Stormy Hill
B.S., Applied Statistics
Summa Cum Laude
Hometown: Columbia, Maryland
Plans: Emerging Technologist Program, Nielsen Holdings

UMBC has been a transformative experience. I have made great friends and found inspirational mentors here that have shaped me as a person. UMBC has helped me find my passions and fulfill my goals, big and small.

UMBC leaves its mark on every student, but Stormy Hill’s time as a Retriever has been particularly transformative. Hill joined the UMBC community after two highly successful years at Howard Community College. At UMBC, Hill was selected to become a member of the inaugural cohort of Hill-Lopes Scholars, a program designed to support women in STEM, and her interest in statistics flourished.  

“Without a doubt, UMBC helped me achieve my career goals,” Hill says. “Through networking opportunities provided through the Hill-Lopes Scholarship Program, I found the most amazing internship with T. Rowe Price. Later, the wonderful Career Center was where I found my dream job with Nielsen, which will take me to Florida this summer.”

With a perfect GPA, Hill is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Sigma honor societies. When it comes to her academic achievements, she is thankful for the support of faculty who weren’t just excellent teachers in the classroom, but who also proactively reached out to her with praise for her work and encouraged her to pursue further study and opportunities. “This type of support gave me confidence in my ability to branch out of my comfort zone and learn new things,” she shares, “and even to consider jobs in areas I never would have considered otherwise.”

Hill also tutored children in math at Lakeland School in Baltimore through the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program. “I discovered a way I can give back to my community and make a positive difference in the lives of children,” she reflects. “I have enjoyed the experience so thoroughly that I intend to seek out opportunities to continue tutoring after moving to Florida.” A member of both the scuba diving and jujitsu clubs at UMBC, she also plans to continue her martial arts training after graduation.

Hill will soon begin work at Nielson Holdings through the data science track of their highly competitive Emerging Technologist Program.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Adrian Davey
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Frederick, Maryland
Plans: Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

This institution cultivated my scientific passion and inspired me to poise myself as a rising engineer committed to championing diversity in STEM and adding research-oriented novelty to chemical engineering.

As a Meyerhoff Scholar at UMBC, Adrian Davey has been committed to training as a researcher, and incorporating service into his studies, from day one. He pursued research at the University of Texas at Austin as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Scholar, and at UC Berkeley as an Amgen Scholar, in addition to his research in the lab of Chris Hennigan, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, at UMBC.

Recognizing his academic and research strengths, Davey was invited to be a part of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, UMBC’s all-discipline honor society, and was named a scholar of the American Chemical Society. He also earned third place in the Technical Research Exhibition at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Fall Regional Conference in 2017 and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, UMBC’s engineering honors society.

Outside of the lab, Davey has pursued leadership opportunities and mentored high school students through student organizations both on campus and in the local community. He served as president of the UMBC chapter of the NSBE and worked with students at Mount Hebron High School through an SAT preparation and mentorship program.

After graduation, Davey will begin a Ph.D. program in chemical engineering as a Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Berkeley. He will continue to research how to improve oxygen-reduction reactions for more efficient and clean hydrogen peroxide formation. A possible application of this work could support more efficient water decontamination.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Sophia Lopresti
B.A., Global Studies
Minor: Intercultural Communication
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Sterling, Virginia
Plans: Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, Indonesia

UMBC has connected me to some of the most amazing experiences of my life. The Sondheim program and Shriver Center helped me arrange service-learning experiences, both in Baltimore and internationally. The global studies program challenged my perspective on the realities of international development and showed me resources to find international summer experiences. The Grand Challenge Scholars program encouraged me to seek experiences outside of my field. UMBC has given me more resources than I ever could have imagined.

Sophia Lopresti’s UMBC career has been defined by service-learning experiences, in Baltimore and around the world. As a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar, Lopresti got her start in this work by completing several service-learning practica through the Shriver Center, connecting with local communities, most recently by teaching English at the Esperanza Center. Those experiences helped her envision a path for her future focused on supporting underserved communities worldwide in meeting their own goals and needs.

