Tomasz Macura, Class of 2003

Tomasz Macura, Class of 2003

Tomasz Macura loves a challenge.

At sixteen, Macura is putting the finishing touches on two Honors Theses for B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science. He will continue studies towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge’s (UK) Trinity College — considered the most prestigious of the 37 Cambridge colleges. Cambridge has more Nobel Prize winning alumni, 70, than any other university in the world. He will be the school’s youngest and he will be its youngest Ph.D. student since World War I.

Age aside, Macura stands out as one of the nation’s most promising scholars in the areas of math and science. He was one of sixteen winners of the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, which pays tuition, fees, and a $29,000 stipend per year for four years. Because of its selectivity, the Fellowship is considered the most prestigious Science and Engineering graduate award in the U.S. All together, Macura – who only ten years ago didn’t speak a word of English – has been offered more than $800,000 in academic awards from some of the most prestigious foundations and institutions in the U.S. and beyond.

He credits his parents, both M.D./Ph.D.s, for instilling in him love and respect for knowledge. “A major part of my academic success is due to UMBC faculty. I was lucky to do research with Professors Matthias Gobbert and Jacob Kogan. They are brilliant professors who are very busy with their own research but make the time to focus on mentoring.”

“Tomasz is young, bright, highly motivated, and already an independent researcher. I am confident that Tomasz will become a leading authority in his research field,” said Kogan.

Macura is establishing a legacy at UMBC. His 13-year-old brother, Wiktor, is a sophomore here with a 4.0 GPA and a full merit scholarship. “Wiktor is my brother and my best friend.” Wiktor is also his partner, as the brothers have formed a foundation to give back to the community.

The Macura Brothers Foundation was established by the Macuras to help gifted children from Poland (their homeland) and other Eastern-European countries. “We are very fortunate and grateful for the opportunities presented to us in America and are doing our best to give back.” The Foundation donated over $5,000 of educational materials to the Hungarian Student Research Society and the Polish Library in Washington D.C. Now the Brothers are working on establishing “The One” Scholarship for immigrant prodigies studying in the United States.

“Tomasz is exceptionally bright,” said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III. “But he’s a very hard worker, very inquisitive, and has a great sense of humor. I am impressed not only by Tomasz’s achievements in the classroom and lab, but also by his sincere interest in others. He is a wonderful role model for other academically talented young people.”

Macura is sure of one thing, “No matter what I will do after my Ph.D. degree, I will always cherish the time I spent at UMBC – my Alma Mater. This is the place I grew up intellectually and personally.”

 
One of the 1.8 million photographs in UMBC’s Special Collections: Newsboys and Supply Men at Newspaper Office for Baseball Edition,  5 p.m., Cincinnati, Ohio, August 1908 by Lewis Hine

“Curating UMBC’s Special Collections”

UMBC�s Special Collections Department is one of the country�s leading resources for photography, science fiction, Marylandia, biological science archives, and other notable collections of rare books, artifacts and manuscripts. And it�s all at the fingertips�wearing protective gloves, of course�of the campus community and visiting scholars. As Chief Curator, Tom Beck manages and continues to develop the collection, housed at the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery.

UMBC�s Photography Collections alone include 1.8 million photographs by some of the world�s leading photographers, including a portfolio by Ansel Adams; archives by Mildred Grossman, Lotte Jacobi and Lewis Hine; and work by Berenice Abbott, Judy Dater, Roland Freeman, David Plowden, Minor White, and others.  

In order to build Special Collections, Beck is dedicated to developing relationships with photographers and their families, as well as writers, scholars and major organizations. He often collaborates with members of the campus community. For example, UMBC�s science faculty helped the Collections become the foremost center for history of biology archives. Over the past twenty years, the University has acquired archives from the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Society for Chemistry and Molecular Biology, the Society for Developmental Biology, the Society of Protozoology and the International Union of Immunological Societies, among others.

Recently, Stephen Braude, professor and chair of the philosophy department and a nationally known expert on parapsychology, assisted Beck in acquiring work by thoughtographer Ted Serios, reputed to be able to print images from his mind onto photographic material.

