Realizing Their Potential:
UMBC Interns and Co-ops

Name: Nadeesha Ranasinghe Arachchige
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Graduation: December 2008
Placement: Wyeth Research

“What I liked most about my internship with the drug safety and metabolism group was the opportunity to work with extremely talented and skilled scientists in sophisticated labs.”

Duties:

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

The Serious Science of Human Nature

Robert Provine’s groundbreaking research into what makes us human has earned him attention from scientists and media from around the world. Provine studies how instinctive behaviors like laughter, yawning and tickling give new insights into evolution, brain function and social science. Two of his essays were recently chosen for “best of year” literary anthologies, placing him alongside top comedic minds from “The Simpsons,” “The Daily Show” and “The Onion” as well as leading scientists.

One of his essays appears in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006, a book introduced by “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening and compiled by novelist Dave Eggers. The book also includes contributions from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman and satire from “The Daily Show,” “This American Life” and “The Onion.”

On the more serious side, a Provine essay on yawning was chosen for “The Best American Science Writing 2006,” putting him in the company of top writers from The New York Times, Wired, The New Yorker and others. Other well-known works have cited Provine’s unique research, including bestsellers like Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, Steven Pinkner’s How the Mind Works and Kay Redfield Jamison’s Exuberance.

“It’s a pleasure being in the company of scientists and writers whose work I admire,” said Provine, a professor of psychology who’s been at UMBC for 32 years.

Provine is also one of the most cited researchers in leading textbooks in his specialty, not surprising for a former student of the Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini. Comedians Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall have mentioned his ideas in their monologues, and Provine has been involved in television shows with humorists Bill Cosby, Conan O’Brian, Al Franken and Alan Alda.

A man of diverse academic and personal interests, Provine enjoys racing his Corvette, painting and playing jazz saxophone. But one of his biggest passions is teaching and researching with students. All of the co-authors on his research papers are UMBC undergraduates, several of whom are featured in his 2000 book Laughter: A Scientific Investigation which he calls “in part, a story about undergraduate research at UMBC.”

Provine’s future plans include a forthcoming article on how tickling is the basis for the self/other perception, the root of social play and a good source of information on how to build better robots. He joins other scientific and literary luminaries in “What is Your Dangerous Idea,” his third contribution to the Today’s Leading Thinkers series of texts based on essays for Edge.org.

He seems very happy to have found a niche that carries his ideas around the world and can take him to the chimpanzee section of the zoo, the opera house and then to the toy store for research. “Unlike most jobs, professors are lucky to be able to pursue their ideas where ever they lead,” he said.

Provine suspects there is a good reason why his research and writing have wide appeal. “The social sciences have traditionally focused on the environmental influences on behavior and the differences between individuals and cultures,” he said. “But my work has attended to basic elements of human nature that all individuals and cultures have in common.”

(12/11/06)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Transforming the Teaching of Science

Changes in the way UMBC faculty are teaching introductory chemistry is not only increasing pass rates but creating more interest in chemistry.

Professors Ralph Pollack and William LaCourse came to Diane Lee, dean of undergraduate education, with concerns about student performance in Chemistry 101. The large lecture classes that usually contained over 200 students left little room for more than a handful of students to participate, and additional weekly recitation classes did not make a difference in student grades.

The Department of Chemistry, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Shriver Center worked together to create the Chemistry Discovery Center, a problem-based, high-tech learning lab (University Center, Room 201) focused on cooperative learning. Two years later, pass rates in Chemistry 101 are increasing, fewer students need to repeat the class and faculty have seen additional improvement at all grade levels. The number of majors, second majors and minors in chemistry and biochemistry is growing. And an overall improvement in group skills is also migrating to upper-level chemistry classes.

“Science is a cooperative endeavor, not a solitary one,” said Pollack. “In the Chemistry Discovery Center, students become active participants in the learning process, and we know that those who work in groups do better than those who work alone. It gets them thinking about problems and coming to their own conclusions. They’re not just memorizing.”

During two-hour weekly sessions, students divide into groups of four, and receive worksheets to guide them in their development of the ideas and principles that form the basis of the unit being studied. Students take ownership of the group through rotating roles, from managing the group to computing and recording the information. Faculty and teaching assistants can send and view group work from a central monitor. (UMBC’s Continuing and Professional Studies helped fund the lab’s first year, while the National Science Foundation funded the second year.)

