Picture the most advanced technology and certain qualities probably spring to mind: maybe metallic and sleek, with glowing lights and big digital screens. 

The researchers at the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) at UMBC, however, have a different adjective they aim for when designing tech: dirt cheap.

For these scientists and engineers, inexpensive doesn’t mean low-quality—it means challenging traditional ways of thinking to produce affordable and reliable products that meet vital needs. Toward this end, a CAST research team recently debuted a new environmental sensor made out of simple balsa wood sheets—the kind you could buy at a craft store for a few dollars. The wood was cut and assembled to make a central well to hold samples and channels for the electrochemical components of the sensor to be inserted. The researchers coated the wood to make it waterproof and stuck it together with wood glue. 

Inexpensive and sustainable

Choosing wood served two purposes: making the sensor low-cost and also environmentally friendly. 

“Sustainability was very important to us,” says Revati Kadolkar, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering who is working on the project. Kadolkar is advised by professors Govind Rao, who directs CAST, and Douglas Frey in the department of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering (CBEE). “Using wood instead of plastic for the structural skeleton of the sensor was a key step toward that sustainability,” she says.

In collaboration with another UMBC team from the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education led by CBEE professor Claire Welty, the CAST team tested the sensor in the field by measuring nitrate levels in streams in the Gwynns Falls watershed near Baltimore. Nitrate is a pollutant, often linked to agricultural activities, that can cause gut cancer, birth defects and a condition called methemoglobinemia, also known as the blue baby syndrome. Its concentration in tap water in the U.S. is regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The accuracy of the sensor’s readings was on par with traditional equipment that cost hundreds of times more money, the researchers say. 

Testing in the lab, the team also found the sensor worked well across a range of conditions, including wide variations in temperature and pH levels, and continued to operate well for more than a year. 

A more comprehensive view of the world

Driving down the cost of technology should drive up its impact. Cheaper sensors could be deployed in higher numbers, yielding a more comprehensive view of the world and spotting potential problems earlier. 

“Let’s say you want to map the whole Chesapeake Bay and know every hour if there is contamination and how it is traveling down the bay,” says Venkatesh Srinivasan, a research associate professor at CAST who also worked on the project. “You can get these details more easily if you have lower-cost sensors.”

Spreading the benefits of science and technology to resource-limited communities has been a driving force behind CAST research for decades. The team has also developed low-cost infant incubators and a suitcase-sized device to make medicine on-demand. 

For now, the sensor operates by analyzing droplets of water added to its central well. Going forward, the team would like to create a sensor that could be submerged in the water and report continuous measurements.  

They are already working with the Maryland company NanoForge Systems to commercialize the new nitrate sensor. 

“Translating science into innovative products that can help people is what really excites me about this work,” Kadolkar says.

Pete Fitzpatrick ’96 completed his paramedic training in a speeding ambulance in West Baltimore over 30 years ago. It wasn’t the career he had envisioned, but after a friend gave him a textbook for an elective Emergency Medical Technician class, he switched his major to emergency and disaster health systems. “I kind of fell in love with it. As a kid, I never saw it as a profession for me,” says Fitzpatrick. “There are no firefighters or paramedics in my family.”

His ability to communicate clearly and calmly under pressure, foresee medical or technical issues, and notice the tiniest details led him to return to school for nursing. He first worked in an adult neuroscience unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital before returning to ambulance and helicopter transport, including pediatric transport. 

Fitzpatrick has spent the last 12 years at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. As a transport team shift coordinator, he meets the needs and addresses the challenges of flight crews, medics, receiving hospitals, and families before, during, and after helicopter or ambulance transport. “I remember my surprise the first time somebody referred to me as a pediatric nurse,” says Fitzpatrick. “I guess I am.”

Addressing the opioid crisis

In light of Fitzpatrick’s background and relevant training, in May 2025, he was appointed as one of 12 members on Maryland’s Opioid Restitution Fund Advisory Council. Established in 2022, the council makes recommendations for the allocation of financial settlements from prescription opioid-related lawsuits to help fund programs and initiatives that address the opioid crisis. Fitzpatrick, who is married to Kim Fitzpatrick and father of Sam, Mikey, and Danny, a first-year chemical and environmental engineering student, serves as the council member representing those who have lost a family member to an opioid overdose.

“It’s really a sad story. My oldest child, Sam, died of a fentanyl overdose in May of 2020. He was 22,” says Fitzpatrick. Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid used in hospitals to treat severe and chronic pain from cancer and surgery. The Maryland Department of Health reported that between September 2024 and August 2025, there were 631 opioid-related deaths in Baltimore City and County combined, 575 of which were fentanyl-related deaths.

