There are three things we find endlessly amusing: throwbacks to childhood, cutting things up, and attempting to predict the future. And there is one thing that magically combines it all: a paper prognosticator like the one we’ve specially fashioned below. We hope this will give you the chance both to joyfully create a fun thing to share with friends and family and choose your own UMBC adventure! Watch our how to video to refresh your memory and then cut, fold, and share the joy with your favorite #FutureRetriever!

The world has changed a lot over the past 17 years; smartphones have found their way into everyone’s pockets, social media has taken over traditional media, video rental stores like Blockbuster have made way for streaming services like Netflix. 

Things at UMBC have changed, too. The Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena is now home to UMBC Athletics and world renowned musical acts. The Performing Arts and Humanities Building has a gorgeous presence on campus. And our men’s basketball team shocked the nation, becoming a household name. The list goes on.

Now imagine, while all of those things have happened, the cicadas have only changed guard twice.

The 2004 appearance of the screeching locusts only warranted one story in the-then Retriever Weekly. But this year’s cicadas got a celebrity welcome—it’s possible that the doldrums of the pandemic particularly set the stage for this year’s cicada pandemonium.

When they first arrived, it was as if aliens made their first landing on earth. Their mammoth physique and prehistoric appearance took some getting used to. Soon, they were everywhere, both wreaking havoc and making friends. 

Rachel Wesley ’22, visual arts, describes her first interaction with a cicada this summer as nothing less than alarming. “I looked over my shoulder and it was there staring at me with those outward pointing eyes. I didn’t freak out but it was a deep breath and I was like ‘okaaay’. They’re so big,” she says.

But before long, the intimidation factor dwindled. “By the end of summer, I was actually picking them up with my hand,” says Wesley, the painter behind UMBC’s new Retriever-themed cicada sculpture, a part of the Formstone Castle Collective’s Cicada Parade-a, a Baltimore-based public art installation of plaster insects. “If they were on the sidewalk, I put them into a bush to get them away from the sidewalk,” says Wesley. 

When the next swarm visits UMBC in 2038, this brood will have faded in our memories, and their comeback will surely feel like aliens have first landed on earth yet again.

Special thanks to Creative Services senior designer Jill Blum who purchased “Harold” the cicada to be painted and donated to UMBC for posterity.

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Photos of Rachel Wesley and the cicada courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.

Natural disasters leave layers of industrial and economic damage in their wake—not to mention loss of life. In order to better combat the next unforeseen event, data is collected immediately after floods, hurricanes, and other weather-related tragedies. But when Maryam Rahnemoonfar, associate professor of information systems, was in graduate school, she had to cull through this data manually. Eager to combine her interests in civil engineering, remote sensing, and computer science in a meaningful way, Rahnemoonfar began developing an algorithm that could automatically assess and understand the post-disaster data.

Along with her colleagues, Rahnemoonfar began working with the Humanitarian Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Texas A&M University, where she was faculty before coming to UMBC. Rahnemoonfar explains that various types of robots including unmanned aerial vehicles and robots on the ground and on water are used to collect data, but the data needed to be analyzed closely. 

“The data collected is not AI ready,” Rahnemoonfar explains, noting that in order to make the data about natural disasters more useful, it needs to be annotated and trained. The data helps determine the level of damage caused by these events, including what type of response team is needed and the immediacy of the need.

The next step, she says, is to develop an AI and machine learning algorithm to assess the images collected by the robots. However, this work is not without challenges. The images collected were not of easily-identifiable objects, explains Rahnemoonfar, so it took more time to develop algorithms that could distinguish a damaged building from a road that was washed out, for example. 

By applying AI and machine learning techniques to the data collected, Rahnemoonfar explains that it allows people to thoroughly assess damage and issues that need to be addressed such as flooding, destroyed buildings, or to detect debris. 

Research with community impact

Over time, Rahnemoonfar worked with collaborators to develop the first high-level data, called FloodNet. As a publicly available data set, it drew the attention of people around the world who were interested in using FloodNet in their cities and towns. 

Officials in Germany connected with Rahnemoonfar because they were interested in utilizing the FloodNet dataset to train their algorithms to recognize natural disasters throughout the country. “For any future natural disaster, you need similar data sets to train your algorithms,” she explains. “This is the importance of the data set that we prepared.”

From left to right: Jianwu Wang, Maryam Rahnemoonfar, and Masoud Yari presenting on NSF HDR Institute for Harnessing Data and Model Revolution in the Polar Regions.

“For me, it’s important to know that the research I do has value and impacts the communities after natural disasters,” Rahnemoonfar says, noting that she is eager to continue to analyze large data sets so that the data available more widely.

The next generation of experts

Rahnemoonfar’s commitment to helping communities recently expanded when she received a significant grant from the National Science Foundation, which allows her to make a bigger impact around the world. In September 2021, NSF announced the launch of the NSF HDR Institute for Harnessing Data and Model Revolution in the Polar Regions (iHARP), which Rahnemoonfar is leading as the principal investigator. She and her collaborators will use similar tools from creating FloodNet like data science, machine learning, and AI to analyze enormous volumes of climate data, along with Arctic and Antarctic observations, in ways that could help populations prepare for and respond to climate change risks. 

Climate scientists rely on data that are incredibly challenging to disentangle, she explains, and AI offers solutions to analyzing these large datasets. “It is so exciting to be selected as one of the five HDR institutes in the nation, however, this comes with huge responsibility,” she says. “We are the first data science and machine learning institute in the world that is dedicated to research in polar regions.”

The researchers involved with this grant will reduce uncertainties in projecting sea level rise by combining physics modeling, machine learning techniques, and data analysis. The results of their work will inform policymaking to address national and global priorities related to the climate crisis, explains Rahnemoonfar. 

The solutions that are developed through the iHARP work will have applications beyond environmental issues. Rahnemoonfar anticipates the team’s research will impact the future of medicine, autonomous driving, and remote sensing, and that the students working on the project will become the next generation of experts addressing these global issues.

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All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11.

Late this summer, President Freeman Hrabowski announced that he will be retiring from UMBC at the end of this academic year after a career that has included more than 30 years at UMBC. We sat down to talk about moments of joy he has experienced in his penultimate semester, and why he’s so very excited about the future of UMBC.

UMBC Magazine: I’ve been thinking a lot about what life must have been like for you since you made your big announcement. In the days and weeks that followed, what has brought you joy?

Freeman Hrabowski: Well, it has been this spirit of love that is all around us. You may recall that in one of my opening speeches on campus, right after announcing, I talked about the idea that UMBC is “the house that love built,” which is inspired by the Ronald McDonald house. And that thought has really resonated with people—from alumni to faculty and staff, to our students. People believe in the UMBC way, and that means an emphasis on grit and resilience. It means supporting each other, having compassion, academic excellence, and really being grateful to be a part of such a healthy community. And that’s the part that’s given me such joy. 

People from around the country have been writing and saying, “Wow, what is the magic sauce, that secret sauce at UMBC?” The truth is that when you talk to people who work here, they love it. You talk to our alumni, and they’re so proud to be from our institution. So, when they ask, “What is the secret sauce?” I say, “We have really good people here. We care about each other. We love ideas. We love working with people in the communities. We’re proud of our alumni.” 

And to see just how supportive people are is just wonderful… and at this past Homecoming taking photos with the children of alumni, I was just surprised by it all. I didn’t think I could ever be surprised, but at Homecoming when we took the big community photo, and you’ve got all those folks on the library steps and they’re all applauding—well, I wasn’t ready for it. I was getting a little emotional. But it was so special. And that’s what I’ve been feeling since announcing. 

