More than 200 million people around the world have visual impairments, making retinal research crucial to the development of more effective treatment plans. To that end, Erin Lavik, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, and her collaborators have received funding from the National Eye Institute to develop a screen printing technique for human eye tissue.

Lavik and her team have proposed a method of layering adult stem cells in a way that is structurally similar to human retinas. Their idea was selected by the National Eye Institute’s 3-D Retina Organoid Challenge (3-D ROC) to receive one year of funding to create a model of the human retina, the part of the eye that is sensitive to light.

“Eye diseases have a tremendous impact on people’s quality of life and function,” says Lavik. “We do not have good models for studying these diseases, but it is our hope that we can use this prize to build new models of the eye that can be screened rapidly to allow researchers to not only understand eye diseases but to look for new therapies.”

Her work will allow researchers to address specific challenges to understand eye diseases or test eye therapies. Lavik is collaborating with Steve Bernstein, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Adam Day ’16, chemical engineering, Ph.D. ’23, chemical engineering, and Bryan Ibarra, a student at the University of Miami, who worked in her lab over the summer. The team’s approach is simple and easy to reproduce, and uses inexpensive materials that can be found online, says Lavik.

After the funding ends, Lavik and her collaborators will be able to submit a proposal for the second phase of the 3-D ROC program. The NEI, a part of the National Institutes of Health, received 13 proposals for the first phase of the project. 

Banner image: Erin Lavik and Adam Day in the lab. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Without a doubt, the UMBC campus police department has a serious presence on campus. Be it in the form of officers in uniform at events for security, or the numerous tickets posted for parking violations, if one spends any meaningful amount of time on campus they are undoubtedly going to run into the police.

However, that presence does not necessarily translate into “effectiveness” in their stated mission “to provide a safe and secure environment, that enhances the quality of life for the university community.” In many ways, the campus police seem to completely fail in this regard.

One task that falls to the department is ensuring the atmosphere of the campus remains healthy and welcoming to all students. The department fails at this with its policy of inaction in regards to hate crimes.

There have already been almost half a dozen reported cases of Nazi-related vandalism on campus this past year, but this is not the first case of such an occurrence. Last year there were repeated cases of stickers and flyers with messages ranging from avocations for violence against left-leaning students and staff to encouragement for white students to “protect their culture” by reporting students suspected of being in the country illegally.

The police’s response to this was nonexistent. When these postings were discovered, the police referred concerned students to facilities, who gave them lukewarm assurances that the postings would be taken down within a few days. This never materialized, leading students to take them down themselves, without any aid.

The police were similarly off the ball in terms of attempting to catch the offenders and enforce campus posting policy. In fact, one group known as “Identity Evropa” took responsibility for some of the postings on their public Facebook page. The campus police, when made aware of this last semester, took no public action against the group, despite having the official policy of assessing a $25 fine for each unauthorized posting.

Aside from the inaction in regards to hate crimes on campus, the campus police department, and the university as a whole, is currently under an open federal investigation for failure to properly comply with Title IX guidelines in regards to cases of sexual assault on campus. According to the Baltimore Post-Examiner, the reported violations include a refusal by the campus investigators to admit a forensic rape examination as evidence, as well as the insistence by the same investigators that the victim does not go to the Baltimore County Police.

The assertion that police have failed, in many regards, is one that tends to immediately cause discomfort. There is a tendency to conflate critiques of the institution of the police with individuals or individual actions by those individuals. To put it plainly, this critique is not a critique of any individual, but rather of an institution.

Justice is an issue very important to many people, and as such, any critical discussion of the systems that promote justice is taken seriously. However, it is not healthy for a society to hold those institutions above criticism. Rather, we ought to demand constant improvement and excellence, and that comes as reforms, namely those that would see sexual assault cases and hate crimes taken as seriously by the department as parking violations.

Without a doubt, the UMBC campus police department has a serious presence on campus. Be it in the form of officers in uniform at events for security, or the numerous tickets posted for parking violations, if one spends any meaningful amount of time on campus they are undoubtedly going to run into the police.

However, that presence does not necessarily translate into “effectiveness” in their stated mission “to provide a safe and secure environment, that enhances the quality of life for the university community.” In many ways, the campus police seem to completely fail in this regard.

One task that falls to the department is ensuring the atmosphere of the campus remains healthy and welcoming to all students. The department fails at this with its policy of inaction in regards to hate crimes.

There have already been almost half a dozen reported cases of Nazi-related vandalism on campus this past year, but this is not the first case of such an occurrence. Last year there were repeated cases of stickers and flyers with messages ranging from avocations for violence against left-leaning students and staff to encouragement for white students to “protect their culture” by reporting students suspected of being in the country illegally.

The police’s response to this was nonexistent. When these postings were discovered, the police referred concerned students to facilities, who gave them lukewarm assurances that the postings would be taken down within a few days. This never materialized, leading students to take them down themselves, without any aid.

The police were similarly off the ball in terms of attempting to catch the offenders and enforce campus posting policy. In fact, one group known as “Identity Evropa” took responsibility for some of the postings on their public Facebook page. The campus police, when made aware of this last semester, took no public action against the group, despite having the official policy of assessing a $25 fine for each unauthorized posting.

