Congratulations to Raji Baradwaj, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, who has been selected to receive the 2013 Carl S. Weber Excellence in Teaching Award. The award includes a $1,000 prize from the Carl S. Weber Excellence in Teaching Award Endowment. Ms. Baradwaj received her award at the CNMS Student Recognition Day on Friday, May 3.

Over 66 undergraduate and graduate students received individual awards at the eighth CNMS Student Recognition Day on Friday, May 3, 2013. In addition, many more CNMS students were recognized for scholarship excellence as new members of three key national honor societies - Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Sigma Pi Sigma. Next year's event has been scheduled for the afternoon of May 2, 2014.

The CNMS Molecular Characterization & Analysis Complex (MCAC) and PerkinElmer will host a WORKFLOW WORKSHOP: Preparing Today's Labs for Tomorrow's Samples on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, from 9:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. For more information, contact MCAC Manager, Josh Wilhide.

The College was represented by over 95 poster and oral presentations at the 17th Annul Undergraduate Research and Creative Acheivement Day (URCAD) on April 17, 2013. These presentations were given by our undergraduate majors, many of whom have been mentored by CNMS faculty. This impressive number serves as a testimony to the talent of our students and, also, to how much our faculty have been and continue to be involved in student success initiatives and research.

The tradition of UMBC's Life Science Symposium continued for a 16th year with A Look Ahead XVI Futures in Biomedical Research on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The event included 35 posters given during two sessions and focused on CNMS faculty research. It also featured speakers Nobel Laureate Peter C. Agre, MD, who directs the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, and Michael F. Summers, PhD, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences will be held on Saturday, October 26, 2013. The 15th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences was held on October 20, 2012 at UMBC. Sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH, the juried event featured posters presented by over 220 undergraduate presenters from 45 universities in 10 states.

The inaugural CNMS Research Retreat was held January 16, 2013 at Baltimore's Inner Harbor in the Columbus Center, which is the home of the Department of Marine Biotechnology. Over 60 faculty attended the all-day event that was held to launch the College's strategic planning process. Sponsored by CNMS and the Vice President of Research, the event featured a State of the College address by Dean Bill LaCourse, three breakout faculty work sessions, tours of the ARC, and guest speakers Dr. Geoff Summers, Dr. Philip Rous, and Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. The event was closed by Dr. Russell Hill and was followed by a reception hosted "under the sails" of the third-floor balcony by IMET.

Over 130 faculty, staff, graduate students, and family members attended the gala CNMS Holiday Open House, which was held on December 18, 2012 in the University Center Ballroom.