There’s already a student waiting outside the office of Faisal Quader, Ph.D. ’20, when the adjunct professor arrives at the Information Technology and Engineering building on a Thursday afternoon. 

The recent graduate, Smriti Khilnani, M.S. ’24, information systems, patiently waits for the information systems instructor—a full-time president of Technuf LLC, philanthropist, and board member of several organizations—to open his office for his limited hours on campus. Quader breezes in, greeting his guest with a smile while asking her how she’s doing. 

“I don’t know,” the graduate says, before the pair steps inside the office. After several minutes, the duo exit and Khilnani’s face looks more relaxed and at ease than moments before. 

“She’s looking for a job, and she’s a little frustrated,” says Quader of the graduate, who is an international student. “She’s trying to get a cybersecurity job, but it needs security clearance, which she cannot get due to her non-U.S. citizen status. However, we talked about alternative solutions to her problem.”

Moments like these aren’t uncommon for Quader, a former international student himself. He spends a large portion of his time in service to those around him, whether it’s in the classroom, in a meeting room at the high-tech company he runs, or on stage when he’s singing classic Bengali songs. 

“The fact that people are so open to come to me for help—that makes my day knowing that I’m able to make a difference,” says Quader.

Bringing industry perspectives into the classroom

Since graduating in 2020, Quader has spent the last four years as a part-time instructor teaching two graduate-level cybersecurity courses at UMBC and an additional course at the University of Maryland, College Park. On top of teaching, Quader works full-time as the president of the company he co-founded, Technuf, which specializes in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotic process automation, mobile application development, and software engineering. The Rockville-based company supports agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Homeland Security, and some state governments on high-profile cybersecurity initiatives.

Quader has a B.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. in computer science and engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Before going down the path to becoming a faculty member, Quader was initially a non-degree student at UMBC, but after enjoying his class so much, he decided to pursue a doctoral degree in information systems, specializing in cybersecurity. 

“It was a difficult path working full-time and being a student, but I got so much from UMBC,” says Quader. “My mentors and professors supported me tremendously. I love this school, and now I feel like it’s time for me to give something back. Nothing is better than being able to share what I’ve learned with students.”

Quader brings his data science industry know-how to the classroom in more practical ways, educating students on how he and his team at Technuf work to address timely cybersecurity challenges, such as securing network infrastructures from cyber attacks and analyzing data to protect from cyber threats. His courses are capped to capacity every semester and has an ever-evolving waitlist of students hoping to learn from his tutelage. 

“Cybersecurity is an extremely hot topic, and I like that I can bring in the industry perspective to my theoretical teachings,” explains Quader. “I love teaching—it’s my passion. Even though I work full time, I do this because I love to be able to share what I do everyday.”

A passion for performance

While Quader has spent the last three decades in engineering, computer science, and information science as an industry leader, he’s dedicated much of his life to something he got from his mother: a love of singing. 

As a child growing up in Bangladesh, Quader frequently performed on tv shows as a vocalist and continues to feed his passion for performance today. He shares that music is his “weekend work” where he occasionally puts on family performances with his wife and two children. Every few weeks, Quader travels across the DMV singing with various groups. He’s a big fan of Lionel Richie and Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore. With his performances, Quader says that he is trying to create a bridge between Eastern and Western music. 

The tech-heavy data scientist says that finding time to mesh his creative passions with his analytical and technical skills gives balance to his life—music and technology are more related than one may think, he adds. 

“Technology has a lot of mathematical inductions, different kinds of modeling theories and patterns. Music is also something that is kind of like a pattern,” says Quader. “Music refreshes my brain. When the weekend comes, I focus on music and that gives me more energy to do my work. That keeps me sane.”

Supporting the next generation of data scientists and engineers

In 2023, Quader established the Technuf Endowed Fellowship at UMBC, a $100,000 fund that supports master’s or Ph.D. candidates in information systems with entrepreneurial aspirations who are conducting research and/or pursuing a career in AI/ML or cybersecurity. The fellowship, Quader shares, is particularly for students who are unable to receive financial support for their education. 

“When I was a student here in the U.S. after emigrating from Bangladesh at age 18, I didn’t have a scholarship or funding because of the fact that I was an international student. I struggled so badly and had to work three jobs to make my tuition,” he says. “I don’t want my students to go through the same process of struggling. I’m not able to help every student, but this is a good start.”

