The seven scholars programs at UMBC support interests ranging from fine arts, public affairs, humanities, and STEM. Many of these programs, specifically those for STEM, are focused on promoting diversity with the intent of producing a more colorful workforce. Though these programs do a great job promoting specific groups, they certainly could be doing more to promote others.

The Meyerhoff Scholars program at UMBC has been recognized as a national role model for leading the way in diversifying the STEM workforce. Originally, the program existed to help young black men achieve in science and engineering. In1990, women were first admitted. In 1996, students of all ethnic backgrounds dedicated to increasing diversity in STEM were included. Meyerhoff does an amazing job with increasing representation for people of color.

However, since 1996, the program has not adapted to focus on increasing diversity. LGBTQ+ people are among some of the most underrepresented in all STEM fields. The Meyerhoff program could do so much more to make potential LGBTQ+ scholars feel more welcome.

In each cohort to date, the number of LGBTQ+ students can be counted on one hand. Freshman Meyerhoff scholar and chemistry/physics double major Autumn Cook said, “I believe I was the first openly gender nonconforming/trans person that went through the summer bridge program in Meyerhoff.”

In addition to putting effort into welcoming students of color and cisgender students, the scholar programs at UMBC could extend invitations to queer students interested in STEM as well. “I want to see more training, more sympathy, more inclusion, and more efforts to increase diversity.” Autumn stated, “People say they want to increase diversity but they don’t actually do it. They don’t actually put it into practice.”

Inclusion of queer scientists and engineers should begin far earlier than in college. There are a plethora of programs targeted at high school students of color and women interested in STEM. Similar programs targeted at LGBTQ+ youth would be extremely valuable for increasing representation.

The Center for Women in Technology program was established in 1998 in an effort to increase the number of women entering the STEM workforce. CWIT is a very young program and does a great job at being inclusive of many different genders and sexualities.

Zoee Leckron, a sophomore computer science/fine arts double major, says, “As someone in CWIT who is not straight, I have not felt uncomfortable in my identity. I haven’t felt like people are looking down on me for it.” Every CWIT scholar is required to take a gender and women’s studies course in order to ensure they understand what it means to be a woman in a predominately male field. In addition, every time CWIT scholars gather they include their pronouns in their introductions so as to promote inclusivity of non-binary genders.

However, the CWIT program could use improvement in including more scholars of color. Sriniti Jayaram, a sophomore CWIT scholar and mechanical engineering major says, “I remember coming in on my first day of school, when we first moved in as a cohort, and looking around the room and seeing that I’m the only Indian scholar in my class.” Although she was surrounded by other women, she still was isolated in another way.

If the scholars programs at UMBC wish to remain great role models for diversity in STEM, it is absolutely essential for these programs to broaden their definitions of diversity in their own ways.

In the weeks leading up to the Alumni Awards Ceremony, we’ll be profiling each honoree in more detail here on our blog. Today, meet Steven Storck ’08, mechanical engineering, M.S. ’09, mechanical engineering, and Ph.D. ’14, mechanical engineering, additive manufacturing engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and this year’s Distinguished Service honoree.

As a triple alumnus of UMBC, Steven Storck ’08, mechanical engineering and mathematics, M.S. ’09, mechanical engineering, and Ph.D. ’14, mechanical engineering, knows his way around campus, to say the least. In addition to his day job as an additive manufacturing application engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, he still makes his way back to UMBC frequently, both as an instructor and an advisor for the school’s Baja SAE team. This is the place where he first discovered his passion for research, and he says he had a lot of support throughout his academic career. “If you were willing to put in the work and had a good idea, everyone at UMBC seemed to encourage you to take on the challenge, no matter how large,” he writes. Storck began his research during his sophomore year at UMBC, when he took over a project from a graduate student who had left. As he continued his education, he had more and more opportunities to delve deeper into his study of materials science and engineering, and was eventually able to apply for a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowship as a doctoral student. That funding allowed him to develop a material over four times lighter and six times stronger than the current state of the art, and his findings earned him top honors from the Society of Advanced Materials and Process Engineering (SAMPE). Today, at the APL, Storck heads up research and development for various projects, most notably an additive manufacturing technology demonstration part for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which is hoped to be the first spacecraft ever to “touch” the sun. He’s also lent his considerable project-management skills to the UMBC SAE Baja team; in 2015, he organized UMBC’s first international Baja event. “This was particularly rewarding,” he writes, “because it allowed [our team] to highlight UMBC on a global stage.”

