Monday through Thursday, rising sophomore Devin Meek is your average media & communication studies student. But once Friday rolls around, he packs his bags and does a forward 180, traveling the world for his part-time job: professional jump roper. Here are five things we learned while exploring the rapidly growing world of competitive jump rope.

Jump rope can open some pretty exciting doors for an entertainer:
“I’ve been on Nickelodeon, jumped in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade twice and the Chinese New Year Parade in Macau, and even performed on a Disney Cruise.”

The jump rope community is an extremely supportive one:

“We don’t look at competitions as a way to beat someone. It’s more so that you’re there to show off what you’ve learned and, in turn, learn from someone else. It’s a sport that’s still developing, so there’s a ton of room for creativity.”

Jump ropers are starting to get noticed. In a BIG way:

“Flight Crew Jump Rope competed on season nine of America’s Got Talent. They were huge inspirations to me, so it was amazing when they asked me to join their group in 2016. Since then I’ve been traveling and performing with their team, as well as starting my own local group.”

Just like every other sport, yes, you can get injured jumping rope:

“I’m actually recovering from my first injury right now. I hurt a disc in my back because I didn’t warm up and stretch properly before a performance. Pretty lame injury, but it taught me a lesson!”

Professional jump roper might be the coolest part-time job in the world:

“I have tried out other jobs before. I’ve flipped burgers and even worked as a mascot for a while and, although they were fun, none of it beats jump rope.”

— Kait McCaffrey

Videos of Devin’s Jump Rope Styles

Six finalists pitched creative business ideas to a panel of judges during UMBC’s fifth annual Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC), held on April 25, 2018 in the new UMBC Event Center. The business ideas ranged from online tools and apps to products with medical applications.

The Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition is for undergraduate and graduate students who are serious about starting a business, explains Vivian Armor ’73, American studies, director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at UMBC. Throughout the course of the competition, each team is paired with an industry mentor who provides guidance and professional advice ahead of a final Shark Tank-style event. The structure of the event and its focus on mentorship are inspired by the vision of entrepreneur Greg Cangialosi ‘96, English, reflecting on his own undergraduate days at UMBC and what he has learned in the years since then about moving from an idea to a successful company.

Miranda Marvel, Ph.D. ‘19, marine estuarine environmental sciences, shared SensorFish, which took third place in the competition. She explained how fish mortality due to stress is a common problem that fish owners face. SensorFish are special type of zebrafish bred to change color based on common stressors that fish commonly encounter, such as poor water quality or particular illnesses. Because the fish change color immediately when they are experiencing a problem in the tank, their owners can more quickly work to fix the problem, keeping the fish healthy.

Second place was awarded to Matrix Cast, an idea presented by Flo de Sande ‘18, mechanical engineering. Matrix Cast is a plastic cast that can be altered to fit all arm shapes and sizes. de Sande explained that Matrix Cast offers a low-cost cast option for physicians working in remote or low-resource locations, such as communities served through Doctors Without Borders or military installations in conflict zones. The cast is a “pressure vessel” type design, which, while made from plastic, is very sturdy, explained de Sande during her business pitch.

GermoSense, a rapid sepsis-detection test developed by Mustafa Al-Adhami, M.S. ‘15, mechanical engineering, Ph.D. ‘19, mechanical engineering, received first place in the competition. Sepsis is a life-threatening blood infection that, if not treated promptly, can lead to serious complications and even death in mere days. Currently, the test that medical professionals rely on to determine antibiotic efficacy for sepsis patients can take several days to yield results. Because of this challenge, physicians often start patients who they suspect have sepsis on broad spectrum antibiotics, which can possibly help if the patient has sepsis but might be unnecessary and ineffective for people facing other medical conditions that are presenting similarly to sepsis, or in the case of antibiotic resistance.

Al-Adhami explained that GermoSense is able to determine whether a patient has sepsis within one hour, which can lead to shorter hospital stays, help prevent antibiotic resistance by avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use, and reduce medical costs. GermoSense costs approximately $100 to use, compared to comparable tests that can cost $170 or more. At last year’s CBIC, Al-Adhami presented GermoSense, then at an earlier stage of development, and took third place in the competition.

The contest’s additional three finalists included UniVerse by Allison Gross ‘18, certificate in English as a second language; Frey Custom Cues by Christopher Bodan ‘19, interdisciplinary studies, and Michelle Barrow ‘08, gender and women’s studies, and marketing coordinator in the division of professional studies at UMBC, and James Baker; and Skanaroo by Vincent Celebrado-Royer ‘17, business technology administration, and Tyler Little ‘20, computer science. 