At Homecoming 2021, Dr. Hrabowski snaps a shot of the group who gathered to take an updated community photo. Courtesy of Jim Burger.

UMBC Magazine: Thinking ahead, what are you hoping that alumni and our community will be keeping top of mind as we travel into the spring and the transition ahead?

Hrabowski: It is the idea that this is not a story about one person. It is about all of us and  the alumni who helped build the foundation; UMBC really belongs to the alumni. And it’s about how proud we are as faculty and staff, administrators, and students to be here at this moment. For all of us, it is about caring about this university, this house that love built.

You know people always say, “What’s going to happen to UMBC?” And I’m saying, “UMBC is going to continue to get better and better and better because we’ve laid a great foundation… People have been so amazingly supportive of me for the past 30 years, and the other five when I was here before that, that everybody knows a new president will be given a chance to thrive and to help the university go to the next level. And she will be fantastic. I’ve been saying that to people putting that idea in the universe. We’ll see. We don’t know who that person will be. There are many people in leadership positions interested in the presidency of UMBC because the university is one of the most talked about and admired institutions in the country, and I leave it in really good shape. I feel so good about that.

And so this transition will be one where we’re shedding light on what’s important, and our shared values… the emphasis on people, loving ideas, the importance of grit, and most important—believing in ourselves. We are UMBC.

Learn more about the Presidential Search Process at president.umbc.edu.

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Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11.

Cameron Hindle finished 22nd of 92 cross country runners in the America East Championships. Lauren Reid played nearly every minute in all 17 soccer games as a central fullback. Hayden Lim scored the game-winning soccer goal to clinch a playoff spot.

What do these UMBC student-athletes have in common? They are all first-year students at UMBC, after COVID-19 curtailed their senior year of high school.

Since the NCAA allowed all student-athletes enrolled in the spring of 2020 and the fall and winter of 2020 – 21 to earn an extra year of eligibility, fifth-year seniors and graduate students are dominating most NCAA Division I intercollegiate rosters. But at UMBC, this trio of student-athletes are among many first-year Retrievers who are contributing to their teams’ success. 

Cameron Hindle at the 2021 America East Conference Cross Country Championship meet in Durham, NH, in October 2021. Photo courtesy of America East Conference.

Only two other America East first years outpaced Hindle in cool, muddy conditions on the New Hampshire course on October 29. Moreover, the Elliott City native’s UMBC classmate, Ayalew Fantaw ’24, information systems, was the second Retriever to cross the finish line.

As a member of the women’s soccer team, Reid was one of seven first-year students that started at least six times and one of 14 first-year players on the roster. The Retrievers earned as many “results” (eight, with five wins and three draws) than they have since 2015. Reid came to UMBC from Denver, Colorado, and credits her new #RetrieverNation family for her early success.

“Each and every single one of the players on the team pushes you to be the best version of yourself that you can be whether playing or going through life,” said Reid. “The coaches are also a huge part of my success this semester. They provide constant support, checking in on school, food, mental health, etc. In every part of life, they are making sure that we’re okay.”

“The 14 young women from the class of 2025 have not only been able to complement our returners but have also been able to start to lay down the initial steps of what their legacy will be here at UMBC,” said fourth-year Women’s Soccer Head Coach Vanessa Mann. “We are incredibly optimistic about where we are headed and feel now like this really was our true ‘year-one’ in terms of moving the program forward.” 

The nationally-ranked New Hampshire men’s soccer team faced UMBC on October 23 with 10 graduate students on their active roster and barely escaped Retriever Soccer Park with a 1-0 victory. Six days later, Lim and the Retrievers faced a must-win game at NJIT, a team which featured the nation’s top active goal-scorer. UMBC fell behind, 2-0, but rallied with three second-half goals, including Lim’s game-winner with 17 minutes remaining, to clinch a playoff berth.

“I believe that some of my success started with the attitude of knowing I am younger but still wanting to make an impact to help the team any way I can,” said Lim. “I have gained a lot of confidence by having good chemistry with the team on and off the field and also knowing the trust coaches had in me in high-stakes moments. This has and will continue to make my first semester here a memorable one and I can’t wait to keep going.”   

— Steve Levy ’85

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Header image: UMBC freshman midfielder Izzy Binko led the Retrievers to a 5-1 victory over Delaware State in October 2021. Photo courtesy of UMBC Athletics.

At their most basic levels, learning and play can look a lot alike. Both call for creativity and resourcefulness; inspire curiosity; and require failure, reflection, and practice. For some students, learning isn’t all fun and games. But members of the UMBC community are looking to change that.  

Kerri Evans always strives to make her curriculum engaging, but knew she needed a new way to connect her students to the material. As a social work professor at UMBC, Evans teaches and studies the experiences of recent immigrants and refugees to the U.S. and wanted a new way to expose her students to the trials and triumphs of immigrant children navigating the U.S. education system. 

“Social work curriculums largely rely on analyzing and reflecting upon case studies,” Evans says. “But immigrant stories are so diverse—it’s hard to understand the breadth of their experiences just by reading and responding to a case study.”

While working as a program manager at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in downtown Baltimore, Evans saw how an engaging training activity helped foster parents, educators, and staff to better understand the experiences of immigrant and refugee children. For the activity, participants read cards containing stories of immigrants as they navigated various stages of their journey, like falling off the train in Guatemala, or losing your relatives at the U.S. and Mexico border, for example. A group discussion followed of how these experiences, some horrific, influenced the lives of unaccompanied children in the U.S. 

“It wasn’t a game in the traditional sense, but it was inspiring and engaging,” she says.

And thus, Evans’ idea for the board game “Emerging: The Educational Journey of Immigrant Students” was born.

The gamification of learning is an approach more instructors are adopting to motivate their students to think outside of the box. Professors like Evans and others are maximizing enjoyment and engagement in their classes by capturing the interests of students and inspiring them to keep learning. Students across disciplines at UMBC are getting hands-on experience building games—tangible ones like “Emerging” as well as a host of video games that also foster a collaborative learning environment. Both the students and teachers agree: Learning is a lot easier when you’re having fun. 

Understanding the “Rules of the Game”

“Emerging” is still in its infancy, but it is attracting the help of people across the UMBC community. In fall 2021, Evans paired up with UMBC’s assistant professors of education, Jiyoon Lee and Keisha Allen, and five UMBC undergraduate and graduate students to help bring the game to fruition. 

Both the game and a future interdisciplinary course will focus on the immigrant experience in the U.S. from pre-kindergarten to college, with the goal of teaching UMBC students who will become service providers and teachers to understand the experiences faced, to advocate for inclusion, and to dismantle racism in schools. 

Kerri Evans headshot courtesy of Melissa Penley Cormier.

Funded by a UMBC Hrabowski Innovation Fund Grant: Implementation and Research Award, “Emerging” will be a multiplayer, cooperative game where participants assume the role of an immigrant child and work together to gain the resources necessary for “success” such as educational attainment, language skills, and social networks. Along the way, players will face challenges, get helpful boosts, and be forced to mitigate stress before it brings the game to a close. Picture Forbidden Island- meets-Catan-meets-Monopoly-meets immigrant experiences. 

Participants will need to achieve both happiness and self-sufficiency to win, and players will lose if their stress levels get too high or if they are unable to access help and resources they need. 

