All posts by: Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque

Jasmine Abrams receives an NIH grant to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma in Haiti

UMBC’s Jasmine Abrams, assistant professor of psychology, is working to increase pregnant women’s access to healthcare and HIV prevention resources in Haiti through a $390,000 award from the National Institutes of Health via the Fogarty International Center. Abrams will focus on creating new ways to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma impacting low- and middle-income pregnant women in Haiti. The grant is part of a $3 million Fogarty International Center program focused on reducing HIV/AIDS stigma in six African countries, as well as Haiti, India, Nepal, and Ukraine.

“Poverty and HIV stigma of pregnant women in Haiti encourages women to avoid hospitals and have babies at home or in other locations without proper access to healthcare,” says Abrams. “This stigma results in increased risks for infant and maternal morbidity and mortality.”

Abrams further explains that due to HIV stigma, HIV positive women are less likely to access treatment, which can put them at greater risk of passing on HIV to their children and can make it harder for them to keep their viral load low enough to avoid transmitting HIV to their partners. To overcome these challenges, she says, the bottom line is that “we need to grant more access to quality prenatal and maternal healthcare.”

Foundational collaborations

Abrams has worked in Haiti since 2014, initially focusing on developing prenatal and maternal health interventions with the organization Midwives for Haiti. Her new multilevel intervention project continues her partnership with Midwives for Haiti, and forges new collaborations with the Haitian Ministry of Public Health, the Caris Foundation (a research organization), USAID, and Zanmi Lasante, the Haitian branch of Partners in Health and the largest non-governmental healthcare provider in Haiti.

Abrams in Haiti with members of the Haiti-based research team and the Community Advisory Board.

Abrams’ work in community-based health psychology is rooted in her goal to tackle the health disparities she has found in her research among Black women in the United States and abroad. “On almost every indicator of health, Black women are disproportionately impacted by various illnesses and more likely to die from chronic illnesses,” Abrams says. “I want to change this.”

An integral part of this grant is to improve healthcare access for Haitian women in the longer term by strengthening the capacity of Haitian researchers to collect, analyze, and report their own data. “The intervention will be developed by a group of Haitian HIV prevention experts, healthcare providers, and community members and will be used to train Haitian healthcare workers and community members to reduce, and hopefully eliminate, stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors,” says Abrams.

Jasmine Abrams (right) with Joanne Gaillard (left), project manager, and Denis Joseph Jean Baptiste (center), director of the Ministry of Public Health for the Central Plateau.

Building bridges across the Caribbean

Abrams also plans to foster structures that support Haitian-based research by establishing an exchange between UMBC faculty and students, and healthcare professionals and medical school students in Haiti, as well as other Caribbean countries.

Abrams has already taken steps to expand her work to other nations in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and, most recently, Cuba. In the spring of 2018, she earned a Pedagogy and Teaching Award from UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to travel to Cuba, where she received training in Spanish and Cuban culture and developed a course that examines the intersections of psychology and culture. Her new Psychology and Culture (PSYC 230) class in Cuba is scheduled to debut in  May 2019.

Banner image: Jasmine Abrams, psychology, in UMBC’s Academic Row. Image by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. All other photos courtesy of Abrams.

UMBC inaugurates new center to serve as hub for social science research

UMBC’s Center for Social Science Scholarship has opened its doors this fall with Christine Mallinson, professor of language, literacy and culture, as its inaugural director. The new center, which will promote faculty, student, and alumni research across multiple fields of study, is the result of many years of cultivating deep levels of scholarship on campus as well as collaboration and planning by the social science faculty.

“The Center for Social Science Scholarship answers a longstanding need at UMBC: to provide a hub, a connector, and a microphone for our extraordinary work on critical issues facing communities and societies today,” explains Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS).

The Center will emphasize areas of research such as civic and political participation, global patterns of labor and migration, educational access, the relationship between humans and the environment, human behavior and health equity across the lifespan, the social context of technology, and policy impact.

Mallinson, who joined UMBC in 2006, researches the context of and mechanisms involved in communication within major social institutions, including education, the workplace, and the legal system. By working with teachers, lawyers, and judges to better understand how perceptions cause bias, Mallinson’s has developed research-based strategies to remove inequalities and barriers.

“Christine Mallinson’s innovative, collaborative scholarship has influenced academic debates, informed policy, and empowered communities. I look forward to her leadership on behalf of UMBC’s social science research community,” says Casper.

Through her interdisciplinary work in language, literacy, and culture, Mallinson said she has immersed herself in multiple campus partnerships and experienced first hand the extent of dynamic social science research happening across UMBC.

