By Susan Thornton Hobby

Every time a coronavirus patient is released from St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, a song plays over the loudspeaker: “St. Barnabas for All of Us.” 

Trent Gabriel ’14, biochemistry and molecular biology, has heard the catchy tune several times, but not enough. Doctors call St. Barnabas a coronavirus “war zone,” with most of its clinics for specialties such as pediatrics and psychiatry now lined with bed after bed of patients with COVID-19. The hiss and click of ventilators fills the halls.  

Gabriel is a dental resident who until mid-March handled routine and emergency dentistry at St. Barnabas. When the pandemic hit, Gabriel was pressed into service, filling in gaps when hospital staff were sick or overburdened. Among other jobs, he has tested doctors for coronavirus, taken vitals of COVID-19 patients, and filled prescriptions. 

The pandemic necessitates fighting on all fronts. UMBC alumni and students are in the thick of that battle—testing hospital staff for the virus, screening patients at a Red Cross, riding in ambulances as an EMT, and many other roles. 

Testing Medical Workers to Save Patients

When the pandemic closed St. Barnabas’ dental clinic, Gabriel was first assigned to test staff for coronavirus. 

“It was really surprising how many had a good chance that they had COVID,” says Gabriel. “It hit the hospital really fast. These are doctors who know how to use PPE [personal protective equipment], and they’re getting sick.” 

Trent Gabriel, center, works as a dental resident at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Since the pandemic, Gabriel has been testing staff for the virus, working in the pharmacy, and taking vital signs of patients. Photo courtesy of Gabriel.

Several staff, including a trauma surgeon and two nurses who both were supposed to have retired but stayed at St. Barnabas to help, have died from the disease. Gabriel’s worry that he’ll become infected is ever-present.

“A lot of us have a fatalistic attitude,” Gabriel says. “We’re getting exposed every day. It’s going to happen. You just hope that it’s later, and we’ve figured out how to treat it.”

How to Train a Hero

“Many of our faculty, students, and staff are participating in an active role in the COVID-19 response, treating patients on the ambulance, in the field, in the emergency department, and providing consultation to direct response,” explains J. Lee Jenkins, chair of the Department of Emergency Health Services at UMBC. 

To prepare for just this kind of health crisis, leaders in medical and traumatic emergency services serve as faculty members and mentors to provide practical experiences for the 80 undergraduate and 35 graduate students in the program, Jenkins says. 

For the Graduate Experience Achievement Research Symposium in 2019, emergency health services graduate student Sanaz Taherzadeh and classmates demonstrate the proper use of personal protective equipment, concentrating on the Ebola crisis that was happening then. Photo courtesy of Taherzadeh.

 “While serving as an emergency physician, I’ve personally seen the toll that this virus has taken on our first responders, our nation’s emergency public health system, our patients, our students and faculty,” says Jenkins, who is an emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a faculty member in emergency medicine at JHU’s School of Medicine. 

“Our nation’s emergency departments and EMS systems have been stretched past our limits in both physical and supply capacity as the front-liners bravely handle the physical and emotional needs of both themselves and the patients,” Jenkins shares. “Those in EMS and in the hospital continue to go to work, to take care of patients, then we come home to our families, each time worrying that we may have brought home this disease.” 

Why engage in this risky profession? “We are here to serve, to go where we are needed,” adds Jenkins. “This is why our department, EHS, exists, to educate the next generation of these heroes.” 

The Right Skills for a Crisis

Current EHS student Sanaz Taherzadeh says her life has prepared her for a pandemic. As a teenager, she watched her grandfather battle cancer in her native Iran and decided to become a nurse. After years working as an operating room nurse in Tehran, when a 2017 earthquake devastated the mountainous region of Kermanshah, Taherzadeh traveled there to triage and treat victims.

“I had to be brave, calm, and honest so that people could trust me and rely on me,” Taherzadeh remembers. 