Quader also created a summer internship program at Technuf where students work hand-in-hand with data scientists and engineers on solving technical problems. Several UMBC students have gone on to work full time at Technuf following their internships, including Isha Shah, M.S. ’23, information systems. In summer 2022, Shah worked at Technuf as a software engineer and data science intern. 

“I often found it challenging to secure job or internship opportunities. During one of our initial classes, Dr. Quader mentioned his company, which immediately caught my interest,” says Shah. “I reached out to him to inquire about internship opportunities and to my surprise, he responded with enthusiasm and asked me to send over my resume. That moment felt like a turning point in my career journey.”

After graduating from UMBC, Shah was offered a full-time position at Technuf and currently works at the company as a product development engineer.

“Dr. Quader has had a tremendous impact on both my studies and career. His approach to teaching went far beyond textbooks. He always emphasized the importance of real-world applications and critical thinking, which made a significant difference in my understanding of cybersecurity concepts,” Shah explains. “Dr. Quader believed in my potential and opened doors for me at Technuf, where I’ve been able to gain invaluable hands-on experience in the field.”

In October, Quader was honored for his service as a 2024 recipient of UMBC’s Distinguished Service Alumni Award.

“That was a big encouragement for me,” Quader beamed. “I can see the difference I’m able to make with my students by giving them job opportunities, internships, training, and industry focused-teaching. That’s what keeps me going.”

Tchuissi Mbu Nyamsi

Degree: MPS in Data Science
Hometown: Paris, France 
Plans: Data science consultant at CrossCountry Consulting

“Thanks to the UMBC program and the support of the Career Center and others, I feel well prepared to enter the workforce in the U.S. and to bring [my] unique perspective.”

While working at Sodexo, a food services company, Tchuissi Mbu Nyamsi ’22 realized that there were data problems she wanted to solve. “I realized it was something I really wanted to have more knowledge in and I wanted to sharpen my skills,” she says. So she enrolled in UMBC’s master’s program in data science at the Universities at Shady Grove.

Mbu Nyamsi had only recently come to the United States from her home country of France to work at Sodexo, a French company, after having lived in several other countries around the world. “I wanted to experience this entrepreneurship mindset in the U.S. and have a new kind of international experience,” she says.

With her passion for math, knowledge of data science, and intercultural communication skills, Mbu Nyamsi looks forward to working as a consultant in data science. “It’s a big strength,” she notes, “to be able to combine my technical, language, and soft skills.”

Story written by Karen Stysley.

Chetan Desai

Degree: M.P.S., Data Science
Hometown: Karnataka, Kalaburagi, India
Plans: Entrepreneur in sports data science

“It wasn’t easy at first to be far from my home country and still have to do what’s to be done, from cooking and cleaning to making friends. But at UMBC I have always found the right opportunities from the right people.”

Chetan Desai, M.P.S. ’22, data science, came to UMBC from India in Spring 2021, overcoming the barriers of international travel during the pandemic, with a unique goal in mind. He wanted to combine his skills in data science with his passion for sport. 

Desai made the most of his UMBC experience, working as a tennis instructor and serving as the secretary of the tennis club, a senator in the Graduate Student Association, and a data science teaching assistant. He also took on numerous roles off campus, volunteering for the State of Maryland COVID-19 vaccination site and the Citi Open Tennis Tournament. 

Making the most of his own experience as an international student, he joined UMBC’s Global Ambassadors, where he invited other international students to be an active part of Retriever student life.

“I am so glad I was open to experiences and options as they were made available to me at UMBC,” says Desai. “I hope I have helped make other students’ journeys even smoother than my own.”

Last weekend, nearly 1,400 students from 90 institutions across 26 countries, including Egypt, Switzerland, and Ethiopia, participated in hackUMBC’s annual fall hackathon. The 36-hour event encouraged students to collaborate with each other to develop projects addressing a range of real-world challenges. 

Participants primarily connected with each other online, through Discord. UMBC students also had the opportunity to attend a limited number of in-person events, with social distancing and masking in place. They vied for a total of $7,300 in prize money through awards from Best Hack overall to Best Financial Hack, Best Data Driven Application, Best Use of Google Cloud, and more.

