In October, UMBC will host the 2015 national conference of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, where scholars, artists, designers, cultural workers and community activists will gather to advance the public and civic purposes of arts, humanities, and design. Imagining America (IA) serves as a source for information and ideas in support of engaged undergraduate and graduate pedagogies, public scholarship, and university-change initiatives helpful to administrators, faculty, staff, and students who are seeking to strengthen or initiate campus examination of and involvement with real-world issues.

UMBC had been selected as the host of the 2015 national conference six months before the nation turned its attention to Baltimore in April... (continue reading)

We are proud to announce the projects awarded grants in the spring 2015 round of the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation competition.

ADAPTATION AWARDS

Explore Baltimore Heritage: A Partnership Between Baltimore Heritage and UMBC – A team led by Denise Meringolo, Associate Professor of History, will expand UMBC’s partnership with Baltimore Heritage through supporting the organization’s goals of developing educational material, while also deepening UMBC students’ learning experience and professional development. Specifically, this collaboration will grant students in the History program the opportunity to build meaningful historical content for Explore Baltimore Heritage, a mobile app that lets people build self-guided tours of the many unique historic places of Baltimore and its neighborhoods.

IMPLEMENTATION AND RESEARCH GRANT

Learning and Innovation at the Interface of Mathematics and Medicine: A NEW Approach – A team led by Bradford Peercy, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, has proposed the Neuromathematical Experience Workgroup (NEW), a new approach to training students on the interface of mathematics and neurosciences that focuses on interdisciplinary, team-based experiences. The fundamental change in the nature of biological research toward quantitative sciences has identified a need for collaboration with biology and mathematics and statistics. Through the new project both undergraduate and graduate students will develop core skills and tools required in mathematics and neuroscience to form a common foundation that will prepare them for future careers in neuroscience and as research and teaching faculty.

NEXT at UMBC: Researching Connections Between Applied Learning, Affective Learning, and Student Success – A team led by Hannah Schmitz, Applied Learning Program Coordinator for the Shriver Center, is developing a program to investigate the interconnection between applied learning and student affective development. This analysis will set us on a path to generating metrics to help assess the contribution of applied learning experiences, such as internships, research, study abroad, and service-learning to our students’ academic, social, professional, and civic development.

SEED GRANT

Connections: A Transfer Student Experience Course – A team led by Diane Alonso, Director of Psychology at Shady Grove, will create a transfer student experience course that uses the principles of Interprofessional Education (IPE) to bring students from different disciplines together in a technology-rich active learning environment and challenge them to think beyond their physical and mental boundaries. This innovative course is based on our First-Year Experience program and will be integral in helping transfer students at UMBC at Shady Grove learn and grow as students and professionals.

Proposals for the next round of Innovation Fund grants are due by October 16, 2015. Please consider submitting an application. For more information about the fund, visit innovationfund.umbc.edu.

The Hrabowski Fund for Innovation, developed with support of major grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Heinz Awards, is a testament to our strong track record of finding novel approaches to teaching and scholarship. The Fund exemplifies our commitment to being a leading public university through investment in faculty initiatives that fuel creativity and enterprise and challenge students to take an active role in their education.