“I tell my colleagues, in emergency pediatric transport, we deal with children in sometimes very tragic circumstances,” says Fitzpatrick. “I say to them, ‘When you lose a child in transport, there’s only one thing you can do—you have to go and try to save the next one.'” 

Broadening access to life-saving treatment

Coming from an emergency medical services (EMS) system approach, Fitzpatrick hopes the opioid crisis will be solved through similar measures. “The 1973 EMS Systems Act came about because of the rise in deaths due to a lack of emergency care,” he says. “The act created grants and programs to fund EMS training, equipment, and infrastructure.” UMBC established its emergency health services (EHS) baccalaureate program in 1980 to develop highly skilled emergency healthcare leaders, managers, and providers. In 1984, UMBC launched the first EHS graduate program in the U.S., and it remains a national leader in EMS education. Both programs are now part of UMBC’s emergency and disaster health systems department.

Broadening access to life-saving treatment for opioid use disorder is always on Fitzpatrick’s mind. Having access to good healthcare, a supportive family, education, and intervention resources helps, but he notes that not all families have that. For example, there were times when Sam was in crisis, and the family needed access to the police department. 

“Baltimore County has a great crisis response,” Fitzpatrick says, “but what if we had not felt comfortable accessing the police department when we needed that help?” He now serves on the Police Accountability Board for Baltimore County to help strengthen the relationship between police and the community and fundraises for the American Society for Addiction Medicine.

“Sam had a lot of things going for him, and it still didn’t work. That’s sad. There’s only one thing I can do at this point,” says Fitzpatrick, “and that’s to try to make a difference.”

Learn more about UMBC’s Department of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems.

In the crisp autumn air, Jackie King laces up her running shoes, her white cane—affectionately named Amigo—tucked nearby. The UMBC alumna is training for the New York City Marathon. The effort underscores a life shaped by triumphs and relationships, rather than her gradual loss of sight.

After years of misdiagnosis, in 2017, King finally learned she had retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition causing progressive vision loss. Today, King is legally blind—and yet she radiates resilience and positivity. “I have chosen this,” she says firmly. “I could choose to be like, ‘Oh man, this sucks,’ every day, all day. But I’ve chosen not to.”

In her early 20s, King built a graphic design business in Baltimore, mixing paints and hand-lettering signs when she could still see clearly. But by age 30, dark flecks were regularly drifting across her field of vision, making night driving and dim spaces like movie theaters challenging. 

As her vision faltered, a recurring dream of a college campus spurred her to enroll at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) as an art history major, but she shifted to psychology after a professor’s nudge. “I fell in love,” she recalls. “Studying behaviors and people—it seemed so natural.” King arrived at UMBC in 2002 as a Ph.D. student in human services psychology.

The vision to see others’ potential

King’s dissertation evaluated Baltimore’s Sisters Circle mentoring program for middle and high school girls, revealing that unstructured, long-term relationships boosted self-esteem and academic drive—and the benefits often extended to mentees’ families. Earning her Ph.D. in 2009, King joined UMBC as assistant director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, and today she is the associate director of the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE), which replaced MARC. In that role, she applies her research, guiding hundreds of students through graduate school applications and academic and personal challenges.

“I often see so much more in them than they see in themselves,” King says. “Seeing their potential is my gift—and then I get to let them in on the secret.” Sharing her own struggles with students builds trust, modeling that seeking help is a strength. 

Phyllis Robinson, U-RISE director and a professor of biological sciences, praises King as “the linchpin that makes the program run smoothly.” Robinson supports King’s pursuits on and off the road, admiring her “compassionate and caring approach” amid her vision challenges.

Adapting hasn’t been easy for King, though. She hasn’t driven in a decade, and reading text on paper is now impossible. Adopting the cane 18 months ago, she admits, was “the hardest hurdle.” Yet she reframes her loss: “I would not be as compassionate or empathetic without this journey. It could have been otherwise—but the fact that it isn’t? I’m making the best of it.”

A healthy mix of challenge and community

Running anchored King. At age 45, she trained on UMBC’s 1.8-mile loop for her first marathon. She ran the Baltimore race with Team in Training, fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As running alone grew riskier, she was thrilled when Achilles International, a nonprofit that supports athletes with disabilities, launched a Baltimore chapter in April 2024. Now, 15 to 30 athletes—visually impaired, neurodivergent, amputees, stroke survivors, and more—and their volunteer guides gather each Saturday in Patterson Park to train. 

“I came for the challenge; I’ve stayed for the community,” King says. “No one’s judging your pace—6 minutes or 17. There’s a place for you with Achilles.”

