The other morning at breakfast, I told my son I could draw an infinite line on two sides of a single piece of paper. He, of course, scoffed. So, I found a scrap sheet, made a half twist of the paper, added a crucial piece of tape, and proceeded to blow his mind with his very first Möbius strip.

Now, am I equipped to explain why a Möbius strip works the way it works? I am not. But, did I open the door to a “whoa!” moment—and the possibility of him finding it out for himself? Absolutely.

Every day at UMBC, you’ll find plenty of “whoa” moments—occasions of curiosity and delight that challenge minds and broaden perspective—across the disciplines. And best of all, these moments can happen to anyone, anywhere, because we’re all about opening doors here.

One great example is quantum, a timely topic—and “the future of Maryland,” as our governor puts it. We have amazing alums harnessing this information to build secure communications and ultra-precise sensing, but they—like all of us—started out as curious students. They just needed to show up and have their minds blown!

An eye-opening moment at Artscape brought our cover-story subject Nema Robinson to UMBC in a roundabout way—now, she is poised to be the full-circle door-opener to a new generation of music students. And what could be more whoa-inducing than being able to build whatever you might dream up in a campus makerspace or to collectively flex your imagination with friends through long-term gaming communities?

I recently celebrated a pretty major milestone at UMBC—my 20-year work anniversary. And in that time, I have experienced a bunch of personal “whoa” moments, many of which I have had the honor of sharing right here. So many Retrievers have opened my eyes—and now, as my work at UMBC evolves, it’s my turn to open a door of my own.

I am happy to share that starting with this fall’s issue, managing editor Randianne Leyshon ’09 will be taking on the mantle of editor of UMBC Magazine. She is smart, kind, and curious, and I am so happy for her—and for all of you, who will benefit from her excellent editorial leadership going forward.

Thank you for sharing so much of yourselves with me over the years, dear Retrievers. I look forward to seeing you around campus!

Could you get UMBC President (and head Retriever) Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, to say “Woof! Woof! Woof!?”

Dan Bailey and Lee Boot, the visionaries behind the Imaging Research Center (IRC), did it early in UMBC’s 50th anniversary campaign.

Bailey is a professor of Visual Arts who recently retired as director of the IRC. Boot is an affiliate associate professor of visual arts who became the new director of the center this past fall. Together, they lent their talents to creating a video that challenged UMBC alumni, students, faculty, and staff to be one of the hundreds of Retrievers who would reach out to the more than 70,000 UMBC alumni and spread the word about the university’s anniversary.

When the two men got UMBC’s president in front of the camera last year, they asked him about one of the university’s call-and-response athletic cheers: “UM! BC! UM! BC! UM! BC! Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Bailey managed to get Hrabowski to say it. Just as a warm up. But the warm up made the cut, and ended up being one of the highlights of the video. And UMBC’s president has led the cheer often in the months that have followed.

The video also proved to be a success. UMBC found the hundreds of volunteers it needed to attract the thousands of alumni who have turned up at numerous events to celebrate UMBC’s 50th anniversary – especially the daylong celebration on September 17, 2016 that we chronicle in this commemorative issue of UMBC Magazine.

The IRC has been one of the key partners in the UMBC50 effort from beginning to end, from their work on a new campus storytelling portal Retriever Stories, through the video shoot, and even in dazzling time-lapse video work by Bailey to document the construction of the stage for the 50th anniversary celebration and the delightful mix of sounds from the UMBC Symphony. It is a sample of Bailey’s work that you see on the cover of this issue.

The IRC is one of the most-celebrated engines of research innovation on UMBC’s campus. Among its many projects are collaborations with renowned Baltimore political cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, (“US Democrazy”) and UMBC professor of history Anne Rubin (“Sherman’s March”). They have also created important (and deeply researched) three-dimensional digital windows into the history of early Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Their latest project is MUSE: Mapping UMBC’s Social Engagement – a visual mapping of UMBC’s engaged scholarship and service activity in the Baltimore area, built with a new IRC software called MapTu, which combines geographic mapping, concept diagramming, and media hosting.

Bailey and Boot were among the hundreds who answered the call to help tell UMBC’s story to thousands of alumni. This issue of the magazine shows the impact that the work of these hundreds had over the past few years of planning and preparation for the 50th anniversary celebration.

The reward? All the stories from UMBC alumni you will read in these pages about how, together, we built a university on a hilltop that shines brightly through our region, our state, and far beyond.