Advancing on the board will require strategy, resourcefulness, collaboration, and a little bit of luck. Players could land on spaces that require them to pick a card that describes a “win” or a “setback.” Wins may include getting an A on a test, making a new friend, or having a teacher stick up for you. Setbacks may look like getting bullied, forgetting to turn in your homework, or having troubles with immigration status. 

Players can also gather “resources” along the way, which could come in the form of joining a sports team, partaking in an after-school program, or going to a tutoring session. These resources play an integral role in managing your players’ mental health, an essential part of winning the game. 

All of the “wins” and “setbacks” will be based on real-life stories collected by a research process the students are currently undertaking, something Evans says is important to the integrity of the game.

“We don’t want these stories to be hearsay or things that could theoretically happen, we’re doing our research to create an accurate game of experiences that have truly happened,”  Evans says. 

“I think we are creating something really special,” says social work and psychology undergrad Ashley Pereira ’22, who is part of the team currently analyzing hundreds of peer-reviewed journals and case studies to find stories of success and heartbreak to include. “And to know we are creating it in a way where it’s based on research just makes you feel so confident about the decisions you make.” 

The game also aims to highlight the cultural differences within the education systems of various countries. For example, Evans says, it’s important to be mindful that immigrant students may not understand how to open up a locker, or the need to raise your hand to ask for permission to speak. The team is working on ways to include these discrepancies into the game.

“We take for granted that we know the ‘rules of the game,’ in our education systems,” says TESOL graduate student and team member Eric Chen ’22.  “If educators assume children from other countries come in with this knowledge, it can put the kids at a disadvantage.” 

Like all great games, “Emerging” plays on participants’ emotions. The stakes are high, and tragedy or triumph may be just around the corner. 

Game Developer Galore 

Over in the Engineering building, a different type of game development is taking place. Over 46 game developers are congregating to create the next great video game. Founded in 2005, the Game Developers Club is dedicated to bringing students of all majors and skill levels together to learn about game development, work as a team, and of course, create video games.

Emotions are high around this time of year, as club members pitch their ideas to the group in hopes their game will garner interest from other club members. Vice president of the club, Seth Davis ’22, computer science, is well acquainted with the process. He’s been a part of the club for three years and has created three games. Pitch time is his favorite time of the year.

“It’s always so exciting to see a person get up in front of the club and talk about an idea they’re passionate about,” Davis says. “Some people are so nervous that others won’t like their idea, but then after they pitch it, five people come running up to them saying they love the idea and want to support them.”

In 2020, Davis pitched the idea for a game called Binary Bubbles, a side-scroller (think Super Marios Bros.) puzzle game. The goal is simple: Get to the yellow flag as quickly as you can. The catch? There are malfunctioning robots in the way. Using strategy and logic, players must hack into the robots, steal their code bubbles, and move the code bubbles to other robots.

Davis and his team created 20 levels that span over two worlds, something he says would only be possible by working with an interdisciplinary team. Davis enlisted the help of art students, music students, and English students to make his games a reality.

“There are so many majors represented in the club, it’s not just computer science people,” he says. “This club teaches you how to work as a team to create an amazing product.”

Turning games into jobs

If Davis had to pick a second-favorite time of year, it would be the unveiling of the games. It’s when club members take their projects to the school and community and let others play the video games they’ve worked so hard to create.

Binary Bubbles was featured at 2020’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) along with 13 other video games created by members of the Game Developers Club. Previous games have also been featured at Artscape, Baltimore’s largest annual art festival.

Members of the Game Developers Club receive more than just thunderous applause at URCAD and Artscape, they also get job offers from blue-chip employers. They’ve gone on to find positions at Facebook, Unity Game Engine, and Firaxis games, to name a few. 

“Our club is actually very career-focused,” Davis says. “Employers love it when they see our portfolios and see we completed a game. Lots of former members got jobs because of this club.”

As a member of the club’s executive board, Davis works hard to ensure the games are seen by as many people as possible, including professional game developers. Some of those professionals are former club members themselves. Davis says alumni like Eric Jordan ’08, computer science, currently at Facebook, are eager to help current club members achieve their dreams.

“This club is such a great way to network and build real relationships,” Davis says. “It’s the perfect way to get that gaming job you’ve always dreamed of.”

The Go-To Gamer Guy

Marc Olano knows a thing or two about video games—he’s commonly referred to as UMBC’s “go-to gamer guy.” Ironically, Olano isn’t much of a gamer himself, but he certainly knows the recipe for creating a great game.

Marc Olano headshot courtesy of Ryan Zuber ’04, Imaging Research Center.

Olano has been doing research on video game graphics hardware for over 25 years. He pioneered procedural shading on graphics hardware, a technique that is used to add details to a surface of an object. The model is now the standard on every PC and game platform. Olano also pioneered UMBC’s Game Development track and helped usher in UMBC’s 3D photogrammetry scanning facility in 2015, now serving as the director for both. 

The Game Development track and the Visual Arts Department’s Animation and Interactive Media concentration make up “GAIM:” UMBC’s Games, Animation and Interactive Media program. GAIM prepares students for careers in the video game industry, and exposes them to internship opportunities at local game development companies such as Firaxis, Big Huge Games, Epic Games, Mythic Entertainment and Zynga.

In the GAIM capstone course, visual arts and computer science students join forces for a semester to design an original game. The course mimics the setup of teams in the industry where 500 artists and programmers must work together for several years to develop a single game.

“My role is teaching the students how to do the work, then letting the students figure out for themselves how to actually do it,” Olano says. “I’ve found it brings students a lot of joy to know they created something very independently.” 

“Bandit”

Olano’s first taste of an educational game development project was with UMBC history professor Anne Rubin. In spring 2015, Rubin and Olano united their classes to create a computer game called “Bandit” which detailed the 1861 Pratt Street Riots, an event many scholars believe was the site of first blood shed in the American Civil War. Undergraduates in the Game Development track built the game and Rubin’s history students served as historical researchers and consultants.

A still from “Bandit.”

In the game, players control a fox who is on the loose on the streets of Baltimore during the Pratt Street Riots, when Massachusetts militiamen came in contact with anti-war protestors in Baltimore. The fox is on the hunt for documents from the riots which can be examined and recorded all while trying to avoid guards patrolling Pratt Street.

“MeetingMayhem”

Olano is currently working with professor of computer science Alan Sherman and students from the UMBC Cyber Defense Lab to create a video game called “MeetingMayhem.” The web-based game aims to help students learn about adversarial thinking, or the ability to embody the technological capabilities and strategic reasoning of hackers. The goal of the game is to arrange a meeting time and place by sending and receiving messages through an unsecure network that is under the control of a malicious adversary. Players can choose to be the hero or the villain, or in this case, the benevolent meeting-maker or the hacker. The hacker can disrupt the efforts of the meeting-maker by intercepting, modifying, blocking, and injecting messages into the unsecure network. 

In this engaging challenge, computer science students learn the basics of the Dolev-Yao intruder network model, a framework used to analyze safety protocols within a communications network. Students also learn the value of using cryptography to mitigate these dangers. 

What Does it Mean to Win?

Across UMBC, professors and students are harnessing the power of play to enrich their learning experiences. Be it video games, board games, or anything in between, Retrievers are rich with ideas of how to make learning a little more interactive and a lot more fun. 

Olano, who was recently appointed associate dean for Academic Programs, is adjusting to his new responsibilities, but for him, it’s still all about the students and the games. 