In 2019, Taherzadeh started her master’s in emergency health services concentrating in epidemiology at UMBC. For her graduate research, she has given presentations on personal protection equipment and coronavirus. All the threads of her knowledge—disaster medicine, epidemiology, and protective equipment—culminated when this coronavirus became a pandemic. 

Taherzadeh, set to graduate in December, volunteers as a surgical support technician for the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, as well as for the Red Cross, where she assists victims at sites of disasters, and screens patients at blood donation centers to ensure they are healthy. 

Even though Iran and the United States do not have a good diplomatic relationship, says Taherzadeh, and she worries about being deported, the nurse believes her place is here. 

“Regardless of what our nationality is, what country we live in, or what religion we have, I believe we are human beings and now is the time that everyone in the world should work together to overcome this disease pandemic,” Taherzadeh says.

“Hard not to tear up”

Maggie Kemper ’14, biology, remembers her first patient with COVID-19. He arrived in mid-March, just after she and the rest of the nursing staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital had converted their Intensive Care Unit to an exclusively COVID-19 unit. 

“He was pretty notable,” Kemper remembers, talking on an infrequent day off from her twelve-hour shifts at the hospital. “We had been hearing the patients would be older, immune-suppressed. But this guy was younger, a bodybuilder, no known health issues. It threw all of us for a loop. He was literally the opposite of what we’d been hearing. He was very sick, it was touch and go.”

Maggie Kemper and her fellow nurses in a converted COVID-19 exclusive unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Photos courtesy of Kemper.

But finally, the last week in April, the patient had recovered enough for staff to discharge him after weeks on a ventilator. The disease had transformed him. Kemper says, “he came in jacked, and now he’s very skinny.” He will likely need rehabilitative care, his lungs were severely damaged, and he can’t live alone for a while, she says. 

“We gave him a standing ovation,” Kemper says. “It was hard not to tear up.”

Like all of emergency medicine, Kemper and her unit have been learning on the fly about COVID-19—how they must put patients on their bellies to help the blood and oxygen flow to their lungs, how they should try to have patients breathe on their own as long as they can without putting them on ventilators, how it’s hard to guess, now, which patients are going to recover, and which aren’t. 

The disease is taking its toll on the staff as well. Kemper is working her usual shifts, plus overtime because the unit is usually full to its capacity of 24 patients, “the sickest of the sick,” she says. And because she shouldn’t remove her protective gear, which gives her rashes around her ears and neck, she goes long stretches without eating or drinking. And she worries about getting infected herself.

“Initially I was very scared,” Kemper said. “Now I’m too tired to be scared.”

But Kemper is also thinking about her patients, who can’t have visitors, and who are debilitated with the disease. So she started an art campaign. Kemper spread the word in her Hampden neighborhood, and to friends and family, to have people send in drawings and letters. Kemper then laminated the pieces so the art could be sterilized, and hung them all over the unit and in patients’ rooms. 

“It’s so overwhelming,” Kemper said. “Kids are sending in drawings and letters that say ‘I love you,’ and they don’t even know these people.” 

Be Prepared 

First-year emergency services and theatre dual major Jack Bez is just beginning his studies at UMBC, but is already using his skills. For 18 months, Bez has worked as an EMT with the Gamber & Community Fire Company. When campus closed, the Eagle Scout chose to live at the firehouse instead of moving home, to avoid exposing his parents to the coronavirus. 

Jack Bez at the Gamber & Community Fire Company, where he moved after campus closed. Photo courtesy of Bez.

Between responding to several ambulance calls a day, Bez is keeping up with his studies in theatre. He hung sleeping bags from a top bunk in the firehouse to fashion a sound booth in which he could record his sound production assignments. 

Though Bez hasn’t yet treated a confirmed coronavirus patient, he has trained on prevention techniques and decontamination, and is activated with Maryland Medical Reserve Corps. 

“All I know is that I’m content with being able to help people who need it, whether it’s COVID or not,” Bez says simply. 