Lopresti has traveled to Indonesia to serve as a midwife’s assistant, volunteer with the Wadah Foundation (which focuses on supporting women as community leaders), and teach children English. Her involvement with UMBC’s chapter of Global Brigades led her to create an oral health education program for children in Panama. From there, her responsibility grew and she was named campus chairperson for Global Brigades at UMBC, overseeing 104 students as they traveled to Nicaragua and Panama for alternative spring break trips. For her outstanding commitment to service, Lopresti was named a Newman Civic Fellow in 2017.

Beyond her service work, Lopresti recently spent a semester abroad in Sweden, studying peace and development. She has also channeled her interest in problem-solving and creating positive change to her work as a Grand Challenges Scholar and Student Government Association Election Board chair. She was named Outstanding Leader in the Global Studies Program and has just received a Fulbright Scholarship to return to Indonesia after graduation to teach English.

Portrait by Marylana Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Priyanka Ranade
B.S., Information Systems
Cum Laude
Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
Plans: Cyber Software Engineer, Northrop Grumman Corporation

As a woman minority in technology, I got to immerse myself in a community full of advocates who helped me see the potential I didn’t always see in myself. I learned that as long as a student is willing to work hard and has that drive to take their passion to unimaginable heights, the opportunities will be endless at UMBC.

Priyanka Ranade refers to joining the Cyber Scholars Program, through the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), as the “greatest turning point in my undergraduate career.” The support and guidance Ranade received as a Cyber Scholar helped her excel in the classroom and as a researcher, and encouraged her growing fascination with cybersecurity issues.

“UMBC has continuously given to me as long as I worked hard,” Ranade said, who recently received the Student Leadership Award for Information Systems. “‘Working hard’ is built into the faculty and student body and it spreads to everyone who steps foot onto this campus. I know that I will always carry the UMBC grit with me with any opportunity I take in the future.”

As a student in UMBC’s accelerated B.S./M.S. program in information systems, Ranade conducted research alongside Anupam Joshi, chair and professor of computer science and electrical engineering. In Joshi’s lab, she studied how advanced computing techniques can be used to more accurately identify cyber threats. She is particularly interested in an aspect of cybersecurity called multilingual representation, which utilizes natural language processing to understand cyber threats in a range of natural languages. She recently presented on this research at URCAD 2018.

Beyond her UMBC research, Ranade worked as a cyber strategy intern at Northrop Grumman in 2017, where she received mentorship from several UMBC alumni. This led to a full-time job offer, which she will begin after graduation.

Looking back at her time at UMBC, Ranade reflects that the UMBC community matched high expectations with strong support, and that combination was invaluable to her. “From an academic standpoint, my passion for cybersecurity grew stronger through all of the interactions I have made with faculty and the technical student body,” she says. “Working to reach my goals became second nature to me when I realized I had help everywhere I looked.”

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Emmanuel Mones
B.F.A., Visual Arts
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Columbia, Maryland
Plans: To launch a men’s streetwear brand, ALT.MASC

The UMBC visual arts department gave me this great balance of guidance and freedom that has helped me come to realize what it is that I want to pursue in my future. My mentors taught me to see the value of my personal experiences as source material for my work. They taught me the sound of my own creative voice.

Emmanuel Mones has capped off an innovative and fruitful creative career at UMBC with a thought-provoking senior project: creating the men’s streetwear brand ALT.MASC.

Developed through the support of an Undergraduate Research Award, “ALT.MASC: Redefining Masculinity through Fashion and Photography” seeks to challenge existing, limited models of masculinity with alternative visions of masculinity that are more inclusive. Through fashion and photography, Mones hopes to encourage public discourse on gender, sexuality, and equality. After graduation, Mones plans to launch the ALT.MASC brand and its accompanying publication, Wonderboy Magazine.