“You don’t really understand the information until you are doing the problems yourself,” said freshman Frances Andrada. “Working with your peers and helping each other makes it easier to remember the information.”

“Students become more independent and responsible for their learning by developing critical work skills – teamwork, communication, management and self-assessment. It’s another way UMBC provides students with an entrepreneurial skill set,” added LaCourse.

Lee said that the Chemistry Discovery Center’s success has sparked interest from other departments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in creating similar labs. “It’s wonderful to see students excited about solving problems. What’s more, for those students who want to become teachers, it shows them firsthand how to make science more accessible.”

UMBC and partners in the Chemistry Discovery Center will celebrate its success with a ribbon cutting and reception on May 11. President Hrabowski will begin the program at 9:30 a.m. in the University Center, Room 201.

(5/7/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Two UMBC Alumni Receive Prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarships

Matthew Loftus ’07, chemistry, and Hadi Gharabaghi, ’06, visual arts, have received the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship. Only 34 students in the nation received this year’s scholarship, which honors high achieving students with financial need. Considered one of the most generous U.S. academic awards, it provides up to $50,000 per year for up to six years of graduate or professional study in any field.

Now in his first year at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Loftus came to UMBC on a Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship. He spent summers doing volunteer work in Africa and was vice president of Students Taking Action Now in Darfur (STAND). He received the William Donald Schaefer Award for the best applicant to the Maryland International Education Association scholarship when he studied abroad in Cairo, Egypt.

Loftus hopes to work as a doctor in developing countries after medical school. “I am blessed and privileged to be a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship,” Loftus said. “It allows me to be free to pursue a career in international health serving others without having to worry about any debt from medical school.”

Gharabaghi is pursuing an M.A. in Cinema Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Originally from Iran where he studied math and physics in high school, he became interested in the arts and humanities while at Montgomery College, and later transferred to UMBC. His work has been exhibited at Caladan Gallery, Current Gallery, Iranian.com and the Middle East Institute. He also completed an internship at the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

After receiving his master’s degree, Gharabaghi plans to obtain a Ph.D. in Media Studies and teach at the university level. “The prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship bestowed upon me has materialized my belief in the American Dream,” Gharabaghi said. “Having entered this country as a refugee nearly a decade ago, I aspired to achieve and maintain academic excellence since in Iran, I was unjustly denied opportunity due to my religious affiliation. For me, this scholarship is the validation of years of perseverance. Therefore, on the onset of 40, I feel more determined than ever to pursue my dream of an academic career in humanities.”

(8/20/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

UMBC Announces New Undergraduate and Graduate Programs

UMBC has recently added several new degree and program track opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. With these programs recently approved by the Board of Regents and the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the university continues to provide students with the knowledge and skills to be successful in their careers and employers with talented graduates in a variety of fields.

UNDERGRADUATE

Bachelor’s Degree in Media and Communication Studies
As communication becomes increasingly digital, interactive and pervasive, knowledge of new media technology is essential. The B.A. in Media and Communications Studies is an interdisciplinary program that combines a liberal arts education with an understanding of the dynamic and complex changes in communication, culture and knowledge. Students will gain critical media literacy while learning to use relevant new technologies to communicate effectively. Internships and capstone projects will introduce students to the worlds of radio, television, print and web journalism; public relations and advertising; non-profit policy work and advocacy; as well as careers in education, health and administration. Students in the program must complete an additional major, minor or certificate. Visit the Media and Communications Studies web site at www.umbc.edu/mcs or contact program director Jason Loviglio loviglio@umbc.edu) in the Department of American Studies for more information.

Bachelor’s Degree in Gender and Women’s Studies
Gender and Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that seeks to understand and articulate how gender makes a difference – in the lives and experiences of women, as well as men; in the practices and institutions of human societies; and in the cultural products of societies, such as art and literature. Emphasizing the importance of historical, cross-cultural, and international perspectives, Gender and Women’s Studies critically examines the intersections of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age and ability to make visible structures of power that otherwise remain hidden. Graduates with a degree in Gender and Women’s Studies enter careers in business, education, public service, healthcare, social services, law, politics and news media. Contact program director Anne Brodsky (brodsky@umbc.edu) in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program (www.umbc.edu/wmstudies/) for more information.

