Samuel Barnett ’25, biochemistry, is on his way to the Ph.D. program in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania this fall, after seizing opportunities to conduct research at Howard Community College and then at UMBC. Always mindful of how others have supported him and wanting to pay it forward, Barnett has served in leadership roles in UMBC student organizations and created resources to help his classmates land their own opportunities.  

Q: How did you choose your major?

A: My high school biology teacher was adamant about getting high school students involved in STEM. Even though the course was online because of the pandemic, she was still able to enrapture people in the wonders of biological sciences. I added the chemistry aspect because I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into how everything works from a basic science perspective. The interdisciplinary nature of biochemistry can sometimes make things a little more challenging, but also fun. Actually, if what I’m doing isn’t challenging, it’s not going to be as fun, I don’t think.

Q: How did you choose UMBC?

My research mentor at Howard Community College, Joseph Sparenberg, nominated me for the BUILD a BRIDGE to STEM (BBS) Internship at UMBC, part of the STEM BUILD program, after my sophomore year. I can confidently say that BBS was the most crucial turning point of my undergraduate career, making the shift from HCC to the “bigger pond” of UMBC much smoother. The mission of the BBS internship was to give transfer students a sense of belonging while immersing them in biological research. While I had research experience from Howard Community College, BBS made me feel like a researcher at UMBC. 

The BBS mentors gave us a lot of autonomy and intellectual freedom to create our own projects, and I acquired experience that was relevant for my lab at UMBC and a later internship at the University of Pennsylvania. I also connected with a diverse network of mentors, familiarized myself with unique scholarship and scientific presentation opportunities, and met fellow community college transfers who helped inspire me to become the scientist I am today.

Q: How did you get connected with your research mentor at UMBC, Fernando Vonhoff, and what are you studying?

A: It’s a funny story, actually—Dr. Vonhoff grew up in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish, and one day he stepped in for my UMBC Spanish teacher. I talked to him after the Spanish class about his work and later visited him in his office to learn more. Even though his lab is mostly focused on behavioral neuroscience, I was up front about the fact that I’m interested in molecular biology. Dr. Vonhoff could have said I wasn’t a good fit, but he gave me a chance and connected me with one of his Ph.D. students, Zach Smith, who does a lot of the molecular work in the lab. Gaining those molecular skills has opened up doors for me when it comes to getting research experience.

I started in the lab in January 2024. Initially, I worked with Zach to master skills like qPCR and later Western blotting—foundational research techniques for identifying and quantifying genetic material and proteins in a sample. This semester I’ve been trusted to do Western blotting completely on my own.

Dr. Vonhoff’s lab works with fruit flies, a common model system for lots of kinds of studies. I’m trying to figure out a better way to identify the presence of a specific very tiny protein in the flies. Because it’s so small, it’s hard to visualize using traditional Western blotting. We tried a procedure that added a larger, fluorescent protein to the small protein to make it easier to see on the blots. It didn’t pan out, but that happens! So now we’re trying to go back to the basics and find new ways to observe the really small protein, but it’s really difficult.

That was definitely disappointing, but I think at the end of the day that’s just how the scientific process works. Progress ebbs and flows. We’re always asking, what can we do beyond this?

Samuel Barnett

That was definitely disappointing, but I think at the end of the day that’s just how the scientific process works. Progress ebbs and flows. We’re always asking, what can we do beyond this? Maybe another type of test or approach will work. I think the best way to approach those challenges is just optimism and to engage your curiosity and expose yourself to alternative solutions.

Q: Along with Vonhoff, who else has supported you along the way?

A: I first met Dr. Maria Cambraia, assistant director for research and international affairs in CNMS, through the BUILD a BRIDGE to STEM internship, and she has since been one of the most influential people on my undergraduate journey. She advised me on what pathways to take when I transferred to UMBC, gave me opportunities to present at national conferences, wrote letters of recommendation for anything and everything under the sun, and has been an overwhelming source of support throughout my undergraduate career. It is genuinely difficult to quantify the impact she has had on me and my fellow undergraduates.

Dr. April Householder, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships, has also been essential in making sure that my place at UMBC was seen and heard. She helped me apply for the prestigious Goldwater and Knight-Hennessy Scholarships, and was always there to lend an ear. She worked overtime with the Goldwater representative at HCC, Cheryl Campo, to help me get my application submitted. 

