Abstracts

Intelligent Fault Detection and Risk Management for Autonomous Spacecraft Operations
Sara Abbas
Anthony Campbell, NASA/UMBC/GESTAR

Autonomous spacecraft and planetary rovers operating in deep space are increasingly vulnerable to critical system failures that cannot be addressed in real time due to communication delays exceeding 20 minutes. As humanity pushes further into deep space exploration, the ability of spacecraft to independently detect and respond to faults became becomes essential to mission success and crew safety. NASA’s existing fault detection systems relied relies on predefined rule-based approaches that identified identify known anomalies in isolated subsystems but lacked a unified framework connecting fault detection to risk-tiered autonomous decision-making. This research investigated how artificial intelligence-based approaches, specifically Long Short-Term Memory networks, Autoencoders, and Isolation Forest algorithms, could fill that gap by detecting complex anomalies across power, thermal, and mechanical subsystems simultaneously. Through comparative analysis applied to NASA telemetry data, this study identified the most effective deep learning and machine learning methods for spacecraft fault detection and proposed a conceptual risk management framework that classified faults by severity and autonomously initiated appropriate system responses. Findings provided evidence-based recommendations for integrating unified AI-driven fault detection into future deep space missions, reducing mission risk and advancing the operational independence of autonomous spacecraft systems.

Characterizing Cellular Proliferation and Apoptosis Following Oral Nicotine Pouch Exposure in a Tongue Organoid Model
Setutsi Abdallah
Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences

Tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches (ONPs) are marketed as smoking cessation tools, but have become increasingly popular among adolescents and non-smokers due to their appealing flavors and discreet use. Although ONP exposure is associated with adverse oral effects including poor oral hygiene and oral mucosal irritation, its impact on taste receptor cell (TRC) regeneration remains unclear. While taste perception is mediated by TRCs, preliminary findings define short and long-term effects of ONP exposure on TRCs. To evaluate exposure time and dose-dependent effects on taste cell regeneration, we exposed tongue organoids to a 1:10 dilution of Wintergreen ZYN™ ONP extract for 3d or 7d. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antibodies against Ki-67 and cleaved Caspase-3, markers of proliferating and apoptotic cells, respectively. Compared to controls, ONP-exposed organoids showed increased apoptosis across exposure durations and tissue regions, consistent with prior data. Fungiform papillae (FP) exhibited reduced regenerative capacity compared to circumvallate papillae (CVP), contradicting previous findings showing increased proliferation in 24h 1:10-exposed FP compared to control. Overall, preliminary data indicates that ONP exposure may induce apoptosis while impairing regenerative responses in a tissue-specific manner. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial to inform the public about ONPs’ effect on oral health and taste function.

This work was funded, in part, by the UMBC START program and the Department of Biological Sciences. Setutsi Abdallah was supported in part by a grant to the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Printing Nasser: The Periodical as a Political Tool in Late Modern Egypt, 1954-1967
Meklit Abebe
Mohammad Ghaedi, Montgomery College

This qualitative study explores the interaction between state-controlled periodicals and Gamal Abdel Nasser’s political legitimacy during his presidency (1954-1967). I argue that popular media contributed to the reinforcement of Egypt’s political legitimacy under Nasser’s regime by (1) translating state authority into cultural identity, (2) situating Nasserist ideals within the intellectual legacy of the Nahda, and (3) shaping public perceptions of the regime through recurring visual and rhetorical motifs. This project builds upon scholarly work presented by Tarek El-Ariss and Fawaz A. Gerges, who have examined Arab intellectual history and the subsequent rise of Nasser. The paper illuminates how print media asserted itself into the quotidian lives of Egyptians through images of family, consumerism, terror, and humor—through the concept of al-ishāʿāt. Using Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althussers’ philosophical arguments on state mechanisms for legitimizing power, I explain how the state actively shaped public perceptions, making use of Nasser’s nationalization projects. I conducted Thematic Analysis from a corpus of 31 out of 59 Arabic-language primary source pages extracted from popular periodical, Al Kawākib. Ultimately, my findings suggest that periodicals were not only a valid medium for state control, but a clear function of state in systemically propagating itself to its readership.

This research was supported by the Paul Peck Humanities Institute program at Montgomery College.

Comparing Levels of Function in People with Schizophrenia
Marie Abongwa
Sherry Pujji, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC)

People with schizophrenia spectrum conditions (SZ) have significantly higher rates of comorbid physical health conditions compared to the general population. In particular, people with SZ are at higher risk for cardiometabolic illnesses such as diabetes. It is also well established that people with SZ engage in reduced health behaviors and can have functional impairments that span multiple domains, including social, employment, and self-care. The combination of suboptimal functioning and comorbid conditions can increase healthcare burden for both patients and systems, contributing to potential negative outcomes and prognosis. Yet, very little research has examined the extent of functioning challenges in people with SZ and diabetes. Thus, the current study examines differences in functioning in SZ across those with diabetes (n=54) and without diabetes (n=54) using the self-report and clinical interview data. We hypothesize that individuals with SZ and diabetes would have more difficulties in functioning domains than those without diabetes, especially in social and employment domains. We believe that our results will highlight differences in functioning and provide clarification on the impact of these conditions in daily life. This, in turn, allows for improved theory to inform the development of precision interventions.

Using Graphs While Introducing Science Concepts in a Biology Classroom to Develop Students’ Data Analysis Skills
Aaron Acosta
Dr. Aileen Gonzalez-Rodriguez¹
¹Biology, Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Edralin Pagarigan, Education; Cheryl North, Education, UMBC; Brandon Beck, Education, UMBC

One of the many goals of the modern science classroom is to develop the science and engineering practice (SEP) of interpreting and analyzing data. Ideally, substantial time and practice is required to polish these skills in a high school science classroom setting. However, it is impossible to consistently implement activities that allow students to gather and analyze data in daily lessons due to tight schedules and a demanding curriculum. Instead of spending additional time doing graphing activities, concepts in a Biology classroom in this study were presented while integrating data in graphs. This allowed students to get accustomed to reading and drawing the meaning of graphs while still conforming to the curriculum. Pretest and posttest were administered to students (32) to determine their growth in interpreting and analyzing data. Results showed a 15- point increase from the pretest scores which implies that the time-effective strategy of introducing Biology concepts with graphs allows students to develop the SEP of analyzing and interpreting data.

Investigating Olfactory Bulb Structure in Drosophila with Appl Gene Deletion
Ryan Addai
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

The APPL gene in Drosophila melanogaster is homologous to the human APP gene, which is critical in the formation of amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease. Although prior research indicates APPL deletion results in drosophila that demonstrate impaired olfactory behavior, the anatomical basis for this dysfunction is unexplored. This project investigates if APPL deletion is responsible for compromised olfaction due to altered structure in the olfactory bulb during development. This project investigates if deletion of the APPL gene causes structural changes in the adult Drosophila olfactory system. Brains from both wild-type and APPL deleted (APPLD) adult flies were dissected. Samples were fluorescently labeled with a series of antibodies imaged via confocal microscopy. The angles of the glomeruli that comprise the olfactory bulb were measured using image analysis software to determine structural differences between the two genotypes. Preliminary findings reveal consistent differences in glomerular orientation between wild-type and APPL-deleted brains. These results suggest that the APPL gene may play a developmental role in organizing olfactory structures in the fly brain. Since APP is strongly associated with neurodegeneration in humans, studying its Drosophila homolog will offer insight on the molecular and anatomical underpinnings of olfactory processing and neurological disorders.

Support for this research was provided to Ryan Addai by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and conducted in the Vonhoff Lab at UMBC.

Characterizing the Role of Plexin A and Semaphorin1a in Drosophila Melanogaster Border Cell Migration
Titilayomi Adesanya, Christopher Welsh
Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences

Collective cell migration is integral for various biological processes. We investigate this in Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila are exemplary models for identifying required conserved genes for collective cell migration. Border cells travel to the oocyte of the egg chamber, an essential migratory process that occurs during oogenesis. Plexin A (Plex A) is a transmembrane receptor, and Semaphorin1a (Sema1a) is a ligand for Plex A. The relationship between Semaphorins and Plexins has been shown to facilitate cell guidance in neuron development but has yet to be studied in border cells. We hypothesize that overexpression of Plex A and knockdown of Sema1a may cause border cells to migrate individually instead of migrating as a cluster. The knockdown of Plex A may hinder the cluster from detaching from the anterior end of the egg chamber and/or moving forward. If our hypothesis is correct, we expect border cell clusters with Plex A and Sema1a expression irregularities to have decreased migration distance due to lack of cohesion and difficulties detaching from the anterior end. We are examining Sema1a’s expression patterns to see if it is in relevant cell types. In the future, we aim to further characterize the relationship between Sema1a and Plex A.

This research was funded, in part, by the NSF grant IOS-2303587 and the NIDA EDUCATE Scholars Program.

Synthesis of Riboflavin-Functionalized Gold Nanorattles as Targeted Drug Delivery Platform
Suzi Agyako-Wiredu, Michael Marciniak¹, Ayden Roberts¹
¹Chemistry and Biochemistry
Marie-Christine Daniel, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Although current chemotherapy treatment has the ability to eradicate cancer cells, the distribution of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout the body causes deleterious side effects on normal tissues as well as drug resistance. This highlights the need for targeted drug delivery platforms, with which gold nanorattles (AuNRTs) can help. AuNRTs consist of a gold nanoparticle core, a void, and a porous gold shell. To enhance targeted drug delivery, dendrons can be used as coating onto the gold surfaces, and drugs and targeting moieties can be covalently added to their terminal ends. This project aims to utilize riboflavin, a vitamin which plays important roles in ATP production and cell metabolism, as a targeting moiety because riboflavin transporters and carrier proteins are overexpressed in several cancer types. Synthesis of riboflavin-bearing dendrons was done through Steglich esterification, coupling the carboxylic acid terminal groups on a dendron with the primary alcohol on riboflavin and forming an ester bond. Following synthesis, the number of riboflavin molecules present on each dendron was determined through NMR and a calibration curve using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Riboflavin-bearing dendrons were added onto AuNRTs using a ligand exchange reaction, and the resulting structure was characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Facilitating Motor Restoration in Spinal Cord Injuries Through BCI Neural Decoding and Neuroplasticity
Alaa Ahmed
Sydney Do, Biological Sciences

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) disrupt voluntary motor pathways, often resulting in permanent loss of function. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) offer a promising solution by bypassing damaged neural tracts to decode motor intentions into functional outputs. This study systematically analyzed the top 100 most-cited publications on BCI-mediated motor recovery to identify critical trends in neural decoding and neuroplastic adaptation. The analysis revealed that invasive intracortical BCIs achieved over 90 percent accuracy in multi-dimensional control, while non-invasive EEG methods reached 70 to 95 percent accuracy for binary tasks. Furthermore, consistent evidence showed that BCI-driven interventions promoted significant neuroplasticity, characterized by increased sensorimotor cortex activation and reorganized motor network connectivity. These findings demonstrate that BCIs serve a dual-modality role: providing immediate assistive control through high-accuracy decoding and facilitating long-term restorative therapy by harnessing the brain’s innate ability to rewire itself. This research highlights the potential for BCI-guided rehabilitation to achieve lasting motor restoration for individuals with SCI, emphasizing the importance of personalized BCI paradigms in clinical settings.

Understanding Female Preference for Male Fin Coloration in Etheostoma Olmstedi
Farah Ahmed
Tamra Mendelson, Biological Sciences

Amongst the fish species called “darters” (genus Etheostoma), sexual dimorphic coloration is thought to be driven by sexual selection. Closely related species have slight variations in fin coloration, with sister species Etheostoma longimanum and E. olmstedi exhibiting red-spotted fins and black-spotted fins respectively. The effect of variation in fin coloration on sexual preference has not been thoroughly studied due to the real-world limitations in manipulating coloration for experimental testing. This study used computer-made animations to further understand the role fin pigmentation plays in reproductive preference in female E. olmstedi through preference testing. Using Blender, two different animation models of male E. olmstedi were produced, one with the naturally-occuring male E. olmstedi black-spotted fin, and one with a red-spotted fin. A sample of E. olmstedi females were caught from the wild and individually tested in a chamber flanked by two monitors, and given time to acclimate. Once acclimated, the female was shown the two animations and had their movement recorded and analyzed for preference. Quantifying coloration preferences in darters will help determine the extent to which sexual selection explains the presence of fin coloration in darters.

Evaluating the Impact of Prompting Strategies on LLM-Based Vulnerability Detection
Mustafa Akpinar
Sreedevi Sampath, Information Systems

Prompt design significantly influences the performance of Large Language Models in automated software vulnerability detection. We analyzed the effectiveness of different prompting strategies (zero-shot, few-shot, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)) using widely adopted LLM platforms (Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Llama) to understand how prompt design influences vulnerability detection. We focused on analyzing the tradeoffs between performance, reliability and cost to determine which prompt strategy was most efficient in detecting vulnerabilities. We used a widely adopted benchmark data set to test the different LLM’s using the same prompting conditions. We measured performance using latency, F-1 score, precision, recall, and token cost to compare results across the LLM models and prompting strategies. We hypothesize that few-shot prompting will be the most effective prompting strategy that combines accuracy, speed, and computational cost across the tested LLMs, while RAG prompting will have the highest recall rate and will come with the downside of higher costs and latency. We expect the zero-shot prompting strategy will require the lowest operational costs but will result in reduced detection performance. This paper will clarify the tradeoffs between different prompting strategies, provide guidance for researchers designing LLM vulnerability detection systems and help practitioners choose the most effective prompting conditions.

Analyzing the Expression Patterns of GFP-Protein Traps: Is it There, or is it Lost?
Boluwatinsola Alawode
Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences
Boluwatinsola Alawode, Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences

Cell migration is essential for proper development in all animals, but the mechanisms that guide the cells’ movement are not fully understood. We focus on Drosophila because their genes are similar to humans, and we can easily manipulate their genes. Border cells, which are ovarian somatic cells, are a particularly valuable model to study how cells can coordinate their migration during development. This project uses a specific fluorescent protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP). This protein is used to endogenously tag various proteins inside of organisms; in this case, we focus on female Drosophila. In our lab, the main focus is on the border cells as they travel through the egg chamber, which is required for egg development. To better understand how cells move, knowing the proteins that signal to them can be vital. To get a better look at the various proteins, we analyzed GFP-protein traps. We looked at various different protein traps, and depending on the protein, GFP was expressed differently. We found cell type-specific or extracellular expression patterns of GFP. We are continuing to look at more GFP trap expressions to identify those aligned with the border cells.

This work was funded, in part, by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC and NSF IOS-2303857 to MSG.

Smokey Choices: Role of Electronic Cigarettes Effects on the Mouse Motility Over Time Through Odor Threshold Test
Kafui Ameko
Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences

In recent years, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) usage among teens/adolescents is frequent, with millions engaging in daily use. E-cigarettes contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals that can harm the olfactory system when vapor is inhaled. Damage to this system is a marker for neurological and cognitive disorders, although it is unclear how e-cigarettes can disturb olfaction particularly. We are investigating how e-cigarette exposure affects the sense of smell using a mouse model. Mice underwent 10 weeks of daily e-cigarette exposure, divided into 1 air exposure, 3 types of e-cigarette aerosol exposure groups: different compound mixtures of solvent(pg-vg), flavorants, and/or flavorants with heavy metals. To understand how e-cigarette exposure may disrupt olfaction and motility, olfactory-guided behaviors are assessed using behavioral assays such as an odor threshold test to measure sensitivity and investigation of odors found in e-liquid. In the odor threshold test, varying concentrations of nicotine/e-liquid were administered to assess changes in the mice’s interaction and odor preference. Preliminary data suggests that the e-cigarette exposed mice show reduced interactions with both e-liquid and nicotine odor solutions over time compared to baseline interactions, possibly indicating reduced sensing and attention to e-liquid and nicotine.

Support for this research was provided by the UMB Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant. Kafui Ameko was supported by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and EDUCATE Program at UMBC. This work was supported in part by NIH grant T32 GM158458.

Perceptions of Fairness in AI-Driven Screening Systems Among Undergraduate Students
Lehbah Amin, Farell Kimble, Samira Ali
Edward Dillon, Information Systems

As AI tools become more integrated into higher education, questions have emerged about fairness and experience. This study examined whether students from different educational backgrounds perceive AI-driven admissions and hiring systems as equitable. This study surveyed undergraduate students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to examine their familiarity with generative AI systems and resume screening systems, their trust in those systems, and their perceptions of fairness based on their racial, non-traditional backgrounds, and experiences in the context of job application processes and graduate school applications. Participants included fifteen students who completed a survey that collected demographic information, Likert scale questions, and open-ended questions that assessed their familiarity with AI systems. Most participants believed generative AI and resume screening systems disadvantage applicants based on their varied backgrounds, with many participants concerned about a preference for STEM-related fields and keyword filtering. These findings suggest that as AI screening tools become integrated into academic and professional evaluations, student concerns about lost opportunities and the removal of personal context in applications may increase. Without careful oversight and continued refinement, these systems could unintentionally limit equitable access. Ongoing evaluation and transparent design practices are important to ensure fair outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds.

PrivacyMirror: Identifying Self-Disclosures In User Input To Mitigate Individual Privacy Risks
Daniel Amon-Kotey
Sauvik Das, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

While gender-based harms and relationship dynamics in South Asia are well-documented, there is limited research on South Asian diaspora and international students in the US, particularly regarding how social discourse influences one’s perspectives on relationships. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent on college campuses as well, yet prevention efforts generally lack a culture-specific understanding of diverse populations. The purpose of this study was to determine specific factors and topics in the UMBC South Asian student population that influence their perspectives on, and conversations about, unhealthy relationship dynamics and IPV and abuse. This study utilized thematic coding of interviews with 13 University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) self-identified South Asian students to identify expectations of social behavior, the role of social networks, and the intracultural dialogue around unhealthy relationship dynamics. It was hypothesized that South Asian college students utilize intracultural dialogue, or communication between members of the same culture, surrounding South Asian culture, and IPV to inform their opinions and actions regarding IPV. It is expected that these findings will inform future efforts to tailor IPV prevention and response programs for students of South Asian descent.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Conceptualizing Unhealthy Relationship Dynamics in South Asian College Stuednts through Qualitative Interviewing
Vunnathi Ankem
Christopher Murphy, Psychology

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

“An Outsider in the Place that’s Become Your Home”: Stories of Navigating Identity as a 1.5 Generation Asian Immigrant
Jeslyn Annan
Chulwoo Park, Public Health

Despite the growing academia of 1.5 generation Asian/Asian Americans, little is still known in regards to how these demographic maneuvers and makes meaning of their personal journeys immigrating in identifying as a 1.5 generation individual. To bridge this gap, this study explores the intersection of personal experiences, familial dynamics, and self-expression on the cultural identity formation amongst 1.5 generation Asian/Asian Americans. This qualitative study used 17 Asian/Asian American college students aged from 18 to 25 living in the California San Francisco Bay Area. Data was gathered through semi-structured one-on-one interviews with participants and organized thematically to gain further insights into their personal stories navigating cultural identity. Results revealed that cultural identity is an ever-changing process that continues to develop through age, with self-identification to the 1.5 generation immigrant label being a source of authenticating or invalidating their lived experiences. Furthermore, the significance of these findings can prove useful to educators as well as mental health providers in understanding how 1.5 generation Asian/Asian American students navigate identity differently, and how social settings can contribute to positive identity formation.

This work was fund, in part, by UMBC Supplement for Undergraduate Research (SURE).

Women in Computing: Understanding Needs, Attitudes, and Obstacles in Recife, Brazil
Celine Anong, Kaila Hoskins, Madeline Rippin, Hallel Dereb
Carolyn Seaman, CWIT

SWITAB (Supporting Women in Tech Across Borders) is an initiative aimed at supporting female undergraduate computing students in Recife, Brazil. Recife is a tech hub in Brazil, but women are severely underrepresented in the Brazilian tech sector, just as they are in the US. SWITAB is modeled on elements of the CWIT program at UMBC, in particular CWIT’s peer mentoring program. SWITAB was kicked off in June 2025 with a visit to Recife from CWIT’s Director and four CWIT-affiliated UMBC students. To help inform the design of the program, this team from UMBC conducted a survey and a set of interviews of female computing students in Recife to better understand their perspectives, goals, needs, and obstacles to success. We received 88 survey responses and interviewed seven students. Results indicated that most of these students felt that their gender is an obstacle, that they lacked role models and mentors, and that they needed more professional development opportunities. These results supported our decision to start the SWITAB peer mentoring program, as well as the design of the initial events, which were focused on professional development. These results will continue to inform the SWITAB program as it develops and expands.

This work was funded by UMBCs Departments of Information Systems and Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Center for Global Engagement, and Fulbright Brazil.

Development of a Vagina-on-a-Chip Model for Studying Recurrent Bacterial Vaginosis
Yanyu Arias, Elise Delaporte
Corine Jackman Burden, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a polymicrobial disorder among women that is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth and susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. BV is characterized by an overgrowth of anaerobic bacteria such as Gardnerella vaginalis and a depletion of protective lactobacilli that can lead to recurrent BV after treatment with metronidazole. The underlying mechanism that causes repeated onsets of BV remains unknown in part due to limitations in traditional in vitro models, which fail to replicate the complex interactions between the vaginal microbiomes. To address this gap, we are developing a cost-effective microfluidic vagina-on-a-chip platform that mimics key features of the human vaginal environment including dynamic fluid flow and co-culture capacity including bacteria and human vaginal epithelial cells, and uterine fibroblasts. The vagina-on-a-chip features dual microchannels to support the co-culture of human vaginal epithelial cells (HVEC) in the apical chamber and human uterine fibroblast cells in the basal chamber, where we will colonize HVEC with both Lactobacillus iners and G. vaginalis. We aim to understand the interaction between different ratios under treatments such as metronidazole while mimicking the physiological conditions such as flow rate, pH, and hypoxic environment.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Assistantship Support (URAS) Award from the UMBC Office of the Vice President for Research.

Asian American Adolescents’ Internalized Stereotypes Moderates the Socioemotional Impact of Racial Discrimination
Naomi Aruna, Tammy Hong, Xue Fang Deng, Warren Christopher Aguiling
Charissa Cheah, Psychology

Anti-Asian racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic may have adversely impacted Asian American adolescents’ (AAAs) socioemotional functioning (Chae et al., 2021). Furthermore, adolescents’ internalization of the model minority myth (IMMM; Yoo et al., 2010) may shape how youth make sense of racial discrimination. This study investigated: (1) the link between AAAs’ racial discrimination experiences and their socioemotional difficulties; and (2) the moderating role of adolescents’ IMMM on this relation. AAAs (N = 534; Mage = 14.61 years, SD = 1.76; 45% female) completed an online survey. AAAs’ discrimination experiences were positively associated with socioemotional difficulties (b = 3.66, p < .001). An interaction was found between racial discrimination and IMMM (b = 2.23, p < .001). Racial discrimination was associated with more socioemotional difficulties at lower (b = 2.20, p < .001), mean (b = 3.66, p < .001), and higher (b = 5.12, p < .001) levels of IMMM. AAAs’ racial discrimination encounters were linked to higher reports of socioemotional difficulties (Benner et al., 2018). IMMM may exacerbate adolescents' perception of systemic racism (Shih et al., 2019), as they attribute discriminatory experiences to personal flaws rather than broader systems of oppression. The implication for these findings will be discussed.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Impact of APPL Gene Mutation on Food Preference Behavior in Aging Drosophila Melanogaster
Djina Awungnjia
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease caused by the accumulation of the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) within the brain along with hyperphosphorylated and cleaved forms of the microtubule-associated protein tau. In its late stages, it is characterized by severe dementia, which affects memory, cognitive functions, and overall life. The amyloid precursor protein (App) produces the neurotoxic form of Aβ, which is crucial to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The amyloid precursor protein-like (Appl) is the Drosophila homolog of the app gene. Appl is a single-pass transmembrane protein expressed at high levels in the brain and has several functions: synaptic transmission, plasticity, and neurogenesis. Research has shown that individuals with AD have a high glycemic index; however, the role of the Appl gene mutation in relation to behavioral changes has not been fully investigated. Using the fly probosis and Activator Detector (flyPAD), this research uses aging Drosophila as a model to investigate the role of APPL gene mutation on food preferences. The findings of this research would help provide more insight into the processes affected or controlled by the Appl and App genes and enable an understanding of other symptoms associated with AD.

This work was funded, in part, by UMBC McNair Scholars Summer Research Institute

Next-Gen Breathable Shake Flasks for Improved Cell Growth and Real-Time Monitoring
Rishika Bandi, Riya Koshy
Venkatesh Srinivasan, Center of Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST); Govind Rao, Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering Department, CAST (Center for Advanced Sensor Technology)

Scaling up cancer cell cultures remains a challenge in biomedical research, limiting the efficiency of drug testing and therapeutic development. Improving cell expansion methods benefits the broader public by accelerating anti-cancer research and reducing production costs. This study evaluated whether the breathable Aero-Yield (AY) shake flask, developed at UMBC’s Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, could support mammalian cancer cell growth more effectively than conventional systems. Although AY flasks were previously shown to improve bacterial growth through enhanced gas exchange, their use with fragile cancer cell lines had not been examined. Using A375 melanoma cells as a model, growth was compared across AY flasks, non-breathable polycarbonate shake flasks, and standard polystyrene T-flasks. Cells were cultured under identical conditions, and total cell yield was measured. The AY flasks successfully supported cancer cell expansion and produced more than a 13-fold higher yield than polycarbonate shake flasks. These findings demonstrated that improved gas permeability enhanced mammalian cell growth and suggested that AY flasks provided a flexible and scalable alternative for cancer cell culture. Expanding efficient cell culture platforms may help streamline laboratory research and advance future cancer therapies.

This work was funded, in part, from MII and DARPA.

