forbidden to my child’s eye.”

Spitz provides close analysis of several of Bosch’s works, including The Garden of Earthly Delights. She explains that for viewers of Bosch’s art, his work grows more complex on many levels, but she emphasizes the endurance of his legacy.

“Obviously, the impact of works of art alters from age to age, and one wants very much to re-imagine its initial reception, despite the 500 years. What matters at least equally, it seems to me, is the endurance of these visions. Beyond their remoteness and delicacy, which push us toward cognition rather than emotion, there is the aesthetics of Bosch’s painting itself and its heady effect on its viewers. Bosch is less a master of composition than a master of draughtsmanship, color, and light.”

Read the full article “The Impious Delights of Hieronymous Bosch” on the New Republic website.

Image: Hieronymus Bosch – The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-4) – Central Panel, CC by 2.0.

Three UMBC Honors College students in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) have been named Barry Goldwater Scholars for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program seeks to provide the United States with “a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.”

As Goldwater Scholars, Daniel Ocasio ‘17, Naomi Mburu ‘18, and Andreas Seas ‘17, all chemical engineering majors, will receive substantial scholarship funding.

This highly competitive national scholarship has a major impact on each recipient’s educational path. Ocasio shares, “As a first generation college student, I feel extremely fortunate to be pursuing higher education, let alone a career in scientific research. To me, earning the Goldwater Scholarship is recognition of all those who made it possible for me to further my academic development.”

This year, a new initiative coordinated by Mitsue Wiggs, assistant director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, allowed UMBC students interested in applying for a Goldwater Scholarship to receive feedback on their applications before formally submitting the materials. Applicants shared early versions with alumni of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, who reviewed the draft applications and provided advice before the students submitted their official applications to UMBC’s Goldwater Scholarship Selection Committee.

David Eisenmann, associate professor of biological sciences; Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering (CBEE) and Simon Stacey, director of UMBC’s Honors College, served on the UMBC Goldwater Scholarship Selection Committee this year. The committee reviewed applications, and provided advice and feedback to nominees on their essays.

At UMBC, Seas is involved with both the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and MARC U*STAR Program. He has also worked closely with faculty mentors at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Collaboration for Advanced Surgical and Engineering Applications. After pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, he would like to become a professor and do vascular mechanobiology research. “I am honored that my contributions to science have been recognized by the Goldwater Committee,” he said. “My only hope is that I continue to learn from the world around me and contribute to the advancement of human knowledge.”

Ocasio has worked as a student researcher in Lee Blaney’s lab for over a year, and credits Blaney with helping to push him beyond his expectations for his undergraduate experience, and to pursue research as a career. Ocasio would like to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental engineering with the goal of conducting research related to water treatment and quality.

Mburu began research as a high school student with Lasse Lindahl, professor of biological sciences. She says that early exposure to research sparked her interest and encouraged her to join other labs and explore a variety of research areas. As an undergraduate at UMBC, she has worked with Gymama Slaughter, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, who has inspired Mburu to pursue research on energy sources. Mburu also worked with mechanical engineering faculty at Vanderbilt University, producing research that formed the basis of her Goldwater Scholarship application. Mburu’s goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, and then teach physics and do nuclear energy development research.

“Being chosen for this prestigious scholarship as a sophomore is such an honor,” says Mburu. “I thank God for this amazing opportunity, and I am incredibly grateful for the wealth of opportunities UMBC had provided for me to make my goal of making an important contribution to the scientific world a reality.”

Image: Andreas Seas, Naomi Mburu and Daniel Ocasio (left-right) have been named Goldwater Scholars for 2016-2017. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.