As we all work together to stay safe and practice social distancing, we have reached an important milestone that we should all embrace. Today is the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day. In the last 50 years, we have learned many amazing ways to save our planet.

Earth Day will be a lot different this year. Parking Services thought now might be the perfect time to look at a couple ways we can work together to improve the condition of our planet.

One of the things we hear now is that we need to limit our trips to the store. This is good in managing the pandemic. It is also good for the environment. When you plan, you can help the environment by limiting trips which will help to reduce our carbon footprint.

The number of electric cars on the road has exploded over the last ten years. Electric vehicles are environmentally friendly. Parking Services has worked to meet the needs of electric vehicle drivers. We have recently installed 17 new electric chargers around the campus. We currently have 19 charging stations. (Visit parking.umbc.edu for locations.)

Now is the time to see how we can help our planet. Visit parking.umbc.edu for easy ways to reduce our carbon footprint. We are all in this together.

It is with great pleasure that I declare the opening of UMBC’s 24th Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD)! Throughout the week, from April 22-29th, you will be able to view and comment on student presentations from across all disciplines. 

Converting URCAD from an on-campus, day-long symposium to an online event is supported by a technology called VoiceThread (VT), an asynchronous (“not in real time”) platform for viewing and interacting with the presenters. This means visitors will be able to view students’ research posters and slides, as well as art, performances, films, and video games, and be able to leave video, voice, or text feedback for the presenters. Students will respond to questions and receive feedback over the course of the week-long event.

Our resilient students have worked arduously on their research and creative work, and enthusiastically embraced the new presentation format, and I hope you take some time to view their projects. Please also enjoy some of the other URCAD events, such as the video by keynote speaker, Dr. Keisha John, who is introduced by her former mentor, Dr. Rachel Brewster, the welcome message from UAA Dean Katharine Cole, and don’t forget to take a selfie/screenshot to share at #umbcURCAD to be eligible to win a prize in the URCAD Selfie Contest. We hope to preserve the spirit of URCAD and make this a meaningful, learning, sharing, and celebratory event for our campus community. 

Welcome to URCAD Online- a new frontier for UMBC’s undergraduate research community!

Dr. April Householder
Director of Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Scholarships

URCAD.umbc.edu

Examining the Cognitive and Pyschosocial Profiles of GD1 Versus GBA-PD Patients

Please click here to see Nishka's virtual URCAD presentation

While there are currently available research studies that focus on the cognitive features seen in Gaucher disease Type 1 (GD1) and GBA -associated Parkinson’s disease (GBA-PD), research analyzing the lived illness experiences of both diseases is limited (Hammarlund et al. 2018; Packman et al. 2010). Serving as an extension to my INDS degree concentration in Illness Narratology, my capstone project aims to create a clinical profile of GD1 and GBA-PD individuals using statistical analysis and patient interviews.

As advanced medical and scientific therapies become more apparent among hospitals and clinics, many physicians are now advocating for an integrative approach to practicing medicine (Gannotta et al. 2018). With this increasing need for healthcare providers to treat the patient rather than solely the disease (Zazulak 2016), my capstone intends to call attention to the importance of integrating a holistic approach when analyzing the clinical presentations of genetic and neurodegenerative disorders.

Mentors: Grisel Lopez, National Institutes of Health; David Eisenmann, Department of Biological Sciences, UMBC

To see other URCAD presentations please visit urcad.umbc.edu