Our City is a City Without an Expressway: A Historical Review of Transportation Injustice in Baltimore City
Finley Bandy
Michael Casiano, American Studies

Like many American cities throughout the post-war period, urban renewal policies swept through Baltimore in an attempt to revitalize the “blighted slums” of the city, which disproportionately targeted Black and working class neighborhoods. One such project was the construction of an east-west expressway that would have cut through the heart of the city, destroying several historic neighborhoods in its wake. In response, a number of neighborhood organizations throughout the city came together to protest the highway’s construction. While some of the neighborhoods slated for destruction were spared, a segment of the highway was still constructed, resulting in the displacement and destruction of an entire neighborhood along the Franklin-Mulberry corridor. Decades later, the city identified the continued need for efficient transportation across the city from east to west. A public transportation initiative, now known as the “Red Line” was proposed to address this need. However, 20 years have passed since this original proposal, and despite extensive planning phases, the Red Line has yet to come to fruition. Through historical and archival research, this project investigates the history of the Red Line in comparison to the Highway to Nowhere. This comparative analysis reveals a historic trend of transportation injustice in Baltimore City.

Mind & Muscle: Evaluation of Western Dentistry and Holistic Medicine for Myofascial Pain Care
Noreen Baroya
Tiffany Gierasch, Chemistry and Biochemistry; James Hawkins, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Orofacial Pain Center

Chronic facial pain affects millions of people in the United States, and many of those individuals also suffer from debilitating mental health conditions. Psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety, significantly exacerbate the clinical symptoms of orofacial pain disorders. Some of these symptoms include heightened pain sensitivity, bruxism (teeth grinding or clenching), and persistent muscle fatigue. To investigate these comorbidities further, this project aims to understand the influence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) on Myofascial Pain Disorder (MPD) by evaluating clinical approaches of Western dentistry and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In contrast to Western dentistry, TCM and acupuncture treatment not only incorporate physiological symptoms but also take into account a person’s mental health. Participants of this study included dental students, holistic medicine students, general dentists, and acupuncturists. Approximately ten individuals were surveyed from each category. To supplement quantitative findings, one general dentist and two acupuncturists were interviewed to capture experiences and opinions from professionals in the field. Surveys and interviews were collected and conducted over four weeks, and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Conclusions from this study will contribute to integrative treatment approaches that may improve clinical outcomes for patients suffering from MPD.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Mechanistic Regulation of Planarian Shape During Regeneration
Xander Barton
Daniel Lobo, Biological Sciences

Planarians are flatworms that can regenerate a full organism from almost any amputated piece. Furthermore, their adult body size is extremely plastic, as they can grow and degrow (shrink) depending on the amount of food available. Our previous studies have shown that the growth/degrowth dynamics in planarians follow the same linear rate in terms of length and width over time. Here we demonstrate that the regeneration of transversally amputated pieces follows a different behavior from growth/degrowth as the worm increases its length while reducing its width. Utilizing this data, we were able to perform simulations modeling worm regeneration. To this end, we improved the computational simulation of whole-body planarian dynamics. Key improvements included parallelization using a high-performance cluster and optimization of a flux slope limiting function, which is a critical factor in simulating adhesion-based cell motion. These enhancements enabled us to implement a swarm optimization-based heuristic inference algorithm to calibrate the model to the experimental data, as well as to evaluate the effect of mechanistic parameters at higher spatial resolutions. Our most recent work has focused on sweeping salient mechanistic parameters at these higher spatial resolutions to gain additional insight and improve mechanistic model performance against experimental data.

URISE.

Role of CD68+ Monocyte-Derived Macrophages in Regulating Adipose Tissue Growth During Diet-Induced Obesity
De’Onna Battle, Gabriella Howe¹, Chizzy Ibe¹, Marveline Akinola, BS.1, Benjamin T. Cole, BS.1
¹Biological Scenes, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Diana Elizondo, Biological Sciences

Severe obesity-associated type 2 diabetes is a growing public health challenge, affecting millions worldwide. During obesity, adipose tissue adopts a state of low-grade chronic inflammation, where an increase of pro-inflammatory adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) is observed. Although CD68 is a common macrophage marker, its molecular role in modulating ATMs’ inflammatory responses is unclear. We hypothesize that CD68 expression in ATMs modulates immune cell recruitment in obese adipose tissue, leading to the development of low-grade chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. We analyzed single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) data from lean vs. obese mouse adipose tissue, and we evaluated the presence of CD68+ myeloid cell populations. Tissue samples were harvested from mice on chow or 60% high fat diet, resulting in lean, obese, weight loss, and weight cycling phenotypes. Results showed increased CD68+ ATMs in obese mice, corroborated via fluorescence microscopy staining for DAPI, CD68, and F4/80 in adipose tissue, where we observed increased presence of CD68+ macrophages in the obese mice. Future directions include the evaluation of the functional role of CD68 in the macrophage inflammatory profile using siRNA and flow cytometric approaches. This research identifies early signs of inflammation in fat tissue, supporting new ways to target myeloid cell pathways.

This work was funded, in part, by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54CA272205. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Twin Deficits & Ricardian Equivalence — Context-Dependent US Fiscal Outcomes, 1970-2024: A Historical & Theoretical Survey
Lillian Beaudet
Nandita Dasgupta, Economics

This survey paper explores under what conditions US fiscal deficits translate into trade deficits, asking whether the twin deficit hypothesis or Ricardian equivalence explains US outcomes from 1970 to 2024. It reviews econometric developments from OLS and VAR to cointegration and threshold models, integrating these findings with a presidency-level analysis from Nixon through Biden. Results find that twin deficits appear reliably only during large fiscal expansions under conventional monetary policy. The relationship breaks down when productivity-driven capital inflows, financial crises, unconventional monetary actions, or major supply shocks dominate. Episode-based evidence identifies Reagan and George W. Bush as canonical twin deficit cases. Clinton and Obama appear as counterexamples driven by productivity and crisis dynamics. US data shows no empirical support for Ricardian equivalence, as bounded rationality and credit constraints prevent private saving offsets. Findings imply that fiscal consolidation improves external balances during specific monetary and macroeconomic states, also suggesting that institutional rules such as PAYGO are effective only when backed by political commitment. This paper closes with an empirical agenda of threshold cointegration and impulse responses, aiming to quantify the fiscal–current account transmission mechanism. Understanding this linkage is essential for designing US policy that serves long-run public welfare.

The Effects of Round Robin Active Learning on Student Engagement
Abner Ben, Ameen Khan
Jamie Gurganus, Engineering and Computing Education Program (ECEP); Mark Berczynski, College of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Maryland – Baltimore County

Student engagement in college courses is often limited by traditional lecture-based instruction, particularly in engineering. In an effort to change this dynamic, this study used kinesthetic learning activities and peer discussion to improve student engagement and understanding in an undergraduate Thermodynamics course. Students were assessed using survey methodology to measure their content understanding, participation, and peer involvement. The survey was given post a traditional lecture style and then after a more active-based discussion for comparison. During the activity, students worked in groups, stood up and rotated between partially completed problems, and collaboratively corrected and completed another group’s work. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test indicated a significant difference between pre- and post-survey scores, suggesting the activity improved students’ understanding of the material and engagement in the discussion. These findings demonstrate that interactive, movement-based, and peer-supported activities positively impacted student learning. As active learning can be implemented across any discipline, this work supports larger efforts to improve instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels, especially in the STEM field.

Gender and Mental Illness in Slender Man Media
Bella Berry
Kathalene Razzano, Media and Communication Studies

On June 8, 2009, an internet forum user posted a pair of edited photographs accompanied by a brief description about child disappearances, a library fire, and a mysterious figure known as “the Slender Man.” Almost immediately, other users began to add to the story as it spread across the internet in multimedia formats. Still, the character remained relatively obscure until May 2014, when two twelve-year-old girls lured their friend into the woods and stabbed her in the hopes of appeasing him. The ensuing news frenzy thrust this niche community into the international spotlight and drummed up a moral panic about the dangers of the internet. Using content analysis, ideological analysis, and discourse analysis, this study analyzed the development of the Slender Man internet legend and its real-world manifestation in the form of a violent crime. Examination of Slender Man media texts, court transcripts, and news coverage of the crime gives us insight into internet meme culture as well as discourses of mental illness and gender as they intersect with criminality.

UMBC AIAA DBF and SUAS Aircrafts
Shrikant Bhatnagar, Kalel Kai, Ben Bazarsuren, Daniel Shin, Jonah Malcom, Austin Wagener, Nebiyu Mammo, Murali Indukuri, William Vandenberg
Joseph Washington, Mechanical Engineering

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics chapter at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was created to address the absence of a formal aerospace engineering program on campus. Without dedicated coursework in aeronautics, many students had limited ways to explore a field that plays a central role in transportation and national security, and engage in fascinating research. In response, the chapter built an experiential pathway into aerospace through student-led competition teams. At the core of this effort were the Design, Build, Fly (DBF) and Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) teams, where students took ownership of the full engineering lifecycle. From early design concepts to manufacturing, systems integration, and flight testing, members engaged in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles for international competitions. Students experienced aerospace theory through processes that mirror those used in professional aerospace development. Members strengthened not only their technical abilities, but also their capacity for teamwork, documentation, and leadership under real constraints. Over time, this approach positioned UMBC’s teams as the leading undergraduate-led aerospace competition groups in Maryland, demonstrating how experiential learning can meaningfully expand access to aerospace education.

This work was funded by UMBC SGA, UMBC Mechanical Engineering Department, UMBC COEIT, Northrup Grumman Corporation.

Global Affairs: Effects of Domestic Politics on the International Community and International Stability
Juliana Blakely, Sanjana Jain, Garrett Rifkind
Filepe Filomeno, Global Studies

As states face increasing instability, identifying local drivers of crises is critical to maintaining international stability. This panel explores how domestic politics in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indo-Pacific can affect global stability. Using comparative case studies, the panelists examined three distinct regional shifts: Blakely analyzed how populism in Latin America reshapes national institutions, finding that this leadership pattern often undermines democratic governance. Jain investigated the Niger Delta, revealing how the ethnic marginalization of the Ogoni people leads to state indifference toward the environmental damage caused by transnational oil companies. Rifkind explored how Chinese-funded domestic infrastructure projects in Laos and Cambodia can serve as strategic tools in international power competition. Together, they demonstrate how domestic, regional, and international dynamics intersect, especially how international stability is rooted in the political and democratic health of individual nations.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Local Adaptation to Conflict Over Mating Frequency in the Facultatively Parthenogenetic Opiliones Leiobunum Manubriatum
Madeline Blattau, Desmond Seybold, Jay Gepilano, Ryan Bacon, Harper Montgomery
Mercedes Burns, Biological Sciences

Species habitats are inherently heterogeneous, with quality “core” regions, and adaptively challenging “marginal” regions. Core habitats support a higher density of a given species, in turn producing a density-dependent encounter rate that shapes mating interactions. Increasing encounter rates may lead to increased sexual antagonism between males and females, which creates the conditions for local adaptation to sexual conflict (LASC). In this poster, we detail evidence of LASC in the facultatively parthenogenetic Opiliones species, Leiobunum manubriatum, where population sex ratios gradually favor females with increasing altitude and latitude. We contrasted female resistance behaviors of L. manubriatum with that of the obligately sexual relative, L. tohokuense, with the prediction that females from populations of L. manubriatum with higher densities of males would show more incidence of mating resistance in behavioral trials due to LASC. Preliminary results from these behavioral trials indicate significantly higher female resistance in L. manubriatum as compared to L. tohokuense, but no significant difference in resistance between populations of the facultative parthenogen. Ongoing work will link behavioral resistance data to offspring paternity outcomes in order to assess impacts of sexual conflict when alternative reproductive modes exist.

Authors supported by NSF Career #2237684.

Jewish Immigrants and American Racism in the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century
Sophie Braun
Meredith Oyen, History

When Jewish immigrants arrived in the United States, they entered a world structured around a strict racial hierarchy that was entirely unfamiliar to them. During the early twentieth century, their immigration overlapped with the Great Migration, in which millions of African American people moved from the Jim Crow South to the northern cities. Examining the ways in which Jewish communities reacted to the treatment of Black people in America is vital in order to properly understand how Jewish people fit into American society today. Jewish people interpreted race relationally, which is evident in their personal reflections as well as those in Yiddish and English-language Jewish newspapers, and include both moments of cooperation and conflict. Jewish immigrants learned about American racism largely through their proximity to African Americans, and this comparative framework became essential to how they thought about whiteness and the persistence of antisemitism in America and how they negotiated their own whiteness. This research argues that Jewish immigrants’ interactions with Black communities from the early to mid 1900s shaped their understanding of whiteness, race, and antisemitism by forcing them to navigate the tensions between their own marginal status and their gradual incorporation into whiteness.

TRC Navigation App: A Privacy-Preserving Indoor Navigation System for the UMBC Technology Research Center
Jalen Brown, Pearce Packman
Roberto Yus, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Navigating large, multi-floor buildings remains difficult for visitors and new members, yet many indoor navigation systems depend on expensive proprietary infrastructure or GPS, which is impractical and inaccurate inside concrete-and-steel structures. This student-led project designs, implements, and deploys an indoor navigation system that balances cost, usability, and privacy. We developed a mobile wayfinding application for UMBC’s Technology Research Center to guide users to offices and labs within the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department. After evaluating multiple sensing approaches, the team selected a low-cost architecture based on passive Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and conducted an empirical study to determine the minimum beacons needed to maximize coverage and navigation utility. We installed 50 BLE beacons across corridors, stairwells, and key intersections to support location estimation without collecting personal identifiers—providing a privacy advantage over conventional alternatives. The application, built with TypeScript, React Native, and Expo, renders a real-time, color-coded multi-floor map and computes optimal routes using an A* pathfinding algorithm over a predefined navigational skeleton of walkable paths. Building map data is processed in QGIS and ingested into a self-hosted Supabase backend through a custom ETL pipeline. Ongoing work focuses on improving localization robustness, routing behavior, user experience, and backend security.

This research was funded, in part, by the CSEE Department.

Investigating the Function of the PHD Finger in Chromatin Regulator Set4
Phoenix Bryant, Maraki Negesse, Winny Sun
Erin Green, Biological Sciences

Set4 is a chromatin regulator in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is involved in the hypoxic stress response. Its ortholog MLL5 in humans is implicated in cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. The SET domain (Su(var)3-9, enhancer-of-zeste, trithorax) is found in proteins that regulate gene expression through catalyzing the methylation of histones. Yet, Set4 is a part of a subfamily of SET domain proteins that is distinguished by their lack of catalytic methyltransferase activity. Of special interest in these Set proteins is their PHD domain which is canonically a chromatin reader. However, the function of the PHD finger in Set4 has not yet been characterized. Previously, the lab has shown through chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR, that in Set4 PHDΔ strains, Set4 loses its localization ability to chromatin demonstrating that the PHD domain is important in this localization. Additionally, in Set4 PHDΔ strains, the expression of the PAU genes, genes involved in cell survival during oxidative stress, are upregulated. The function and role of the PHD finger in gene expression will further be characterized in this presentation using qPCR and other techniques. In doing this, the function of Set4 and its orthologs implicated in disease, such as MLL5, will be better understood.

This work was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program; U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497; and NIH grant R01GM148698.

Effect of Predicted Chromatin Regulator MTA1-like on Border Cell Migration in Drosophila Melanogaster oogenesis
Kamarya Buckley
Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences

Directed cell migration is required for normal development, tissue repair, and cancer progression. To investigate its genetic regulation in a tractable system, we use Drosophila melanogaster, which provides precise genetic tools and a defined developmental context. During oogenesis, a small cluster of border cells detaches from the anterior follicular epithelium and migrates collectively toward the oocyte. Because this migration is stereotyped and occurs within intact tissue, it serves as a robust in vivo model to study how gene regulation controls collective movement. We study the chromatin-associated protein Metastasis-associated protein 1-like (MTA1-like), a predicted homolog of mammalian metastasis-associated proteins. Chromatin regulators modify gene expression by altering DNA accessibility. We hypothesize that MTA1-like regulates transcriptional programs that enable border cells to interpret guidance cues and coordinate migration. Therefore, altered MTA1-like expression would affect migration timing and efficiency. Preliminary results indicate that changing MTA1-like levels in border cells disrupts migration timing, resulting in delayed or incomplete cluster migration at the appropriate developmental stage. Ongoing experiments using tissue-specific genetic drivers aim to define the cell-type requirement of MTA1-like. Together, these findings support a model in which MTA1-like–dependent chromatin regulation fine-tunes collective migration dynamics during development.

This research was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Equilibria in Classical and Quantum Strategic Games
John Bui
Mohammadhossein Mohammadisiahroudi, Quantum Science Institute; Bedřich Sousedík, Mathematics and Statistics, UMBC

Recent advances in quantum computing raise the question of whether quantum game-theoretic models produce different equilibrium outcomes than classical strategic games. One approach for exploring this question is quantum game theory, which extends classical game-theoretic models by incorporating concepts such as superposition and entanglement. In this framework, players’ strategies are represented by quantum operators acting on entangled states, allowing correlations that cannot arise in classical models and potentially affecting equilibrium outcomes. This work analyzed whether quantum game-theoretic models produced different equilibrium outcomes than classical frameworks. Two-player and multi-player versions of the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Chicken games were modeled in classical and quantum settings to evaluate differences in expected payoffs. Classical mixed and correlated equilibria were simulated in Python using payoff matrices and best-response dynamics to compute Nash equilibria. The quantum extension implemented the Eisert–Wilkens–Lewenstein quantization protocol in Qiskit to model entanglement and strategic operators. Preliminary results suggested that quantum correlations altered the payoff landscape and shifted equilibrium structures under certain parameter settings, while ongoing analysis examines stability across varying correlation strengths and scalability to multi-player systems.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Tissue Engineering in Treating Dental and Craniofacial Defects
Vinnie Bui
Chengpeng Chen, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dental and craniofacial defects involving tissue loss require regenerative approaches to supply tissue-specific requirements. Dental defects include abnormal tooth development and jawbone deformities, while congenital craniofacial defects encompass conditions such as cleft lip, cleft palate, and bifid uvula. Tissue engineering addresses these challenges through three processes: rehabilitation, reconstruction, and regeneration. In this study, we focus on tissue rehabilitation using three-dimensional (3D) printing to fabricate customized tissue and bone scaffolds prior to surgical reconstruction. 3D printing offers flexibility in creating unique prostheses to enhance patient outcomes with tissue defects. We investigate the application of Formlabs 3D printer in combination with an intraoral scanner to analyze complex anatomical defects requiring tissue supplementation. The intraoral scanner utilizes computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology to clinically examine and capture the defect region. 3D printing adapts these scans into their software, producing suitable tissue and bone scaffolds. Jawbone and scaffold tissues are later analyzed upon finishing printing. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of tissue engineering incorporating 3D printing in managing dental and craniofacial defects compared to the conventional approach.

This work was funded, in part, by the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship Scholar

Automated Monitoring Sensors for Process Analytical Technology Applications in Cell and Gene Therapy
Francheska Burrola, Yunqian Wei, Anna Samuel, Garima Sharma, Michael Tolosa, Mohan Tulapurkar¹, Abhay Andar²
¹University of Maryland Baltimore, ²ATCC
Venkatesh Srinivasan, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Govind Rao, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Cell and gene therapies have the potential to treat cancer, genetic disorders, and other life-threatening diseases, yet their high cost and manufacturing variability limit patient access. A major challenge is the lack of real-time monitoring of key metabolic variables in static cell culture systems. Dissolved oxygen (DO), dissolved carbon dioxide (dCO2), and glucose regulate cellular respiration and metabolic balance, but static G-Rex workflows typically rely on incubator setpoints and intermittent off-line sampling, offering limited insight into dynamic culture behavior. To address this gap, we evaluated 10 to 12-day human embryonic kidney (HEK) cell cultures in static G-Rex systems to assess the feasibility of continuous DO and dCO2 monitoring under production-relevant conditions. HEK cells were selected as a model system due to their well-characterized metabolic and respiratory profiles. Using real-time DO sensors and a rate-based approach to estimate dCO2, we demonstrated proof-of-concept for continuous, 24/7 monitoring over extended culture durations. Continuous monitoring provided more detailed insight into culture dynamics than traditional methods. These findings support integration of process analytical technology strategies into static G-Rex workflows, enabling greater automation, improved process consistency, and more informative batch records to support regulatory review and scalable, affordable manufacturing.

This work was funded, in part, by UMBC McNair Scholars Summer Research Institute

The Effects of 9/11 on US Immigration: How the US Halted Immigration Reform and Created an Anti-Immigrant Police State
Jessica Busch
Meredith Oyen, History

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 marked a turning point in the way Americans viewed immigration, and those views impacted immigration policy in ways we are still experiencing nearly 25 years later. This research explores the impact of 9/11 on U.S. immigration policy in three parts: the public and political stance on immigration during the 2000 Presidential Election and the first seven months of the Bush Administration; the immediate public and policy response to 9/11 and the increased power given to the Executive Branch through the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001 and Homeland Security Act of 2002; and the ways that the Trump Administration has weaponized the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Patrol against immigrants and U.S. citizens. This research demonstrates that post-9/11 policies, while intended to protect Americans and promote national security, have had unintended consequences that are evident in the actions of the Trump Administration.

Estrogen-Responsive Astrocyte Networks and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity Across Injury and Menopause Models
Aniket Camarushi
Carmen Munoz-Ballester, Biological Sciences

Estrogen loss during menopause is linked to blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown, which increases risk for neurological disease. The BBB protects the brain by tightly regulating the movement of molecules between the blood and brain tissue. Astrocytes support BBB function and respond to estrogen through estrogen receptors. Yet, whether estrogen levels influence BBB integrity through astrocyte signaling remains unknown. The objective of this project is to use transcriptomic databases to test the idea that estrogen-mediated regulation of the BBB is mediated by astrocytes. For this, we used RNA sequencing datasets from mouse brains and we studied estrogen-responsive genes in astrocytes and their relationship to BBB markers. We used datasets of mice with different estrogen levels, estrogen depletion, traumatic brain injury, and conditional ERa knockout. Clustering, differential gene expression, pathway analysis, and other methods were used to predict communications between cell types to identify astrocyte genes altered via estrogen signaling. Understanding these links between estrogen, astrocytes, and BBB function is important for developing future strategies to protect brain health and lower risk of cognitive decline in people with changing hormone levels.

Supermassive Black Hole Growth in Local Low-Mass Mergers
Katherine Carver, Ashlyn Wright¹
¹Physics, UMBC
Adi Foord, Physics

Most massive galaxies host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their centers, whose feedback and growth impact the galaxy’s evolution. Such periods of activity, observed as active galactic nuclei (AGN), are thought to arise when gas is efficiently funneled toward the galactic center, fueling black hole accretion and growth. Extensive studies of major mergers have suggested a link between merger activity and the incidence of AGN. However, the precise role mergers play in triggering AGN activity remains unclear. This uncertainty is greater in the low-mass galaxy regime, where observational challenges make it difficult to identify merging systems and assess their AGN activity. Understanding AGN activity in low-mass mergers is especially important, as these systems are far more common and represent fundamental building blocks in the overall process of galaxy formation.
We present an X-ray study based on new XMM-Newton observations of six nearby (0.015 < z < 0.021) dwarf–dwarf galaxy merger systems. Out of the twelve galaxies analyzed, six show X-ray detections. Notably, two of the mergers exhibit X-ray emission from both galaxies, suggesting possible dual AGN candidates. These findings suggest that low-mass merging systems may significantly contribute to SMBH growth, playing a role comparable to that of major mergers.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Museo Garifuna Sawaina in Context: Honduran Neoliberalism, Anti-Colonial Ethnographies & Garifuna Celebrations of Life
Bryan Castro-Velez, Bernardo Guerrero¹
¹Museo Garifuna Sawaina
Sarah Fouts, American Studies

A modest community museum on the northeastern coast of Honduras works beyond preservation and instead actively nurtures Afro-Indigenous cultures, realities, and celebrations of life. Contrasting western institutions, Museo Garifuna Sawaina exhibits transformational conceptions of cultural institutions and ethnographic practices led by Afro-Indigenous people in rejection of appropriation, extraction, and taxidermy. My research ultimately reflects upon mestizaje concealing neocolonial developments through the privatization and censorship of public institutions and education. This is a collaborative project that centers and contextualizes Museo Garifuna Sawaina’s community-centric model within its sociopolitical and economic environment, exploring Museo Sawaina as a transformative Honduran institution, with Director Bernardo Guerrero as a co-facilitator. Critical participatory action research, accompaniment and formation analysis will be the primary methodologies to prioritize intellectual ownership to the Garifuna pueblo of Limon, Honduras. I will directly assist in a community-developed project in this contextualization, including subsets, and co-produce a storytelling deliverable (ie. Story/Map, Storytelling Circle). This public-facing component ultimately connects Museo Garifuna Sawaina with the growing international presence of community museums and their efforts to ensure Afro-Indigenous communities remain the rightful stewards of their (hi)stories, traditions, and land.

This work was funded through the Orser Center for Public Humanities.

A High-Performance Agent-Based Tissue Modeling Framework Based on GPU Computation
Emma Chaney, Bivash Kaity
Daniel Lobo, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Computational modeling has become an essential tool in biological research, enabling in silico experimentation on complex cellular systems that are difficult to study in vivo. Agent-based models, which represent individual cells and their interactions, are particularly powerful for studying tissue-level dynamics but are often constrained by high computational cost. Here, we present an optimized agent-based whole-body tissue modeling framework that incorporates cell–cell mechanical interactions and diffusible morphogens. Crucially, to maximize the performance of the model simulations, the framework is based on C++ and NVIDIA CUDA GPU parallelization. To further improve performance through cache efficiency, memory was organized with respect to neighborhoods of spatial positioning in the simulation. By storing spatially adjacent cells contiguously through linear sorting, we reduced the average number of comparisons required for each cell to identify their neighbors. Together, these optimizations significantly enhance runtime and scalability, enabling simulations of dynamic cell populations at biologically relevant scales of millions of cells. This work provides a high-performance computational framework for studying emergent spatial pattern formation in multicellular systems, with broader applications in systems biology, bioengineering, and quantitative modeling of multicellular systems.

This work was funded, in part, by the Student Research Award from the Center for Integrated Mathematical and Biological sciences Research and Education at UMBC.