HackUMBC President Karan Luthria ‘22, bioinformatics, was pleased with the event’s ability to attract both virtual and in-person participants from around the world. “It’s challenging to engage with virtual participants, but we did it successfully,” he says. This includes many first-time hackers curious to connect with a like-minded community, Luthria notes.

Inspired hacks

UMBC students participated in each of the three winning teams at the hackathon. The first place team developed Babel Fish, which allows people to use their phones to translate voice recordings into audio recordings in other languages. John Hair ‘24, computer engineering; Nolan Smith ‘24, mechanical engineering; Gerald Watson II ‘24, computer science; and Nyle Pope ‘24, computer science were inspired by a device in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They decided to try to create a simple version of this technology during the hackathon. 

The hack that received second place is a social media app called Adventure Addict. The app allows people to create interactive stories, where readers can choose the path that the story takes at various points. According to a video overview, Adventure Addict “creates a connection between the author and the reader that is unparalleled.” As readers consume and interact more with stories and content, the app recommends additional authors, posts, and stories that the reader might find of interest. The Adventure Addict team includes UMBC student David House ‘16, psychology, M.P.S. ‘21, data science, as well as a Maryland high school student, and students studying at universities in India and Canada.

In third place was a team that developed Status Bar, a device that culls through the day’s headlines and displays top highlights on a table top screen. The Status Bar can also provide a range of other highlights of value to the user, from weather updates to the prices of popular video games, in real time. UMBC students Tamoor Hamid, Ezekiel Ajayi, Avi Singh, Craig Stone, all studying computer engineering and graduating in 2022, developed Status Bar. 

Awards were provided through robust sponsorship from over a dozen companies, including diamond sponsors T. Rowe Price, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics Mission Systems. 

Community connections

Beyond the top three prize winners, several notable projects focused on ideas for improving the UMBC community. For example, Retriever Helper provides an interactive map allowing users to more easily find locations (specific rooms, floors, and buildings) on UMBC’s campus, to view the operating hours of UMBC’s dining options, and to read a feed from UMBC’s student newspaper, The Retriever. 

Kristina Eyombo ‘25, computer science, and Dan Hyatt ‘25, bioinformatics, collaborated on the project. Eyombo learned all the JavaScript, HTML, and CSS required to execute the project within that weekend.

“Something we aim for at hackUMBC is to welcome all first-time hackers, regardless of major or background, to bring out their creativity to find solutions to real-world problems,” Luthria shares.

The hackUMBC logo. Image courtesy of hackUMBC.

Another UMBC-focused project included Fetch&Retrieve, which hopes to decrease waste by helping students give away things they no longer need.

Whether they produce projects geared toward UMBC or broader issues, “It is always amazing to see students from across UMBC and the globe come together over a weekend for a time of learning, collaborating, and brainstorming,” says Luthria. “I hope hackUMBC inspires more students to be a part of the hackathon community and continue to spend their weekends bringing ideas to life.”

Read more about past hackathon events.

Banner image: The Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

When COVID struck, students, families, and educators nationwide worried about the impact it would have on learning experiences and career opportunities. Throughout summer 2021, UMBC students have proven that with tenacity and support they can still access meaningful internships.

“We, as a UMBC community, are committed to the career success of our students,” says Christine Routzahn, director of the UMBC Career Center. “Internships provide students with opportunities to apply the skills, theories, and concepts they learn in the classroom while gaining valuable connections and career readiness. Working with our incredible employer partners and alumni, we’ve connected UMBC student talent with valuable, career-building experiences across industries.” 

Goal #1: Secure that internship

Sandra Naylor. Photo courtesy of Naylor.

When Sandra Naylor ‘21, financial economics, was looking to transfer from community college to a four-year university, she had her sights set on securing an internship at a well-known company where she could gain hands-on experience in finance. She knew that UMBC had a strong Career Center that could connect her with these opportunities and she jumped at every chance to get her name in front of hiring managers. 

“I came to UMBC specifically because I knew that they have really good connections,” says Naylor. Her two top priorities were her grades and accessing career opportunities. She shares, “I started going to meet and greets, and coffee chats to get my face out there as much as possible.”

Naylor attended a workshop at Morgan Stanley, which highlighted the company’s core values, including diversity, and she knew it was a company that could be a great fit for her. With the Career Center’s support, she secured an internship. 

