UMBC has been awarded $1 million in grants from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to support students with financial need who intend to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The Foundation lauded UMBC’s demonstrated record of advancing the success of underrepresented students in STEM. UMBC is the country’s #1 producer of Black undergraduates who go on to earn doctorates in the life sciences and math and computer sciences combined, and also the nation’s leading producer of Black undergraduates who go on to earn the combined M.D.-Ph.D. (physician scientists).

UMBC has one of the country’s most diverse undergraduate communities, with more than 60 percent of its students being from minority groups. UMBC has been at the forefront of efforts to increase diversity and student success in STEM, particularly through the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which supports undergraduate students of all backgrounds who plan to pursue doctoral study in the sciences or engineering and who are interested in the advancement of minorities in those fields. The program has served as a national model that has been replicated by several other institutions. 

“The Meyerhoff Scholars Program is one example of how UMBC has long worked to redefine excellence in higher education,” says UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby. “We are deeply grateful for the partnership of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and its support in the form of this new grant, which will allow us to touch even more lives and advance inclusive excellence in the State of Maryland and beyond.”

UMBC is one of only two research universities to receive the grants this year—the University of California, Merced is the other. 

“UC Merced and UMBC are models for our nation. Both schools have resolved to ensure that all students—especially students from underrepresented backgrounds—are set up to succeed from day one in rigorous STEM classes,” says Seppy Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “In advancement of our mission to help exceptional students reach their fullest potential, we are honored to support the work of these important institutions.”

At each university, the grants will provide $500,000 in current-use funding—to support over the next two academic years incoming and current students with financial need who intend to pursue STEM degrees—and $500,000 in endowed scholarship support for STEM undergraduates with financial need.

These grants are part of a $7 million commitment from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to support underrepresented student success in STEM fields. To date, the Foundation has granted $1 million to each of the following: Alabama A&M University (2021), Florida A&M University (2021), Morgan State University (2022), Norfolk State University (2021), and North Carolina A&T State University (2021).

Meet Xavier Smith, a senior computer engineering student who is heading to MIT next year to pursue his dreams of earning a Ph.D. and starting a biotech company. As a part of UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars Program, the U-RISE Scholars Program, and a number of other organizations on campus, he truly understands the meaning of community. Take it away, Xavier!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I am a senior studying computer engineering on the communications track. In fall of 2023, I will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I will be pursuing my Ph.D. in electrical engineering as a recipient of the MIT Presidential Fellowship supported from the Lemelson Foundation (Lemelson Minority Engineering Fellowship). 

I will be focusing on engineering magnetic nanoparticles for wireless neural stimulation with hopes of developing non-invasive therapeutic treatments for individuals diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. My future career goals are to start a biotechnology company that practically implements these therapeutic innovations in a translational manner, and my professional goals are to make biomedical technology more accessible and equitable for individuals from all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

Xavier Smith, ’23, M31, U-RISE Cohort 2

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: UMBC has many niche communities, and although it’s important to find the one that fits you, the university has a way of mixing those communities together in an energetic way that helps spark interesting conversations and life-long connections. Additionally, UMBC is hyper-focused on their students, which allows your voice to be heard on a larger scale.

Q: Tell us about someone in your community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: My father, Brian Smith, has inspired me as an black engineer and entrepreneur in STEM through the various companies he has owned that are either technologically-based or focus on exposing students to opportunities in science and engineering. His tenacity, optimism, work ethic, positive attitude, adaptability, and collective success of more than 25 years motivates me to push the boundaries of science and technology in my community, and to be just like him.

Q: Tell us what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.

A: What I love about UMBC’s computer engineering program is the overall focus of implementation and practicality of content. The faculty prepare students to tackle real-world problems from a plethora of perspectives not just from STEM. Separately, I am currently president of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) at UMBC, and I lead this organization with my stellar executive board of friends I made along the way in computer engineering. What I love about this organization is its versatility of impact as we focus on getting students of all majors and backgrounds excited about STEM, and exposed to real-world opportunities and applications of science and technology.

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which is a Ph.D. pipeline-program focused on preparing historically underrepresented students for higher education in academia and industry. I knew I wanted to earn a Ph.D., but I didn’t know why or in what specific field, and the Meyerhoff Program here at UMBC provided me with resources that helped me figure out the answer to those questions. As I took advantage of these opportunities to set my foundation in research, I joined the U-RISE Program here, which guided me on manifesting my desire to enter the world of biomedical science.