Beck also collaborates with the Friends of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, and with the Library Gallery’s Curator of Exhibitions, Cynthia Wayne, who mounts solo and group exhibitions culled from the extensive Photography Collections. Future exhibitions include newly acquired work by David Seymour, founder of the prestigious Magnum Photos, Inc.

Of the importance of Special Collections, Beck says, �The great Bauhaus educator Laszlo Moholy-Nagy said that �the illiterate of the future will be ignorant of both camera as well as pencil.� The future that he conjectured about has arrived and we live in a world awash in images. People are knowledgeable about them, but not enough. So a collection like ours being available for study is critical for a society that is based so much in visual imagery. Our students have the incredible opportunity to access material right on campus that is rarely found in one place and previously was only available to a privileged few. Here at UMBC, anyone can see these images.�

In addition to his work at UMBC, Beck teaches at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C. He is working on two books about David Seymour: one to be published by the British art publisher, Phaidon, and another for UMBC to showcase Special Collections� new Seymour photographic holdings.

Class of 2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna

2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna  

Class of 2003 Valedictorian Erika Danna balanced academic excellence, research experience and community service while at UMBC. She accumulated a 4.0 GPA while working in Dr. Suzanne Rosenberg�s lab since June 2001 as one of the first students in the Department of Defense-funded Breast Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (BCURE) program.

A biological sciences major, Danna presented her research findings at two major national scientific meetings, as well as four UMBC-sponsored research symposia. She also was part of the BCURE program�s Race for the Cure team to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Danna has also been active in other service and extracurricular activities including Garden Harvest, the Golden Key Honor Society and Community Service Corps.

When she first came to UMBC, Danna was focused on becoming a physician, but she was gradually drawn to a biomedical research career. Danna credits her UMBC teachers and mentors with influencing her.

“At UMBC I enjoyed learning about how scientific discoveries are made, and I became very interested in participating in research myself,� she says. Danna, a native of Ellicott City, Maryland, will begin her doctoral studies in immunology at Stanford University in the fall.

�Erika is a real go-getter student,� says Rosenberg. �She has taken great advantage of her time in the laboratory and she has a terrific future ahead of her in research.�

 
Men’s Lacrosse Coach Don Zimmerman was recently inducted into the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

A Classroom with Goals

Don Zimmerman is a teacher. You may know him as the head coach of the men�s lacrosse program at UMBC, but for over two decades he has taught the game to All Americans and beginners with the same basic principles.

On January 25, Zimmerman was inducted into the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame. UMBC standout defenseman Gary Clipp �77 joined him as an inductee during the gala affair at Martin�s West in Baltimore.

�My coaching philosophy has always focused on teaching the fundamentals � the little things that make the big difference. Lacrosse is a game of skill and precision, best played when using a simple, basic approach,� said Zimmerman.

Zimmerman has been associated with Baltimore lacrosse since the early 1970�s. He was a prep standout at St. Paul�s School and earned All America honors in 1976 at Johns Hopkins. After assistant coaching stints at both Princeton and North Carolina, he returned to Baltimore in 1984 as head coach of his alma mater. Zimmerman became the first lacrosse coach to win a national title in his initial season, taking Hopkins (14-0) to the top in 1984, and capturing the title again in  1985 and 1987.

In 1994, Zimmerman came to UMBC and changed the direction of the program. On May 2, 1998, UMBC shocked the lacrosse world with a 12-8 win over #1-ranked Maryland and earned its first-ever NCAA Division I championship appearance. The 1999 Retrievers proved the previous year was no fluke, as wins over Navy, North Carolina and Maryland once again landed them in the tournament.

�Our goal at UMBC has always been to get ourselves to the same level as the other top teams in the country. What we�re doing in lacrosse runs parallel to what we�re doing as a university. We feel we have an outstanding product at UMBC and we want people to know that,� Zimmerman says.

The Retriever mentor is well-known outside of Baltimore as well. He served as an assistant coach of the United States team in the 1986 World Games and as head coach for the South squad in the 2002 North-South All Star game. He has been an ambassador for international lacrosse, becoming one of the first coaches to teach the game in Japan.

�I have been fortunate to work with so many quality young men throughout my career,� Zimmerman says. �Whether All America, All World or role player, my heart holds a special place for those that have made the sacrifice and commitment demanded of them. My hope is that as these players look back, they remember me as a mentor who treated them with fairness and respect.�

Ronald Holzloehner (right) celebrates his successful Ph.D. defense with his mentor, Prof. Curtis Menyuk.

