Since 2009, as part of its Alumni Awards celebration, the UMBC Alumni Association names one “Rising Star” recipient each year who exemplifies early career and professional achievement. Prior to our October 2021 award ceremony, we’re spending some time with awardees from the past decade to see where they are now—and how they’ve grown in their fields while maintaining ties to UMBC. In this installment, UMBC Rising Stars Alicia Wilson ’04, political science, Nicole DeBlase ’06, financial economics, and Lauren Mazzoli Zavala ’15, computer science and mathematics, M.S. ’17, computer science, discuss their leadership roles in economic development, finance, and engineering and their concerted efforts to make these career paths more available to women and other underrepresented communities.

“If a woman sets the table, everyone wants to pull up a seat,” says Alicia Wilson ’04, political science. “It’s important for women to set the table—to be in positions of leadership—so they can build a strong team.”

Indeed, the following Rising Star Alumni Award recipients have not just set the table, they’ve helped build it.

UMBC Magazine sat down virtually with three powerhouse women to discuss how their time as UMBC students and scholars impacted their professional trajectories, and how they’re paving the way for the next generation of leaders.

Training up leaders

Economic development, finance, and engineering aren’t career paths traditionally associated with women (yes, even in 2021), however with concerted efforts to recruit, train, and retain young, female graduates—especially those coming out of smaller or lesser-known schools—the tides have been turning. UMBC’s constellation of programs that lift up underrepresented populations in tech or community development have well-situated Retrievers who want to make an impact on the world as well as closer to home. 

It’s no accident that a determining factor in who receives the Rising Star Award is someone who demonstrates ongoing involvement and support of UMBC, its students, and alumni.

Wilson, DeBlase, and Zavala are just three of the many success stories coming out of Hilltop Circle and their professional expertise, personal commitment to being viewed as leaders, and overall drive are more than evident, even over a Zoom call.

Opening doors

While their professional successes are evident, the personal successes of these Rising Stars are, in part, intertwined. Seeing firsthand the importance of strong leadership and being a part of a student body where academics are celebrated (“At UMBC, it’s cool to be smart,” says Wilson with a laugh), all three women have made it a point to open doors for other students who may not have taken the traditional route to careers in economics or engineering.

“I feel like I had to work a little harder to make it happen for myself on Wall Street,” says Nicole DeBlase ’06, financial economics, a managing director and lead analyst for Deutsche Bank, focusing specifically on U.S. multi-industry and electrical equipment. “Coming from a non-Ivy League school, I had to exercise my muscles to get my foot in the door. Because of that, I make it a point to help recruit people from state schools, knowing that talent and skill can come from anywhere. I feel like I’ve had a bit of an impact in that way.”

DeBlase visiting Oshkosh, a company she covers that makes defense vehicles, among other things. Photo courtesy of DeBlase.

The act of paying it forward is not a new concept for UMBC alumni, and each of these Retrievers emphasizes that “community” isn’t just a word splashed across the university’s homepage, but rather a way of life for students and alumni, and something university President Freeman Hrabowski actively nurtures.

“I had never eaten lunch with a university president before Dr. Hrabowski,” remembers Wilson, who was a Sondheim Public Affairs scholar and is now the vice president of economic development at the Johns Hopkins University and Health Systems. “I thought to myself how this must be a special place, because that’s far beyond what I would imagine someone in that position caring about—what some 17-year-old kid from the city thinks.”

In 2018, Wilson was the keynote speaker at the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation’s Girls Who Rule the World summit. Photo courtesy of Wilson.

Wilson’s Baltimore roots are serving her well. In her current role, she leads the development and implementation of Hopkins’ institution-wide strategies and initiatives both within the United States and abroad through investments in real estate, economic and neighborhood development, healthcare, and education.

A school that invests in its students to ensure their personal successes is something worth celebrating, says Wilson, 2009 Rising Star recipient—and it’s perhaps what UMBC most prides itself on.

