Flashing lights, balloons and music can only mean one thing: the return of the Retriever Dance Marathon, an annual event on campus, organized by a student group of the same name, that seeks to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer.

For the third year in a row, the RDM brought the community at UMBC together to raise awareness for the B Positive foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to help children with pediatric cancer and their families.  The University Center ballroom was transformed into a dance hall for the night, and from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., dance groups and individuals competed to raise money and show off their moves.

The annual dance marathon is a chance for students to let their hair down for a good cause, and this year featured giveaways, free food, raffles and performances running all night long. The organization set a goal to raise $5,000 this year, topping their $3,000 goal from last year, but the money is not their only goal.

Janae Cruz, the Student Life Coordinator for Student Engagement, says that while a monetary goal is always set, the most important thing is “increasing the teams and students invested in the cause” while “bringing together the UMBC community for a good cause.”

The purpose of the event was to raise money for cancer research and for the families of pediatric cancer patients, but Sriya Namagiri, a senior biology and pre-med student and the internal president of RDM stresses that, while the group would like to top their goal of $5,000, they have other aspirations.

According to Namagiri, they hope to “[focus] on outreach and informing the UMBC community about what we do and spreading our message to a larger community.”

Namagiri adds that the organization raises money throughout the year, and that the dance marathon is a celebration of what they’ve done in the year and a chance to raise awareness for those helped by the B+ foundation.

Among the groups performing tonight were the dancers of Retriever Bhangra, an on-campus dance group that focuses on Punjabi culture. Shalini Jain, one of the dancers from Retriever Bhangra, said that her group was excited to perform, and that she found about the event through friends who were on the board.

Jain said, “We decided to join, because it’s a really great cause, so why not!”

B+ assists families in need by helping families with medical expenses and emotional support. They also raise money for pediatric cancer research through grant programs.

The organization honors the life of Andrew McDonough, who passed away at the age of 14 after a 167-day battle with complications from leukemia. The organization’s name was inspired by the boy’s blood type, and the name became a mantra for those affected by childhood cancer: “Be positive.”

While the dance marathon is RDM’s big event at UMBC, the students work throughout the year, and hope that events like Friday’s will spread awareness across campus.

More information on Friday’s event and the student organization can be found online. For more information on the B+ Foundation, see their website.

The Maryland Historical Society is a 501(c)3 corporation and an equal opportunity employer. It is the state’s oldest continually operating cultural institution dating to 1844. In its headquarters in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Historic District, it is home to more than 50,000 museum objects and 7 million books and documents.

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The Maryland Transit Administration has finalized plans for the purchase of 140 new buses to be used in Baltimore’s public transit system. The deal for the new clean-diesel buses was struck for $81.3 million dollars with Minnesota-based bus company New Flyer of America.

The buses are exected to hit MTA’s BaltimoreLink in 2018, and will replace older buses on CityLink and some on LocalLink routes. Those tes are estimated to move over 7 million people per month.

The new buses will be forty-foot long Xcelsior transit class clean-diesel coaches. These clean-diesel buses boast much lower emissions, according to New Flyer of America, the leading bus manufacturer in the country. Overall, they should cut down soot emissions from their older counterparts by ten percent.

The order for 140 new vehicles is not unprecedented: New Flyer of America has provided over 795 buses for MTA since 2004. Still, the order dwarfs the 26-bus order from Washington D.C. made back in August.

This purchase comes after the $135 million restructuring of Baltimore transit nearly four months ago. That project removed underused bus stops, shortened routes and took steps to make the public transit system more reliable. The response to this restructuring was lukewarm, as it coincided with the third fare hike in the year and residents’ requests for an east-west line were ignored.

5th year student Darren Stevens II (Computer Science), “Me and a lot of students would rather have more available parking spots. Personally as someone who does not live near public transit spots or places that can be reached by public transit, it doesn’t really do anything for me.”

When the expensive restructuring of Baltimore transit trimmed routes and stops to run the remaining routes more frequently, it left some users located further away twisting in the wind. Couple this with the fact that the new buses will only be replacing older buses and not adding new routes, and it’s hard to see how students could get excited.

The new fleet comes as welcome news to UMBC Transit’s Executive Director Joe Regier. Back in February, Regier told The Baltimore Sun that the school had no plans to increase parking and would instead lean on public transit and existing parking.

