FROM: Freeman Hrabowski, President, and Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
TO: The UMBC Community
RE: Inaugural Grants from the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation

We are delighted to announce the projects receiving inaugural grants from this fund. These projects build on our faculty’s strong track record of, and commitment to, reimagining what it means to teach and learn. We received a large number of outstanding applications and, unfortunately, could not fund all of the projects. Those selected for awards represent each of our colleges and a wide range of disciplines, and many of them take an interdisciplinary approach to their work.

IMPLEMENTATION AND RESEARCH GRANTS

The Math Gym – A team led by Nagaraj Neerchal, professor and chair of mathematics and statistics, will develop The Math Gym, which will feature “conditioning coaches” and “personal trainers” who will help students keep their foundational math skills in good working order. Moreover, the gym will promote healthy math habits among all our students, drawing a clear analogy between the regular work outs and conditioning needed to maintain both athletic and mathematical skill.

Active Computing Teaching and InnoVation Environment – A team led by Marie desJardins, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, will create ACTIVE, a dynamic “laptop laboratory.” The lab will support innovation in computing courses – with a particular focus on improving the retention and success of women, underrepresented minorities and transfer students. The laboratory will extend active-learning environments, such as CASTLE and the new English writing labs, to a new area of the university.

SEED GRANTS

The Wisdom Institute – A team led by Craig Saper, professor and director of UMBC’s language, literacy, and culture program, will create an institute to expand the role for emeritus professors at UMBC.

Putting Students’ Language Skills to Work – A team led by Susanne Sutton, lecturer in modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, will develop new experiential and service-learning course requirements for undergraduates studying German, with a particular focus on connecting students to Baltimore’s German community.

Service-Learning in Statics – A team led by Anne Spence, professor of the practice in mechanical engineering, will develop new service-learning requirements for undergraduates studying mechanical engineering, with a particular focus on identifying components that increase retention and student success.

EHS – Bruce Walz, professor and chair of emergency health services, will lead a project to integrate individual cameras into EHS exercises, so that students can receive more personalized and immediate feedback on their performance.

Begun with major grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Heinz Awards, the Innovation Fund has benefited from substantial support from alumni and friends, the local community and businesses, and State and national leaders. That support is a testament to the work we’ve already done and a vote of confidence for the national model we’re continuing to build. Projects supported by the Innovation Fund will complement the many other creative and enterprising initiatives already underway at UMBC – from the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative to composition course redesign in English – and will build on our strong history of finding novel approaches to teaching and scholarship.

The competition for the next round of Innovation Fund grants is underway, with proposals due by Friday, February 8. For more information on how to apply, click here. We want to thank everyone who has submitted a proposal, and encourage those whose proposals could not be funded in the first round to apply again.

We are truly inspired by the creative ideas we hear each day and are delighted to be able to support more of them through this fund.

Maricel Kann, assistant professor in the department of biological sciences, recently published a new online book, Translational Bioinformatics on PLOS-CB (first open access book in PLOS.)  

This is a great resource for our students, the textbook is a good introduction to many of the topics in the emerging field of Translational Bioinformatics, and it is free to all, says Kann.

The e-pub file is downloadable from the collection page:

www.ploscollections.org/translationalbioinformatics

It’s also in mobi format for Kindle users. If you don’t have an ipad/tablet/ereader to view the epub or mobi file on, you should be able to view it on Firefox if you download this add-on:  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/epubreader/

Many of us in Baltimore were captivated by the magic of the Superbowl this weekend. But chiropractor Alan Sokoloff ’82, health science and policy, found himself truly in the thick of Ravens mania, traveling with the team to New Orleans to make sure the players’ joints were ready for the big game.

In an interview with the Annapolis Capital newspaper, Sokoloff — founder of the Yalich Clinic of Glen Burnie — talked about his work with Baltimore’s football team:

“A receiver, for example, wants to be able to run as efficiently as possible,” Sokoloff said. “But one leg might not be able to extend as far as the other. If we can open up that joint, we can get a lot more movement. His stride is going to be that much better.”

This is his second Superbowl with the team. Read the full story in the Capital here.

Autism rights activist Ari Ne’eman ’10, political science, was interviewed recently by Al Jazeera about the role of mental illness in the U.S. gun control debate. While still a student at UMBC, Ne’eman co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), an advocacy organization run by and for Autistic adults seeking to increase the representation of Autistic people across society.

Watch the video interview from Al Jazeera here.

In a 2009 interview with UMBC Magazine, then student Ne’eman stated:

“I feel like I’ve set up a good foundation,” says Ne’eman, of both his advocacy and his education. “As long as I stick to my ideals, the core values that I hold, I’ll be able to continue to make a difference. That’s really what I’ve always aimed to do.

That same year, President Obama nominated Ari to the National Council on Disability, a federal agency charged with advising Congress and the President on disability policy issues. Read the UMBC Magazine story here.

Alumni Association – International, a Maryland-based group created to support alumni relations programs within the University System of Maryland, presented a $4,000 check to the UMBC Alumni Association Board at the board’s quarterly meeting last week.

AA-I president Janice Batzold, pictured left, presented the check to Alumni Board president Bennett Moe ’88, visual and performing arts.

The money will be incorporated into the Alumni Relations budget toward new alumni initiatives, said Alumni Relations director Stanyell Bruce.