Banner image (l-r): Mejdulene B. Shomali, gender, women’s, & sexuality studies; Carole McCann, gender, women’s, and sexuality studies; Christine Mallinson, director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship; Charissa Cheah, psychology. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC inaugurates new center to serve as hub for social science research

UMBC’s Center for Social Science Scholarship has opened its doors this fall with Christine Mallinson, professor of language, literacy, and culture, as its inaugural director. The new center, which will promote faculty, student, and alumni research across multiple fields of study, is the result of many years of cultivating deep levels of scholarship on campus as well as collaboration and planning by the social science faculty.

“The Center for Social Science Scholarship answers a longstanding need at UMBC: to provide a hub, a connector, and a microphone for our extraordinary work on critical issues facing communities and societies today,” explains Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS).

The center will emphasize areas of research such as civic and political participation, global patterns of labor and migration, educational access, the relationship between humans and the environment, human behavior and health equity across the lifespan, the social context of technology, and policy impact.

Mallinson, who joined UMBC in 2006, researches the context of and mechanisms involved in communication within major social institutions, including education, the workplace, and the legal system. By working with teachers, lawyers, and judges to better understand how perceptions cause bias, Mallinson has developed research-based strategies to remove inequalities and barriers.

“Christine Mallinson’s innovative, collaborative scholarship has influenced academic debates, informed policy, and empowered communities. I look forward to her leadership on behalf of UMBC’s social science research community,” says Casper.

Through her interdisciplinary work in language, literacy, and culture, Mallinson said she has immersed herself in multiple campus partnerships and experienced first-hand the extent of dynamic social science research happening across UMBC.

“What I am most excited for with the Center for Social Science Scholarship is the ability to spotlight the depth and breadth of the social science research that our faculty and students commit to on a daily basis,” says Mallinson.

MIPAR grant workshop.

As part of these efforts, current social science programming—such as the research-based events and assistance offered by the Maryland Institute for Public Policy and Research (MIPAR), and the Social Science Forum lecture series—will be housed in and managed by the Center for Social Science Scholarship. Located in the Public Policy building, the center will also serve as a partner in connecting and sharing key insights and perspectives of social science alumni and community partners.

Mallinson sees this collaborative work as a continuation of UMBC’s values and commitment to applied research. “This is an opportunity at a pivotal time in our country,” she says, “to tackle some of the big picture questions that are significant in the social sciences, but that also have applicability to other fields, are relevant across UMBC, and matter to our communities.”

Featured image: Christine Mallinson. All photos by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC

As Lakeland sees continued gains in math scores, UMBC expands local school partnerships

Teachers at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School celebrated another year of impressive gains in math performance when Baltimore City published the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) standardized test scores on August 28. UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teachers Scholars program was by their side to celebrate, as the team enters the sixth year of a comprehensive partnership that includes transformative professional development with math teachers.

UMBC staff and students have been working alongside Lakeland teachers to build a model for success that can be replicated at other schools through the Zone Math Project. Teachers at Lakeland Elementary/Middle regularly meet to analyze and utilize data from PARCC, other summative school-based assessments, and curriculum and classroom-based assessments to improve student learning.

In these professional development sessions, Lakeland teachers articulate a data story for each student. The profiles inform teachers as they develop individual plans for enrichment, extension, and support. These discussions also guide how to structure planning time and the development of lesson plans to meet individual needs.

Professional development success

Carly Harkins, a fifth-grade teacher at Lakeland and a 15-year veteran of Baltimore City Public Schools, sees great value in taking all the information she has at her disposal to create individualized success plans for her students. “I was able to see, in a very visual and concrete way, which students understood major content, which students were successful at problem-solving, and, conversely, which students had gaps in those areas and, as a result, create actionable plans.”

What is even more cause for celebration is that Lakeland is not alone in its success. In the past year, this model of support has expanded to Mary Rodman Elementary and Liberty Elementary, both in Baltimore City. The three Zone Math Schools have experienced an average annual growth of 7.5 percent in PARCC math scores. Over the past two years, Lakeland’s scores have improved by 11.7 percent. Over the past year, Liberty’s scores moved up 4.3 percent and Mary Rodman, which experienced the fastest growth in the region, saw scores increase by 14.6 percent.

Josh Michael ’10, political science and education, assistant director of UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teachers Scholars Program, attributes this growth to two things. “Teachers are the key lever to student success in the classroom,” Michael says. “By developing their vast skill set in data analysis and engaging in changes to classroom practice, teachers can facilitate learning that creates a strong foundation for long-term success.”

The Zone Math Project will expand to James McHenry Elementary School, Federal Hill Preparatory School, and Maree G. Farring Elementary School over the 2018 – 2019 academic year.

Inside the classroom

Creating individualized learning plans for students can pose challenges, but teachers in the Zone Math Project have found successful approaches.

Emily Phillips, a third-grade teacher at Mary Rodman Elementary, describes this process: “With three groups of students, I taught the main concept to the entire class,” she says. “The class then went into differentiated learning groups. The highest group worked on advanced and independent problem-solving with critical thinking, often multi-step problems focusing on the standards-based lesson.”

