In a chemical engineering lab, students huddle around a bench layering aluminum foil and steel wool together to build a battery. Another group pipettes solutions into a pressure vessel to test various reactions. The end result of the students’ experimentations will be two autonomous shoebox-sized vehicles that are powered by chemical reactions. Think of your second-grade volcano project, but the baking soda and vinegar “eruption” is happening inside an enclosed vessel, propelling it forward down a track. 

When the UMBC Chem-E-Car chapter launched in early spring 2019, there were 10 students who came together to grow the group. Today, less than one year after they became formally recognized by UMBC and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, there are about 30 students working together to build vehicles powered by chemical reactions, putting the information and skills they learn in their classes into practice.

Students work in three groups on two vehicle projects. One team focuses on developing the stopping mechanism that uses a color changing reaction, the second team works on refining the car propelled by a pressure-generating reaction, and the third team develops a battery-driven vehicle. 

“One car moves using a chemical reaction that produces a large volume of gas, and the gas is used to move a pneumatic motor, which is kind of like a water wheel for air,” explains Sammie Maygers ’20, chemical engineering, who is leading the group in charge of developing the stopping mechanism. “The second car is powered by a battery. We are experimenting with different chemical reactions to optimize the amount of current and voltage that we can produce to run an electric motor.”

As the group was ramping up, the founding students spent the semester learning about the structure of the competitions and attended the regional competition as onlookers. Alex Von Gunten ’20, chemical engineering, current chair of the Chem-E-Car Project, says that it was helpful for UMBC students to experience the competitions and to take note of the vehicles that other teams built. An additional layer of pressure for competitors is that no one knows how far their car will need travel until a couple of hours before the race, when the judges release the specifications that the car must meet. Just before the car is set to race, the students work through a series of calculations to determine the amount of chemicals that are needed to propel the vehicle a specific distance. 

Jason Ewart ’20, chemical engineering, who is a member of the pressure team, explains that safety is a very important component of the Chem-E-Car competitions. The students who are taking part rely on the knowledge they’ve learned in the courses they have taken at UMBC, including the safety course that all chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering students must complete.

The Chem-E-Car group joins a rich history of student organizations on campus that design and build vehicles based on skills learned in the classroom. On a human scale, UMBC’s Baja SAE team builds vehicles that are driven by one student and are designed to withstand challenging terrain and weather while keeping budget, vehicle weight, and agility in mind. In the 2018–2019 season, the Baja team finished with the second highest total points in the program’s 30-year history. 

The Chem-E-Car team has yet to test the mettle of their designs, but they plan on competing in the regional competition at Virginia Tech in April 2020, with their sights set on advancing to the national competition.

***

All photos, including header, by Marlayna Demond ’11.

To teach in a particularly challenging school, it might just help to have gone through a few challenges of your own. At least, that is the case for Jody Grandier ’17, American studies. The 39-year-old single mom went from living on the streets in downtown Baltimore to teaching first grade at the city’s North Bend Elementary School.

Last spring, she was recognized by Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, as one of three “Amazing Teachers,” an award given after the completion of the first year teaching.

“My number one goal in my classroom is to build relationships and bonds, not just with children but with their family and the communities,” says Grandier. She does that by helping the kids get what they need, from school supplies to socks, and making sure to not be judgmental about their circumstances. After all, her understanding of some of their hardships comes from first-hand knowledge.

Turning Point

Grandier says that when she was 18 she moved to Baltimore with a boyfriend and “once I moved down there I ended up getting into drugs and getting into a lot of trouble and living on the street and being in a lot of abusive relationships.” After moving home and spending time in rehab she began to recover–only to discover that she was pregnant. To provide for herself and her child, she decided to turn back to a childhood dream of being a teacher.

After a few years at Howard Community College, she says, “I went to visit UMBC and I loved it. I thought the campus was really beautiful. Everybody there was so nice and I just couldn’t have asked for a better experience.” She was eventually accepted into the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program. Integral to her journey at UMBC was Nicole King, associate professor and chair of the Department of American Studies, and her classes on gentrification in Baltimore. “I really enjoyed her classes. I absolutely loved it. She’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever met in my whole life, actually,” says Grandier.

Soon after graduation, she got the job at North Bend in southwest Baltimore City. Now she spends her days helping kids from the city learn and grow as she did. Field trips, lunches with the kids, and other fun moments make it rewarding, she says. That said, her job presents unique challenges. 

“I definitely am in situations that would prefer not to be in. But I think that it’s part of the job and that if we all said, we don’t want to be in danger, then who would be there teaching? It has to get done. Every child deserves an education,” she says.