Mones shares that the faculty mentorship he received has been key in his growth as an artist addressing challenging societal questions. “Obviously, through my classes, I learned the craft of art making — photography, video, and design. But, in those classes, my professors gave me a lot of freedom to follow my own intellectual curiosities,” says Mones. “They encouraged me to ask my own questions, and to make use of the class projects to find answers.”

While at UMBC, Mones has received an Imagining America Scholarship and a Smithsonian Minority Awards Scholarship. He has also worked as an intern with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and had an APAC fellowship the following year. He was also the recipient of the Bartleby Annual Prize from UMBC’s creative arts journal.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Marie Pessagno
B.A., Social Work; B.A., Gender and Women’s Studies
Cum Laude
Hometown: Harwood, Maryland
Plans: UMB School of Social Work

UMBC has helped to prepare me for the real world of professionalism. I have excelled at this school, when I had long ago thought that the possibility of finishing my college career had ended. I was proven wrong, and have since been accepted into graduate school, with the hopes of someday soon continuing on to pursue my Ph.D.

Throughout her academic journey, two inspirations have pushed Marie Pessagno to always do her best:  her two daughters. Calling her children the “driving force” for her success, she shares, “I am finishing school so that I can give them the best opportunities in this world that I can.”

A social work and gender and women’s studies double major, Pessagno found a home in the UMBC community, particularly within the Women’s Center. There, she met other returning women scholars, and they have provided support and encouragement to one another throughout their UMBC years. Pessagno received both the Charlotte W. Newcombe Scholarships and the Lillian Lynch Scholarship. She has also been recognized for both her academic achievement and service to her field, named a member of the Phi Alpha Honors Society and receiving the 2018 Joan S. Korenman Award for Service in Gender and Women’s Studies.

After graduation, Pessagno will attend the University of Maryland School of Social Work as an advanced standing student in the Title IV-E program, for future child welfare professionals, with the intention of continuing on for her Ph.D. Pessagno credits her success to the professors and mentors she’s met during her time at UMBC who “are unafraid of pushing, teaching outside the box, and expecting the best from their students.”

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Todd Cox
B.S., Financial Economics
Summa Cum Laude
Hometown: Frederick, Maryland
Plans: Business Management Analyst, Northrop Grumman

UMBC has provided me with an outstanding education and has helped me secure a future as a business analyst.

Todd Cox’s success at UMBC has been driven by the discipline, focus, and perseverance he learned during his service in the U.S. Navy as a boatswain’s mate third class attached to Amphibious Construction Battalion One. His interest in economics began in the Navy after attending the “Million Dollar Sailor” training where he learned about savings, investing, and budgeting. He decided to pursue a degree in financial economics shortly after.  

Cox applied his newfound passion to excel in his studies, earning a perfect GPA and a place on the dean’s and president’s lists every semester. He received the Outstanding Student in Macroeconomics Scholarship as well. During his time at UMBC, he also found time to apply his economics skills as a member of the accounting club and as a business management intern at Northrop Grumman.

Throughout his time on campus, Cox worked closely with the UMBC Career Center to connect with top-performing companies where he could apply his knowledge, drive, and ever-expanding skill set. Cox is looking forward to working as a business management analyst at Northrop Grumman after graduation.

“One of the greatest assets on campus that facilitated the achievement of my goals was the Career Center,” Cox reflects. “The Career Center does a phenomenal job mentoring, preparing, and connecting students with future employers.”

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

Flora Kirk
B.A., Ancient Studies
Minor: Political Science
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Middletown, Maryland
Plans: Fulbright researcher, Romania

Since I first rubbed True Grit’s nose, UMBC has presented me with unending opportunities to be involved in its vibrant campus life. As my UMBC career shows, whatever plan you have going into your undergraduate career, you will be exposed to enough opportunities here to find yourself in a much different, and better, path.

Flora Kirk’s career at UMBC has been punctuated by a seemingly unending list of internships, student activities, and academic accolades. As an ancient studies major in the Honors College, Kirk credits her department and mentors for providing her with unique opportunities and supporting her success. During her time at UMBC, she has received  the Christopher Sherwin Award, Jane and Robert Shedd Award, and William and Martha Christopher Scholarship. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an Undergraduate Research Scholar.