This progression in a math lesson allows students to have multiple opportunities to learn information, evaluate it, share it, and create with it, minus the fear of failure. Through the Zone Math Project, teachers also aim to increase the time that students are engaging in material. Students are placed in fluid groupings and receive ongoing feedback about their growth, allowing them to gain confidence and move between groups depending on the skill they are working to develop.

At the core of this work are the goals of creating more pathways to success for teachers and students, and making sure they feel supported in their growth. Teachers have noticed exciting results not just in test scores, but also in their classrooms.

“Students began to step up and take ownership of their work from start to finish. This was where I saw the most progress with students,” says Phillips. “Motivation and participation sky rocketed.”

Featured image: UMBC Hour of Code. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

PIEoneer Awards recognize UMBC for career initiatives supporting international students

UMBC’s work to support international students in their career development has earned the university a place in the global spotlight. Professionals in International Education (PIE) has selected UMBC as a finalist for a 2018 PIEoneer Award, with UMBC being the only U.S. university honored in the Student Support category. The selection recognizes UMBC’s work to cultivate a supportive community for international students and to help them pursue careers that utilize and value their unique language, academic, and professional skills.

PIE is specifically recognizing a series of programs designed by UMBC International Education Services (IES) in collaboration with the UMBC Career Center. Responding to the needs of international students and area employers, these initiatives help international students be as competitive as possible in entering the workforce after graduation.

“This recognition is incredibly important for UMBC because it acknowledges on a global stage our commitment to meeting the real and unique needs of our international students,” says Michelle Massey, associate director, International Student and Scholar Services. “We listen to our students, we develop solutions together as a community, and we implement them to help these students have the best possible experience at UMBC, and as alumni.”

A sign reflecting UMBC’s participation in the national #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign.

These opportunities help international students manage a range of challenges that they may encounter on their path to career success in the United States through a tiered process. International students learn about the Career Center’s supportive resources in their earliest days on campus, during orientation. As they progress in their degree programs, the Career Center guides them through the process of identifying and exploring specific career goals and skill sets that match their talents and aspirations within the sphere of the U.S. job market, particularly through internship experiences.

Spring 2018 UMBC International Student Orientation.

IES and the Career Center co-organize an annual International Student Career Conference focused on the unique needs of international students in their job search process in the United States. Now in its fourth year, the conference is an opportunity for students to network with alumni, industry experts, and local employers, and get expert legal information from an immigration attorney.

IES has also partnered with the Career Center and UMBC’s Mosaic Center to offer the workshop “International Identities in the Workplace.” International students who have already completed internships in the U.S. share their experiences with others through the workshop. The event also explores the interview process, business etiquette in American culture, and policy issues like protections against workplace discrimination.

2018 UMBC Career Fair

Networking opportunities, career fairs, internships, and conferences help connect students directly with local start-ups and global companies such as Google, McCormick & Company, and Amazon. “Obtaining internship and work experience is vital for student career success,” says Christine Routzahn, director of the Career Center. “By working with partners such as IES, we ensure our international students have access to these opportunities and are prepared to advocate for themselves and thrive in the workplace.”

The UMBC Career Center team.

The impact of these programs has been profound. After first connecting with the Career Center during orientation, 93 percent of international students report that they continue to access Career Center services during their time at UMBC. Over one hundred international students attend the International Student Career Conference each year. International graduate students participating in these programs overwhelmingly report finding jobs that align with their career goals. Employers participating in the summer internship initiative report very strong interest in working further with students, extending job offers to those who have already participated or offering internships to future students.

“The value of this campus-wide partnership is immeasurable for international students working to overcome significant obstacles to meet their goals in the U.S.,” shares Massey. “I am so proud at how quick the UMBC community is to rise to the occasion of learning about these challenges and supporting this group of students to reach their potential together.”

Maseey will attend The PIEoneer Awards ceremony on behalf of UMBC International Education Services, in London on September 7, 2018.

Banner image: International flags in the UMBC Commons, looking out on a crowd of students gathered for a campus event. All images by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

National “Humanities for All” initiative features innovative work by UMBC scholars