Q: What are you most proud of from your time at UMBC?

A: I am most proud of winning the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. According to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship website it is “the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering in America.” An academic institution can select up to five students to apply for the scholarship, including one slot for transfer students. Originally, I competed for the transfer slot at UMBC, but wasn’t selected. However, at a national conference I attended, I met the president of the Goldwater foundation, who told me about a policy change that allowed transfer students to reapply at their previous institution. That led to Dr. Householder and Dr. Campo rushing to help me get my application submitted as a nominee from HCC. In April 2024, I got the email that I had won the scholarship. At the moment I won, I could hardly believe it; I was quite literally shaking and overjoyed. 

Q: What else are you involved in at UMBC, and how have those activities benefited, challenged, or surprised you? 

A: In addition to research, I’ve served in leadership roles as the vice president of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) UMBC chapter and secretary of the UMBC chapter of the Tau Sigma National Honor Society, an honor society specifically for transfer students. I’ve also been a tutor for analytical chemistry on campus and volunteered regularly at Grassroots Crisis Intervention.

The biggest surprise was my position within the ACS chapter here. It turned out to be a bigger job than I expected. I compiled a list of 200+ active internships to help out other students. Recently, I leveraged one of my connections at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology to invite a guest speaker to campus. A lot of my work for the ACS chapter was self-driven, but I’m grateful to the group’s advisor, Dr. Maria van Staveren, who really supported my ambitions to make the position into more than the minimum required. 

Q: What’s next for you, and what are you looking forward to?

A: This fall, I’ll begin a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology with a concentration in cancer biology at the University of Pennsylvania. I was an intern at Penn’s Center for Cellular Immunotherapies in summer 2024, and I had a really good time there. The rigorous research environment was just enthralling to me. I was able to focus completely on being a researcher for the first time. I had my own independent project, under guidance from a postdoc. It was really intimidating at first. At Penn, you’re able to work through the entire research process and bring new things to the table. 

Q: What has been the best part of your UMBC experience?

A: The best part of my UMBC experience has been the opportunity to meet mentors that have defined my career. I’ve been given a lot of opportunities, and sure, I’ve taken initiative and put in effort, but at every step of my undergraduate journey, I’ve had a mentor in my corner who’s been willing to lend me a hand and give me a chance. 

UMBC offers many opportunities for undergraduates to get connected to administrators and research faculty. In my experience, faculty have always been friendly and open to connecting with undergraduates. I  am extremely grateful to both UMBC and my mentors for the continued support throughout my career, and all that support has inspired me to try to give back, through efforts like the ACS internship database. 

Q: What advice do you have for transfer students and aspiring undergraduate researchers?

A: Don’t feel afraid to reach out to everyone—faculty members, classmates, staff. They can all help you. And if they don’t respond via email, you can go to their office to introduce yourself. Even in a period of uncertainty, move forward anyway—research is still necessary and important. Stay ambitious, and stay involved in science.

Read more Commencement 2025 stories.

Math is Julie Granruth’s love language. It has bookmarked her life, starting as a student at Towson High School, where her master tutoring skills made what sometimes looked like a labyrinth of numbers accessible and fun for other students. This caught the attention of Donatella Spigarelli, a mom of one of the students—and a certified public accountant and an audit and accounting principal at Baltimore-based accounting firm Ellin & Tucker. Spigarelli was so impressed with Granruth that she encouraged her to apply to the firm’s college internship program. After three years and an accounting internship, Julie is graduating with a degree in financial economics, a 4.0 GPA, and a job as a tax and audit associate at Ellin & Tucker. 

Q: What led you to study at UMBC?

A: My journey to UMBC, I would say, was a little bit different. When I was about 10 or 12, my middle brother was very interested in chess and played in many tournaments at UMBC. I came with him throughout middle school and high school, experiencing UMBC at a very young age. When I applied to colleges, I discovered that UMBC had a great financial economics program. Combined with my experience of UMBC’s community as a kid, it became one of my top picks. 

Q: Is your love of math a family affair?

