After over a decade of concerted effort, full of setbacks and recoveries, UMBC’s HARP team celebrated as the instrument they designed and built launched on PACE, a major NASA mission set to study Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Continue Reading UMBC scientists and engineers celebrate launch of HARP2 instrument on NASA’s PACE mission
“This achievement is a testament to your institution’s deep commitment to international exchange,” wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a letter to President Valerie Sheares Ashby, congratulating her on UMBC’s Fulbright Top Producer designation, “and to building lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” Continue Reading For the third time in five years, UMBC is named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution
Walking down Academic Row, the ground floor windows of the Biological Sciences Building reflect the flow of student traffic, and colorful renditions of animals and microbes, silhouettes of researchers, and other elements of biology seem to pop off the wall and join the campus milieu. For many, the images on the mural blend into the background of campus—just another wall in just another building. But the artist remembers the blank wall 10 years ago, covered sparsely in inspirational posters and placards. “It was a huge wall, and visible from the outside,” says Anna Vikhlyayeva ’15, visual arts. In addition to… Continue Reading Alumna brings biology mural back to life
An enzyme called SMYD3 may be involved in prostate cancer’s progression to a more dangerous and aggressive stage. The enzyme’s newly confirmed role makes it a prime potential drug target for preventing metastatic disease. Continue Reading UMBC researchers clarify role of SMYD3 enzyme in prostate cancer progression
Small groups of students suck brine shrimp out of glass vials, squirt them into petri dishes set over graph paper, then stare intently at the wriggling shrimp while running stopwatches and recording data. It may not sound like a math class, but this is a typical day in MATH 110: Math in Action. “I believe everyone can benefit from some math in their life, so this course is trying to show how different math concepts are applied across various fields.” Continue Reading From brine shrimp to blood pressure: New UMBC laboratory course brings math to life
Sebastian Deffner, associate professor of physics, attended “Quantum Science and Technology: Recent Advances and New Perspectives,” a workshop hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City from November 30 to December 2. Deffner was among only about 70 global experts invited to the workshop, and the guest list included numerous Nobel laureates. “The leading experts in quantum science met in a unique place for a unique workshop to discuss the past, present, and future of quantum technologies,” Deffner says of the workshop. For Deffner, it was an exciting and rare opportunity. The invitation recognizes his leadership role in… Continue Reading Sebastian Deffner attends selective quantum science conference in Vatican City
UMBC physicists Eileen Meyer and Adi Foord are on the leadership team for AXIS, a proposed x-ray satellite with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe’s ancient past. Continue Reading Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite science team hits major milestone
UMBC is continuing its commitment to diversifying Maryland’s biomedical and life sciences ecosystem through its latest collaborative effort with the University of Maryland, Baltimore to develop a new life sciences accelerator program focused on faculty development and research commercialization efforts. Continue Reading UMBC, UMB receive $4 million NIH REACH grant to create new biomedical and life sciences accelerator program
More than 110 attendees met for the second annual Sustainable Aquaculture Systems Supporting Atlantic Salmon conference in October. The conference gave stakeholders the opportunity to share progress and address remaining challenges to move the aquaculture industry forward. USM Chancellor Jay Perman said the project is “poised to change the face of food scarcity and food production the world over.” Continue Reading UMBC-led aquaculture conference brings together academics, business and government leaders, educators to move the industry forward
The shower was full of mantis shrimp. Bubblers burbled and the cranky crustaceans skulked in their tanks, looking for things to punch with their famously fast strikes. Complicated electronics for measuring brain activity stood sentinel beside the bed in the next room. And out on the balcony, Kathryn Feller, Ph.D. ’14, biological sciences, was wearing a respirator and gloves, working with nasty chemicals. In other words, it was another day of fieldwork as a behavioral neuroscientist—a career Feller has embraced after a journey of self-exploration that took her to surgical operating theaters, drama summer camps, and a range of research… Continue Reading Living in vivid color—Kate Feller, Ph.D., is pushing boundaries in biology research and teaching
Adi Foord explains how wormholes, relativity, telescopes, and more play into the potential for time travel in this Curious Kids piece. Continue Reading Is time travel even possible? An astrophysicist explains the science behind the science fiction
Before you let your imagination run wild, we’re going to go ahead and temper whatever expectations you may have upon hearing the phrase “biology band.” Nobody is banging on a centrifuge in lieu of drums. Test tubes aren’t lined up as a makeshift xylophone. The final rock flourish is not a shattering of beakers. In fact, when the band members of Fever Dream get together, they leave biology in the lab and concentrate on what matters—the music. “We are incredibly lucky to be able to do important research on the topics that we are interested in while at the same… Continue Reading Biology department members create an experiment of note—a band called Fever Dream