A Global Education in Telecommunications  

Berlin, Germany native Ronald Holzloehner will receive his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at UMBC this month, after traveling the world while winning international acclaim for his research on how to make fiber optics communications faster and more reliable.

Holzloehner came to UMBC after receiving his master’s degree from the Technical University of Berlin and spending a year at UC Santa Barbara on a Fulbright scholarship. In late 1998 he came to UMBC and joined Dr. Curtis Menyuk�s research team in the  Optical Fiber Communications Laboratory, which works closely with the telecommunications industry to push the frontiers of communications technology.

During his four and a half years at UMBC, Holzloehner and the rest of the team presented their work at national and international conferences, were published in respected journals, and won prestigious awards. Holzloehner received the Best Speaker Award at the UMBC Student Conference last year, and also won an IEEE LEOS student award fellowship last fall, an award of which only 10�20 are given annually world-wide. His dissertation describes a new method for computing bit error rates in optical fiber communications systems.

�Working with Curtis Menyuk was a good experience, and I certainly learned a lot,� he says. �I worked hard, many nights and weekends, but I wrote a bunch of papers, won some awards, got to travel the world by visiting conferences, and learned much about how science is conducted and managed in the US. What’s amazing about UMBC is the energy and tenacity with which it pursues its goals � President Freeman Hrabowski does a whole lot to promote the school, much like a sports team.�

Like other high-tech researchers, Holzloehner also experienced the ups and downs of the so-called �New Economy.� At the 2003 UMBC Engineer of the Year ceremony, Holzloehner spoke about the lessons high-tech industry has learned from recent scandals. �Corporate greed existed not only at Enron, but also in the telecom industry, and I think we engineers should do whatever we can to fight for solid and sound business models,� he said.

After an arduous search, Holzloehner accepted a postdoctoral position back in Germany at the University of Nuremberg�s newly founded Max-Planck Institute, and will start working there in July. The institute focuses on quantum optics, quantum computing, and some communications, while working closely with top companies like Lucent.

As he prepares to return home for a new chapter in his career, Holzloehner carries with him memories of his American education. �The U.S. is really an amazing country, and it is still able to attract many foreigners that help it grow,� he says. �The advantage that the U.S. has over many other countries is impressive, at times frightening. People should remember that many of these achievements are due to immigrants who work extremely hard.�

 
Adrienne Jones ’76 is Speaker Pro Tem of the Maryland House of Delegates.

A Legislative Voice in Annapolis

�In the �70s if you were majoring in psychology or sociology, you wanted to save the world,� remembers Adrienne Jones, psychology �76.

More than two decades later, Jones is the first African-American woman to serve as the Speaker Pro Tem of the Maryland House of Delegates, where she has served as a Baltimore County delegate for over six years.

�I was very honored to be asked by Speaker Michael Busch and elected by my fellow House members to this prestigious position and to serve in this leadership position as the first African-American female Speaker Pro Tem,� Jones says.

�I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in the House, by keeping an open mind while maintaining the values of what we each believe is right for the hardworking, diverse and deserving constituency � the citizens of Maryland.�

Jones will attend her alma mater�s annual Alumni Reception in Annapolis on February 20. She believes that students and alumni who attend the reception send a powerful message about the positive impact of adequate funding and continued support. �To me, it�s far better as a fiscal leader in Annapolis hearing from a student about the needs of the University than hearing from a lobbyist,� she says.

She first became interested in politics after becoming an assistant to former Baltimore County Executive Donald Hutchinson in 1979. �I learned all about county government,� Jones says. �And it fascinated me.�

UMBC prepared Jones for her career in public service through her psychology courses and through her interactions on campus with people from all areas of the State. �I grew up in a close-knit community — Cowdensville in Arbutus — so UMBC was my first real outside community experience.�

Respected by colleagues and constituents alike, Jones takes great satisfaction in the  opportunity to be an advocate for Baltimore County. �I see my work as another level of community service,� she says. �Often people say why don�t �they� do something about this. Well, I see myself as being �they�.�

Ilse Schweitzer spent a year in Scotland studying Medieval Scottish literature. She will present her research at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day.

