Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners.
Outstanding Alumnus
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Eric A. Carlton ’91, Africana Studies
After becoming the youngest high school principal in the country at age 29, Eric A. Carlton ’91, Africana studies, later launched Banner Schools, a private company that partners with public school districts to provide a successful educational environment for at-risk youth. The company has three schools in Chicago, one in Miami, and will open another in Detroit. Together, the schools serve some 500 middle- and high-school students from the most troubled environments. A former UMBC SGA vice president and president, member of the men’s soccer team and tutor for the Shriver Center’s Choice Program, Carlton has received numerous accolades for his services as an educator.
Distinguished Service Award
Eli Eisenberg ’86, Interdisciplinary Studies
Eli Eisenberg ’86, interdisciplinary studies, is connected to UMBC through both service and philanthropy, as a member of the board of UMBC’s Alex. Brown Entrepreneurship Center, the “Exceptional by Example” Alumni Campaign Committee and the 2016 Alumni Strategic Planning Committee. In addition, he has endowed a scholarship in the name of his parents that supports two students per year. Eisenberg is founder and principal of VPC, Inc., a company providing multimedia production services, event management and studio and technology systems design. Guests at UMBC’s Commencement ceremonies and the spectacular 40th Anniversary celebration have seen VPC’s technical expertise at work.
Outstanding Alumna
Visual & Performing Arts
Sheila López ’92, Visual and Performing Arts -Theatre
After earning her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, Sheila M. López ’92, visual and performing arts/theatre, founded Antecesores, a non-profit organization in Buffalo, NY, that advances, nurtures and celebrates Latino cultures through theatre. Antecesores (translated as “ancestors”) focuses in particular on programs for children, to allow them to explore and discover their cultural heritage. She also works to bring different generations of Buffalo’s Latino community closer together and to provide a cultural bridge between Latinos and those of non-Latino descent.
Outstanding Alumnus
Engineering and Information Technology
Robert S. Marshall ’88, Mechanical Engineering
Robert S. Marshall ’88, mechanical engineering, is president and CEO of AWS Convergence Technologies, better known as “WeatherBug.” Marshall pioneered the networking of weather instrumentation and cameras using the Internet, and has built this capability into the single largest network of weather stations and Internet cameras in the world. Since it was launched in 2000, WeatherBug has become one of the top 10 news and information sites on the Internet. It is the leading provider of real-time, local weather for broadcast television and, through a landmark agreement with the National Weather Service, now also provides critical weather data to federal, state, and local government agencies.
Outstanding Alumnus
Natural & Mathematical Sciences
Joseph P. McCloskey ’81 M.S., ’83 Ph.D., Applied Mathematics
Joseph McCloskey, M.S. ’81, Ph.D. ’83, applied mathematics, is a senior cryptologic mathematician for the National Security Agency, where he has worked since 1968. As technical director of the agency’s Mathematics Research Group for the past 11 years, he is responsible for coordinating and supervising the professional training of newly hired mathematicians and statisticians. Throughout his career, Dr. McCloskey has received numerous citations, including the prestigious Presidential Rank Award in 2006 and the President’s Award from the Crypto-Mathematics Institute, the agency’s oldest learned society, in 2001. He is the author of more than 80 professional papers, and he has taught one course each semester at UMBC for 20 years
Outstanding Alumna
Humanities
Patricia A. Smith ’74, Ancient Studies
A distinguished attorney, Patricia A. Smith ’74, ancient studies, has acted as People’s Counsel for the State of Maryland, a special solicitor and chief counsel to the Baltimore Police Department for the City of Baltimore, and has served as an administrative law judge in the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings, as an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland. She is also an instructor at the Johns Hopkins University.