Looking Forward to “Normal”

When the pandemic crisis first began flooding hospitals with patients, but New York City hadn’t yet been put on lockdown, Gabriel remembers emerging from the subway after a long day of testing other doctors for coronavirus. Beside his subway stop was a public park, packed with kids and parents on a beautiful spring day. He remembers being afraid.

The pandemic, Gabriel says, “turns everything that makes us human on its head. Is it that bad to go to a park? We take for granted the things that keep us together.”

When Gabriel finishes his rotation at St. Barnabas this year, he’ll head to Boston University to complete specialty training and a program in crowns and dentures. He’ll be learning the aesthetics of making people’s smiles better, the layering of porcelains on implant teeth, full-mouth dentures on complex cases.

“Something calm and safe,” Gabriel says with a laugh. “Compared to now.”

Catherine Borg contributed to this story.

Header image courtesy of Jack Bez.

Nothing in Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day’s twenty-four year history could have prepared its organizers and participants for the challenge presented in spring 2020, as COVID-19 pushed what would have been a heavily-attended event into a virtual space online. 

Using a technology called VoiceThread, student researchers uploaded poster presentations, performances, and visual artwork, adding commentary and responding to questions from the online audience—mimicking the in-person experience—and URCAD XXIV transformed from a single day into a week-long event stretching from April 22 to 29.

Keisha John ’03, biochemistry and molecular biology, provided a video message about leadership with integrity for URCAD XXIV’s opening remarks as the annual alumni guest speaker. A former Meyerhoff Scholar, she is now associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia.

“Hosting URCAD online gave students a new skill set, which involved producing a virtual presentation — an ability that they will absolutely need going forward in their future academic and professional lives, given the huge cultural shift that has happened due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said April Householder, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships in the Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

“The students really jumped in with both feet to the new technology and made some really dynamic presentations. They created voiceovers for their posters, made videos, and converted their live performances to the web. And they did that in a very condensed amount of time with a very short learning curve.”

URCAD usually attracts about 2,500 attendees, but this year’s online event far surpassed that number. The URCAD site was viewed 18,771 times—more than 8,200 times on the first day alone—and 2,971 unique users logged in, with visitors from as far away as the United Kingdom and South Korea. The VoiceThreads were viewed 3,750 times (with Angela Endres, visual arts, leading the pack at 97 views) and collected 2,671 comments (with Kenneth M’Bale, media and communication studies, topping out at 52).

Although URCAD has come to a close, the 251 online presentations will remain online until September 4 so the university community and beyond may continue to explore the remarkable depth of student research and creative achievement.

Creative solutions in engineering and medicine

In presentations in disciplines ranging from environmental engineering to information systems, students in the College of Engineering and Information Technology shared insights from their research.

Fatima Talib ’20, chemical engineering, working alongside Mariajose Castellanos, senior lecturer in chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, researched how to produce clean water and energy through an existing engineering process. 

“I became interested in this topic when I heard about billboards that use natural humidity to produce drinkable water in Peru. I realized there was a disadvantage in countries that lack humidity,” Talib says. Her presentation focused on how organic waste, such as food waste and paper, can be used to create potable water, electricity, and fertilizer, while minimizing the production of carbon dioxide.

Yianni Karabatis ’21, computer science, presented his work on using deep learning to more accurately diagnose breast cancer. Karabatis, who worked with Konstantinos Kalpakis, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering, explained that a significant percentage of people will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their life, and it is important to have a trustworthy system in place to correctly make these diagnoses. 

“The goal of this project is to increase diagnosis accuracy, while refining interpretation of difficult cases and reducing fatigue and increasing efficiency of pathologists,” he shares. He developed a Convolutional Neural Network, a system of computation inspired by the human brain, which after the first round of training achieved 88% validation accuracy.

Transcending the gallery and theatre

While live performances and in-person exhibitions and screenings were not possible this year, the VoiceThread platform gave rise to a deeper look into the scholarly research and technical processes that go into creative works across the arts.

