Dear UMBC Community,
I had the pleasure recently of joining thousands of attendees and student presenters at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). What began on the 7th floor of the library with about 50 presenters has grown, now in its 30th year, to more than 450 presenters, including an inaugural group of students from area community colleges, filling the Retriever Activities Center.
It was a powerful reminder of the distinctive role of research and creative work in a UMBC education. So many of our UMBC students, undergraduate and graduate, engage deeply in this work—developing their own questions and ideas while being mentored by world-class scholars and researchers. That experience is both defining and enduring.
As an undergraduate, it was only when I moved beyond the classroom and into the lab that I understood what it meant to be a chemist—and realized that this was work I could pursue with joy for a very long time. That experience shaped my career, and years later, I had the privilege of mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students in my lab. In fact, my first papers included undergraduate researchers.
I am forever grateful to the mentor who showed me the path to research, and I am grateful to all of you who do the same for our UMBC students today, including the many who played a role in this year’s URCAD. Thank you to all of our mentors, and congratulations to our student presenters.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby