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Medical and Dental School Applicants, the HPEC Interest Deadline is February 15th. Submit your interest form today! See all the info below.

For Medical and Dental School Applicants, the UMBC Health Professions Evaluation Committee's (HPEC) Cohort process - which begins with exercises to help applicants prepare the materials they need to complete their professional school application, and results in a Committee Letter from the HPEC to accompany an applicant's other Letters of Recommendation - is set in motion nearly a year and half before an applicant plans to enter Medical or Dental School. 

The next HPEC Cohort, supporting applicants planning to enter Medical or Dental School in Fall 2027, is about to begin!

11:59 pm on February 15, 2026

Want to turn your 'To-Do' list into a 'Done' list this Friday?

Join us to learn more about WAGs and how we can help you achieve your writing goals! 

GEARS and AOK Library presents Writing Accountability Groups for Spring 2026! 

• What: Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs) are voluntary and facilitated by fellow UMBC graduate students.
• Who: WAGs are composed of a group of graduate students (usually 4–8 participants per group) interested in developing writing habits and accountability.
• Why: Develop habits of writing every day for a short, manageable period of time by setting goals and being accountable to WAG peers.
• When: WAG groups meet once a week for 60–90 minutes for 10–12 weeks. The group finds a weekly time mutually convenient to all group members.
  
• Where: The group decides on a mutually convenient location to meet, whether in person or online via WebEx or another videoconferencing platform.

Written by Kevin Omland, professor of biological sciences, UMBC

We humans have long viewed ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution. People label other species as “primitive” or “ancient” and use terms like “higher” and “lower” animals.

This anthropocentric perspective was entrenched in 1866, when German scientist Ernst Haeckel drew one of the first trees of life. He placed “Man,” clearly labeled, at the top. This illustration helped establish the popular view that we are the ultimate goal of evolution.

Modern evolutionary biology and genomics debunk that flawed perspective, showing there is no hierarchy in evolution. All species alive today, from chimpanzees to bacteria, are cousins that each have equally long lineages, rather than ancestors or descendants.

Unfortunately, these outdated notions remain prevalent in scientific journals and science journalism. In my new book, “Understanding the Tree of Life,” I explore why it is fundamentally misleading to view any current species as primitive, ancient or simple. As an evolutionary biologist, I offer an alternative view that emphasizes evolution’s complex, nonhierarchical, interconnected history.

Not primitive, just different

Egg-laying mammals, the monotremes, are frequently labeled the most “primitive” living mammals. This category includes the platypus and four species of echidnas. Indeed, their egg-laying is an ancient characteristic shared with reptiles.

But platypuses also have many unique recent adaptations that make them well suited to their lifestyle: They have webbed feet for swimming and a bill with specialized electroreceptors that detect prey in the mud. Males have spurs with venom that they can use to defend themselves against rivals. If you take a platypus’s view, they’re the pinnacle of evolution for their specific ecological niche.

Echidnas may seem primitive, especially because they lack a capability that humans have—giving birth to live young. Yet they possess many extraordinary traits that humans lack. Echidnas are known for their outer covering of protective spines. They also have powerful claws for digging, a sensitive beak and a long sticky tongue, all of which they use foraging for ants and termites. In a head-to-head competition foraging for prey in a termite mound, an echidna would easily outperform any human.

Other mammals native to Australia also turn up on lists of primitive mammals, such as many species of marsupials – pouched mammals, including kangaroos, koalas and wombats. These species generally give birth to small, minimally developed young that move to the mother’s pouch where they complete development. Pouch development may seem inferior to the human way, but it does have advantages. For example, kangaroos can simultaneously nurture young at three stages of development.

Evolutionary tree appearance depends on focus

Marsupials such as opossums, or monotremes such as the platypus, are often shown at the bottom or left side of an evolutionary tree. However, that does not mean that they are older, more primitive or less evolved.