Already Kirk has pursued her interest in ancient coins through research abroad. In 2015, she traveled to the Roman Baths and worked to catalogue an extensive cache of recently discovered coins. In 2017, Kirk received a grant through the Roman Society to travel to the Great North Museum in Newcastle, UK, for further research. Kirk also received the Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship and traveled to Archaeotek Roman Villa field school in Transylvania, Romania.

Building on her already extensive travel dossier, Kirk will be relocating to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, after graduation as a Fulbright Scholar to conduct research on Roman coinage, specifically on the effect of propaganda as it relates to value.

Portrait by Marylana Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Soheila Escobar
B.S., Information Systems
Cum Laude
Hometown: Riohacha, La Guajira, Colombia
Plans: Business and systems analysis career

I really appreciate the diversity that I have found at UMBC and the support for culture and respect among the students. I have learned that there are more people like me, who have left their countries to pursue a better future for themselves, their community, and their families.

Soheila Escobar came to UMBC with some uncertainties about completing her undergraduate education in English at a U.S. university, but her experiences with the UMBC community quickly confirmed her hopes for her college years. “UMBC has helped me in achieving my goals by promoting a very diverse environment where I do not feel excluded, and I, more than anything, feel welcome,” Escobar says. “I have taken classes with professors from different cultural backgrounds, professors whose first language is not English, and I have felt very supported and encouraged by them to continue the challenge of finishing my education in a second language.”

Escobar has thrived at UMBC, particularly through collaborative research opportunities. Earlier this semester, she presented Tutor On Campus during Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day. The web platform she created with classmates encourages students to help each other succeed by enabling peer connections based on specific courses or disciplines, and providing relevant support resources.

Escobar is passionate about developing educational and career opportunities for young people in her community of indigenous Wayuu people in Colombia. “I have also had the opportunity to take a leadership position within my community in Colombia, where I am working to help young women see that they can rise above their cultural expectations by studying and starting a career in their field of interest,” she explains. “It is a leadership position that I plan to continue and one that I hope will connect my family on a greater scale to the global community, so that they can experience other cultures and share with the world the good things that our culture has to offer.”

Upon graduation, Escobar will apply her business and technical skills to a career in business and systems analysis. She will also pursue a master’s degree in information systems, with the goal of helping people in underserved communities connect with new opportunities through technology.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Shirley Basfield Dunlap
Ph.D., Language Literacy and Culture
Summa Cum Laude
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Plans: Coordinator of Theatre Arts, Morgan State University

I have taken one course a semester since 2009. UMBC has taught me perseverance.

Shirley Basfield Dunlap directed plays celebrating African American life and experience in regional theatres across the country before settling in Baltimore as an associate professor and coordinator of theatre arts at Morgan State University. Wanting to further her scholarship in the history of theatre, she found a home in UMBC’s language, literacy, and culture (LLC) Ph.D. program. 

Through the LLC program, Basfield Dunlap has connected with mentors committed to her success in completing a ground-breaking and thought-provoking dissertation, including her committee chair Beverly Bickel, clinical associate professor of LLC; co-chair Michelle Scott, associate professor of history; and Kimberly Moffitt, associate professor of American studies. These mentors “have been avid supporters of my work as a stage director,” she says, sharing a particularly significant memory of them attending the opening night of Lolita Chakrabarti’s “Red Velvet” at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, which she directed in its Baltimore debut.

Basfield Dunlap’s dissertation, “The Oral History Project of African American Stage Directors in American Theatre,” explores how the making of a play is influenced by the cultural lens of the director. “Scripts and performances directed by these African American directors have been chronicled in African American theatre history books,” her dissertation abstract notes, “but the cultural processes of ‘making’ of the play and the creating the production, have not.”

Her dissertation aims to create a space to acknowledge the work and impact of African American stage directors in American theatre history. She will apply her research to enhance her ongoing work in theatre at Morgan State University.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.