Congratulations to these UMBC alums whose accomplishments have reached the media. Take a moment to read what they’ve been up to!

Greg Cantori, ’84, geography, has recently turned heads on the road, in the office, and in his local police station.

After purchasing a velomobile (an enclosed bike that resembles a pedal-powered submarine), Cantori has forgotten about his car for his ride to work. Every morning, he makes the one-hour ride to work, with the occasional stop to speak with a curious police officer to explain why the velomobile is legal and how it works. “It’s so aerodynamic,” he says to The Baltimore Sun. “You can ride longer distances with the same amount of energy.” While the parking at work may not be ideal for such a newfangled mode of transportation, his office has been creative with the new addition, using its sound system and decorating it for Christmas. Find out more here, or watch a video.

Kim Berghaus, ’14, physics, earned her second career America East All-Academic Team award on May 23, 2014, after maintaining a 3.84 grade-point average in her major, physics, and her two minors, economics and mathematics.

During three of her seven semesters here at UMBC, Berghaus held a 4.0 GPA and received the athletic department’s Matt Skalsky Female Outstanding Scholar-Athlete award, which goes to the highest-performing scholar-athlete. You can read more about her accomplishments and plans for the future here.

Michael Tully,’97, cinematic arts, released his movie Ping Pong Summer on May 31 at the Carroll County Arts Center.

Starring Susan Sarandon, Lea Thompson, Amy Sedaris, and John Hannah, the movie was staged in Ocean City and follows an annual family vacation, which is interrupted by a ping pong challenge with the local bullies. “We really tried to make it feel like a lost film from 1985,” says Tully in his interview with the Carroll County Times. The film is to be released in 20 theaters across the country starting Friday, June 6, including AMC Owings Mills, the AFI theater in Silver Spring, and the Charles Theater in Baltimore. To find out more about Tully’s new film, read the article here.

Ayobami “Ayo” Olufadeji, ’11, biological science, was born and raised in Nigeria. Now, a student at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Olufadeji is looking back to his hometown.

In a heartfelt essay, Olufadeji writes of the political history of Nigeria and the current unrest, while speaking in terms of hope for his country. “Effective positive change in Nigeria has always been my goal,” he says in his essay for 32 Hours, a news network for Dartmouth. “Medicine happens to be my means.” Read his full essay here.

Once upon a time, Omolola Eniola-Adefeso ’99, chemical engineering, was on track to attend medical school. But she became a chemical engineer instead – so she could better attack problems such as her number one target: heart disease.

Eniola-Adefeso, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, investigates radical ways of delivering medicine that could prove efficient and effective than current practice. And she may succeed because she is thinks like an engineer – and not a doctor. Eniola-Adefeso came to Maryland from her native Nigeria the age of 16. She began her studies at Catonsville Community College, before transferring to UMBC, where she met the late Janice Lumpkin, an African-American chemical engineering professor. Lumpkin not only guided her student into a field where her passion for technology and medicine could intersect, but also helped her become a member of the first class of UMBC students in the Minority Access to Research Careers program.

After graduating from UMBC, she took a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Her scholarship for graduate studies there was actually named after Lumpkin – who also attended Penn and died tragically after childbirth in 1997.

In 2006, Eniola-Adefeso (pronounced ah-DAY-feso and known to everyone as “Lola”) joined the faculty at Michigan where her lab seeks ways to create and use miniscule synthetic pellets to mimic white blood cells and deliver medicine more efficiently.

Read the full story in the Fall 2011 issue of UMBC Magazine.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.