This was despite commuter students’ requests for more parking and enrollment rising to over 14,000 students while the school has only 7,247 parking spots.

UMBC Transit’s Operations Manager, Grant McGarvey, said that “the MTA has always been a great partner with the transit department at UMBC and we’re very pleased to hear about the additions to their fleet.”

In reference to UMBC’s priority of public transit rather than building more parking, Darren Stevens II echoed many students’ feelings about the whole announcement, “I’m sure it’s helpful for someone, just not me.”

As UMBC looks to revise its Climate Action Plan, concern grows among students and faculty over whether the school is doing enough to promote sustainability.

In 2007, President Hrabowski signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which effectuated UMBC’s own Climate Action Plan. The plan outlines strategies for the school to reach carbon neutrality by 2075, along with other goals to mitigate the effects the school has on the environment.

But many worry it may be too little too late.

In a petition created last spring, multiple student organizations came together to draft a revision of the original Climate Action Plan, with an expedited timeline. They proposed a 50 percent reduction of the university’s carbon footprint by 2020 and carbon neutrality by 2040.

“As a university, we have the power to impact generations of people and fight climate change on a broad scale,” said Roy Meyers, a professor of political science and research and Education Work Group Chair of the Climate Action Steering Committee. The committee was created to advise Hrabowski and push the campus in the movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To reach the school’s goal, Meyers suggests setting “realistic but ambitious medium-term targets,” or smaller goals that will keep the university on track for their larger commitment. “The nature of the problem is very clear, and the nature of the solution is also clear,” he said.

Meyers separates sustainability on campus into four parts: energy consumption, transportation, waste and education and research. While faculty tends to focus on the education and research, their help will be needed to tackle other sections.

While research is cross-discipline, he says there is not enough communication between departments.

“It’s important for faculty with similar interests to communicate with each other about the courses they teach and to learn from each other.” To improve, Meyers believes there must be a campus wide discussion on policy, economic incentives and the role of education.

Zachary Grzywacz, of the Environmental Task Force, a student organization, echoes Meyers’ sentiment, applauding faculty for their progress in innovation. However, he wonders whether the slow progress is a mark of a cautious university or a school focused solely on its image as competitive and forward-thinking.

Grzywacz calls the revised CAP goals “flexible but hopeful.” Student groups, however, have often voiced concerns with having their opinions heard by administration.

“We want to push the administration past what they want to do,” he said.

Creating a sustainability component in the school’s academic requirements was another idea introduced, one that is backed by both faculty and students. “There are a lot of aspects of sustainability that are complicated and require a class,” Grzywacz added.

The idea has been modeled in other schools. The University of Maryland, College Park has classes that focus on environmental impact. Other schools have tried different approaches to get students involved, even creating competitions between dorms to use less water and electricity.

Tessa Robinson, senior environmental science major and president of the Student Climate Change Coalition, stressed that action must be taken by students.

“Petitions are great, but they don’t always make the change you want to see,” she said

For one UMBC student working on her dissertation in robotics, the grind never stops. Even when she is completing monumental tasks for others against the pressure of a crippling disease: spinal muscle atrophy.

SMA is a degenerative disease that affects voluntary movement. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic disorder that affects the control of muscle movement. It is caused by a loss of specialized nerve cells [motor neurons] … in the spinal cord. In severe cases of spinal muscular atrophy, the muscles used for breathing and swallowing are affected.”

Kavita Krishnaswamy, a user of assistive robotics, is an innovator in helping people with limited mobility like herself.

For her dissertation, Krishnaswamy is creating a pressurized mattress controlled by a track pad or by voice. It inflates at nine different spots to avoid bed sores and allow pressure relief for users; specifically those who are disabled and may need aid to move.

The dissertation is based off of an already existing tool; a mattress with nine inflatable chambers, but needs a caregiver to inflate and deflate each chamber, rather than the user itself.

The thirty five-year-old created this prototype by responding to a need in assistive robotics. While the field of assistive robotics is growing and adapting, most robots are only effective for those with moderate mobility. So Krishnaswamy, whose disease sapped her strength over time, designed the mattress to increase accessibility for those with extremely limited mobility.