I got involved with organizations here such as the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Black Student Union (BSU), etc. and teaching opportunities as a teaching assistant and learning assistant in the computer engineering department. Overall, before I entered UMBC I had one perspective of what the university had to offer me, however, as I continued to explore, I began to see the multitude of opportunities that UMBC provides that can be encompassed into one word: community.

Q: What are some of the benefits of your involvement in student activities?

A: I am a student leader in many different contexts: the president of IEEE, a peer advisor in the Meyerhoff Program for incoming computer engineering students, and a research project leader in Dr. Ramana  Vinjamuri’s Brain Computer Interfaces lab. As president of IEEE, I get a chance to break the barriers of the club in terms of our impact, event sizes, and activities with my friends on the executive board. We have focused on creating a makerspace for students of all majors and backgrounds, giving them a physical place to be able to express themselves, explore their creative interests, or simply complete homework with friends.

As a peer advisor for the Meyerhoff Program, I have the opportunity of mentoring other students in the program interested in computer engineering. I serve not only as their go-to person for when they need help, but also as an advocate for them if they need support inside or outside the program.

Lastly, as a research project leader in Dr. Vinjamuri’s lab, I’m mentoring students on projects that focus on improving the lives of patients with physical and mental disparities by engineering novel myoelectric prosthetics, neuroprosthetics, recording devices, and robust decoding systems. I love being able to give direction and inspiration to the next generation of students in science through my efforts, especially to those who originate from historically underrepresented communities.

Q: What’s it like to be part of a scholars community at UMBC?

A: I am part of the Meyerhoff Scholars and U-RISE Scholars programs here at UMBC, and the main thing I enjoy about both programs is the overarching support that they provide me as I’m working toward reaching my academic, career, and professional goals. The resources that they routinely provide me are invaluable: mentoring, contacts, support groups, advising, and most importantly, communication. Not only have I found exactly what field of science I want to pursue and why, I have found my voice in STEM and the confidence to pursue my goals and dreams of making a lasting difference in the world because of both programs.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

When asked what kind of advice she has for first-year students as an alumna, Chinedu Onyedike Varma ’04, M12, interdisciplinary studies, has a simple answer: find your passion, get involved, and have fun – “as long as it’s safe,” she’s quick to add.

As a consulting psychiatrist at the UMBC Counseling Center, keeping students safe is a big part of her job, along with giving them the mental health support they need to have the best college experience possible.

Students seek out Counseling Center services for a whole range of concerns, whether they’re grappling with anxiety and depression, questioning aspects of their identity, or dealing with the myriad stresses that come from both college life and the daily news cycle. Last year, more than 1,000 individual students visited the center, according to its director, Bruce Herman.

“I think there’s starting to [be] better recognition of how important mental health is, but despite this, there’s still this huge stigma,” says Varma. To her, her role is not just to treat students, but to educate them on how to navigate their formative years.

Varma knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a doctor: “My mom was a nurse, and she often had her stethoscope, and I would play with it. That’s where I got the idea.” When she got to UMBC, she forwent the traditional pre-med route to design an INDS major in biomedical ethics, which she figured would set her apart from the crowd when application time came. Like many students do, she re-evaluated her career goals throughout her time at UMBC. After graduation, she returned to her home state of Virginia to serve a year with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, and became a certified mediator for family and small-claims court cases, which helped her hone her skills as a communicator.

At the end of her year of service, Varma enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she started out in internal medicine, but wound up enjoying her pediatrics rotation a lot better. It was a sub-internship in the pediatric HIV clinic, where she worked weekly with a psychiatrist who treated children facing unimaginable circumstances, that convinced her to go in another direction entirely.

“The patients would come in, and they were predominantly born with HIV. [They] would be depressed or anxious…like, ‘I’m not going to have a life, what’s the point, why did my mother do this to me…I’m not going to be able to get married, I’m not going to be able to have kids.’ And in that depressed state, in that anxious state, they were not really making the best decisions.”

For Varma, the experience was “heartbreaking and fascinating,” and spoke to her interest in public health, along with working with young people. She went on to earn an M.D./M.P.H. and complete an adult psychiatry residency at Hopkins before serving as chief resident in her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Cornell University.

In 2015, Varma returned to Baltimore to start a career in community mental health, working with youth in Baltimore City Public Schools and in juvenile detention centers. When she started looking for work that would allow her to spend more time with her newborn daughter, she came across a part-time position at the counseling center at another university in Maryland.