Educational Advocate

The education that children get is not always equal, however. Grandier has a unique perspective since her own daughter, now 10, attends a better-funded Howard County school. 

“They have brand new computers, [and] when you walk in the building it’s gorgeous. They have a lot of extra activities. We don’t have a lot of that in the city,” she says, where “the buildings are pretty dilapidated, they’re not very nice and they have bugs and they’re hot or they’re cold and we can’t drink the water. I can’t imagine many parents in the county being ok with that.”

On top of that, Grandier says that her students face other obstacles, like homelessness and hunger. “I don’t really know how you can come into a classroom and learn when you’ve been up all night because your parents are fighting or you’re homeless or you’re hungry. That, to a child, has to be completely devastating.”

Grandier advocates for more mental health opportunities for city kids as well as for better funding. Given the resources and a steady stream of dedicated teachers–as well as her unflinching faith in the nature of people–she says that she has hope for the city.

“I think it’s going to be a long road and a lot more people are going to have to be informed and get involved but I definitely believe that one day Baltimore City schools will be at the top,” she says.

– Karen Stysley

* * * * *

Header Image: Grandier (left) with Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises.

Heading into International Education Week, November 18 – 22, UMBC is celebrating the expansion of international learning opportunities and partnerships. UMBC is reaching beyond traditional study abroad frameworks to prepare students for global careers, including through virtual exchange programs. At the same time, UMBC continues to welcome talented scholars from around the world to join the campus community, honoring their contributions to UMBC and the relationships they grow during their time on campus.

Virtual international learning at home: Engineering with Portugal

Many college students pursuing STEM majors assume that international learning isn’t an option for them. This might be because they need to complete specific, sequential course requirements, or because they want to focus on internship and research opportunities. In recent years, however, many UMBC STEM students have taken advantage of international learning opportunities where they can fulfill course requirements, complete internships, or do research while abroad, or build international connections while on campus at UMBC. 

Aliyah Smith’s experience shows one way to approach this. Smith ‘19, mechanical engineering, completed a nine-week research internship at the University of Oxford, followed by a semester studying in the United Arab Emirates. Some of her engineering classmates have taken a different approach: virtual international learning.

That virtual experience is the innovation of Marc Zupan, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Zupan’s Global Engineering course helps UMBC students prepare to solve complex, large-scale challenges by collaborating remotely with engineering students in Portugal. Students apply advanced technical knowledge as well as communication, teamwork, and cultural awareness skills to their projects. Teammates in the U.S. and Portugal connect through communication tools like Skype and Slack.

The Global Engineering class has been held with the University of Porto in Portugal for five years. Three years ago Zupan added to the course a collaboration with La Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and he’s working to expand it further. 

The class is guided by one principle, Zupan says: “The answer to the planet’s environmental and social problems can be met and overcome through collaborative cross-cultural engineering.” 

“This isn’t treated as a class project, but a simulated professional experience to prepare students for an international workplace,” Zupan explains. “The cross-cultural aspect of the course is crucial. By learning how to manage a project with classmates that have a completely different cultural and social framework, students must work through differences and learn how to solve a problem together.  Cross-cultural engineering delivers a more unique creative solution to engineering challenges.”

Building empathy online through Spanish history

Ana Oscoz, professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, has created the virtual course Spanish Cultures and History, designed to provide a robust international experience for students who aren’t able to travel abroad. 

Oscoz worked with colleagues at the Universitat de València and La Universidad Complutense de Madrid to create a Spanish-language course focused on how Spain’s past affects its current social and political climate. Students work in small groups and use a variety of digital communication tools to manage their collaborative class projects through different time zones. 

“For me, the class is not only about history but about learning how to empathize with others who have different histories,” says Oskoz. “The greatest takeaway is having students in both countries say, ‘I didn’t know this could be looked at another way.’”

Learning from non-native English speakers in an online TESOL exchange

When Shannon Sauro, assistant professor of education, came to UMBC, she brought with her a virtual exchange program for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) that she began in Sweden five years ago. The future educators she has worked with hail from countries around the globe, and many are not native English speakers. “For many students,” she says, “English was their third or fourth language,” and their perspectives have proved invaluable for classmates who are native English speakers.

At UMBC, Sauro offers upper-level courses that integrate virtual exchange to challenge and build students’ critical thinking, teamwork, and cross-cultural skills. She also offers training in virtual collaboration to interested faculty across all fields.

“Teaching TESOL means working often with vulnerable populations and deepening the knowledge of the role of the teacher,” shares Sauro. “Virtual exchanges build empathy and emphasize the humanity in all of us.”