Her experience has largely been online, but that hasn’t limited her chances to build skills and network. “I am constantly in meetings and connecting with people,” she says. That includes regular meetings with her mentor, who is an executive director at Morgan Stanley. Senior management has also invited interns to meet at the company’s Baltimore offices.

Sandra Naylor’s photo appears on the Morgan Stanley building in Times Square, New York City. Photo courtesy of Naylor.

As she’d hoped, Naylor says that her internship has expanded her understanding of the finance industry. She particularly enjoyed deep dives designed to help interns understand how their work connects to the firm’s larger goals and initiatives—the kinds of work she might pursue in a finance career.

Find mentors who help you shine

Monika Arumalla, M.P.S,‘21, data science, has spent more than six months interning at BGE in Baltimore, and she will continue her internship through the fall. Like Naylor, Arumalla was eager to utilize the UMBC Career Center’s strong connections. She uploaded her résumé to UMBCworks during her first semester.

Monika Arumalla. Photo courtesy of Arumalla.

The energy company BGE approached Arumalla, inviting her to interview for a co-op—a type of work-based opportunity popular in engineering and technical fields, that’s often full-time, with hands-on projects. A committee interviewed Arumalla, asking her technical questions to assess her knowledge and approach to data science. 

After hiring Arumalla, BGE onboarded her virtually, due to COVID. Still, “I’ve had constant interactions with my supervisor,” she says. “From day one, they made sure I was getting what I needed,” including helping her learn the company’s systems and processes. 

Arumalla has been impressed with BGE’s office culture, which she describes as prioritizing safety, diversity, and inclusion. She has been able to connect with managers and leaders on her team, who have given her a sense of support and access to the tools she needs to complete her work.

That work included one particular project where she had a major impact. BGE call center agents are currently scattered across the region, primarily working remotely. Arumalla was asked to help determine how to support these agents in the event that they are affected by power outages in their home areas. The BGE team wanted fresh eyes on the project, and Arumalla came up with a solution that impressed her team. 

Monika Arumalla working in her office space at home. Photo courtesy of Arumalla.

A few weeks later, she presented her idea to senior leadership at BGE. “My supervisor gave me an opportunity to showcase the work, something I’ll cherish,” she says. “Even as an intern, they always help me shine.” 

See the impact of your work

Grace Tugado ‘23, chemical engineering, has spent her summer interning at SeeTrue Technology, which develops microcapillary needles for a range of biomedical needs, from IVF therapy to stem cell research. SeeTrue Technology is located on the UMBC campus, and is supporting Tugado’s internship through the Maryland Technology Internship Program. 

Tugado learned about the internship from a professor and was excited by the opportunity to expand her biotech skills. For the first few days at SeeTrue she shadowed her mentor through the process of making the needles, and asked questions along the way. 

Grace Tugado working in the SeeTrue Technology lab. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

“There was a little bit of a learning curve,” says Tugado, who will also be a McNair Scholar this fall. Thanks to her prior research through UMBC’s STEM BUILD Program, she was able to make the most of each new challenge as a learning experience, without feeling discouraged. 

One of the most rewarding parts of her internship at SeeTrue has been connecting with scientists, including her mentor Kinneret Rand-Yadin, founder and CEO of SeeTrue Technology. She’s also had the opportunity to connect with people who are using the needles. Receiving their feedback has impacted how she sees her work.

“It’s rewarding to think that labs around the world could potentially use the needles I’ve created,” she says. Tugado plans to continue interning at SeeTrue Technology through the fall semester.

Learn from people who have been there 

Leaving nothing to chance Chi-Chi Onyekonwu ‘22, economics, worked with the UMBC Career Center team to apply for several summer opportunities. She was thrilled to be placed in her top choice, an economics research internship through the University of Chicago’s Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program (held virtually this year). 

Chi-Chi Onyekonwu. Photo courtesy of Onyekonwu.

The program helps students prepare for a Ph.D. in economics, explains Onyekonwu. It fosters interns’ connections with economics Ph.D.s, supports their research, and organizes lectures and other events. 