“It never gets old seeing students when they realize they can actually build a game for themselves and they are excited doing it,” Olano says. “Honestly, it brings me a lot of joy, too.”

For Evans, winning means the participants of “Emerging” leave the game with more insight than before—even insight into what different types of “success” could look like. In the meantime, her students will experience joy as they learn research skills, build the game, and begin to introduce the game to more students in the coming semesters. The team plans to gain knowledge from other UMBC students who are immigrants themselves and discover how this subset of students found success in college. After that, the team will enlist the help of UMBC art students to help design a prototype. In the future, the team hopes to premiere the game to educators outside of the UMBC community

“People have sympathy reading case studies, but it’s not nearly as visceral as if you’re playing a game and your character experiences something tragic and now you’ve lost three turns,” Evans says. “Players will feel the anger of feeling left behind and the joy of successes.”

For Davis and the Game Developers Club, winning means making friends, networking, and having fun. “At the end of the day, we’re really just having a great time making games,” he says.

— Kennedy Lamb ’20 and Illustration by Marissa Clayton ’21.

First Mate Alex Barnard ’09, American Studies spends many mornings high atop the mast on the 150-foot sailing ship Kwai, watching the bright horizon of the Pacific Ocean through binoculars for the shimmer of an abandoned fishing net. When she spots a clump of plastic waste, she guides the captain toward the tangle of fishing nets and the garbage they accumulate. 

Then sailors on deck throw grappling hooks into the floating trash. A hydraulic crane hauls onto the deck the dripping hunks of degrading plastic nets—sometimes the size of Volkswagen Bug, sometimes 100 feet long. Barnard and the crew stumble through tangles slick with algae and seaweed, throwing the trash’s resident crabs and fish back overboard. Those moments are cathartic, Barnard says, as if they’ve just pulled a rotten tooth from the mouth of the ocean.

“I just think about that moment as beautiful. I love seeing that net up on deck,” Barnard says. “It’s so toxic and then to watch it come out. Just to be able to do that all day every day. It’s pretty amazing.”

Walking down a steep hill on her family’s farm, Roxann Brooks Motroni ’06, M14, biological sciences is searching for her cattle.

“Hey mamas! Hey cows!” the veterinarian calls. A fuzzy black head pops up over the next hill and bellows. The cattle gallop toward Motroni and her bucket, which rattles with hay cookies.

She steps into the pasture and is mobbed by her family’s cattle, the flies clustered on their backs in the late autumn heat. Cookie, the black Lowline Angus most fond of the treats, pushes to the front of the herd. The cow’s foot-long tongue curls around Motroni’s forearm, leaving bubbly trails of slobber and grass bits.

Ignoring the fresh cow patty her black boot has just stepped in, Motroni hands out cookies, then tosses the rest of the nuggets into the scrum. She swipes off her freshly slimed arm and continues naming the cattle—The Hereford, Valentino the bull, and her favorite, Nellie, named for a great-grandmother because they’re a bit alike.

“Sweet, but a little suspicious of new people,” Motroni says and wades out of the herd distributing scratches all around, oblivious to the flies and slobber and excrement.

Stephen Bradley, associate professor in the Department of Visual Arts, hauls on a braided cord connected to a white lifesaving ring that bobs on the water of the Jones Falls in Baltimore. A Doritos package, two latex gloves, a slick of oil, and some liquor bottles float nearby. And that’s just what’s visible. Other ingredients in the toxic stew flowing toward the Inner Harbor are heavy metals, fertilizer, microbes, pesticides, and sewage, as well as industrial sound pollution.

Bradley, an artist who adds video and audio sensory layers to his sculptures, pulls out his dripping hydrophones and fiddles with their connections. Then he lowers the receivers back in, to record the underwater sounds of mussels, gizzard shad, and blue crabs, along with the urban noise of HVAC systems and traffic.

Chatting away, Bradley pulls out his sketch pad to show some drawings, then licks his thumb to turn the page. He stops to grimace at his thumb, which was just mucking about in the murky water.

“Guess I shouldn’t have done that,” he says.

Making a difference in the world isn’t always a neat endeavor. Hard to keep your hands clean when you’re raising cattle humanely and safely, pulling communities together to pick up trash and make art, or hauling tons of plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean. These three Retrievers all find immense joy in work that is sometimes smelly, usually dirty, and always requires an intrepid spirit. 

Sustainability sparked Barnard’s quest

Alex Barnard wrote her UMBC honors thesis on her attempts to live sustainably in Baltimore. “Extremely challenging,” Barnard summarizes, with a wry chuckle. “It completely changed my life. I see everything through this lens now.”

For nearly 10 years, she traveled, trying to live lightly on the planet. She worked in an eco-cafe in Fiji, labored on an organic farm in Hawaii, sailed on eco-tourism voyages in the South Pacific, and biked New Zealand.

Now, she has her captain’s license and sails as a chief mate on National Geographic voyages to Costa Rica, Alaska, and Baja with Lindblad Expeditions, a company known for its green approach to travel.

Alex Barnard (top, center) poses with her team. All photos of Barnard, courtesy of Ocean Voyages Institute.

Barnard’s schedule of two months on, two months off gives her time to volunteer on the Kwai for the Ocean Voyages Institute. The institute partners with companies that turn the trash into fuel, shoes, clothing, and building blocks for construction.

Through overconsumption and improper trash disposal, humans have created five garbage patches in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, where trash is concentrated by currents. 

Courtesy of Alex Barnard and Ocean Voyages Institute.

Discarded nets and lines from fishing boats now make up 46% of the waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Dubbed “ghostnets” or “ghost gear,” the fishing waste kills marine life by the thousands—turtles and whales and dolphins tangle themselves in the nets that are tossed off fishing boats. But because oceans are vast, and the nets sink and bob in the waves, they’re difficult to find. 

“It’s not like wading through trash,” Barnard explains. “There are big spaces in between. If you were at sea level, the nets are hard to see. We could be sailing right by one and not see it until we’re past it. The plastic breaks down in UV light. A lot of it is microplastic, which is deadly to the ocean.”

Last summer, Barnard and the Kwai crew hauled 170 tons of plastic from the ocean, a fraction of the 17 billion tons dumped into the world’s waters every year. Other organizations, like Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Greenpeace, The Ocean Cleanup, and the 5 Gyres Institute, are also focusing on ghostnet removal. Many environmental groups are pushing the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, a collaborative effort by the fishing industry, NGOs, governments, and researchers to regulate plastic dumping. 

“This work is possible and successful,” Barnard says. “The idea is to show that we need more boats, a fleet of vessels doing the same thing. It feels like a starting point more than anything.”

Temporarily on land, in a remote cabin in Michigan where she’s doing some writing for Lindblad, Barnard hikes often, always with a trash bag.

“It’s my dream to go somewhere and not have to pick up trash,” Barnard says. “I could spend my whole life picking up trash everywhere I go. That’s not very efficient. It has to be bigger than just one person. But it’s better than not picking it up.”

A family farm affair

Every morning and evening, Roxann Brooks Motroni visits her cattle, not just to offer treats but to check the herd for a limp, some pinkeye, a calf that’s not thriving.

Her family started 804 Cattle Company in Upper Marlboro in 2016 with three cows. They now raise 25 cattle on 33 acres. A vet married to an agricultural business expert, Motroni works the farm with her parents, John and Chantal Brooks, both retired doctors. And while Motroni has a day job as a National Program Leader for Animal Health for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, focusing on research solutions for livestock diseases, she begins and ends her days on the farm. 

