Freeland’s research has always centered on how and why living things evolved a system of genetic coding, which has taken him from biology to astrobiology and has inevitably led him to grapple with one of the big questions many people ask themselves: “Where do we come from?” Continue Reading UMBC’s Stephen Freeland receives Trotter Prize for pioneering origins-of-life research
“When I visited UMBC, I felt like everyone knows each other and supports each other in the physics department,” Song remembers. “That’s why I chose here.” Now, she’s rising to become a leader in the field of dust aerosols, which play a role in climate change. Continue Reading UMBC’s Qianqian Song receives FINESST Fellowship from NASA for research on dust clouds and climate
The team ended this year’s season strong, finishing in the top 12 overall at each of three competitions across the country. Continue Reading UMBC’s Baja SAE team finishes with second highest total points in program’s 30-year history
UMBC has partnered to create a global university network dedicated to securing critical systems against cyber threats: the International Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE). Continue Reading UMBC partners with five universities in the US, UK, and Japan to launch International Cybersecurity Center of Excellence
The mantis shrimp visual system “is just extraordinarily strange,” says Tom Cronin. His study of this remarkable system alongside colleague and co-winner Justin Marshall over the last 30 years has led to applications such as guided breast cancer surgery and detection of otherwise camouflaged objects, among others. Continue Reading UMBC’s Tom Cronin, mantis shrimp vision expert, receives international Rank Prize for Optoelectronics
Wayman and Dasgupta are the first members of the UMBC community to be selected since the program’s inception in 1990, an indication of UMBC’s growing presence in Montgomery County through the Universities at Shady Grove. Christopher Steele shares, “These two remarkable leaders perfectly reflect the fact that UMBC offers its very best to Montgomery County.” Continue Reading Leadership Montgomery recognizes UMBC’s Annica Wayman and Sunil Dasgupta
“All the techniques we learned in Phage Hunters directly translate to the work we do in the lab on a daily basis,” says Anna Kawa ’18. “Being on the cutting edge of biotech is really exciting,” adds Viet Dang ’18. “Just being right there, potentially changing history, is really exciting.” Continue Reading Phage Hunters: Popular UMBC research program opens doors to biotech careers
“The college has laid the foundation, and now is really in a strong position for growth,” says Dean Bill LaCourse. “It’s all about paying attention to the people and their needs,” he explains, so faculty, staff, and students can do their best work and create a thriving community together. Continue Reading CNMS celebrates a year of growth in partnerships to support student success
With this new NIH grant, Jeff Leips says, “Ideally, I want to understand the mechanisms—what goes wrong with age and immunity? Once we know that, the next question is whether we can find ways to try to ameliorate the effects of aging on those traits.” Continue Reading UMBC’s Jeff Leips receives NIH grant to explore how genes affect immune system function as we age
“It’s quite cool,” Hua Lu says, “because, in both plants and animals, people are beginning to study the crosstalk between the circadian clock and the immunity system.” Continue Reading UMBC’s Hua Lu works to decode plant defense system, with an eye on improving farming and medicine
Sequencing spider glue genes is like, “picking a needle from a haystack,” says UMBC postdoc Sarah Stellwagen. She is the lead author of a new G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics article on sequencing two spider glue genes for the first time. They’re massive — the largest has a coding sequence over 42,000 bases long. Continue Reading UMBC’s Sarah Stellwagen first in world to sequence genes for spider glue
“Hydroxyl radicals control the lifetime of nearly every reactive gas,” including methane, explains Glenn Wolfe. However, “globally, we don’t have a way to directly measure them.” His new research puts scientists on the path to changing that, and toward improving global climate models. Continue Reading UMBC’s Glenn Wolfe develops new method to gauge atmosphere’s ability to clear methane, a potent greenhouse gas