A: Growing up, our parents always taught us to save all of our money and only buy what we needed. I took that to heart and became interested in math, especially in the global impact of the actions of individuals on the economy. There was a direct application to the real world. 

I chose financial economics because the passion with which my economics professors taught and how they applied it to their research made me passionate about it, too. I enjoyed watching them express their enjoyment of economics. It helped me better understand my enjoyment of it as well.

Q: What’s an unexpected thing you love about your major?

A: I’m a very technical and analytical person. I now love working in Excel, especially for my accounting classes. In my first accounting class, I was assigned a group project to create a company and work out its financial statements. That’s when I learned the most about how to work in Excel. I developed the skills and cool tricks that made spreadsheets work fast and efficiently. Last semester, in advanced accounting, I analyzed the financial ratios of different companies and used the Excel skills I learned to compare their performance.

I visualized everything and organized things in a way that made sense to me and then explained it to someone else in a way that they understood it. That’s why, after graduation, I want to continue my education and become a Certified Public Accountant. I’ve always been interested in it, but I wasn’t always 100 percent sure until last summer during my accounting internship. Helping people save money on their company taxes or their personal taxes is something I’m really interested in doing.

Q: What advice do you have for students interested in financial economics or becoming a CPA but aren’t sure it’s for them?

A: I have frequently heard students say that a lack of confidence in math is the main reason they don’t pursue either of these paths. My advice is to take advantage of all the opportunities you have. Never be afraid to ask for help. The professors are very welcoming and kind and will be able to help you in any way they can. A big part of economics is relating it to the real world. If you’re interested in talking about theories and policies, which is why I chose economics, math is just one piece of the equation. I don’t think there’s a ceiling, even if numbers aren’t your best friend!

Q: Where did you find the most sense of community while at UMBC?

A: I have had a passion for economics since high school and was eager to join a group of people with similar passions. The Economics Council of Majors was a community that welcomed me during my freshman year. I came to love this community, and as treasurer and then as president,  I helped shape and lead the future of this group I loved.

I also enjoyed the Student Events Board (seb). I was grateful to have so many amazing friends who inspired me to put myself out there and join this community. I became the vice president of internal programming; I had never taken on such a large role in my community—I was intimidated. However, once I realized the impact I could have, I never felt more comfortable surrounded by peers who shared my interests. 

During events, when I spoke with attendees about our related hobbies, watched groups of strangers become friends over a shared interest, and collaborated with other campus organizations, I was inspired to pursue new passions. These experiences revealed something I hadn’t originally considered. While the events we created were intended to form the UMBC community that we wished to see, I have also felt the warmth of this community as those around me expressed their heartfelt enjoyment of my programs. I felt so welcomed by the leaders of seb in my freshman year, and I felt honored that I had a role in the way new and returning students experienced UMBC and its beautiful community.

Q: How have you dealt with challenging moments at UMBC? 

A: Despite new classes that seemed impossibly difficult, changes in my social sphere and goals, and my peers seeming farther ahead than I was, one thing that has never changed is my persistence and passion.

When I first faced defeat, I felt not only the fear of that defeat but also the fear of future defeats. However, through my persistence, defeat became somewhat of a friend, someone I turned to as I reclaimed my footing and approached the problem time and time again, unafraid to ask for help to do my best. I take my defeats as starting points for future growth. I now hold onto them as fond memories and stories of strength.

This is why, since the spring of my freshman year, I worked hard every semester as a teaching assistant. I understood how easy it was to let academic troubles envelop me and how it seemed easier to seal this envelope than to change the script and deliver a new message. Having gone through this myself, I became passionate about helping students bring out the best in themselves. I showed them that one defeat was not just a defeat. It was an opportunity for greater future success. 

Q: Carry over the one. What place have numbers had in your community service?

A: One of the students I tutored at Catonsville Elementary School was very numbers-oriented. The first question she asked me when I met her was, ‘What’s six times six?’ Talking about our love of numbers opened a way for me to communicate with her during the mentoring process. 

Since my freshman year, I have volunteered as a Shriver Living Learning Community mentor at Catonsville Elementary School. I acted as someone between a friend and an adult they could look up to, yet also relate to. I encouraged my students to take pride in who they were and reminded them that they only had one chance in life to be who they are, so they might as well own it. 