“This is a family affair. My mom is the chief cow operator. I do the vet work, my husband does the finances and handyman work,” Motroni explains, plus he’s the beekeeper.

The farm is also devoted to teaching the next generation of farmers and veterinarians. Today, two interns hoping to be veterinarians are chasing Nutmeg the goat and grooming horses. The family brings in veterans seeking help getting started in agriculture, through the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture. The farm also sells at the Capital Market, whose mission is to provide quality food, produced by businesses and farms run by people of color, to residents of Prince George’s County’s food deserts.

A Meyerhoff Scholar, Motroni quotes its motto, “To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected” and says she lives by it.

Their farm prides itself on their humane and safe practices with their cattle. The animals and their health comes first.  No hormones or steroids go into their cattle and they limit antibiotic use to only sick cows. Their chutes and corrals are designed to reduce their cattle’s stress. All animals spend all their lives on grass pastures.

The family also uses regenerative agriculture practices to improve soil health and combat climate change through carbon sequestration while limiting fertilizer and pesticide usage. Motroni crouches in the pasture to show off the shoots of radishes, hairy vetch, turnips, oats, and rye that she interplants with grass, to aerate and fix nitrogen and carbon in the soil. Plus they offer her herd fine dining.

“I didn’t know when I became a cattle farmer that I would also become a grass farmer. I’ve come to realize how magical cow poop is. Every year our pastures get better and better,” she says, laughing. “All those plant physiology classes at UMBC really served me well.”

She hikes up the hill again, squelching through the mud around a water pump.

“Wow, now you can really smell the cow,” she says and smiles at the odor and the view.

Traces of life fuel his art

As an artist, Stephen Bradley sees and hears things a little differently. From the pop of color of a blue plastic container handle to the squelching clicks of the mussels underwater, the evidence of life is fascinating to him. 

For more than 12 years, he has labored in the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay area of Baltimore, partnering with the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the National Aquarium, the local Boys and Girls Club, and the Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center to clean up the alleys and streets and to make art, from sidewalk paintings and murals to trash sculptures. 

Right now, he’s bent closely over a pier in the Inner Harbor, lowering a round lifesaver strung with microphones and chum to attract fish into the water. He occasionally catches the attention of passersby and eagerly explains his artistic vision to them.

The project that inspired his recording in the Jones Falls waterway is a collaborative biodiversity study with the National Aquarium and the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET). IMET has sunk a biodisk in the same areas Bradley is recording, to track biodiversity in the waters by collecting DNA samples. Those findings will be paired with Bradley’s recordings to provide a fuller picture of what’s living in Baltimore’s waterways. Bradley’s Inner Harbor’s soundtrack is run through a spectrograph to determine what species made the sounds, most of which can’t be heard by human ears, such as the mating songs of water bugs. 

“With these recordings, it’s almost as if I have my ear to the water,” he says. “The gift is going home and listening.”

Bradley’s portion of the IMET project, called Bio-Buggy: Ear to the Harbor, will draw attention to the harm that human-generated noise pollution inflicts on aquatic species, including disrupting mating and growth. 

In the fall, Bradley was recording at Marshy Point Nature Center and heard explosions coming from his underwater recorders, from the direction of Aberdeen Proving Ground, nearly 30 miles away. 

“Hundreds of small minnows leaped out of the water each time there was an explosion, and there were nine huge discharges,” Bradley says. But in between, he heard the complex harmonies of bubbles and critter sounds, something he calls “musical marshlands.” 

He has also built an exhibit, called the “Oh, Murky Waters Chorus,” with trash compositions, an aquarium with teeny water critters still living on one of those IMET DNA sampling biodisks, and an interactive video of microscopic creatures paired with their noises. The art installation showed at UMBC’s Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture in 2019, and Bradley hopes to exhibit it again, as a work-in-progress later in 2022. 

“The trash-filled sculptural elements in the art installation…are there to represent the stress and urgency for us as a society to gain control of our waste before we drown from it,” Bradley explains. Baltimore has taken recent steps, including banning polystyrene and taxing plastic bags, to reduce the trash in the Inner Harbor enough that if it hasn’t rained in 48 hours, according to Blue Water Baltimore, some areas are swimmable.  

At the IMET open house next spring, Bradley hopes to show a prototype of the Bio-Buggy, a mobile science and sound collection lab, which engineering students at UMBC will work to design with him as their capstone project. The Bio-Buggy exhibit will also feature Bradley’s sound compositions based on the Inner Harbor and other Chesapeake Bay recordings. 

“I have no aspiration to be a scientist, but I am inspired by science, the tools, the rigor, the process,” he says and tucks his headphones back on, listening for evidence of life in the waters. Perhaps, Bradley hopes, if people hear and see the life below the surface, they’ll pocket their Doritos packages and recycle their water bottles, instead of tossing them in the gutter for him to find later. 

People who care about change must be willing to plunge their hands deep into the mess of this world. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

— By Susan Thornton Hobby

*****

All photos courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

Jennifer Hewitt ’18, physics, didn’t know that her casual interest in reptiles would lead to a one-of-a-kind study that helps snake hunters track down Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades.

Hewitt, a doctoral candidate at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and fellow researchers at UCF CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, are using near-infrared (NIR) cameras to detect and identify Burmese pythons. The snakes, which can reach up to 26 feet in length and 200 pounds, have threatened the native species in the Everglades since they were first introduced into the region in the late 1990s by the hands of irresponsible exotic pet owners and breeders. Since then, previous studies have shown that pythons have caused a drop in the number of common native species—such as raccoons, opossums, and rabbits—by more than 90 percent.

Headshot of Hewitt in Florida. All photos courtesy of Hewitt unless otherwise noted.

Working around natural camouflage

Hewitt, who is a part of CREOL’s Infrared Systems and Imaging Group, led the python-tracking study, which was published in Applied Optics earlier this year. Her work is paving the way in decreasing the pesky python problem in the Everglades, while further advancing optics research and system design.  

The Maryland native joined the project to build off of the work that was already being done in analyzing the spectral reflectivity characterizations of pythons—which would then allow the NIR camera to effectively circumvent the python’s natural camouflage.

“We went to a local zoo and took spectral measurements of the [snake] hide so that we could take a look at their reflectivity,” said Hewitt. “We compared that to similar spectral measurements of plant life, both the living and dead, that are local to the region. We noticed that there is a pretty good contrast between the pythons and the background in the NIR starting at around 750 nanometers and longer.” At lower ranges, said Hewitt, there isn’t very much visible difference between python and plant. 

Hewitt collected images of pythons in different locations and with different background scenery. She then conducted a human perception test on volunteers to evaluate the effectiveness of the system she developed.

“For both day and night conditions, volunteers were able to detect the pythons further away with NIR than with visible imagery [basically, the naked eye]. From here, we are continuing to fine tune the camera system to further improve the detection rate,” Hewitt shared in a press release announcing her published study.

The study’s results showed that the enhanced contrast from the NIR enabled participants to detect pythons at 20 percent longer ranges than the use of visible imagery. Hewitt’s research could potentially be later used to develop automated snake detection systems.

Early beginnings in optics

Hewitt is no stranger to capturing and analyzing imaging data. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at UMBC, she worked in Eileen Meyer’s physics lab studying black hole imaging and the structure of jets emitted from the black holes. Meyer, associate professor in UMBC’s Department of Physics, advised Hewitt during her undergraduate career and immediately recognized her aptitude in understanding the physics and mathematics of interferometry, which is used in astronomy for radio-wavelength observations.