A New Perspective on a Legend
  

Ilse Schweitzer, a Humanities Scholar with a double major in English and history, spent a year in Scotland studying the Scot Gaelic language and Medieval Scottish literature at the University of Aberdeen. �I was fascinated with what I was learning,� says Schweitzer, who is also a student in UMBC�s Honors College. �My study abroad experience sparked my interest for going to graduate school and was the starting point for my research in Scottish literature.�

Schweitzer will present her research project, �King Arthur the Tyrant and the Scottish Call for Freedom,� as part of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day at UMBC on Wednesday, April 30. Her research looks into the 15th-century portrayal of King Arthur as a largely negative influence, and how this interpretation reflects the historical and political period of the time.

�Dr. Gail Orgelfinger in the English department helped me to develop the idea and suggested other writings, including works from England and France. I bounced my ideas off of her and she helped to direct my research,� says Schweitzer. �There has been so little research done in this area, but many of the writings of the period show strong links to historical legends including King Edward I and King James III. It is amazing to see the connections.�

Schweitzer was one of two UMBC students selected to participate in the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Utah and is an alternate for the Marshall Scholars program. Outside of the classroom, she has been the president and vice president of the UMBC crew club and an active member of the university’s Maryland Camerata.

She plans to continue her studies and earn a master�s degree in literature from the University of York in England before returning to UMBC for a Ph.D. in order to become a professor of English and Medieval literature.

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) is an opportunity to recognize outstanding student work through oral presentations, poster sessions and artistic exhibits and performances. This year�s seventh annual event is open to the UMBC community, prospective students, alumni, family, friends and campus supporters. Programs and exhibits will take place in the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, the University Center Ballroom and the Fine Arts Building.

UMBC HHMI Lab Student Researchers (left to right: Chun Tang; Isaac Kinde; and Erin Loeliger;)Not pictured: Samson Kyere.

A New Target in the Fight Against HIV
  

A team of researchers from academia and industry led by Dr. Michael Summers, UMBC professor of chemistry/biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, have discovered a new target on the HIV molecule that could potentially lead to a new class of drugs to fight the virus that causes AIDS. The discovery is the cover article of the April 11, 2003 Journal of Molecular Biology.

Summers and his team of undergraduate and graduate student researchers in his UMBC HHMI lab collaborated with Achillion Pharmaceuticals, a privately held drug firm based in New Haven, CT, and a group of researchers from Oregon Health and Science University on the discovery.

“The greatest challenge in treating HIV today is drug resistance brought on when the virus mutates and renders existing drugs ineffective at stopping viral replication,” said Summers. “Our research has led to the identification of a new class of compounds that inhibit a novel target in HIV. These compounds disrupt the assembly of the HIV-1 capsid protein, which is a vital step in changing immature, non-infectious HIV into its mature, infectious form.”

The discovery is all the more remarkable considering its origin – a group of two graduate and two undergraduate students working with Summers. The team includes biochemistry graduate student Chun Tang; sixteen-year-old college sophomore and Presidential Fellow Erin Loeliger; Meyerhoff Scholar and HHMI Undergraduate Scholar Isaac Kinde; and former Meyerhoff Scholar Samson Kyere, now an MD/PhD student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

According to Summers, “Investigators around the world have been looking at the HIV-1 capsid protein as a potential anti-viral drug target for more than a decade, and we are therefore particularly pleased to finally have solid leads to guide these efforts. While we are encouraged by the laboratory tests of the compounds we’ve identified so far, additional testing needs to be undertaken before this approach can be tested in humans.”

“This work is yet another pivotal achievement for Dr. Summers and his students,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). “The fact that undergraduate students played pivotal roles in this research makes it even more impressive.”

The UMBC team’s research is funded in part by NIAID, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

 
Don Norris, UMBC’s resident expert on Maryland politics, is director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR).

A Passion for Maryland Politics

In an election year that featured one of the most spirited gubernatorial races in state history, Don Norris, UMBC�s resident expert on Maryland politics, was in high demand by regional and national media.

As director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR), Norris leads one of the region�s foremost centers for applied social science and public policy research. He also has become more well-known to Baltimore/Washington political observers by lending his expertise to The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post, The Marc Steiner Show, Maryland Public Television and other media.