Investigating the Role of Methyl CPG-Binding Domain on Tumorigenesis in Prostate Cancer Using the BMPC Mouse Model
Jane-Frances Chia
Charles Bieberich, Professor

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with nearly 1.5 million new cases and approximately 400,000 deaths reported in 2022. Methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD2) is a member of the MBD protein family that plays a role in gene silencing. It serves as a transcriptional repressor by binding to methylated DNA regions of tumor suppressor genes and recruiting repressive complexes that compact chromatin and silence transcription. Previous studies have shown that MBD2 influences the P13/AKT pathway, which regulates cell growth and proliferation, and that its deletion impedes tumor progression. This project aims to understand the impact of mutating MBD2 on tumor growth and metastatic progression in the BMPC transgenic mouse model of prostate cancer. This mouse model is driven by the activation of the MYC proto-oncogene and the loss of the PTEN tumor suppressor. The absence of MBD2 in FVB-BMPC mice is expected to slow tumor progression. Analysis of tumor progression and metastasis was evaluated in wild-type and MBD2 knockout BMPC mice to determine the role of MBD2 in prostate cancer. This research will provide further insight into MBD2 as a potential therapeutic target or biomarker for tumor progression, and has vast translational and clinical potential.

This work was supported by National Institute of Health grants 2R01CA200900-06A1 and 1U54CA274370-01, and by U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497. Jane-Frances Chia was supported by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

The Relationships Among Performance Anxiety, Social Support, and Sleep in College Athletes
Aum Chordia
Raimi Quiton, Psychology

Performance anxiety includes the intense feelings of emotional distress, fear, or worry before, during, or after performing a certain activity, which is based on one’s perception and evaluation of performance. While the bidirectional positive relationship between sleep problems and anxiety, and the inverse relationship between social support and anxiety is well known from the literature, performance anxiety in student athletes has not been well studied. This study investigated the relationships among sleep, social support, and performance anxiety in college athletes. Data was collected using a self-reported qualtrics survey, which measured social support, competition performance anxiety, and sleep quality using the ARSQ, SCAT, and PSQI questionnaires respectively. Using a multiple regression analysis, two hypotheses were tested: H1) Perceived social support will be inversely associated with performance anxiety and H2) Sleep quality will be inversely associated with performance anxiety. Currently, the empirical evidence about interventions for performance anxiety is limited. This study aimed to address this gap by examining the roles of sleep and perceived social support as predictors of performance anxiety.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Developing a Prototype GenAI Tool for Enhancing Early Literacy through Dialogic Reading
Shaylee Chubin
Shuling Yang, Education

This study examined how an early childhood preservice teacher is developing her artificial intelligence literacy by designing and testing a generative artificial intelligence chatbot to support dialogic reading, an evidence-based practice that supports young learners through prompts and questioning. High-quality read-aloud experiences are foundational to early reading experiences, yet preservice educators often encounter challenges in creating standards-aligned, developmentally appropriate questions that guide student responses during read-aloud sessions. Using an action research approach, this project involved the development of an editable generative artificial intelligence chatbot prototype through Playlab AI that was designed to generate and evaluate open-ended questions aligned with dialogic reading practices. Participants included the preservice teacher Shay Chubin, faculty collaborators Dr. Karen Chen and Dr. Shuling Yang, and graduate students Aryan Jagani and Biplop Hosen, who provided support during the chatbot’s development and pilot testing. Preliminary findings indicated that the chatbot was adaptable when guided by education-based prompts, enabling users to specify the reading strategy, consistent with common early childhood question-and-answer formats, and may also support educators in planning dialogic read-alouds with greater ethical and instructional consideration, pending further research. This study was funded by the undergraduate research awards at (URA) at UMBC.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Hadestown Theoretical Costume Design
Timothy Clark
Becca Janney, Theatre

A common challenge presented to theatre designers is reimagining a show with iconic design choices that appear inseparable from the text. I explored originality and bold choices with a theoretical costume design of Hadestown, a musical by Anais Mitchell. Hadestown is a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice which focuses on class inequity. My interpretation of the show takes place in 1950s America; a time where 20 to 30 percent of the population was living in poverty despite the economic boom for upper class citizens and the Third Industrial Revolution. I have gone through the design process as if it were a real production and created a packet that could be handed over to a costume shop to be realized. This includes preliminary research, an action plot, a piece list, sketches, finalized renderings with fabric swatches, and a costume for Eurydice. Mediums used include research collages, spreadsheets, graphite, watercolor, and fabric. My work represents the importance of originality in theatre design and production. It is imperative for a designer to think outside of the box when working on a show, such as Hadestown, that already has artistic choices that loom in the audience’s expectations for the show.

Investigating the Role of Anchor Protein on Ethanol Sedation and Preference in Drosophila melanogaster
Mia Coon, Djina Awungnjia, Adekemi Sobukunola, Kamille Chestnut, Emmanuelle Palmieri
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is widespread in the United States, impacting 27.9 million individuals in 2024. Despite its prevalence, understanding of pathways behind AUD remains limited. An efficient model to study mechanisms underlying alcohol behaviors is Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly). In particular, one Drosophila study correlated internal ethanol levels with ethanol-induced sedation rates. Here, we consider “Anchor” protein, the Drosophila homolog of mammalian GPR155. GPR155 is known to mediate mTORC1, which is related to reward-processing disorders such as AUD, but no studies have investigated GPR155 or its homologs’ role in the nervous system and their influences on AUD. Our preliminary data indicates that reducing neuronal Anchor expression reduces ethanol-induced sedation rates. Therefore, we are now investigating ethanol preference to determine how Anchor influences ethanol preference. Using the Gal4/UAS system, we reduce Anchor expression in fruit flies. Then, we measure ethanol preference using “Flypad,” which measures fly “sips” at two different sites. Our preliminary results show that male Anchor knockdown flies consume more ethanol, indicating that Anchor also dysregulates ethanol preference. Overall, our research will help elucidate the role of Anchor, inform future studies of the mTORC1 signaling pathway, and provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of AUD.

This student was financially supported by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Yeast Mutation Spectrum in Alternative Carbon Sources Reflects the Influence of Reactive Oxygen Species
Marley Cosgrove
Charles Bieberich, Biological Sciences; Nathaniel Sharp, Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

It is known that the rate and spectrum of mutations within an organism vary among different environments, but many of the specific causes of this variation are unknown. This variation in mutation is what eventually goes on to contribute to genomic instability, and eventually possible disease. I investigated how reactive oxygen species (ROS) in particular, generated from aerobic respiration, affected the variability within this mutation spectrum within yeast. This was done by culturing yeast in various carbon media, all of which promoted different levels of aerobic respiration and fermentation. The cultures were then plated on 5-fluoroorotic acid medium, and colonies that survived due to mutations in the ura3 gene were collected for DNA sequencing. Upon comparing the sequences of this gene, yeast grown in media that only allowed for aerobic respiration had a significantly different mutation spectrum from yeast grown in media that allowed fermentation and aerobic respiration. This was especially seen in A to G transitions. These results could implicate ROS generated in respiration in genomic damage, and more understanding of the mechanisms behind this process may allow for future research in the mitigation of oxidative DNA damage.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number NSF 23-601.

Time of Ion-Exchange Membrane-Based Samplers for PFAS Measurement Under Dynamic, Environmentally Relevant Conditions
Jacob Craft, Donya Hamidi
Lee Blaney, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Ke He, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely incorporated into industrial and consumer products. These synthetic chemicals elicit adverse health effects, necessitating PFAS monitoring in water supplies. To address this need, we developed novel passive samplers, consisting of ion-exchange membranes, for measurement of time-averaged PFAS concentrations. This presentation will report results from two experiments involving accumulation of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) under dynamic, environmentally relevant conditions. In the first experiment, our 50-L racetrack reactor was filled with a solution containing 10 mM NaCl, 28 ng/L PFOA, and 13 ng/L PFOS. On day 0, ion-exchange membranes were placed into the solution. On day 5, aqueous-phase PFAS concentrations were increased to 61 ng/L PFOA and 182 ng/L PFOS. Membrane and water samples were collected for PFAS analysis, and membrane-phase concentrations were successfully modeled. The second experiment involved three phases: day 0-7, membrane equilibration in solutions with 10 mM NaCl and 10–300 ng/L PFAS; day 8-14, aqueous-phase PFAS concentrations were decreased by activated carbon; and day 15-21, salinity was increased to 600 mM NaCl. Membrane-phase PFAS concentrations were recorded throughout each phase. The results confirmed the response time of our passive sampler and reinforced readiness for large-scale field deployments.

This research was funded, in part, through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (ER20-1073).

Old Lenses
Leila Cron
Andrew Liang, Visual Arts

My piece for URCAD explores a longing for the past and preservation of childlike creativity. Children navigate the world with an innocence and naivety that influences artistic intent, the ability to create without inhibition, to create just to create. For many, the process of aging disconnects us from the things we once cherished. My work will explore the concept of nostalgia, seeking a journey to adulthood where childhood is reclaimed by appreciating the past, rather than mourning what once was. Drawing inspiration from maximalist styles of multimedia artist Mike Kelley, and sculpture artist David Briskie, I utilize unique handmade stuffed animals as a focal point, representing the epitome of innocence and unwavering emotional importance. These figures ‘sprout’ from handmade picture frames, symbolizing the way a photograph captures a fleeting moment forever. These forms will involve an experimental process, utilizing materials such as foam, and clay, overlaid with a diverse array of fabric and textures, all meant to represent how unique and personalized the items that brought us lifelong comfort were.

Bay Shore Amusement Park: A Forgotten History of Sparrows Point
Sophia Crowell
Michael Casiano, American Studies

Bay Shore Amusement Park, once located where North Point State Park stands today in Sparrows Point, Maryland, was a hub for recreation and community life from 1906 until 1947. My digital history project aims to preserve and share its story through an interactive story map, engaging the Sparrows Point community with their place-based history. By collaborating with key stakeholders, I plan to bring archival materials out of “archival isolation,” highlighting landmarks such as the trolley station and fountain that were central to community building. The park’s popularity stemmed from its accessibility via the “Red Rocket” United Railways’ streetcar system, which brought visitors from Baltimore directly to its sandy beaches, amusement rides, bowling alley, dance pavilion, live music venues, and restaurants serving Maryland seafood favorites. However, the park’s decline began in 1935 when United Railways went bankrupt and a devastating fire in the 1940s further hastened its downfall. By 1947, Bethlehem Steel acquired the land for industrial expansion, ending an era of local leisure and community recreation. My project seeks to answer how this landscape transformed from a thriving amusement park to its current identity as North Point State Park, examining themes of historical preservation, community memory, and land use changes.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Fiscal-Monetary Policy Misalignment and its Impact on Inflation Persistence and Real GDP Growth
Arun Dahal Khatri
Nandita Dasgupta, UMBC

This research analyses the impact of misalignment between fiscal and monetary policies on inflation and real gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States (U.S.) between 2000 and 2024, and details the respective data sources for each area of this analysis. The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) provides quarterly time series data for four key economic indicators: real GDP growth, CPI inflation, the Federal Funds Rate, and Federal Government Expenditures growth. Based on the findings presented in this research, inflation persisted longer than anticipated due to the conflicting effects of the two policy instruments (fiscal and monetary) on inflation. As a result of the rapid increase in the Federal Funds Rate, inflation remained above the desired target level. The regression analysis of the data supports the conclusion that a statistically significant negative correlation exists between the Federal Funds Rate and CPI inflation, while conversely, a statistically significant positive correlation exists between the growth rate of Federal Government Expenditures and inflation. Fluctuations in GDP growth rates during periods of policy misalignment indicate that, when conflicting information arises from fiscal and monetary policy signals, neither is as effective as it would be if their magnitudes and directions were aligned and coordinated.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Calculating the Route to Chaos of Dissipative Kerr Solitons Driven by a Modulated Laser
Zachary Danielson
Curtis Menyuk, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Dissipative Kerr solitons (DKSs) are generated by pumping a chip-scale nonlinear microresonator with a continuous-wave laser. Periodic out-coupling of the DKSs produce a uniformly spaced pulse train, which when detected in an optical spectrum analyzer results in a compact optical frequency comb (OFCs), termed a microcomb, that have important applications as frequency sources in photonic integrated circuits. Injecting a second laser (a reference pump) near a comb tooth frequency can phase-lock the microcomb to it via a phenomenon called Kerr-induced synchronization (KIS). When the reference pump is phase modulated, chaotic group velocity fluctuations can emerge with potential applications to random number generators. We have modeled the DKS phase dynamics using a second-order Adler equation, which accurately describes this system. We computed the corresponding limit cycle solutions using Newton’s method adapted for periodic systems. We then linearized the Adler equation about the limit cycle, and numerically evaluated the Floquet multipliers to determine linear stability. By analyzing the evolution of the Floquet multipliers at the reference detuning value where the DKS transitions from synchronized to chaotic, we characterize the route to chaos. Identifying this transition mechanism demonstrates how the reference pump detuning can be tuned to deterministically trigger chaotic dynamics

Investigating the Influence of Estrogen Levels on ERβ Expression in Astrocytes
Natasha Dao
Carmen Muñoz-Ballester, Biological Sciences

ERβ is a nuclear receptor which binds to estrogen and regulates estrogen signaling pathways in various cells. Studies found menopause-induced cognitive decline is mediated by ERβ, suggesting this protein might be a good target in cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Interestingly, ERβ effects in menopause-induced cognitive decline were mediated by astrocytes – glial cells that maintain the blood brain barrier and regulate the brain’s microenvironment – not neurons. Historically, astrocytes received less attention than neurons, but have risen as promising candidates in neurodegeneration. Assessing how estrogens, well-known neuroprotective factors, are sensed by astrocytes is critical in understanding neurodegeneration. For this reason, we studied the role ERβ in astrocytes serves in neurodegeneration and the influence sex hormones have on ERβ expression. Using immunohistochemistry, astrocytes and ERβ are stained and analyzed to study ERβ expression in astrocytes influenced by estrogen levels. Estrus cycles are tracked using vaginal smear staining methods. Study groups include male mice, female mice in proestrus and diestrus, oophorectomized mice to knock out reproductive hormones, and oophorectomized mice receiving estrogen hormone replacement to verify result causation by estrogens. This study highlights the role ERβ in astrocytes serves in neurodegeneration and how its expression can be influenced by sex hormones.

Estrogen and Aging: What Can Mouse Models Tell Us About Sex-Dependent Changes in the Aging Brain?
Darrell Davis, Abagail Postle¹
¹University of Maryland, School
Todd Gould, University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

Aging is associated with cognitive decline and increased neuroinflammation, processes that are mitigated by estradiol, despite age-related reductions in peripheral gonadal hormone production. Aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estradiol synthesis, is expressed throughout limbic brain regions in male and female rodents, but it has not been determined if expression is differentially regulated in males and females across the lifespan. To characterize age- and sex-dependent changes in aromatase expression, brain tissue from young and aged (3 and 23 month-old), male and female mice underwent fluorescent in situ hybridization (RNAscope) analysis in the hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, medial amygdala, and ventromedial hypothalamus. Aromatase expression increased with age in all regions studied in males but not females. In young mice, Aromatase was preferentially expressed in NeuN+ positive cells in both sexes, but males had increased expression in both NeuN+ and GFAP+ cells in old age. Ongoing experiments will determine whether observed aromatase expression differences correspond to altered local estradiol availability. Estradiol concentrations are being quantified using radioimmunoassay, while relative Aromatase expression changes are being confirmed via quantitative PCR. By determining whether age-related changes in aromatase expression alter local estradiol availability, this work advances understanding of brain-derived estradiol as a potential modulator of cognitive aging.

by the U-RISE program.

Automated Detection Algorithms for Chemosensory Arrays of Bacterial Tomograms
Joshua Davis-Carpenter
Gus Hart, Brigham Young University

An algorithm for bacterial cellular machinery will allow for automation of annotation within tomograms. We want to detect chemosensory arrays within tomograms. Hexagonal array structure of chemosensory system are key for chemotaxis, this process within the cell is a direct response to chemical stimuli that initiate the movement of the bacteria. We will use an algorithm called YOLOv8 which is a type of Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs). With this method we can speed up the process of getting ideal models for biological mechanism.

REU Site: Physics and Astronomy Research at Brigham Young University,” NSF award num- ber 2348770 (PI: Jean-Francois Van Huele; co- PI: John Colton).

Elucidating the Symbiotic Interaction Between Lactobacillus Iners and Gardnerella Vaginalis in Bacterial Vaginosis
Elise Delaporte, Yanyu Arias
Corine Jackman Burden, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the leading cause of women’s healthcare visits worldwide. It is characterized by an overgrowth of anaerobic bacteria and a depletion of protective lactobacilli. This polymicrobial infection is associated with serious complications, including preterm birth and an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. Gardnerella vaginalis and Lactobacillus crispatus are two bacterial species that exhibit an amensal relationship, in which L. crispatus inhibits G. vaginalis through the production of lactic acid, and both serve as biomarkers for vaginal health and dysbiosis, respectively. In contrast, L. iners, has been reported to have a mutualistic relationship with G. vaginalis, and is often found alongside it, although its role remains unclear. We aim to elucidate the interactions between L. iners and G. vaginalis by studying their symbiotic relationship and its impact on human health. To do so, we will mimic the in vivo environment using an organ-on-a-chip platform currently under development in our lab, and test this interaction in the presence and absence of inhibitory molecules like oleic acid. This study has the potential to advance the understanding of BV pathogenesis by clarifying the role of L. iners in BV, improving strategies for its detection, treatment, and prevention.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Quantifying Misinformation: Vaccine Hesitancy and its Reverberations
Nicholas Denton
Kathryn Monzo, Montgomery College

Scientific misinformation is often discussed in generalities due to difficulties in quantification efforts. The prevalence of misinformation in media has been demonstrated to influence beliefs and shape political and public health discussions among Americans. This effect can be seen in the rise of vaccine hesitancy in the United States. Despite misinformation majorly impacting American life, the ability to quantify it is often lacking. Examining methodologies to quantify misinformation is important to ensure future public health research can properly assess and react to misinformation. The purpose of this study was to assess methods to quantify misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccination to explore optimal methods for quantification. Two studies were examined. One method involved using qualitative coding programs to analyze social media posts about vaccine misinformation, while the other method employed a web-based survey targeting a specific population. Both methods were valuable, providing distinct types of information. Qualitative coding programs were effective at measuring trends in quantities of misinformation. Meanwhile, surveys are effective at measuring the intent behind and consequences of misinformation. For a complete picture, both methods are required to fully understand 1) how much misinformation there is and how it’s growing and 2) the trends and intent behind public discourse.

Investigating Object Recognition and Control of Prosthetic Devices for Delicate Objects Using Computer Vision Algorithms
Destiny Deshields, Prince Michael Kemani
Ramana Kumar Vinjamuri, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Monroe Kennedy III, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University

Current myoelectric prostheses require users to consciously regulate grip force via EMG, elevating cognitive load. While prior work automates grasp type and aperture using computer vision, it overlooks force modulation for fragile objects. We propose an AR-guided approach where computer vision provides this missing context, enabling autonomous selection of grasp type and force. We develop a real-time AR pipeline to recognize delicate objects (e.g., glass bottle, grape) and link each to empirically derived grasp parameters in a custom database. To address size variation, we use moldable materials to create physical proxies approximating real-world variability, allowing systematic testing of grasp adaptation. A lightweight model translates detected labels into control signals. Initial benchtop experiments use an Inspire Dexterous hand (6 DoF, 12 motors) to simulate prosthetic behavior. Evaluation will quantify recognition accuracy and command agreement with database mappings. We expect real-time object recognition and consistent grasp commands, demonstrating feasibility of context-aware, automatic grip selection. If successful, this approach could reduce reliance on manual EMG and improve user independence by minimizing dropped objects. Future work will expand the database and refine force models.

Sandwich Dog
Ky DeSilva, Sophie Suit, Chloe Hradek, Riley Heath, Luke Schultz, Maria Diaz, Derek Levey
Eric Jordan, Visual Arts

Sandwich Dog is a virtual reality (VR) video game created with Unity engine as part of the Capstone Games Group Project course. The game makes core use of the XR interaction toolkit package and native physics systems from Unity engine to immerse the player in a world where they have to do a mundane task in an unfamiliar way. The goal of the game is to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the dexterity challenges that come with being an ordinary dog. This project encouraged visual art majors who were previously unfamiliar with 3D software to learn how to create game-ready assets, and challenged programmers to encapsulate and test gameplay systems without having access to the VR hardware at all times.

Investigating Skin-Resident T Cell Dynamics in Zebrafish
Shenali De Silva
Leonard Zon, Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

In this study, we investigated the role of cxcl12 in T cell recruitment to identify a potential target for enhancing T cell response in skin cutaneous melanoma. Zebrafish represent an ideal model to study adaptive immunity because their immune system is highly conserved. Comparable to lymph nodes in mammalian organisms, zebrafish have the tessellated lymphoid network (TLN), a chevron-patterned immune surveillance system found between scales in the epithelium. Prior studies have characterized the developmental pattern of the TLN using live imaging, but the mechanism by which T cells migrate to the TLN is not well understood. Single cell RNA-sequencing has shown that in intermediate epithelial cells, a cell type that may function as a scaffold for TLN organization, the chemokine cxcl12 is highly abundant. Cxcl12 is a signaling molecule that recruits T cells early in development. We aimed to investigate if cxcl12 facilitated migration of T cells towards the TLN. Our findings revealed that cxcl12 is localized to the TLN but its expression precedes the arrival of T cells to the TLN, suggesting that cxcl12 may play a role in retention of T cells to the TLN rather than recruitment.

This research was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Evaluating the Effects of Monolingual and Bilingual Receptive Labeling for Children with Autism
Layna Do, Xuehua Zhao
Mirela Cengher, Psychology

Bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate language development comparable to that of their monolingual peers; however, navigating two languages may introduce additional challenges, including the need to discriminate between different linguistic and cultural contexts. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared monolingual receptive labeling (stimuli taught in English) to bilingual receptive labeling (stimuli taught in English and Spanish). Three children diagnosed with ASD, aged three to five years old, participated. Additionally, we implemented probes to test the emergence of translations between languages. Two participants met the mastery criterion more efficiently in the bilingual condition than in the monolingual condition, whereas one participant mastered more efficiently in the monolingual condition. Of the three participants, one participant demonstrated the emergence of translation between English and Spanish. These results suggest that bilingual receptive labeling is effective, albeit more efficient than monolingual receptive labeling for children with ASD. Furthermore, the emergence of translation between languages in one participant suggests that receptive labeling may support the acquisition of more advanced verbal operants.

Sherman Center for Early Learning.

Mission to Europa: Translating Astrobiology into a Playable RPG Game
Sofia Dominesey
Stephen Freeland, Individualized Study; Steven McAlpine, Individualized Study

Across the country, NASA and other educational institutions have been deeply involved in creating simulated missions to other worlds within the solar system in order to bring complex, real science into the classroom. UMBC’s Individualized Study department has created one such project, Mission to Europa, a role-playing game (RPG) designed to immerse students in the scientific processes of search for life elsewhere in the universe.

In this game, students assume the roles of astrobiologists aboard a spaceship bound for Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons. As a team, they interpret datasets collected from samples, identify ideal landing sites, and evaluate whether the evidence supports biological activity or not. The gameplay takes place within seven structured sessions, beginning with training on biosignature detection, followed by a high-stakes boots-on-the-ground simulation to collect their samples and make it back to the ship safely.

This project focuses the process of the game design and development of Mission to Europa. It analyzes how specific scientific content, such as spectroscopy, biosignature detection, and planetary science, was translated into playable game mechanics. Particular attention is paid to balancing scientific accuracy with accessibility, designing meaningful but realistic uncertainty into mock datasets and aligning gameplay with intellectual goals.

Investigating Domino as a Potential Link Between Ecdysone Signaling and JAK/STAT Regulation
Isabella Dressler
Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences

Hormone signaling pathways regulate physiological processes via hormone-triggered signal transduction. We study these pathways in somatic ovarian border cells (BCs) in Drosophila melanogaster. BCs form in the follicular epithelium and undergo migration. The ecdysone signaling pathway regulates BC migration timing. This occurs through formation of a heterodimeric receptor complex (EcR) that regulates gene transcription. All follicle cells express EcR, but only BCs respond to hormones and migrate, suggesting an additional regulator of EcR activity. We hypothesize that chromatin regulation provides specificity. EcR interacts with chromatin remodeling factors that impact DNA binding site availability and transcriptional activation. Domino, a SWI/SNF factor, is a candidate because it enhances migration defects in an EcR heterozygous mutant background. Preliminary data suggests Domino could be a regulator of the Janus Kinase/ Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/ STAT) Signaling Pathway. Perturbation of Domino expression yields a BC trailing cell phenotype, similar to STAT activation. Ongoing experiments test whether Stat mutants suppress Domino mutants. Suppression would place Domino upstream of STAT, linking chromatin remodeling to JAK/STAT signaling downstream of ecdysone. Domino’s human ortholog, SRCAP, is associated with Floating-Harbor Syndrome when mutated. This project explores Domino as a potential hormone regulator for future treatments.

This work was supported in part by NSF grant IOS-2303857 to MSG.

Voyages: Chapter Seven
Michael Duffy, Christian Price-Burnett
Nigel Semaj, Theatre

The National Aquarium provides an annual residency wherein local Baltimore artists create a focused performance piece supporting the Aquarium’s mission of awareness and compassion for nature. In collaboration with Submersive Productions, we researched and developed choreography to portray the interaction between flowing water and marine life. We discussed our personal emotional connections to ocean life, participated in guided improvisation exercises, and explored emergent ensemble movement behavior from simple choreographed rules; with this, we developed a vocabulary of movement, both in terms of dance and character physicality. This vocabulary synergized with puppeteering, costumes, projections, and sound to create a cohesive and immersive audience experience. The research culminated in a one-night performance throughout the Aquarium, directly welcoming the audience as part of the experience. We gained exposure to collaborative devising practices, interdisciplinary methods of embodied storytelling, and the unique challenges of site-specific theatre.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Mitochondrial Stress Remodels TFAM Organization in Primary Hippocampal Neurons
Laila Elzaree
Chantell Evans, Department of Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University School of Medicine; Olivia Conway, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases and is linked to progressive neuronal decline. Mitochondria generate energy through oxidative phosphorylation, during which the electron transport chain (ETC) establishes a proton gradient that drives ATP synthesis. Disruption of oxidative phosphorylation impairs cellular energy production and is associated with neuronal dysfunction. Critical subunits of the ETC are encoded by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), linking mitochondrial genome integrity to sustained energy production and cellular viability. Neurons are post-mitotic and highly energy dependent, rendering them vulnerable to mitochondrial genome instability. However, how mtDNA organization responds to mitochondrial stress remains poorly understood.

