The near success of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the electoral battles of 2008 made it an important year for women involved in politics. However, even before the 2008 landmark races in which Clinton fought to the end to wrest her party’s nomination and Palin campaigned as the Republican vice presidential running mate to Sen. John McCain, other women have blazed trails in the struggle to gain electoral representation. The growing involvement of UMBC alumnae in politics is indeed reflective of the national trend. Some of these events have been seminal, like Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s gutsy… Continue Reading Herstory Lessons
“Smog Blog” Tracks Air Quality When fires blaze across the Western United States, it’s just a matter of time until the resulting haze and dirty air plumes travel downwind to neighboring states – even as far away as the East Coast. In 2003, environmental scientists at UMBC invented a method to track significant air pollution events and to provide a daily diary of air quality across the United States. The result is an innovative Web site known as the “Smog Blog,” which now attracts some half a million users annually. The Smog Blog alg.umbc.edu/usaq offers realtime analysis and an extensive… Continue Reading Discovery – Winter 2009
Four UMBC alumnae who have made careers in politics and government look back at an electoral cycle that held landmarks and heartbreaks for women candidates. By Richard Byrne ’86 The year 2008 saw a momentous breakthrough for African-Americans in U.S. electoral politics. But it was a landmark year for women as well. UMBC Magazine talked with four prominent political alumnae just after Election Day 2008. We asked them to reflect not only on the tumultuous political year, but also about gender and politics issues in their own careers. And to add some scholarly perspective, Cheryl M. Miller, an associate dean… Continue Reading Ballot Boxers
Sound & Strength Imagine a few sounds: a squeaky door, the shredding of paper, a bowling ball falling down a staircase, and a persistent buzz. Then: a drum beat, some notes from a piano and a wailing saxophone enter the mix. Soon pauses are woven in, here and there, filling up space not with sound but with silence. Until the sounds renew themselves again. This music filled the UMBC Fine Arts Recital Hall on an evening last November, created by five composers – four of them alumni of the university’s music department. It was a celebration of improvisation, experimentation –… Continue Reading At Play – Winter 2009
Sondheim Scholar Ari Ne’eman has plunged headlong into the maelstrom of controversy over autism. His goal? To give autistics – including himself – a significant voice in the debate. By Mat Edelson Staring over a plate of Crispy Beef, Ari Ne’eman is contemplating extinction. Not only his own extinction, but that of everyone just like him. Spectrum Storms Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joel N. Shurkin examines the wide range of opinions surrounding autism. Read more. Everyone with autism. Ne’eman is dead serious. So much so that he created the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) to take on the medical establishment’s thinking about… Continue Reading Abnormal Ambitions
Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Eric Conn ’85, Computer Science, is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, technologist, and software engineer and a member of the board of UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. He is the president and co-founder of Gloto Corporation, which specializes in the design, development, and deployment of innovative products that integrate mobile devices and computers. In 2006 Gloto launched Cellblock.com, which allows users to instantly publish photos and videos from… Continue Reading 2008 UMBC Alumni of the Year & Distinguished Service Award Winners
Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners. Outstanding Alumnus Social & Behavioral Sciences Eric A. Carlton ’91, Africana Studies After becoming the youngest high school principal in the country at age 29, Eric A. Carlton ’91, Africana studies, later launched Banner Schools, a private company that partners with public school districts to provide a successful educational environment for at-risk youth. The company has three schools in Chicago, one in Miami, and will open another in Detroit. Together, the… Continue Reading 2007 UMBC Alumni of the Year & Distinguished Service Award Winners
Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners. Outstanding Alumna Natural & Mathematical Sciences Diane Auer Jones ’88, M.S. Applied Molecular Biology In addition to a successful career as an entrepreneur, government policy maker and administrator at Princeton University, in November Jones was appointed Deputy Associate Director for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. She also has served as an active member of the UMBC Research Park Corporation’s board of directors for the past eleven years. Outstanding… Continue Reading 2006 UMBC Alumni of the Year & Distinguished Service Award Winners
Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Learn more about our past award winners. Life Sciences Sheldon Broedel, 1984 M.S. and 1990 Ph.D. Biological Sciences, is chief executive and science officer of Athena Environmental Sciences. This 10-year-old company, headquartered at techcenter@UMBC, specializes in “ecologically responsible and economically sound solutions to environmental problems.” Humanities Sean Carton, 1990 English, is Dean of Digital Design at Philadelphia University, the author of Dot Bomb and a frequent contributor to Wired magazine. As co-founder of Carton Donofrio Interactive, a web and… Continue Reading 2005 UMBC Alumni of the Year & Distinguished Service Award Winners
Here at UMBC, we take pride in what our alums accomplish after graduation. Take a moment to see which Retrievers have been on the move and making news! Karina Velasco ’15, social work, shares her positive experience with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and calls for comprehensive immigration reform. She discusses how the recent executive order signed by President Obama has helped secure a life that would have been taken away. She is now able to maintain her job, health insurance, and driver’s license. Click here to learn more about Velasco’s story. Alfred Sanchez ’83 M.A., community/clinical psychology,… Continue Reading UMBC Alums Encourage Change in the Community
Here at UMBC, we take pride in what our alums accomplish after graduation. Take a moment to see which Retrievers have been on the move and making news! Monica Gallagher ’01, visual arts, wrote Part-Time Princesses, which was nominated as a Great Graphic Novel for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association. The graphic novel follows the lives of four girls’ plans after high school fall apart, go to work as costume princesses at a local amusement park and end up defending their job to a gang of local thugs. To find out more about Gallagher’s nomination, click here.… Continue Reading UMBC Alums Transform the Written Word