Onyekonwu has worked with a group of six other economics research interns, including Seth Thomas ‘22, financial economics and global studies, and Lexi Smith ‘23, history and economics, on a project about global economies. Onyekonwu’s group studied global corporate transparency, and she also pursued an individual project focused on Italy’s economy. In addition to writing a research paper, she presented her work at a national symposium in July.

One of Onyekonwu’s favorite aspects of the program was connecting with 40 other economics students from around the world who were research interns at the University of Chicago this summer. Onyekowu plans to pursue a Ph.D. in economics after graduating from UMBC, and she valued the chance to grow her network. 

“The first-hand accounts from people who have already gone through the process of getting their Ph.D., and hearing the mistakes they have made and what things have worked for them, has been the best part of the program,” she says. 

Jump on a good opportunity

Terence Lesigues ‘23, biological sciences, first heard about interning at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) through an email from UMBC’s Career Center in January. He’s glad he clicked on it. Within a few months, Lesigues was accepted into the program and identified a few particularly interesting projects to work on—not just during the summer, but for the coming year as well.

As a pre-med student with an interest in neuroscience, Lesigues joined a research group focused on brain analytics using machine learning. “We’re developing a deep learning algorithm to segment the brain at a micro level, including blood vessels and axons. With this, we can better understand the etiologies of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia,” he explains. 

Terence Lesigues in front of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. Photo courtesy of Lesigues.

“My lab at UMBC focuses on the neurobiological aspects of chemical sensory systems in the nose,” he notes. “This internship has allowed me to branch out and explore additional topics.”

While his internship is primarily virtual, Lesigues goes into APL once a week to meet with his cohort in person. Working remotely has not hindered his ability to make meaningful connections with professionals and his peers. Lesigues explains that he meets with his mentors each day, including for team-building activities, and also connects regularly with other interns.

Looking back, Lesigues says that he is grateful that he responded when the APL opportunity hit his inbox, and that he took the chance on applying. He encourages other students to keep an eye on Career Center messages and reach out to as many people as they can to get their foot in the door.

Gain experience in something you care about

Jaden Burke ‘24, political science, and Samara Pyfrom ‘24, M32, environmental science and geography both interned with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which focuses on conserving and protecting the Chesapeake Bay. 

Pyfrom is the foundation’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice intern—a position she found on UMBCworks. Within the department of human resources, she works to provide data to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s board to support their planning and decision-making. She has also developed events that allow her fellow interns to network and has traveled to engage with interns across the organization.

Samara Pyfrom and Jaden Burke in front of oyster shells. Photo courtesy of Pyfrom.

Pyfrom is interested in scientific and environmental justice. She notes that climate change disproportionately impacts communities of color in the United States. 

“My mentor has really centered this internship around my passions and helping me grow,” she says. “I’ve met with some litigation lawyers at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and learned about how they approach environmental justice and work with corporations that misuse communities.” 

Jaden Burke and Samara Pyfrom. Photo courtesy of Pyfrom.

Burke has supported community environmental education programs through his internship, including facilitating a trip for high school teachers to learn about oysters. He spent one week at the foundation’s Clagatt Farm, which he describes as the most physically challenging week of his internship. 

Clagatt Farm has a community-supported agriculture program offering produce baskets each week of the summer. The organic farm connects community members to the local environment in meaningful ways, and Burke valued the chance to contribute to their work. Plus, he shares, “The networking opportunities have been valuable.”

Dive into unique opportunities

Adam Lees ‘21, biological sciences, remembers the day that he received an email from Routzahn about a highly unique opportunity to intern aboard the OceanX marine research vessel while it traveled from Portugal to Norway. “This program definitely jumped to the top of my list,” Lees says. 

Adam Lees aboard the OceanX marine research vessel. Photo courtesy of Lees.

Fast forward a few months later, and Lees found out that he was one of about 15 interns selected for the research voyage. “I couldn’t believe it,” he says. The international group of interns—half from the U.S.—included students focused on biology as well as science communications.

Adam Lees, right, and his fellow interns. Photo courtesy of Lees.

Aboard the OceanX, Lees supported marine biologists and other scientists conducting research. Each day, he would have breakfast with the other interns before heading to lectures and shadowing scientists. He particularly enjoyed hands-on opportunities to send cameras and data collection tools deep into the ocean to gather samples.