How are scholars across the country creating humanities-centered solutions for our communities’ most pressing challenges? The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) is working to answer this question through Humanities for All, a new website connecting researchers, students, and community members with a database of over 1,400 public humanities projects across all fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Over fifteen UMBC projects are included in the site, half of them from UMBC’s Baltimore Traces initiative. Jessica Berman, director of the UMBC Dresher Center for the Humanities, is proud of the work the center supports, and how it is featured through Humanities for All. “Word is getting out that UMBC is a powerhouse school for humanities teaching and research,” she says. Our faculty are showing how exciting publicly-engaged humanities work can be, and how crucial the humanities are to the way we live and imagine our future now.” Daniel Fisher, project director at the NHA, notes that the goal was not to define “publicly-engaged humanities,” but to provide an active resource. “First, we want to encourage humanities faculty members and students to engage with the public in their research, teaching, and programming. Second, we want to help humanities advocates tell a broader story about the value of the humanities in higher education and in communities across the U.S.,” shares Fisher. The site is also intended to grow and change over time. “We have built into the website a submissions portal so the database will always be reflective of the evolution of the field as it engages diverse audiences in the creation of knowledge and solutions,” Fisher explains. “UMBC’s humanities projects are reflective of this. We want to provide support for the kind of work Baltimore Traces produces.” Bill Shewbridge, professor of practice in media and communication studies, has multiple collaborative projects represented under the broader Baltimore Traces initiative. He appreciates being included in Humanities for All, with its potential to connect his work to new audiences. “A site like Humanities for All is an opportunity to have these stories heard beyond our immediate community,” says Shewbridge. “Seeing Baltimore Traces included in this showcase of publicly-engaged humanities work reinforces that these stories resonate beyond Baltimore and should be a part of a wider conversation.” Through Humanities for All, the NHA has also sought to show how these kinds of projects are advancing teaching and learning at universities and enriching communities through partnership. “These projects highlight what is possible in the humanities and focus not on the transfer of knowledge but the creation of an experience and the strengthening of communities,” says Fisher. “Projects like Baltimore Traces are creating innovative and practical learning experiences for undergraduates and are creating forums for dialogue to talk about what is happening in the community.” Several projects by Nicole King, associate professor and chair of American studies, are featured on the NHA site, particularly under the Baltimore Traces feature. King’s work is representative of the variety of multimedia projects included in the database, incorporating not just written materials but also apps, podcasts, websites, and photography, to effectively facilitate and enhance conversations about identity, history, self-expression, culture, political agency, and power. “Public-engaged humanities are essential to UMBC’s vision, specifically its commitment to civic engagement and social justice,” she says. “It is essential for our students to show up and to listen to the neighborhoods and communities that surround the university in ways that are honest, respectful, and ethical.” Shewbridge and King’s work includes collaborations with several essential partners, including Kate Drabinski, senior lecturer in gender and women’s studies; Dustin Roddy ’14, manager of New Media Studio; Steve Bradley, associate professor of visual arts; Michelle Stefano, Library of Congress folklife specialist; Stefanie Mavronis ’12, political science and media and communication studies; and Marc Steiner, radio host. The Humanities for All database also includes “Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television” and “For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights,” led by Maurice Berger, research professor of visual arts. Additionally, it features Preserve the Baltimore Uprising, led by Denise Meringolo, associate professor of history, and Joe Tropea ‘06, history, M.A. ‘08, historical studies, and the Breaking Ground civic engagement movement initiated by David Hoffman and collaborators. Banner image: Discover Baltimore group tour of historic Lexington Market, UMBC summer session 2017, by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC education policy expert Jane Arnold Lincove helps launch national center for research on school choice

UMBC’s Jane Arnold Lincove, associate professor of public policy, is collaborating with colleagues across the U.S. to launch the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH) through a $10 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

“The goal is to gather top researchers across the United States who are studying different aspects of schools of choice,” says Lincove. “It allows us to share information and research questions to better understand the impact of how different school districts implement school choice.”

The new center will be based at Tulane University. Additional partners include faculty from Michigan State University, Syracuse University, Johns Hopkins University, and ten other higher education institutions across the United States.

Lincove’s research on education policy includes a focus on the charter school system in New Orleans post-Katrina. In addition to her academic publications in journals like Education Finance and Policy, Lincove has also written for policymakers and the public, through groups like the Brookings Institution and the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.

Through REACH, Lincove will do further research to identify whether schools systems that utilize school choice deliver on the promise of improving educational equity and offering greater access to high-quality education for students, given the variability of school enrollment practices and children’s transportation and housing challenges. Her work will include research in Baltimore’s public school system, which enables schools of choice, with the support of UMBC School of Public Policy graduate students. This work will be in collaboration with the Baltimore Education Research Consortium led by Baltimore City Public Schools, Morgan State University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Lincove explains that REACH will enable scholars in this field, who are based in cities across the United States, “to share information and research questions to better understand the impact of how different school districts implement school choice.” She points out that this is especially important in districts where leaders have replaced traditional education systems with school choice in hopes of better meeting the needs of vulnerable or underserved students, such as low-income students, students from racial or ethnic minority groups, English language learners, and special education students.

Lincove is highly aware of the complexities this work involves, but she looks forward to shedding light on an issue of such public importance. “Researching school choice is challenging because there are so many stakeholders that are for and against it. But in the end,” she says, “looking at research across the United States allows us to identify what is working and help inform policy to help school systems create equitable, successful, and safe learning environments.”

Learn more about Jane Lincove and REACH.

Banner image: Jane Lincove, public policy. Photo by Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque for UMBC.

