Title of your research project: Spiderwebs for Long-Term Air Quality Monitoring 

Describe your project: Our team’s research focuses on determining whether spatial differences in heavy metal air pollution can be detected at small scales by collecting and analyzing the webs of Agelenidae spiders. 

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? I work under graduate student, Nava Rastegar in GES. I found my mentor through Dr. Hawn; Nava reached out to me to explain the ropes behind working in the Hawn research lab, and she has been a great support to me since we met. This is one of the reasons why I asked her to be my mentor, in addition to her patience and guidance through everything pertaining to this research. 

How did you become interested in this project? I became interested in this project after attending a talk by Dr. Hawn for Honors College students. I found the line of research that Dr. Hawn was focused on to be very intriguing and relevant, and so I reached out to them expressing my interest in becoming a part of it. 

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? The onset of COVID-19 has definitely delayed the plans we initially had for this research, especially since our work includes going out into the field and collecting webs. Since not all our work can be done remotely it has slowed the progress of our timeline. However, later in the summer we are planning on returning to campus so hopefully we will be able to resume progress soon!

What has been the most rewarding part?  The most rewarding part is knowing that this work can have real-world positive implications to individual’s health. More importantly than this, however, is that it can be of greater benefit to lower-income or homeless people who do not have the technology that many of us have easily available to be able to easily be informed of the air quality in places they reside. 

How will you disseminate your research? I will present our team’s research at the URCAD in April, and also share it through the Hawn lab website, present to the GES Major department, and eventually, hopefully, publish this work in the UMBC Review. 

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? I started working in the Hawn Lab a few months ago at the beginning of my Freshman year. I really did not have any prior research experience or qualifications except my interest in the topic, willingness to learn, and time to dedicate towards the research. Be open and reach out to mentors or professors who’s research you might be interested in. There are so many labs that could use the help, and even if you don’t have much experience but possess an innate interest and are willing to put in time, then you already have so much to offer. 

What are your career goals? Currently I am on the Pre-Med track at UMBC. I am hoping to attend medical school after graduating from UMBC, but I conflicted as am also interested in pursuing an MD-PhD program; becoming involved in research has interested me in seeing what lies ahead if I continue on the research path. Time will tell…

As we prepare to welcome our new and returning retrievers to campus - the physical space, the community, and our virtual environments - be sure to check back to this page and welcomeweek.umbc.edu for updates and information.

As a new student, you can expect outreach from current students, faculty, and staff; information on virtual group activities; suggested transition workshops, videos, modules, and resources; and opportunities to meet other new students.

In the meantime, feel free to send any questions or concerns to welcomeweek@umbc.edu and a Campus Life staff member will get back with you as soon as possible!

We're halfway through Summer Session II and for classes with papers or lab reports, it's time to start writing! Whether you're a seasoned writer or not sure where to start, we all could use a little writing help through the Online Writing Center!

• Applying chemical reaction transition theory to predict the latent transmission dynamics of coronavirus outbreak in China, a research article by Peng Xu from the Chemical, Biochemical & Environmental Engineering Department
• COVID-19 and Maryland’s Older Adults, a research brief by Roberto J. Millar, Shalini Sahoo, & Takashi Yamashita from the Center for Aging Studies
• Oldest-old Adults Face Higher Risk of COVID-19 Mortality, a research brief also by Roberto J. Millar, Shalini Sahoo, & Takashi Yamashita from the Center for Aging Studies

As the ScholarWorks@UMBC repository grows and departments such as the Center for Aging Studies consider using it as the platform for their publications, check back often to stay up-to-date on research done here at UMBC.

If you feel yourself needing an extra boost or if you just want a way to reinforce concepts, tutoring is here to help you!

Tutoring is FREE through the Academic Success Center and our tutors are trained to work with you and help you understand concepts.

Tutoring is available for the following courses:

To sign up for tutoring, click here: Academic Success Center Tutoring

Need help signing up? Check out our help video!

The Library would like to reaffirm the statement of the larger UMBC campus: "To our Black students, faculty, staff, and alumni: We see you. We support you. Your life matters. UMBC is and always will be a community that rejects racism, bigotry, and inequity in all its forms."

We have been sharing various resources and statements on social media throughout the week and have collected them here. We want to continue this conversation with all of you. 

From Campus Life's Mosaic Center: Black Lives Matter...Still: A Community Call to Black Beauty, Remembrance and Action

From the Women's Center: Learning to be anti-racist: Calling IN white people and non-Black people of color

From the University System of Maryland: Statement by USM Leadership on Structural Racism and the Killing of George Floyd

From Library Journal: Antiracism: A Starter Booklist

The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is exploring the option of moving the database Inspec to the Engineering Village platform.

The INSPEC content is the same as before; on this new platform you now have the ability to search INSPEC and Compendex as separate databases or together for one result list. Access to Inspec analytics is available, as are Scopus citation counts.   

The trail is available until June 30, 2020. Students and faculty are highly encouraged to explore the collection and provide feedback through the comments section below. 

The Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery now has access to the 600+ ebook titles in the IET Digital Library.

The collection includes full text works  in a variety of fields of electrical engineering, computer science, technology, and associated applications published from 1979 to the present. 

The trail is available until June 30, 2020. Students and faculty are highly encouraged to explore the collection and provide feedback. 

Good morning,

A new library COVID-19 LibGuide has been created. The following (and more) information can be found on the LibGuide

National and global case numbers

Research sources

Visualization tools

Testing locations

When you have a moment, take a look at the new LibGuide. Thanks!

link: https://lib.guides.umbc.edu/covid19