This project examined how mitochondrial stress alters mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), an essential mtDNA-packaging protein, in primary rat hippocampal neurons. Neurons were treated with antimycin A, a Complex III inhibitor of the ETC. Live-cell imaging confirmed reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. Confocal microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction quantified TFAM puncta morphology relative to mitochondrial volume.

Antimycin A decreased TFAM puncta sphericity and density, while puncta volume remained unchanged. These findings suggest mitochondrial dysfunction remodels TFAM organization without altering nucleoid size, reflecting compromised mtDNA packaging. Elucidating architectural changes may clarify how mitochondrial dysfunction drives neurodegenerative disease progression and inform therapeutic strategies targeting mitochondrial genome integrity.

This research was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Program (HHMI SURP).

The Erasure of Jane Crow from the Modern Legal System
Elle Enomanna
Michelle Scott, History

Black feminist studies scholars and journalists are calling the 2020s the new Era of Jane Crow (the double jeopardy of racism and sexism),as Black women’s rights are being eroded. How did the legal systems of the United States of America go from integrating activist Pauli Murray’s ‘Jane Crow’ theory into its laws in the 1960s to today, where Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old Black woman in Georgia, was forced to carry her baby to term, well after her brain death? This project is a critical historical and legal analysis of the impact of Jane Crow on American society, drawing on Murray’s autobiography, their mid-twentieth-century legal scholarship, Supreme Court cases from the 1940s to the present, as well as congressional debates over the Equal Rights Amendment. In doing so, this project analyzes how Jane Crow shaped, or failed to shape, the Human Rights doctrine and statutes of today. In short, this project argues that the modern American legal system’s failure to fully integrate Murray’s theory of Jane Crow into law has only increased Black women’s vulnerability, whether it is in the workforce or the doctor’s office.

Design and Integration of an Elbow Exoskeleton for Haptic Stiffness Perception Experiments
Caly Ferguson
Jeremy Brown, Johns Hopkins University

A symptom associated with neurological conditions, such as stroke, is the reduced ability to control the stiffness in the affected individual’s limbs. This affliction typically results in excessive antagonist and agonist muscle activation, known as rigidity. Rigidity severely impairs motor control, in turn, negatively impacting patients’ quality of life. Currently, therapists lack an objective measure of the extent to which rigidity is affecting the impaired limb. Thus, this project aims to develop a device that can empower therapists to use an objective measure, such as joint stiffness, to quantify patient rigidity. To achieve this, we sought to modify a commercial elbow brace to create a device that can render specific stiffness values to a user about the elbow joint. Such a device can be used to train therapists to identify specific stiffness levels to quantify patient rigidity. To this end, we motorized the elbow brace in a manner that applies a torque proportional to the deflection of the brace away from a reference pivot point, resembling a spring force. This device enables research paradigms that would allow therapists to better understand patient rigidity. Future work will use this device to discover such paradigms.

This research was supported by the Johns Hopkins PROPEL Program.

How Many Aspects in Dance Improve Over the Course of a Week?
Jadyn Fleming
Nigel Semaj, Theatre

In New York City, the Ailey Dance Company hosts a summer dance intensive for people of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels. The intensive is six hours a day, five days a week, focusing on technique, memorizing and performing choreography, and experiencing different types of dance. This project was a self-performance evaluation on how flexibility, strength, control, coordination, and fluidity change with minimal experience. Throughout the week, understanding of basic concepts were significantly improved and developed; however, it was more of a mental push than physical. Given the results, the hope is to understand what the mind and body needs during a process and a realistic time period to improve. While also giving insight into how much people can adapt in an unfamiliar environment and how it can affect mentality over physicality. Currently, this is an ongoing project to further understand what the body is capable of within a year, what needs to be modified to effectively speed up the process, and how much is too much for the mind and the physical body.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Structural and Functional Analysis of the KH-Domain Protein FLK in Regulating Arabidopsis Defense and Development
Faridah Folorunsho, Dennis Lee, Geneva Mon, Leah Vrygadh
Hua Lu, Biological Sciences

Understanding the coordination between plant defense and development improves the productivity of crops. The Lu lab recently identified a novel role for the canonical flowering regulator, FLOWERING LOCUS K HOMOLOGY DOMAIN (FLK), in pathogen defense. FLK encodes an RNA-binding protein containing three K homology (KH) domains, designated KH1, KH2, and KH3. Each domain spans approximately 70 amino acids and harbors a conserved GXXG motif in which the central residues are typically positively charged and required for RNA interaction. We hypothesize that substituting this motif with negatively charged aspartic acids (GDDG) will disrupt RNA binding without compromising overall KH domain stability. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we generated FLK variants carrying GDDG substitutions in individual KH domains, in both KH1 and KH2 together, and in all three domains simultaneously. These constructs were introduced into flk-1 mutants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. After collecting T0 seeds, we are screening for independent T1 transformants. Selected lines will be advanced to the T2 generation to identify homozygous transgenic plants. Established lines will undergo comprehensive defense and developmental assays to determine how specific KH mutations influence FLK’s dual functionality. This research aims to elucidate how FLK coordinates growth and immunity in Arabidopsis, providing insights to engineer crop disease resistance.

This work was partially supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NSF 2223886 and NSF 1923069, to Hua Lu.

Effects of Prenatal Stress on Auditory Cortex Development
Alexandra Foster, Peter Lloyd, Adrien Auber, Gabriella Buono, Sydney Cowhig¹, Elizabeth Eckman¹, Marta Rogido², Josephine Miller³, Aysegul Gungor Aydin⁴
¹Preclinical Research, Biomedical Research Institute of New Jersey, ²Neonatology, Atlantic Health System, ³Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Atlantic Health System, ⁴Neuroanatomy & Biophysics, Biomedical Research Institute of New Jersey
Carmen Muñoz-Ballester, Biological Sciences

Prenatal stress stands as a strong possible factor in fetal brain development with respect to psychiatric disorders, with recent work indicating a potential link between prenatal stress and autism spectrum disorder. Astrocytes, a type of glial cell, play a central role in cortical circuit development that gets activated in response to stress. Yet, how astrocytes contribute to changes in circuit development after maternal stress has not been studied. In this work we hypothesized that changes in astrocyte number and/or maturation during postnatal development caused by maternal stress during pregnancy, would induce changes in brain circuitry. We specifically focused on how synapses are changed in the auditory cortex, which has received little attention in the study of ASD despite an established altered auditory function in people with ASD. We used a rat model of maternal stress and analyzed astrocyte density using immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging across four groups: P7, P14, P21, and the mothers. Results showed that prenatal stress led to lowered astrocyte density in the left hemisphere auditory cortex in the mother. This project studies a commonly overlooked cell type regarding ASD, and prompts further study of the connection between the development of cortical astrocytes and several psychiatric disorders.

Make the Children Touch Grass: An Argument for Returning Recess to Secondary Education
Annie Fowler
Brandon Beck, Education

This project examines the need for both breaks and outside time for teenage students. This middle school is diverse ethnically, economically, and academically, but the one free period at the beginning of the day serves very few students in any group. Students spend excessive amounts of time outside of classrooms and being unfocused, especially towards the end of the day, at the expense of their grades. A lack of both free time and fresh air contribute to these problems. This project compared qualitative data from interviews with students to previous studies examining the positive influences of recess. Seventy students were asked how being outside during school hours affected their moods, grades, and whether they would prefer to trade part of advisory time for a recess later in the day. The first two questions had slightly more mixed responses, but the last netted overwhelmingly positive responses. This project proposes a shortening of the advisory time at the beginning of the day in exchange for an outdoor recess opposite to when students have lunch. Making this change will improve student focus and decrease absentee behavior in classes furthest in the schedule from previously structured breaks.

Computational Analysis of Age-Associated Gene Expression in Acral Melanoma and Primary and Metastatic Cutaneous Melanoma
Dinesh Ganesan
Gretchen Alicea, Biological Sciences

Acral melanoma is a rare and aggressive subtype of melanoma with a poorer prognosis and limited therapeutic options compared to other melanoma types. Although melanoma occurs across a wide age range, it remains unclear whether age-associated gene expression patterns differ between cutaneous and acral melanoma subtypes. In this study, we investigated metabolic differences between cutaneous and acral melanoma to identify potential vulnerabilities specific to acral melanoma. We analyzed RNA-sequencing gene expression data and associated clinical data from the TCGA database to compare age-associated changes in gene expression between cutaneous and acral melanoma. We focused on SCD, FASN, CPT1A, VEGFR2, IGFBP2, and IGFBP3 due to their roles in age-regulated metabolic and growth-related pathways that contribute to melanoma expression. Patients were divided into young (≤54 years) and aged (≥55 years) age groups, and gene expression distributions for each gene were compared between primary and metastatic cutaneous melanoma, and acral melanoma. The analysis identified distinct age-associated expression trends that varied among cutaneous melanomas, including primary and metastatic tumors, and acral melanoma groups. Future work will validate these age-associated expression patterns at the protein level and determine whether these genes and their associated pathways represent potential therapeutic targets in acral melanoma.

The Alicea laboratory is funded by the First Program Grant and a generous start up from UMBC.

From Minjung to Candlelight: Cultural Transformation and Collective Political Identity in Korean Protest Movements
Alexis Gantt
Kyung-Eun Yoon, Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication

This study examined how protest movements in South Korea transformed culturally over time and how these transformations shaped collective political identity. Public protest played a critical role in democratic societies by allowing citizens to express their shared values, grievances, and moral commitments beyond formal political institutions. Tracing developments from the Minjung movement to contemporary candlelight and digital-era protests, this research analyzed protests as cultural practices rather than solely political tactics. Using historical and comparative analysis, the study focused on the Minjung movement, the 1987 democratization movement, and the 2016-2017 candlelight demonstrations. Findings indicated that while protest forms shifted from artistic and symbolic performances to large-scale peaceful mass gatherings, cultural expression remained central to sustaining political participation and democratic identity across generations. Music, ritualized gatherings, emotional performance, and collective memory function as key mechanisms through which protesters articulated moral values and civic responsibility. Situated within South Korea’s experiences of colonial rule, authoritarian governance, and rapid industrialization, this research demonstrated that protest movements function not only as responses to political crises but also as enduring cultural practices that transmit democratic values to the broader public.

Reed-Solomon Encoder/Decoder
Kameil Gaskill, Carter Gerhardt, Matthew Giering, Lewis Kauffman, Naveed Naqvi
E F Charles LaBerge, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

When transmitting data over large distances through any medium, it is possible for the data to become corrupted through noise or signal variations introduced by the medium itself. To prevent corrupted data from being entirely unrecoverable, raw data can be input to an encoder and decoder to add and interpret extra bits that can be used to detect and correct a limited number of errors in the received message. This project specifically aims to create an encoder/decoder module using Reed-Solomon error correcting codes. These codes require the use of many computational algorithms, including the Berlekamp-Massey, Forney, and Chien Search algorithms. Our implementation utilizes a field programmable gate array (FPGA), which allows direct manipulation of computer hardware to decrease encoding/decoding processing time over that of a microcontroller. The implementation is such that operation in higher-order Galois Fields (GF) up to GF(2^8) can be demonstrated with ease and lends well to being used as educational material in senior-level undergraduate or cross-listed graduate courses.

CMPE 451 Capstone Project.

AI Benchmarking for Predicting Cancer Treatment Response and Recurrence in Lung and Prostate Cancer
Soleyana Gelaw, Petra Tembei
Maricel Kann, Biological Sciences

The growing availability of genomic data enables the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve prediction of patient outcomes in precision oncology. This established multiple lung and prostate cancer cohorts and evaluated traditional machine learning models as a baseline for future development of advanced architectures such as graph neural networks. Using multi-omic data integrating clinical variables, number alterations, and somatic mutations, we trained and evaluated logistic regression, support vector machines, and gradient boosting models on datasets from the American Association for Cancer Research Project GENIE, cBioPortal, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We developed seven prediction cohorts across lung and prostate cancers. For lung cancer, prediction targets included immunotherapy response, tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) response, recurrence risk (stage-filtered), and histological subtype classification (adenocarcinoma versus squamous cell carcinoma) using TCGA and GENIE datasets. For prostate cancer, we classified sample types with complete genomic profiles. Models were implemented using Scikit-learn and compared through cross-validation. Random forests achieved the strongest performance in five cohorts, including immunotherapy response, TKI response, stage-filtered recurrence, and histological subtype classification. Logistic regression performed better in prostate cancer sample classification and one recurrence cohort. These benchmarks establish a foundation for developing more sophisticated AI architectures in precision oncology.

Spatial Network of Hypoxia Events in Chesapeake Bay Using Granger Causality
Julianna Gepilano
Vyacheslav Lyubchich, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Ryan Langendorf, Environmental Studies Department, University of Colorado Boulder; Jeremy Testa, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Ryan Woodland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Hypoxic events, creating low-oxygen “dead zones”, have continuously proven to be a lethal threat to a variety of species that reside within the Chesapeake Bay. Currently developed methodologies lack the ability to quantify the spatiotemporal propagation (i.e. the spread of dissolved oxygen across time and space) and effects of low-oxygen conditions to protect and preserve the Bay’s ecosystem. We showcase a new approach designed to evaluate the structure and topology of modeled hypoxia processes using the Spatial Network of Hypoxia Events (Hy-Net), which overcomes the difficulty of synthesizing complex spatiotemporal datasets for their use in regression and predictive models. By analyzing the spatiotemporal propagation of hypoxia through time series of oxygen concentrations, Hy-Net will aid in creating spatial networks via Granger causality techniques. These networks then provide forecasted dissolved oxygen values and their locations, allowing ecologists to create proactive treatment plans for the Chesapeake Bay through targeted, engineered oxygenation. Ultimately, this dynamic spatiotemporal network characterization of dissolved oxygen can be used as an input to predict and understand the distribution of the benthic community composition.

Enhancement of Phosphorescence in Chlorin Derivatives Through Metal Complexation and Structural Design
Nahom Getachew
Marcin Ptaszek, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Phosphorescent probes can be used as noninvasive oxygen sensors for early-stage cancer diagnostics, as small tumors create low-oxygen (hypoxic) environments. Phosphorescent probes are strongly quenched by oxygen, which makes them promising agents for oxygen detection. However, it remains unclear how chemical modifications can enhance phosphorescence. In this study, we investigated how metal insertion, such as platinum (Pt) or palladium (Pd), and structural modifications, including dimerization and carbonylation, influence the phosphorescence intensity of chlorin derivatives. We synthesized chlorin monomers, dimers, and oxochlorins containing platinum or palladium. We compared the phosphorescence intensities of three chlorin–chlorin dimers containing different combinations of two metals: platinum–platinum (Pt–Pt), platinum–palladium (Pt–Pd), and palladium–palladium (Pd–Pd), by exciting them at their absorption maxima. Our results indicated that metal insertion significantly enhanced phosphorescence intensity, with platinum containing compounds consistently outperforming their palladium counterparts. Among the dimers, the Pt–Pt dimer demonstrated the highest phosphorescence intensity. When comparing the platinum complexes, the Pt oxochlorin exhibited the strongest phosphorescence intensity. These results demonstrate that metal incorporation and targeted structural modifications enhance phosphorescence intensity. These findings lay the groundwork for more advanced noninvasive oxygen imaging approaches for accurate cancer detection.

N.G. was supported in part by a grant to the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI-52008090). This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF CHE- 1955318).

Uptake and Selectivity of Ultrashort-chain PFAS by Hybrid Anion-exchange Resins in the Presence of Competing Species
Trevor Gibson
Lee Blaney, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent, mobile, and toxic chemicals that have contaminated global water supplies. Conventional anion-exchange resins successfully remove long-chain PFAS from water but demonstrate limited performance for ultrashort-chain analogs, which are an emerging concern due to their greater abundance in water. We hypothesized that hybrid anion-exchange (HAIX) resins, which contain metal (oxy)hydroxide nanoparticles, would improve uptake of (ultra)short-chain PFAS by adding additional adsorption sites and disrupting hydrophobic interactions that favor long-chain PFAS. To test this hypothesis, HAIX resins were generated with loading solutions containing chloride salts of iron(II), iron(III), copper (II), zinc(II), and zirconium(IV). Batch sorption tests were conducted with parent and HAIX resins in solutions containing ultrashort-chain trifluoroacetate (0.05 mM), long-chain perfluorooctanoate (0.02 mM), phosphate (0.36 mM), and chloride (10 mM) at pH 4–5. The metal contents of HAIX resins were quantified via acid digestion with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The performance of HAIX resins varied according to metal type and concentration, but generally showed improved removal for trifluoroacetate over perfluorooctanoate compared to the parent resins. Overall, this study identified the mechanisms governing PFAS removal by HAIX resins, enabling better water treatment and safeguarding human health.

This research was funded through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (ER24-4224).

The Case for a Public Internet
Kat Gill
Michael Casiano, American Studies

How do we conceptualize a world with an Internet that serves the public good? For a large portion of its existence, the Internet has been a place optimized for the extraction of data and capital from its users. Today, this has resulted in a digital environment that blurs the lines between entertainment and fact, generating an ecosystem of populism and political extremism. This correlates directly with the rise of fascism in the US, as political leaders such as Donald Trump have harnessed privatized social media for their own political gain. However, public stores of information, such as the Internet Archive, have proved to be invaluable in preserving data deleted by the government. Through conducting oral histories with five college students concerning their experiences with public and private internet spaces, my research uncovered how this technology can be reimagined to help us move towards a healthier digital landscape through the promotion of more nuanced thinking. Ultimately, the public nature of these resources can work to redefine how we position ourselves as individuals on the Internet and help conceptualize a niche of digital public resources governed by individual and community needs.

Optimizing Production of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor in Cell-free Protein Synthesis
Elias Gilotte, Katherine Rhea, Mesha Shajahan, Julia Van Der Marel, Aditi Katragunta
Govind Rao, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Chad Sundberg, CBEE, UMBC

Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) is a critical biologic used to treat radiation-induced neutropenia. In large-scale radiological exposure scenarios, rapid and decentralized production of G-CSF is essential to enable timely treatment. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) offers a promising platform for on-demand therapeutic manufacturing. However, economically viable CFPS production requires optimization of reaction substrates, DNA/mRNA design, reactor conditions, and downstream purification. In this study, we address these key parameters and demonstrate an optimized, cost-effective platform for G-CSF production.

U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

Evaluating Large Language Models in Simulated Financial Markets and an Automated Trading Framework
Grisha Goldberg, Varshini Thangavelu, Hrishikesh Thakkar, Varshitha Mahadevuni, Paolo Cardarella
Hasan Shahid, Economics

Artificial intelligence has been widely studied as a tool for financial decision-making, yet substantial room remains for direct, transparent comparison of leading models under identical market conditions. This project evaluated how top large language models performed in a multi-week simulated stock market competition and developed an automated framework for AI-driven paper trading. Five models, Claude Opus 4.6, ChatGPT 5.2, Gemini 3 Pro, GLM-5, and Kimi K2.5, participated in a weekly MarketWatch simulation. Each week, models received updated portfolio positions and were prompted to buy, sell, hold, short, or place limit and market orders. Performance was assessed strictly using quantitative financial metrics, including total return, cumulative profit, weekly return consistency, and portfolio volatility. Returns were compared across models to evaluate relative profitability, while volatility was used to measure risk exposure and performance stability. In parallel, we developed an automated workflow integrating artificial intelligence with a brokerage paper trading API to enable systematic strategy execution and higher-frequency testing, independent of the MarketWatch platform. By comparing profit and volatility across models in a controlled setting, this project contributes empirical evidence regarding the relative performance and risk characteristics of contemporary large language models in simulated financial markets.

Enhancements to the Scientific Explanations Framework Including Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning
Jenavie Gopez
Christopher Rakes, Education

The present study examined the use of applied investigations to enhance student ability to develop coherent scientific explanations using the claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) framework. In the 2025-2026 school year, participants included 17 eighth grade students enrolled in an on-grade level physical science class at a public middle school. The innovation consisted of organized structure for the writing process, explicit instruction, sentence frame starters, and the combination of written and verbal feedback to support student growth in developing scientific explanations. Evidence of growth in scientific explanations was measured using the Science Friday rubric, “Secondary Science Claim Evidence and Reasoning” (adapted from McNeill & Krajcik, 2008) which has a scale of one to four. Data collection occurred during the first quarter, beginning of second quarter, and at the end of second quarter. The target was for students to advance by one point above their starting score administered in the first quarter. The target for students who earned a four in the first quarter was to maintain a four or create more detailed scientific explanations. Connecting applied investigations to cause and effect relationships enhanced students’ ability to make informed decisions, engage in discussions, and apply scientific phenomena to real world contexts.

Conceptions of Blackness: A Fantastical Re-Imagining of Black Heroism and Villainy
Phoenix Gordon
Sharon Tran, English

This study examines constructions of Blackness in relation to pain. I explore how Black heroism is accompanied by pain and whether it is still revolutionary when removed from it. The notion that Black people do not feel pain has been used to justify their dehumanization/villainization. Black presence in White-dominated spaces has birthed many polarizing categorizations of Blackness: “the good” versus “the ghetto”; “not Black enough” versus “Black enough.” Such distinct labels render Blackness only acceptable when gentrified by the removal of pain, and uncouth when backed by the acknowledgement of it. I analyze how Black creatives intervene in these narratives by engaging in textual analysis of historical and contemporary depictions of Blackness, informed by critical race theory, through film, television, and literature. By focusing on Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys, Misha Green’s Lovecraft Country (2020), and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025), I consider realist iterations of Black pain and how they are reconstructed through fantastical elements. When coupled with wizardry and vampires, I argue that audiences gain a whole new perspective of understanding Blackness, power, and oppression. These works recreate the Black “hero” and “villain” into multidimensional beings who do not exist solely in hardship, or as victims.

Historical and Anatomical Analysis of Bitmap Fonts on the Compact Disc Package
Perry Gotis
Katherine Heater, Visual Arts

Bitmap fonts were digitally developed from 1984 for the Macintosh, to brand design for music artists in the 1990’s to 2000’s following afterwards. How have bitmap fonts applied to album packaging design, and what can the typographic anatomy of bitmap fonts prepare for font creation? The creative project incorporates research from Typography III that repurposes Mariposa Display, a customized font made in FontStruct that was workshopped and designed after the markings of a monarch butterfly. This project assembles a compact disc jewel case album mockup that dissect the anatomy of Zuzana Licko’s bitmap fonts (Totally Gothic, Lo-Res, Modula Sans and Modula Serif), applied to four different album covers as main and secondary formats, as well as adapts their anatomical font features to Mariposa Display’s typeface anatomy. The narrative analyzes the transition of bitmap fonts from computer to album design, and explores the importance of accessibility and visual structure within bitmap fonts as main and secondary typography. Additionally, the compact disc packaging’s brand guidelines explain the creative process with typeface approaches, color swatches, and visual identity within the packaging layout. The illustrations and typography are constructed using Mariposa Display with Licko’s fonts, which highlight the font’s visual flexibility for referential purposes.

Red Monday: Reassessing the Warren Court’s Multifaceted Response to Communism
Audrey Grutzik
William Blake, Political Science

Constitutional law scholars have viewed the Second Red Scare from two isolated points of view, the First Amendment and the Due Process Clauses, ignoring connections between the First Amendment and due process. This approach is flawed because it obscures the salience of communism from the 1940s through the 1960s. We reevaluate the Supreme Court’s role in ending the Second Red Scare by analyzing First Amendment and due process cases about communism jointly. This revisionist account is needed because the justices and Congress viewed these issues as intertwined. By connecting Second Red Scare cases across constitutional provisions, constitutional law scholars can paint a fuller picture of the rise, persistence, and eventual downfall of McCarthyism. We argue that the Warren Court’s decisions from 1957 onwards primarily caused the end of the Second Red Scare by first analyzing the impact of the Court through several First Amendment and due process cases, and then comparing the Warren and Vinson Courts’ decisions in Second Red Scare cases. We find that the Warren Court’s defense of both First Amendment and due process rights represented a marked change in the Court’s stance, beginning in 1957 and continuing until the end of the Second Red Scare.

Fever Dream Performance
Claudia Gualtieri, Jeff Leips, Stephen Caruso, Rayan Bacon, Elana Frazier, Ginevra Imberti
Jeff Leips, Biological Sciences

Fever Dream is the official band of the Biology Department at UMBC. It stems from the passion of the chair of the biology department “Fun Committee,” Dr. Jeff Leips. Fever Dream has been cheering up every fun event in the Biology department and has secured gigs even outside the university. The band is made up of professors, graduate students and even one undergrad, all from the Biology department! The band is looking forward to showcasing their cover music outside of the Bio department and who knows? Maybe Fever Dream will soon also be your go to band for events on the entire campus!

Determining the Role of the Cell Junction Protein Transferrin 2 in Border Cell Migration in Drosophila Melanogaster
Christopher Guerrero
Michelle Starz-Gaiano, Biological Sciences

Cell migration is required for numerous biological processes, including immune responses, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. Because these mechanisms are difficult to study directly in humans, we use Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, where genetic tools are well established and highly conserved across organisms. In the egg chamber, a cluster of 6–10 border cells, known as the border cell cluster (BCC), detaches from the anterior follicular epithelium and migrates posteriorly toward the oocyte. Directed migration depends on coordinated regulation of chemoattractants, substrate topography, and precise control of proteins and ligands. We investigated Transferrin 2 (Tsf2) as a candidate regulator of border cell migration. Tsf2 maintains epithelial septate junctions and binds iron, suggesting potential roles in tissue organization and signaling. Using genetic tools, we induced Tsf2 knockdown specifically in border cells, dissected egg chambers, and performed immunofluorescent staining to assess migration and structural integrity. Preliminary data suggests that Tsf2 downregulation delays border cell migration and causes structural defects within the egg chamber. These findings support the hypothesis that Tsf2 is required for clustered cell migration and tissue organization, potentially functioning as a junctional component. Future studies will examine Tsf2’s iron-binding activity and its mechanistic role in migration.

This research is funded by NSF grant IOS-2303857.