Evolutionary trees—what scientists call phylogenies—show cousin relationships. Just as your second or third cousin is no more primitive than you are, it is misleading to think of a koala or echidna as primitive because of where they are depicted on these trees.

When scientists and journalists choose which species to include in the evolutionary trees in their publications, it can influence how the public perceives these species. But species shown lower on the page are not “lower” on some evolutionary scale.

Rather, they are placed there because the focus of many of those trees is on placental mammals, such as humans, other primates, carnivores, rodents and so on. When the focus is on placental mammals, it makes sense to include one or two species of marsupials as comparisons for reference.

In contrast, in a tree focused on marsupials, one or two placental mammals could be included at the bottom of the page for comparison.

Why understanding the tree of life matters

Viewing humans as the goal of evolution leads to a misunderstanding of the entire evolutionary process. Since evolution is the conceptual foundation for all biology, this flawed perspective can hinder all biological and biomedical science.

Mastering a modern understanding of evolutionary trees is crucial to advances in fields ranging from animal behavior and physiology to conservation and biomedicine. For example, because rhesus monkeys are much more closely related to us than are capuchins, rhesus monkeys are generally better subjects for preliminary tests of human vaccines. Opossums, incorrectly considered to be primitive, are a great species for providing a broader framework for studies of neurobiology and aging because they are distantly related to us, not because they are lower or more ancestral.

Grasping the profound reality that humans are not the pinnacle of evolution, but one branch among many, is foundational for all modern biology. Understanding the tree of life is central to fully embracing the shared modern status of all animals, from platypuses to people.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 300 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.

Name: Sahil Shahi

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Semester of Internship: Summer 2025

Major: Information Systems

Current Class Level: Master's Student

This semester I completed a(n)...: Internship

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): SABSC UMBC

Location of the Organization (City, State): Baltimore, MD

Title of position: Financial Business Process Analyst Intern

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:

During Summer 2025, I interned as a Financial Business Process Analyst Intern at the Student Affairs Business Services Center (SABSC) at UMBC, where I worked closely with finance and operations teams to enhance and automate internal billing workflows. My daily responsibilities included gathering user requirements, documenting functional specifications, and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders to validate billing logic and reporting needs. I also led efforts to develop automated dashboards for forecasting and financial decision-making. One of the key accomplishments during this internship was proposing a streamlined workflow that reduced the billing cycle time by over 40%, significantly improving both accuracy and turnaround time.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I first heard about the internship opportunity through the UMBC Career Center's Handshake portal in early Spring 2025. The role aligned perfectly with my interests in analytics and process optimization, so I tailored my resume and submitted my application right away. After a shortlisting process, I was invited for an interview, where I shared my experience in dashboarding, stakeholder communication, and automation strategies. A few weeks later, I received an offer and officially started in June 2025.

What resources did you use to find your current experience?

UMBC Career Center, Handshake

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?

What I enjoyed most was the opportunity to make a real impact within the university ecosystem. SABSC gave me the autonomy to analyze existing processes and propose solutions that directly benefited internal teams. The collaborative and mission-driven environment helped me learn how to align technology solutions with operational needs, all while working with some incredibly supportive mentors.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

My work helped reduce the billing process time by approximately 40% to 60%, improving both accuracy and efficiency. The dashboards and documentation I created are now being used by leadership for ongoing financial planning. By identifying process gaps and providing automation strategies, I contributed to a more transparent and scalable billing system that will continue to benefit departments beyond my internship period.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

Start early and leverage all of UMBC's resources, especially the Career Center and Handshake. Tailor your resume for every opportunity, and don't underestimate the value of on-campus roles. Most importantly, during your internship, be proactive, ask questions, and document everything these small habits can lead to big results.

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.

Working at SABSC helped me apply my classroom knowledge in a real-world setting while making a measurable impact. The UMBC Career Center and Handshake made it incredibly easy to discover this opportunity and prepare for it with confidence.