UMBC signs academic collaboration agreement with Tel Aviv U.
This story was first published on news.umbc.edu and was written by Megan Hanks.
UMBC and Tel Aviv University signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, September 21, 2016, to formalize an academic collaboration between the two institutions. The agreement establishes a framework for joint research as well as academic exchange opportunities for students, faculty, and staff.
Antonio Moreira, vice provost for academic affairs, signed the agreement during a trip to Israel, as did Raanan Rein, vice president at Tel Aviv University. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan attended the signing of the document.
“The signing of this memorandum of understanding with Tel Aviv University opens up exciting opportunities for important academic collaborations involving faculty, students and staff from UMBC and TAU,” says Moreira. “Visiting TAU was very informative and allowed existing ties between the two institutions to be strengthened. We are delighted to have TAU as one of our partners.”
UMBC is the leader of the collaborative Center for Hybrid Multicore Productivity Research (CHMPR), which has historically included five other U.S. universities working to address computational challenges. Recently, the National Science Foundation approved Tel Aviv University as the first international research partner site for the Center, setting the stage for additional collaborative activities.
Stu Schwartz, senior research scientist for the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) at UMBC, has long looked with concern at the issue of soil compaction and its effect on stormwater runoff and infiltration. Impervious surfaces, such as roofs, roads, and parking lots, increase stormwater runoff and pollutants in streams and rivers. Schwartz and his students found that standard construction practices can routinely result in green permeable landscapes with compacted soil profiles that produce almost as much runoff as an impervious road or parking lot.
Looking for a better way to create sustainable, attractive landscaping, he dug into the problem of compacted soil and began collaborating with various government agencies to address these issues.
Schwartz and his students worked with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration’s Office of Environmental Design to demonstrate and refine an alternative to standard topsoiling practices that are commonly used by contractors. The technique—suburban subsoiling—makes the soil less compact and incorporates rich, organic compost into the soil to restore infiltration and water-holding capacity.
This practice needs little to no ongoing irrigation and fertilizer input, functions well technically, and has the markers of commercial success. It can be implemented with relatively minor changes to standard land development practices, and holds great promise as a win-win technology to reduce stormwater runoff while delivering superior sustainable landscaping.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recently identified this innovation as one of 2016’s
“Sweet 16” projects. AASHTO’s “Sweet 16” distinction annually recognizes four high value projects from each geographic region of the United States.
In applying the suburban subsoiling technique, Schwartz and his students have worked with the City of Baltimore and Yorkwood Elementary School. The collaboration aims to reduce the amount of asphalt covering the ground and create construction that can allow the ground to absorb more water. Schwartz’s team developed an alternative way to restore the sustainability profile of the soil after the asphalt was removed and replaced with grass.
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The story was first published on news.umbc.edu. It was written by Megan Hanks. Stu Schwartz, senior research scientist for the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) at...
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Sat, 08 Oct 2016 13:08:14 -0400
UMBC researchers explore virtual and augmented reality
This story was first published on news.umbc.edu. It was written by Megan Hanks.
ABC News in Baltimore took an in-depth look at virtual and augmented reality this week, ahead of Sony’s planned launch of a Playstation virtual reality system. The segment,
“Virtual reality opening entertainment, research possibilities,” featured interviews with UMBC faculty on new technologies, the opportunities those technologies create, and issues for users and developers to consider as the field expands.
For viewers unfamiliar with virtual reality, Karl V. Steiner, vice president for research, explained how these technologies allow people to experience the world in a different way. “You put your headset on, you’re in the forest. You could be on a foreign planet or you could be in a battlefield,” he said.
In UMBC’s new
PI2 Immersive Hybrid Reality Lab, Jian Chen, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, demonstrated how ultra-high-resolution screens can help researchers visualize complicated data. To experience this technology, users wear 3D glasses with small sensors to enter a world that they can manipulate using handheld controls.
“In this type of environment, your brain thinks your body is moving but your body is not actually moving,” she explained.
