Jack Mullee, American studies and sociology, received a Fulbright Research award to study the Buenos Aires economy.

Deborah Lin, chemical engineering, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides generous funding for Ph.D. study for top science, math and engineering students. In fall 2008, Lin will enter Stanford's Ph.D. program in chemical engineering. Devin Burns, mechanical engineering, and Abraham Beyene, chemical engineering, received Honorable Mention recognition.

Jonathan Grabe, biological sciences, is one of just 40 students nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi Award of Excellence for 2008-2009 to aid in his pursuit of an M.D. degree. Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest and most distinguished national honor society dedicated to the recognition and promotion of academic excellence in all fields of higher education. Award selection is based on academic performance, citizenship and character.

UNDERGRADUATE

Meyerhoff Scholar Carla Valenzuela, biological sciences, received a 2008 Goldwater Scholarship, considered the most prestigious U.S. award for undergraduates in mathematics, science and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship program honors outstanding students committed to pursuing careers as research scientists. Two UMBC students, Adjoa Smalls-Mantey, biochemistry and molecular biology, and Devin Burns, mechanical engineering, received the award in 2006.

Simran Noor, political science and American studies, received the 2008 Maryland Higher Education Commission's Student Service Award.

For the second year in a row, UMBC's College Bowl Team won the Regional College Bowl Tournament. The 2008 team came in first place out of 12 other universities. The team consists of the following students: Michael Fasulo, junior; Bryan Wilkinson, junior; William Krueger, sophomore; and Marc, freshman. The team advanced to the semi-finals in 2007.

UMBC is a leader among Maryland public universities in sending one-third of our students directly to graduate and professional schools. In the last two years, graduates were accepted to prestigious graduate programs at institutions such as Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Duke and the University of Michigan.

UMBC graduates join the private and public sectors in vital roles. Students entering the workforce are recruited by such top companies as Booz Allen, Constellation Energy, DuPont, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Microsoft, NASA, Xerox and T. Rowe Price. Public service-minded graduates go on to join Maryland public school systems, the National Security Administration, the Social Security Administration and other divisions of the federal government. Still others are building start-up companies such as OpenPosting.com, the first online classified advertising community for college students.

Philip Graff, a senior physics major, has won one of the world's most selective academic awards, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Graff, the second UMBC student to receive the award in the past two years, is one of just 45 U.S. winners chosen from more than 600 applicants and 119 finalists.

English major Alexander Pyles was one of eight students chosen out of a nationwide pool of applicants for Freedom Forum's NCAA Sports Journalism Scholarship. He also recently won a highly competitive Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association Reese Cleghorn Internship. Pyles was one of only 37 finalists vying for eight paid summer newspaper internships

During his senior year, Isaac Matthews '07, mechanical engineering, was named the 2007 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year. The award is given annually by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine to the U.S. female and male athletes who best combine athletic and academic excellence with community activism. In fall 2007, Matthews will enter the M.S./Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and M.S. in Technology and Public Policy programs at M.I.T.

Ten additional UMBC student-athletes were chosen as 2007 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars: Pascaline Cette, mechanical engineering (tennis); Adriana Fonaseca, financial economics (tennis); Brian Hodges, financial economics (basketball); Mehrban Iranshad, political science (tennis); Aaron James, psychology (track); Sarah Ball, modern languages and linguistics (volleyball); Jessica Young, political science (soccer); Robin Babaris, mechanical engineering (soccer); Jenelle Wilson, financial economics (track); and Francine Ward, political science (track).

Three members of the Class of 2007  – Joseph Maher, Political Science and Environmental Studies; Allen McFarland, Political Science and Economics; and Bridget Wessel, Modern Languages and Linguistics – and Kevin J. Mulroe '98, M.A., Instructional Systems Design, won Fulbright Awards for international graduate study, research or teaching. It is the second year in a row that three current UMBC students received the award.

Biochemistry majors Whitney Fields and Tesia Stephenson received 2008 UNCF-Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Awards.

UMBC undergraduates participated in a pioneering Digital Storytelling Project which received a Bronze Telly Award. Funded by Retirement Living TV (RLTV), the project is the nation's first three-way partnership between a media company, a university and a retirement community. UMBC students teamed with residents from Charlestown Retirement Community to create a series of 17 digital short movies. The prestigious Telly Award cites the Digital Storytelling Project as being among the world's best in local, regional, and cable television, and video and film production. This year's awards received over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.

