Information Systems

UMBC's campus from a bird's eye view, with gold location pegs superimposed the image to indicate research zones

Putting UMBC Research on the Map

/ 13 minutes of reading

Spring on UMBC’s main campus brings a host of familiar sights and sounds: blooms on the magnolia trees, the chatter of red-winged blackbirds calling from the reeds around Library Pond, greening grass on the campus Quad, and black-and-gold-bedecked Grit Guides leading groups of prospective Retrievers around what may soon become a home away from home. The guides cover the usual highlights—Academic Row, the Retriever Activity Center, the AOK Library, eating establishments, and residential halls. UMBC is a place to live, to learn, and to find community. And while some of the functions of campus spaces are obvious, others are often… Continue Reading Putting UMBC Research on the Map

group photo of about 25 people on a wooden footbridge, green trees in the background

Month of Earth Day events culminates with 8th Annual Earth Day Symposium

/ 5 minutes of reading

This year, UMBC partnered with the EPA to host more events than ever before for Earth Day: a total of 18 throughout the month of April. “A tradition we are really proud of is that this event is 100 percent planned and implemented by our graduate students,” shared Zhibo Zhang about the concluding Earth Day Symposium. Continue Reading Month of Earth Day events culminates with 8th Annual Earth Day Symposium

Two adults stand side by side holding an award

Nancy Kusmaul, social work, receives “Outstanding Individual in Academia” award from the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy 

/ 3 minutes of reading

UMBC’s Nancy Kusmaul, associate professor of social work, a scholar and advocate for the rights of older adults and professional caregivers, received the “Outstanding Individual in Academia” award from the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy in March 2024 at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. Kusmaul’s work is informed by her 10 years of experience as a social worker and over a decade of novel scholarship.  Continue Reading Nancy Kusmaul, social work, receives “Outstanding Individual in Academia” award from the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy 

Illustration by Rebecca Bradley, featuring colorful overlapping hands grabbing for wine glasses and mugs over a green picnic blanket.

Grab a Seat at the Table

/ 13 minutes of reading

These days, it’s tempting to grow numb to the polarization of society and the breakdown in public discourse and to retreat into our silos of solidarity. But a liberal arts education has the potential to offer an antidote to these seemingly inevitable fates—through modeling and practicing empathy. At UMBC, students are invited to the table to share their stories and listen to their peers. These acts of educational hospitality help Retrievers find their why and pursue the public good. It’s the first day of class. You’re looking around, bright-eyed and a little nervous, and then your instructor smiles at the… Continue Reading Grab a Seat at the Table

A family gathers around a matriarch in a wheelchair

Caregiving Goes Both Ways

/ 4 minutes of reading

For more than a decade, Rita Choula was the primary caregiver for her late mother who lived with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), a lesser known form of early onset dementia that typically affects people under the age of 60. “My mother started saying things like ‘I don’t feel like myself. I feel like I’m losing my mind.’ She used to be someone that was really engaged and outgoing and she started to pull back a bit. She used to be very empathetic, very people-loving, and showed a lot of concern, and it reached a point where that empathy went straight out… Continue Reading Caregiving Goes Both Ways

Digital collage of abstract and illustrated imagery.

Open to Interpretation

/ 9 minutes of reading

What if you could ask yourself a big question and then use your intuition to follow it wherever it led for as long as it took? It would take a certain kind of guts, right? But, with a willingness to get lost on a tangent, to joyfully put themselves in positions of not knowing, truly creative thinkers can find new ways of translating the world around them. Enter the following: A dancer who makes beautiful movement from fish research. An information systems professor who turns poetry into wine. A data visualizer who draws connections while splattering paint. A mapper and… Continue Reading Open to Interpretation

Abstract illustration by David Habben, depicting artificial intelligence.

Building AI We Can Trust

/ 13 minutes of reading

The AI apocalypse is coming. Or it isn’t. Depending on what you read, you might get confused. One thing is certain: Humans are fired up about smart machines. Much of the attention has focused on ChatGPT, an “artificial intelligence language model designed to generate human-like responses to natural language prompts” (in its own words). ChatGPT gets coy if you ask whether its existence should be cause for human concern. “It’s important to recognize that I am a tool and not inherently good or bad. It’s how people choose to use me that can have positive or negative consequences,” it says. … Continue Reading Building AI We Can Trust

A young woman with dark hair smiles at the camera, posing with a statue of a dog

Class of 2023 reflects on UMBC as a community that values and supports the whole person

/ 5 minutes of reading

Kayla Tomas ‘23, information systems, maintained a challenging schedule during her undergraduate years. There were days she rose early, studied, and attended classes in the morning and afternoon, headed to volleyball practice in the late afternoon, paused a half hour for dinner, and then dashed off to lead a dance class in the evening. “It was the support of my friends, my family, and the mentors here at UMBC that made it easier,” she says. Continue Reading Class of 2023 reflects on UMBC as a community that values and supports the whole person

A group of people are seated around a dining table. They smile at the camera.

UMBC’s vibrant learning community helps students discover careers to fit their passions

/ 5 minutes of reading

Performers of the music piece “Corporel,” by the French-Slovenian composer Vinko Globokar, must use their own body as a percussion instrument. To Brandon Gouin ’23, music performance, learning the work was a highlight of his time at UMBC. Gouin credits his teachers and mentors with helping him reach that moment on stage—as well as with helping him find his career path as an artist. Other Class of 2023 graduates say they encountered similar opportunities for growth and expression at UMBC. Continue Reading UMBC’s vibrant learning community helps students discover careers to fit their passions

A nursing home resident using a wheelchair receives an injection from a health professional

CIDER program supports new approach to measuring nursing home quality, plus more research collaborations

/ 5 minutes of reading

Assessing the quality of nursing home care has historically been a challenging and complex process that considers only a portion of the factors involved—generally, clinical indicators reported by the nursing homes themselves. UMBC researchers are collaborating on a new measure of nursing home quality that combines care experiences with clinical data. And they are doing it with funding from a new UMBC program designed to support novel research across different teams.  Continue Reading CIDER program supports new approach to measuring nursing home quality, plus more research collaborations

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