“I first noticed [Hewitt’s] aptitude in my junior optical lab course, where she wrote the most beautiful lab reports I ever saw in the course. After she joined the research group, Hewitt very quickly mastered the ‘art’ of analyzing astronomy images made at radio wavelengths,” said Meyer. “She made so many useful images for our archive that we still regularly use them today.”

Pictures of pythons taken with near-infrared (NIR) cameras.

Even though Hewitt shared that she was initially interested in being an astronomer, Meyer encouraged the young physicist to explore optics graduate programs after taking notice of her success in optics research.

“I knew right away from seeing her work in my optics lab that she had talent for research—conscientiousness, clarity of thought, and an analytical mind. I am beyond happy to see how well Hewitt is doing,” Meyers said. “I am particularly grateful that UMBC supports undergraduate research so well.”

Hewitt was a 2017 – 2018 recipient of UMBC’s Undergraduate Research Award for her work “Characterizing Hotspots of Extragalactic Jets and the Connection Between Jet Speed and Let Power.” While her current research pursuits have gone in a different direction, Hewitt shared that she “liked what I was doing in astronomy, but I very much prefer the field work that I’m doing as a more closer-to-earth scientist.”

Supporting a growing demographic in physics

Hewitt doesn’t take it lightly that she’s among the small percentage of women who have a career in physics. According to the American Institute of Physics, in 2017, women earned 21 percent of physics bachelor’s degrees and 20 percent of physics doctorates. At UCF, Hewitt said women comprised about one-third of the physics classes.

Jennifer Hewitt with tracking equipment in the field.

Hewitt’s mother, Jeanne Toussaint, works in systems engineering and shared with her daughter the drastic difference of the number of women currently in physics compared to when she was a student.

“I find myself doing the mental tally of how many of us women there are,” said Hewitt, “and my mother says that’s already far better than what I used to have. She said that maybe one or two women were in her classrooms, and sometimes she was the only one.”

Hewitt’s hoping to add to the growing demographic of women working in her industry. Her snake-tracking research will be used by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on a project that will possibly assist professional hunters with locating Burmese pythons. Her work has already garnered attention from major research entities. Hewitt was awarded a scholarship by the U.S. Air Force and will work in the Air Force’s research labs after she graduates from UCF.

“It’s going to be a huge change from what I’m currently doing because most of my research has been applied to single band imagery,” Hewitt noted. “I’m hopefully going to be using a lot of the stuff that I’ve learned for overall general system design to assist with some of the research that they’re doing in the labs.”

— Adriana Fraser

Header image: Portrait of a Burmese Python, Python bivittatus curling on a branch.
ID 153913085 © Dwiputra18 | Dreamstime.com

Life doesn’t pause when classes end and the sun goes down. Instead, students grab a cup of coffee and find a million ways to follow their interests. Whether dancing, studying over pizza, or keeping delicate plants alive in the labs—our campus is abuzz 24/7. We sent staff writer Charis Lawson ’20 and editorial interns Anna Lee ’22 and Eric Widemann ’21 off into the night with UMBC Magazine photographer Marlayna Demond ’11 to explore it all.

Especially in the Dark, UMBC Rolls On
D-Hall Basketball Court

Every evening from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., steady streams of students fill the dining hall at True Grit’s Late Night. Some come strictly for the food, others to socialize. Some come for a study break, others come to study. 

Just outside the dining hall, an entirely different scene presents itself. Playful shouts radiate from the basketball court. As night arrives, so does cool, crisp air—but students have found a way to keep warm by engaging in a hotly contested pick-up basketball game. This happens here almost every night. 

But tonight, something else is particularly eye-catching. Whizzing just above the ground, the wheels of roller skates radiate bright rainbow colors, and laughter and chatter follow the lights much in the way that sound usually follows light.

Maddie Mills-Snyder ’25 and Leah Jupiter ’25 practice their roller skating on the basketball court near True Grit’s.

“I roller skate on campus every single day, as often as I can, sometimes even to or in class,” says Maddie Mills-Snyder ’25, undecided, AKA “Rex” to the thousands of followers of her roller skating-centric Instagram. 

Skating after dark presents a unique opportunity “because that’s when we get to skate to late night with our light-up wheels,” says Mills-Snyder, sharing the court with Leah Jupiter ’25, biology, who loves the energy and cool breezes of nighttime skating. 

The basketball court near True Grit’s is home to all types of sports.

“I love learning new tricks and showing off. I love when people ask us to show them a trick. Rex and I have also created a few dances to popular songs like ‘Bad’ by Michael Jackson,” continues Jupiter. Both love this court but also take advantage of any flat surface, really—the Commons garage, or elsewhere around campus.

Both agreed the best part of skating is the community it brings. So if you’re looking to light up the night on campus, lace up your skates and you’ll be sure to find a welcoming scene.

“I love empowering other skaters,” says Mills-Snyder. 

– Eric Widemann ’21

Run for Your Life
Campus-wide

All across campus, darkness camouflages hoards of young adults chasing one another and defending themselves with Nerf darts and rolled-up socks. If that sounds like a childish game, Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) members would agree with you. HvZ members are not known for taking themselves seriously.

While many members have described HvZ as a glorified game of tag, there is a lot more to it than that, the members explain. “An average mission starts with a briefing where we learn about our mission and what we’re expected to do in order to win. Most people start ‘human’ but some start ‘zombie.’ Humans start strong and more often than not, human victory feels like it’ll be a piece of cake,” notes Henry Denny ’23, mechanical engineering. Usually, the humans have to rethink that sentiment as the hoard of zombies grows.

HvZ has a decade-long legacy on campus, organizing night missions, Saturday games, missions that span across other colleges, and even week-long missions that run 24/7. The result? A tight-knit community like no other. Kyle Mosier ’20, computer science and mathematics, M.S. ’22 computer science talks about how during the pandemic, having a group of friends to eat with several times a day on campus was so important. 

Even after the missions are complete, it doesn’t mean everything is over. They often head over to D-Hall (as their human selves, not their zombie selves) for non-brain-related snacks and to tell stories from the night and club lore, stories that have been passed down from years ago.

– Charis Lawson ’20

Bringing Your A-Game
UMBC Game Room

Whoever controls the playlist in the Game Room has queued a selection of upbeat songs, only rivaled in volume by the smacking of billiard balls and rhythmic bouncing coming from the pingpong tables. 

Tonight, more or less every billiards table is in use, and the pingpong tables are playing host to some intense rallies. Ayush Nigam ’24, computer science, plays pingpong or billiards two to three times a week and enjoys the “dark-ish warm vibe” of the space after hours.

The Game Room offers billiards, pingpong, video games, and other amusements.

Justin Nguyen ’24, biochemistry, is among the gamers, as he is many nights of the week. Around him, enthusiastic players of all sorts blow off steam with their favorite video games or practice their angles on the pool tables.

“Whenever my friends and I come [here], it’s to play pingpong. We love the competitiveness– it gets the blood flowing,” he continues. “I love hanging out with friends.”

– Eric Widemann ’21 

Late Night Pick-Me-Up
UMBC Shuttle Route

Holly Knott clutches the microphone of the CB radio on her shuttle dashboard. “319 BWI 10-8,” Knott says. It’s 6:20 p.m. and the code signals to the others working in the UMBC Transit office that her bus is in service and she is about to start her five-hour shift. 