Reconstructing Identity: The Sociocultural Transition of North Korean Defectors in South Korea
Sarah Haines
Kyung-Eun Yoon, Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication

North Korean defectors have faced significant tribulations when integrating into South Korean society with limited research examining how this transition has reshaped their identities. This study investigated how experiences of escape, social stigma, media representation, and access to resources like higher education and economic opportunity have influenced identity reconstruction among defectors resettled in the South. Examining empirical research on youth defector life-course narratives, public discourse and media representation, and research on educational and social support outcomes, determined what the identity reconstruction process resembled. Findings indicated that identity formation occurred gradually, in stages, beginning with vulnerability and progressing toward stability and self-transcendence. Despite discrimination and pressure to conform to stereotypes established by South Korean society, access to higher education, government assistance, and social networks led to improvements in health, financial stability, and belonging. Identity reconstruction is not static; it evolves through adversity and opportunity. The reviewed research is important because it humanizes a politically driven issue. Conversations about North Koreans often focus on international conflict, yet this research shifts attention to people starting new lives in South Korea, encouraging the public to see defectors not as political symbols but as individuals seeking better opportunity within a united community.

Centralizing Community Health Access & Resource Module with a Focus on Food Resources During the Federal Shutdown
Muskaan Hammad, Joshua Musselman¹, Michelle Peralta¹
¹Baltimore City Health Department
Katie Birger, Public Health

This analysis aimed to determine whether increasing the total number of food resources offered on the Community Health Access and Resource Module (CHARMcare) and disseminating through the Local Health Improvement Coalition (LHIC) resulted in increased utilization of CHARMcare and CHARMcare food resources during the federal government shutdown. At the Baltimore City Health Department, LHIC leads CHARMcare, a free, online resource guide for free or reduced-cost programs and services in Baltimore City addressing social needs. Google Analytics was used to determine CHARMcare utilization. Two datasets were used; CHARMcare active users and CHARMcare page views. There was an increase in both CHARMcare utilization and views of food resource pages during the period of the federal government shutdown from 10/01/2025 to 11/12/2025 when compared to both an equal time period directly before the federal government shutdown (8/18/2025 to 9/30/2025) and the same time period of October to November in 2024. These findings demonstrate increased food resources and increased CHARMcare utilization during the shutdown; spikes to active users were observed before and after 11/1/2025, the date SNAP benefits were suspended (Cunningham, 2025).

Testing Ethanol Treatment for the Reduction of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) InDrosophila
Emily Hernandez
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) results in the neurodegeneration of individuals which impairs memory, cognition, and motor skills. Despite AD’s impact, effective treatments are extremely limited. This study focuses on whether ethanol can be used as a neuroprotectant to reduce neuronal degradation found in AD. Using Drosophila Melanogaster as our model organism, we exposed Wild Type and APPLd mutant flies (a mutant gene directly correlated with AD) to various ethanol concentrations into their food and enclosed environment. Each week, behavioral flight tests would be executed to various cohorts of Drosophila to observe trends that could be concluded from collected data. Through our experiments, we are able to conclude potential findings that may support our hypothesis that the usage of ethanol may act as a neuroprotectant, given a certain concentration. With further investigation, ethanol could further be proved to be safely used as a neuroprotectant, postponing the degradation of neurons in AD. These results could implicate potential treatments in other neurodegenerative disorders.

A Genetic Interrogation of FLK Interacting Genes in Pathogen Defense of Arabidopsis
Alleanna Hines, Miranda Judd, Leah Vrydagh
Hua Lu, Biological Sciences

Understanding the mechanisms of plant-pathogen interactions is vital for enhancing agricultural resilience and developing crops with strengthened disease resistance. Flowering Locus K Homology Domain (FLK) is a canonical regulator of flowering time in Arabidopsis. Recently, the Lu lab identified a mutant allele of FLK in a genetic screen for suppressors of accelerated cell death 6-1 (acd6-1), a constitutive defense mutant where defense activation inversely correlates with plant size. The FLK protein is known to physically interact with several proteins, including the KH-domain proteins PEP, HEN4, and HOS1. While these FLK-interacting proteins (FINs) are established flowering regulators, their potential roles in pathogen defense remain unclear. We hypothesize that, similar to FLK, these FINs function as defense regulators. To test this hypothesis, we crossed acd6-1 with each fin single mutant to generate F1 populations. We are currently screening the F2 generation via PCR with mutation-specific primers to identify homozygous double mutants carrying both acd6- 1 and a fin mutation. Genotypic stability will be further verified in the F3 population. Once identified, these double homozygous mutants will be evaluated for suppression of acd6-1- conferred dwarfism. Collectively, this study will elucidate whether FIN genes contribute to the regulation of pathogen defense in Arabidopsis.

This work was partially supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF 2223886) to Hua Lu.

A Functional Map of Intrinsically Disordered Regions Across the Human Proteome
Jessica Hoffman
Francisco Sanchez-Rivera, Biological Sciences

Mutations in intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of the proteome are frequent in cancer, yet most remain of uncertain clinical significance. To address this gap, we performed pooled gene editing screens to assess the functional effects of 6,491 recurrent cancer-associated IDR mutations, revealing functional sites that impact cellular fitness. Among these, we identified several mutations in a disordered domain of TBX3 – a transcription factor with essential roles in human development. While loss-of-function mutations in TBX3 are linked to congenital disorders, TBX3 is overexpressed in different tumor types. Yet, the mechanisms by which mutations in TBX3 can lead to gain-of-function in cancer remain poorly understood. Preliminary data suggest that IDR variants in TBX3 increase protein expression and nuclear localization. Because TBX3 activity is regulated by protein phosphorylation, I hypothesize that these variants might disrupt the phosphoregulation of TBX3. Integrating our results with computational predictions uncovered several IDR mutations that result in the gain or loss of phosphorylation sites across cancer-associated genes. Together, these findings highlight mutations that impact functionally important regions in disordered domains and suggest that altered phosphoregulation may contribute to the pathogenic effects of a subset of IDR variants.

Sucrose Density Gradient Centrifugation Versus Anion Exchange for Exosome Sample Purification
Sydney Hofstetter
Dr. Luis Pinzon-Herrera, Melanie J. Nelson
Jorge Almodovar, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Exosomes can be effectively isolated from samples using sucrose density gradient (SDG) ultracentrifugation, but ion exchange methods may result in higher levels of exosome sample purity. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles secreted by cells with biomedical applications that include drug administration and immunotherapy. They are small, non-reproducing cellular compartments with varying proteomic and nucleic acid profiles. Purified exosome samples allow us to use samples for downstream applications. We explore the use of ion exchange methods to remove debris and contaminants from exosome-containing samples and compare these methods to SDG centrifugation to determine which yields the highest sample purity levels. To use ion exchange, we utilize anion exchange resin columns and allow the samples to flow through via administration with a syringe. For SDG ultracentrifugation, we manually create a sucrose density gradient in a tube to be ultracentrifuged, which allows sample components to migrate to their respective density levels. Protein content of density layers has been evaluated via BCA assays and sample purity has been verified via nanoparticle tracking analysis.

This investigation was sponsored by the U-RISE Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), which is supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 2T34GM136497-06. We thank Dr. Ryan Pearson at the University of Maryland, Baltimore for assistance with this project.

PC-12 Differentiation in Human Schwann Cell Co-Culture on ECM-Mimetic Coatings: A Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Model
Nina Hunter
Jorge Almodovar, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Luis Carlos Pinzon Herrera, Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Severe peripheral nerve injuries often result in permanent loss of function due to limited axonal regeneration, affecting millions worldwide. Human Schwann cells (hSCs) and PC-12 cells serve as valuable models in peripheral nerve regeneration research. Schwann cells are glial cells of the peripheral nervous system that insulate axons and promote nerve repair. PC-12 cells, derived from rat adrenal medulla, serve as a well-established model for neuronal differentiation and neurite outgrowth. In this study, we utilized a co-culture system to investigate PC-12 and hSCs interactions. We hypothesized that hSCs would enhance PC-12 differentiation when combined with optimal nerve growth factor (NGF) concentrations. To evaluate this, we compared two different culture conditions: heparin and collagen layer-by-layer coatings which incorporate extracellular matrix components (ECM) and a synthetic poly-L-lysine (PLL) coating. Standard tissue culture plastic was used as the control condition. Our findings demonstrate enhanced PC-12 differentiation and neurite extension in co-culture conditions supplemented with NGF. These results emphasize the synergistic effects of cell–cell interactions, engineered ECM environments, and growth factor signaling in driving neuronal differentiation. Collectively, this model provides a valuable platform to develop tissue-engineered scaffolds that facilitate axonal regrowth and restore neural connectivity for patients with severe nervous system injuries.

Engineering Antigen Specific Regulatory T Cells (CAR TREGS) For Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy
Nneamaka Ibe
Diana Elizondo, Biological Sciences

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells, leading to lifelong insulin dependence. Current treatments manage blood glucose but do not halt the underlying autoimmunity, and broad immunosuppression carries significant risks. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) maintain immune tolerance by suppressing autoreactive responses. In this project, we explored a virus-free approach to engineer Tregs with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) directed against diabetes-associated autoantigens using synthetic mRNA delivery. Tregs were isolated, activated, and electroporated with optimized IVT CAR mRNA. CAR expression was confirmed within 24 hours and persisted long enough for functional analysis. Functional studies demonstrated that mRNA-CAR Tregs exhibited improved viability and more effectively suppressed effector T cell proliferation in co-culture, indicating enhanced regulatory potency. Preliminary migration studies also showed that mRNA-CAR Tregs preferentially responded to chemokines associated with inflamed pancreatic tissue, suggesting localization to sites of β-cells destruction. These findings support the feasibility of using mRNA-engineered CAR Tregs as a safe, flexible, and targeted immunotherapy for T1D. By combining antigen specificity, persistence, and a non-integrating delivery method, mRNA-CAR Tregs offer a promising strategy to protect residual β-cells, reduce insulin dependence, and avoid the long-term risks of systemic immunosuppression or viral integration.

Modeling Tumor-Driven Disruption of Intestinal Epithelial Heterogeneity Using 3D Organoids
Zainab Idowu
Khashayarsha Khazaie, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The small intestinal epithelium contains diverse cell types, including enterocytes, goblet cells, paneth cells, enteroendocrine cells, tuft cells, and LGR5+ stem cells. This heterogeneity is essential for tissue homeostasis, nutrient absorption, and regeneration. Tumorigenesis disrupts this balance, impairing differentiation and epithelial diversity. We investigated how tumor-derived microenvironments alter epithelial composition using 3D organoids from APC^+/- tumor-bearing mice and wild-type controls.

Immunofluorescence staining revealed that wild-type organoids formed more buds and larger structures, whereas tumor organoids were smaller, with fewer buds and reduced or mislocalized MUC2+ goblet and Lysozyme+ Paneth cells. RT-qPCR showed downregulation of differentiation-associated genes (ATOH1, CHGA, LGR5, KRT20, MUC2, DCLK1) in tumor organoids, while protein levels of KI67 and LGR5 were elevated, indicating a hyperproliferative, undifferentiated state. Flow cytometry confirmed increased KI67+ and LGR5+ cells and reduced MUC2+ and CHGA+ cells at the single-cell level.

These results demonstrate that tumorigenesis promotes a stem-like, proliferative phenotype and suppresses specialized lineages, leading to loss of epithelial heterogeneity. Disruption of cellular diversity may compromise intestinal barrier function and facilitate tumor progression. Future studies will identify molecular markers of heterogeneity loss to guide early detection and therapeutic strategies aimed at restoring epithelial homeostasis.

The Under Representation of POC in Fashion
Uzochukwu Iloanya
Kathlene Razzano, Media and Communication Studies

In the world of high fashion, positions of power have historically been dominated by white men, from creative directors and executive designers to casting decision makers. Even as the industry evolves, leadership roles and opportunities for creative authority often remain concentrated within a narrow demographic. This documentary explores the structural barriers that limit Black and Brown representation in fashion, both on the runway and behind the scenes. Through interviews, historical context, and industry analysis, the film examines how systemic exclusion shapes beauty standards and creative control. It features UMBC’s very own modeling team as they create their own path to success within the fashion industry. Ultimately, it asks how the fashion industry can cultivate more spaces that empower Black and Brown models and designers to express themselves freely and reshape the global narrative of what fashion is and who it belongs to.

Monitoring Polychlorinated Biphenyl Levels in Maryland Fish
Jasmine Ives
Upal Ghosh, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Nathalie Lombard, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are banned flame retardants that persist in the environment and belong to a pollutant class called forever chemicals. Due to their toxicity and their ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the aquatic food web, their presence becomes a risk to human health through fish consumption. Consistent monitoring of PCB levels in fish is necessary to create health advisories to prevent human consumption of fish with high PCB levels. This study is part of ongoing work with the Maryland Department of Environment to quantify PCB levels in fish throughout Maryland. PCBs were extracted from freeze-dried tissue using sonication in hexane-acetone followed by treatment with sulfuric acid and activated copper to remove interfering compounds. The cleanup process was completed in a glass column packed with glass wool, sodium sulfate, deactivated florosil, and acidified silica gel to remove additional natural compounds that interfere with PCB analysis. PCB quantification was completed using a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. Analysis of lipid concentration in fish was performed to normalize data due to PCBs’ lipophilic nature. The results found allow current fish consumption advisories to be adjusted as needed and highlight areas of concern in regards to PCBs in Maryland.

The Campus Connect: A Centralized Digital Marketplace for Student Entrepreneurship and Campus-Based Services
Jada Iwuoha
Kevin Fulmer, Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship; Tasha Vanzie, Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and BwTech

With the growing number of entrepreneurs and talented students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County there is an urgent need for a centralized solution that allows students to advertise and engage in the services/products offered by students within the campus community. Currently, many student entrepreneurs and campus organizations use disconnected communication channels such as social media, word of mouth, or group chats, allowing for limited visibility and inconsistent outreach. As a result, many students on campus aren’t aware of these opportunities and believe they must leave campus to receive the services they need. The Campus Connect is a digital platform which offers a user-friendly website where on-campus student-run businesses can register, create profiles, and promote their products/services directly to the students of UMBC through campus marketplaces and service listings. The Campus Connect addresses the limited visibility and centralized support for student entrepreneurs while reducing barriers for students seeking affordable, convenient, and campus-accessible services. Initial usability testing with nine student participants indicated that users were able to quickly locate services, understand business offerings, and navigate the platform with minimal instruction. These findings suggest that centralized digital marketplaces can significantly improve awareness of campus-based services and reduce accessibility barriers.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Silencing Ogoniland: Oil, Power, and the Politics of Neglect in an Exploited Region
Sanjana Jain
Jé St Sume, Political Science

Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil producer. The resource is concentrated across nine states that constitute the Niger Delta. Even though oil is distributed across the Delta, since 1957, Ogoniland, Rivers state, has been subjected to an unwarranted degree of exploitation and environmental degradation. The Ogoni people have suffered uninhabitable conditions, inexistent economic opportunities, and what appears to be the intentional suppression of human rights.

Ogoniland is a heavily understudied region; consequently, the root cause of why the Ogoni people have been subjected to the harshest ramifications of oil exploration is yet to be uncovered. To determine the primary causes for these discrepancies, I will compare the Ijaw people who reside across oil-rich Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta states against the Ogoni people. I will hold factors such as geographic terrain, prevalence of a multinational oil company, and a history of resistance against oil exploitation constant. Based on my current research, I hypothesize that since the Ogoni people were able to successfully organize a nonviolent resistance movement that gained international attention as a minority group, despite not possessing any political leverage, the Nigerian government became spiteful towards them. I intend to propose at least one recommendation to aid Ogoniland’s recovery.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Investigating the Role of Pneumococcal Phenotypic Heterogeneity in Determining Virulence Severity
Urvi Jain, Cynthia Chikomoni¹
¹Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering
Corine Jackman Burden, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) is the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia hospitalizations in the United States and kills over 3,000 children under 5 and 5,000 older adults each year. Increasing incidences of antibiotic resistance and the growing severity of pneumococcal disease underscore the urgent need to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive the onset of pneumococcal infections. Previous work has demonstrated inherent heterogeneity in the induction of PphrA, a promoter of the gene regulatory network TprA/PhrA that contributes to morbidity and mortality in murine models. However, the influence of heterogeneity on severity of infection is largely understudied. Our lab is addressing this gap using two complementary approaches. First, we are investigating the effects of a wildtype strain and a phrA deletion mutant on pulmonary colonization dynamics and host inflammatory responses using Calu-3 lung cells on a transwell plate. Second, we are quantifying the magnitude and persistence of PphrA heterogeneity by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and phenotypic memory time (PMT). PMT will allow us to determine how long transcriptional states persist across bacterial generations. Ultimately, this work will advance our understanding of how phenotypic heterogeneity shapes pneumococcal infection and may inform new therapeutic strategies to combat disease.

I am a recipient of a UMBC Travel Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Exploring Chinese American Adolescents’ Experiences of Barriers to Civic Engagement
Kiara James
Charissa Cheah, Psychology

Anti-Asian racism surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and in a hostile sociopolitical climate. The rising anti-Asian sentiments catalyzed civic engagement (CE) activities among Asian Americans (AA) (Chang et al., 2023; Zong et al., 2024). However, AA adolescents’ CE activities continue to be unstudied due to the model minority stereotype, portraying AAs as quiet, obedient, and reluctant to challenge institutional oppression (Anand & Hsu, 2020). These stereotypes invalidate AA adolescents’ experiences of barriers in combating systemic racism. To guide interventions that empower AA youth’s voices and challenge the model minority stereotype, this qualitative study identified barriers to AA adolescents’ CE. Asian American adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 years (N = 51; Mage = 15.61years; SDage = 1.98, 49% female) participated in interviews virtually. Three research assistants coded the interviews (K = 0.82-0.96). Thematic analyses revealed seven major types of barriers: (1) logistical, (2) limited knowledge of CE opportunities, (3) lack of shared beliefs or unity, (4) safety concerns, (5) low efficacy, (6) low sense of urgency, and (7) gender role hindering participation. Community interventions can address these barriers to support AA adolescents’ engagement in civic activities that advance social justice in the United States.

This work was funded, in part, by UMBC McNair Scholars Summer Research Institute

β-arrestin2 Signaling Modulates Kappa Opioid Receptor Induced Sedation
Leen Jawhar
Laurie Sutton, Biological Sciences; Alyson Blount, Biological Sciences UMBC pHD student

Kappa opioid receptors (KORs) play an important role in regulating pain, itch, mood, and arousal, but the receptor’s clinical use is limited by adverse effects such as sedation and motor impairment. Although KOR activation produces sedative behaviors, the intracellular signaling mechanisms responsible for these effects remain poorly defined. KORs signal through two primary intracellular pathways: G protein and β-arrestin2 signaling. These pathways are canonically believed to mediate different behaviors however more research is coming out showing they aren’t as independent as initially thought. The central goal was to determine the specific contribution of β-arrestin2 signaling to KOR-induced sedation in vivo. To address this, we used conditional β-arrestin2 knockout mice where β-arrestin2 is removed from KOR-expressing neurons. A rotarod assay assessed sedation and motor coordination. Mice were treated with U50,488, a KOR agonist that activates both G protein and β-arrestin2 pathways, or nalfurafine, a G protein-biased agonist with minimal β-arrestin2 recruitment. U50,488 induced sedation in wild-type, whereas β-arrestin2 knockout mice showed reduced sedation. Nalfurine produced motor impairment in WT mice which was reduced in β-arrestin2 knockouts. These findings demonstrate that β-arrestin2 recruitment is required for KOR-mediated sedation, providing insight into therapeutics development that have analgesic effects while minimizing sedative side effects.

Against the Grain
Rick Jenkins, Cristian Uribe, Daniel Lee, Henry Walenczyk, Ben Varga, Lacey Wilburn, Unchisa Kitisook
Eric Jordan, Visual Arts

Created as part of the Capstone Games Group Project course, Against the Grain is a two-dimensional top-down game that blends elements of strategy and farming games, creating unique logistical challenges for the player to overcome. The project was built in Unity using C#. The programmers were tasked with creating the tile system that lays the foundation for the entire game. They then worked hard to implement the different units of the game, whether that be the farmers, animals, or robots. Creating multiple variants of each unit to grant the player more options when it comes to strategy, and more challenges they will have to overcome. The enemy units are programmed to create mounting positional pressure without randomness, creating a solid threat to the players’ troops. The farmer units not only can attack but can also grow and harvest crops, with crops being used as currency to get the animal units to move and attack. The artists worked diligently to create a visual style that was charming and easy to read and understand. The game promotes a strategy of managing crop production, converting harvest into combat units, and defeating enemies.

Characterizing Astrocytic GPER1 Expression in the Cortex Across Estrous Cycle Stages
Shanmukha Josyam
Carmen Muñoz-Ballester, Biological Sciences

Estrogen is a key neuromodulatory hormone that regulates various signaling pathways in the brain. These pathways are largely mediated through estrogen receptors, including estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) and G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER1). Although the expression profiles of ERα and ERβ have been extensively characterized, GPER1 expression has been far less studied, especially in specific brain regions and cell types. Among these cell types, astrocytes play a central role in the response to estrogen-dependent signaling, yet astrocytic GPER1 expression in cortical regions remains poorly defined. To address this knowledge gap, we sought to analyze astrocyte GPER1 expression in the cortex across different stages of the estrous cycle in female mice. Brain tissues from different estrous cycle stages were immunostained with antibodies against GPER1 and S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B), an astrocyte biomarker, to assess colocalization. GPER1 expression in astrocytes was quantified through fluorescence intensity and determining the number of GPER1-expressing astrocytes. The results of this study characterize GPER1 expression in cortical astrocytes across each stage of the estrous cycle and potentially serve as a foundation for understanding how estrogen affects downstream signaling of GPER1 in astrocytes.

This work was funded, in part, by the Munoz-Ballester Lab at UMBC.

Structural Effects in Zr-MOFs On Curcumin Stability and Delivery
Aeon Kaplowitz
Lisa Kelly, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Curcumin is a natural compound with anti-inflammatory and anticancer potential, but it has low water solubility and degrades quickly under light, which limits its clinical use. Zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) are porous materials that can be tuned through pore size and linker chemistry, making them promising drug carriers. In this project, we studied how curcumin concentration, MOF pore size (NU-808, NU-901, NU-1000), and functionalized m-linkers (-CH₃, -Cl, -NO₂) affect encapsulation, photostability, solubility, and release in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4). Encapsulation and release were measured using UV-Vis spectroscopy at 428 nm with baseline correction and normalized comparisons. Results showed that MOF pores saturated at about 8-12 µg curcumin per mg MOF. Smaller pores and modified linkers improved encapsulation and significantly increased protection against ambient-light degradation, likely due to stronger interactions and tighter confinement. However, these same modifications also reduced curcumin release in PBS, suggesting stronger host-guest binding. Larger-pore, unmodified systems showed faster release but less protection.

This study demonstrates that linker chemistry and pore size directly control curcumin stability and release behavior. Understanding these structure-function relationships can guide the design of MOF drug carriers that balance high loading with controlled therapeutic delivery.

A Conserved YED Motif Regulates BFD2 Function Across Toxoplasma Gondii Life Stages
Jariatu Kargbo
Sebastian Lourido, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite that can cause life-threatening disease in the immunocompromised. Its prevalence stems from its ability to differentiate from a rapidly-dividing acute stage into a slow-growing chronic stage that produces latent cysts in muscle tissue to persist long-term within the host. This transition is induced by cellular stress and coordinated by the transcription factor BFD1. Previously, the lab identified an upstream regulator of BFD1, a C3H-type zinc finger protein BFD2, which binds BFD1 mRNA to promote its translation under stress. Additionally, we showed that BFD2 is required for optimal growth of Toxoplasma in cell culture and C-terminally tagging BFD2 disrupts stress-induced differentiation. However, the molecular basis of this effect is unclear. Here, we explore the influence of BFD2’s C-terminus on stage-specific phenotypes. We found that BFD2 ends in a three residue ‘YED’ motif conserved among C3H proteins in Toxoplasma. Deletion of this motif (BFD2∆YED) blocks chronic differentiation similar to a BFD2-knockout. Through plaque assays and competition experiments, we show that BFD2∆YED parasites also exhibit an acute-stage growth defect. Together, our findings underline the requirement of BFD2’s C-terminus for function across life stages, and inform future structure-function studies into the molecular interactions controlling parasite development and persistence.

N-myc Downstream Regulated Gene 1a, a Generalist Stress Protein That Respond to Both Hypoxia and Salinity Changes
Aditi Katragunta, Anya Viswanathan, Timothy Hufford
Rachel Brewster, Biological Sciences

Environmental change threatens biodiversity and highlights the need to understand how organisms adapt to stress. Studies show that zebrafish embryos survive hypoxia by entering a hypometabolic state mediated by N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1a (Ndrg1a), conserving energy by downregulating the ATP-dependent Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (NKA) pump in the pronephric duct and ionocytes, key cell types in osmoregulation. We hypothesized that Ndrg1a also functions as a generalist environmental stress responder. My project tests whether Ndrg1 contributes to salinity adaptation. At 24 hours post fertilization (hpf), wild-type and ndrg1a mutant embryos were exposed to 0–10 ppt salinity for 24 hours. Mutants exhibited pericardial edema at all salinities, indicating impaired osmoregulation without Ndrg1a. Whole-mount immunolabeling revealed, unlike the inverse Ndrg1a–NKA relationship under hypoxia, both proteins changed in parallel under salinity stress, suggesting coordinated response through positive regulation of NKA by Ndrg1a or a shared upstream pathway. In ndrg1a mutants, NKA was redistributed in a salinity-dependent manner, appearing in cells lacking Ndrg1a. These findings support that Ndrg1a and NKA is regulated by an upstream pathway, and the loss of ndrg1a triggers a stress response, driving compensatory osmoregulatory activity. These findings support a shared stress-regulatory pathway and suggest Ndrg1a acts as a context-dependent generalist stress responder.

