One day, Donel Sequea may discover a meaningful new therapy for muscular dystrophy. As a high school student and football player, Sequea first studied the disease during a summer program in genomics. The idea of researching anything having to do with muscles appealed to the athlete in him, but his subsequent work nurtured the budding scientist within. Coming to UMBC as a Meyerhoff Scholar has enabled him to follow his dream of one day becoming an M.D./Ph.D. and working with dystrophic patients toward a cure.

Through a Meyerhoff Scholars' internship, Sequea traveled to the University of Iowa to join a medical sciences training program where he shadowed a pediatric neurologist and came face-to-face with the individuals behind the disease. "I got a tremendous amount of insight into what I can do, what¹s out there, and what needs to be done," he recalls. It is this attention to the fulfillment of his goals that Sequea values most as a Meyerhoff Scholar. "UMBC fosters and nurtures your interests with the resources you need instead of just giving you a financial scholarship and letting you run away with it." Although there is more schooling ahead for Sequea, the network he's built through UMBC will help him on his way to graduate school and beyond. But its not all work - he still plays intramural football to keep himself balanced.

Did You Know?
Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day is the annual event celebrating the scholarly and creative accomplishments of UMBC undergraduates. This year's program featured oral presentations, poster sessions, artistic exhibits and performances on such topics as the poetry of W.B. Yeats, a comparison of political cultures and elections in New Hampshire and Vermont, immunology and the connections between food and the effects on satiety.