Refining language skills: Bilingual exchange with Japan

Virtual exchanges are also useful for students working to learn a second language, as they can enhance students’ pronunciation skills and their understanding of a language’s cultural context. Tomoko Hoogenboom, senior lecturer in modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, worked with colleagues at Nanzan University in Japan to implement a bilingual virtual exchange for Nanzan students studying English and UMBC students studying Japanese. 

The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program is part of a partnership between the American Council of Education and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The institutions have provided a combined $9.8 million to fund such collaborations between U.S. and Japanese institutions from 2018 through 2023.

Hoogenboom explains that UMBC students in this upper-level course work on group projects with Japanese students through tools like Slack. At the end of the course, participating UMBC students have an opportunity to study in Japan on a full scholarship. 

“COIL is about a deep language and cultural learning experience. Through class projects students expand their understanding of Japanese/U.S. linguistic and cultural differences and similarities,” says Hoogenboom. “Students then leverage this knowledge to foster long-term bicultural and bilingual collaboration through their study abroad opportunity.”

Growing through shared interests: Health and athletics

Throughout the summer and fall 2019, UMBC’s partnerships with Japanese universities have continued to grow. In addition to developing a five-year agreement with Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering, focused on research collaboration, UMBC established a new kind of partnership with Nippon Sport Science University that explores broader elements of the student experience.

UMBC has an existing collaboration with Nippon Sport Science University in the area of emergency health services education. For eight days, two faculty members and five students from Nippon Sport Science University visited UMBC to develop their knowledge of English-language medical terminology and to shadow emergency responders. During the visit, Kazumi Hasegawa, director of international marketing at UMBC’s English Language Institute, connected these guests with UMBC Athletics, to explore collaboration opportunities related to athletics, recreation, and the student experience.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Nippon Sport Science University,” says Jessica Hammond-Graf, UMBC’s interim director of athletics. “Sport is a wonderful way to celebrate our shared values and it can and should serve as a great unifier between our cultures.”

Hosting professional development for visiting faculty through the Fulbright program

UMBC also regularly hosts faculty and students from other countries on campus for longer periods of time through international exchanges and through professional development opportunities. Recently, education instructors Doaa Rashed, M.A. ’08, ESOL and bilingual instructional systems development, and Ph.D. ’17, language, literacy and culture, and Mary Tabaa, M.A.‘00, ESOL and instructional development systems, hosted a Fulbright Junior Faculty Development Program professional development with TESOL and linguistics faculty from Egypt. This specific Fulbright program is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of State and AMIDEAST, a U.S. nonprofit that works to strengthen cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.

Visiting faculty represented Pharos University, the University of Modern Sciences and Arts, Minoufiya University, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Al-Azhar University, and the American University in Cairo. Each was paired with a UMBC faculty mentor for their ten-week stay, working together to conduct TESOL and linguistics research and examine best practices in those fields, as well as providing student support with diverse learning styles and internship and employment support. Their goal was to gather new insights to implement at their home campus.

“It is one thing for international partners to hear how UMBC is diverse and inclusive, it is another to actually see how it works in person,” reflects Rashed. “The success of this program, one we hope to continue, depends on the continued committed of the entire campus to the preparation of teachers from all over the world. This is where the real-life implementation of diversity and inclusion is invaluable.”

Since the participants have returned to their home institutions, their joint research has continued through virtual collaboration. In December, the Egyptian faculty will present their work to Fulbright Egypt. 

Combining science and cultural immersion in Spain

While UMBC continues to expand the range of available international learning experiences, some students are still looking for a more traditional study abroad, but don’t quite know how to access it in a way that works for them.

Like Marc Zupan, Ivan Erill, associate professor of biological sciences, wanted to help STEM students see international learning as a real possibility. Erill developed a STEM study abroad program at La Universitat Pompeu Fabra in his hometown of Barcelona, Spain. Students earn UMBC credit for biology and Spanish courses, while also being immersed in Spanish culture.

The six-week program ran for the first time in summer 2019. “I have learned that our students are very receptive to other cultures and ways of seeing life, and that being exposed to other cultures makes them both challenge and appreciate their own culture,” Erill says.

Erill’s goal for the program is to help students expand their sense of what is possible in their future careers as scientists. This includes the options of completing a graduate study abroad or collaborating with scientists in other countries. “I have witnessed a gradual change in students’ perception of the quality and breadth of scientific research outside the U.S.,” he shares. 

Pauline Rozario ’20, biological sciences, says the program has expanded her vision of her future career. “I would love to travel abroad for my future career path in medicine after I graduate from UMBC,” she shares. 

Jessica Kweon ’22, biological sciences, had a similar reaction after visiting the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, which she noted had “incredible image-processing capabilities.” In addition to thinking more deeply about a possible research career in biology, she’s increasingly reflecting on the cultural factors that shape her perspective, as a scientist and as a person. 