Lauren Mazzoli Zavala agrees.

Zavala, right, with her mentee Priyanka Ranade ’18, M.S. ’19, information systems, at Northrop Grumman. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.

“The time I spent in UMBC’s Cyber Scholars Program prepped me for the reality that teamwork and collaboration are essential in this industry,” says Zavala,’15, computer science and mathematics, M.A. ’17, computer science. “You can never go into a room with an ego because you can always expect to learn from other people around you. That’s something I quickly picked up as a UMBC scholar and it’s been critical to how I approach my work at Northrop.”

Zavala, who received the Rising Star award in 2017, is now a software engineering manager at Northrop Grumman where she and her team oversee cyber missions as they relate to American troops in different parts of the world.

Showing up

Zavala, far left, at Northrop’s Cyber Security Raspberry Pi Competition hosted by Northrop Grumman for UMBC Students. Photo courtesy of Zavala.

The Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) is a primary example of the investment made in UMBC’s students’ future, in this case, the future of women in technological careers. Established in July 1998 to catapult women’s full participation in all aspects of information technology, CWIT expanded its scope in 2006 to include engineering majors as well. Zavala knows firsthand the importance a scholarship program like CWIT has on an entire student body.

“The Cyber Scholars Program was invaluable to me as a junior,” she adds. “Its partnership with CWIT, as well as Northrop Grumman and other leading companies in cybersecurity, provided students with the network and resources needed to build important connections.”

In a space typically dominated by white men, Zavala remembers joining a group of women to participate in a cyber competition. Though they didn’t end up winning, the lasting memory of being present and bringing some much-needed diversity to the space stayed with her.

“The worst we can do is fail,” she says, emphasizing the importance of showing up and trying. “In my career today, I’m constantly learning from other people, and that includes interns. We’ll lean on them for their creative solutions to very real deadlines and challenges we have to meet at Northrop every day.”

Talented trailblazing

Modeling good leadership results in good leadership, and ultimately, it’s what drives DeBlase, Zavala, and Wilson within their respective jobs—excellence recognizing excellence.

DeBlase on her first CNBC appearance. Photo courtesy of DeBlase.

“I run a team of four associates, and we have a 50/50 ratio of women versus men,” says DeBlase, who is heavily involved with Deutsche Bank’s recruitment process and is keen on creating opportunities for individuals who have taken a less traditional approach to reaching Wall Street. “Looking for the most talented person to fill a seat is critical, which is why it’s important to seek out those women applicants.”

Programs like Women on Wall Street—perhaps not coincidentally run by Deutsche Bank—allows DeBlase, the 2015 Rising Star awardee, to be up front and center in the recruiting process, ensuring that equal opportunity is given across the board. 

In her previous position, recruitment of talented women started early. “When I was at Morgan Stanley, there was a whole initiative around recruiting women,” DeBlase adds. We’d start at the sophomore level and actually do campus outreach.”

Despite the personal successes each woman has experienced in the workforce, there is still larger work to be done, particularly in light of the numerous challenges women have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There needs to be an evolution with work-life balance and work flexibility to allow women to feel like a career on Wall Street is more sustainable,” says DeBlase. “It’s still challenging for women who enter more senior roles. In a way, COVID has helped my workplace realize that there are opportunities for employees to work from home and strike a healthier work-life balance.”

In a perfect world, a trailblazer won’t be categorized by their gender, but rather by their innovation, talent, and dedication to creating a more inclusive society. Until then, however, it’s programs like CWIT, the Sondheim Program, and Women on Wall Street that will drive change that is both tangible and significant, as seen through the work of these three Rising Stars

With women like Zavala, Wilson, and DeBlase at the helm, change might come sooner than anticipated.

 — Nikoletta Gjoni ’09

Read more about other Retrievers rising together and stay tuned for more information about UMBC’s 32nd annual Alumni Awards in October.

