GraduateSchool

an older man stands in front of a flag that says Paralyzed Veterans of America

Meet a Retriever—Army veteran Tim Besse, M.A. ’17, management of aging services

/ 5 minutes of reading

Meet Tim Besse, M.A. ’17, management of aging services, a veteran of the United States Army who now works as an advocate for veterans with neurological injuries or diseases. As a student in the Erickson School, Tim made connections with a fellow student that sticks with him to this day. Thanks for sharing your story, Tim! Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you? A: As far back as I can remember, I aspired to go to college and pursue a career that was dependent upon my college education. I enlisted in the U.S. Army… Continue Reading Meet a Retriever—Army veteran Tim Besse, M.A. ’17, management of aging services

Safiyah Cheatam, multimedia artist and UMBC IMDA alum

From nurture to apocalypse (and back again) —The Mundane Afrofuturism of multimedia artist Safiyah Cheatam  

/ 5 minutes of reading

Safiyah Cheatam, M.F.A. ’21, intermedia and digital arts, always has her hands in something. In just the past few years, the multidisciplinary conceptual artist has exhibited work at The Peale and VisArts. She co-produced OBSIDIAN, a Rubys Grant-funded Afrofuturist podcast, with alum Adetola Abdulkadir ’17, and served as curatorial research assistant at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for the special exhibition Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures. This summer, Cheatam is also serving as a juror for the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship.  Cheatam devotes her days to providing programming for teen artists as the assistant manager… Continue Reading From nurture to apocalypse (and back again) —The Mundane Afrofuturism of multimedia artist Safiyah Cheatam  

Group photo of nine people in a brightly lit laboratory

UMBC’s Achuth Padmanabhan to pursue promising ovarian cancer research with $1.5 million in grants

/ 5 minutes of reading

Achuth Padmanabhan’s research group, which includes graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, is revealing new potential treatment options by expanding understanding of the basic biology of ovarian cancer. Overall, “our goal is to eliminate ovarian cancer mortality,” he says. Continue Reading UMBC’s Achuth Padmanabhan to pursue promising ovarian cancer research with $1.5 million in grants

Headshot of a UMBC grad student who has a beard and wears glasses on campus.

Helping English language learners gain confidence through community

/ 3 minutes of reading

For Grant Clifton, teaching English effectively requires a combination of intensive technical training in English language instruction and a passion for building community. Clifton was a Peace Corps volunteer in Indonesia from 2017 to 2019, where he taught English to high school students. After returning to the U.S., Clifton continued his combined focus on learning and community impact through UMBC’s Shriver Peaceworker Fellows program. Continue Reading Helping English language learners gain confidence through community

A woman in bright purple walks and talks next to a man in a suit jacket outside next to a sculpture. she is helping connect him to faculty funding and awards

Meet a Retriever—Rachel Brubaker, M.A. ’00, faculty funding connector

/ 5 minutes of reading

Meet Rachel Brubaker, M.A. ’00, historical studies, assistant director for grants and program development at the Dresher Center for the Humanities. Brubaker, a self-proclaimed humanities nerd, has worked in different positions at UMBC for 22 years, but her current seat in the Dresher Center allows her to combine her UMBC degree with her passion for public humanities and education to collaborate with faculty members on research proposals and help connect them to prestigious funding opportunities. Take it away, Rachel! Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you? A: I have been assistant director for grants… Continue Reading Meet a Retriever—Rachel Brubaker, M.A. ’00, faculty funding connector

UMBC's campus during the fall, shot in 2021

NSF awards $10M to UMBC to expand successful initiative developing underrepresented postdocs in STEM

/ 5 minutes of reading

UMBC will expand its work boosting diversity in academia from Maryland to the national level through a new NSF INCLUDES Alliance: Re-Imagining STEM Equity Utilizing Postdoc Pathways (RISE UPP). The RISE UPP Alliance, anticipated to officially launch in fall 2022, is modeled after the PROMISE Academy, a high-impact initiative co-led by UMBC that supports faculty diversification in the biomedical sciences across University System of Maryland (USM) institutions. Continue Reading NSF awards $10M to UMBC to expand successful initiative developing underrepresented postdocs in STEM

a large group on a rocky outcropping, backed by rolling green hills and a river

NIH awards UMBC $5.6M to support underrepresented graduate students in STEM

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“We’re really excited that the NIH has the confidence that we can do the work,” says Justine Johnson. G-RISE builds on a solid foundation from the successful Inititiative for Maximizing Student Development Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program, but, says Rachel Brewster, “We’ve built onto that a number of new elements.” Continue Reading NIH awards UMBC $5.6M to support underrepresented graduate students in STEM

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