Aside from the inaction in regards to hate crimes on campus, the campus police department, and the university as a whole, is currently under an open federal investigation for failure to properly comply with Title IX guidelines in regards to cases of sexual assault on campus. According to the Baltimore Post-Examiner, the reported violations include a refusal by the campus investigators to admit a forensic rape examination as evidence, as well as the insistence by the same investigators that the victim does not go to the Baltimore County Police.

The assertion that police have failed, in many regards, is one that tends to immediately cause discomfort. There is a tendency to conflate critiques of the institution of the police with individuals or individual actions by those individuals. To put it plainly, this critique is not a critique of any individual, but rather of an institution.

Justice is an issue very important to many people, and as such, any critical discussion of the systems that promote justice is taken seriously. However, it is not healthy for a society to hold those institutions above criticism. Rather, we ought to demand constant improvement and excellence, and that comes as reforms, namely those that would see sexual assault cases and hate crimes taken as seriously by the department as parking violations.

It's application season, and we have a number of resources to help you find the right summer research opportunity.

Don't wait to apply at the last minute. Schools are updating their research opportunities for the 2018 session, so now is the perfect time to start looking for a research experience. We have research opportunities for virtually every major and a several ways to look for them:

1. myMajor page

http://ur.umbc.edu/home/mymajor/

Look at different research opportunities by department. Each department page also features some of the research done by students in that field and also the benefits offered to those in that major.

2. Research Opportunities page

http://ur.umbc.edu/summer-research/

Here, you can find resources for application assistance, opportunities for graduating seniors and international students, as well as opportunities separated into other categories like STEM and Social Sciences.

3. Summer Research Spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14-Gu0u8aTdq3AplVtVuaeur0OYjRdTVdrjXWGjzP1fI/edit#gid=0

This spreadsheet lists over 450 research opportunities. You can sort through the information by program name, host, deadline, or the last time an opportunity was updated. It also features important notes about application instructions and more. Deadlines range from August to as late as May.

While we are working to update all of this information, it is still possible to go to each research website and see if it has been updated.

If you have any questions about finding summer research or you need assistance with you application, please contact Dr. April Householder, aprilh@umbc.edu.

Seven students, faculty, and staff from UMBC attended the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference in Salt Lake City October 17 - 21, 2017. The students participated in various activities throughout the conference such as the GEM GRADLab, and culturally-relevant science discussions with mentors. The Maryland delegation included students from LSAMP and the board from the new SACNAS chapter on campus as well as mentors.

Participants will be attending the SACNAS 2017 conference in Salt Lake City, October 19-21, 2017 and will tweet about their experiences.

SACNAS Website: SACNAS Conference 2017

Conference Hotel:

Hilton Salt Lake City Center: Hilton Salt Lake City Hotel

Specific Items of interest for Participants/travelers:

• Be sure that you have checked your email and followed all instructions from Yarazeth Medina regarding travel forms, travel allowance, etc.
• Departures for Delta Airlines: All participant must arrive 2 hours in advance to the airport. General Delta Airline procedure includes checking in online within 24 hours of the flight.
• Please remember to save the date for our Pre-departure meeting on Friday, October 13. 
• Attire for the conference: Business

Salt Lake City, Utah

• Weather for the week: 49 degrees
• Time Zone: UTC/GMT -6, No daylight savings time, 2 hours BEHIND Maryland.

Program

Twitter activity is obligatory. Please engage, and use in your tweets:

#ThinkBigDiversity #GEMGRADLab #SACNAS2017

• Tuesday, October 17: Arrival (casual clothing)
• Wednesday, October 18  –  Attire: Business casual
  • Registration 1 PM
  • Modern Math Workshop 12 PM – 5 PM or
  • GEM Getting Ready for Advanced Degree Laboratory (GRAD Lab) 2 PM – 6 PM –
• Thursday, October 19: ALL DAY SESSIONS – Attire: Business/ business casual
  • 8:45 AM – 10:15 AM Funding Opportunities for Graduate School and Beyond
  • 10:30 AM – 12 PM Experiences of Latinx STEM Graduate Students / Imposters, Resilience, and Academy Training / Insights to Success: Real-Life Adventures of SACNAS Scientists
  • 12 PM – 1:45 PM Plenary
  • 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Student Poster Presentations
  • 5 PM – 6:30 PM Conversations with Scientists
  • 6:15 PM – 8 PM Plenary
• Friday, October 20: ALL DAY SESSIONS – Attire: Business/business casual
  • 8:45 AM – 10:15 AM Graduate School Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint / Imposter Syndrome / Intersectionality / Interview Success!
  • 10:30 AM Success in STEM Goes Beyond Traditional Practices
  • 11:30 AM Plenary
  • 1:45 PM Student Poster Presentation
  • 4 PM Graduate Oral presentations
  • 5:30 PM Plenary
  • 8 PM – 10:30 PM Annual SACNAS Pow Wow (Cultural, networking)
• Saturday, October 21: Return (casual clothing)

Twitter

Students who travel with the Maryland delegation will be expected to participate in a daily twitting exercise that will start on October 17, 2017, and end on October 21, 2017. All participants will tweet daily for the duration of the trip in Salt Lake City and will respond to questions that are posted about the conference sessions and experiences, using the hashtags #ThinkBigDiversity and #SACNAS2017.