Norris has been a �political junkie� almost his entire life. �As a child and teenager I was fascinated by politics and government, which were regular items of discussion among my family,� Norris says. Norris studied both history and political science as an undergrad, and went on to receive both a master�s and Ph. D. in government from the University of Virginia. He began following Maryland politics after moving here in 1986 and started looking closer at state elections when he came to UMBC in 1989.

According to Norris, Maryland has a unique political landscape that makes it intriguing to study. �The governor has incredible power,� he says. �Plus both houses of the legislature have four year terms, and are elected at the same time as the governor. Maryland has also traditionally been a one-party, liberal state, although that may change in the wake of this year�s gubernatorial election.�

On November 7, Norris moderated a post-election panel discussion at UMBC analyzing the 2002 Maryland General Election. The panel members were all political writers for Maryland newspapers and included The Baltimore Sun�s Howard Libit, The Washington Post�s Lori Montgomery, and The Baltimore Times� Associate Publisher Anthony McCarthy.

Norris thinks it�s too early to gauge the effect of Republican Robert Ehrlich�s historic election as Maryland governor. �It all depends on whom he installs, what his agenda is, how well he and the legislature work together, and the economy, among other factors,” Norris says. �I’m betting it will be pretty different; a more conservative policy and a more open operating style.�

Now that the election has passed, Norris, who is also a professor in UMBC�s Policy Sciences Graduate Program, can focus his attention on leading MIPAR, which continues to bring together UMBC faculty from a variety of social science fields to analyze important national and regional issues. Current MIPAR projects are examining issues like grassroots digital government, electric deregulation, child poverty, land preservation, the economic impact of community colleges, and public school financing.

MIPAR receives over $5 million in external funding annually and has been supported by a variety of organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U. S. Social Security Administration, the A. S. Abell Foundation, the Morris Goldseker Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Library Association and various Maryland state government agencies, just to name a few.

One of Norris� favorite parts of his job takes place each spring. MIPAR conducts an annual, all-day seminar on Maryland state government for members of the U.S. Congressional Fellows program. The seminar connects the leaders of tomorrow with those of today, bringing 20 to 30 Fellows to the Maryland State House for presentations by state senators, delegates and secretaries of state.

�Giving the Fellows a chance to see how one model of state government operates is an important part of their education,� says Norris. �There’s nothing better for a political scientist than showing future leaders how the structure and processes of government and politics impact their daily lives.�

 
Claudia Lennoff ’91 recently received a Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award.

An Advocate for the Uninsured

When community activist and 1991 UMBC graduate Claudia Lennhoff took the stage recently to receive a $120,000 award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her work fighting for affordable healthcare for the uninsured, it was the culmination of a personal struggle.

Lennhoff was diagnosed with cancer fourteen years ago while she was an undergraduate psychology major and women’s studies minor at UMBC. She was between semesters that summer, and thus had no health insurance.

While doctors urged her to seek immediate treatment, she was unable to find a physician in Baltimore willing to treat her without insurance. Fortunately, her parents found a doctor in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas, who agreed to accept Lennhoff as his patient and she was able to make a full recovery.

�While (beating cancer) is not the motivation behind my work, it allowed me to see that the failures of the health care system have a lasting psychological impact as well as posing a threat to physical health,� Lennhoff says. �Being denied medical care leaves a real sense that one�s life is not considered important.� 

Lennhoff first became involved with the advocacy organization Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) in 1995 while a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Lennhoff became a full time community organizer at CCHCC in 1997 and was later named executive director in 1999.

She and her staff of four have led their 600 active volunteers in reinstating a popular Medicare program that eliminated out-of-pocket medical costs for low-income seniors and disabled citizens. CCHCC also worked to force the University of Illinois to provide contraceptive coverage for its employees.

In September, Lennhoff came to Washington, D.C. to receive one of 10 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program awards. Winners were chosen from 463 nominees across the country. Lennhoff believes that, in large part, her time at UMBC enabled her to move on to bigger and better things.

�Of all my academic experiences, my education at UMBC was, by far, of the highest quality,� she says, �It was the most challenging, had the most integrity, and allowed me to do the most growing, both personally and intellectually.