Krishnaswamy’s primary goal is to allow as much independence as possible for these individuals. And, like most user-friendly devices, she needs to ensure that her prototype will not cause harm to the user.

“More work is needed in safety and robotics; it needs to recognize when someone is in danger, as a robot is not intelligent,” she said. For assistive robotics, technology needs to be designed with a safe range of mobility, otherwise the user could be harmed.

This dilemma then creates the need for artificial intelligence technology, an entire other level of computing and design.

“The more ways people with the barest, smallest movement can express their input through technology, is an advancement,” explained Krishnaswamy. She added that thinking outside the box is necessary in order for these projects to be born, for needs to be met and ultimately so those who need this aid can receive it.

While she has always had a brain for maths and sciences, being a member of special achievement clubs in high school, her first brush with robotics came when she entered a statewide competition. She submitted a robot she designed via computer which she had her younger brothers build. Her passion blossomed into a career path and a dissertation proposal, of which she is now working on.

Krishnaswamy is working with an engineering group of UMBC students, but is always in need of volunteers during the development of the prototype. Prospective workers can contact her via email (kavi1@umbc.edu) or through her website.

On the back of two great results for UMBC, two Retrievers: senior midfielder Sammy Kahsai and freshman goalie Ciaran O’Loughlin were awarded America East co-players of the week.

Sammy Kahsai, 22 and of Ethiopian descent, scored the winning goal against No. 12 New Hampshire Wildcats and assisted senior Gregg Hauck’s game tying goal against the No. 1 seed Maryland Terrapins. He is studying business technology administration. Kahsai thanks his award and recent successes to his teammates.

“It feels great,” Kahsai said. “Without my teammates, I wouldn’t be getting this award. It shows that all the work we’ve been putting in throughout the preseason till now pays off. I’m very excited, it’s more of a team accomplishment instead of just me.”

He spoke about the impact of he and the other attackers: “No [I didn’t change anything in my routine]. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time for the goal [against the Wildcats], and thanks to Gregg Hauck for converting on that assist of mine [against Maryland]. Just stick to the system [to keep our attack flowing]. Coach has been here for a long time, so we just better believe in whatever they tell us to do and just execute everything we do in practice in the game.”

With the team flying high and recently moving up in rank to No. 16 according to Soccer America National Top 25 recent rating, how high does Kahsai think the Retrievers can go?

“The sky is our limit,” he said. “We are playing every game day by day. I think this team can go real far, we just have to translate our practice into games.”

Kahsai, who prides himself as a family man, supports Arsenal football club and attended a college league in Alberquerque, New Mexico this summer with his teammate, senior defender Tom Paul.

Keeping up with the gratitude for his team, he sings high praise of fellow America East player of the week O’Loughlin.

“He’s huge! It is a pleasure to have a goalkeeper that can make big saves. Especially as a freshman, he has been fabulous.”

Ciaran O’Loughlin has also played a large part in helping UMBC to a No. 16 rank. He made seven big saves to keep Maryland at bay and made four saves to shut out the Wildcats. As a freshman, he is pleased to have integrated into the squad well.

“There is a lot of rookies…but it’s exciting to get the award,” O’Loughlin said. “As Sammy said, it has a lot to do with how we settle in, and how people make you feel, and the lads have made me feel welcome. It’s nice to get recognition [when the fans chanted MVP for me]. It is [great] … for people to recognize that I’m doing my job to the best of my ability.”

Ciaran, 20 and of English descent, supports Everton and plays FIFA games in his spare time. Unknown to many, he won the under-18 premier league playing for Everton back at home in England.

In regards to the clean sheet in the last game and the stamina of the defense, he said: “Yeah, I didn’t have much to do … and Sammy came up trumps with the goal. Motivation [keeps us focused till the end]. We are there for one thing only, to win the game no matter how you do it.”

In like of his teammate, he also praised Kahsai’s performance.

“He’s a bit of a character. All rounder, a nice hardworking lad, he knows what his focus and he is down to earth.”

Both players finished by saying the fans should expect more from them and keep coming to support them in future games. The Retrievers ended their bout with Binghamton in New York on Saturday with a 1–1 tie. They continue in conference play with University of Massachusetts Lowell on Oct 11 and Albany on Saturday, Oct 14 for their annual homecoming game.