Bachelor of Arts in Physics Education
There is a chronic shortage of secondary school science teachers, especially physics-trained teachers, in Maryland and throughout the U.S. In response, UMBC has created a Bachelor of Arts in Physics Education that will graduate fully trained physicists who are able to teach physics at the secondary level. The program is offered in collaboration with UMBC’s Department of Education. Contact program director Philip Rous (rous@umbc.edu) for more information.

Program Track in Computer Science: Game Development
Program Track in Visual Arts: Animation and Interactive Media The Baltimore/Washington region is ranked third in the number of computer game companies nationally. Employers are looking for talented programmers and artists to meet increasing demands in the gaming field. Based on employer feedback, UMBC has created a game development track for students pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science, and an animation and interactive media track for students pursuing a B.A. in Visual Arts. Visit http://gaim.umbc.edu/ for more information, or contact program directors Marc Olano (olano@umbc.edu) in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering or Eric Dyer (dyer@umbc.edu) in the Department of Visual Arts.

Program Track in Health Administration and Policy: Public Health
The Health Administration and Policy Program (HAPP) is designed for career-oriented students who recognize that health and health care in the U.S. are major public concerns and plan to seek employment in one of a variety of administrative, supportive, planning, research or policy positions. The new track in Public Health provides students the opportunity to add courses in the natural sciences as part of their program requirements. Visit www.umbc.edu/happ or contact associate program director Joyce Riley (riley@umbc.edu) in the Department of Sociology for more information.

GRADUATE

Master’s Degree in Professional Studies: Biotechnology
Designed for current and aspiring biotech professionals, the M.P.S. in Biotechnology program incorporates advanced life science courses with regulatory and management courses. In addition to providing advanced instruction in the life sciences, the program provides practical instruction on how to successfully bring new products to market. The program also includes coursework in leadership, management and financial management to a life science-oriented business. Visit the M.P.S. Biotechnology program web site (www.umbc.edu/biotech) or contact program director Rick Wolf (biotechinfo@umbc.edu) for more information.

Master’s Degree and Ph.D. Degree in Geography and Environmental Systems
The environment is an emerging focus on the UMBC campus, and the graduate programs in Geography and Environmental Systems (GES) will emphasize the kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration needed to address critical problems affecting the natural environment and human society. Students will have the opportunity to earn an M.S. or Ph.D. degree in three areas: Environmental Systems, including water resources and earth-surface processes, ecosystem science and atmospheric processes; Human Geography, with an emphasis on coupled human-natural systems including impacts of human activities on the environment, the socioeconomic consequences of environmental degradation and environmental policy; and Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing. Visit the GES graduate program web site (www.umbc.edu/ges/GES_graduate_program) or contact program director Andrew Miller (miller@umbc.edu) in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems for more information.

Master’s Degree in Professional Studies: Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Pending Approval by the Maryland Higher Education Commission)
UMBC’s Master’s in Professional Studies: Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology program will be offered at the Universities at Shady Grove campus in Rockville. The program will offer an applied curriculum for early and mid-career students planning to enter or advance in the I/O workforce. It explores and integrates such topics as organizational behavioral management, human factors, and professional human resources practice, and culminates with a professional capstone experience. The program enables students to develop a portfolio while building strong relationships with faculty and industry professionals. Upon completing the M.P.S., students will possess advanced knowledge of organizational behavior management, ethical issues in organizational psychology, the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, the dynamics of teamwork, and employee motivation. Evening, weekend and select online courses will be available for busy professionals. For more information, contact Diane Alonso at 301-738-6318 or dalonso@umbc.edu or visit www.umbc.edu/shadygrove/iop.

Master’s Degree in Management of Aging Services
The newly formed Erickson School is offering an applied professional M.A. degree program focused on preparing leaders in practice and scholarship who will improve society by enhancing the lives of older adults. The unique program is designed for professionals working in the growing array of aging-related services, including in government, business and non-profit sectors. It will provide a solid interdisciplinary foundation in human aging, management and policy. Graduates will leave the program with the skills and knowledge to make a unique contribution to organizations addressing the needs of an aging society. Contact program director Leslie A. Morgan (lmorgan@umbc.edu) in the Erickson School (www.umbc.edu/Erickson) for more information.

