UMBC launches holistic student support initiative following White House STEM education workshop on campus.

Faculty researchers, administrators, and staff across UMBC cheered when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced by teleconference on October 22, 2014, a groundbreaking series of awards for the university. NIH has granted UMBC over $18 million to create a national model of comprehensive support to expand and increase the success of students seeking degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

This funding is part of a $240 million, five-year NIH investment to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. Ten projects across the United States were awarded Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) grants, including the STEM BUILD@UMBC initiative. This initiative includes collaborations with five community colleges, Gallaudet University, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The STEM BUILD@UMBC initiative combines innovation with leveraging effective components of existing UMBC programs to create a multifaceted new student support model. It builds on the best that UMBC has to offer, from the supportive peer networks of our living-learning communities to the experiential learning of the Shriver Center and internship opportunities of the Career Center. The initiative pulls in the rigorous undergraduate research preparation that is a hallmark of the MARC U*STAR program, McNair Scholars Program, and our partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It expands the community college partnerships of the Gates STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative and the proactive mentorship of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, and much more.

Bill LaCourse, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and UMBC Provost Philip Rous, together serve as the award’s principal investigators and will direct the STEM BUILD@UMBC initiative.

“At UMBC, we believe large numbers of students from all backgrounds have the potential to excel in the sciences,” shares Bill LaCourse. “Through a university culture that values both innovation and assessment, we’re constantly developing more effective ways to support learning and degree completion, building on the diverse strengths our students bring to the table.”

Philip Rous shares, “This award recognizes the commitment of our faculty and staff and their demonstrated record of achievement in supporting the success of all students. It recognizes our ability to develop transformational initiatives that have a profound impact on the lives of our students and also serve as national models of student support.”

Unlike programs that focus on supporting students at extreme ends of the achievement curve, STEM BUILD@UMBC will focus on high-potential students who are at risk for not completing their STEM degrees but who, with extra support, are likely to succeed.

After a planning period, the program will launch with 20 BUILD Trainees from UMBC and 18 BUILD Affiliates from collaborating institutions and grow to provide direct support to a total of 80 trainees and 72 affiliates. Hundreds of additional undergraduates will benefit indirectly from BUILD initiatives that expand UMBC’s STEM success infrastructure, including new active learning courses, student professional development workshops, faculty training opportunities, a STEM milestone certificate, and group research experiences. The program will seek to establish a model that can be implemented on a national scale.

A White House College Opportunity Initiative workshop held September 16, 2014, at UMBC revealed a real hunger for well-evaluated approaches to improving STEM education nationwide, as many other universities struggle with lagging retention rates and achievement gaps, particularly in STEM. Building on momentum from President Obama’s College Opportunity Summit, the workshop engaged education leaders in discussing ways to improve STEM teaching and learning, to make STEM degrees more accessible to underrepresented students, and to increase degree completion and the production of highly skilled professionals in STEM areas.

STEM BUILD@UMBC directly responds to the concerns of top education leaders and the workforce needs identified by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The initiative represents an exciting step forward in developing an effective model to boost the success of more students in STEM and in all fields, at UMBC and nationwide.

(10/22/2014)

The Fast Lane

Thirty-eight weekends a year, John Klausmeier ’04, mechanical engineering, gets a trackside view to NASCAR’s fiercest races, carefully watching a high performance Chevrolet SS that he has tuned sweep into the curves at nearly 200 miles per hour.

Growing up, Klausmeier loved diving underneath the hoods of automobiles to find ways to make them go faster. That interest (and his time at UMBC) helped him find a career in which he travels the country’s NASCAR circuit as a lead race engineer for one of the sport’s most successful drivers – Danica Patrick – and her #10 car.

Klausmeier found his passion for automobiles and how they work at his parents’ repair shop in Perry Hall. The shop was where he tinkered with carburetors and other components to figure how they worked, and how they could work better.

When it came time for college, “I felt that studying engineering would be a catalyst for merging something I had as a hobby into a career,” he says.

UMBC’s mechanical engineering program was a perfect place for Klausmeier to accelerate into a career in the highly competitive world of NASCAR. “I was able to gear my course work at UMBC to what I saw would help me in the industry,” he recalls. The degree gave Klausmeier a solid grounding in physics, engineering and materials science that he has applied to all aspects of automotive performance.

In addition to the science, there was the software. At UMBC Klausmeier was able to train on the same software that the pit crews themselves use to monitor their fast-moving machines. The university was also an access point to an invaluable internship with NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s race team.

In fact, Klausmeier’s internship led directly to a job as an aerodynamics engineer with Earnhardt after he graduated in 2004. He moved to Charlotte, N.C. – a city that many of the NASCAR racing teams call home.

Klausmeier is one of the youngest lead race engineers in NASCAR, working for Stewart-Haas Racing, run by famed NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. Though Stewart-Haas maintains four teams, Klausmeier works primarily with Patrick – one of the most successful and visible drivers on the circuit and the only woman to win an IndyCar Series race – the 2008 Indy Japan 300.

As lead race engineer, John tweaks the performance of Patrick’s No. 10 car, filling out a playbook using lessons learned from trial runs, wind tunnel tests and many computational simulations. Drivers are only allowed so much time to test run a car on a track, so a lot of work must be done modeling the vehicle’s behavior using a computer.

As a sport, NASCAR has its roots in drivers running moonshine through back country roads, and today’s drivers still seek any edge to stay just a little ahead of each other – if not the law.

“The competition has evolved,” Klausmeier observes. “You have to get to the end result a lot quicker. It’s very engineering driven.”

Stewart-Haas keeps a private airplane to transport the car and the team to the next race. Each week brings a different track, with different characteristics that stress the automobile. “We’re always faced with a different problem,” says Klausmeier. “There is so much competition it is basically like having an exam every week that you have to be prepared for.”

On race day, Klausmeier is a cool head in the noise and color, taking in the feedback both from Patrick behind the wheel and from what the car sensors are showing. Should the shocks or struts be adjusted? How many tires should be changed out at the next pit-stop? How much fuel should be added?

Klausmeier adds that UMBC also gave him a solid work ethic along with this expertise. Both qualities – and his passion for the sport – have prepared him well for the demanding life of a traveling race car team.

“If you have a good technical background and have a good hands-on approach, you’ll do well in this sport,” he says.
— Joab Jackson ’90

Read the full issue of the Summer 2014 UMBC Magazine.