— Richard Byrne ’86

* Listening to Robert Burchard, emeritus professor of biology, talk about launching a research lab in the earliest days of the university, with basic equipment at UMBC and the use of more specialized equipment at USDA labs in Beltsville: “The most important thing in my toolkit was a microscope,” he said. “I was asking interesting questions. I adapted.”

* Talking with Marilyn Demorest, emerita professor of psychology, who was delighted by a question about UMBC students. “We had the thrill of working with some really fine undergraduates,” she said, “who self-selected into our research teams and laboratories.”

* Sharing a table with Phillip Sokolove (who took his Ph.D. at Harvard University) at UMBC’s annual commencement dinner, and watching the emeritus professor of biology beam with pride as UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III introduced Victoria D’Souza ’02, Ph.D., biochemistry and molecular biology as the first UMBC alumna to be tenured at Harvard University.

* Hearing Walter Sherwin and Jay Freyman – emeritus professors of ancient studies – talk about their collaboration with students and staff in 1969 on a musical (Keep the Peace, Baby) based on their joint translation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. “The play was funny as all get out,” says Freyman, recalling that Myrrhina’s seduction of her husband Cinesias to entice him to commit to making peace was done as a striptease.

* Talking with Joan Korenman, emerita professor of English and women’s studies, and founder of the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). “When I think of what was important to me during my career at UMBC,” she told me. “Women’s studies and information technology, The necessity I felt to combine those. At many universities, I don’t think I could have worked in those areas and done what I did. It says something about UMBC that they were open to all of this.”

* Sitting with Willie Lamousé-Smith, emeritus professor of Africana studies, as he spun stories about academic governance past and present. Lamousé-Smith was tremendously eloquent about the difficult road one must traverse to achieve knowledge: “If you want to put the discipline of learning into yourself, or into somebody, you have to cultivate asceticism in yourself. That is what I try to put into my students. Self-cultivated asceticism. So you can focus and do the work. And that is uncomfortable.”

I invite you to tell us your story at Retriever Stories (retrieverstories.umbc.edu) and I also invite you to return to campus to participate in the 50^th Anniversary celebration September 16-19, 2016. See page six of this issue for a full guide to the weekend’s festivities – and check out our 50^th anniversary website (50.umbc.edu) for all the events associated with this milestone event.

— Richard Byrne ’86

What’s your UMBC story? And what part does your UMBC story play in the narrative of a pioneering university that is now 50 years old?

So much of what we have learned at UMBC Magazine over the seven years that we have been publishing has come from exploring both of those questions.

Sometimes it’s a profile of an alumna or an alumnus doing amazing things in their lives. It’s also the stories about the breakthroughs that our faculty make in – and across – disciplines, or their innovations in teaching that help UMBC students succeed in learning and growing as scholars and as people. And it’s also the tales of what our students past and present are doing as they bring their talents and perspectives back to the UMBC community.

In this issue, we are telling the stories of a group that has been less often in the spotlight: dedicated staff members who have helped shape the arc of UMBC’s success over the past 50 years. (See page 14.) We also have a terrific story by UMBC alumnus Joab Jackson ’90 about one of UMBC’s most innovative researchers, Govind Rao, and his quest to expand the borders of medicine and revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. (See page 30.)

Over the past seven years, one of the things that I’ve come to realize as the editor of UMBC Magazine is that every little bit of that UMBC story counts. Sometimes we spend hours combing through the archives to find out just how a program got started, or how “True Grit” got his name. We spend a lot of time with the university’s visual history, too. Where did that sculpture go? When did that building come down? Who’s in this photograph from our archives?

As readers, you have been a major part of that effort as well. From the Class Notes you submit to refresh and renew your connection to the university, to the feedback you send us to help make the magazine better, or fill in a gap in a story. It all counts.

Our individual stories about our UMBC experience can be woven into a powerful collective narrative. That is why one of the key elements of our celebration of UMBC’s 50th year is a new digital space called “Retriever Stories.”

Retriever Stories is a place where you can tell us your UMBC story. Share a photograph. Reconnect with classmates.

It can be a story of the past. A professor who helped shape your time at UMBC. That memorable party. Your old UMBC student ID.

But it can be a story of the present, too. Who are you now? Where are you now? How did UMBC help you get there?

See pages 6 and 47 for more details about the “Retriever Stories” site. We invite you to show up and tell us your story.

— Richard Byrne ’86