This work was funded, in part, by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Early-Life Maternal Care Programs Social Behavior Through Dnmt3ab Mediated DNA Methylation
Onkarpreet Kaur
Cheng-Yu Li, Biological Sciences

Maternal care and early-life maternal interactions exert profound and lasting effects on offspring brain development and social behavior across taxa. These maternal effects can shape offspring phenotypes independently of genetic inheritance, yet the molecular mechanisms through which maternal environments become biologically embedded in the developing brain remain poorly understood. Epigenetic mechanisms offer a compelling framework for understanding maternal effects because they enable stable, experience-dependent regulation of gene expression without altering DNA sequence. Among these mechanisms, DNA methylation is especially well suited to encode maternal influences due to its sensitivity during development and long-term stability. However, the specific methylation pathways linking maternal care to neural and behavioral outcomes remain largely unexplored. Here, we use African cichlid fish, a system with well-characterized maternal care and conserved neuroendocrine circuitry, to investigate the epigenetic basis of maternal effects on social behavior. We propose a model in which maternal cues during early development modify dnmt3ab-mediated DNA methylation, leading to persistent changes in neural circuit organization and offspring social behavior. By comparing offspring reared with maternal care versus artificial rearing, we assess brain-specific dnmt3ab expression, DNA methylation patterns, and social behavior. This study provides mechanistic insight into how maternal care generates lasting behavioral variation.

Classification of Explore and Exploit Behaviors in Eigenmannia Virescens
Prince Michael Kemani, Samuel Nemirovsky
Kathleen Hoffman, Biological Sciences; Debojyoti Biswas, Johns Hopkins

Trade-offs between costly information-gathering movements (“explore”) and leveraging acquired information to achieve task goals (“exploit”) are central to decision-making in domains such as foraging and reinforcement learning, yet remain underexplored in sensorimotor control. We use the weakly electric fish Eigenmannia virescens performing station-keeping inside a refuge using vision and electrosense. Reduced sensory salience (e.g., lower light levels) elicits burst-like ancillary movements associated with active sensing, consistent with increased information demands. However, distinguishing exploratory from exploitative movements remains unresolved because both occur along a single rostrocaudal axis using the same ribbon-fin locomotor system. Using extended 600 s trials across varied conditions, we show that velocity-threshold classification is inadequate and develop improved criteria to disambiguate explore versus exploit behaviors. We categorize high-speed bursts as exploration of the environment or exploitation of learned spatial preferences (movement to a new stable location) by incorporating temporal context, including post-burst settling behavior and refuge-relative position dynamics. Whole-body kinematics quantified with DeepLabCut reveal changes in body curvature and tail-beating patterns that further support classification. These findings refine mode-switching models in active sensing and provide generalizable insights into sensorimotor control.

NIH-1R01NS147767.

Missionary Position: Power and Cultural Mediation Through the Lens Of 16th Century Missionaries and Postwar Sex Workers
Isabel Kendall
Julie Oakes, Honors College

What does it mean to be a cultural and linguistic mediator between two nations? How does a colonial power imbalance impact this relationship? This multi-disciplinary creative project seeks to start a conversation about these questions. In this project, I explore how language is shaped by asymmetrical power dynamics and how cultural contact zones create opportunities for linguistic creativity amid significant power imbalances. I analyze two extremely different historical moments to explore how dominated groups have enacted agency throughout history, despite differences in culture or profession. The two case studies are as follows: 16th-century missionary Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s creation of the Florentine Codex with Nahua scribes, and panpan women, a postwar phenomenon in American-occupied Japan, and their sex-work transactions with U.S. servicemen. This visual project plunges the viewer into the perspective of an intercultural communicator, informed by my research into these two case studies. The intention is for the audience to leave the exhibit with more questions to ask than answers. Further, one should leave with a greater understanding of the crucial and often misunderstood role of the linguistic interlocutor as well as its ubiquity in our past and present.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Comparative Study of Genome Packaging Mechanisms in HIV-1 and MoMuLV: Dimerization, Cap Sequestration, and RNA Fate
Gabriel Kengni Jr
Micheal Summers, HHMI

Retroviruses must utilize the same genomic RNA (gRNA) to produce new viral particles or translate viral proteins. Understanding how retroviruses partition these tasks will enable researchers to develop novel drug targets that can address both existing and emerging retroviruses.

HIV-1 partitions its proliferating task by producing several different pools of its gRNA that differ by one guanine nucleotide at their 5′ leader region — the non-coding, highly structured segment at the start of a retrovirus’s RNA genome that controls packaging and replication. The presence or absence of the extra nucleotide drastically alters the structure of the gRNA transcript, particularly in determining whether its 5’cap is sequestered or exposed. In gRNA transcripts with one guanine nucleotide (dubbed Cap-1G), they have a sequestered cap and dimerize, while in transcripts with two or more guanine nucleotides (dubbed Cap-2G or 3G), the cap is exposed and remains monomeric. However, retroviruses such as Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus (MoMuLV) produce a single pool of gRNA, and it is unknown how they partition their gRNA to carry out both packaging and translation. We hypothesize that the fate of MoMuLV gRNA is determined by dimerization-dependent cap sequestration, and hypothesize that, like in HIV-1, cap sequestration is necessary for packaging.

This research was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Female Choice for Body Size in Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma Caeruleum)
Hira Khan
Tamra Mendelson, Biological Sciences

Female mate choice can drive sexual selection and shape the evolution of male traits such as ornamentation and size. Prior literature shows that larger male size has been associated with greater success in intrasexual competition for females in many darter species. In Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma caeruleum), males have vivid body coloration and intense courtship, but the role of male body size on female choice remains unclear. The present study will aim to test whether female Rainbow Darters will display a relative preference for larger males when given a direct choice. Mate choice trials will occur in a 10-gallon aquarium simulating the darter’s natural riffle habitat with 2–4 cm gravel substrate. Plexiglass partitions will create a central neutral zone for females and side compartments for one large and one small male, providing visual cues for females while preventing contact and male-male competition. Male side placement will be randomized between trials to control for side bias. Approximately 20 females, acclimated separately for 24–48 hours, will be observed for 15–20 minutes. Female preference will be measured by nosedig frequency, time in association zones, and courtship behaviors. This study will contribute to the understanding of how mate choice functions in species with male-male competition.

Vison-Based Rover Control Using ArUco Markers
Muhammad Fazeel Khan, Branden McGuire
Tsehuai Wu, Mechanical Engineering

Autonomous mobile rovers are becoming increasingly popular for modern applications ranging from industrial automation to personal use. This project developed a cost-effective mobile robot capable of visual servoing and real-time target tracking. A custom chassis equipped with four mecanum wheels was assembled and controlled by a Raspberry Pi 5, utilizing a Logitech webcam for visual input. The system used the OpenCV library to detect ArUco markers and estimate their position in real time. A python algorithm was used to make a virtual “hitbox”, triggering specific motor movements such as strafing or turning whenever the target drifted beyond hitbox thresholds. Experimental testing compared detection methods, revealing that different ArUco markers had different detecting ranges and speed.

Cluster Headache Diagnostic Delay: The Role of Patients and Physicians
Anna Kim
Raimi Quiton, Psychology

Cluster Headache (CH) is a neurological disorder that has been characterized as one of the most intensely painful human conditions that exists. Diagnostic delay is the period of time during which symptoms are experienced but the condition has not yet been diagnosed by a clinician. The average diagnostic delay for CH is 5.7 years (range 0 to 36 years), which is problematic because it delays the treatment. Potential causes of CH diagnostic delay that have been identified are: ambiguous clinical presentation, age of onset, gender and race. This study aimed to further investigate factors that contribute to CH diagnostic delay, and determine whether or not there are patient behaviors that can mitigate diagnostic delay. Fifty CH patients were asked about use of a headache diary, self-diagnostic tools, and referral processes through an online questionnaire. Six clinicians (three specialists and three non-specialists) were interviewed about obstacles to CH diagnosis in their respective fields. Gaining a better understanding of factors that cause diagnostic delay in CH at the patient, primary care, and specialist levels in CH may inform efforts to reduce delay and improve effective intervention for this painful disorder.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Understanding the Fashion Sustainability Paradox in Gen Z
Allene Lee
Kathalene Razzano, Media and Communication Studies

This research explores the “Gen Z sustainability paradox”, where, on the one hand, this generation prides themselves in their environmental consciousness, and on the other hand, they are also the primary consumers of ultra-fast fashion. Existing research on the subject reveals the contrast between discourses such as “structural critique” and “corporate legitimation,” yet fails to address how individual consumers navigate these contractions. The purpose of this research is to explore the following question: What does Gen Z know about the fashion industry’s sustainability habits and how do they reconcile their environmental values while wanting to stay in fashion? Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews will be carried out with 15-20 Gen Z participants who embody the paradox of “sustainability” and “fast fashion” to learn what the thought process may have been in sorting out this conflict for Gen Z in order to create a conceptual model of “ethical negotiation.” Understanding ethical negotiation may help researchers as well as the broader public see the individual consumer’s complicity in an environmentally devastating system and the need to shift focus to the structural and regulatory changes required to bring out change at the industry level.

Beyond the Notes: Measuring Foundational Skill Growth in 5th Grade Strings
Bryan Lee
Brian Kaufman, Music

The goal of the research project was to assess student learning of foundational musical skills, including music reading, tone, and posture. These skills are important for students to develop because these are not just foundational skills students need to have; they shape how students think, collaborate, and grow as learners. My research project is based on the data collection from my 5th grade class, composed of 18 students, at an elementary school in Baltimore County Public Schools. The same instrumental rubric was used to assess students during three timepoints on note reading skills (note knowledge and understandings), tone (clarity of sound), technique (way they hold the instrument), rhythm (length of notes played at a given tempo), and expression (body posture, focus, respect) during the 2025–2026 school year. The method of the data collection was testing students individually during a class period around the end of the school marking periods. Across the score percentages that were recorded, there were improvements shown for most students in the class. There were two students that were consistently meeting the target score of 85%, but the vast majority of the class were below it, allowing for more academic growth, since the first end-of-the-period assessment.

Investigating the Role of DEWAX in the Interface of Defense and the Circadian Clock in Arabidopsis
Dennis Lee, Ehsan Alam, Abiodun Isiaka
Hua Lu, Biological Sciences

A better understanding of defense mechanisms is essential for improving crop health and productivity. Recent studies highlight crosstalk between defense and the circadian clock in plants. The Lu lab discovered TGA3 as a key link between clock function and defense in Arabidopsis. A high-throughput yeast-one-hybrid screen further identified DEWAX as a transcription factor that directly binds the TGA3 promoter. TGA3 and DEWAX both exhibit circadian expression but the role of DEWAX in coordinating clock and defense outputs remains unclear. This project investigates the circadian regulation of DEWAX and its functional contribution to pathogen defense. We generated two DNA constructs, a transcriptional reporter (pDEWAX::LUC) and a translational fusion (DEWAX-GFP). Using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, we introduced these constructs into plants and harvested at least ten independent lines for each construct. We are screening T2 progeny for homozygous lines via herbicide selection and transgene-specific PCR. Homozygous pDEWAX::LUC lines will be used for luciferase assays to assess rhythmic expression of DEWAX in response to internal and environmental cues, and DEWAX-GFP lines in the dewax background will be tested for a complementation, subcellular localization of the DEWAX protein, and pathogen resistance. This study shall elucidate the role of DEWAX in defense-clock crosstalk.

This work was partially supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF 1456140) to Hua Lu.

Visualizing the Dynamic Cell Behavior in Filamentous Fungi Using Fluorescent Protein Constructs
Jiyon Lee
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

The Cell Wall Integrity (CWI) signaling pathway enables filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus nidulans to maintain polarized growth and survive environmental or antifungal-induced cell wall stress. Because filamentous fungi are important as both human pathogens and industrial organisms, understanding how they tolerate antifungal drugs is critical for improving treatment strategies and controlling fungal growth. Echinocandin antifungals, such as micafungin, inhibit β-1,3-glucan synthesis and weaken the fungal cell wall; however, many filamentous fungi survive by activating CWI-mediated repair pathways. This research investigates how CWI coordinates actin organization and endocytosis during cell wall stress, with a focus on the CWI-associated kinase, nrc2. To visualize these dynamics, we used live-cell imaging in a flow chamber with fluorescent protein constructs. An isogenic control strain expressing LifeAct-GFP to label actin and hhoA-mCherry to label nuclei was used to track actin localization, nuclear division, and developmental timing. Kymographic analysis allowed quantification of dynamic behavior under normal growth conditions.

Honors College Summer Scholarship.

Intracellular Mechanisms Underlying Formaldehyde-Evoked Calcium Signaling in Mouse Olfactory Sensory Neurons
Ryan Lee
Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences; Tatsuya Ogura, Biological Sciences, UMBC

The rising use of electronic cigarettes introduces a novel source of inhaled toxicants. During aerosolization, e-liquid solvents thermally degrade into substantial levels of formaldehyde (FA), a reactive aldehyde known to disrupt cellular signaling. Inhaled retronasally, FA traverses the olfactory epithelium, posing a unique toxicological threat to olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Despite extensive research on FA-induced toxicity, the molecular mechanisms driving cellular damage remain unclear. Given calcium’s central role in mediating cellular stress and apoptotic responses, we investigated whether FA disrupts intracellular calcium homeostasis as a key driver of its cytotoxic effects. Tracking these dynamics with Fura-2 intracellular calcium imaging in isolated OSNs under calcium-free conditions, we revealed a dose-dependent increase in intracellular calcium. To deduce the mechanisms driving this global surge, we applied pharmacological inhibitors to selectively probe the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, and phospholipase C (PLC), assessing their respective contributions to modulating FA-induced stress. Our results reveal that FA hijacks OSN calcium signaling primarily through the PLC pathway, independent of ER stores, compelling mitochondria to buffer the calcium surge to prevent cellular overload. Ultimately, by pinpointing the PLC-mitochondrial axis as the primary target of FA, these findings clarify the molecular basis of vaping-induced olfactory neurotoxicity.

This research was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Preparation Of Directed Discrete Assemblies of Gold Nanobipyramids and Quantum Dots
Tsion Lemi
Marie-Christine Daniel, Chemistry and Biochemistry; Matthew Pelton, Physics

Assembled metal-semiconductor nanostructures have been proposed as a promising platform for enabling scalable quantum technologies. These hybrid nanostructures exhibit an optical phenomenon known as plasmon-exciton coupling, which supports strong light-matter interactions applicable to room-temperature quantum information processing, low-threshold lasing, and ultrasensitive detection. Despite their potentials, persistent challenges exist, ranging from architectural precision of discrete assemblies to the yield of formation. In this study, a directed assembly scheme was designed to promote plasmon–exciton coupling using colloidally synthesized gold nanobipyramids (AuBPs) and cadmium selenide/cadmium sulfide (CdSe/CdS) quantum dots (QDs) with overlapping plasmonic and excitonic resonances. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-stabilized AuBPs were selectively functionalized at the tips with 1-aminohexanethiol through thiol-gold binding. Increasing solution acidity and protonating the 1-aminohexanethiol ligand before the reaction enhanced binding efficiency and reproducibility during end-modification. Ligand concentrations ranging from one- to five-times excess relative to available binding sites of AuBP tips were evaluated via Ultravisible/Visible spectroscopy. A three-times excess with a reaction time of five minutes produced optimal AuBP tip-selective modification while minimizing side-surface functionalization. These end-modified AuBPs will subsequently be reacted with thioctic acid-functionalized CdSe/CdS QDs via amide coupling to construct a AuBP-QD-AuBP trimer nanostructure. This architecture strengthens plasmon-exciton coupling, thus advancing quantum technology applications.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

How President Candidate Use the Notion of Freedom in Presidential Debates
Chimdinma Leo-Nze
Kathalene Razzano, Media and Communication Studies

Politics has served as the platform where ideological struggles unfold, reflect and shape public discourse. During campaigns whether it be presidential, governor or senate campaigns, freedom has increasingly become a core tenant. Making the struggle of what is applicable for an individual to be able to do and what is the responsibility of the government to regulate become a point of contention for not just the politicians but the average American as well. This study seeks to understand how presidential candidates use the notion of freedom in presidential debates by using discourse analysis to study the first presidential debate of every election year from 1960 until 2024. This research documents any changes to the way candidates during this period would use the debate stage to present what they think the American public can or cannot do and whether the candidates expand on or limit the meaning of what it means to be free. This work will help our understanding of what freedom is and is not as well as demonstrate the variable nature of freedom as a concept and freedom as a practice.

Speciesism, Animalistic Dehumanization, and Hostile Masculinity: Culpability Ratings in Sexual Assault Scenarios
Jay Leveton
Christopher Murphy, Psychology

Metaphors that refer to women as animals are common in everyday language; however, limited research has examined whether these metaphors influence how men judge culpability in scenarios that describe harm toward women. Other research has linked the belief in human supremacy over animals to sexist beliefs of male supremacy over women, suggesting that animal metaphors may enhance sexist judgments of culpability. This study used vignettes involving sexual assault with an experimental design to examine the relationship between animal metaphors and judgments of culpability. Because judgments of harm are shaped by belief systems, the study examined whether exposure to animal metaphors influenced men’s ratings of victim and perpetrator culpability and whether men’s endorsement of speciesism and hostile masculinity enhanced the effect of animal metaphors. The study sought to recruit one hundred masculine-identifying students aged 18-25. Participants were randomly assigned to read a vignette that depicted a sexual assault, with one version modified to include animal metaphors for the woman involved. Participants rated victim and perpetrator culpability and completed measures of speciesism and hostile masculinity. This study may inform prevention and education in efforts to reduce gender-based harms by highlighting how speciesism and sexism influence judgments of sexual violence.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Submerged Culture Viscosity (Rheometry) of Aspergillus Nidulans Kinase Deletion Strains
Peter Lombardo
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Steven Harris, Iowa State University

The model filamentous fungus, Aspergillus nidulans, is used in bioprocess research for its genetic tractability and favorable culture conditions. Aspergilli and other filamentous fungi are highly relevant to the bioprocess industry due to their versatility as well as their ability to produce high titers of product (e.g., recombinant enzymes). High culture viscosities, however, pose challenges in mass transfer of oxygen and nutrients, limiting yields. Marten Lab research on A. nidulans seeks to understand how cell-wall regulatory kinases influence fungal morphology and rheological behavior. Previous work in the Marten Lab suggests that the deletion of specific cell-wall regulatory kinases increases hyphal fragmentation without affecting growth rate, which we hypothesize will reduce culture viscosity, thus overcoming mass transfer limitations and substantially improving yields. In this study, vane impeller rheometry is used to measure the dynamic viscosity of submerged cultures of A. nidulans kinase deletion strains. This project aims to conduct rheological screening of a targeted subset of kinase knockout strains that experience diminished cell-wall integrity compared to the control strain, and identify kinase knockouts that significantly influence culture viscosity. Consequently, this project seeks to inform genetic strategies to simultaneously improve bioprocess efficiency and reduce energy demands.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

A Comparative Analysis of Modern-day Populism
Peter Luster
Carolyn Forestiere, Political Science

Populism is growing among modern-day global leaders. The ideology focuses on making a distinction between the clearly defined “us,” represented by the populist leader, and the “them,” who represent the corrupt elite. Populism, however, is not a static ideology and differs from leader to leader. This project evaluates the style of populism practiced by both President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to demonstrate how populism can differ across countries. While the two leaders are both right-wing, have anti-immigration platforms, want to consolidate executive-level power, utilize social media to their advantage, and draw significant support from the working class, they also differ in important ways. Prime Minister Meloni primarily focuses on upholding Italy’s traditional cultural values, while President Trump’s main ambition is for absolute executive authority. The project will entail a review of primary and secondary sources, such as social media posts, speeches, and news sources, over the past year (2025) to demonstrate how populist approaches can be implemented differently by political leaders.

Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Financial Literacy Rate
Akanksha Madhu Kiran, Christine Le
Douglas Lamdin, Economics; Chunming Yuan, Economics, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Financial literacy is a prerequisite for sustained economic stability; however, a significant proportion of college students lack the competence to render informed financial judgments. This study examined differences in financial literacy among 252 undergraduate students aged 18–28 based on prior financial education, academic major, combined household and personal income, and gender. The assessment consisted of seven questions about basic financial knowledge and numeracy. The responses to the assessment were analyzed using statistical tests and comparative methods. Students who reported taking a finance course scored 2.5 points higher than the others. Additionally, students pursuing Business, Economics, or Finance majors and those from high-income households achieved median scores of six, which represented at least a one-point difference compared to the others. Moreover, differences in distributions of scores based on gender resulted in men having a higher median than women by two points. Results have shown that educational experiences, majors, and socio-economic background have meaningfully affected their performance in the financial literacy assessment. The students’ family socioeconomic background and educational exposure have had an impact on their financial literacy. Making basic financial education widely available could enhance positive financial decision-making skills leading to positive economic outcomes for young adults.

Gecko-Inspired Adhesive Lasso for De-Tumbling Orbital Debris
Kayla Magruder, EmJ Rennich¹
¹Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
Mark Cutkosky, Stanford University

For non-destructive orbital debris capture, de-tumbling is often a necessary step. However, gaining control of objects that are large and rotating with an irregular or unpredictable trajectory is challenging. We present a concept and initial experiments aimed at establishing the feasibility of restraining such objects using a gecko-inspired adhesive attached to a tether: Gecko Lasso. We assume that the adhesive is brought into initial contact by an acquisition vehicle using a lightweight arm or extendable boom. As the object rotates, it wraps the tether around itself, rapidly increasing the maximum permissible tether tension. Experiments with rotating metal cylinders and a small sample of adhesive indicate that gentle attachment is possible for fast-moving targets; tangential velocities up to 1.3 m/s were tested with a 90% success rate. We conclude with a discussion of extensions to take this new concept to the next level of technology readiness.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving? A Case Study of Iran’s Veiling Policies
Tanzila Malik
Nehal Elmeligy, Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies

Using Iran as a case study, this project shows how Western narratives about “saving” Muslim women often obscure struggles over power, identity, and state control rather than reflect women’s lived realities. Focusing on the period between the unveiling policies of Reza Shah Pahlavi’s modernization campaign and the mandatory veiling as a symbol of resistance to Westernization following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, this study investigates how both secular modernization efforts and Islamist movements used women’s dress as a political tool to promote competing political and ideological agendas. Using historical and content analysis of state policies, political rhetoric, and protest movements, this project explores how the hijab in Iran shifted from being prohibited to mandated. Early findings suggest that across these changes, the hijab was less of a purely religious practice and more of a flexible political symbol used to legitimize authority and regulate women’s roles in society. This historical case study is shockingly relevant as public debates about Muslim women’s freedom continue to influence global policy and media narratives, making it important to understand how these narratives are historically constructed.

The Association Between Social Support and Pain Tolerance in Individuals with and Without Aversive Childhood Experiences
Greyson Martin
Raimi Quiton, Psychology

A multitude of biopsychosocial factors influence an individual’s perception of pain, with higher levels of social support associated with higher pain tolerance. This study aims to examine the degree to which social support influences pain responses in individuals with aversive childhood experiences, which are potential risk factors for lower pain tolerance and increased pain perception. It is hypothesized that greater social support is associated with higher pain tolerance in individuals with aversive childhood experiences. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that this association is stronger in individuals with aversive childhood experiences compared to those without. Fifty college-age participants underwent heat-pain tolerance testing using the Medoc Pathways system, after which they were administered a self-report questionnaire packet. ACE-Q was scored to measure aversive childhood experiences and MPSS was scored to measure perceived social support from friends, family, and significant others. Data were analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics, version 31.0, in which a regression model was used to evaluate the relationship among perceived social support, aversive childhood experiences, and heat-pain tolerance. Reported depressive symptoms, gender, race, and daily pain levels were used as covariates in the analysis in order to observe this relationship across individuals affected by other pain sensitivity risk factors.

This work was funded by the UMBC Psychology Department.

Multi-Angle and Polarimetric Characterization of Various Earth Surface Types with the PACE HARP2 Polarimeter
Natalie McCourt
Brent McBride, Earth and Space Institute

The analysis of how reflectance and polarization vary with viewing geometry and meteorology remains limited for many modern satellite instruments. Characterizing these surface properties supports applications such as vicarious calibration and land/aerosol property retrievals from space. This study evaluated the capabilities of the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP2) aboard NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, a wide field-of-view imaging polarimeter. Conducted primarily to support vicarious calibration, the study compares sensor measurements of well-characterized, stable ground sites. HARP2, developed and supported at UMBC, provides near-global coverage every two days, measuring polarized light across up to 90 viewing directions with a 1550 km swath. Its polarimetric capability—similar to polarized sunglasses that filter light by orientation—reveals aerosol properties and surface reflectance characteristics. The instrument’s wide FOV captures scattering angles as low as 60°, extending beyond the angular coverage assumed in many commonly used surface reflection models. These models describe how light reflects differently depending on illumination and viewing angle; HARP2’s geometry enables more robust testing of these assumptions. Observations were analyzed over diverse sites, including the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia, Lake Titicaca on the Peru/Bolivia border, Dome Concordia in Antarctica, and the Libya 4 calibration site in North Africa.

This work was funded, in part, by the Supplemental Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) award from the UMBC Office of the Vice President for Research.

Tourism in Tiny Towns: An Ethnographic Study of Old Ellicott City
Preston McMillian
Nicholas Welcome, Anthropology

Old Ellicott City is a charming and quaint town that is rich in history and community. This study investigates how locals and tourists see the city and how they interact with each other and the environment, shaping the culture of Old Ellicott City. The main purpose of this research is to examine how community belonging shapes social identity in Old Ellicott City. This study draws particular attention to how the 2016 and 2018 Old Ellicott City flood events shaped space, identity, and tourist-community relations. It also examines the categories of local and tourist, asking how these are determined and discerned. This project is important because it examines how communities are formed and operate. It will shed light on whether people who live in Ellicott City have the same experience and identity as those who live outside the area. This study will use ethnographic methods that include participant observation, writing field notes, interviewing methods, and mapping techniques. This research provides insight on daily life in Old Ellicott City and contributes to understanding the dynamics of tourism and identity in small towns.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Reviving School Spirit
Matthew Mejia
Brandon Beck, Education

This project examines student engagement and school culture at my placement school, with a particular focus on attendance and support for school sporting events. My placement school serves a highly diverse population in terms of race, socioeconomic status, and academic needs, yet participation in extracurricular athletics, especially spectator attendance, remains low. Prior observations suggest that economic constraints, time commitments, and a school culture that prioritizes academics over athletics may contribute to this issue.

