We want to thank everyone who came out to February’s events! To see more photos, click the links below. Wondering what’s up next? Check out our event calendar.
View more photos of CBLA’s Alvin Ailey event.
View more photos of True Grit’s Birthday Bash.
View the Down and Dirty Dawg’s Band Spirit Group Alumni Facebook album.
CSEE professor Fow-Sen Choa has been selected as a Fellow of SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics.
SPIE Fellows are honored for their technical achievements and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular. Professor Choa was cited for for achievements in the development of standoff chemical sensing using quantum cascade lasers.
In the announcement of Dr. Choa’s section, the SPIE noted that:
“Choa has contributed significantly to the advancement of standoff chemical sensing using quantum cascade lasers, achieving a greater than 41 feet standoff chemical detection distance. In addition his research on MOCVD growth and regrowth of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has led to the development of high power QCLs, integrated widely tunable QCLs, and power scalable surface-emitting QCL arrays. He has developed large format (64×64) photon counting arrays and demonstrated current-bias-mode photon counting techniques to simplify the bias circuits for 64×64 single photon arrays. Notably, his research has extended into broadband, low crosstalk, low noise semiconductor gain materials, Photon-neuron interactions, high speed long distance (loss-limited) multimode fiber transmissions, and other technologies associated with optical networks, lasers, and integrated coherent receivers.
A prolific scientific author, Choa has published nearly 200 refereed conference papers and over 70 peer reviewed articles, has received nearly 50 grants, and has been issued 10 patents. He has also served the greater optical community by serving as an associate editor, topical editor, and reviewer for several journals and he has been recognized as for his expertise as research faculty for eight years.
Choa has made sustained contributions to the SPIE community by serving on program committees of the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing Conference. He has authored and co-authored more than 50 SPIE journal and conference publications including three invited papers.”
Read more about Dr. Choa’s work here.
Nearly two dozen UMBC faculty researchers and bwtech@UMBC entrepreneurs attended a media workshop held in the research and technology park’s new CyberHive on Thursday, February 20th. UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement organized the event in collaboration with bwtech@UMBC as an opportunity for researchers and entrepreneurs to learn about media relations and strategies to gain visibility for their work.
Attendees heard from three local journalists: Sarah Gantz from the Baltimore Business Journal, Liz Gormisky from Defense Daily, and Lisa Palmer, an NSF-funded science communication fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and freelance journalist who has written for publications such as The New York Times, Scientific American and Slate.
In their talks and the Q&A session that followed, Gantz, Gormisky and Palmer discussed how to communicate and build relationships with journalists to generate interest in new research or technologies. Additional topics included how various types of publications work on different timetables and use different types of sources, and how to tailor story pitches to fit particular news outlets.
Anne Brodsky, psychology professor and associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, has received the 2014 SCRA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research in Community Psychology. The award was announced by American Psychological Association (APA) Division 27. The announcement from the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) states:
Dr. Brodsky’s contributions cover various topics of central importance to community psychology. The award refers to both theory and research and she has significant contributions in both areas (theory- resilience, PSOC; research – qualitative methods). Her contributions regarding research relate not only to engaging in excellent research but in writing about methodology itself and contributing to the development of qualitative methodology. Her work has substantially enhanced our understanding of women’s engagement in multiple roles (i.e., parent, change agent) and the ways in which sense of community and empowerment are intertwined.
She has also been successful in “giving psychology away” and in facilitating the development of others who can contribute to the discipline. Dr. Brodsky’s work embodies community psychology values and concepts – largely on processes that support community-based/social action, empowerment, and community-level self-determination.
Cinematic Arts Students, Matthew Roe and Max Eilbacher, will screen films this week at the 2nd Annual Best of Baltimore Student Film Festival. The Festival, held at the Creative Alliance, will take place Thursday, February 27 beginning at 7:30 p.m., and features the work of students from Goucher, JHU, MICA, Morgan, Towson, Stevenson, University of Baltimore and UMBC. Each college showcases two films.
Tickets for the screening are available now.
Here in the Office of Alumni Relations, we spend a lot of time telling stories about and talking with our wonderfully supportive alums. However, we’ve decided to turn the tables and take time to get to know the people behind the scenes – the advancement and alumni relations staff members who are hard at work on behalf of our alumni. Today we’ll be hearing from Greg Simmons ’04, M.P.P., the Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
Name: Greg Simmons
Job Title: Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Focus Area: Building relationships and secure investments that help UMBC faculty, staff and students be successful
Years at UMBC: 20
Q: Where are you from originally?
A: I grew up in Southington, CT, and came to Baltimore in 1988 to attend Loyola College in MD.
Q: What do you love most about UMBC?
A: The generosity, drive and commitment of the people here.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about your job?
A: I get to tell stories about the wonderful work students and faculty do at UMBC every day, and use those stories to help people understand what is unique and special about this community.