Lees found most rewarding the friendships and connections that he made with others aboard the OceanX, from institutions all around the world. “Talking to scientists on OceanX and seeing what they do, how long it took them to get here, and what they do day to day was so helpful for me,” Lees explains. 

A water sample collected by OceanX. Photo courtesy of Lees.

The OceanX has three dry labs filled with computers and servers, and one large wet lab that scientists use to study live samples. In addition to the students and scientists, the boat included a crew of about 35, from a person in charge of the computers and servers to a chef. 

The OceanX vessel. Photo courtesy of Lees.

“The internship was inspiring and motivating,” Lees says, particularly having a front-row seat to science being conducted for the first time. “I can’t wait to be in school again now that I know what’s out there and what I can continue to work toward.”

Banner image: Grace Tugado, right, working in the SeeTrue Technology lab with her mentor Kinneret Rand-Yadin. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

When the time came to start her college career, Sondheim Scholar Viviana Angelini ‘21 traded in the palm trees of Florida for all things Baltimore at UMBC. She had taken some classes at a local community college in Florida while a homeschooled high school student, but starting at UMBC was a very different and exciting experience.

“It was pretty amazing to go from studying literature at home and having small classes, to then come here and see all the students and all the academic buildings,” says Angelini. “When I did a campus tour, two things stuck out to me the most and made me feel like I was where I belonged: walking into the Commons and seeing all the international flags and walking underneath all the trees on Academic Row and feeling the sense of community and excitement about learning.”

She felt inspired to make the most of her UMBC experience from day one, eventually adding three minors (international politics, Russian, and music) to her political science major and pursuing internships that had a huge impact on her college experience and her career trajectory. While her individual path was unique, the way she was able to pursue opportunities beyond the classroom, putting her knowledge into practice, is a classic UMBC experience.

Connecting with opportunities

Angelini on campus this spring. Photo courtesy of Marlayna Demond ‘11. 

Angelini’s first internship, for two summers, was with Congressman Gus Bilirakis who represents her home district in Florida. She reviewed and analyzed legislation and attended media briefings about military strategy, freedom of the press, and other topics. One highlight, she says, was writing a speech for the congressman to deliver in the House of Representatives about Canadian/American relations.

While this foray into politics piqued her interest, her career goals were further solidified after meeting James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. They connected at a speaking engagement at UMBC and Clapper suggested she apply for an internship with the U.S. Department of Defense. Angelini soon found herself packing her bags again, this time to head to Nebraska for her first position in intelligence. 

Defining her path

“I spent the summer working in support of U.S. national security,” she says. “It was an amazing experience, bringing together everything I learned at UMBC and applying it to the real world.”

To further broaden her professional portfolio, Angelini traveled to Colorado the following summer to continue work for the Department of Defense, this time with NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. 

Angelini poses with the eight-foot-tall snowman she and friends made during a snowstorm at UMBC. 

Since September 2020, Angelini has been interning at Fort Meade, authoring reports for the National Security Agency. After graduating, she’ll attend George Washington University as a graduate fellow as she works towards a master’s in security policy studies with a concentration in conflict resolution. 

To students starting their journey at UMBC, Angelini suggests, “Say yes to any opportunity. You don’t know what kind of doors it will open or how it will come back to benefit you in the future. Almost every experience you have in undergrad will help you in the future, either professionally or personally.” 

Making the data work

If someone asked you to determine how many people had food-producing gardens in Portland, Oregon, where would you begin? Travis Twigg ‘19, geographic information science, and M.P.S. ‘21, data science, encountered this question during an undergraduate internship in 2018 with geography and environmental systems (GES) at UMBC, and the possibilities that came to mind intrigued him. “I was working with my professor, Dillon Mahmoudi, to try and determine access to healthy food, so I trained a model to do object detection on satellite imagery to find the gardens,” he says.

Portrait courtesy of Twigg. 

Working with Mahmoudi had such an impact on Twigg that after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he enrolled in UMBC’s data science graduate program. He’ll earn his master’s degree this week. 

Through internships, Twigg has tackled a broad range of questions related to analyzing maps and satellite imagery. In the summer of 2020, he built upon the machine learning work he began as an undergrad and accepted an internship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He worked to develop a model to distinguish clouds from smoke in satellite imagery. When smoke is too heavy, NASA’s internal operation erroneously mistakes it for clouds and crops it out of the images entirely, causing a cascade of problems. His model was trained to correct the error. 

