UMBC Parent Preview

Clean energy, green jobs and sustainable resources will be among the topics John Doyle ’09 will be advocating for with his peers at the UN Climate Negotiations in Poznań, Poland, as a SustainUS youth delegate. As one of 23 young environmental activists chosen through a competitive nation-wide process, Doyle and the U.S. youth delegation will meet before the conference with 70-80 international youth to strategize and unify their positions on climate change issues. While in Poland, the youth delegates serve as observers, meeting with representatives from the U.S. State Department and advocating for positions they believe best represent the interests of the world’s youth.

UMBC and the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences were well represented at the 2008 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), the largest multidisciplinary student conference in the United States. UMBC students – including Meyerhoff, MARC U*STAR and HHMI scholars -- received nearly 10 percent of the overall awards given at the event.

UMBC students, staff and faculty pause for a group picture to celebrate their ABRCMS excellence.

Challenging situations, encouragement from family and spirituality have all led Peruvian native Lucia Zegarra ’11, biological sciences, to a life of serving. And it was that life of serving that led her to winning the Hispanic Heritage Award sponsored by Governor Martin O’Malley’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs for being a “Leader on the Rise” in October 2008.

One university is putting diversity front and center and helping to ensure that the next generation of bioethicists is more culturally and ethnically diverse than ones gone by. UMBC students have recently started a Bioethics Student Association.

This year, the UMBC Bioethics Student Association (BSA) will be sending seven students to the 12th Annual National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference at Harvard University. BSA now boasts 70+ members and had only 2 members attend attended NUBC last year, but this year has a proud troop of 7 marching their way to Boston.
Why is THIS undergraduate bioethics group, in particular, an important harbinger for the future of diversity of bioethics writ large?

The Princeton Review ranked UMBC one of the 20 most diverse universities in the nation, and the membership of the BSA reflects this diversity.

BSA Vice President Batsheva Melissa Chapman comments, "Although we all come from different races and religions, we have one goal in mind: to bring about the awareness of the different ethical issues that society faces in the world of science."

Students with majors as diverse as philosophy, bioinformatics and computational biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, public health, and statistics will attend NUBC from UMBC this year. One student, Richard Blissett said, "Once I got to college, I suddenly started wondering about many of the ethical issues in my field." He will present on the ethics of marketing preimplantion genetic screening to infertile couples.

While most UMBC students spent the first weekend in May relaxing, a group of four young politicians spent it drafting legislation and debating bills at the Annapolis State House. They may not be actual delegates and senators, but members of the UMBC's Maryland Student Legislature (MSL) prepared themselves for politicking in the future through a weekend of networking events with state and local politicians and debate on pertinent issues to the state.

UMBC's MSL delegation received a special distinction at this spring's legislative session when two of the six positions on Maryland Student Legislature's Council of State were elected from the UMBC group of four. Kathleen Mettle, a junior Political Science major, and Paul Schuman, also a Political Science major, were elected to the positions of Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. The statewide council consists additionally of student Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Attorney General, and Comptroller. These positions were open to students representing universities from across the state and having two coming directly from UMBC is a great honor, sophomore Political Science major Andrea Thomson, another member of UMBC's delegation, remarked.

Due to the growing shortage of highly-qualified science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers, the Sherman STEM Teacher Education Scholars Program was implemented in fall 2007 to support selected STEM majors. Students are assisted academically, professionally and financially through advising, fellowships, cohort building and a summer bridge program. Above all, the Sherman Scholars Program promotes working with youth and being in the classroom as much as possible.

At this year's New Student Day event, several students from the class of 2009 shared stories of their experiences at UMBC, their plans for graduate schools and careers, and offered advice to new freshmen.

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Rising sophomore Michael Pesci (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) and his sister, Christina, have been named among the 30 winners of the “All-Stars Among Us” campaign, which spotlights people who have gone above and beyond to serve their communities, Major League Baseball and People announced last week.

Nearly three-quarters of a million votes were cast by fans across the nation to select the 30 "All-Stars Among Us" winners -- one per Major League team -- out of the pool of 90 finalists who are serving as leaders within their communities. The Pescis were selected to represent the New York Yankees.

Michael is the founder of Perfect Pitch HRD Inc., a nonprofit organization which has raised $175,000 for mentally and physically handicapped children and young adults. Many former Major Leaguers have worked with the organization, including Don Larsen, who threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Christina is president of Bridging the Generation Gap, an outreach organization which promotes friendship between young people and senior citizens.

Continue reading "UMBC Baseball's Michael Pesci Named "All-Star Among Us," Wins Trip to MLB All-Star Game" »

Posted by Rebekah Porter on July 22, 2009 10:39 AM | Permalink