One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• James Smalls, visual arts, discusses why students responded to his class on race, gender, and sexuality in the Star Trek universes
• Thomas Scaller, political science, comments on the challenges Kristin Beck will face in her run to become the Democratic nominee for Maryland’s 5th District’s congressional seat
• UMBC’s Kinetic Sculpture Race team displayed the Kraken and upcycled percussion at Artscape
• John Rennie Short, School of Public Policy, says cities are the ideal stage for developing policies and practices of sustainability
• Sunil Dasgupta, political science, says World powers are established through norms and institutions instead of superior capabilities over others
• UMBC’s Bits and Bytes program is mentioned in an article about the decreasing number of women in computing majors UMBC hosts Project Lead the Way, which shows K-12 educators how to better teach STEM subjects
• UMBC is participating in the Urban Water Innovation Network
• Dennis Coates, economics, writes about the impact of sports stadiums on local economics
• LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow joined Secretary Arne Duncan and a panel of educators at UMBC to discuss the future of higher education
• Dr. Hrabowski remembers civil rights activist Julian Bond as “a symbol of hope.”

Read more at UMBC Insights!