Throughout International Education Week, UMBC is hosting a range of opportunities for all community members to connect with Retrievers with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and to learn about international learning and teaching programs.

This news story was reported in collaboration with Sarah Hansen, M.S.’15, biology, and Megan Hanks.

Banner image: UMBC Commons international flags. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11, unless otherwise noted.

UMBC’s Cyber Defense Team, known as the Cyber Dawgs, emerged the national champion team in the U.S. Department of Energy’s fifth annual CyberForce Competition. The Cyber Dawgs earned first place overall out of more than 100 teams from universities across the country.

Ten national laboratories hosted competing teams this year, November 15 – 16. UMBC competed at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois, while other teams traveled to sites like the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Competing teams hailed from a broad range of institutions, including Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The competition tasks students with defending critical energy infrastructure during simulated cyberattacks. The scenarios are designed to be realistic, focused on water and power systems and including real-world constraints, such as insufficient budget for system upkeep and limited information on system needs. During the competition, “red teams,” including industry professionals, attack the system, while the students work to ensure that the infrastructure is available to their customers, or “green teams,” who test system usability. 

The teams receive points based on how successfully they address attacks, while still allowing users to access the infrastructure they need. The teams are also awarded points for innovative defense tactics and ideas. This year’s competition saw several leading teams with neck-and-neck scores until the final round, when UMBC’s Cyber Dawgs pulled ahead for the victory.

The competition offers students a unique opportunity to develop their cybersecurity skills in relation to critical infrastructure, and have hands-on experience in a realistic cyberattack situation.

“The CyberForce competition is the most unique of our annual events, allowing us to experiment with network configurations to defend an industrial control system against adversaries while playing the roles of an IT organization,” explains RJ Joyce ’18, M.S. ’20, computer science, a member of the winning team. “The hard work, dedication, and creativity that each member brought to the team lifted us from a regional win last year to a national win this year.”

In addition to Joyce, last weekend’s winning team included Anna Staats ’20, computer science; Drew Barrett ’20, computer science; Grant Spencer ’20, computer science; Cyrus Bonyadi, Ph.D. ’23, computer science; and Seamus Burke ’20, computer science.

“The team’s second national championship in three years shows the enthusiasm, grit, and tenacity of our students in demonstrating their technical cyber expertise in a competitive arena,” says Rick Forno, senior lecturer of computer science and assistant director of UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity. 

Forno advises the Cyber Dawgs with Charles Nicholas, professor of computer science and electrical engineering. “It’s an awesome thing not just for the team and university,” he says, “but for each competitor individually, as they prepare to enter the cybersecurity workforce after graduation.”

UMBC students have a strong record in state and national competition. In 2018, UMBC computer science and information systems students won the top prize at the Maryland Cyber Challenge. A year earlier, the UMBC Cyber Dawgs won the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. 

Update: In early December 2019, the Cyber Dawgs won the 2019 Maryland Cyber Challenge, with a team comprised of Staats, Spencer, and Burke. They competed against several skilled challengers, including a team from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Banner image: The Cyber Dawgs at the CyberForce competition. From left, Charles Nicholas, Anna Staats, Drew Barrett, Grant Spencer, Cyrus Bonyadi, and Seamus Burke. Photo courtesy of Argonne National Lab.

Any new coach at any college will want to make changes. New UMBC women’s basketball coach Johnetta Hayes hopes to do just that—but not only on the basketball court. 

Hayes comes to the Retrievers from Texas Southern, where she posted a 115-73 record in six seasons and led that team to four post-season appearances, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. UMBC is coming off a difficult 10-20 season, and Hayes is looking to turn things around on the court while creating a new culture of family within the program. 

On the court, the Retrievers under Hayes will play a faster-paced game than in recent years. That is going to be a big difference. Off the court, Hayes wants the student-athletes in the program to feel the team is a family and that they can turn to teammates and others for help in any situation—regarding basketball or life. 

“It’s really, really important for me,” Hayes said. “From the day I walked in here until now, I can see the difference. They had each other already. It’s a bond they’ll have forever at UMBC, and we want the four seniors to leave out of here in [the spring] feeling like the way we started and the way we ended was definitely different. Once they leave, they can always come back home.”

Hayes said she wants to create an environment where those who played for UMBC in the past can mentor those currently playing at the school. If a student-athlete needs contacts for jobs or career advice upon graduation, they could turn to one of the former players for help in that area. 

Building this, though, takes time and effort. 

“They are their own sorority, and when they leave here, they [will] feel like they have something to come back to every year,” Hayes said. “I want the four seniors leaving to know every year in October, we come back. We celebrate with our families, and we mentor the young ladies who are on the team.”