UMBC alumnus Chris Haffer becomes EEOC’s first chief data officer

Building on 25 years of experience in public policy research, UMBC alumnus Chris Haffer has started a new leadership role with the key federal agency that enforces civil rights laws against discrimination in the workplace. Haffer, M.P.S. ‘91, public policy, and Ph.D. ‘93, public policy, is now the first chief data officer and director of the Office of Research, Information and Planning for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“In this role, I have an opportunity to help foster innovation and creativity to proactively identify how we share data safely with the public and ensure the greatest impact and reach for the community,” says Haffer.

Haffer began his first year of college with a love of foreign languages, and he expected that would be his career. That was until a social sciences requirement introduced him to sociology.

The course sparked in him an interest in applied research, leading to a summer job as a research assistant at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. He continued on to UMBC’s master’s and Ph.D. public policy programs, and a career spanning over two decades at the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMMS).

For Haffer, UMBC offered an important bridge between public policy theory and practice. Professors emeriti Marvin Mandell and Donald F. Norris, public policy, shared their vast applied research experience through both their teaching and also connecting Haffer with opportunities in the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research. Both mentors also guided Haffer to the highly competitive Presidential Fellows Program that began his 25-year service at CMSS.

“I remember Chris as a smart, talented and driven graduate student who was passionate about public service,” says Norris. “I know him now as a friend and it has been no surprise to me that he has achieved so much and risen so highly in governmental service.”

Through Norris and Mandell’s examples, Haffer says, he saw how public policy could make a difference in people’s lives. “I learned that with applied public policy research I could turn research into action in a focused way to help programs and agencies better meet the needs of the community,” he shares.

His advice for anyone wanting to work with big data and in the federal service is to move beyond misconceptions. Haffer explains that big data is not only about analysis, nor is federal service solitary work.

“We need more creative minds to help tell a more engaging and accessible data story,” says Haffer. He encourages graphic designers, media and communications majors, and marketing graduates to consider federal service careers in data-focused areas.

The most rewarding aspect of big data and federal service for Haffer has been learning how to best use, disseminate, and implement data with the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams.

“When you are trying to solve a problem, you may be able to do it faster yourself,” reflects Haffer, “but the product a team creates is better because it represents the intersection of different views. It will be of more value to your customers, who will be as diverse as the team that created the product.”

Banner Image: Chris Haffer at the EEOC.  All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC’s Evan Avila wins iOme Challenge with ideas to help millennials save for retirement

Evan Avila ‘20, economics and political science, is a millennial with retirement on his mind, and his fresh ideas are now capturing the interest of policymakers. Avila recently won first place in the national 2018 iOme Challenge, which asked students across the United States to innovate policies to help millennials save for retirement. Avila presented his winning paper, Rethinking Millennial Retirement: Policy Recommendations for a Gig Economy, to policymakers on June 20 at a symposium on Capitol Hill.

This year’s iOme (“I Owe Me”) Challenge asked participants to imagine they were invited to join a bipartisan task force to address a growing retirement crisis in the U.S. What policies might they propose on issues relating to gig economy workers or using social media to increase awareness about saving for retirement?

Avila had dealt with these topics before, in the classroom and through volunteering with tax assistance and financial counseling. Avila has served as a certified volunteer in the federal Volunteers Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at UMBC, which provides tax return filing support for eligible people no cost to them. He’s also offered financial literacy clinics for fellow college students and was familiar with their common questions and concerns about how to make smart financial decisions.

Avila applied this knowledge and experience to creating an iOme Challenge entry that contest judge David Wegge, interim dean of Schneider School of Business and Economics at St. Norbert College, said, “demonstrated great policy depth, a keen understanding of the challenges millennials face, and creativity in devising solutions that are achievable for this age cohort.”


Cindy Hounsell is president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), which sponsored the competition. She shared, “We are impressed by Mr. Avila’s response to the more complicated challenges and deterrents millennials face in preparing for their future retirement.”

UMBC economics professor Doug Lamdin mentored Avila as he developed his three-part policy proposal and transformed his essay into a video. He shares that typically students enter the contest as teams, but he wasn’t surprised that even competing as a team of one Avila emerged the winner.

“That Evan won the competition is not exactly a surprise. He had a very strong proposal,” said Lamdin. “Evan balanced the demands of the competition, usually placed on a team, exceptionally well in addition to a full class schedule, working as a teaching assistant, a research assistant, presenting at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Day (URCAD), volunteering at the Esperanza Center teaching English, and his activities as a Sondheim Scholar.”

Avila, who recently completed his fourth semester with a 4.0, is currently serving as an intern in the Office of Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, D.C. This follows an internship in 2017 at the U.S. Census Bureau, where he worked in the Economics Indicators division, focusing on how to efficiently process massive quantities of survey data in a precise way.