Q: What’s the most recent book you’ve read?
A: I am half way through The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. Recently read Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow.
Q: If you could be another staff member for a day, who would it be and why?
A: Dr. Mike Summers or Don Zimmerman. Both are nationally renowned experts in their field. And their fields are so different from the work I do on a day-to-day basis. I would love to know how it feels to be a world-class scientist and teacher, or a coach who has vision and understanding of a game and uses it to help prepare young people for success in real life.
Q: If you could be a superhero, who would you pick and why?
A: …Six words say it all…”With great power comes great responsibility.”
One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.
Check out all the other great campus news on Insights Weekly.
New Books Network recently interviewed Carlo DiClemente, presidential research professor and professor of psychology, about his co-authored book Substance Abuse Treatment and the Stages of Change: Selecting and Planning Interventions (Guilford Press, 2013).
The network, a consortium of author-interview podcasts designed to enhance public conversation on given topics, interviewed DiClemente as part of its “New Books in Alcohol, Drugs and Intoxicants” series.
In a comprehensive interview, DiClemente discussed the stages of change model as it relates to substance abuse and drug addiction treatment, as well the need for careful consideration of stage status and the complexities surrounding substance abuse.
“The message in the book is tailor your treatments to your clients, to the client’s motivation, to the client’s characteristics, to the client’s context, how they live and where they live, and if you’re doing that, then you are at least helping them engage in this process of change,” DiClemente said.
You can listen to the full interview on the New Books Network website here.
We are proud of our alums and their constant achievements. Three of UMBC’s alums, in particular, have made it in the news and we thought you should know! Read about Sean Scheidt, Zofie Lang, Terry Nolan and their stories of success.
Sean Scheidt ‘05, visual arts photography, is featured on BuzzFeed for his before-and-after photographs of burlesque performers. Take a look at his ability to create and capture these artful transformations, or as BuzzFeed’s Matthew Tucker puts it, his ability to challenge “preconceptions of the performance art.”
11 Eye-Opening Before-And-After Photos Of Burlesque Performers
If you are a UMBC alum and have a story of success, we’d love to hear it. Add a class note here: Submit class note.
The Daily Record recently named President Hrabowski and Alum Diane Bell-McKoy ’73, sociology, in their 2014 list of Influential Marylanders.
Influential Marylanders celebrates people who have made significant impacts in their fields and continue to be leaders in Maryland. Winners are chosen in the categories of civic leadership, communications, education, finance and more.
Bell-Mckoy, President and CEO of Associated Black Charities, was selected in the civic leadership category, while Dr. Hrabowski was chosen for his work as UMBC’s president in the education category. Dr. Hrabowski will also be inducted into the Circle of Excellence, as it is his third year as an Influential Marylander.
Congratulations, President Hrabowski and Diane Bell-Mckoy!
Many school districts up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest have been forced to cancel several school days this winter, and some districts in the Northeast have already announced students will forgo part of their spring breaks to make up for lost time.
Public Policy Professor and Graduate Program Director Dave Marcotte was cited in two recent articles in The Atlanta Journal Constitution and Bloomberg Businessweek for a study he did on the impact of winter weather on schools.
“Dave Marcotte, in a 2010 online article for Education Next, found that each additional inch of snow reduced the percentage of third-, fifth-, and eighth-grade students on math assessments by from one-half to seven-tenths of a percentage point,” reads the Bloomberg Businessweek article.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution article cites Marcotte’s research while examining the impact on learning a significant loss of time due to snow days can have on students.
“To put that seemingly small impact in context, Marcotte reports that in winters with average levels of snowfall (about 17 inches) the share of students testing proficient is about 1 to 2 percentage points lower than in winters with little to no snow,” the article stated.
You can read about Marcotte’s research in The Atlanta Journal Constitution here and Bloomberg Businessweek here.
Political Science Professor Thomas Schaller writes in his latest op-ed published in The Baltimore Sun that while polls show Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown with a commanding lead in the Democratic primary for governor, continuing with a mistake-free campaign will be the key to victory in June.
Schaller writes Attorney General Douglas Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur, Brown’s opponents in the race, haven’t gained traction statewide and are competing for votes in Montgomery County while Brown has gained widespread support.
“Mix in a string of union endorsements and the backing of Gov. Martin O’Malley, U.S. senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, half of the state’s U.S. House delegation, and scads of state legislators and county officials, and there’s little doubt Mr. Brown is the party establishment’s choice,” Schaller writes.
In his column titled “Slow and steady wins the race for Brown,” Schaller argues even with strong backing from the Democratic establishment, Brown should focus on not making any major missteps in the months ahead.
“That said, and given the large chunk of undecided Democrats, Mr. Brown’s task is simple: Don’t blow it. As sometimes happens, being perceived as inevitable is no guarantee of inevitability,” Schaller added.
You can read the full op-ed in The Baltimore Sun here.