Master’s Degree in Systems Engineering (Pending Approval by the Maryland Higher Education Commission)
The Master’s of Science in Systems Engineering will provide the technical background required for successful systems engineers in the 21st century. The program is designed for engineering professionals who want practical experience that can be immediately applied on the job. Students will learn from industry experts how to develop complex systems that meet customer requirements. The core curriculum will consist of five courses developed and taught by senior systems engineers to equip students with the processes, techniques and tools required to practice systems engineering. These courses will address the entire systems engineering life cycle, including requirements analysis, systems architecture and design, modeling, simulation and analysis, and system implementation and testing. The elective portion of the program consists of courses that provide an overview of technical disciplines that lie at the heart of today’s systems and courses in a related technical discipline chosen to meet the specific career needs of each student. Contact program director Ted Foster (tfoster@umbc.edu) for more information.

(7/23/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

UMBC Awarded $2 Million to Fund Entrepreneurship Education

*Learn about Entrepreneurship Week Events (Feb. 24-Mar. 3)
*Read about UMBC student and faculty entrepreneurs
*Visit the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship Web site

UMBC is expanding its entrepreneurship education and programming, thanks to a $2-million grant from the Kauffman Foundation.

The mission of the Kauffman Campuses Initiative is to catalyze entrepreneurship programs outside of business and engineering schools. The award acknowledges the success of UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, created six years ago through a gift of $1 million from the Alex. Brown Foundation to develop a leading university entrepreneurship center for the Baltimore region.

“The Kauffman grant allows us to take entrepreneurship programming to the next level,” said Vivian Armor, director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. “We can expand course offerings, improve programming that exposes students and faculty to important entrepreneurial concepts and help develop systems to support individuals launching successful business ventures or social entrepreneurship programs that address community needs.”

Armor believes that UMBC’s upcoming Entrepreneurship Week (February 24 through March 3, part of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA) can serve as an awareness campaign about entrepreneurship, often misunderstood as a concept that only applies to business.

“Entrepreneurship can play an important role in all disciplines,” she said. “Faculty and students pushing the envelope in science and technology, breaking new ground in the creative arts or crafting new solutions to society’s problems can all be entrepreneurs. Some people don’t even realize what they are doing is entrepreneurial.”

The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship is committed to working with faculty and students across the campus. Its most recent summer institute was designed for members of the visual and performing arts faculty, who learned how to incorporate entrepreneurial concepts into their classes. The Center will continue to offer institutes in a variety of disciplines.

The Center also offers courses, lectures and other student and faculty programming, and is a partner in UMBC’s ACTiVATE program, funded by the National Science Foundation to address the unique needs of accomplished women interested in starting technology companies. Eight women in the two-year-old program now lead their own tech companies.

(2/19/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

UMBC Music Department Building Global Reputation

UMBC’s music department continues to distinguish itself as an academically and musically talented department, and the world is listening. Faculty, staff and students in the department are building connections with renowned composers, music conservatories and other music institutions worldwide. Here are just a few programs offered by the department and performances that are bringing international recognition to UMBC:

Music of Japan Today 2007
UMBC Camerata Performs at Carnegie Hall
Italian Exchange Program

Music of Japan Today 2007
UMBC’s music department will host Music of Japan Today 2007, one of the largest events of Japanese contemporary music outside of Japan, and the only festival to combine scholarly presentations with musical performances. The three-day symposium will explore and celebrate the development and evolution of Japanese music with performances, lecture-recitals, panel discussions and paper presentations from the widest possible range of disciplines and expertise.

The symposium features performances and lectures by three world-renowned composers: Hiroyuki Itoh, Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Shirotomo Aizawa, and special guest performer Retsuzan Tanabe, master of the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese bamboo flute. Three student groups (the Chamber Players, Percussion Ensemble and students in the American Contemporary Music certificate program) UMBC faculty and guest musicians from the region and international new music centers will also perform.

Co-directors E. Michael Richards, associate professor of music, and Kazuko Tanosaki, director of the certificate program, co-founded the event 15 years ago as faculty at Hamilton College in New York. “Japan has a long musical tradition (over 1500 years) and a variety of music,” said Tanosaki. “This symposium examines how western culture and traditional Japanese music influence the country’s contemporary music,” said Richards.