As the student leader for this site, I supervised the registration, onboarding, evaluation, and weekly attendance of 20 UMBC student volunteers throughout the year. This meant staying organized—it always came back to spreadsheets!

The best part of my UMBC experience was the privilege of engaging with so many communities and giving back to them with my time. I believe that service to those beyond ourselves is part of what makes our lives so fulfilling, and I can not imagine a life without it.

Read more Commencement 2025 stories.

Cookout Celebration of Graduates

Join us for a fun and festive cookout as we celebrate the incredible achievements of our graduates! This laid-back gathering is a chance to honor all of your hard work, dedication, and accomplishments. Bring your appetite and your best celebratory vibes—we’ll have delicious food, music, and plenty of great company. All are welcome. Let’s give our grads the send-off and encouragement they deserve!

Date: Friday, May 2nd 
Time: 2 - 1:50 PM lunch and 2:00 PM Picture
Location: Commons 329
Who's Invited: Graduates, friends, and the community!

The May 2025 Ultra release delivers several meaningful updates that improve how faculty assess student work, support engagement, and manage course tools. From expanded rubric options to accessible grading workflows, these changes are designed to align with effective teaching practices and support a more inclusive, student-centered experience.

Qualitative, No-Points Rubrics

Instructors can now create and use no-points rubrics in Ultra, a powerful option for qualitative evaluation. These rubrics allow instructors to provide rich, criterion-based feedback without assigning numerical values -- perfect for assignments focused on reflection, creativity, process, or formative assessment. In addition, faculty can leverage the AI assistant to generate descriptive evaluation criteria for no-points rubrics.

Image 1: Example of no-points rubric creation screen

Text-Based Columns in the Gradebook

A new Gradebook feature allows instructors to create text-based columns (up to 32 characters). These flexible columns are not restricted to text-only input and can include a description for context. Instructors can control student visibility, sort values in Grid view, and download the data. This update is especially useful for organizing students, tracking informal feedback, or adding flexibility to the Gradebook without tying everything to a numeric score.

Image 2: Inserting a text-based column in the gradable items tab

Test Submission Review – View Once

A new test setting, “View submission one time,” allows students to review their test responses and feedback just once after submission. Instructors must first enable the “Allow students to view their submission” setting, after which this option becomes available. This strikes a balance between transparency and academic integrity, offering students a chance to learn from their errors while reducing the risk of content sharing.

Image 3: Selecting the one-time view submission assessment setting

Enhanced AI Conversation Tool

The AI Conversation tool has been upgraded to optionally generate three key elements: a conversation title, a persona, and a reflection question. Instructors can further refine the suggestions by adjusting complexity, providing additional context, or pulling from course materials. This makes it easier to create rich dialogue prompts that encourage critical thinking and metacognition.

Gradebook Accessibility Enhancements

The Gradable Items view in the Gradebook has been redesigned to improve accessibility and navigation for users relying on screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. The new table-based layout provides more intuitive movement across cells using arrow keys and includes proper header and row announcements. These enhancements help ensure all instructors and teaching assistants, regardless of ability, can manage course grading with greater ease.

Discussion Board Improvements

Several updates make Ultra Discussions more intuitive and user-friendly. Terminology has been streamlined, replacing “responses” with “posts” for clarity, and the input field now prompts users to “Post a response to the discussion.” Instructor posts are clearly labeled, reply boxes are directly below the topic for better flow, and unnecessary interface elements, such as avatars and large banners, have been removed or simplified. These changes reduce cognitive load, improve mobile usability, and create a smoother, more accessible discussion experience for both students and faculty.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around May 1-2 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on May 6, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SU2025 webinar on May 12, 2025.

Please join us on May 14 from 12:00-1:30 in PAHB 428 for a celebration of our graduating Texts, Technologies, and Literature MA students! 

Come learn from these exciting research presentations:

Natalie Neale-Lorello, “We Play Games to Make Stories Out of Sound”: Actual Play at the Nexus of Game, Performance, and Literature"

Dana Panczenko, "What Does It Mean to “Be Good People?”:  The History and Current Practice of Character Education or “Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Learning” (BSEL or SEL) in Schools."

Grace Reeb, "Han and Disability in Korean American Women’s Memoir"