In her presentation “Authorship and Animation,” Linehan Artist Scholar Olivia Mills ’20, visual arts, challenged the notion of animated film projects as big studio productions, noting direct access to tools and audience is within grasp for independent filmmakers. She presented a compelling overview of the production processes for her animated film, Creatures in Crisis, commenting that “this process is a marathon in nature, requiring patience and multitasking with the unique and time-consuming challenges animation presents.” Her hope is to inspire others to overcome technical challenges or skill barriers to authoring one’s own animated story.

In A Mile in My Cleats, a short documentary film by Linehan Artist Scholar Courtney Culp ’20, visual arts, four black female athletes at UMBC reflect on their experiences as Division I athletes in basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, and track and field (freshman Tyler Moore, freshman Carmen Freeman, senior Zoë Pekins, and sophomore Ariella Garcia, respectively). In the film, each student shares personal anecdotes revealing the questions and pressures they have endured as black athletes. They also share the cues—from media representation, microaggressions, sexism and the ever-present undercurrents of racism—on what society expects from them.

“Overall my biggest takeaway was realizing that through my documentary, I was able to give others the space they needed to share their stories of what it’s like being a black female athlete,” says Culp. She “finished the project with an immense amount of new knowledge of my craft and closer relationships with my peers at UMBC.” Culp’s film was shown earlier this year at the annual Race and Sports Day at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

Linehan Artist Scholar Emily Godfrey ’20, dance, presented her work terminal, with choreography that explores the individual choice forced upon family members when a family dynamic is drastically changed forever. “The piece is intentionally left open-ended, leaving the audience to reflect, react, and invoke discussion,” shares Godfrey. “So long as the work resonates with the viewer, the experience is what matters, not the presentation of a theme.” 

Just prior to URCAD, Godfrey’s work was presented at the gala of the American College Dance Festival’s Mid Atlantic North Conference, along with Giving Skin by Teresa Whittemore ’20, dance.

Seeking greater understanding

In a world with many uncertainties, UMBC students in the humanities and social sciences seek greater understanding through research on global, national, and local topics including environmental change, presidential electability, and food insecurity in Baltimore City.

Cameron Rybacki ’20, political science, wanted to understand her peers’ voting behavior during a highly controversial presidential election year. In Rybacki’s research project,  Assessing the Electability of U.S. Presidential Candidates, she surveyed twenty-five peers to predict how they would vote, and how they chose a candidate. The preliminary findings showed that this group of college-age voters were most likely to choose candidates based on their party identification.

Nihira Mugamba ’22, political science, presented her research on Establishing Food Inequality In Baltimore City: The Influence Of Race And Poverty On Food Insecurity, drawing from data sources from a range of Baltimore City government organizations, Johns Hopkins Livable Future data, and interviews with local food justice organizations. She seeks to understand how structural racism has affected food accessibility in Baltimore’s black communities. 

Mugamba is also the 2020 recipient of the Newman Civic Fellowship which acknowledges students’ commitments to educational access and responsible citizenship.

Paul Ocone ’20, individualized study; Lauren Patel ’20, environmental science; Sangita Ramaswamy ’20, biological sciences; Tori Nelson ’20, environmental science, collaborated to produce the interdisciplinary work On Thin Ice. This sixteen-minute film, formatted as a sphere, tells the story of global warming through videos of changing natural habitats and heat maps.

BUILDing confidence

UMBC’s NIH-funded STEM BUILD program intends to increase the diversity of the workforce in biomedical sciences, and six BUILD Trainees presented at URCAD XXIV.

The research of Shehar Yar Awan ’20, biological sciences, who works with Erin Green, assistant professor of biological sciences, focused on SET5, a yeast protein that has a counterpart in humans. Awan intends to increase understanding of SET5’s activity in cells, which has been linked to tumor formation. “Thanks to the STEM BUILD team’s constant academic and emotional support, I was able to effectively organize and present two years of my undergraduate research,” Awan shares.

