UMBC News

Researchers from The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals today announced the discovery of a new target on the HIV molecule that could potentially lead to a new class of drugs to fight the virus that causes AIDS. The study, headed by Dr. Michael Summers, UMBC professor of chemistry/biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, is featured on the cover of this week's Journal of Molecular Biology.

The relationships among managed care, minority physicians, and the provision of health care services to vulnerable populations, including racial minorities, in Maryland will be examined at a half-day symposium sponsored by the Center for Health Program Development and Management at UMBC. National and Maryland-specific policy issues and alternatives drawn from Maryland Physician Survey data will also be examined. The symposium will be held on Wednesday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the UMBC Technology Center.

Alicia Wilson, a UMBC Public Affairs Scholar and former valedictorian at Mergenthaler HS (Baltimore), has been awarded the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship, awarded annually to 75 outstanding college juniors who are preparing for careers in government. Wilson is majoring in political science and plans to pursue joint degrees in public interest law and urban policy after completing her studies at UMBC.

As the cherry blossoms bloom in DC, another gift from Japan is in residence at UMBC - the Music of Japan Today Festival.

Three hundred sixth and seventh grade girls from Baltimore and Howard County Public Schools will spend a half-day with some of the top women in information technology (IT), learning about how technology can be an exciting part of their lives now and in the future. Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, will launch the four-hour “Computer Mania Day” program to be held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) on Saturday, May 3, 2003 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Chess Team further solidified its place as one of the greatest in the history of college chess with its first-ever President's Cup title, secured on April 6 with a win over arch-rival University of Texas, Dallas (UTD).

Rhonda Schaffler, New York Stock Exchange Senior Correspondent for CNNfn and CNN Business News, will discuss "The Economic Outlook for Information Technology" at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's (UMBC) "Visionaries in Information Technology (IT)" breakfast forum on April 16th. The forum will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Admission to the event is free and a continental breakfast is included.

Cognate Therapeutics, Inc., a biotech company formed by the state-supported venture fund Toucan Capital, is the newest tenant at techcenter@UMBC, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's on-campus incubator for emerging and start-up tech companies. Cognate finalized a lease on 14,000 square-feet of office and lab space in late 2002 and is now fully operational.

The Department of Theatre presents Brian Friel's award winning play Dancing at Lughnasa, featuring guest artist Michael Gabel. Dancing at Lughnasa was described by Time magazine as "The most elegant and rueful memory play since The Glass Menagerie" when it opened on Broadway in 1992. That year it won the Tony Award, Outer Circle Critics Award and the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Play. Originated by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, it is the story of five unmarried sisters, eking out an existence in Ireland of 1936, where their only link to the outside world is a radio, the modern marvel of their life. It is a play of romance and hope, told through the eyes of the one illegitimate son as he remembers life when he was a boy of seven. The New York Times said, "This play does exactly what theater was born to do, carrying both its characters and audience aloft on those waves of music and ecstatic release that, in defiance of all language and logic, let us dance and dream just before night must fall." The production runs from April 24th through May 4th at the UMBC Theatre.

UMBC's Center for the Humanities and the Department of Visual Arts present one of the world's leading authorities on African American art, David Driskell, who will offer a lecture entitled Black Visual Theorists: A Spiritual Rendering, at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23rd, in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. A professor emeritus of art at the University of Maryland, College Park, David Driskell is a noted artist, educator, philanthropist, collector, and art historian. He has organized groundbreaking exhibitions and has written extensively and lectured around the world.

To help get the campus oriented to PeopleSoft, the Office of Information Technology is offering general "Introduction to PeopleSoft" sessions starting Tuesday, April 22.

When asked why new business systems don't reach their full potential, business leaders overwhelmingly give one answer - the change was not well managed. This is why UMBC has launched a Change Management process, which will work in concert with the introduction of PeopleSoft and Human Resource systems on campus.

UMBC is one of only 13 institutions nationwide to receive the prestigious Beckman Scholars Award given by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation to support undergraduate research in the sciences.

A panel of expert researchers from NASA and UMBC will discuss the science, public policy, economic and health issues affecting the air we breathe in Baltimore at the 2003 Mosaic Roundtable at UMBC, an annual panel discussion sponsored by UMBC's Interdisciplinary Studies Program. The roundtable, "Air Quality and Human Health in Baltimore," will be held Wednesday, April 23, 2003, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Room 312 of UMBC's University Center. This event is free and open to the public.

As the PeopleSoft project prepares to launch new human resources and financial services on July 1, user training plans are starting to emerge.

The UMBC Computer Certification Training Center (CCTC) has launched a new Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) program in response to an increasing need for IT professionals trained in Microsoft's recently released .NET application development platform.

The UMBC Computer Certification Training Center (CCTC) has launched a new "Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)" program in response to an increasing need for IT professionals trained in Microsoft's recently released .NET application development platform.

UMBC's top chess brains will shift their sport into high gear as they challenge elite players from MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Duke for $2,000 in prize money in the 2003 UMBC Speed Chess Spectacular from 11 am to 2 pm on May 1 on Main Street inside the UMBC Commons.

The UMBC Computer Certification Training Center (CCTC) has launched a new Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) program in response to an increasing need for IT professionals trained in Microsoft's recently released .NET application development platform.