Music of Japan Today receives support under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan. It also receives funding from the Northeast Asia Council and Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, Japan Foundation, the Japan Commerce Association of Washington DC and UMBC.

For a schedule of the events, visit www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/calendar/.

UMBC Camerata Performs at Carnegie Hall
The UMBC Camerata, a select chamber choir, has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, one of the nation’s premiere concert halls, on April 2. The group, under the direction of David Smith, will perform with famed English choral conductor and composer John Rutter.

The Camerata will perform Rutter’s “Magnificat,” a piece the Camerata performed last fall at UMBC in preparation for the prestigious opportunity. Camerata member Catherine Gerlach, a freshman mechanical engineering major, is a fan of Rutter’s work. She began singing his compositions while in high school when she performed in a female-only musical group. “Just to be seen with the man himself is a chance of a lifetime,” said Gerlach.

Smith hopes to continue providing his students the opportunities to learn and work with some of the world’s greatest musicians and conductors. Just last October, the group sang with award-winning, multi-platinum country artist Kenny Rogers at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore.

Students traveling to New York are still in need of financial support. Persons interested in contributing tax-deductible donations toward the trip should contact David Smith at 410-455-2922 or smithdav@umbc.edu.

Italian Exchange Program
UMBC faculty and students now have the opportunity to participate in the music department’s newest exchange program in Italy. The program is a result of a collaborative work between faculty in the department, particularly Linda Dusman, chair and professor of music, and faculty at the Conservatorio “G. Nicolini” di Piacenza in Italy.

Last November marked the program’s beginning with the exchange of two faculty members – Dusman and Carlo Alessandro Landini, chair of composition at the Conservatorio. Due to differences in the Conservatorio’s academic semester and UMBC’s, when Landini came to campus in November, he finished Dusman’s course in instrumentation, while Dusman began Landini’s composition course in Italy. While there, Dusman worked one-on-one with Landini’s students, whose ages ranged from 16 to 40. Graduate students at the Conservatorio also had the opportunity to coach with Dusman in “Incontro con Linda Dusman” (“Encounter with Linda Dusman”), a concert of music written by Dusman. At UMBC, Ruckus, the professional contemporary music ensemble, premiered Landini’s new work, “Coming to Life. Generation, Transition, Interlocking of Phases.” Landini’s work was commissioned by Ruckus to commemorate UMBC’s 40th Anniversary.

“This program establishes a European connection for our department and especially for our student-singers,” said Dusman. “This experience will give them the opportunity to study singing in Italy, which is the source of the European operatic tradition.”

Dusman hopes the program will take place annually. The first student from the department is currently studying in Italy. Peter Kuyatt, a music education major and guitarist, started in January and will remain until June. Kuyatt is interning at a middle school in Italy where he is learning the techniques that Italian music educators use in the classroom.

(3/26/07)

UMBC Presents Roundtable on Environmental Issues, Hosts Former VP Al Gore

This year’s Mosaic Roundtable –“If now what then, if then what now?”– is a timely opportunity to showcase UMBC’s faculty and student research on the environment, an area of emerging focus for the university. “If now�,” a multidisciplinary discussion of former Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” is a prelude to Gore’s upcoming lecture at UMBC on May 8, part of The Maryland Forum lecture series.

The Mosaic Roundtable, sponsored by UMBC’s Interdisciplinary Studies Program, on Monday, April 9 will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery. The week prior to the event, the Interdisciplinary Studies Council of Majors and the Campus Climate Initiative will host free film screenings of “An Inconvenient Truth.” Founded in 2002, the Mosaic Roundtable is an annual discussion of controversial, timely issues. More information about Mosaic and the screenings is available online.

Roundtable participants are:

Scott Farrow, Chair
Department of Economics
Scott Farrow’s current research focuses on risk management and micro-economic performance while his teaching focuses on benefit-cost analysis and the economics of risk management. His work related to global climate change includes academic articles on methods to quantify the precautionary principle and economic approaches to sustainability as well as his authorship of Making the Environment Count on which then-Senator Gore held hearings.