Right now, the biggest type of change probably involves Hayes and her coaching staff as all 14 Retrievers return from last year’s team, which is unusual in collegiate athletics. So the new coaching and operations staff needed to get to know and understand the players. 

Acting athletics director Jessica Hammond-Graf has noticed Hayes working hard to connect with the student-athletes, not always an easy task for a new coach. 

“She’s spending a lot of time with them outside of practice to get to know them…to help them grow,” Hammond-Graf said. “It’s not just about basketball with her. It’s the larger picture and helping everybody grow and develop and become future leaders. She had to come in and recruit the players that are already here.”

Senior guard Tyler Moore said there’s no question that Hayes is driving this team and trying to adjust their outlooks on basketball and other things. Moore said the Retrievers definitely appreciate it. 

“I think I can speak for my team in saying that we love how she pushes us to be better than we were the day before,” Moore said. “Standards are high and we have no choice but to rise to them.”

Hayes said her biggest change involved the move from Texas and getting her two young daughters (ages 7 and 4) situated. Now, they often come to where their mother works and are growing comfortable as Retrievers. 

So, the new coach, staff and players all have spent the off-season working on changing the way they play and the culture around the team. Hayes wants the student-athletes to understand and deal with change in basketball and life—after all, the games don’t go on forever.

“You’re going to get a new boss,” Hayes said. “Things will change. How do you adjust? How do you adapt? Change is good. It may not feel good at first, [but] it can be [later on].”

– Jeff Seidel ’85

***

All photos, including header, by Marlayna Demond ’11.

In this first year of Baltimore’s mash-up of eclectic and electric art festival Light City and the annual book festival—a hybrid called Brilliant Baltimore—UMBC shone brightly.

Several UMBC authors took to the stage, including our very own President Freeman Hrabowski, to promote the launch of his newest book. The Empowered University, co-authored with Provost Philip Rous and Peter Henderson, details how the UMBC community has come together to tackle some of higher education’s most intractable challenges and become a national model for inclusive excellence along the way.

Another literary panel included the editors of Baltimore Revisited: Stories of Inequality and Resistance in a U.S. City, a book of essays that reflects Baltimore’s complex history and efforts to address the city’s pervasive inequalities. In a panel with the editors—Nicole King, associate professor and chair of the Department of American Studies; Kate Drabinksi, lecturer in Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies; along with Joshua Clark Davis, an assistant professor of history at the University of Baltimore—discussion ranged from community health, to the history of development, and protests throughout the years.

Other UMBC light and literary work was on display at the SPARK Gallery. Curated by UMBC’s Catherine Borg, a Baltimore artist tracing shifting narratives in American culture in photo and video based artworks and installations, the exhibit featured UMBC and Towson artists. A luminous, surreal puppet show, several musical scores, animated short films, and more populated this creative space that encouraged participants to interact with the installations.

Additional UMBC events included a conversation with artists and writers who’ve collaborated with each other in the past 10 years of The Light Ekphrastic (TLE), a zine published by UMBC Magazine‘s own editor, Jenny O’Grady. Co-hosted with Timothy Nohe, professor visual arts at UMBC, the group discussed the method of responding to existing art to create something new, which is the mission of TLE.

Discussion with Hrabowski about his newest book

Baltimore Revisited panel

SPARK Gallery reception and performances

The Light Ekphrastic panel

Brilliant Baltimore

****

All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11.

The plan began percolating in early 2017, when UMBC entrepreneurship professor Gib Mason ՚95, economics, presented a challenge to his Innovation, Creative Problem-Solving, and the Socialpreneur class. Local business and community groups had asked UMBC for ideas on how to better connect the University and its surrounding communities. That class assignment evolved into a student-led enterprise that could benefit UMBC and its neighbors for years to come. 

After more than two years of planning, construction, relationship-building, and first-hand experience with the ups and downs of starting a business from scratch, the project has become a reality. The doors of OCA Mocha—a coffee shop and community gathering space in downtown Arbutus—opened at 6 a.m. on November 4, 2019. More than 100 students, UMBC faculty and staff, and members of the community attended a grand opening celebration that afternoon.

From class project to brick and mortar business

Student co-founder and recent UMBC alumna Krishna Gohel ՚18, biological sciences, called the grand opening “a dream come true.” When the project began in the spring of 2017, she and her classmates “knew UMBC needed something…and that the surrounding communities needed something…[and] we realized that [we] needed the same thing: unity.”

Gohel called OCA Mocha “the missing piece of the puzzle,” a sentiment expressed repeatedly during the grand opening festivities.