Since 2009, as part of its Alumni Awards celebration, the UMBC Alumni Association names one “Rising Star” recipient each year who exemplifies early career and professional achievement. In the coming weeks, we will spend some time with awardees from the past decade to see where they are now—and how they’ve grown in their fields while maintaining ties to UMBC. In this installment, UMBC Rising Stars Isaac Kinde’05, M13, biological sciences, and Christopher Valentino ’02, M.S. ’06, information systems,discuss their roles in the healthcare and defense industries, respectively. Both alumni discovered their passion for their work while at UMBC and aim to harness technology to protect us from disease and cyber warfare.

As we embrace life in a technologically immersive world—scrolling out of habit or relying on a life-saving medical device—there’s a common question many of us have about the tech we’ve come to depend on: How can we best harness it to protect us? From malware and scams, but also from disease and unnecessary pain?

Two UMBC graduates, who previously received Rising Star alumni awards, are diligently working to create and influence technology that innovates and protects us.  

Protecting lives with early detection technology

Isaac Kinde ’05, M13, biological sciences, is advancing healthcare technologies that work to protect people from possibly fatal diseases. Kinde is co-founder and vice president for technology assessment at Thrive, an Exact Sciences Company. Thrive was recently acquired by Exact Sciences for up to $2.15 billion assuming successful completion of certain milestones, says Kinde. He and his team work to save lives threatened by cancer by creating early detection technologies.

Kinde at work in his lab at Thrive Early Detection in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo courtesy of Kinde.

“There’s two million cancer cases in the U.S. annually and 70 percent of those cases don’t have a screening test available,” says Kinde. “If you can find cancers earlier, particularly in the earliest stages, survival can be as high as 90 percent or greater. The technology that my company is developing really leverages decades of research into how cancers work, their biology, as well as method developments in order to exploit that biology.”

Getting an early start

Since being named a Rising Star alum in 2014, Kinde received his M.D.-Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was named one of Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 “Rising Stars Transforming Science and Health.” Kinde also received The Daily Record’s Innovator of the Year award in 2015.

While at UMBC as a Meyerhoff Scholar, Kinde’s appreciation for research blossomed. He said that his first research mentor, Michael Summers, a professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department, influenced his love of research after spending a summer in his lab. “I just got hooked and I just didn’t stop doing research. It was a continuous effort until I graduated,” Kinde recalls.

Kinde speaking at the 2014 Alumni Award ceremony, and pictured with President Hrabowski, Mike Summers, and Kenneth Pittman ’80. All photos courtesy of the Alumni Association, unless otherwise noted.

It was his doctoral work at the Vogelstein Lab at Hopkins that helped to propel the technological initiatives at Thrive. “We set out to apply the latest and greatest technologies to identify cancers in their earliest stages. It took new method creation. We had to develop new technologies in order to find the earliest signs of cancer in routine clinical specimens,” Kinde says.

The future of cancer detection technology 

Thus, came about the creation of CancerSEEK, a blood test that has shown the ability to detect 65 percent of cancers prior to clinically evident metastasis in individuals without any history of the disease. Kinde noted that a test like CancerSEEK can detect multiple cancers from a single test and do so in real time.

“There was the prototype version [of CancerSEEK] that our academic lab published. Then there was another prototype version that our company collaborated with Hopkins in order to demonstrate how we could work in a real-world setting,” says Kinde. “It’s the first of its kind to demonstrate real world detection and intervention of cancers. We’re preparing to get FDA approval, to do the full clinical validation of the CancerSEEK test.”

Kinde, second from left, with his roommates Andy Windsor, Seth Miller, and Kenneth Gibbs, all fellow Meyerhoff Scholars, at a graduation celebration in 2005. Photo courtesy of Kinde.