While some child and adolescent psychiatry fellowships offer clinical rotations at colleges, hers did not, and when she started her new position, surrounded by students and trainees, she fell in love with being on a campus again.

“I really like academics in general,” she says. “I enjoyed training at Hopkins, I enjoyed those university settings, and that was the pull for me. […] When I got there, I was like…this. Is. Awesome. This is so great. I want to do this all the time.”

Varma enjoyed the new job so much that she wrote to the counseling center at UMBC, asking if there were any open positions for a consulting doctor. Now, she works part of the week in a small, unassuming practicum office in the portable building across from Erickson Hall, dividing the rest of her time between two other colleges.

It’s an interesting time to be a mental health professional, no less a mental health professional in a university setting. At UMBC, many of Varma’s patients are international or immigrant students who face an uncertain future under the current presidential administration.

“For a lot of reasons, this is an emotionally trying time for a lot of people,” she says. “Especially on this campus, I have a greater appreciation for those students that are coming from other countries…[regarding] their concerns about ‘Where am I going to be next semester? Am I going to be allowed to be in this country?’” She has also met with several students concerned about their fellow Retrievers in light of the current political climate.

No matter their concerns, Varma wants students to know the Counseling Center is open to them all.

“Someone that’s struggling…wants to be able to know that there are treatments that work, there are people that can help, that the Counseling Center is there on campus and accessible,” she said. “Students are … incredibly grateful for the dedication and support that the counseling center staff provides…[and] being able to set them up for success is a big motivating factor for me.”

— Julia Celtnieks ’13

photos by Marlayna Demond ’11

In the weeks leading up to the Alumni Awards Ceremony, we’ll be profiling each honoree in more detail here on our blog. Today, meet Kafui Dzirasa ’01, M8, chemical engineering, associate professor at the Duke University School of Medicine and this year’s Outstanding Alumnus in Engineering and Information Technology.

As an associate professor of psychiatry, behavioral science, neurobiology, and neurosurgery at the Duke University School of Medicine, Kafui Dzirasa ’01, M8, chemical engineering, has dedicated his career to creating a kind of “pacemaker for the brain,” a device that can effectively rewire neurological signals in patients with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other illnesses. His research has earned him, among other accolades, the 2013 Sidney R. Baer Prize for Innovative and Promising Schizophrenia Research, as well as a 2016 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest award given to young scientists by the U.S. government. According to Dalton Hughes ’14, M21, chemical engineering, now an M.D./Ph.D. student working in Dzirasa’s lab at Duke, he is not only “a powerhouse in the fields of engineering, neuroscience, and medicine,” but a “phenomenal research mentor, captivating speaker, compassionate physician, and exceptional educator.”

“[Dr. Dzirasa’s] demonstrated commitment to UMBC and its students is truly special,” writes Keith Harmon, director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, “is truly special, and an inspiring example of a selfless spirit determined to ‘pay forward’ all that was poured into him at UMBC.”

Join us for the Alumni Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 5!

Dr. Dzirasa will also be giving a Grit-X Talk on Saturday, October 14…sign up to reserve your seat today!

Man has long envied the avian ability of flight. Wings offer the opportunity for flight, yes, but also for exploration and a different point of view. Now, three UMBC alumni are working to borrow that vantage point through the Robo Raven project at the University of Maryland, College Park. We spoke with Meyerhoff alumni Ariel Perez-Rosado ’11, M19, mechanical engineering; Luke Roberts ’12, M20, mechanical engineering; and Alex Holness ’13, M20, mechanical engineering, about their continued connection in graduate school and what it is like to work on this amazing micro air vehicle.

Q: Why did you decide to study robotics?

Ariel: I never really intended to study robotics. I was more interested in materials and structures. However, when I started at College Park, I started working with the wings of a small robotic bird. When it came time to run more experiments I had to rebuild the same robot from scratch. No one else was working on the small bird so I had to figure things out on my own. I slowly started learning what it takes to make a robotic bird. I really enjoyed the project and in order for the project to grow, design changes needed to be made. By the time it came to make Robo Raven I had learned enough robotics to know what we needed to do to make a successful flying robot.

Luke: I decided to study robotics because I wanted to be able to make complete systems that integrated concepts from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science and robotics utilizes each of those. I knew it would be challenging, and it definitely is, but I really enjoy what I am working on.