Looking ahead, Avila plans to pursue a career in tax or administrative law. “I came from a Peruvian and Mexican household. I saw how hard my parents worked and the challenges they faced to have financial security,” says Avila. “In college, I see my peers trying to make sense of personal budgets, savings, loans, credit, and retirement. It is very rewarding to help people be financially literate and understand the laws and policies that affect their wallet.”

Banner image: Evan Avila with his economics internship supervisor in 2017. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

When did humans start to transform Earth? UMBC’s Erle Ellis introduces the Anthropocene.

“Humans have emerged as a force of nature on this planet,” UMBC’s Erle Ellis says, as he begins to explain his work. Ellis, a professor of geography and environmental systems is one of the world’s leading thinkers on the Anthropocene, a new word scientists are using to describe Earth’s current geological epoch, defined by human transformation of the planet. 

“We are changing Earth’s climate faster than at any time since the fall of the dinosaurs,” says Ellis. For scientists, he notes, “What’s controversial…is when did this begin? […] When did humans literally become the global shaper of the earth?”

In 2009, the International Commission on Stratigraphy, through its Subcommission of Quaternary Stratigraphy, created the Anthropocene Working Group (AGW) that is officially charged to examine whether the Anthropocene should be added as a formal time interval in the geologic time scale (following the Holocene, the current geological epoch after the last ice age) and, if so, what should mark its beginning. Shortly after its formation, Ellis was asked to join the Anthropocene Working Group as an expert on human transformation of the biosphere.

Scientists today disagree about when human impact on Earth reached levels sufficient to identify the start of the Anthropocene. Did this come with early forest clearing and agricultural production some 5,000 – 8,000 years ago? Or did this begin with European colonization of the Americas? Or very recently, with the Great Acceleration of environmental change that began in the 1950s?

Ellis tackles this question and others in his new book, Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction. Right now the Great Acceleration of the 1950s is the leading candidate for the Anthropocene’s beginning, but heated discussions are ongoing, and will likely continue even after a formal Anthropocene is defined in the Geologic Time Scale, which could occur as early as 2020, when the International Union of Geological Science next meets.

The book Anthropocene builds on Ellis’s earlier writing about the complexities, evolution, and controversies surrounding the emergence of humans as a force transforming Earth in The New York Times, The Economist, and other media. Ellis offers readers new to this debate varying viewpoints from geologists, geographers, environmental scientists, archaeologists, political scientists, and scholars of the humanities. In exploring how people have impacted air and water quality, plant and animal life, and our own health and wellbeing through practices that have made our immediate lives easier but are also having serious, long-term consequences for the health of the planet.

“The Anthropocene engages us in seeking new narratives about what it means to be human, from humans as environmental destroyers to humans as the salvation of this planet,” explains Erle Ellis.

“One of the biggest questions about the Anthropocene is whether it should be considered to be a bad thing and the reason that it’s such a big question is because so many of the definitions of what humans are doing to this planet are negative things, like changing the climate and causing mass extinction,” says Ellis. “Yet, on the other hand, the Anthropocene is not over, and it really remains to be seen what we’re going to make of this human time period.”

Ultimately, Ellis argues, “We humans are going to shape the future of this planet.” So, he asks, “what kind of planet are we going to shape?”

Banner image: Grand Erg Oriental, Algeria, October 31, 2017. Image provided by the Sally Ride EarthKAM@Space Camp on the International Space Station.

UMBC celebrates opening of new Lakeland Community and STEAM Center

Marigold, a seventh grader at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, moved through the crowd with the poise and professionalism of a public relations veteran as she guided visitors through the Lakeland Community and STEAM Center on their first visit to the new space.

The South Baltimore center opened its doors on June 1, after a two-year, $1.6 million renovation and programming revamp supported by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems in partnership with UMBC. Other contributors included the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership. Students and their supporters quickly filled the fresh space, excited to view its state-of-the-art equipment and learn about the activities it will support.

“Marigold is a perfect example of a student who dives into not only school, but extension opportunities,” shared Lakeland Principal Najib Jammal. Her experience shows how “being involved” in enrichment activities “can accelerate learning and growth,” he said.

Group takes a tour of a newly renovated building, with balloons decorating the space.

Sen. Ben Cardin (center right) greets Lakeland Elementary/Middle student Marigold (center left) and tours the Lakeland Community & STEAM Center with Reginald Moore (far right), director, Baltimore City Recreation & Parks. Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

Just one year ago, Marigold arrived from Ghana, with a love of reading but limited spoken English skills. After a year of hard work in Lakeland’s ESOL program, her English language speaking skills have blossomed. In addition to volunteering as a guide in the STEAM Center (which stands for science, technology, engineering, art, athletics, and math), Marigold serves as captain of her school’s competitive cybersecurity team.

Supporting Baltimore Students

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski spoke at the June 1 event of the need to spotlight and support the future of Baltimore’s talented youth. He shared, “We believe in the need to be more deliberate and proactive in helping our children. We believe in Baltimore City and Baltimore City Public Schools.”