Michael Berardi ՚19, media and communication studies, student co-founder and current OCA Mocha general manager, noted that “dozens of minds” helped conceive of OCA Mocha “and hundreds of hands have touched this project.” He reflected, “It’s truly been incredible.” 

Berardi and other speakers told the assembled crowd about OCA Mocha’s roots as a place where members of the UMBC and local communities could gather. This new space is now a hub for them to connect with and learn from each other, enjoy some coffee, and attend university- and community-sponsored events. It all centers around the unique core vision for OCA Mocha—creating a university-community relations effort located not on campus, but in the community.

Locally made

The OCA Mocha team worked to refine its business plan and to transform commercial space that the University leased on East Drive in Arbutus. What began as an empty shell full of potential became a warm, welcoming space with a coffee bar, a community meeting room, and a stage for live music, open mic nights, and other entertainment. The space also includes a gallery for rotating art exhibits by members of the UMBC and local communities.

Renovations began in March 2019, with Joe Regier, executive director of UMBC Transit and community connections, serving as UMBC’s on-site lead and liaison with the construction crew. The team sought to support the community by using local contractors and vendors whenever possible. 

The wooden detailing on the coffee bar was created by craftsmen Michael McAuliffe and Bill Carter ՚98, interdisciplinary studies. Like so many others in the community, they donated their time and talents to the project. OCA Mocha partnered with Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company as its sole coffee supplier because of the company’s commitment to giving back to its local community and to supporting efforts to preserve the Chesapeake Bay.

Where coffee meets community

OCA Mocha’s tagline, “Where coffee meets community,” speaks volumes. Bettina Tebo, president of the Greater Arbutus Business Association, is one of the project’s earliest supporters. At the grand opening event, she called OCA Mocha “just the beginning of the amazing things that can happen from this relationship…and from the connections that we’re building.”

Vrinda Deshpande ՚20, biological sciences, UMBC Student Government Association (SGA) president, said OCA Mocha is “a very special place to be”—an example of the “power that [students] have to make change.” SGA has provided funding for the project and plans to use the community meeting room for meetings and programming.

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski told the crowd, “I don’t know when I’ve seen this kind of excitement.” He noted, “we believe in southwestern Baltimore County,” calling OCA Mocha “another step in building the partnership we’ve had for 50 years.”

Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski, Ph.D. ՚17, public policy, presented the OCA Mocha team with a citation that reads, in part, “Your determination in creating a place where the community of Arbutus can repose and meet while further advancing the overall aesthetic of the community is greatly commendable.”

The team also received a resolution from the Baltimore County Council, presented by staff for Councilman Tom Quirk, “extend[ing] its respect, admiration, and sincere congratulations to OCA Mocha upon their grand opening.” Maryland General Assembly District 12 Senator Clarence Lam and Delegates Terri Hill and Jessica Feldmark, and District 44B Delegate Pat Young, also attended the celebration.

Wrapping up the formal program, student co-founder Deep Patel ՚19, biological sciences and financial economics, who is now a co-owner of the private investment group that runs the coffee shop, led a ceremonial ribbon-cutting featuring members of the OCA Mocha team, UMBC and community leaders, and public officials.

The day of firsts continued into the evening as the SGA Senate convened its weekly meeting in the community meeting room.

Patrons viewed the inaugural OCA Mocha gallery exhibit, featuring artwork by students from nearby Lansdowne High School and students who participated in the UMBC Choice Program’s “Youth in Action” event. 

As the baristas, many of whom are UMBC students, continued to serve patrons, the OCA Mocha stage featured its first live act, local musician Jeremy Gilless. He was followed onto the stage by Matt Davenport ՚18, music technology; Tyler Moonlight; and Sushito, featuring Fayo Ojo ՚20, computer science, and led by OCA Mocha student co-founder Chris Roa ՚19, interdisciplinary studies.

OCA Mocha is open daily. For information on hours, events, and how to reserve the community meeting room, visit OCA Mocha’s website.

With Dan Eiskant ’19, media and communication studies

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a singlebound! It’s…a Mama’s Boy? 

Most of us are guilty of saying “I could do that” while watching feats of strength on TV from the comfort of the couch (possibly with a snack in hand). But Dan Eiskant ’19, media and communication studies, took the challenge head-on and started his journey to become the next American Ninja Warrior. 

American Ninja Warrior is a competition where athletes race against the clock to conquer various obstacles. At each qualifying stage, the playing field is whittled down and competitors (often with larger-than-life personas) advance as they complete increasingly grueling courses. The pinnacle for any American Ninja Warrior is making it the final stage—a rope climb. But this is not your gym class rope climb. Competitors must claw their way to the top of a 75-foot rope within 30 seconds to take home the cash prize and bragging rights. So how do you even begin to train for something like this? We decided to ask the expert. 

