Education in Motion

UMBC students race a sea monster through Baltimore to highlight the environmental impacts of plastic waste.

On June 14, the Kraken crept through Baltimore, traveling across the city’s roadways, dipping into the Chesapeake Bay, and trekking through muddy and sandy terrain. After an arduous eight-hour journey, it emerged victorious.

No, Baltimore wasn’t being overtaken by a legendary sea creature. The Kraken Upcycle was an award-winning UMBC student entry in the 17th annual East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race hosted by the American Visionary Art Museum. Race contestants built all-terrain bicycle-powered works of art to navigate 14 miles through Baltimore’s Harbor.

Five years ago, Steven McAlpine, assistant director of interdisciplinary studies (INDS), was visiting the Baltimore Museum of Industry when he saw entries to the Kinetic Sculpture Race speeding down Key Highway. He was captivated by the way each entry combined creative artistry with engineering expertise.

McAlpine brought the idea to UMBC, where his students were energized by the prospect of starting a Kinetic Sculpture Race team and enrolled in a BreakingGround-funded pilot course to explore the idea in spring 2014. Through independent study and an INDS Special Topics class, they designed and built the Kraken Upcycle throughout the next year.

The three classes brought together students in mechanical engineering, visual arts, geography and environmental systems, media and communications studies, and INDS. Drawing on the 2014 Kinetic Sculpture Race theme of sustainability, the team quickly resolved to use upcycled materials, specifically plastic water bottles, to create their vehicle. However, as they began discussing the actual sculpture design, the challenges of working across their disciplinary differences began to emerge.

The engineers were eager to start building right away, and favored the initial idea of a “trashmonster”— a function-driven sculpture that would mimic the Great Pacific garbage patch. The artists advocated for more brainstorming to develop a visually gripping design that would resonate aesthetically.

After puzzling over the design for a few more weeks and reading articles about the dangers of plastic bottles, the team had a breakthrough moment. One student casually remarked that plastics were the “new monsters of the sea,” bringing to mind the legendary Kraken. With a powerful image to rally behind, the Kraken Upcycle began to come to life.

The team set off collecting hundreds of used water bottles, plastic bags, large barrels, and aluminum tubes to create the sculpture and pontoons. The UMBC Racing team offered vehicle expertise and, after consulting with experienced kinetic sculpture racers, the Kraken team purchased a used quadricycle to power the sculpture. Finally, the Kraken Upcycle emerged: a gigantic octopus fashioned out of chicken wire, plastic fencing, water bottles, and plastic bags.

Collaboration across disciplines can be a slow and uncomfortable process, but it made all the difference for the students’ experience and the final product. Putting the finishing touches on the sculpture, Stephen Moore ’15, computer engineering and mathematics, explained, “Every time we engineers get stuck on something, one of the art students comes in and says, ‘Oh, we should design it like this.’ It’s a whole new perspective on how to solve the problem and it’s been amazing.”

As the June 14 race date drew closer, it was time to ensure that the Kraken could endure the notoriously challenging race course, on land and water. To test the pontoon system, the team threw the kinetic sculpture into Pig Pen Pond. They biked it across campus on test rides and introduced it to crowds at sustainability festivals.

During the race Gabriel Margarida ’17, mechanical engineering; Rob Ford ’16, environmental science; Vijay Raju, media and communication studies; and Kirby Kelbaugh ‘15, INDS, powered and piloted the Kraken on its long journey through Baltimore. They overcame a mechanical breakdown to win the Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion Award, an honor that qualifies entries for the Kinetic Grand Championship in California.

Fresh from its victory, the Kraken will be on display at Baltimore’s Artscape festival, July 17-19. McAlpine will later share his reflections on the Kraken and project-based learning at an interdisciplinary studies conference at Merrimack College.

“The Kinetic Sculpture Racing team at UMBC demonstrated the innovative energy that a project-based learning course can inspire,” McAlpine says. “For me, the project underscored the importance of building communities both on and off campus to share expertise.”