UMBC’s partnership with Lakeland Elementary/Middle School began in 2013. “The history of the Lakeland partnership has been wide-sweeping and centered on wraparound services to address the needs of the administrators, teachers, students, parents, and the community at large,” explained Rehana Shafi, director of UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program and partnership with Lakeland.

Started through the vision and support of George and Betsy Sherman and the Sherman Family Foundation, the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program prepares UMBC students to become both experts in teaching STEM subjects and civic-minded educators committed to social justice and community engagement in urban schools. Sherman Scholars provide support for in-classroom instruction and afterschool enrichment, and the program has been closely involved in developing the STEAM center.

Group poses on a staircase in professional attire.

Current and former Sherman Scholars celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, with George and Betsy Sherman (front left), program staff (front center), and Jackie and Freeman Hrabowski (front right). Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The UMBC Peaceworker Fellows Program is also closely involved in the holistic partnership. Peaceworkers focus on community connections, which will grow dramatically now that the new center is open. This is particularly essential in a community without a library or other public meeting areas. The center will give residents access to computers and services like financial counseling, and the community association will soon begin meeting in the space.

Growing Together

Northrop Grumman reached out to offer support for this South Baltimore community three years ago. “After the unrest of 2015 we wanted to make a difference in Baltimore, but not just make a difference in that moment,” recalled Northrop Grumman President and COO Kathy J. Warden. “We wanted to make a lasting difference.”

Warden explained, “We had resources, we had dollars, and people that wanted to help, but we didn’t know how. We reached out to UMBC and joined a fantastic partnership that already existed.”

The opening of the new center represents the growth and lasting strength of this community partnership. Knowing that Lakeland students start walking through the center doors as early as 6:45 a.m., Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation, arrived at the center ahead of the launch event to share in the children’s excitement over their new space.

“The Lakeland Community and STEAM Center places a shining light on the stars that were already here and provides them with the resources and the platforms to get out and show how special they are,” said Evers-Manly. Looking out at the crowd that came to celebrate, she shared, “Our young people are so proud that so many across Baltimore took time out to say yes, you can, and yes, you will.”

Ripple Effect

The new space was created by renovating an existing Baltimore City Recreation and Parks building at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School in an innovative way. “This new STEAM Center expands our notion of what recreation should be,” said Rec and Parks Director Reginald Moore. “It is more than just athletics. It is robotics, drones, music. The possibilities are endless.” And, most importantly, says Moore, it’s a place for students to “better prepare for their future.”

Lakeland students explore new resources in the STEAM center. Photo by Kait McCaffrey for UMBC.

This shift is visible in the center’s new recording studio, computer lab, and makerspace. Students can now perform, record, and produce music and audio interviews on site, and the school will have room for robotics teams to develop their projects. The center will also host parenting classes, community fitness sessions, adult education, and mental health services thanks to additional collaborations with local agencies and organizations.

“The incredible transformation of the Lakeland Community and STEAM Center will provide a resource for people of all ages to acquire life-changing knowledge and skills,” said Senator Ben Cardin, at the launch event. “Large-scale, positive changes like these usually require a strong group of partners standing shoulder-to-shoulder.” Senator Chris Van Hollen and Mayor Catherine Pugh also spoke to the power of supporting Baltimore City youth through working together.

Man in suit at center of photo converses with a group. Balloons on the edge of frame.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (center) speaks with Lakeland Community & STEAM Center visitors. Lakeland Principal Najib Jammal in background (center right). Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

Tangible Impact

For the students, these partnerships have already had a major impact. The Baltimore Sun recently highlighted Lakeland students’ major gains in PARCC test scores, thanks to strong collaboration between Lakeland teachers and UMBC math coaches. “This is not your average partnership,” math teacher Carly Harkins told the Sun. “This is my 16th year teaching, and I’ve never seen anything where the schools are so connected in so many ways.”

College student in yellow UMBC shirt leads elementary students in a movement-based activity.

UMBC Sherman Scholar leads Lakeland students in an activity. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Kenniyah, a rising 8th grader at Lakeland, learned journalism and media skills through the Media and Rhythm Institute, a hip hop youth program the STEAM center and Sherman Scholars brought to Lakeland as the new space was still in development. In the past two years, she has interviewed the mayor, helped create podcasts, and assisted in producing educational DVDs. With the recording studio officially open, she looks forward to expanding her broadcast skills to recording music.

Now planning her applications for the BARD High School Early College program and Baltimore School for the Arts, Kenniyah shared, “My journalism skills and video production skills will make me stand out.”

Woman in gray suit speaks with students seated near recording studio equipment.

Kathy Warden (right), president and COO, Northrop Grumman, discusses media production with Lakeland Elementary/Middle School students in the Lakeland Community & STEAM Center. Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

For Betsy Sherman, herself a retired teacher, Marigold and Kenniyah show what the Sherman Scholars and the new Lakeland Community and STEAM Center are all about. At the launch, she shared, “It is time we stop talking about ‘at risk’ and start talking about possibility.”