Kinde recalls the moment he saw successful Black Americans who were in the top M.D.-Ph.D. programs and top graduate programs while he studied at UMBC as an influential factor in his career progression. In fact, UMBC undergraduate alumni who identify as African American have gone on to pursue and earn more M.D.-Ph.D.s than alumni from any other institution across the country, largely in thanks to the support from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

“To me, that said, ‘well, why can’t I do that too?’ As I’ve progressed in my career, it’s the lesson that I remember. It’s something that I want to help future generations of people by being that example that they can look to.”

Valentino with his family at the 2012 Alumni Award ceremony.

Cybersecurity at the highest levels

Christopher Valentino ’02, M.S. ’06, information systems management, has more than two decades of expertise in domestic and global cybersecurity, which began during his undergraduate tenure at UMBC. Valentino spent 24 years working with Northrop Grumman Corp., a global aerospace and defense technology company, and its predecessor companies. 

He started working at Northrop as an intern—working in what he called the “cyber mailroom”—and worked his way up. When he received the UMBC Alumni Association’s Rising Star award in 2012, Valentino was the then-director of contract research and development at Northrop.

“I had a parallel experience of working and going to school at the same time,” says Valentino, “while I was also starting a family. There are things I learned at UMBC as a student that I would not have learned anywhere else. The bottom line is UMBC is a really hard school. And it’s very underappreciated until you actually show up and become part of the institution, and go through the rigor that’s there.”

A leader in influencing cyberspace infrastructures 

Nearly 10 years since being named a UMBC rising star, Valentino now serves as the chief strategy officer at Peraton, a next-generation national security company that provides technology solutions to space and intelligence, cyber mission, defense and security, and civil and health customers. Peraton acquired Northrop’s IT services business in February 2021 when Valentino transitioned into being the point person for shaping the future of the company.

“Peraton is a national security company focused on providing capabilities and solutions across the Department of Defense intelligence community—federal, civilian, and Homeland Security. I am responsible for operationalizing our strategy across those businesses,” Valentino says.

Valentino’s work emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity protection at the highest levels. While in his role as vice president of information warfare and cyber survivability at Northrop, Valentino shared insight on how some of the most powerful warfare structures in our country, such as the military and aerospace defenses, work to approach information warfare and how they keep our protections secure in the face of international threats on the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast last June. 

Valentino speaks at the 2012 Alumni Award ceremony.

“You train as you fight. In this domain, things move fast and things can change. You have to know the right environments to be able to train your mission operators,” Valentino told podcast host Vago Muradian. “From an exercise perspective, you would always go out and train, train, train and then execute. It’s the same thing in information warfare.”

The past, present, and future of tech 

In his long tenure in the cyber security field, Valentino is able to appreciate innovative technological protections while understanding that these advancements are interconnected with all the efforts of past researchers.

“The one thing that I can appreciate from being in the industry now for over two decades is that there’s repetition and then there’s innovation in the seams between the repetition,” says Valentino. “There’s a lot of concepts that were new 20-plus years ago that will still be new 20 years from now. Artificial intelligence is probably one that I would point to and say, 20 years ago, we were doing research and trying to apply technologies, and two decades later, we’re still working to operationalize that technology.”

Valentino with Provost Philip Rous, Aryya Gangopadhyay, information systems chair, and Bennett Moe ’88 at the 2012 Alumni Award Ceremony.

Threat protection

Valentino and Kinde’s efforts have created an impactful ripple effect in our understanding of how technology can protect us from threats. Kinde’s work in early detection technology is on track to save more lives ahead of a cancer diagnosis that can be fatal. One blood test may have the potential to accurately detect a variety of different cancers. Valentino, on the other hand, is continuing to fortify the infrastructure and systems that protects our land, air, space, and digital domains from threats. 

Whether it be a threat against our immune systems or a threat to our cyber safety, these former UMBC rising stars are raising the bar and redefining what protections in technology look like. 

— Adriana Fraser

Read more about other Retrievers rising together and stay tuned for more information about UMBC’s 32nd annual Alumni Awards in October.