The new lab will enable faculty and students in various departments to simulate data in uniquely immersive ways, whether a researcher is exploring wind farms, how blood flows through the human body, or highway traffic, said Steiner.
Ryan Robucci ‘02, computer engineering, and Nilanjan Banerjee, both associate professors of computer science and electrical engineering, are already using HTC Vive headsets in their labs to understand how people make decisions and react when when they are on a battlefield.
Banerjee says that augmented reality technology may be more useful and user friendly than virtual reality systems. Augmented reality allows people to see their surroundings, but alters the world through a device or glasses. Smartphone users are already playing Pokémon GO in huge numbers. In the near future, it could be common to have a technology that, for example, overlays directions and controls onto home appliances.
An inaugural GRIT-X event held during UMBC’s 50th anniversary weekend featured some of the university community’s most fascinating new research and creative work.
Faculty and alumni from across disciplines presented a series of engaging talks before an enthusiastic audience in Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall. Hosted by Karl Steiner, vice president for research, GRIT-X featured three sets of 10-minute talks that covered topics from the process for creating a successful theatre company to dealing with contaminants of emerging concern in local watersheds.
Karl Steiner opens GRIT-X at UMBC.
“We really wanted to put a program together that…gives a glimpse at the diversity of programs and groundbreaking, impactful research and the many thought-provoking topics that many of our alumni and faculty are working on,” explained Steiner at the beginning of GRIT-X.
Several talks centered around what faculty and alumni are doing locally in and around Baltimore.
Kiirstin Pagan ’11, theatre, and Katie Hileman ’12, acting, shared how a dream that started when they were undergraduates at UMBC has led to the creation of the award-winning
Interrobang Theatre Company, which is set to produce its seventh show later this year. Pagan and Hileman explained how they started the company and why they chose to remain in Baltimore after graduating.
“We love Baltimore,” shared Hileman. “We see it as a place of potential and growth, and it’s a place where artists are doing their work because they feel passionate about it…it’s also a place that’s really receptive to new and interesting work.”
Focusing on environmental impacts, Lee Blaney, an assistant professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, explained how everyday items like antibiotics, sunscreens, and fragrances, once they are consumed, become contaminants that impact Baltimore streams.
Lee Boot, director of the Imaging Research Center (IRC), described how visual knowledge and information can reflect and influence how people think about the world. He described a current IRC project titled “The Art of Transformation,” where UMBC students, faculty, and staff are working with community organizations and residents in Baltimore to try to develop culture-based solutions and approaches to community development.
Lee Boot presents “A Grand Visualization Challenge” at GRIT-X.
“This entire enterprise where university people and community people are working hand-in-hand is a collaborative effort without a real hierarchy,” said Boot.
Many presentations focused on public policy, civic engagement, and social issues. Tyson King-Meadows, associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, discussed how voters react to what they hear and see depending on their own lens and who is delivering the message, and how they insulate themselves from information that they don’t agree with, resulting in what King-Meadows cautions is a less empowered citizenry.
Drawing on her book
Beyond the Checkpoint – Visual Practices in America’s Global War on Terror (University of Massachusetts Press 2014), Rebecca Adelman, associate professor of media and communication studies, shared how an experience she had at an airport security checkpoint helped sparked a research project where she investigated American visual culture of the Global War on Terror and its impact on society.
Rebecca Adelman presents at GRIT-X.
Thomas Schaller, professor and chair of political science, examined the decline in civics education in high schools and how it should influence teaching college students about politics and their significance in such a polarized and partisan climate.
Karsonya Wise Whitehead ’09 Ph.D., language, literacy, and culture, reflected on the letters that she has written to her two sons as they have grown. She emphasized how the power of the written word can be a teaching tool and window into navigating parenthood.
Karsonya Wise Whitehead ’09 Ph.D., language literacy and culture, presents at GRIT-X.