Banner image: UMBC Sherman Scholar leads Lakeland students in a hands-on learning activity. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC health justice research forum focuses on the value of community voices

How does unequal access to health care affect the lives and experiences of people from different communities across Baltimore and the nation? UMBC’s Public Humanities and Health Justice Research Forum addressed this question through remarks and conversations with researchers from UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT), and College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS), as well as Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, Coppin State University, and Columbia University.

The forum was the fourth in a series organized by UMBC’s Office of the Vice President for Research to bring together faculty tackling shared topics from widely diverse angles. “We established the research forum series in 2014 to provide an opportunity for scientists and scholars to collaboratively explore multiple facets of a topic central to the research and scholarship of UMBC,” says Karl Steiner, vice president for research. Previous forum focus areas include high-performance computing, climate change and the environment, and the visualization of science.

UMBC’s Dresher Center for the Humanities sponsored and helped organize the latest forum, focused on how the humanities can help address challenges related to health care access. Dresher Center Director Jessica Berman shared, “It was exciting to see how much humanistic scholarship is taking place all across campus and the potential partnerships it creates, between UMBC and other universities. This research forum helped to highlight the humanities in their capacity not only to ask good questions but also to help solve important problems such as health justice and access.”

Racism in Health Care Policy

Keynote speaker Graham Mooney, professor in the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, presented his research on the Baltimore Medical Care Plan of 1948. “By using the history of medicine and public policy we can better understand how the process of racism and segregation have interacted to prevent black residents’ access to quality medical care in Baltimore,” explained Mooney.

Presenter Graham Mooney stands behind a podium. Presentation slide visible on left side of image.

The topic led to an interactive conversation about the negative impact the 1948 plan had on the quality of life of Baltimore’s black community and how it served as a model for similar approaches in other states, and later for Medicare and Medicaid. During the discussion, Shawn Bediako, associate professor of psychology, argued that analyses of health care access across U.S. history should also include how black communities have responded to inequities. He mentioned, as examples, the establishment of the National Negro Health Movement and Office of Negro Health Work.

Listening to Communities

Valuing community voices was a key theme in the two interdisciplinary panel discussions that followed. These discussions revealed how key humanities methods, such as attending to history, paying attention to narrative—including who gets to speak and when—and thinking critically about how we understand and value specific human experiences can be crucial to addressing issues important to contemporary public life.

In the first of those panels, Kristen Slesar, from the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University, shared her experience using personal narratives to inform medical research. Slesar is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist who focuses on child trauma. She regularly teaches about health care justice and health care for underserved communities.

Scott Casper, dean of the College of arts, humanities, and social sciences (CAHSS),  then moderated a discussion on “Listening as Public Practice: Towards Equity and Justice” that included Bediako as well as colleagues Drew Holladay, assistant professor of English; Amy Hurst, associate professor of information systems; and Denise Meringolo, associate professor of history. The panelists explored how centering the narratives of individuals in their research improves the quality of their findings and the potential impact of their work. “Confronting the barriers to health equity compels us to look across disciplines and toward collaborations among social scientists, scientists and engineers, and humanists and artists,” noted Casper. 

Lawrence Brown, assistant professor of community health and policy at Morgan State University, spoke during the second panel about the impacts of residential displacement and financial disinvestment on community health. In addition to his work on the impact of historical trauma on community health, he also leads the student-driven #BmoreLEADfree project focused on ending lead poisoning in Baltimore.

Berman then led a group discussion on the topic “Communication, the Urban Environment, and Health Justice,” with Dena Aufseeser, assistant professor of geography and environmental systems; Katherine Bankole-Medina, professor of history at Coppin State University; Dawn Biehler, associate professor of geography and environmental systems; and Jennifer Maher, associate professor of English. The discussion showed how paying attention to the ways local communities understand issues of health and the environment can challenge the kinds of changes we propose and the ways we communicate about them.

New Health Equity Collaborative

The forum also introduced UMBC’s new Collaborative for the Interdisciplinary Promotion of Health Equity Research (CIPHER). The collaborative will form working groups bringing together UMBC researchers across different fields to examine current challenges to health care equity, and to inform innovative solutions for the future.

Bediako, whose research focuses on health care inequities experienced by patients with sickle cell disease, will serve as the founding convener of this initiative. He shares, “I am most excited that CIPHER will aim to reach across disciplinary boundaries and use multiple perspectives to address specific challenges to health equity.”

 

Banner image: (L to R) Courtney C. Hobson M.A.’14, history, coordinator for the Dresher Center; Karl Steiner; Rachel Brubaker M.A. ’00, history, assistant director for grants and program development for the Dresher Center; Don Engel, assistant vice president for research; Scott Casper; and Jessica Berman. All photos by Kait McCaffrey for UMBC.

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