The Baltimore Sun highlights UMBC as a university that offers students various research opportunities. UMBC undergraduate students are involved in research that impacts UWIN’s goal of creating solutions to help prepare communities to respond to water crises. Continue Reading Urban Water Innovation Network connects UMBC students and faculty with research partners nationwide
Kafui Dzirasa ’01 is named a recipient of the highest honor the U.S. government awards to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. He is working to develop a “pacemaker” for the brain. Continue Reading Neuroscientist Kafui Dzirasa to receive Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Erin Lavik, CBEE, has developed a new blood-clotting agent that can withstand extreme temperatures, like those found in some combat zones. The agent can be used when soldiers suffer traumatic battle wounds in combat. Continue Reading New blood-clotting agent shows promise for soldiers in combat zones with extreme temperatures
The National Science Foundation has recognized Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering (CBEE), as a tremendously promising researcher in concurrently funding three projects that work to reimagine waste streams as important resources and investigate threats from toxic contaminants. The grant funding, totaling more than $800,000, will support Blaney’s work in the areas of environmental engineering, environmental sustainability, and environmental chemical sciences. The three projects focus on sustainably recovering phosphorus from agricultural waste, the photodegradation of organometallic compounds in water, and understanding how three antibiotic classes react when exposed to UV-based processes. Blaney began receiving funding for… Continue Reading Lee Blaney’s sustainability-focused engineering research examines the potential impact and value of waste streams
In low- and middle-income countries, gaps in healthcare infrastructure and high costs for medical supplies and services can mean high numbers of babies dying in their first week of life. Often, these deaths are due to “extremely preventable causes,” says Govind Rao, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) at UMBC. Rao described for The Hindu, a major Indian newspaper, how he and a team of faculty and student researchers designed an affordable infant incubator that addresses two of the three leading causes of infant death (which include preterm birth, lack… Continue Reading UMBC researchers develop affordable incubator for vulnerable newborns in low-resource areas
UMBC environmental engineering students have created a YouTube video to help middle and high school students and the broader public understand the kinds of work environmental engineers do and the impacts their work has on the world. They developed the video as part of a national competition hosted by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) with the theme “Environmental Engineers Protect Public and Ecological Health.” UMBC students Helena Gaifem ‘16, Ph.D., chemical and biochemical engineering; Nick Rogers ‘15, environmental engineering; Utsav Shashvatt ‘19, Ph.D., environmental engineering; and Kiranmayi Mangalgiri ‘16, Ph.D., environmental engineering, approached Lee Blaney, assistant… Continue Reading UMBC students explain what environmental engineers do in video for international competition
UMBC’s inaugural Innovators Luncheon, held November 30, 2015, celebrated faculty innovators from across the university who are forging new paths in their fields. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of Technology Development (OTD), Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA), and bwtech@UMBC, the event acknowledged accomplishments of UMBC Technology Catalyst Fund (TCF) and Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) awardees. In addition to recognizing the TCF and MII awardees, five UMBC faculty were presented with awards for outstanding initiatives in disclosing their inventions. Christopher Geddes, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and director of the Institute of Fluorescence (IOF); Fow-Sen… Continue Reading Inaugural Inventors’ Luncheon honors UMBC faculty innovators across disciplines
While manure is often used as fertilizer for crops, regulations designed to protect the environment do not allow farmers to use untreated manure on fields that already saturated with elements like phosphorus. Lee Blaney, assistant professor in the department of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, is developing new technologies in his lab to remove phosphorus from agricultural waste, such as chicken litter, to transform it into two highly valuable products: processed animal litter that can be used as fertilizer and chemicals that can be sold to farmers with land that is deficient in rather than saturated with particular nutrients. Blaney… Continue Reading Lee Blaney explains how technology can transform pollutants in chicken manure into a valuable product
UMBC team to develop wearable system to track asthma triggers in pediatric patients. An innovative team of researchers working across engineering fields has received a nearly $2 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) PRISMS program to develop a comprehensive system to monitor critical environmental asthma triggers and physiological status indicators for pediatric asthma patients. Living with asthma, a chronic disease caused by the inflammation of the airway, can substantially impact a person’s well-being and, if not controlled, can be life threatening. Asthma prevalence has increased over the past decade to now impact 25.7 million adults and 7.1… Continue Reading Helping kids with asthma breathe easier
Soldiers on the battlefield and first-responders in conflict zones will soon be able to save lives by using a portable, briefcase-sized tool that rapidly manufactures medicines. Govind Rao, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) at UMBC, leads the research team behind this innovation. At the recent Bioprocess International conference, he called the system “beyond revolutionary,” reports BioPharma. “Welcome to the Betty Crocker world of bioprocessing,” said Rao. “Within a few hours you are expressing a high quality protein.” The product emerged from concerns that current methods for getting pharmaceutical supplies… Continue Reading Govind Rao discusses portable bioreactors developed to save lives on battlefields
Local sustainability researchers and thought leaders took center stage on October 16, 2015, at a forum for urban sustainability in Baltimore, hosted by UMBC’s School of Public Policy. The forum was designed to examine how collaborations among government agencies, companies, and nonprofits can improve sustainability policies and programs. It also emphasized how a broad range of perspectives is needed to effectively assess and address environmental concerns. This isn’t news to Claire Welty, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering and director of UMBC’s Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education. Welty is the associate director of research for the Urban… Continue Reading UMBC researchers collaborate to improve sustainability, with impacts in Maryland and across the nation
Purdue University has honored Dean Julia Ross of UMBC’s College of Engineering and IT as one of six Outstanding Chemical Engineers for 2015.Dean Ross is an alumna of Purdue and received her PhD in chemical engineering from Rice University in 1995. She has served as dean of COEIT since August 2014, and is also UMBC’s Constellation Professor of Information Technology and Engineering.Prior to her appointment as dean, Ross served as special assistant to the provost for inter-institutional research initiatives, 2012-14, and was instrumental in enhancing research collaborations between UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.Among her current projects, Dean Ross has collaborated… Continue Reading Dean Julia Ross receives “Outstanding Chemical Engineer” honor