“When people read letters to my black sons and they see my love for my sons poured out onto the page, it is a different experience. It’s a different way of connecting. It’s a way of taking the research off of the page and putting it into your lives,” said Whitehead.
Vanderlei Martins, professor of physics, highlighted UMBC’s efforts to research how pollution is influencing Earth’s energy balance and precipitation.
In a presentation about “disruptive innovation,” Govind Rao, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, talked about transformative UMBC inventions that have the potential to save millions of lives, such as a cardboard incubator for premature infants, currently being tested in India, and a suitcase-size device to manufacture medicines on-demand.
“I’m hoping that we continue to make positive change for the rest of the world,” said Rao.
Read more about UMBC’s 50th anniversary weekend, and watch the full video of the GRIT-X event
here.
Photos: All images by Jim Burger. GRIT-X at UMBC, September 17, 2016.
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This article was first published on news.umbc.edu and was written by Max Cole. An inaugural GRIT-X event held during UMBC’s 50th anniversary weekend featured some of the university community’s...
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Wed, 28 Sep 2016 13:32:53 -0400
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 15:37:03 -0500
UMBC and Portuguese Naval Academy launch partnership
Aims to promote academic and cultural exchange
This story was originally published on news.umbc.edu and was written by Sarah Hansen.
A delegation from Portugal visited UMBC earlier this month to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining plans to develop collaborative exchange programs for teaching, learning, and research between the Portuguese Naval Academy (PNA) and UMBC. Initial projects will focus on cybersecurity, an area of strength for both schools.
Antonio Moreira, vice provost for academic affairs at UMBC, earlier named an “advisor of Portugal in the world” by that nation’s president, spearheaded the formal collaboration after meeting Admiral Torres Sobral from the Portuguese National Security Agency at a conference in Lisbon. Similarities emerged between the PNA and UMBC in their conversation, especially in cybersecurity and naval science. Moreira shared, “It became natural to focus on collaborations between the two institutions.”
High-level Portuguese officials have embraced the collaboration. “I think it is important to be here and be aware of what’s happening in our two countries,” said Navy Captain Afonso Galrito, Portugal naval and air attaché, at the signing event. “As soon as I heard we were taking this next step I asked, ‘Can I go?’”
The newly formalized relationship, which will initially last five years and is slated for automatic renewal, will support faculty exchanges for research and teaching, student exchanges at the undergraduate and graduate levels, joint seminars and conferences, and collaborative publication efforts.
UMBC is particularly excited to collaborate with the PNA this year, as the university’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program kicks off. “It is fitting we are signing on the first day of classes and on the first day of our new NROTC program,” Moreira said. In addition, UMBC has strong ties with the U.S. Naval Academy, and the PNA signed an MOU with the Annapolis, MD institution in February 2016, providing opportunities for triangular collaboration.
UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski emphasized to the Portuguese dignitaries that an NROTC program within the University System of Maryland offers local students a compelling new path to military service and leadership development. “I am so proud of getting this program,” Hrabowski shared, having worked for many years to bring NROTC to UMBC.
While the initial collaborative focus is on cybersecurity, “What we sign here is just a start of the collaboration between these two institutions,” said Commodore Henriques Gomes, superintendent of the Portuguese Naval Academy, “We look forward to expanding it to other fields.”
Image: Antonio Moreira (r), UMBC’s vice provost for academic affairs, and Commodore Henriques Gomes (l), superintendent of the Portuguese Naval Academy, shake hands after signing the MOU between their two institutions in the presence of other UMBC and PNA representatives. Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
Eight administrators and faculty members from the University of Kassel in central Germany visited UMBC from August 29 to September 2 to build on a thriving university partnership between the two schools by continuing to cultivate broader research collaborations and student exchange programs.
Both UMBC and Kassel are young, innovative institutions known for promoting interdisciplinary programs and with particular strengths in STEM fields and the arts. “This visit is very important for us, as Kassel recognizes UMBC to be an international partner of strategic importance,” shares David diFuccia, professor of chemistry education at Kassel, at a lunch celebrating the partnership. “I hope our cooperation will grow and deepen, and that with every meeting we will take a step further.”