After seeing how much the organization has meant to her mom, King’s daughter, Demerise King, is fundraising for Achilles International as she also trains for NYC this fall. “I’ve watched my mom navigate her vision loss for as long as I can remember,” she shares. “She’s given me a gift by illustrating what it looks like to push past obstacles. Knowing that she is safe while running with the Achilles community gives me a sense of peace.”

King’s forthcoming memoir reflects her reluctant embrace of her condition. “I did not want to be here, but I am,” she says. As King tapers for NYC, she takes a spiritual approach to her situation, affirming that “I’m  preparing for what’s been prepared for me.” As her vision dims, she runs with an illuminated heart, lighting the path for hundreds of UMBC students and others along the way.

Learn more about UMBC’s Ph.D. program in human services psychology.

The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences is home to high-tech scientific instrumentation alongside traditional infrastructure like water pipes and HVAC systems, all of which UMBC researchers and students rely on. That equipment also requires regular maintenance and occasional upgrades, and it’s the often-invisible work of UMBC’s skilled and experienced building managers that keeps things humming. Four CNMS building managers welcomed us into their world, sharing everything from what it takes to succeed in their roles to the hidden gems found in their buildings.

Meet the building managers:

• Erik Crowe, Physics Building
• Dennis Cuddy, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building
• Brian Moravec, Meyerhoff Chemistry Building
• Sam Williams, Biological Sciences Building and Schwartz Hall

Erik Crowe
Building Manager, Physics Building

Erik Crowe brought five years of hands-on expertise as a laboratory specialist in the UMBC physics department and prior experience at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to his current role as physics department building manager, which he assumed in 2019. Today he supports faculty, staff, and students in physics—including the Earth and Space Institute and Quantum Science Institute—overseeing everything from HVAC systems to lab renovations. Crowe thrives on the blend of technical innovation, educational support, and collaborative spirit he gets to practice in his role.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I appreciate that every day presents new challenges to problem-solve and support occupants of the Physics Building. My position allows me to leverage my technical background in facilities management and in educating students, staff, and faculty about prototyping and precision machine operations in the machine shop. I also appreciate my collaboration with my colleagues. We have a wonderful staff team in physics, and I couldn’t be successful in my position without their support. The faculty, staff, and students are always finding new ways to push me to expand my skill set.

Q: What brought you to UMBC? 

A: I started my career as a process engineer developing and fabricating cryogenic detectors, devices that use ultra-low temperatures to very sensitively detect particles, for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I thoroughly enjoyed the work, but working in a cleanroom is grueling, and I was looking for something new. Encouraged by my former college advisor, I applied for the lab specialist position at UMBC and was hired in December 2014. It was the change that I needed. I have grown both professionally and personally over the last decade, hitting career goals and growing my family. 

Q: What are some of your proudest moments?

A: I am particularly proud of collaborating with the structural maintenance department in facilities management (FM) to renovate approximately 40 spaces in the building over the course of a year and a half. These included research labs, office spaces, and our graduate student wing. It is a tremendous amount of work to plan, organize, and facilitate a project of that size, but we were able to do it with minimal interruption and impact to the building occupants.

I am also proud of the ongoing work to improve the HVAC system within the Physics Building. Over the last decade, we’ve gathered data and addressed the underlying issues, so completing the HVAC study last year was a huge milestone for me. We have a lot of work left to do, but we are moving in the right direction every day.

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: It takes large doses of patience, persistence, organization, and communication skills to be a successful building manager. You have to prioritize different issues that arise on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. There are emergencies where a building system might go down or malfunction. In those situations, you have to stay calm, gather data, run through your contact list, formulate a plan, communicate the impact, and follow up to make sure all aspects of an issue are addressed. You also have to be prepared to pivot when things don’t go smoothly. 

I submit work orders every day to keep the building running. There are small maintenance and renovation projects where I meet with the FM shops to discuss our approach, there are large-scale projects that can significantly impact occupants and their academic and research activities, and everything in between. My day is never the same and the requests I receive ebb and flow. 

Q: What are some of your favorite spaces or hidden gems in the building?

A: The machine shop is my favorite space in the building. Over the last decade, I have built the shop to match the department’s needs. I am proud of the resource it has become and my interactions with students, staff, and faculty to help them develop their technical skills. I am excited about the future of the space, and how we can continue to grow its capabilities and educational programming. It’s a lean facility, but it packs a punch.

Not all of our research activities are performed inside the building. We installed a dedicated research platform on the roof in 2018, which gathers data for atmospheric physics and astrophysics research. But the roof doesn’t just house equipment—it also provides some of the best views on campus of the Baltimore skyline.