Join us for the Alumni Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 5!

Colleen Burge, UMBC assistant professor at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, made a splash with her new article in The Conversation warning of the danger posed by a herpes virus that is decimating oyster populations around the world. Burge conducts research seeking out genes that trigger disease resistance in oysters, potentially offering one path toward protecting this valuable, and vulnerable, marine animal.

Infection by the herpes virus, known as OsHV-1, is usually fatal for Pacific oysters, “the world’s most popular and valuable oyster species,” Burge writes. The Pacific oyster is native to Asia, but the virus has been wreaking havoc on transplanted oyster populations worldwide, from Tasmania to France, since its emergence in the 1990s. Making things worse, the virus has recently mutated to form several “microvariant” strains that are even more deadly. Burge was a member of the team that discovered the virus in two bays along the California coast for the first time in the early 2000s, but so far no microvariants have been found in North America.

“Given the spread of the OsHV-1 microvariants elsewhere around the world, it may only be a matter of time until they reach U.S. coastal bays or other non-impacted oyster growing areas,” Burge writes. That means finding a way to prevent massive oyster die-offs, which have already happened in other parts of the world, is important to save the species.

Beyond their economic and cultural value to the fishing industry, oysters are also prized for the work they do to support aquatic environments. Each oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day and oyster reefs provide habitat and food for fish, including popular commercial species. The spread of a deadly infection among oysters could put all this at risk.

Oysters can’t be vaccinated against the virus, because their immune systems lack the “memory” that benefits more complex organisms, Burge explains. “The most effective strategy to date has been developing disease-resistant oyster lines, which can limit both mortalities and oysters’ susceptibility to infection,” she says, but even that technique comes with caveats.

To test disease resistance, scientists must infect oysters with the virus. Placing those oysters into a wild population that hasn’t previously been exposed to the virus is too great a risk, so scientists are only able to try this technique in areas where the virus already exists, limiting its use. Traditional selective breeding could also produce disease-resistant oysters. Burge is taking it one step further, looking directly for genes involved in resistance.

Burge emphasizes that “the most effective way to limit damage in new locations from OsHV-1 is to limit its spread.” If that becomes impossible, however, introducing resistance will be critical. “Oysters can’t move themselves out of harm’s way, nor can we move all susceptible oysters,” she writes, “so we need to protect them where they grow.”

Colleen Burge’s article, “A deadly herpes virus is threatening oysters around the world”, has been viewed  more than 146,000 times and republished by Smithsonian Magazine, The Raw Story, Phys.org, The New Food Economy, and others.

Image: Oysters. Photo by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, used under CC BY 2.0.

Dear Members of the UMBC Community,

You are invited to join Facilities Management on Monday, October 9, 2017 at noon in Performing Arts & Humanities Building Room 132 for a discussion on the 2017 Facilities Master Plan.  Over the past year, we have been meeting with stakeholders and shared governance groups, assessing space and facility needs, and testing development plans that align with UMBC’s strategic plan in an ecologically sustainable and fiscally responsible manner.  We welcome your ideas and comments on the draft plan for the future development of UMBC.

Come join us!

Peace Corps Service can be the first step toward a career or the continuation of a life's work. Sharpen your skills in a field you've always loved, or challenge yourself with a new opportunity.

Get the chance to fully integrate into a host country community, where you will live and work on projects ranging from education to business development and more! 

Join us at this Information Session to learn about Volunteer experiences and gain tips to guide you through the application process.

Admin Building 101 / Wednesday, October 4th / 5:30pm

Sign up here!