UMBC’s team is already gearing up for next year’s race, starting with another INDS course in the fall. Margarida shares, “It’s that kind of learning that sparks the desire, that sparks the passion, that motivates people to be able to apply this knowledge.”

“It was not like anything I ever really experienced before,” says Kelbaugh. “It’s a whole new way of learning.”

(7/8/2015)

© University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

I got a new place and I need to move out westland garden 1b1b apartment. The apartment is at 2nd floor, has 2 window AC in the apartment. There is washer and driver inside the building. 

My current roommate is moving out so an unfurnished bedroom to rent is available starting September 1st up to (at least) one year, which is in a two-bedroom (smoke-free) apartment with a shared bathroom. The rent itslef is $475 and also the electricity and the internet are totally around $50 for each person. Kitchen is equipped with oven, fridge, dish washer and microwave, and almost anything you may need in a kitchen. Living room is furnished with sofas and coffee tables, no dining table though. Laundry room with washing machine and dryer in the same building (and in case in the neighbor buildings). You can also count on a beautiful balcony. 
Very convenient for UMBC students since the shuttle stop is half a minute away (you can literally see the stop from the window). MTA Route 23 bus to Downtown Baltimore stops right on the corner as well. 
Very quiet and safe area. 15-minute walk to Safeway, Shoppers, Sam's Club, CVS, Burger King, McDonald's, Chick-Fil-A, and more. 15-minute walk to Downtown Catonsville, where you can find plenty of shops and restaurants, as well as a farmer's market. Conveniently located 1 minute away from Royal Farms.
No pets allowed.

If interested, please contact me through 

ahmad.s.mousavi@gmail.com (prefered) or smousav1@umbc.edu

On July 23, James Smalls, professor of Visual Arts and affiliate professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, published an article in The Conversation that discussed the rationale behind his upcoming course, Roaming the Star Trek Universe: Race, Gender, and Alien Sexualities. Sensing that students often seem very “connected” but are simultaneously distanced from the overwhelming complexities of the world around them, Smalls set out to find ways in which to explore the difficult topics of race, gender and sexuality. “I found part of the answer,” he said, “by traveling back to the 1960s, when difficult social change movements around race (civil rights, black power), gender (the women’s movement) and sexuality (the gay and lesbian movement) were in full swing and paralleled the national obsession with technology, the space race and indulgence in popular culture as a way to both escape and liberate ourselves.”

“One way to do this,” he added, “is to ask probing questions so to get students thinking about ways in which interspecies conflicts among humans, Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, Andorians, Betazoids, Cardassians and Bajorans, to name a few, are portrayed and how they mirror or parallel disagreements between today’s nations, races, genders, religions and classes.”

Read “A teacher uses Star Trek for difficult conversations on race and gender” in The Conversation.

Looks like good things happen in pairs for Retrievers! Four members of our community have been recognized in the media for their hard work. Rachel Hirsch and Miguel Palmeiro were featured on The Daily Record’s list of successful professionals under 40, and alum Jim Bailey and current student Seamus Ertel have been featured in two Baltimore Sun articles recognizing their dedication to Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry.

Rachel Hirsch ’03, political science, and Miguel Palmeiro ’06, biological sciences, are on The Daily Record’s 2015 VIP Successful Before 40 list. Hirsch is currently a senior attorney at Ifrah Law, and Palmeiro also works as an attorney in private practice.

To see the full list of winners, click here.

Jim Bailey ’03, history, M.A. ’08 history, and current student Seamus Ertel ’17, describe their work at Fort McHenry. Bailey works as the coordinator of volunteers and oversees between 400-600 volunteers each summer as they work together to provide re-enactments for those visiting the fort.

Ertel’s involvement with Fort McHenry started at a very early age, when his father began working as a volunteer and then an employee. Seamus has followed in his footsteps, and currently works as a park ranger and in the fife and drum corps.

Find out more about Bailey and Ertel.

Have a story of your own to share? Tell us about it in a class note.