Alex: I have been fond of innovation and technology. Additionally, as cliché as it might be, I liked to build with Legos, K’nex, wooden blocks when I was a child. My parents encouraged and enabled me to explore my curiosities. I became a mechanical engineer because I liked to create things, understand processes and mechanisms, and applicable theoretical concepts. I ultimately decided to be robotics because I experienced a number of other subject topics at internships and didn’t find myself fond of them, and I am able to build things regularly. Robotics covers a variety of topics, which keeps the work interesting. Additionally, it is a cutting-edge field, which does make it viable for a future career.

Q: What inspired this project?

Ariel: Our lab has worked on Micro Air Vehicles for years, but recently the research took a new turn. We wanted to look at controlling each wing independently. This is something that birds do but has not been studied in robotics yet. In order to do this, the wings needed to be powered by independent motors. This means that the wings needed to be larger than ever before and calls for a whole new robot. So basically in an aim to study what actual birds in nature can do, Robo Raven was made.

Q: What are the applications of a project like this?

Luke: There are many applications for this platform. Robo Raven has the potential to be used in the future to monitor farms as a mobile scarecrow or crop inspector, fly at higher altitudes and track weather, or serve as recon for soldiers on the battlefield while looking like a normal bird to the eyes of the enemy. It could also give a push to the FWMAV hobbyist community because of the aerobatics it can perform.

Alex: The project could be used in disaster relief situations, such as gathering video and sensory data (such as chemical sensing). It could also be used in educational programs–bio-inspired robots cover so many disciplines. I remember my best educational experiences being tangible. I am in the process of arranging a visit to my high school to show Robo Raven to a robotics club as a teaching tool.

Q: What’s it like, as alumni of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, to continue your work together at UMD?

Ariel: It is great to have other Meyerhoff Scholars to work with. I know exactly what they have gone through in terms of classes and experiences. This allows us to hold each other to higher expectations than other students.

Luke: It was really helpful to me that Ariel, whom I already knew, was in the lab when I first got there and helped me get settled in and just have a friend there. I was really excited when I heard Alex was coming because we were in the same cohort and actually roomed together during Summer Bridge. We also worked on a lot of projects together during our undergrad years.

Q: How has your time at UMBC helped you in your work and studies now?

Ariel: UMBC’s Mechanical Engineering Department gave us a great education and foundation in mechanical engineering. The transition from undergraduate school to graduate school was effortless and seemed like an extension of what was already being taught. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program did a great job in preparing us for the research side of graduate school. Thanks to their guidance, I knew what to expect when coming to graduate school. They prepared me and showed me the work ethic necessary to be a good researcher.

Luke: My time at UMBC helped me to learn to push hard, even when classes are ridiculously tough and life is difficult, because there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I couldn’t see that light very well till the end of undergrad, and now that I’m in grad school and working on this project I see the light more clearly. Sometimes it pops out of my field of vision for a bit but that’s when I put my head down and push on. It comes back.

Alex: The strength of my graduate application and research skills are a result of applying to and completing internships at the admonition of UMBC staff, 5 in total, and, naturally, the academic content I learned at UMBC. UMBC taught me the importance of group collaboration for generating ideas in addition to management of personal assignments and tasks.

Mechanical engineering major Brian Wayman ’99 is using the skills he learned at UMBC and at Georgia Tech (MS, Ph.D.) to improve the lives of premature babies.

A mechanical engineer at GE Healthcare, Wayman was profiled recently on the College of Engineering and IT’s website. Prior to joining GE in July 2010, Wayman was the R&D Team Lead, New Product Development at Becton Dickinson.

Brian has several patents and patent applications for his work at Becton Dickinson on disposable syringes designed to prevent re-use of the syringe following injection.  In addition, he has several publications in peer-reviewed bioengineering journals.

Read the full story here.

Benyam Kinde ’10, biological sciences, is one of 10 students in 2011 to be named a Gilliam Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Kinde, who was UMBC’s 2010 valedictorian and a member of the 18th cohort of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, is in the Harvard-MIT combined MD-PhD Program.

Read more about the award here.

Brooke Coley ’03, chemical engineering, remembers it as a dream play for a football defense.  Two defenders burst through the offensive line just moments after the snap, trapping the quarterback in the backfield. One defender tackles the quarterback, allowing the second defender to zero in on the ball and yank it loose…
Read more in the Winter 2010 issue of UMBC Magazine…

Brooke Coley ’03, chemical engineering, remembers it as a dream play for a football defense.  Two defenders burst through the offensive line just moments after the snap, trapping the quarterback in the backfield. One defender tackles the quarterback, allowing the second defender to zero in on the ball and yank it loose…

Read more in the Winter 2010 issue of UMBC Magazine…