Summer 2014

Young and Hungry

What to do when you achieve a dream job before 30? Brigitte Pribnow Moore ’05, theatre, says you should expand the scope and ambition of that dream. Moore is the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT), a group that fosters arts education in area schools via playwriting and allows highschool writers to collaborate with professional theatre makers to see their own work on the stage. The 2013 recipient of the UMBC Outstanding Alumni of the Year Award in the Visual and Performing Arts has big plans. Over the next three years, Moore aims to expand her… Continue Reading Young and Hungry

The Fast Lane

Thirty-eight weekends a year, John Klausmeier ’04, mechanical engineering, gets a trackside view to NASCAR’s fiercest races, carefully watching a high performance Chevrolet SS that he has tuned sweep into the curves at nearly 200 miles per hour. Growing up, Klausmeier loved diving underneath the hoods of automobiles to find ways to make them go faster. That interest (and his time at UMBC) helped him find a career in which he travels the country’s NASCAR circuit as a lead race engineer for one of the sport’s most successful drivers – Danica Patrick – and her #10 car. Klausmeier found his… Continue Reading The Fast Lane

Lift Off – Kamili Jackson ’97, M.S. ’99

Kamili Jackson ’97, and M.S. ’99, mechanical engineering, has witnessed one NASA space launch in person during her nine years at the agency: the Hubble Servicing Mission 4 in 2009. Jackson was a contracted materials engineer at NASA for that mission, helping the team make decisions on what metals, plastics and ceramics should be used for the craft. And as she watched her hard work blast off and enter orbit, she was filled with satisfaction. That same year, Jackson co-founded a project that helps high school students take off into careers in engineering – the Future Innovative Rising Engineers (FIRE),… Continue Reading Lift Off – Kamili Jackson ’97, M.S. ’99

Windfall Prophets

UMBC is at the center of Maryland’s growing  efforts to harness the energy of the wind. By Joel N. Shurkin Illustrations by Joanna Barnum Ocean City is the Maryland destination most associated with the summer. But some- day the resort may also be known for a nearby wind farm that could help the state put a dent in its greenhouse gas emissions and the rising costs of generating power. Both this summer and last summer, UMBC scientists, using a remote sensing technology called LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), have been helping the state of Maryland in wind resource assessment efforts… Continue Reading Windfall Prophets

Solitary Refinement

UMBC alumnus Ben Marcin ’80 traveled the world with his camera. But he has found acclaim investigating the often bitter poetry, beauty and truth in local landscapes. The photographs of Ben Marcin ’80, economics, are gaining a much wider audience of late. His work has been shown at venues including the Delaware Art Museum, The Center for Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, Colo., and at the C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore – where he is currently represented and recently had a solo show this past winter. His photos are also in a number of group shows this summer, including… Continue Reading Solitary Refinement

Up on the Roof – Summer 2014

UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, takes your questions. Q. UMBC is about to embark on a major renovation of the entrance to campus that will transform the way that alumni and visitors – and the UMBC community – encounter and perceive the campus. How does this project reflect the university’s continuing journey as we approach UMBC’s 50th anniversary? — Richard Byrne ’86, English A. This campus was established at a time when people were not accustomed to creating new universities. It was simply a matter of practicality to create a new institution connecting to the University of Maryland, Baltimore… Continue Reading Up on the Roof – Summer 2014

To You – Summer 2014

A public research university such as UMBC has to be many things at once – and touch as many lives in a productive way as it can. At the center of its mission is teaching. New generations of students – undergraduates and graduate students, from Maryland and from all over the world – are flocking to UMBC because of its lofty reputation for undergraduate teaching. But a key part of that teaching experience is research. At UMBC, even undergraduates can become involved in the other key missions of the university – unlocking new knowledge in the social sciences and humanities,… Continue Reading To You – Summer 2014

The News – Summer 2014

A GRAND ENTRANCE The UMBC community – as well as visitors to campus – will have to pardon some dust and altered traffic patterns over the next two years. But it’s all for a good cause: a reimagining of the entrance to UMBC that will enhance not only the aesthetic beauty and ease of access to the university’s campus – but also enhance the safety of the pedestrians, cyclists and motorists who travel along its roads and paths. Construction work on the New Campus Entrance Project began in June 2014 on areas familiar to alumni and others in the UMBC… Continue Reading The News – Summer 2014

How To – Summer 2014

KEEP THE PERFECT BEAT With Steven McAlpine, assistant director of interdisciplinary studies and percussionist with Straight Up Tribal Back in 2008, Steven McAlpine decided that UMBC needed a beat. Right at the heart of the campus. So the director of UMBC’s interdisciplinary studies program sat with his djembe (an African drum) on the UMBC Quad and started to play. He didn’t expect anyone to join in. But his beat proved irresistible and the weekly drum circle that formed around McAlpine quickly grew past double digits. On some Fridays, the gathering of rappers, hoop dancers and other percussionists gets as high… Continue Reading How To – Summer 2014

Discovery – Summer 2014

CALM IN A STORM It was the middle of the night in November 2013, just after Typhoon Haiyan struck, when Sako Narita ’04, interdisciplinary studies (international emergency health services), received an urgent phone call from Japan with a request: a disaster response team organized by Humanitarian Medical Assistance (HuMA) to help provide aid to the Philippines needed her expertise. The call did not come as a surprise to Narita, who is currently a master’s student in UMBC’s emergency health services (EHS) department. She had prior experience providing disaster response for the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in her native Japan and… Continue Reading Discovery – Summer 2014

Back Story – Summer 2014

Several recent tragedies, including the January 2014 shooting at The Mall in Columbia in Howard County, have been linked to mental illness. Jason Schiffman, an associate professor of psychology, is director of a clinical high-risk program at the new Maryland Center for Excellence on Early Intervention for Serious Mental Illness, and talked recently about common misconceptions about psychosis and mental illness. What can be done to help those affected to lead better lives? UMBC Magazine: What is psychosis, actually? Schiffman: Psychosis is an illness that is characterized by a few hallmark symptoms. Probably the most notable two symptoms are hallucinations… Continue Reading Back Story – Summer 2014

At Play – Summer 2014

ESTONIAN EXCELLENCE There isn’t an NCAA in Estonia. No college recruiters or flashy promoters. So back in 2011, rising UMBC senior Lauri Kaei had to get onto the radar of UMBC men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach Chad Cradock ’97, psychology, the old fashioned way: grit, determination, and some timely word of mouth from other Estonians – including Herol Marjak ’13, history, and Johan Rohtla ’14, biochemistry – who have swum competitively at UMBC. Flash forward three years. Kaei is one of the top performers on UMBC’s successful swimming and diving teams, chalking up individual achievements and helping the… Continue Reading At Play – Summer 2014

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