The partnership began when Matthias Gobbert, professor of mathematics at UMBC and a Kassel native, spent his sabbatical at Kassel during the 2011–2012 academic year. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two universities’ math departments grew out of that visit, leading to fruitful exchanges of graduate students and faculty. In 2014, the MOU expanded to the university level, and undergraduate students have been studying abroad at each institution since fall 2015.
Karl Steiner, UMBC vice president for research, and Antonio Moreira, vice provost for academic affairs, have visited Kassel and discussed ways to grow the relationship, including development of a streamlined study abroad program. Now, Moreira says, “It’s truly expanding to the whole campus here at UMBC and at Kassel.”
Fields of study where UMBC and Kassel teams are already conducting complementary research and which are rife for collaboration include renewable energy, cybersecurity, nanoscience, remote sensing, and education. Other departments such as visual arts; economics; modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication (MLLI); and computer science are also exploring opportunities to partner.
Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, discussed potential future business collaborations with the German guests. “We think global opportunities are really significant for companies,” she says, “so we’re always looking for natural ways to form partnerships.”
Both universities also see student academic exchange, beyond language classes, as a major priority in the partnership. Given course and lab research requirements, many students with majors in the hard sciences and engineering perceive study abroad as unrealistic—an option not truly available to them. However, UMBC and Kassel are committed to making it a clear and accessible process for students of any major. Julie Ross, dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology, notes, “The things they’ll be working on in engineering and IT are global issues,” so it’s important for students to gain international exposure.
Study-Abroad-Fair16-8994
Susanne Sutton, coordinator of German in MLLI at UMBC, adds, “We have many STEM majors in our German classes. This is a tremendous opportunity for them to study abroad, as well as for students who are less familiar with the language and culture of Germany but have an interest in exploring it.”
Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, is particularly excited to see his global studies students and Humanities Scholars travel abroad. “The problems our students are tackling are not limited to the U.S.,” he says.
Students in UMBC’s teacher education program, including those in the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program, will also have opportunities to visit German schools and learn about teaching methods in Germany through collaboration with Kassel. In this digital age, “the students they will be teaching are global students,” says Casper, so it’s important teachers come to the classroom with a global perspective. The delegation also met with leaders of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, who see excellent opportunities for their students to study abroad at Kassel.
The next step for the burgeoning UMBC–Kassel relationship is to expand the undergraduate exchange component. Already, many courses at the German university are taught in English, expanding the number of UMBC students who are able to complete discipline-specific coursework through an international exchange experience.
UMBC and Kassel are growing their cooperation steadily in many directions, with over a dozen faculty and staff working to make productive international exchanges possible for faculty and students on each side of the Atlantic. “When something comes together and it seems effortless,” says UMBC Provost Philip Rous, “you know that means a tremendous amount of effort has gone into it.”
UMBC students interested in learning more about study abroad should attend a Study Abroad 101 seminar offered twice a week by the Study Abroad Office, 2nd floor Administration building. Apply by October 10 to study abroad in the following spring semester.
Images: The University of Kassel delegation and UMBC representatives, August 30, 2016; students at UMBC’s Study Abroad Fair, September 2, 2016, interact with University of Kassel representatives. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
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This story was first published on news.umbc.edu and was written by Sarah Hansen. Eight administrators and faculty members from the University of Kassel in central Germany visited UMBC from...
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Mon, 19 Sep 2016 22:43:37 -0400
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 22:45:01 -0400
UMBC faculty studying the human brain
Studies to offer options for treatment, early intervention
Three UMBC faculty have been awarded two of 18 new grants announced by the National Science Foundation under the Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS) program to support multidisciplinary research related to the brain and behavior.
Fow-Sen Choa, professor of computer science and electrical engineering (CSEE), will receive nearly half a million dollars over three years from the NSF to develop technology that will allow very targeted stimulation to be delivered to any area in the brain.