He served twice in the Executive Office of the President, in the Department of the Interior, and carried out domestic and international consulting work for Dames & Moore, Inc. Consulting clients and funding sources have included: the US Environmental Protection Agency, ExxonMobil, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, American Chemistry Council, Harvard Institute for International Development (for the US Agency for International Development) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Jeff Halverson, Associate Director
Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
Associate Professor
Department of Geography and Environmental Systems
Jeffrey Halverson’s present research and teaching interests focus on the climatology and severe storms of the Mid Atlantic region, including nor’easters, severe thunderstorms and tropical cyclones undergoing extra-tropical transition. Prior to UMBC, Jeffrey Halverson investigated severe storms for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He also worked at NASA Headquarters, where he helped manage NASA’s Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) and NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Activities (NAMMA) experiments to study the birth and intensification of hurricanes. He has extensive field experience investigating hurricanes, serving both as an Instrument Scientist for NASA’s ER-2 high altitude research aircraft and as Mission Scientist on NASA’s DC-8 research aircraft.

Halverson writes a regular column for Weatherwise magazine. Most recently, he wrote the scientific content for author Stefan Bechtel’s new release, Roar of the Heavens (Citadel Press), which tells the story of the catastrophic Hurricane Camille flash flood in Nelson County, Virginia.

Robert Neff, Assistant Professor
Department of Geography and Environmental Systems
Robert Neff has been studying human dimensions of global climate change for the past 10 years. He has published findings of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment, which was part of the national assessment of the impacts of climate change in the late 1990s, and more recently has published findings of the Human-Environment Regional Observatories (HERO) project, which was funded by a five-year grant from NSF to enhance infrastructure for studying vulnerability to climate change and variations.

Neff wrote his master’s thesis on the economics of a gasoline tax and his Ph.D. dissertation on greenhouse-gas emissions from transportation in urban places. He is currently working with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, an NSF-funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) study site to analyze energy-consumption patterns in multiple urban places. Neff is the chair of the Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the national disciplinary organization for geographers in the United States.

Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College Professor of Visual Arts
Honors College
Department of Visual Arts
Ellen Handler Spitz teaches interdisciplinary seminars in the arts and humanities. She lectures internationally and is the author of numerous articles and five books: Art and Psyche, Image and Insight, Museums of the Mind, Inside Picture Books, and, most recently, The Brightening Glance.

Spitz was recently named a 2007 summer fellow at the Erikson Institute for Education and Research. She held fellowships at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, the Bunting Institute (now the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study), the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, the Camargo Institute in France and the Center for Children and Childhood Studies at Rutgers.

Moncie Wright, President
Campus Climate Initiative
Moncie Wright is the first student to present at a Mosaic event. A senior environmental science major, she is the president of the Campus Climate Initiative, an organization devoted to reducing UMBC’s impact on global warming

As a student at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Wright was mentored by Chris Fox, head of the CCBC Environment Project, who has studied global warming for 20 years. After receiving her A.A. in Environmental Science Technology, Wright transferred to UMBC in fall 2005. While attending the 4th Annual N.E. Climate Conference in 2006, she learned how hundreds of schools across the country were combating global warming on their campuses and working with administrators to reduce their campuses’ impacts on climate change. When she returned to UMBC, Wright started the Campus Climate Initiative and did independent research under the guidance of geography and environmental systems professor Chris Swan on an invasive species.

The Campus Climate Initiative is completing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and the group also applied for an EPA grant to investigate student attitudes and perceptions toward energy efficiency. In addition, the Campus Climate Initiative is performing energy efficiency research.

Wright is also a member of the Campus Sustainability Research Group and treasurer for the Geography and Environmental Systems Council of Majors.

(4/2/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

UMBC Student Named Top U.S. Scholar-Athlete

Meyerhoff Scholar Isaac Matthews, a senior mechanical engineering major and a four-year track and field letterman, was recently named the 2007 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year.” The award is given annually by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine to the U.S. female and male athletes who best combine athletic and academic excellence with community activism.

LaMont Toliver, director of the Meyerhoff program, described Matthews in an April 5 Diverse cover story as “the prototype for a scholar-athlete with the potential to be the Paul Robeson of our time. He’s that well rounded.”