Learning from COVID-19

Twigg also interned as a researcher with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he worked with a team of seven other students across the country to model COVID-19 dynamics.

“This was early summer 2020, so there was a lot of data coming out, but people still weren’t sure how bad the pandemic was going to get—if there was going to be one wave, two waves, et cetera. So, we were trying to create a model to predict that,” says Twigg. 

His team also looked at sentiment analysis on Twitter to map the relationship between residents’ political preferences and how they were responding to different state guidelines across the U.S. 

Building relationships, experience

A first-generation college student, Twigg wasn’t always sure what his path was going to look like. He graduated with his associate’s degree in mathematics from Frederick Community College and then continued his studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Still uncertain how he wanted to proceed, Twigg made the decision to take a break from his education and accept a position as a business manager for nearly a decade. 

The time away from his studies gave him the opportunity to reflect on what he ultimately wanted in a career. In 2016, he enrolled at UMBC, ready to complete his degree.

Twigg learned valuable lessons along the way and would advise new Retrievers to “show up, get involved, and network,” including exploring hands-on internship opportunities. “When you’re done with school, employers will care most about the relationships you have been able to build and the experience you’ve gained, and the first step of that is just showing up.”

Next, Twigg will complete a master’s in data analytics at Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Hitting the ground running

When Luke Matthews ‘21, financial economics and political science, initially chose a college, he says, “I didn’t really take into consideration how much the school really feeling like home mattered to me.” But he soon realized how important diversity would be to his experience, and he chose to transfer to UMBC in search of a sense of community.“UMBC is incredibly diverse and I think that’s the thing I love most about it,” he shares. 

He hit the ground running at UMBC, securing the first of five undergraduate internships. In his sophomore year, Matthews worked with the Baltimore Minority Business Development Center. He helped minority business owners secure funding, including searching for government contracts and providing support to help them win those contracts. 

“It was a small team and I was given a lot of autonomy to try different approaches and lead things at such a young age,” says Matthews. “It was really interesting and I enjoyed it.”

Trying something new

His next opportunity, as a quantitative research intern at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was a departure from what he had envisioned for himself. “I was trying to work for a large investment bank as a sophomore, but I didn’t get accepted at any of the places I applied,” says Matthews. “I figured I could either pout about it or find something else, so I found something else with the help of my statistics professor and Christine Routzahn, director of the UMBC Career Center. It turned out to be one of the most enriching experiences ever.” 

He was able to publish research, make connections at Johns Hopkins, and spend the summer living on his own for the first time. In addition to the personal growth it afforded him, Matthews shares that in interviews since then, employers have been intrigued by his real-world experience with biostatistics. 

Back to the plan 

Matthews got back onto the financial path with his next internship at Facet Wealth, a start-up company looking to revolutionize the financial planning industry. The company was fully virtual, and although the internship ended in January 2020, it offered a timely preview into what the following year would be like. Matthews was able to help build models to inform business decisions and corporate operations. 

In summer 2020, before his senior year, Matthews finally landed his dream internship at Bank of America in the investment banking division. It was a perfect fit and ultimately led to a job offer awaiting him after graduation.

Matthews with a group of children he worked with during a UMBC Global Brigades medical and public health service trip to Panama. Photo courtesy of the UMBC Global Brigades, with participant permission.

To further sharpen his skills before graduating, Matthews took a final internship senior year at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore as a fixed income research intern. The position had him speaking directly with portfolio managers about how to allocate money for investment opportunities. The experience offered an opportunity to “become more persuasive and a better speaker, and really hone my rhetorical abilities,” Matthews says. 

Next steps

As he prepares to move on to a full-time role in investment banking, Matthews thinks about the supporters at UMBC who helped him access opportunities, particularly Routzahn and her team at Career Services. Like Angelini and Twigg, he advises students to be bold in reaching out for help and guidance. “Almost every internship I had is because of the Career Center.” 

Whether you’re a commuting student or live on campus, a transfer student or have been at UMBC from the start, he says, there are people at UMBC to help you start and grow your career.

Banner image: Viviana Angelini in front of international flags in the UMBC Commons. All photos courtesy of students unless otherwise noted.