This project examined students’ perceptions of school spirit, sports engagement, and institutional support for athletes using semi-structured interviews with students and staff. Results show that although the school does well academically, student athletes frequently feel underappreciated, and non-athletes have little motivation to attend games. Academic balance and engagement are further complicated by the time demands placed on athletes. Increased staff participation in sporting events, a revised pep rally that emphasizes team recognition, and established cross-sport attendance goals are some of the initiatives this project proposes to boost attendance and school spirit. Strengthening school spirit through these measures may boost student belonging, improve morale, and foster a more inclusive school culture.

Dance and Equine Therapy: Alternative Approaches to Applied Behavior Analysis
Ashwathi Menon, Claudia Gerry, Abigail Asare, Bekkah West
Lauren Allen, Women’s Gender & Equity Center; Emma Archibald, Women’s Gender & Equity Center

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the most widely used therapeutic intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ages five to 13. Yet, research indicates that it does not adequately serve all children in the autism community. Rooted in operant conditioning, ABA seeks to modify behaviors (e.g., repetitive movements, self-injurious behavior, hyperfixation) through reinforcement strategies. Critics argue that this approach eradicates neurodivergent behavior at the expense of children’s self-determination, personal expression, and physical agency. In contrast, alternative therapies for ASD, such as equine and dance movement therapy, center on humanistic psychology by taking a stance to promote individual agency and unconditional positive regard. Equine therapy includes guided horseback riding and grooming activities to support posture control and motivation to engage socially, while dance movement therapy includes choreographed dance to explore their bodies. Using a social justice lens, this critical comparative analysis explores how equine and dance movement therapies offer alternative approaches to ABA by centering creativity and agency. Preliminary evidence suggests these approaches may improve social, cognitive, and emotional well-being. Based on the findings, we suggest that alternative therapies be promoted as an equivalent to applied behavioral analysis for children on the autism spectrum.

New Heights of Terror: Material Character Antagonists in The Science Fiction Ascent
Mike Mentley
Colette Searls, Theatre

Before 1977, science fiction films in the United States were typically low-budget and low-quality films, known as B-movies. They were generally perceived as unintelligent and sensational. A change came about in 1977, when the genre of science fiction films was catapulted into A-movie status. This is a shift I am calling “The Science Fiction Ascent.” The Ascent can be charted from 1977 to 1986, coinciding with the beginning of the era of summer blockbuster films. This documentary is a survey of the films in the Ascent, based on research that began in Honors 300 Material Performance in ‘Star Wars.’ It introduces and defines the Science Fiction Ascent through interviews and excerpts from six films that were part of major franchises, commercially successful, and critically acclaimed. The concept of material performance is examined, in particular how villains were employed in these six films, describing their shared qualities and showing examples. This documentary presents the thesis that the material performances of the villains in the Ascent movement were critical to establish the legitimacy of the science fiction genre as high-budget films.

Cross-Species Transcriptomic Analysis of Smoke Exposure From Drosophila Models to Human Orthologs
Ahmad Mian
Maricel Kann, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Environmental smoke exposure, including wildfire smoke and air pollution, increases the risk of respiratory and systemic diseases. However, a lack of clear molecular markers complicates the diagnosis and prognosis of these conditions, showing a critical need for identifiable cellular indicators. Fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, a more amenable model organism to study genetic variations, was utilized as a model. Flies were subjected to smoke using a specialized exposure chamber featuring a cold smoker, buffer chamber, and regulated exhaust system. A computational pipeline was developed to map significantly altered fly genes to their human counterpart mapping 4,867 fly genes to 1,887 human equivalents. Further analysis comparing against human clinical data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database revealed that certain genes exhibit similar activity patterns in both flies and humans. By facilitating interspecies research, this project provides a vital tool for identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets, demonstrating how animal models clarify the impact of environmental pollutants on human health. Our pipeline also enables orthology mapping of specific mutational sites and protein–protein interactions across species and can be readily adapted for other model organisms, such as mice and rats, to further refine the identification of potential human biomarkers.

Exploring Conditioned Place Preference in Etheostoma Caeruleum
Daniel Mirahmadian
Tamra Mendelson, Biological Sciences

Darters are a group of freshwater fish found in eastern North America. There are several species of darters that reside in streams throughout Maryland. One such species, the Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum), was investigated as a subject for a standard psychological testing paradigm. Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) tests aim to analyze the capacity for an organism to perceive and to recall a rewarding stimulus. During these tests, subjects are placed in an apparatus with linked, visually distinct chambers. Each chamber contains either a control or unconditioned stimulus. First, the subject is allowed to explore the chambers freely. Then, the unconditioned stimulus is removed and the subject allowed to explore again. CPP is demonstrated if the subject spends more time in the chamber paired with a rewarding unconditioned stimulus compared to the control. Multiple individual E. caeruleum were placed in the middle of three chambers within experimental tanks to determine their baseline preference for either of two flanking chamber patterns. Several male subjects were then presented a female E. caeruleum in one of the flanking chambers to determine whether observing females can be considered a rewarding stimulus and to establish CPP as a valid experimental paradigm for darter fish.

Investigation of the Circadian Rhythm on Blood Brain Barrier Permeability
Deeya Mistry
Mentor: Chenghua Gu, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology

The Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) is a physiological barrier between the blood and the brain which precisely controls the movement of molecules and nutrients. On one hand, the highly selective semi-permeable barrier is essential for maintaining homeostasis in the brain. On the other hand, the compromised and leaky BBB-CNS barrier is associated with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy. Emerging evidence shows the profound connection between the BBB and circadian rhythm, with temporal changes in BBB properties influencing the rate of drug uptake. To address this question, I aim to investigate whether the BBB permeability exhibits time-of-day variation. Using an exogenous and endogenous tracer-based leakage assay, I found that the BBB shows differential permeability between day and night. To investigate the mechanism of the shift, I tested the localization of a tight junction protein, which is important for preventing the paracellular entry of water-soluble molecules, and an adhesion molecule, which maintains the integrity of BBB. Understanding the temporal dynamics of the BBB will instruct chronotherapy and optimize the timing of drug administration, thereby enhancing the drug delivery efficiency for neurological diseases.

“O-HygieCare”: Oral Health Monitoring Through Longitudinal Toothbrushing Analytics Using Smart Wearable Intelligence
Kodilinye Mkpasi, Corey Benjamin
Dong Li, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Anuradha Ravi, UMBC Department of Information Systems; Nirmalya Roy, UMBC Department of Information Systems; Mary Beth Aichelmann-Reidy, Division Chief, Periodontics, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Maintaining optimal oral hygiene is essential across all age groups; however, individuals frequently miss areas, apply excessive pressure, or overbrush regions. These suboptimal practices contribute to plaque accumulation, enamel abrasion, gingival inflammation, and the progression of periodontal disease. This research aims to augment dental care through AI-driven tools that continuously monitor brushing techniques and enable personalized, real-time oral health assessment. By combining brushing analytics with automated plaque and gingival index prediction, the system provides clinicians with insights for early intervention and data-informed treatment decisions. Leveraging the widespread adoption of smartwatches, this work utilizes consumer-grade devices to classify brushing motions and dental regions using IMU and audio data. Challenges such as unequal sampling rates, missing segments, sensor drift, multimodal synchronization, and inter-user variability are addressed through signal alignment, orientation filtering, and personalized model adaptation. Prior generic models suffered from inter-user variability in brushing biomechanics achieving only ~60% accuracy. To improve performance, we propose a two-phase personalized framework combining lightweight neural models (MLP, LSTM, CNN) with user-specific adaptation layers. A global model is trained on pooled data and fine-tuned per user while freezing shared feature extractors, enabling accurate and edge-deployable inference. Custom applications were developed for synchronized multimodal data collection and annotation.

Support for this research was provided by NSF CAREER Award #1750936 REU Supplement.

Imagining Science
Lama Mohamed
Chung-Wei Huang, Media and Communication Studies

Art has not been utilized nearly enough to visualize the complex relationships that exist within the broad disciplines of life sciences. The separation of creativity from science, and the rigidity of science within the arts has minimized the future possibilities of both fields. These illustrations explored how using more creative methods can inspire greater thought and wonder in younger viewers’ first exposure to elementary science. This was attempted through use of experimental art techniques such as collage, mixed media, and a focus on artistic appeal rather than strict accuracy of anatomy or scale. There are a total of three pieces: Scale, Unity, and Balance; all created with the intention of centering young audiences, but also the innate curiosity present in all people, regardless of age. Each illustration is centered around that inborn desire to understand and make meaning of the vast yet intricate world around us, and how it manifests in everyday life.

Layer-by-Layer in Cell Viability for Schwann Cell Peripheral Nerve Recovery and hMSCs Manufacturing
Tyler Moody
Jorge Almodovar, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Luis Carlos Pinzon Herrera, Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, UMBC

This study aims to investigate whether layer-by-layer is a promising technique for improving cell viability and proliferation in both Schwann cells and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Many severe cases of peripheral nerve injuries require surgery, which can cause other complications. Schwann cells play a vital role in PNS nerve repair; by improving Schwann cell viability and proliferation, nerve repair will be promoted. Human mesenchymal stem cells are used in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. hMSC production is limited by harvesting time. Layer-by-layer provides a promising approach for enhancing the proliferation rate of hMSC cells, thereby reducing the time to harvest. Layers were formed on a 96-well culture plate by alternating one mg/ml solutions of heparin and then collagen. Multiple collagen solutions were prepared and tested. These two solutions were alternated for a total of six bilayers. The plates were monitored under a microscope to observe changes in cell behavior and growth. Proliferation was evaluated through a PrestoBlue viability assay on each plate’s predetermined date. Results from a PrestoBlue viability assay demonstrated increased cell proliferation and viability for both Schwann and hMSC cells on both day three and day six of cell culture.

This work was funded, in part, by the URA Scholars program.

Homophobia and Queer Repression in Watchmen
Esther Myers
Keegan Finberg, English; Sharon Tran, English Department, UMBC

My honors thesis examines representations of queerness in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ superhero comic series Watchmen (1986-7), remarkable for its literary status and influentially mature take on the superhero genre. My URCAD presentation will give an overview of this thesis with a focus on analyzing how the character Rorschach constructs a superhero alter ego to repress his queerness and acquiesce to neoliberal norms of masculinity outlined by Margaret Thatcher’s British New Right of the 1980s. This reading is informed by methods from queer studies, superhero comic studies, new historicism and Marxism. I unpack the ways in which superhero comic tropes are subverted to portray repressed queerness, put those tropes into conversation with the politics of the AIDS epidemic, and consider Rorschach’s identity factors, primarily his lower working-class status, to explain why and how he represses his queerness in the manner he does. Ultimately, I demonstrate that considering Watchmen as a queer superhero story can open up new avenues of scholarly conversation for exploring the superhero genre’s unique capacity to portray repressed queerness via costuming. Given the current political moment’s rising homophobia, finding ways of seeing queer people in media, especially those struggling with homophobia, has become incredibly salient.

Synthesis of Alkyne-Expanded Fleximer Nucleosides for Improved Anti-Ebola Activity
Naomi Nance, Patricia De Jesus
Katherine Seley-Radtke, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Nucleoside analogues are commonly used for the treatment of various viral diseases and cancers by targeting key biological pathways involved in DNA replication. Despite the ability of these analogues to inhibit viral replication, viral enzymes commonly experience point mutations that may lead to drug resistance and reduced potency. To address this limitation, the Seley-Radtke group developed a novel class of flexible nucleoside analogues, termed “fleximers,” that split the purine ring system via a single carbon-carbon bond, allowing for free rotation of the nucleobase. Fleximers have demonstrated broad-spectrum antiviral activity against several viral families such as Ebola, Dengue, and SARS-CoV-2. This project aims to enhance antiviral activity, by replacing the single carbon-carbon bond with alkyne and alkene groups to modify bond distance and spatial geometry. Synthesized compounds were characterized using 1H NMR and 13C NMR to ensure structural accuracy. Once characterized, the analogues were proven to be biologically active from a series of antiviral assays displaying moderate-antiviral activity against Ebola, Chikungunya, and SARS-CoV-2. These promising results suggest that alkyne-expanded fleximer nucleosides can potentially contribute to the development of novel antiviral therapeutics by investigating the effects of various structure-activity based modifications on the fleximer scaffold.

This investigation was sponsored by the U-RISE Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

Impact of E-Cigarette Aerosol Exposure on Morphology of Gustatory Tissue and Taste Buds
Iskandar Nassar, Farhan Augustine, Ginny Murray
Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences; Tatsuya Ogura, UMBC – Department of Biological Sciences

In recent years, electronic cigarette (e-cigarettes) usage has increased dramatically, especially among adolescents. E-cigarette liquid (e-liquid) is vaporized by heated coils in e-cigarettes and inhaled orally, exposing the mouth and tongue to harmful aerosol constituents, including heavy metals, aldehydes, and nicotine. Despite direct oral exposure, limited information is known regarding the effects of vaping on gustation and gastrointestinal ingestion relative to respiration. Our research was informed by gustation being a vital evolutionary chemosensory pathway to protect the body from ingestion of harmful substances. To investigate the morphological effects on taste tissue following aerosol exposure, mice were exposed daily, over ten weeks, to four different conditions. Air exposure served as our control, and a propylene glycol/vegetable glycerin (PG/VG) base was used alone as a second condition. Additional variables were introduced to the PG/VG base: flavored e-liquid with nicotine, with and without added heavy metals. Immunohistochemical analysis was conducted across the four paradigms, with preliminary results indicating exposure to PG/VG may increase cellular apoptosis in gustatory papillae, while exposure to heavy metals may inhibit turnover of taste buds, potentially resulting in long-term gustatory dysfunction. Further studies will be needed to explore the implications of these observed morphological effects.

Tendency-Strategy Fit in Emotion Regulation: The Impact of Sequencing Reappraisal and Mindfulness
Natasha Navarro, Gabriela Rivera¹
¹Psychology, UMBC
Lira Yoon, Psychology

Emotion regulation strategies (e.g., mindfulness, reappraisal) are commonly used to reduce negative affect, but individuals differ in their general tendencies to engage in particular strategies. Previous research has largely focused on single strategies in isolation, even though individuals frequently use multiple strategies. Beginning with a strategy that individuals perceive as more familiar and comfortable may potentially increase perceived effectiveness, which in turn may facilitate more successful emotion regulation. To examine these hypotheses, participants were randomly assigned to use either reappraisal first followed by mindfulness or mindfulness first followed by reappraisal. After being informed that they would deliver a video-recorded speech, participants implemented the two strategies in the assigned order. They then rated their perceived effort, perceived difficulty, and perceived success of each strategy. It was hypothesized that participants with a greater tendency to use reappraisal would report greater self-efficacy and lower negative affect when they reappraised first and then engaged in mindfulness, compared to when the order was reversed. Findings from this study can enhance our understanding of factors that influence the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies and have implications for interventions by highlighting the potential benefits of aligning emotion regulatory approaches with individuals’ general tendencies.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

The Impact of Sirt2 on Innate Immune Response in Drosophila Melanogaster
Jessica Ndiritu, Jasmine Jenkins
Jeff Leips, Biological Sciences

Sirtuin 2 (Sirt2), a member of the sirtuin family of protein deacetylases, is responsible for deacetylating lysine residues within proteins. Studies of mammalian sirtuins demonstrated their significant role in longevity regulation, metabolic control, and cellular inflammatory responses. We hypothesize that Sirt2 is required for innate immune function during aging, specifically the age-specific clearance of bacteria. We generated an RNAi-mediated genetic cross to knockdown expression of Sirt2 within the entire body of Drosophila melanogaster. Virgin females aged 1 to 5 weeks are injected with a standard inoculation of E. coli, and we measure their ability to clear infection after a 24 hour period using a standard bacterial clearance assay. We anticipate that the knockdown of Sirt2 will decrease the bacterial clearance ability for both the 1week and 5 week old flies as Sirt2 has been shown to naturally decline with age. Additionally, we hypothesize that the further knockdown of Sirt2 in older flies will have an even greater declining effect on immune function. Understanding Sirt2’s role in immunity may reveal mechanisms involved in immune decline and offer potential targets for treating age-related or immunocompromised conditions.

Mouse House
Amanda Negrete, Kristen Sauder, Rachel Fonder, Michael Moore, Ryan Whitfield, Adrian Jovel, Leila Cron
Eric Jordon, Visual Arts

Created in a Team-Based Game Development class, Mouse House is a game that explores both three-dimensional environments in collaboration with 2D character style developed in the Unity game engine. The game utilizes and explores Unity gravity mechanics and a first-mouse point of view as you maneuver around enemies that can affect the player’s health using mechanics like radial enemies and fright systems through Unity C# Scripts. Playing as a mouse, Mouse House reimagines everyday household objects at a massive scale, transforming ordinary spaces into immersive and dynamic environments. A 3D environment was constructed with Autodesk Maya to provide an intricate world full of ample hiding spaces, and player interface and 2D assets were created in Krita and edited in Adobe Animate to create a hand-drawn sense of whimsy to contrast the large and harsh environment the player must maneuver. Development of this game provided for a uniquely engaging collaborative experience that allowed for cross-discipline exploration of programming, visual design, and overcoming challenges in a team-based setting.

Oral Glucose Minimal Model Parameter Estimation Using Data-Adaptive Variably Scaled Kernels
Samuel Nemirovsky
Justin Garrish, Mathematics and Statistics; Brad Peercy, Dept. Mathematics and Statistics, UMBC

As glucose enters the bloodstream, for instance, following a meal, insulin is released from the pancreas to signal glucose uptake in tissues throughout the body. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) allows clinicians and researchers to collect glucose and insulin data in response to a physiological glucose challenge. Sensitivity to insulin may then be quantified by fitting the Oral Minimal Model (OMM), an established differential equations-based model with metabolic parameters, to the OGTT data. However, as sampling schedules vary across labs and studies, it is important to develop methods that work well across a large variety of study designs and glycemic responses, while automatically adapting for ease of implementation by non-experts. We propose a modification to the standard OMM implementation that utilizes variably scaled kernels (VSKs) constructed to adapt to an individual’s OGTT data. This provides a robust, data-driven procedure for consistently accurate parameter estimation.

This funding was funded, in part, by a Student Award from the Center for Integrated Mathematical and Biological sciences Research and Education (CIMBRE).

The Impact of Parenting on Asian American Adolescents’ Bicultural Identity and Socioemotional Adjustment
Quynh Nguyen
Charissa Cheah, Psychology

Amidst anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American (AA) parents may have prepared their children for racial bias (parental awareness of discrimination socialization (PAODS)), prompting youth to reflect on the compatibility of their cultural identities (Bicultural identity (BII); harmony) and how they overlap (blendedness; Coard et al., 2024). An integrated BII can enhance youths’ self-concept, improving socioemotional outcomes (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). This study investigated: (1) the link between AA PAODS and adolescents’ socioemotional difficulties; and (2) the mediating roles of BII harmony and blendedness in this relation. AA adolescents (N=534; Mage=14.61, SD =1.76; 50% female) completed a survey. PAODS was linked to less BII harmony (b=-0.17, p<.001) and blendedness (b=0.05, p <.05). In turn, harmony (b=-1.21, p.05), was associated with fewer socioemotional difficulties. Parents’ awareness of discrimination messages can prompt AA adolescents to perceive their cultures as incompatible and recognize ways their identities overlap. In turn, youth with a less harmonious BII reported more socioemotional difficulties. AA youths’ lack of awareness regarding their BII harmony may create difficulties for youth to anticipate conflicts (Safa et al., 2021), impacting their socioemotional adjustment. Implications for these findings will be discussed.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Investigating the Role of Shank3 Gene in Modulating Winner-Loser Effects in Mangrove Rivulus Killifish
Thanh Trieu Nguyen
Cheng-Yu Li, Biological Sciences

Social experiences profoundly shape behavior, yet the molecular mechanisms linking experience to behavioral outcomes remain poorly understood. The winner-loser effect, in which prior winning or losing alters aggression and cognition, provides a powerful framework to study this relationship. In mangrove rivulus killifish, we found that winning enhances aggression and spatial learning, whereas losing reduces aggression but improves risk-avoidance learning. These behavioral changes correspond to whole-brain proteome differences in SHANK3 levels, a gene implicated in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), where shank3Δ/Δ mutants in zebrafish and mice show deficits in social interaction, aggression, and spatial learning. We hypothesize that social experiences modulate aggression and cognitive behaviors via region-specific changes in SHANK3 expression in brain areas homologous to the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. To test this, we will first use in situ hybridization to map and compare the shank3 expressions at the level of individual brain nuclei between winners and losers. We will employ CRISPR-Cas9 to generate shank3 knockouts and assess their effects on aggression and learning following social experiences. This approach will reveal how experience-dependent modulation of SHANK3 in brain regions drives behavioral plasticity, providing fundamental insights into the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying social behavior and its dysregulation in neurodevelopmental disorders.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Understanding Severe Psychological Distress Among Older Veterans
Tiffany Nguyen
Cristina Miller, Public Health

Older veterans represent a population that experienced unique hardships such as difficult homecomings, very few mental health resources, and difficulty resuming civilian life. However, there is limited understanding surrounding severe psychological distress (SPD) among older veterans. The study used data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey and Census ACS to gather data about the regional and county variation of older veterans, compare K6 responses of veterans aged 65 and above and veterans aged 65 and above with severe psychological distress, use adjusted odds ratios to compare the descriptive characteristics of older veterans and older veterans with SPD, and compare the prevalence of SPD between younger and older veterans. The findings suggested that there are geographical and demographic patterns among older veterans with severe psychological distress. Policymakers should develop programs that target older veterans in the South and West regions and high-prevalence counties across the country, identify younger veterans at risk for mental health struggles, and address combat trauma and struggles with reintegration into civilian life.

Investigating the Role of Muscarinic Receptors in Microtentacle Formation in Human Colon Cancer Cells
Lea-Pearl Njei
Jean-Pierre Raufman, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Kunrong Cheng, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Metastatic colon cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Cell surface protrusions containing tubulin, called microtentacles (McTNs), have been implicated in breast cancer cell attachment and metastasis. Colon cancer cells can also form McTNs, but little is known about their regulation or function. This study investigated whether muscarinic receptor signaling affects McTN formation in colon cancer cells. Previous studies show that muscarinic activation modulates colon cancer cell behavior. HT-29 human colon cancer cells overexpressing M3 muscarinic receptors were seeded at 10,000 cells per well in McCoy’s medium with 10 percent fetal bovine serum. Cells were treated under serum-free conditions with vehicle (phosphate-buffered saline), standard concentrations of acetylcholine (ACh), or ACh combined with atropine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist, to determine whether McTN formation depends on receptor activation. The following day, cells were exposed for 15 minutes to latrunculin, an actin depolymerizer, or paclitaxel, a microtubule stabilizer, at established concentrations, before fixing and imaging them using fluorescence and confocal microscopy at 40x magnification. These ongoing experiments aimed to clarify how muscarinic receptor signaling and cytoskeletal dynamics regulate McTN formation, which could reveal new targets for preventing metastasis and ultimately reducing colon cancer mortality.

This work was funded, in part by U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

Beyond the Gate: A Guide to Reentry Reform in Urban America
Precious Nwanna
Elaine Macdougall, English

This applied policy research project is designed to equip local legislators with actionable, equity-centered strategies to support individuals returning home from incarceration. Unlike many reentry toolkits already out there, this work is not written for service providers or justice-impacted individuals, but is tailored instead as an appeal to councilors–actors who are often overlooked, yet hold significant influence over housing, public safety, and community resources.

The guide aims to address limited access to consolidated, implementation-focused reentry policy guidance. Grounded in semi-structured interviews with reentry service providers, local government officials, advocates, and formerly incarcerated individuals, this project examines systemic gaps, promising practices, and policy blind spots within urban reentry infrastructure. The final product is a digital translation of community-informed evidence into concrete policy recommendations across housing, employment, healthcare, education, and trauma-informed services. The result is a concise, visually accessible policy guide designed to bridge lived experience and legislative action, with applicability beyond Baltimore for cities seeking reentry systems rooted in dignity, repair, and public safety.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Continuous Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus in Air Condensate
Nicole Nwobodo
Govind Rao, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Aaron Thole, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, UMBC

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, there have been over 700 million cases and more than 7 million reported deaths globally, highlighting the urgent need for early-detection strategies to reduce viral transmission. One potential approach to mitigate future outbreaks is to continuously detect airborne SARS-CoV-2 in air condensate. Unfortunately, existing air surveillance methods are often cost prohibitive, technically complex, or impractical for widespread deployment. In this study, we propose a low-cost and scalable detection method utilizing air condensate as a sampling medium. Our method incorporates griffithsin, an antiviral protein that binds to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, enabling viral capture from collected condensate. Testing was performed using SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (VLPs) as a safe alternative for live viruses. Air condensate samples were collected from multiple sites across the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) campus, and experiments were conducted using condensate samples spiked with VLPs to evaluate detection feasibility. This work demonstrates the potential of air condensate–based viral monitoring as an accessible surveillance tool. We anticipate that further development of this approach may contribute to real-time detection systems capable of reducing transmission and improving preparedness for future pandemics.

Investigation of Cell Survivability on Edible Gelatin Electrospun Scaffold Using Electrospinning
Oluwagbotemi Ogungbile, Yamelak Andargie
Luis Carlos Pinzon Herrera, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Jorge Almodovar, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, UMBC

Developing edible scaffolds is critical for advancing sustainable lab grown meat and designing materials that support tissue regeneration in biomedicine. These scaffolds could reduce the environmental impact of food production and provide tools for regenerative medicine where cell attachment and tissue formation are essential. By contributing towards insight into the interactions between electrospun materials and cells, the aim for this research is to bridge food technology and biomedical engineering toward sustainable and impactful applications. To pursue this, we explored the use of the extracellular matrix (ECM) as a strategy for scaffold development. Electrospinning was used to create fibrous scaffolds that mimic the ECM from type B gelatin, a food safe polymer, combined with fungal particles. These fibers were crosslinked, sterilized, and seeded with Schwann Cells to test scaffold biocompatibility, and some cells were tested under collagen pre-conditioning. The scaffolds remained structurally intact, however, cell survival was poor across tested conditions. These results have suggested that the crosslinking procedure may negatively impact scaffold biocompatibility which highlights a challenge in producing edible scaffolds capable of supporting cell growth. This work highlights the potential and challenges of edible scaffold design, laying the groundwork for improving electrospun materials for both cultured meat and regenerative medicine.