Matthews, who has a 3.88 grade point average, will graduate in May with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He has been accepted to prestigious engineering graduate programs at MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, Michigan and Illinois.

During his athletic career at UMBC, Matthews finished seventh in the 2005 America East Indoor Championships 800-meter run, placed eighth in the 2004 America East Outdoor Championships and was named a Toyota Athlete of the Week in 2003.

In addition, Matthews is well known on campus as a dedicated mentor and tutor to young African-American middle and high school students and as an accomplished cello player. He serves as treasurer for UMBC’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and gives motivational talks to NASA Sharp students.

In the Diverse cover story, Matthews discussed his lifelong quest to shatter stereotypes about black students and the challenges of mentoring the younger generation. “There are more black doctors than there are basketball players, but you don’t see the image� As the numbers increase, as you have more black engineers, professors, that image can be defeated by the numbers.”

(4/30/07)

© 2006-07 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Photo Caption:
According to UMBC computer scientists Milt Halem (left) and Yelena Yesha (right), the Multicore Computing Center will give UMBC researchers access to some of the world's most powerful information engines.

UMBC and IBM have announced a new collaboration to create The Multicore Computing Center (MC2), a unique facility that will focus on supercomputing research related to aerospace/defense, financial services, medical imaging and weather/climate change prediction. IBM awarded UMBC a significant gift to support the development of this new center, which researchers describe as an “orchestra” of one of the world’s most powerful supercomputing chips.

The MC2 will bring to UMBC a high-performance computational test laboratory based on the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.), jointly developed by IBM, Sony Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) and Toshiba Corp. This ground breaking processor is used in products such as SCE's PlayStation3 and Toshiba's Cell/B.E. Reference Set, a development tool for Cell/B.E. applications, as well as the IBM BladeCenter QS20.

Cells have a wide range of capability – able to serve as engines for image and video-intensive computing tasks like virtual reality, simulations and imaging for aerospace, medicine and defense; high-definition TV and high-speed video for wireless devices; and highly complex physics based computer models to better predict weather, climate change and biochemistry.

The MC2 is the latest development in a strong, long-time partnership between IBM and UMBC. IBM employs over 100 UMBC alumni, and UMBC faculty have received numerous IBM research awards and fellowships over the past decade.

The MC2 at UMBC is expected to focus on supercomputing research related to aerospace/defense, financial services, medical imaging and weather/climate change prediction.

One of the challenges for researchers at the MC2 will be making clusters consisting of hundreds of the powerful information engines run effectively together. “Cell processors are groups of eight very fast, independent but simple PC’s with their own tiny memory all on a single chip each with its own leader,” said Milt Halem, director of the MC2 and professor of computer science at UMBC.

“The challenge is choreographing all the chips to work efficiently in parallel. It’s like a distributed orchestra with 224 musicians and 28 conductors connected with head phones trying to play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony together,” said Halem, who retired in 2002 from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he served as Assistant Director for Information Sciences and Chief Information Officer.

"The Multicore Computing Center highlights UMBC's role as a national leader in information technology research and education, and will contribute to Maryland's economic growth and national security," said Freeman Hrabowski, president of UMBC.

“We are so pleased to become an early adopter of this revolutionary shift in semi-conductor chip design,” Halem said. “UMBC is committed to growing its computational science expertise and hopes this collaboration with IBM will allow the university to become a national leader in the applications of future multicore computers as they grow more massive.”

UMBC is a member of IBM’s Academic Initiative, a program sponsored by IBM to upgrade IT skills for a more competitive workforce. Through the Academic Initiative, IBM works with more than 2,200 institutions, 11,000 faculty members and 650,000 students worldwide to build integrated business, science and technology skills to be applied in today’s global economy.

"The opening of the UMBC Multicore Computer Center is yet another example of how IBM innovations are being used to help further the advancement of research and science that benefits business and our communities," said Rod Adkins, senior vice president of development & manufacturing, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "We are convinced of the endless possibilities that can, and will, emerge from this type of collaborative relationship, and are proud to play a role in the launch of the new information technology research center."

In the future, UMBC and IBM officials plan to collaborate on new interdisciplinary research possibilities in chemistry, mathematics and other fields of engineering and information technology.

The Multicore Computing Center is expected to be installed and operational by fall 2007.