Currently many neural diseases, like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism have either partial or no treatment. Effective techniques used to treat people with, for example, essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease are often invasive. Deep brain stimulation, for example, involves implanting small electrodes in the brain and sending out pulses of electrical current. Other treatment techniques are non-specific, unable to target specific areas of the brain where the disease is located.
Choa and his collaborator, Mary Kay Lobo, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will work to develop a less-invasive technology for intervention and treatment of brain disorders and diseases.
“We will be able to build critical tools that can noninvasively activate or block any part of the brain, and study their individual roles in functional networks,” said Choa. “We will also be able to explore the full potential of neural modulation for neural disease treatment and alteration of, for example, addictive behaviors.”
The second NCS grant was awarded to Seung-Jun Kim, assistant professor of CSEE and principal investigator (PI) on the project, and Tulay Adali, professor of CSEE and co-PI on the project, with partner Vince Calhoun Ph.D. ‘02, electrical engineering, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of New Mexico, and executive science officer at The Mind Research Network.
Over the four-year grant, Kim and Adali will use nearly half a million dollars in funding to better understand how individual brains function, specifically how differences from person to person can impact intervention and treatment plans.
“Functional brain networks are like fingerprints. They are unique to each individual,” explains Adali.
The researchers will work to piece together brain activation maps, developed through collecting data on individual human brains while research subjects are at rest. Understanding how the various areas of the brain work is helpful in predicting diseases and disorders that affect the brain, such as addiction. The researchers’ goal is to help doctors make more data-driven treatment plan decisions.
“By letting the data speak, researchers will have a better chance avoiding the pitfalls created by ‘taking their best guesses’,” explains Kim. “This project will be instrumental in developing algorithms and tools that will help researchers and clinicians adopt the data science approach for studying the massive-scale fMRI datasets collectively available across multiple repositories. This work will help them make exciting new discoveries about the human brain.”
Adali explains that often times doctors practice “reactionary medicine,” but the research supported by this NSF grant will help physicians make predictions when symptoms first appear, and allow for earlier intervention.
The NCS program was developed to support “bold efforts to go beyond single-discipline research efforts in order to advance brain science.” It is conceived as a piece of the
BRAIN Initiative, “a coordinated research effort that seeks to accelerate the development of new neurotechnologies.” UMBC is one of only two universities that received more than one NCS grants in this round of funding.
Image: Fow-Sen Choa in his lab (top), Seung-Jun Kim (middle), and Tulay Adali (bottom); photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
]]>
This story was originally published on news.umbc.edu and was written by Megan Hanks Three UMBC faculty have been awarded two of 18 new grants announced by the National Science Foundation under...
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Office of the Vice President for Research
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Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:06:41 -0400
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:09:14 -0400
Erin Lavik: Nanoparticles will promote blood clotting
UMBC faculty says new tech will save lives after injuries
When a person suffers a severe injury, it is crucial that any bleeding is stopped quickly. While there are many ways to stop external bleeding, current methods for stopping internal bleeding are limited.
Erin Lavik, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, developed a nanoparticle that helps the body form blood clots and reduce internal bleeding. During the American Chemical Society’s national meeting, Lavik presented her work and explained how these nanoparticles could save lives.
“Compared to injuries that aren’t treated with the nanoparticles, we can cut the bleeding time in half and reduce total blood loss,” she explained.
Lavik and her team worked to create nanoparticles that attach to activated platelets so that clots can be formed to stop internal bleeding. These nanoparticles were initially developed and tested on rodents, to control bleeding due to brain and spinal cord injuries, but Lavik saw their potential to help people who have suffered a broader range of severe traumas.
After early testing revealed the nanoparticles successfully kept rodents from bleeding out, Lavik wanted to determine how human blood would respond to the presence of the nanoparticles.As a next step, the nanoparticles were tested in pig’s blood, which indicated that the immune system reacted well their presence.