“STEM BUILD prepared me through two Summer Bridges by teaching me how to create posters and present them,” shares Sara Reagan ’21, biological sciences and psychology. “I really felt confident making my URCAD poster on my own due to my summer experiences.” She conducts research at Johns Hopkins University on the long-term outcomes for individuals with Tourette’s Syndrome, a condition that causes severe motor or verbal tics, such as throat-clearing or repeating certain words.

Victor Omoniyi ’20, biological sciences, was also well-positioned to present at URCAD because of his prior training and experience with STEM BUILD. “STEM BUILD has supported me in my research in many ways, from funding my trip to present research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in California last year, to ensuring that I found the right mentor to conduct research with,” Omoniyi says. He uses fruit flies to study neurodegenerative disorders with Fernando Vonhoff, assistant professor of biological sciences.

“I was proud to showcase my hard work on a virtual platform,” adds Ena Oboh ’21, biological sciences. She conducted research with Rachel Brewster, professor of biological sciences. Oboh’s project focuses on how certain genes may allow zebrafish embryos to survive for long periods without oxygen, which has implications for everything from organ transplants to cancer. 

“STEM BUILD has supported and prepared me for events like URCAD since I was a freshman,” Oboh says, “and gave me the tools necessary to seek advice during the process of preparation.”

Looking forward

Administrators and professors who have worked for months with presenting students applauded their efforts, especially given the sudden change in presentation methods.

“In these challenging times, our students’ dedication to carry on and participate in URCAD is nothing short of remarkable,” says Katharine Cole, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “Their grit, enthusiastic imaginations, hard work and unwavering commitment in the face of challenge is a reflection of their resilience, determination and immense talent.”

The UMBC community now looks forward to URCAD XXV in spring 2021 with hope that crowds will once again fill the University Ballroom and studios in the Fine Arts and the Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

Engage with student work from URCAD XXIV online here through September 4, 2020.

Catherine Borg, Catalina Dansberger Duque, Sarah Hansen, M.S. ’15, and Megan Hanks Mastrola contributed to this article.

Header image from Emily Godfrey’s work, terminal. Image by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC Magazine.

Dear All:

I hope you stay well in this difficult time.  I want to share the resources that were discussed at our community support meeting.  Please see the attached document.   It includes a list of social justice, mental health, and crisis intervention resources.  

Thanks,

Soonhee

As the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic first began to reach headlines in March, many peoples’ first thoughts were of their and their loved ones’ health. But, in the days that followed, another shock wave hit, revealing drops in world markets that threatened the savings of young and old alike.

As a financial advisor, Bryan Kelly ’92, economics, took the news very personally. But then he quickly jumped to action, setting up a series of web-based “fireside chats” to keep people informed in a way that only he could.

For financially-savvy Retrievers like Kelly, helping their community get through this latest challenge just makes good sense. Here are a few examples of how our community is reaching together to offer sound advice on money, careers, and more.

Share your own stories of Retriever Resilience by using #UMBCTogether on social media, and read more at umbc.edu/together.

A Matter of Trust

Kelly grew up in a small town where everyone knew their neighbors, including the beloved local doctor. Think Norman Rockwell, and you’ll get the picture.

“I went from painting his fences and tending to his flower beds to being his financial advisor and planner. I told him I wanted to be him, but in financial planning,” says Kelly, who wound up becoming founding partner at The Kelly Group, a family-focused financial planning business. 

And so, when the pandemic hit, Kelly did what he did during the October 2008 recession—he offered “a reassuring voice” and delivered an hour-long financial chat to almost 300 clients and friends from his Darlington home. “And no, I’m not in my pajamas,” he joked, lightening the mood before getting into some very serious advice.

“It is at times like these that people under tremendous pressure are overcome with fear and tend to make mistakes that can affect them for years,” he told the group as he also wrote in his hometown paper, the Aegis. 

Kelly credits UMBC economics professor emeritus Chuck Peake for “teaching me what investing means,” and for being “one of my pillars.”

“We want to serve as a guiding light to help prevent these mistakes, and perhaps even help you find opportunities in this adversity,” he says.

