Need a winter class to round out your schedule this year? Consider taking a class with GWST!

All our winter classes are going to be fully online this winter and all carry GEP credit.

Dr. Kate Drabinski

Online, asynchronous

Dr. Kathryn Kein

This course will utilize films, television programs and theoretical, historical, and analytic readings to focus on the ways in which LGBTQ people and queer issues have been represented historically in film and television, and how issues of homosexuality intersect with issues of race and gender. Using material from before and after the modern LGBTQ rights movement, we will explore such themes and stereotypes as sissies, mannish lesbians, cross dressing/drag, AIDS, transgender, bisexuality, and others.  Recommended Preparation GWST 100, GWST 200, or permission of instructor.

Online, asynchronous

Dr. Susan McCully

Abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) post-transition metal chalcogenides (PTMCs) have attracted attention due to their suitable bandgaps and lower exciton binding energies, making them more appropriate for electronic, optical, and water-splitting devices than graphene and monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides. Of the predicted 2D PTMCs, GaSe has been reliably synthesized and experimentally characterized. Despite this fact, quantities such as lattice parameters and band character vary significantly depending on which density functional theory (DFT) functional is used. Although many-body perturbation theory (GW approximation) has been used to correct the electronic structure and obtain the excited state properties of 2D GaSe, and solving the Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) has been used to find the optical gap, we find that the results depend strongly on the starting wavefunction. In an attempt to correct these discrepancies, we employed the many-body Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method to calculate the ground and excited state properties of GaSe because DMC has a weaker dependence on the trial wavefunction. We benchmark these results with available experimental data, DFT [local-density approximation, Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) meta-GGA, and hybrid (HSE06) functionals] and GW-BSE (using PBE and SCAN wavefunctions) results. Our findings confirm that monolayer GaSe is an indirect gap semiconductor (Γ-M) with a quasiparticle electronic gap in close agreement with experiment and low exciton binding energy. We also benchmark the optimal lattice parameter, cohesive energy, and ground state charge density with DMC and various DFT methods. We aim to present a terminal theoretical benchmark for pristine monolayer GaSe, which will aid in the further study of 2D PTMCs using DMC methods.

The Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering

 is proud to have 6 Doctorate Students who will be honored on October 23, 2020 at UMBC's Ceremony to Recognize New Doctoral Candidates. These students have completed all of the necessary milestones during the past year and to earn the title of Doctorial Candidate. 

Zahra Ghassemi, Mentor - Dr. Jennie Leach "Preservation of Protein Stability and Activity by Confinement in Hydrogels" 

Ethan Hain, Mentor - Dr. Lee Blaney "Occurrence and Toxicity of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Chesapeake Bay" 

Yun Jiao, Mentor - Dr. Jennie Leach "Delineating Immune-Mediated Mechanisms of Disease After Traumatic Brain Injury Through Systemic Approaches" 

Nuzhat Maisha, Mentor - Dr. Erin Lavik “Investigating the Role of Materials Properties of Nanoparticles in Complement Mediated Hypersensitivity Reactions Through in Vitro and in Vivo Studies” 

Narendra Goud Pandala, Mentor - Dr. Erin Lavik “Development of a Novel 3D Bioprinting Method for an in Vitro Colon Model” 

Lynn Wong, Mentor - Dr. Govind Rao " Integrating in Silico Protein Engineering Strategies to Modulate Ligand-Binding Protein Properties in a Multiplex Metabolite Profiler"   

In order to accommodate everyone's busy schedules as we get through midterms, we are cancelling tonight's GBM. Good luck on your exams and we'll see you all next week! 

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. 

“A Lab of One’s Own” documents Colwell’s journey through six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to obscure systems blocking women from leading professional organizations or publishing their work. “A Lab of One’s Own” shares the sheer joy a scientist feels when moving toward a breakthrough, and the thrill of uncovering a whole new generation of female pioneers. Colwell’s writing offers an astute diagnosis of how to fix the problem of sexism in science, and celebrates the women who push back.

Colwell is a groundbreaking microbiologist and the first woman to lead the National Science Foundation, where she served as the director from 1998 to 2004. She is a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

This event is hosted by the Hill-Lopes Scholars Program at Towson University. Funded by the generosity of Barbara Hill and Ancelmo Lopes, the Hill-Lopes Scholars Program supports women in STEM at Towson University and aims to retain women in the STEM workforce.

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Date: Friday, Oct 23, 2020

Time: 3:00 PM

“A Lab of One’s Own” documents Colwell’s journey through six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to obscure systems blocking women from leading professional organizations or publishing their work. “A Lab of One’s Own” shares the sheer joy a scientist feels when moving toward a breakthrough, and the thrill of uncovering a whole new generation of female pioneers. Colwell’s writing offers an astute diagnosis of how to fix the problem of sexism in science, and celebrates the women who push back.

Colwell is a groundbreaking microbiologist and the first woman to lead the National Science Foundation, where she served as the director from 1998 to 2004. She is a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

This event is hosted by the Hill-Lopes Scholars Program at Towson University. Funded by the generosity of Barbara Hill and Ancelmo Lopes, the Hill-Lopes Scholars Program supports women in STEM at Towson University and aims to retain women in the STEM workforce.

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Date: Friday, Oct 23, 2020

Time: 3:00 PM

In this article, Short and Dubots examine the conflict around using the name "Sea of Japan" instead of "East Sea."