Tools of the Trade
    
    1. Determination and humility 
    2. Several gym memberships
    3. Ability to rest
    4. Vocal fans to cheer you on
    5. Camera to capture these gravity-defying feats 
    
    
 

Step 1 – Find someone who will catch you when you fall

Even though American Ninja Warrior is a solo competition, it’s impossible to do well without support from the sidelines. “It’s important to surround yourself with friends who will encourage you and push you to be your very best,” says Eiskant, whose entourage includes some pint-sized fans and  campus crooners. 

Eiskant works at a local Ninja gym teaching school-aged kids the ropes…and jumps…and climbs. “When I came back after the episode aired, I had a bunch of my students coming up saying they watched me on TV and they were so excited,” he says. “I love helping them develop these techniques early on because they’re good at it! They have no fear.” 

In addition to this legion of little fans, Eiskant relies heavily the friends he made as part of UMBC’s all-male a capella group, the Mama’s Boys. On air, the group joined Eiskant at the starting line, sending him off with their own rendition of “Danny Boy.”

“I actually had stage fright before I joined the group and they helped me get over that, so getting to sing with them like we normally do, but at the starting line of the qualifiers, just helped me get rid of all of my nerves,” says Eiskant.

Step 2 – Make the world your jungle gym

A lot of hard work goes a little way when it comes to training for American Ninja Warrior. Eiskant is in the gym up to six days a week training and the end result is running a course that sometimes is the length of a commercial break. But you still have to give it your all to get there, and that means thinking outside the box for fitness.

“More so than grip strength and finger strength, it’s a mental game,” explains Eiskant. “Rock climbing provides a lot of real-time problem solving skills that you don’t get in other workouts. It helps when you’re tackling a course you’re not familiar with.”

Since competitors don’t see the course until they get to qualifying, Eiskant suggests that ANW-hopefuls check out different gyms, pursue other athletic hobbies, and familiarize themselves with various challenges to improve their odds on the ever-changing course. 

Step 3 – Sing for your supper

Now that you have the skills to run up a nearly vertical Warped Wall and propel your body up a Salmon Ladder, what do you do with them? Time to put it all in action and apply for American Ninja Warrior. 

Eiskant has been a fan of the show since he was 15, but the rules require all contestants to be a certain age. He took his cues and started working out with an eye toward landing on a spot. He started rock climbing with a group and, once he turned 21, he felt like he was ready to compete. 

It’s a highly selective process to be chosen to run on American Ninja Warrior. All hopefuls have to fill out an extensive questionnaire and submit a video showing their personality and what sets them apart. Eiskant kept it in the family and leaned on the Mama’s Boys to help out. 

“I focused on my music and singing and being part of the Mama’s Boys. You have to be interesting and engaging and be sure you have a story to tell.”

Step 4 – Don’t let the odds deter you

Anyone applying for American Ninja Warrior has to be prepared for failure. Only a handful of athletes advance each during the final stage and only two have walked away with the million dollar prize. 

Eiskant was one of the lucky ones selected the very first year he submitted in 2018 to run in Philadelphia. Even though he was eliminated, he tried out again and had his run featured in our own Baltimore backyard in 2019. He advanced to city finals and fell short but hasn’t let that discourage him.

“Watching everyone compete, you realize this person is no better than me just because they can do that. Anything can happen, you just have to keep pushing at it,” he reflects.

The Ninja community is a supportive one and Eiskant emphasizes that, even though it’s a competition, “it’s more like a family environment. Everyone is just helping each other be better versions of themselves.”

In fact, Eiskant has been so encouraging and determined, he’s even inspired someone very close to him to try out next year—his dad. 

*****

If you missed it, catch Dan’s episode online now or check out the teaser clip below!

https://www.facebook.com/umbcpage/videos/447351479163646/

All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

UMBC’s Aaron Smith is now thinking “bigger picture” about how his lab’s research can support human health at the molecular level thanks to $1.5 million in new research funding. 

Smith, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, focuses on how biological systems take up and process iron. Last winter he received a significant grant for research on developing new antibiotic targets. Now, he’s earned a prestigious $500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award and $1 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the NIH. The work he and his students are doing is at the molecular level, but it has implications for everything from cardiovascular disease to embryonic development.

Opening the molecular toolbox

Smith’s bioinorganic chemistry lab works to understand how metals function in biological systems, with a particular focus on iron. While it may be strange to think about metals functioning in our bodies, they are critical. “For biological systems to expand the types of chemistry that they can do, they need metal ions,” Smith says. “Metals open up the toolbox for the protein to be able to accomplish so much more.” 

