At Play – Fall 2015

Sep 24, 2015 / 5 minutes of reading

Education In Motion It’s a bright Saturday morning in mid-July, and the first floor of the Fine Arts Building is covered in plastic grocery bags, chicken wire, and paint buckets. A four-person surrey bike, girded with steel pipes and pontoons, looms in the front window like the skeleton of a prehistoric sea monster. In the shadow of a stairwell, a giant octopus waits to be attached to the bike, its one water-cooler-jug eye glinting in the dim light. This colossal cephalopod, its wire frame furred with shreds of plastic water bottles, is the Kraken Upcycle. The machine is the result… Continue Reading At Play – Fall 2015

Histories & Mysteries

Sep 4, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

UMBC Magazine answers alumni questions about True Grit, secret campus tunnels, football, Hillcrest and more… Even though UMBC is a fairly young university, it still has mysteries and legends and stories of its founding. Why does UMBC look the way it looks? Why is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever our mascot? Why don’t we have a football team? What was Hillcrest? And what about those tunnels under the university? YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED. Why was the Hillcrest Building torn down? What was the history behind this structure? —Perry Alexander ’91 The silo on UMBC Boulevard suggests a connection between the university… Continue Reading Histories & Mysteries

Micro Economics – Mike Adelstein ’96

Sep 4, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

Mike Adelstein ’96, biochemistry and molecular biology, gets excited by the littlest things. As president and CEO of Potomac Photonics Inc., he leads a company that uses advanced manufacturing technologies (high-tech lasers and 3-D printing) to create and manufacture essential and ultra-tiny parts used in products ranging from space satellites to espresso makers. Nearly every prototype that Potomac Photonics produces can fit in Adelstein’s palm, or his shirt pocket, and he keeps plenty of examples on hand to share with visitors. “Look at this!” he says, eyes shining, as he produces a thread-like sample for examination. It’s a surgical suture,… Continue Reading Micro Economics – Mike Adelstein ’96

Bold Horizons – Kavita Krishnaswamy ’07

Sep 4, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

Like many UMBC alumnae, Kavita Krishnaswamy ’07, mathematics and computer science, feels driven to create a better world for the next generation. More than most alumnae, however, she has a visceral, personal sense of what that better world might require. Krishnaswamy lives with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neurological condition that has gradually robbed her of the ability to move below the neck. Today, she is a doctoral student in computer science at UMBC, and she has devoted the past six years of her life to designing prototypes for robotic assistive tools that could give more independence to people with… Continue Reading Bold Horizons – Kavita Krishnaswamy ’07

A Royal Road – Keri Burneston ’99

Sep 4, 2015 / 5 minutes of reading

What does it take to be the Miss Exotic World, Reigning Queen of Burlesque? And, what’s more, to make a career from an art form that you love? Ask Trixie Little (aka Keri Burneston ’99, visual and performing arts). Little took her crown in June at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend Tournament of Tease in Las Vegas, and she offered UMBC Magazine her reflections on a career onstage that’s been capped with this unique honor. I’m Trixie Little. I am the Reigning Queen of Burlesque 2015. I have been performing my own style of “acrobatic burlesque” since 2002,… Continue Reading A Royal Road – Keri Burneston ’99

Play Hard – Alex Pyles ’09

Sep 2, 2015 / 3 minutes of reading

Alex Pyles ’09, English and media and communication studies, had loyal friends during his UMBC days. One night, when he returned to his UMBC dorm room after covering a Baltimore Orioles player’s rehab assignment with the Frederick Keys (the Orioles’ single A minor league team), he found his roommates with their laptops open. They were clicking repeatedly on an article that he had just posted on the website of The Baltimore Sun. Thirty minutes later, Pyles’ story was atop the Sun’s “most read articles” list. And it was only his first byline. Eight years later, Pyles manages the Sun’s coverage… Continue Reading Play Hard – Alex Pyles ’09

Up on the Roof – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, takes your questions. “Was there ever a time when asking a question had a tremendous impact on your life or changed its course? — Monica Berron ’13, media and communications studies Yes. When, as a child, I was in a math program on a college campus and a professor asked the class a question that no one could answer. The rest of the class became very upset, because the professor told them: “When you can answer the question, come and see me.” The students complained: “You’re the teacher. You’re supposed to tell us the… Continue Reading Up on the Roof – Fall 2015

To You – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

Even though UMBC isn’t quite 50 years old, our university has already developed intriguing rumors and legends. One of the most persistent of these legends – submitted by Tal Levitas ’08, political science – is whether UMBC was designed to control student unrest. This notion was part of campus folklore when I arrived at UMBC as an undergraduate in 1984. The short and boring answer is “no.” When you plot the history of UMBC’s initial design and construction (1963-1966) against the trajectory of campus unrest that peaked after the killings at Kent State University in 1970, the timelines don’t match… Continue Reading To You – Fall 2015

The News – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 10 minutes of reading

Anchors Aweigh The U.S. Navy has a proud history in Maryland. And with two new agreements concluded in April, UMBC deepened its educational and research ties with the Navy in significant ways. UMBC students are now eligible to steer a course to become commissioned officers in the Navy and Marine Corps with the establishment of a Naval ROTC (NROTC) program at the university. The agreement with the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) makes UMBC the first higher education institution in Maryland to be selected as an NROTC host. A professor of naval science, appointed by the NSTC in collaboration with… Continue Reading The News – Fall 2015

Discovery – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 6 minutes of reading

Nimble Fingers Classical guitarist and UMBC affiliate artist Zane Forshee has lived a number of musical lives. First it was choosing an instrument. A well-meaning elementary school band teacher pegged the gangly, long-limbed boy as a trombone player. But borrowing an album that featured the nimble fingerpicking of Andrés Segovia from his local library soon had him considering other musical options. “It’s kind of cliché,” Forshee recalls. “But I heard Segovia, and I was completely smitten.” The young trombonist realized he wanted to play melody. A fledgling guitarist was born. Rock music also competed for Forshee’s heart as a teenager.… Continue Reading Discovery – Fall 2015

Back Story – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

As UMBC prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016, the university is creating a grassroots effort to spur alumni engagement and pride. A bold motto – “We Need Hundreds of You to Reach Thousands of Us” – sums up the aims of the initiative: Recruit a dedicated band of Retrievers to spread word of the celebration to almost 70,000 fellow UMBC alumni. UMBC Magazine asked three alumni leaders involved in the “Hundreds” campaign – UMBC Alumni Board of Directors member Zozscha Bomhardt ’93, mechanical engineering, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Planning Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, health science and policy,… Continue Reading Back Story – Fall 2015

How To – Fall 2015

Sep 2, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

Know If the Junk in Your Attic is a Valuable Antique —With Robert Harrison ’80, history Robert Harrison ’80, history, is fascinated by material culture. He was happily pursuing an academic career in history, he recalls, until “life intervened” and forced a change in course. “People were so much more intrigued by the material aspect over the cultural,” he explains. “Everyone kept asking me what things were worth. So I decided I better learn how to appraise.” Harrison studied American decorative arts at the Museum for Early Southern Decorative Arts in North Carolina, and at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.… Continue Reading How To – Fall 2015

Fall 2015

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