Building Blocks

Under normal circumstances, the prospect of managing one’s finances and getting a job out of college is stressful enough. Add to that a global pandemic, and college students are understandably nervous. That’s why campus experts are doubling down and going virtual to make sure students have the best footing possible.

UMBC’s FinancialSmarts program, a financial literacy education program, offers students the chance to participate in online and virtual courses and workshops, earn digital badges, and engage with alumni coaches who can help them practice their skills.

“We know that if our students are to realize the full benefit of their UMBC degrees, they will need to make good, sound financial decisions along the way,” says Hannah Sadollah ’19, psychology, program specialist for financial literacy and education. “FinancialSmarts was developed to give students the tools necessary to make informed and effective decisions about their finances. Our goal is to provide students with timely and relevant resources so that they are as well-prepared to manage their budgets, bank accounts, assets, and debt as they are to master their academic pursuit.”

In April, more than 180 students took part in Money Smart Week, an interactive series of online workshops offering everything from a Jeopardy!-style financial wellness game to “Adulting 101” and a “Credit Cafe.”  Knowing that almost 70 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, and understanding the nervousness about meeting basic financial needs during the pandemic, Sadollah and her colleagues are passionate about helping students become financially literate. 

“With the rise in unemployment claims due to the pandemic we are reminded of the importance of saving at least three months living expenses if you are salaried, and at least six monthsif you are self-employed,” she says. “Financial literacy is an important and necessary life skill. In a time where we are hyper focused on our health, it’s important for us to recognize the effect our finances have on mental, emotional, and physical health.”  

Meanwhile, as an unsteady job market looms, the Career Center has been proactively working with students to brush up their search skills and find internships and full-time employment. Even from afar, the center is offering plenty of one-on-one advising, as well as a full calendar of virtual career-related events, including alumni panels, employer recruiting sessions, and workshops on everything from acing remote interviews, moving from internships into full-time employment, and personal branding, says center director Christine Routzahn. 

“Some students are naturally concerned about their internship and career plans,” says Routzahn. “Our Career Center team is committed to making sure that students know we are available and are here to help when ready.” 

Routzahn and her colleagues are actively encouraging students to reflect on their values and career aspirations while also taking time to practice self care and find opportunities to sharpen skills that will make them stand out to employers. Later this summer, the Career Center will offer a virtual career fair in collaboration with other Maryland Career Consortium institutions, offering direct connections to organizations looking to hire.

“During these uncertain times, you may naturally have concerns about your career plans. Remember that you are not alone and that many students are sharing a similar experience,” advises Routzahn. “We are all in this together and the Career Center team is here for you.  Even though the road ahead may not be easy, there are still a lot of opportunities out there to gain great experience.”  

Connections Matter

As the owner of 3 Pillars Co., a events and business consulting firm, Lois Sarfo-Mensah ’15, emergency health services, is used to working hard to stay afloat—and helping other businesses do the same. In her side gig as ambassador of the Baltimore chapter of Ladies Get Paid (LGP), she extends even further, creating networks for advocacy and support for working women, many of whom are understandably concerned right now.

“The greatest concern is what is next,” she says. “It is such an unsettling time and there is hesitation on pivoting to careers or businesses, staying put until it is over, or focusing on development during this time at home. Each having their own implications—especially financially.”

While there has been hope among many small business owners about federal and state grant and loan programs, the processes have not been easy to navigate. Going forward, coming together as a community will be more important than ever, says Sarfo-Mensah, who through LGP is working on creating events such as community conversations and virtual happy hours to allow for connection and discussion of grief and trauma brought on by the pandemic.

“From the onset of this virus and the news of the slowdown to shutdown of many industries, I have been steadfast with anyone I have spoken to about this change that we need to be on the side of solution and support rather than reaction,” she says. 

“We have to support each other… whether it is referring business owners, supporting local, keeping engaged with community efforts such as PPE production, and sharing out the information you receive to any one who may need it…. This way everyone can be starting from the same place or be as equitable as possible.”

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Header image by bruce mars on Unsplash

The NSF Grant

The CURM Grant