Dennis Cuddy
Senior Facilities Manager, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building and beyond

Dennis Cuddy, administrator of the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) and senior facilities manager in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, is in his 26th year at UMBC and his sixth in his current role. Cuddy’s career exemplifies innovative problem-solving and dedication to UMBC’s scientific ecosystem, from orchestrating the renovation of the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building to managing dozens of classrooms, labs, and core facilities that support hundreds of students and researchers. 

Q: What do you appreciate about your role?

A: UMBC has allowed me to use my strengths in organization, scheduling, and operations while exposing me to skills like web development, event planning, and major construction operations—above and beyond what I could offer when I was hired. Now, I handle building operations across colleges and consult for administrative departments I’ve worked with over the years. It’s fulfilling to be asked your opinion about how things can run better.

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: I answered an ad in the Baltimore Sun for a chemist, which listed managerial duties similar to what I was doing at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. I still have the ad somewhere at home.

Q: What are some of your proudest moments? 

A: I oversaw the renovation of the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building from 2002 to 2005. When we needed additional funds to finish the project, I wrote a construction grant to the National Center for Research Resources that was awarded. Being tasked with reporting the research activities going on in the renovated space for 20 years after the fact was the price I paid, but it was worth it. 

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: It takes patience, good communication, organization, and being proactive when needed (and knowing when that is). You have to be a representative of the university and a good steward of state-appropriated funds. Helping colleagues when needed is essential, because even buildings with dedicated facility managers often lack backups.

Q: What are some of your favorite spaces or surprising facts about the building?

A: The lobby by the third floor elevators is pretty amazing, with the green roof and double helix staircase to the fourth floor, but I find that sitting in the main lobby, anonymously taking in the beauty of the space and the energy of the students, is the most rewarding. Most people don’t know that the ILSB sits on a redirected creek bed, and even during the driest times, the water table is only eight feet beneath the basement floor. 

Brian Moravec
Building Manager, Meyerhoff Chemistry Building

Brian Moravec honed his skills through two decades in USDA molecular biology labs. For the last six years, he has ensured that research and teaching go smoothly in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building as its building manager. Moravec coordinates repairs and maintenance, manages inventories, and supervises the department’s glassblower and teaching lab manager—turning potential disruptions into opportunities for safety and efficiency.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I like that my responsibilities change from day to day. One day I may spend most of my time in the office completing administrative tasks, and the next day I might respond to an urgent water leak. I also like that my colleagues in the department, college, and facilities management all have the same goal: Keep things running safely and smoothly to serve our community’s education and research needs.

Q: What brought you to UMBC? 

A: I worked in a molecular biology lab at the USDA in Beltsville, Maryland for 20 years. Near the end of that time, I was able to take temporary work as a facility operations specialist at the National Agricultural Library and the National Arboretum. These temporary jobs boosted my interest in the field of building management and operations. When I saw an opening at UMBC in a STEM field, I decided to make a switch.

Q: What are some of your proudest moments?

A: I am proud of the water damage mitigation I helped with during the 2022 Christmas flood. Our building was damaged, but we didn’t lose any scientific equipment because I had prepared some items in advance, just in case we needed to divert water around million-dollar instruments. I am also proud of the safety record in both the teaching and research labs in the building. Our building can be dangerous, with flammable and toxic materials, but the safety training and equipment we provide helps keep what can be a dangerous place very safe.

Q: What is something you want people to know about the building or your role?

A: People should know that sometimes the building smells—it’s old! There are a lot of different chemicals in use, but a strange odor by itself is not dangerous. Also, I consider myself a problem solver. People come to me with all sorts of difficulties and issues. I may not be able to fix them all, but I can almost certainly find someone that can help.

Sam Williams ’99
Building Manager, Biological Sciences Building and Schwartz Hall

Sam Williams ’99, history, has dedicated 24 years to UMBC, serving the last 11 as building manager for the Biological Sciences Building after 13 years as assistant athletics director for facilities and operations. His role spans routine maintenance, crisis response, vendor coordination, budget oversight, and safety compliance.

Q: What do you enjoy about your role?

A: I appreciate the fact that no day is ever the same. I feel like we have a great department, from the students to the faculty and staff, which makes coming to work a lot easier. 

Q: What are some of your proudest moments? 

A: I’ve been a part of two major events: COVID and the great flood in December of 2022. Both of these events brought their own set of challenges. However, the biggest goal for both was making sure that research continued and building occupants were able to work in a safe environment. I have a lot of memories from both.

Q: What does it take to be a successful building manager?

A: I feel like you need patience and the ability to adapt. Things can change by the minute, so being prepared and prioritizing is an essential skill. I would also say that problem-solving is one of the best skills I’ve learned. Having a good working relationship with building occupants and FM makes my life a lot easier, too.