UMBC earned a place in college chess history by winning the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship – the “World Series” of college chess – for a record-breaking seventh time in 2006. UMBC's Chess Team won its fourth straight President's Cup or “Final Four” of college chess in 2006. In 2007, the team took first place in the College Chess League tournament.

Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar Shane Spencer won first place in the national KaiserEDU.org 2007 Student Essay Contest in the undergraduate category. Spencer, who is majoring in political science and media and communications studies, tied for first place out of a field of more than 60 undergraduate student entries in the health policy essay competition sponsored by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Political science student Matt Mainen, a senior policy analyst at the Institute for Gulf Affairs, recently published opinion articles on affairs in the Middle East for several national publications, including the International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times and Baltimore Sun.

In 2007, UMBC's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers won the National Academic Technical Bowl Competition for the second time in two years, defeating the best teams from around the country.

UMBC won the first annual Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in November 2006, defeating teams from University of Maryland, Baltimore and the Naval Academy, among others.

UMBC students received the Digital Map Award during the 33rd Annual American Congress on Surveying and Mapping – Cartography Geographic Information Society Map Design Competition in 2006. Under the direction of Tom Rabenhorst, director of instructional cartography in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, students in the Advanced Cartographic Applications class designed and developed the Digital Atlas of Megalopolis, an atlas that analyzes the socio-economic-spatial changes in the region over the past 50 years.

Jordan Hadfield, ancient studies/political science, is the recipient of a 2007-08 William Donald Schaefer Scholarship. Named for former Baltimore major and comtroller Schaefer, the scholarship was created to encourage Maryland students to prepare for careers in public service.

One undergraduate and three alumni received 2006 GEM fellowships (National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Sciences Fellows). They are: Lenard Williams, computer science, Kyla McMullen '05, computer science, Nwokedi Ikida '04, computer science, and Charita Collins '03, mechanical engineering.

Members of the University's Model United Nations Team received honors at the  2006 American Model United Nations Conference. Sondheim Scholar Greg Winger, political science and history, and Christina Stanley, interdisciplinary studies, were recognized as their committee's “Outstanding Delegates.”

Megan Jenkins, political science, participated in the 2006 National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NCSC) Distinguished Scholars Program. The program, which includes a full-time summer internship, is a unique opportunity to gain real-world experience prior to graduation and live with fellow NSCS members from more than 85 universities nationwide. Jenkins interned with the Office of the Clerk Magistrate for the Boston Municipal Court.

Douglas Nivens, a political science major, received the National Security Education Program's David L. Boren Undergraduate Scholarship. This highly competitive award provided Nivens with support for a full year of undergraduate study abroad in 2006-07 at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

Department of Theatre student productions have been invited to perform six times at the finals of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival – more often than any other university theater program in Maryland.

The UMBC Camerata was invited to participate as one of the college choirs singing at the 2007 Christmas in Washington, which is attended by the President, his cabinet and other important political figures. The program also was broadcast on cable television's TNT. In April 2007, the Camerata was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall with famed English choral conductor and composer John Rutter.

The NCAA's most recent Academic Progress Report ranked UMBC's women's swim team and men's basketball and cross country teams in the top 10 percent of
colleges and universities nationally. 

Nine UMBC athletic and support teams posted grade point averages of 3.00 or
higher in the fall of 2007. Forty-nine percent of all students in the program (total of 441) had grade point averages of 3.00 or higher, while 29 percent were over 3.50. Thirty-nine program participants recorded 4.0 grade point averages in the fall.
The women's basketball team has a team grade-point average of 3.32. The only team in the department with a higher GPA is women's tennis, at 3.49.

Men's basketball has advanced to the 2008 America East Championships. It is UMBC's first-ever appearance in a league title game in 22 years at the NCAA Division I level. The Retrievers earned their 23rd victory (23-8) of the season, tying the all-time (41 years) school record.  The team advanced to the semi-finals in 2007.

Other UMBC sports teams have won multiple championships. The men's basketball team has advanced to the 2008 America East Championships. The women's basketball team won the 2007 America East Championships and advanced to the first round of the NCAA tournament. Men's and women's swimming and diving won both the 2007 and 2008 American East Championships. Men's lacrosse won the 2008 and 2006 America East Championships and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.

The America East Conference named UMBC men's basketball player Cavell Johnson its 2008 Male Sportsmanship Award winner.

Alex Broadwater, interdisciplinary studies, won the 2008 National Collegiate Wrestling Association club team tournament.