Sunil Dasgupta, director of UMBC’s political science program at the Universities of Shady Grove, recently published an article in International Relations and Security Network (ISN) News on the establishment of world powers through norms and institutions instead of superior capabilities over others.

Using the example of Britain, Dasgupta noted that despite its decline, its membership in international institutions ensures the country staying power on the world stage: “Britain remains a veto-carrying, permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, one of a handful of nuclear weapons states, a rich country, and one of the closest allies of the United States. Despite Prime Minister Cameron’s focus on domestic politics, there is no expectation that the British government will concede any of these positions in the future. To the contrary, Security Council membership can be seen as ensuring that Britain remains a ‘world power’ no matter what other circumstances change. Indeed, has Britain really resigned as a world power?”

Dasgupta wrote that in modern times there is more than one way to become a world power than merely having advanced economies and militaries: “Since the end of World War II, however, international norms have reduced the importance of both 1) conventional economic and military capabilities and 2) a country’s position relative to others in this regard. While the intense rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union overshadowed serious discussion of norms and beliefs during the Cold War, it became clear thereafter, with the rise of Japan and Germany as economic heavyweights with limited military capacity, that there were other pathways to great power status.”

Read “What Makes a Great Power?” in ISN.

In the wake of the visit of 65 mayors to the Vatican to discuss climate change, School of Public Policy Professor John Rennie Short wrote an article for The Conversation reflecting on the central role of cities in climate change discussions.

“Cities house more than half the world’s population, consume 75% of its energy and emit 80% of all greenhouse gasses. But cities are not just sources of problems; they are innovative sites for policy solutions,” wrote Short, who is an expert on urban issues and environmental concerns.

In his article, he wrote that many cities are on the front lines of climate change impacts, which has spurred action to address environmental concerns and form urban networks to learn which policies are working.

“The brute facts of climate change vulnerability in cities are prompting a new and more pronounced urban environmental sensitivity. Cities are responding with both climate change mitigation and adaption. Mitigation focuses on reducing the concentrations of greenhouse gases by using alternative energy sources, encouraging greater energy efficiency and conservation, and through the promotion of carbon sinks by planting trees.

Separately, cities are adapting to the effects of climate change. Chicago has developed policies anticipating a hotter and wetter climate by repaving its roads with permeable materials, planting more trees and offering tax incentive to encourage green office roofs,” Short wrote.

Read “Why cities are a rare good news story in climate change” in The Conversation.

To: The UMBC Community
From: President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Philip Rous

The Chronicle of Higher Education has named UMBC an outstanding academic workplace for the sixth consecutive year. UMBC is one of only 86 universities to receive the “Great Colleges to Work For” distinction and the only Maryland four-year institution to be recognized.

Each year, the Chronicle surveys faculty, staff, and administrators and asks them to rate their workplaces on a variety of factors. The assessment also includes analysis of demographic data and workplace policies. The Chronicle’s 2015 results are based on responses from more than 40,000 people at nearly 300 public and private institutions nationwide.

For the fourth consecutive year, UMBC was featured on the Chronicle’s “honor roll,” which recognizes universities that excel in almost every recognition category. This year, UMBC was highly rated in:

• Collaborative Governance
• Confidence in Senior Leadership
• Respect and Appreciation
• Supervisor/Department Chair Relationship
• Tenure Clarity & Process

This award recognizes what we all know: Excellence thrives in an environment of inclusiveness and respect. These campus values and our commitment to robust shared governance make UMBC an exceptional campus community. We thank each of you for all that you do to make UMBC a great place to work and learn.

The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) released their 2015 global rankings this week- placing UMBC among the top 500 universities worldwide.

CWUR takes eight indicators into account when compiling their rankings, including quality of education (alumni who have won major international awards); alumni employment (as CEOs in companies worldwide); quality of faculty (faculty who have won major international awards); research publications, influence and citations; broad impact; and international patent filings.

UMBC is one of only three University System of Maryland institutions featured in the rankings, along with the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. American universities with CWUR rankings similar to UMBC include Clemson University and Syracuse University.

Explore the full CWUR rankings here.