The NSF and NIH funding will allow Smith’s lab to increase understanding of how iron is involved in adding molecules to proteins after they are made. This process is known as post-translational modification. 

“Post-translational modifications are incredibly important,” Smith says. Even the most complex organisms don’t have more than a few tens of thousands of genes that provide instructions for unique proteins, but proteins perform many times that many functions in the body. Post-translational modification “really diversifies the number of functions that proteins can serve,” Smith says. 

Smith’s lab is studying a specific post-translational modification called arginylation. An enzyme known as ATE1 carries out arginylation, by attaching the amino acid arginine to proteins. Then, “the arginine functions as a molecular flag that says, ‘I should be degraded,’” Smith explains. The ability to break down the right proteins, and then use their building blocks to rebuild other cellular materials, is crucial for the healthy functioning of our bodies over time.

“ATE1 is very impactful, but we don’t know a lot about how it does what it does,” Smith says. Even the structure of ATE1 is unknown, as well as the mechanism by which it adds arginine to proteins. Smith says his lab has an idea, “but my guess is it’s going to be much more complex when we figure this out.”

Smith’s research niche: the atomic level

Research on arginylation is increasing rapidly, and Smith believes his lab has a particular role to play. Most labs are looking at arginylation at the cellular level and up, asking questions like how it affects different processes in a cell or even an entire organism. But Smith is taking things to another level by studying the atomic structure of individual ATE1 enzymes and the proteins they interact with. 

“We think that we fit in very nicely in this research space,” Smith says, “We’re filling a niche that remains really uncovered at this point.”

Smith’s group is looking at how ATE1 is regulated, such as how it knows which proteins to add arginine to or how it responds to changes in the cell. They’ve already gotten some promising results related to iron’s role in regulating ATE1. And they’re getting close to revealing the enzyme’s complete molecular structure, which would provide big clues into how it works. The NIH and NSF funding will help answer these questions.

Once the structure and mechanism are in hand, it will be time to explore applications. For example, “Could we think about then making this protein a target for therapeutic development?” Smith asks. “Given how important it is in these various cellular processes, if we understood better the structure and the mechanism, we could think about ways to develop small molecules that could help with diseases associated with arginylation.”

Representation in research

In addition to aiding the progress of his research, Smith is excited that both grants will allow him to expose more students to bioinorganic chemistry. His CAREER Award proposal “has an additional education component that’s about specifically trying to leverage the diversity efforts already going on here at UMBC, and to help increase diversity in bioinorganic chemistry.”

To that end, Smith will introduce all of the first-year chemistry courses at UMBC to bioinorganic chemistry. He’s also developing a new upper-level elective on bioinorganic chemistry. Smith hopes that by taking the course, students may then “consider going into a research career for a field that they didn’t even know existed, that helps tackle some of the most important chemical transformations on the planet.”

“I’m proud to think that my lab reflects the diversity that we see on UMBC’s campus, and I’m happy to continue moving forward with that,” Smith shares. “It’s important to have a lab that reflects this university and the country, to benefit from a broad range of perspectives and to train the researchers of tomorrow.”

This new funding will significantly expand the opportunities available to Smith and his students, and it’s reshaping how they think about the work. Having strong funding “affords you the ability to imagine more,” he says, “to think bigger picture about different avenues you might pursue.” Now, Smith and his students will be dreaming big as they steward this new research funding to better understand arginylation, metal transport, and their roles in human health.

Banner image: Aaron Smith works with his students in the lab. From left to right: graduate students Alexandrea Sestok, Verna Van, and Nathan Max. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

What is the future of W.E.B. Du Bois? Nimi Wariboko, the featured speaker at UMBC’s 41st annual W.E.B. Du Bois lecture, aims to address this question. “I want to bring Du Bois’s rich and complex concept of consciousness to the study of citizenship and epistemology in Africa,” says Wariboko, the Water G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics in the School of Theology and chair of the philosophy, theology, and ethics department at Boston University.

The lecture bridges generations who may not be familiar with Du Bois’s work with scholars whose research is significantly influenced by him. “W.E.B. Du Bois’s foundational work on black consciousness, citizenship, and racial inequality is as relevant today as it was in 1903,” shares Maleda Belilgne, assistant professor of Africana studies and English. “The future of Du Bois is the striving for a global order that recognizes the intrinsic value and unlimited potential of every black life.”

The 41st W.E.B. Du Bois lecture will take place on November 13, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., in UMBC’s University Center Ballroom. Find out more about the lecture, organized by the Africana studies department, at the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

Banner image: W. E. B. Du Bois. Photo from creative commons.