She’s headed to BWI, a run she completes five times a night. The darkness makes it hard to know how much time has passed sometimes, but she fixes her concentration on the road before her and keeps her eyes wide open. 

“When students get on, I try to turn the music up a little bit for them.” Most nights, Knott is playing 97.1—her favorites include the classics from the ’80s and ’90s and earlier hits from the Temptations. “I tell people I’m a young person with an old soul,” Knott adds with a smile. 

Driver Holly Knott says hello to shuttle riders as she begins the night shift.

“Everybody here is very welcoming,” says Knott, who started at UMBC in August 2021. “The students, they greet you. ‘Have a good day.’ ‘Have a good night.” Some even said, ‘Be careful out there.’” 

Knott looks forward to the day the protective plastic curtain around the driver’s seat can come down and it’s safe to have prolonged conversations with some of the regulars. Until then, she finds other little ways to return the warmth. She welcomes students and makes sure she turns towards them when they board. She tries to make sure to park super close to the curb so that students have easy access to the bus.

Knott enjoys working late at night, but it’s 11:12 pm, so she leisurely drives the bus into its proper parking spot. Once again, she grabs the microphone of her CB radio. “319 BWI 10-7.” she says, indicating that the 319 bus trip to BWI has ended and the bus is no longer in service. 

– Charis Lawson ’20

Making the Rounds
Chester Hall, West Hill Apartments

It’s 10:25 p.m. and Lead Residential Assistant (RA) Hager Younes ’22, biology, is grateful to wrap up her rounds on a quiet note. Anything can happen in this job. But even when it isn’t easy, the bonds she has formed with her residents help her through—just as her former RA did for her. 

When she came to UMBC in 2018 as an out-of-state student, Younes felt isolated from friends, family, and any sense of stability. However, through the efforts of her Erickson Hall RA Princess Sara Njemanze ’21, chemical engineering, Younes soon felt welcomed and part of a community. That is why she works so hard to instill that same sense of community in her residents and her fellow RAs.

Resident Assistant Hager Younes ’22 shares a moment with her residents.

Younes loves getting creative, posting,  “Would you rather?” boards to spark hours-long conversations and organizing an on-going gathering where students drink tea, eat snacks, and just talk. 

“I feel like everyone is so human deprived. People are wanting to come to any and every event.” Younes says, commenting on the sheer turnout of events this semester. One thing that always makes the students happy? Visits from Chip, the campus comfort dog. 

“When she would come through, you could just hear doors opening down the hall.”

– Charis Lawson ’20

Studying Over Sushi
Hissho Sushi, The Commons

Late-night studying means late-night snacking. And while you’ll find students squeezing in cram sessions pretty much everywhere around campus in the wee hours, one newer option is over sashimi and California rolls.

Soft chatter fills the second floor of The Commons, as students share company and a meal with one another. The zesty scent of orange chicken fills the air and the brightly illuminated sushi refrigerator invites in curious students, especially at this hour. While by day The Commons is rather loud, the nighttime calm is the perfect environment to do some studying

Late-night sushi always hits the spot!

“I study late with friends, so it’s definitely become convenient,” says Erin Hamner ’22, geography and environmental science. 

To top it off, the staff here is so friendly—even through the masks, you can make out the smiles. 

– Eric Widemann ’21

Dance Like No One Can See You
University Center Hallway, Ground Level

UMBC’s University Center appears quiet and empty, with students retiring for the night with Chick-fil-A or Starbucks in their hands. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear the faint thump of bass and upbeat hip-hop music emanate from the first floor. Most of the building has gone to sleep, but Major Definition dances on to the beat. 

Major Def’s executive director, Timothy Huynh ’22, computer science, wasn’t sure what dance meant to him when he joined the club. But Huynh’s connection and dedication has since grown, as he now considers dance to be essential to his well-being and weekly schedule.

Major Definition turns up the bass as it takes over a hallway in the UC for a late-night practice session.

Prior to the pandemic, Major Def would meet at the UC three evenings a week. Even after their practices turned virtual, they continued working just as hard to put together concept videos in small teams. While Major Def plans on slowly getting back into the swing of things with the in-person semester, their energy remains just as contagious.

“When you’re really passionate about dance or you’re just looking forward to dancing with each other, the hours really don’t matter because they go by really quickly and you’re not even looking at the time,” says Huynh. 

The club’s practices take place in an uplifting, supportive environment where teammates offer feedback to one another and embrace each other’s unique styles. From quick twists and turns, hand gestures, facial expressions, and smooth movements from head to toe, the dancers are precise and tell stories of their own.

While Major Definition found a way to stay connected virtually during the pandemic, they’re excited to practice in person again.

After practice, dancers form a circle and put their hands in for a chant before dismissal. Later, you might see the team stay back to chat with each other, show off their new choreography, or head out to grab some bubble tea. 

“Even if you don’t see yourself growing in terms of dance, your other teammates can see it. And it’s really beautiful being able to see that progression,” Huynh says.

– Anna Lee ’22

Midnight Melodies
Fine Arts, Room 306

A single voice enchants you. Despite being faint, almost whisked away by the wind, the voice is clear. Another voice joins the first and then another until a whole group of voices are expertly switching from synchronization to harmonization, each moment a new voice coming to the forefront. Sonia Anger ’22, mathematics and psychology, with her clear soprano, blends with the talents around her. 

The Cleftomaniacs made a name for themselves when they placed first in the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. When Anger got involved with the co-ed performance group her first year at UMBC, the club was the breath of fresh air she needed. 

After a year spent serving with Americorps, Anger felt disconnected from her peers, but from the moment she auditioned, despite her own anxiety, she could see how welcoming and friendly the group was and she wanted to be a part of it. Anger talks about the Cleftomaniacs like the group is her own family. While they spend a lot of time together outside of club activities, performing is her favorite part.

Harmonies blend and echo as the Cleftomaniacs practice their songs in Fine Arts, Room 306

When the group splits up to work on individual voice parts late at night, she frequently finds herself practicing in empty classrooms, hallways, and stairwells of ITE. Afterward, she often walks with her friends to the dorms or Late Night at True Grit’s only to continue singing. 

“We would be singing outside of SUS [Susquehanna dorm] in the middle of December and people would be like, ‘You know you can go inside right?’ but we were stubborn and we just wanted to have fun,” says Anger.

– Charis Lawson ’20

Eyes to the Stars
UMBC Observatory and Lawn

It’s easy in an academic environment to keep your head in a book—or more likely, in front of a screen. The Astronomy Club, however, asks you to look up.

“I love taking walks at night around campus– it is very freeing.” says Tara O’Donnell ’24, physics. As she looked up into the night sky, O’Donnell—president of the Astronomy Club— and fellow members found solace in the vast cosmos. Despite loving the atmosphere of campus at night and the view of the stars and the moon, most of her first year at UMBC was virtual. “My experience was sitting in my room doing classes through Blackboard, so my opportunity to connect more fully with the UMBC community was through the Astronomy Club,” says O’Donnell.

Now the Astronomy Club once again meets in person, and their meetings range from discussing major space news like the Perseverance landing on Mars or making use of the telescope in the observatory on top of the Physics building to playing games like Jeopardy, watching movies, and hosting special guests and debates.

The Astronomy Club has maintained a thriving community. Late into the night, you can find O’Donnell and her friends looking up into the sky contemplating ideas as big as the universe itself. 