For Cangialosi, the event was not just about identifying top projects, but, more broadly, about helping young entrepreneurs move toward success one step at a time. Taking in the creativity and energy of the event, he reflected, “This room is filled with dreams and entrepreneurial spirit.”

Banner image: Mustafa Al-Adhami, M.S. ‘15, mechanical engineering, Ph.D. ‘19, mechanical engineering, left; Greg Cangialosi ’96, English; Flo de Sande ’18, mechanical engineering; and Miranda Marvel ‘Ph.D. ‘19, marine estuarine environmental sciences, after the competition. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

Jennifer Sleeman, Ph.D ’17, computer science, loves programming. So, when she was asked to coach the Einstein Narwhals, her son’s FIRST LEGO League team, the visiting assistant professor was excited to be able to share her passion and spend more time with her 10-year-old all at once.

The team competed in the Maryland FIRST LEGO League competition, held at UMBC, in February, taking first place for Robot Strategies and Innovation. With that win, the team of eight elementary and middle schoolers participated in the FIRST LEGO League World Championship, held in Detroit in late April. Among 104 teams, they won the Judge’s Award trophy, and walked away with lots of new ideas.

LEGO Learning

“FIRST LEGO League inspires young children to work as scientists and engineers. It requires them to program a robot and complete missions that are built with Legos,” says Sleeman. “It also allows them to discover a real problem, research possible solutions, meet with experts in the field to understand the problem better, and to get feedback on their proposed solution and present their solution to others.”

There are three components of the competition: project, robot design, and core values. During the robot design portion of the event, the team must build the attachments and robot completely out of LEGOs, according to themed challenges.

At the beginning of the season, the team took some field trips to local businesses, including a fire station in Clarksville, MD, to choose a grassroots issue that they would work to address over the course of the season. The firefighters told the students that one challenge they face in the colder months is fire hoses freezing when the water is not flowing. To prevent the hoses from freezing, the firefighters resort to letting the water run, which poses dangers and is wasteful.

The Einstein Narwhals decided to come up with a way to prevent fire hoses from freezing by developing a hose heater that generates energy that can be used to keep the hoses warm enough. Sleeman’s son and his teammates developed a water wheel that stores energy generated by the wheels in a battery and uses it to heat the hoses. The team has applied for a provisional patent for one of the ideas that they developed during the season.

“The Team Loves Working Together”

Throughout the season, the team met once or twice each week for a couple of hours to work on their project. Students wind up helping out with every aspect of the project, from programming to engineering, so that they have a broad range of skills. “It’s great because the team loves working together,” says Sleeman, adding that it allows the students to have more time with their friends during the week.

For Sleeman, the most rewarding part about being a coach has been getting to mentor the students, particularly the girls on the team, because she says it’s important for the girls to have role models in STEM who are women.

Damian Doyle ‘99, computer science, senior director of enterprise infrastructure at UMBC, has been involved with FIRST LEGO League because his son Leo has been a participant for several years.

“I’ve watched him become invested in his team, engaging with teammates, and truly partnering to accomplish more than any of them could accomplish individually,” he explained, adding that his son loves working with his team on robots, and that he learns new things each year. “Leo found he really enjoys the programming aspect, developing that skill and sharing that knowledge has really helped to boost his confidence in himself, which is wonderful.”

— Megan Hanks

Early in the summer of 2018, a number or changes will be made to the ILSB construction fence line, which will improve vehicular and pedestrian circulation in the immediate area. Work will be completed in the area between the Commons and Physics building as well as between the Biology ans Math/Psych buildings. These areas, which include new sidewalks and landscaping, will be permanently opened to pedestrians in early June. Minor adjustments will be made to the walkway between the Commons building and the Commons garage to allow for the construction fence line to be expanded slightly. The temporary walkway on the east side of the Physics building, which is no longer necessary, will be removed and the area landscaped.

Pedestrian connections between critical campus facilities such as The Commons, Commons Garage, academic and residential cores will be maintained at all times.

Deliveries to the Commons loading dock will continue.

The attached diagram illustrates the extent of the fence line and temporary pedestrian routes.

Accessibility is part of the design process, and we work in partnership Accessibility and Disability Services which supports faculty, staff, students and visitors with disabilities. If you have a concern about accessibility, or want to inquire about a disability-based accommodation, please do so through their website.