Swimming and diving's Tina Cantwell was named an America East Scholar-Athlete for the 2007-08 swimming and diving season.

Cornelia Carapcea was named to ESPN The Magazine's 2008 Academic All-District II women's tennis at-large first team.

Baseball's Rich Conlon was named to the 2008 America East All-Championship Team as a shortstop.

Midfielder Terry Kimener was named to the 2008 USILA All-American lacrosse Second Team, and and defenseman Bobby Atwell, goalkeeper Jeremy Blevins and attackman Ryan Smith earned honorable mentions. Kimener was also named 2008 America East Conference Menís Lacrosse Player of the Year.

Senior attack Ali Levendusky was selected to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) 2008 Mid-Atlantic All-Region First Team.

Four baseball players were named to the 2008 America East All-Conference Team, and four players earned spots on the 2008 America East All-Academic squad.

Four baseball players were named to the 2008 America East All-Conference Team, and four players earned spots on the 2008 America East All-Academic squad. Joe Fowler and Will Delawter led the Retriever award winners with First-Team All-Conference nods for outfield and designated hitter, respectively, while Wink Nolan and Scott Peddicord earned Second-Team honors for the outfield position. Delawter was also named to the All-Academic squad along with Steve Russo and Ryan Morse and Tom Meaney.

Softball infielder Dana Shepherd was named to the ESPN the Magazine 2008 Academic All-District II University Division First Team for the third year in a row.

Aaron Jones, Cliff Bridges, Mike Buccheri and Alex Highland were named to the 2007-08 America East Indoor Track and Field All-Academic Teams.

For the second straight year, 11 men and women have been selected to represent 2008 America East champion UMBC on the America East Swimming and Diving All-Academic teams. The honorees are Scott Auchter, P.J. Sterba, Milos Djukic, Rasmus Kutt, Zach Vonder Haar, Matt Mattingly, Tina Cantwell, Carly Fitzpatrick, Danielle Surkovich and Lindsay Sherman. The Retrievers boasted the most student-athletes named to the teams for the second year in a row.

Cornelia Carapcea was named the America East Conference Scholar-Athlete in women's tennis for the 2006-07 academic year.

Women's basketball off-guard Kristin Drabyn won the 2007 America East Conference Sportsmanship Award.

The men's tennis team received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Sportsmanship Award for April 2007. The ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award is a monthly award that goes to one men's and one women's team that has exemplified outstanding sportsmanship, character and ethical conduct in the true spirit of competition and collegiate tennis.

Senior softball player Melanie Denischuk is the 2006 NCAA Division I statistical champion for runs batted in per game. 

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Kristi Harris, Ph.D. candidate in physics, is UMBC's first Department of Energy Computational Science Fellow. The fellowship will fund her doctoral studies through 2010. Harris conducted research in nanowire technology at Sandia National Labs in New Mexico in summer 2007.

Russ Fink, Ph.D. student in computer science and electrical engineering, received the "Best Invention of 2007" award from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Fink was recognized for his work on remote hardware fingerprinting.

Vikas Behl '04, English, a student in the M.A. in Instructional Systems Design program, received a 2007 Fulbright Award to teach in Turkey.

Christopher Hofmann, a biological sciences Ph.D. candidate, was one of two 2006 American Institute of Biological Sciences Emerging Public Policy Leaders. As a recipient of this award, Hofmann spoke on Capitol Hill about his research.

“In the Land of Milk and Honey,” a film by Neil Van Gorder, imaging and digital arts M.F.A. candidate, was nominated for Best of Show at the 2007 Rosebud Awards.

Mike Novey, a Ph.D. computer science/electrical engineering student, received the best paper award at the 31st International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and
Signal Processing (ICASSP). He received the honor in the Machine Learning for Signal Processing category for the paper titled Stability Analysis of Complex-valued Nonlinearities for Maximization of Nongaussianity co-authored by Tulay Adali, professor of computer science and electrical engineering.

Joan Shin, Ph.D. candidate in language, literacy and culture, was awarded the 2006 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The award is given to those who show exemplary promise as future leaders in higher education. Shin was one of nine recipients from across the country.

Naresh Sunkara, a Ph.D. student in chemistry and biochemistry, is the graduate student representative of the American Chemical Society's Graduate Education Advisory Board. Sunkara was chosen from 30 applicants in a nationwide search.

*Last updated 7/16/2008