– Charis Lawson ’20

Burning the Midnight Oil
Biological Sciences Building, Hua Lu Lab

When the sun has gone down, plants are just as active as they are during the day. Like humans, they have an internal clock that prompts responses to environmental stimuli such as light, temperature, and unwanted visitors like pathogens. If left unaddressed, these pathogens can be detrimental to plant health and reduce crop yield in agricultural fields. In UMBC’s Biological Sciences building, the members of Professor Hua Lu’s lab study the role of the circadian clock in plant defense against these outside invaders.

That explains the brown, cushiony sofa to the side of the room. Because students have had to monitor the plants every four hours for previous projects, Lu’s office has become the go-to snooze spot for overnight stays. Jessica Allison, a graduate student at the Lu lab, even remembers finding a sleeping bag under her desk after joining the team. 

Graduate Jessica Allison tends to the flora in the Hua Lu Lab.

The plants that Allison and the other lab members use in their research, thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), seem to sit peacefully in the large chambers they’re stored in. But much more is happening beneath the surface of these wispy, flowering plants.

For her project, Allison regularly conducts a process called a luminescence assay where 96 thale cress seedlings are first planted into a well plate. The plates are then placed into chambers, where the plants are only exposed to light. Allison finally examines how the absence of dark conditions affects plants’ circadian clocks.

Even after the lab members have gone home, this process continues to run throughout the night. The next day, Allison uses a machine called a plate reader once an hour to check the plates for gene expression patterns—graphs that depict the activity of the plants’ internal clocks.

“We test a lot of genes like that, and we knock out some genes and see if it affects others. We let that run 24/7,” Allison explains.

For now, Allison hasn’t had to stay overnight to check up on the plants on a set schedule. But she expects to be making good use of the couch when the time comes.

– Anna Lee ’22

All-Nighters Welcome
Retriever Learning Center, Albin O. Kuhn Library

At 8 p.m. as the rest of the library closes for the night, students begin heading to the 24/7 Retriever Learning Center (RLC). The white lights of the RLC beam down on notebooks and bright laptop screens. Students clack away at their keyboards and scribble down notes from the formula-ridden whiteboards beside them. Some have earphones in, dedicated to finishing the assignment due at midnight, while others study all night in larger groups to tackle content for an upcoming exam.

Peer through the windows of the Retriever Learning Center, and you’ll see learning happening 24/7.

Among them are information systems majors Ahsan Baig ’24, Devanshi Patel ’24, Emilien Tchuosi ’24, and Nazim Elliott ’22, who are working on a group project for their information systems class. Baig loves the fact that you don’t have to whisper here. The RLC’s whiteboards and portable chairs are also a plus, as the group mentions how practical they are for studying. Tchuosi especially appreciates having a place where she feels compelled to get work done.

“I come here on a daily basis just because it pressures me to study…. So when I come here, I actually study instead of watching YouTube videos,” Tchuosi says, eliciting laughter from her group mates.

Shawn Parker, a building manager at the library, is dedicated to making the RLC more secure and conducive to student learning. With students as a top priority, Parker works to provide accessible furniture and ensure students’ safety within the building. This was also students’ vision for the RLC when plans for an accessible learning space began in 2006. With support from the university, the overnight learning center became a reality. 

Parker hopes that the center can continue equipping students with the resources to collaborate on all sorts of projects. 

“It’s a brighter day for students when they’re listened to and understood. But most importantly, you have to hear what they’re saying to understand what they’re asking for. And that’s what I try to do best,” says Parker. 

– Anna Lee ’22

*****

All photos taken by Marlayna Demond

In Baltimore City, middle schoolers are making roller coasters out of insulation tubing and tape. High schoolers are dunking basketballs to learn math equations. And not too far away at UMBC, the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars are prepping to spread even more innovative, inclusive lessons throughout city schools.

The Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program began in the fall of 2007 thanks to the generosity of philanthropists George and Betsy Sherman. The goal of the program is to ​​support scholars to become culturally responsive and compassionate STEM educators in historically underserved, urban schools.

George and Betsy Sherman at the celebration of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program 30th anniversary in 2019. Photo by Jim Berger.

“They’re working in the school buildings that people tend to shy away from because they’ve got those ‘bad kids’ or they don’t have a lot of resources. Our scholars are gravitating to those spaces,” says program director Rehana Shafi.

George Sherman passed away earlier this year but the legacy he left continues to be felt in the lives of the scholars who bear his name. Fourteen years later, the program supports 80 current scholars who will one day join the 140 program alumni who are teaching in high needs schools in Baltimore and throughout the region. All scholars receive scholarships towards their education as well as advising and coaching to embody the Sherman Program’s values.

Putting the fun in active learning

Ben Davis ’11, biological sciences, M.A.T. ’13, was one of the first Sherman scholars to enter the workforce. Today he is teaching at KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore, where he tries to make sure his middle school science students do one hands-on project a week like making the roller coasters out of household materials or dissecting sharks or frogs. “The kids are able to use scalpels and surgical scissors and… look inside and see what’s going on, [asking] is this similar to what we see in a human or is this different?” says Davis.

Davis on campus with a group of his students. Photo courtesy of Davis.

Davis has also started a summer program to get middle-school girls onto the UMBC campus to attend college courses and engage in lab work like discovering a virus, sequencing its DNA, and even naming it. “They’re building that skill of optimism and grit and growth mindset,” he says.

Sherman scholar Maria Packard ’19, mathematics, M.A.T. ’20, meanwhile, is at Green Street Academy in Baltimore challenging the stigma that math is boring. She has her 11^th graders shooting basketball hoops for extra points, giving Algebra 2 an unexpectedly exciting and competitive edge for students she cherishes.

Both Davis’ and Packard’s jobs were made possible through connections made in the Sherman Program. Davis also credits Shafi and other Sherman staff with giving him much-needed support and guidance. “[Shafi] was the person really there every step of the way—she was there for me no matter if it was something that had to do with teaching or science or life,” he says.

Connecting with different lived experiences

Shafi has been with the program since its beginning, guiding it as it evolved from smaller to larger cohorts of students who are likely to teach in urban or other historically underserved schools. To prepare scholars for this, the Sherman Program requires applied learning experiences or volunteering in local classrooms. The program also provides coursework that helps scholars reflect on their own cultural lens and to understand the historical context of schooling in Baltimore. Experiences like this make space for scholars to embrace the humility required to listen to “kids whose own lived experiences are generally different from their own,” says Shafi.

That aspect of cultural humility and social responsibility is what drew Haleemat Adekoya ’22, political science, to UMBC. “I can’t engage my student in academics if I’m not engaging their mind and their soul,” says Adekoya, who plans to be an elementary school teacher who nurtures her students’ identities. “I’m not going to just start talking to you and teaching you—I cannot push you to where I think you should be or your biggest potential without engaging your community and the communities you come from,” she says.

Helping the Sherman scholars reach their own potential was important to George Sherman, says Shafi, and part of that is the scholarship money that helps keep scholars focused on learning. “He profoundly cared about people and their ability to be successful,” she says.

Today, the people in the Sherman program help each other succeed in a close-knit community, Packard says. Alumni get together to chat, discuss books on social issues, and support each other with advice in a challenging field.

Adekoya, student member of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, is optimistic about her future and that of the program. “I see the legacy of the Sherman program as a seed—it’s been planted and people will continue to water that seed…it will be one of those trees in a folk tale that does not die out because the community and the people who have benefited from its impact see the importance of that tree living beyond generations,” she says.

—  Karen Stysley

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Header image of Adekoya in the classroom, courtesy of the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program.