In the future, Lavik and her team will test the nanoparticles in human blood, and will develop tests to fully understand the safety of these nanoparticles. She says they need to understand whether the particles may cause clotting that could lead to stroke before the product can be on the market, although she hopes the nanoparticles will eventually be available for clinical use.
Watch the full video of Lavik’s ACS press conference on
YouTube.
Image: Erin Lavik at TEDxBroadway. Photo by TEDxBroadway, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
]]>
This story first appeared on news.umbc.edu and was written by Megan Hanks. When a person suffers a severe injury, it is crucial that any bleeding is stopped quickly. While there are many ways...
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Office of the Vice President for Research
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Fri, 02 Sep 2016 18:53:02 -0400
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 13:56:54 -0400
UMBC host startup round table for faculty-founded startups
On August 24, 2016, UMBC’s Office of Technology Development held its second UMBC Startup Round Table which was attended by about a dozen faculty who have or are planning to start a company. Also in attendance were representatives from BwTech. There was a great presentation from the law firm Rubin and Rudman LLP regarding the pros and cons of the different types of corporate organizations.
In addition, UMBC/JCET faculty Lorraine Remer and Vanderlei Martins discussed their startup, Airphoton which is located in bwtech incubator space on the South Campus. Guests remarked as they left how interesting the discussion was and how beneficial the discussion was to the group.
UMBC’s OTD would like to thank the law firm Rubin and Rudman LLP and their representatives Judith Kim, Peter Finn, and Xiaoxiang Liu for the presentation, and bwtech for the use of their conference room.
This story first appeared on news.umbc.edu and was written by Sarah Hansen.
Every year, millions of fish raised in aquaculture die of nervous necrosis virus (NNV). “The disease affects the brain, and the fish lose their vision and balance,” says Vikram Vakharia, professor of marine biotechnology at UMBC. As a result of damage to the nervous system, “the fish just swim in circles,” Vakharia says. His lab is housed at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
In 2013, the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) funded Vakharia to develop a vaccine that protects fish from NNV. He successfully developed an effective vaccine, but it had to be injected into each fish individually—a labor-intensive and costly process. Then BioHealth Innovation, a public-private economic development partnership in Maryland, approached Vakharia to develop a market study and business plan. BHI found that farms would prefer an oral vaccine, because it’s much easier to deliver a vaccine via food pellets. That’s what Vakharia tackled next.
He succeeded in the lab, and, along with BioHealth Innovation, formed a company called VakSea, Inc. to convert the lab success into a commercial product. Recently, VakSea licensed the technology from UMBC and will collaborate with Allotropic Tech, Inc. a bwtech@UMBC company that will produce the vaccine product. It will be mixed with food pellets in large quantities for an upcoming clinical trial as part of an MII phase III grant. This moves Vakharia one giant leap forward in tackling a major obstacle facing the $70 billion farmed-fish industry.
“It will be novel to deliver the vaccine orally. A lot of people will be interested,” says Vakharia. NNV is particularly prevalent in East Asia and countries that border the Mediterranean Sea such as Greece, Italy, and Turkey.
Vakharia is continuing to work on new ways to increase the vaccine’s efficacy, and VakSea submitted a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to the National Science Foundation that would support that work.
Even with this major advance to combat NNV on the horizon, there are plenty of other diseases that wreak havoc on fish populations globally. “If this works,” Vakharia says, “it opens the door to use this technique with other pathogens.”
Image: At the VakSea license signing. From left to right: Vikram Vakharia (UMBC), Kurt Herzog (BHI), Wendy Martin (UMBC), Ken Malone (BHI), Bob Balcerzak (Allotropic). Photo by Nick Hammond (IMET).
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This story first appeared on news.umbc.edu and was written by Sarah Hansen. Every year, millions of fish raised in aquaculture die of nervous necrosis virus (NNV). “The disease affects the brain,...
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Office of the Vice President for Research
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Tue, 30 Aug 2016 08:41:10 -0400
