Fall 2010

An Elemental Education

Spend a semester inside UMBC’s pioneering Chemistry Discovery Center and you’ll find that its successes are rooted in teamwork – and two hours a week without Twitter and Twinkies. By Ann Griswold Photos Chris Hartlove Think Chemistry 101 is hard? A few years ago, Bill LaCourse, chair of UMBC’s chemistry department, devised a way to simultaneously make it seem harder. He called his invention the “Chemistry Discovery Center.” Students call it “the isolation tank” or “boot camp.” LaCourse’s brainstorm is housed in a brightly-lit room on the second floor University Center – just a horseshoe toss from the chemistry department’s… Continue Reading An Elemental Education

Video: How to be a Pottery Detective

From UMBC Magazine Fall 2010, How to be a Pottery Detective, featuring Ester Read. Video by Jenny O’Grady.

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