The Effects of Sex and Age on Sleep in Drosophila Models of Autism
Amarachukwu Onaga
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Sleep issues (bedtime resistance, sleep anxiety, delayed sleep onset, and daytime sleepiness) are common within individuals with autism spectrum disorder, with an estimated fifty to eighty percent of autistic individuals across all ages compared to their neurotypical peers. Contributing factors are sensory sensitivities during bedtime, medical conditions (insomnia, parasomnias, and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders), anxiety because of a bedtime routine not being established, genetic and neural circuit alterations impacting melatonin signaling, GABAergic and monoaminergic systems, and circadian regulation. Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) was used to study the link between autism and sleep because drosophila and humans share many common genes. For example, versions of autism-linked genes were tested in fruit flies and shown to disrupt sleep amount and quality, mimicking patterns seen in autistic individuals. This study examined whether sleep patterns differ by sex and age in fruit flies with manipulations in autism-associated genes. It was hypothesized that sleep patterns would differ across sex and age. The goal of this study was to uncover the diversity of sleep patterns in autism, shedding light on how sleep issues may differ among autistic individuals and providing knowledge that could help caregivers and doctors improve sleep quality and overall well-being for autistic individuals.

Role of Preadipocyte-Derived CTRP6 in Extracellular Matrix Stiffness of Epididymal White Adipose Tissue in Obesity
Oluwanifemi Oyejide
Diana Elizondo, Biological Sciences

Expansion of epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) in obesity is associated with increased extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness, which contributes to adipose tissue dysfunction and obesity-related cardiovascular disease. Understanding the mechanisms driving this process is important because obesity affects a large portion of the general population and increases the risk of heart disease. C1q/TNF-related protein 6 (CTRP6), a preadipocyte-derived adipokine, has been implicated in promoting inflammation; however, its role in regulating ECM stiffness in eWAT remains poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the contribution of CTRP6 to ECM stiffness in eWAT. Preadipocytes will be isolated from mouse eWAT and cultured in vitro. CTRP6 expression will be silenced using small interfering RNA (siRNA). Following gene silencing, changes in gene expression will be assessed by isolating total RNA and reverse-transcribing it into cDNA for downstream expression analysis. Conditioned media will be collected from the cell culture supernatant, and mouse adipose tissue samples will be incubated in the conditioned media at varying concentrations to evaluate the effects of CTRP6 on ECM stiffness using mechanical stiffness assays. This study seeks to clarify how CTRP6-mediated inflammatory signaling contributes to adipose tissue ECM stiffening and may identify potential molecular targets for reducing obesity-related cardiovascular disease.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Temporal Control of ADCK5 Expression By TET-ON Inducible Cell Line
Antuan Palmer
Achuth Padmanabhan, Biological Sciences

Ovarian cancer, one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies, is primarily diagnosed at advanced stages due to the lack of early diagnostic markers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic targets. One potential target is ADCK5 (AarF domain-containing kinase 5), an atypical protein kinase involved in cellular protein phosphorylation. While only two reports have mentioned the role of ADCK5 in lung cancer, its involvement in ovarian cancer remains unknown. Preliminary data suggested that ADCK5 functions as an oncogene in ovarian cancer using stable ADCK5-overexpressing ovarian cancer cell lines, further questioning whether ADCK5 plays a role in early progression versus overexpression metastasis in early or late metastasis stages. However, achieving temporal control of ADCK5 overexpression using stable ADCK5-overexpressing cell lines was unattainable. To overcome this limitation, tetracycline (TET-ON) inducible cell lines were used to control gene activation. The objective of this project was to generate the TET-ON inducible ADCK5 overexpressing construct and ovarian cancer cell lines. A recombinant cloning method of ADCK5 and its plasmid was conducted. Then, lentiviral transfection generated stable ovarian cancer cells containing the inducible construct. Finally, the presence of the construct in cells using western blotting was confirmed.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Statistical Modeling of Parasite Infection Risk in Chesapeake Bay Oysters
Annamaria Palmiero
Yehenew Kifle, Mathematics and Statistics; Allison Tracy, Institute for Marine and Environmental Technology

Chesapeake Bay oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are central to Maryland’s aquaculture industry, yet farmers report four parasites that threaten yields. Two bio-eroders, Polydora spp. worms which cause mud blisters and Cliona spp. boring sponges, damage oyster shells. In addition, protists Perkinsus marinus and Haplosporidium nelsoni infect oyster tissue. Although these parasites pose no risks to human health, infected oysters may have lower condition, increased mortality, and visual indications of parasitic infection, lowering their market value and farm profitability.

To investigate factors influencing infection risk, the shells and tissue of 25 oysters per farm were analyzed across eight farms, located in two Chesapeake Bay tributaries. Sampling occurred at four time points. Statistical approaches, including Linear Models and Generalized Linear Models are used to evaluate the significance of tributary, farm, time point, and other environmental factors as predictors of infection. Hierarchical models are used to further explore the nested structure of farms within tributaries. Additionally, work will explore the present spatial variability between sampling sites. The outcome of this research seeks to help Chesapeake Bay farmers mitigate infection-related losses, as well as the researchers responsible for dictating study design and future oyster sampling.

This work was funded, in part, by the Center for Integrated Mathematical and Biological sciences Research and Education (CIMBRE).

Developing A Behavior Tracking GUI To Examine the Modulatory Role of Juvenile Hormone on Social Cues in D. Melanogaster
Daniel Palus, Antonio Marini-Davis
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

In humans, thyroid hormone (TH) is known to play a vital regulatory role in the development of social behaviors. The role of TH in humans can be modeled in Drosophila melanogaster by studying juvenile hormone (JH), the Drosophila analog to TH. Recent work in our lab observed that JH modulates olfactory reward behaviors to low-concentration ethanol, while other literature has also evidenced JH as a crucial hormone in social development. This led us to hypothesize that ethanol is a social cue rather than an appetitive stimulus. By observing social behaviors under different levels of JH, we seek to provide novel insights into the effect of JH on the development of social behavior. Here, we present a behavior-tracking GUI, building upon well-established software to explore real-time changes in social dynamics, such as proximity, interaction, and exploration, under overcrowding-induced chronic stress (OICS). Because OICS is well studied in Drosophila, we employed it here to assess the system’s reliability and precision. This GUI allows us to measure changes in latent fly sociability resulting from changes in JH in the brain, which will provide valuable insight on TH driven neuroendocrine mechanisms governing sociability.

Structural and Biophysical Characterization of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa BqsR Protein Variants
Sara Patamawenu, Dr. Alexander Paredes, Dr. Harvinder Singh
Aaron Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium that commonly causes hospital-acquired infections. Studies have shown that BqsRS, a two-component signal transduction system, senses host Fe2+ to regulate biofilms, major contributors to antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa. Recent work has revealed structures of the N-terminal regulatory and C-terminal DNA-binding domains (DBD) of the cytosolic response regulator BqsR; however, how BqsR binds DNA to regulate virulence remains unclear. To probe this mechanism, BqsR variants hypothesized to disrupt DNA binding were expressed and purified. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy verified that secondary structure was conserved following mutation of the amino acid sequence and correlated with AlphaFold modeling of each variant’s tertiary structure. Intriguingly, the BqsR DBD also contains a CxC motif, an amino acid sequence commonly associated with transition metal binding and/or the presence of a disulfide bond. To test whether this amino acid sequence impacts DNA binding, BqsR variants eliminating CxC will be constructed and subsequently expressed, purified, tested for correct folding using CD spectroscopy, and evaluated for DNA-binding abilities using electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs). The results from this study will help uncover a mechanism of P. aeruginosa virulence, ultimately leading to the development of novel therapeutic targets to treat this antibiotic-resistant pathogen.

This work was funded, in part, by R35 GM133497.

Environment Control and Health Burdens: An International Comparative Study of Preventive Risks from Urban Pollution
Deven Patel, Fathima Hafsa Abdul Gaffoor, Ephrata Mangesha, Hayam Yassin¹, Zeena Mahmoud Alqassem², Shahad Abdulla Alnaqbi³, Geethu Shivani Mathankumar⁴
¹Biomedical Engineering, Khalifa University, ²Cellular and Molecular Biology, Khalifa University, ³Computer and Informational Engineering, Khalifa University, ⁴Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University
Christine Mair, Sociology; Aizhan Shomotova, Public Health and Epidemiology, Khalifa University

Environmental pollution posed a persistent global public health challenge, disproportionately affecting youth populations due to biological vulnerability and long-term developmental exposure. This study assessed how urban air quality and hazardous waste management were associated with pollution-related health risks among youth, while considering structural economic inequality across countries. Guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the analysis focused on air quality (SDG 11.6.2), hazardous waste management (SDG 12.4.2), and structural inequality (SDG 10.a). A comparative case study design was used to examine the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and Brazil, representing diverse economic and governance contexts. National environmental and economic indicators were systematically evaluated to identify patterns in exposure risk and policy capacity. The assessment highlighted substantial cross-national variation in environmental conditions and regulatory infrastructure, suggesting that economic inequality and governance capacity shaped the degree of youth vulnerability to pollution exposure. These findings underscored the importance of integrating environmental protection and equity-focused policy strategies to reduce preventable health risks. Because pollution exposure during youth can influence lifelong health outcomes, strengthening environmental governance has broad implications for public well-being.

Timely vs Accurate: Informational Tradeoffs in Economic Data
Dhruvil Patel
Michael Andrews, Economics

Policymakers, public firms and investors use data released by statistical agencies to shape their outlook on the economy and make decisions.
The initial non-farm payroll estimate is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on the first Friday after the month ends, and gets revised in the following two monthly releases as additional information becomes available, before the annual benchmark revision. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates GDP quarterly and annually. The advance estimate, coming about a month after the quarter’s end, is based on the information available at that time. The second and third estimates incorporate data that was not available the month before, improving accuracy. If a statistical agency wants to increase the usefulness of the current month’s releases with a limited budget, should they release last month’s initial estimate faster or increase the accuracy of the estimate from two months ago? The majority of the economic literature studies the consequences of revisions to GDP data. In this project, I first show conclusions of past studies also hold when using BLS data on employment. Then I show that revised estimates from prior months are more useful for forecasting present employment than recent but less accurate BLS data.

Evaluating Idebenone Treatment Following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Nemaa Patel, Daniel Freeman¹, Suparna Roy¹, Naibo Zhang¹
¹Department of Anesthesiology and Shock Trauma Research, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Brian Polster, Department of Anesthesiology and Shock Trauma Research, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a neurological condition that affects millions worldwide and can result in progressive cognitive and functional deficits. Following injury, reactive gliosis occurs. This is an adaptive process that includes microglia and astrocytes proliferation but can lead to detrimental neuroinflammation when the response is excessive or prolonged. Consequently, identifying ways to limit gliosis may minimize deficits following TBI. Idebenone is a synthetic coenzyme Q10 analogue that is clinically safe, and literature supports that idebenone can reduce neuroinflammation in mice. To evaluate its therapeutic potential in TBI, we investigated whether idebenone reduces the extent of gliosis in a TBI mouse model at two weeks post-injury. Brain tissue from TBI or sham-injury control mice, each with or without idebenone treatment, were analyzed by immunohistochemistry using IBA1 as a microglial marker, and GFAP as an astrocyte marker. Stained sections were examined using microscopy, and quantitative analysis assessed changes in microglia and astrocyte cell numbers within cortical regions affected by TBI. We predict that TBI mice treated with idebenone will show less gliosis compared with untreated TBI mice receiving vehicle control. This result would encourage further pre-clinical idebenone testing, including neurobehavioral outcomes, to support its therapeutic advancement of TBI.

This work was funded, in part, of NIH NINDS NS112212.

Why the Camp David and Oslo Accords Failed
Cheyenne Payne
Busra Ozguler Aktel, Political Science

The Camp David and Oslo Accords were pivotal peace agreements signed by Arab and Israeli leaders during the closing of the 20th century, with the brokering of the United States of America. Through a comprehensive analysis of the agreements made at Camp David and Oslo, I assess the impact of the agreements on the development of the broader Arab-Israeli peace process. More precisely, I address the critical question of how did the Camp David and Oslo Accords fail in their efforts to create lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis? In doing so, I argue that both the Camp David and Oslo Accords broke down due to the negotiation parties’ stark inability to adequately address the fundamental issues of Palestinian statehood, the expansion of Israeli settlements, the displacement of Palestinians, and the status of Jerusalem. This research has direct implications on the ongoing efforts to create lasting peace in Israel and Palestine.

User Perspectives on AI-Assisted Dance Training: an Iterative Design and Qualitative Evaluation
Joanna Pedro
Ann Sofie Clemmensen, Dance; Sidas Saulynas, Information Systems

This study explores the evolving relationship between kinesthetic skill acquisition and human-computer interaction. Current digital dance resources, such as video-sharing platforms, often lack the technical specificity and real-time feedback required for rigorous dance education. This study investigates the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to serve as assistive tools that supplement traditional pedagogy by increasing both accessibility and instructional precision. While preliminary research on movement-based technology exists, its application in dance studios remains underdeveloped. This research utilizes an iterative design methodology to develop an application prototype that employs AI-driven motion analysis and AR overlays to demonstrate specific dance skills. To evaluate user interaction with such a tool, a qualitative study was conducted using a structured questionnaire to gauge dancers’ perspectives on the prototype’s pedagogical value, design, and its impact on the learning process. The findings aim to demonstrate that integrated technology can act as a significant asset in refining technical execution and democratizing high-level instruction.

Rewarding Relationships: An Ethnographic Study of Volunteers with the Special Olympics
Peerada Phoomsiri
Bambi Chapin, Anthropology

Giving those with intellectual disabilities a chance to shine in athletic settings is exactly what the Special Olympics aims to do. But what about the volunteers who help make these events possible? Volunteer work with the Special Olympics is described by the organization as “rewarding for all” and “about creating lifelong friendships.” This research aimed to study these friendships created in an athletic setting by engaging in participant observation through the role of a volunteer. Volunteering at Special Olympics basketball games in Maryland afforded a glimpse of the interaction’s volunteers have with others in the program. The observed interactions show that volunteers contribute towards a positive environment through the relationships they form. As facilitators of events and fans of athletics, volunteers both contribute to and benefit from their role in the Special Olympics. By better understanding the significance of relationship-building in motivating volunteer engagement and what facilitates that, this research offers organizations useful information in supporting the volunteer labor on which they rely.

Development of Hybrid Anion-exchange Resins for Selective Removal of (Ultra) short-chain PFAS
Emily Piazza
Lee Blaney, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals used in consumer and industrial products and linked to adverse human health effects. (Ultra)short-chain PFAS are of particular concern due to their persistence, mobility, and greater abundance than long-chain PFAS in water sources. Conventional anion-exchange resins effectively remove long-chain PFAS but have limited selectivity for (ultra)short-chain PFAS. To address this challenge, hybrid anion-exchange (HAIX) resins were generated by depositing metal (oxy)hydroxides (e.g., copper(II), zinc(II), zirconium(IV)) into commercial anion-exchange resins to improve (ultra)short-chain PFAS removal by (i) providing additional adsorption sites and (ii) disrupting hydrophobic interactions favoring long-chain PFAS uptake. Batch sorption tests were conducted with parent and HAIX resins to compare the competitive uptake of 10 (ultra)short-chain PFAS with variable head group, chain length, and degree of fluorination. Experimental data highlighted the impact of metal type and PFAS characteristics on the percent improvement provided by HAIX resins. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed that HAIX resins with higher metal content and uniform metal distribution, respectively, exhibited better uptake of (ultra)short-chain PFAS. Overall, this study combined advanced characterization and performance evaluation to elucidate the removal mechanisms of (ultra)short-chain PFAS by HAIX resins.

This research was funded through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (ER24-4224).

Uncovering the Genetic Basis of Idiopathic Epilepsy in Siberian Huskies
Leon Potisk
Tracy Smith, Biological Sciences

This project aims to identify candidate genes associated with idiopathic epilepsy in Siberian Huskies by using modern genomic tools. In this breed, the incidence of epilepsy appears higher than expected compared to the general canine population, underscoring the need for targeted genetic investigation. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted in 113 Siberian Huskies genotyped on the Illumina CanineHD array, integrating mixed-model and stratified association testing. A strong, localized association was detected on chromosome 3, with three markers exceeding Bonferroni significance, and eight markers surpassing a Benjamini–Hochberg False Discovery Rate threshold of 0.05, five within a gene involved in regulating electrical signaling in the brain. To validate array-based genotypes at the lead locus, we also Sanger sequenced a 574-bp PCR amplicon flanking the lead marker in 73 dogs (57 additional unique individuals). In the pooled dataset (n=170; 48 cases, 122 controls), roughly half of epilepsy cases carried at least one copy of the lead marker, compared with about 10 percent of controls. Among carriers, gonadal removal before five years of age and male sex were associated with increased seizure risk and earlier onset, supporting further targeted sequencing of the associated interval to identify the causal variant underlying the GWAS signal.

This work was funded, in part, by philanthropic donations to the UMBC Foundation on behalf of the DOGS Lab.

Design and Validation of a Mechanical Testing Platform to Quantify Aortic Valve Leaflet Stiffness
Katelyn Prasad
Sayantan Bhattacharya, Mechanical Engineering

Infective Endocarditis (IE) is a bacterial infection that stiffens heart valve tissue and disrupts optimal blood flow, increasing the risk of fatal cardiovascular complications. Understanding how IE alters valve mechanics is essential for developing effective treatments and improving prosthetic valve design. This project focused on the design, development, and validation of a mechanical stiffness testing platform to quantify infection-induced changes in porcine aortic valve leaflet behavior. Standard testing rigs do not provide a submersible environment or suitable mounting options for tissue samples. To prevent errors from tissue dehydration, we custom-designed three-dimensional (3D) components to construct a stiffness testing rig that maintains the tissue submerged in phosphate-buffered saline. The 3D-printed fixtures were integrated with a force gauge and linear stage for controlled tensile loading. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was implemented using a high-speed Phantom VEO-340L camera to non-invasively quantify the two-dimensional strain field during deformation. The force–deformation data were fitted using least squares to characterize material stiffness. The system was calibrated with samples of known stiffness to ensure accurate and repeatable measurements. We then characterized aortic valve tissues with and without bacterial infection. This investigation established a quantitative framework for assessing porcine valve mechanics and IE-induced leaflet rigidity changes.

UMBC COEIT Interdisciplinary Proposal Award.

Isolating Cell Wall Strength Will Affect the Mechanical Strength of Mycelial Materials
Matthew Quintanilla
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Rising global demand has made nonrenewable resources increasingly scarce. Mycelial materials (MMs) have emerged as a promising renewable alternative. They have seen use in many commercially successful products, but their widespread adoption remains limited by their weak mechanical strength. Our research aims to uncover how various features of the mycelium influence mechanical strength to contribute to the development of tunable MMs. We focus on one feature, cell wall strength, in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans where weakened cell walls result in greater mycelial fragmentation. Unexpectedly, we found that MM coupons from ∆mpkA, a mutant strain with weaker cell walls, displayed stronger mechanical strength. To understand this result, we conducted scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which revealed that ∆mpkA formed fewer conidial structures, producing a denser mycelium. This suggested that both cell wall strength and morphology influenced our previous results. To isolate the effect of cell wall strength, we generated MMs from growth in submerged cultures, where conidiation is naturally suppressed. We aim to refine this process and confirm that weaker cell walls do result in weaker mechanical strength with ∆mpkA.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Visualizing Enforcement: ICE Activity and Community Response in Maryland
Andrea Quispe
Tamara Bhalla, American Studies

My capstone research and public humanities project in American Studies examines the chronological escalation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Maryland through the creation of a digital timeline. The digital timeline visualizes how enforcement has heightened over the past two years using two forms of public recording: social media and mainstream news media. This presentation examines how social media functions as an information network for the Maryland Latinx community compared to mainstream media news coverage to understand how different platforms decide what counts as urgent and shareable. While mainstream media prioritize large-scale enforcement stories, social media circulates localized warnings and “know your rights” resources. Using content analysis of ten Maryland-based Facebook group posts and three mainstream news coverage sites, this project will uncover the differing criteria and purposes that go into publishing community encounters with ICE. This digital visualization not only brings attention to the ongoing realities of enforcement, but also demonstrates how Maryland communities have responded by creating rapid communication networks to protect one another.

No Evidence of a Female Mating Status Effect on Reproductive Behavior in the Polygamous Arachnid Leiobunum Vittatum
Megan Ramirez Cuenca, Sophia Nawaz, Tyler A. Brown¹
¹Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Mercedes Burns, Biological Sciences

Unmated females are frequently preferred by researchers in reproductive animal behavior studies, with previously mated females often being entirely excluded from samples. Unmated females are presumed to be more responsive and receptive, while mated females may skew results due to difficulties in controlling previous mating experience. However, failing to integrate mated females may yield incomplete or contradictory results. Mating behavior and female receptivity were tested in regards to mating experiences using the Opiliones species Leiobunum vittatum (Arachnida), otherwise known as “daddy longlegs”. L. vittatum is among the most common opilionids in North America and has evolved morphology indicative of sexual conflict. Adult-collected individuals were used and successive behavioral assays were conducted to compare mated and unmated female behaviors. Using a hybrid behavioral analysis incorporating both automated and manual video scoring, it was found that prior mating experience did not significantly affect female receptivity or mating behavior. Further research is required to determine whether other factors such as social experience or local adaptation regulate mating behavior in the species. Opiliones, while largely under researched, may serve as a model organism due its abundance and ease of husbandry. These findings may have implications for general reproductive animal behavior studies using unmated females.

This work was also funded, in part, by the American Arachnological Society and from NSF IOS 00116.

Beyond the Individual: Applying McNeill’s Theory of Muscular Bonding to Collegiate Dance Pedagogy
Nyla Ratajczak-Dickson
Ann Sofie Clemmensen, Linehan Artist Scholars Program

Derived from William McNeill’s theory of social cohesion through rhythmic movement, “muscular bonding” occurs when individuals transcend the “self” and embrace a collective identity. In dance academia, students, instructors, and faculty influence how the dance environment elicits similar collective experiences. As a historian and veteran, McNeill developed his theory by observing how soldiers were trained for battle during WWII. McNeill argued that a euphoric state arises from continuous, rhythmic movement and claimed that muscular bonding allows individuals to adopt a sense of “us” or “we,” rather than focusing on the self (“I” or “me”). Dance students within an academic environment are subject to self-evaluation which limits the communal aspect of dance experiences. In this study, I examine how the phenomenon of “muscular bonding” functions within the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Department of Dance. Through personal observation and peer surveys, I evaluate classroom dynamics to identify opportunities for community building. My findings were presented to the Department to initiate a shift from individualistic training to a collectivist pedagogical approach. This research developed a deepened understanding the current state of the dance program and suggests broader implications for dance within academia.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Investigating the Role of Socs36E on Age-related Decline in Physical Performance in Drosophila Melanogaster
Talia Raysor, Sameera Chaudhry, Zahraa Al Aanizy, Ryan Palladino
Jeff Leips, Biological Sciences

Senescence is the gradual decline in physiological function with age and variation among individuals can be partly attributed to genetic differences. Previous studies have identified candidate genes contributing to variation in aging rates, however the influence of most of these genes on aging have not been validated. This study investigates the role of Socs36E on age-related decline in physical performance in Drosophila melanogaster across different sexes and ages. Suppressors of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) proteins regulate crucial signaling pathways like JAK/STAT and EGFR, which are important for cellular processes like immunity, cell growth, and inflammation. In flies, Socs36E is the primary negative regulator of the JAK/STAT pathway which prevents excessive cytokine signaling. We generated an RNAi-mediated genetic cross to knockdown the expression of Socs36E within the muscle cells. Mated males and females were aged one to five weeks and climbed using a standard climbing assay in our lab. We hypothesize that knocking down Socs36E will reduce climbing ability in both sexes at different ages. Since this gene has a human ortholog, this study may provide insight into how SOCS genes influence age-dependent physical performance and offer valuable insights for improving health in the elderly.

Art, Faith, and Healing in The Middle Ages
Talia Raysor
Kimberly Anderson, Visual Arts

This project examines the practices and beliefs surrounding healing during the Middle Ages. During this time, medical knowledge reflected sacred beliefs accepted by the Church, which rendered depictions of holy figures crucial to well-being. Illnesses were seen as punishments from God, and the sick turned to prayer for aid, invoking Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints for help. During a three-week study abroad experience in June 2025, I had the opportunity to take ART 216: Studies in Visual Culture (Prehistory through the 1750s) in Aix-en-Provence, France. Through a study of the artifacts presented and a review of pertinent literature, this paper analyzes several works featuring iconic figures and their connection to the belief of divine intercession as an essential component to healing. These images offer insight into the cultural values, devotional practices, and daily life of medieval France, while also providing context for customs that endure into the modern day.

I am a recipient of the International Field Research Award from the UMBC Education Abroad Office.

Maryland College Basic Needs Community of Practice
Letu Reggasa, Nicole Holt¹
¹Public Health, UMBC
Andrea Kalfoglou, Public Health

Limited access to nutritious food is a growing campus problem. Previously, we conducted an IRB-exempt qualitative study of 40 Maryland colleges: 13 public four-year, 11 private four-year, and 16 community colleges. Thirty-two key informant interviews were completed and analyzed. All interviewed key informants reported food insecurity initiatives, though programs varied widely in scope and resources. Building on this research, we identified a clear need for an open, collaborative channel where institutions can share best practices, address common barriers, and develop practical, long-term approaches to supporting students. We are using Google Groups to gather community leaders across college campuses. In 2025, we hosted two webinars: one reported on a survey on campus food insecurity from UMD and the other was a presentation about applying for the Hunger-Free Campus Grant. Members of this ‘community of practice’ were surveyed to identify priority issues and preferences for communication. Future webinars will focus on these priority issues.

Strategies for Improving Test Scores
Jeffrey Reid
Cheryl North, Education

Standardized tests are a primary way to evaluate students and schools, with lasting effects on student performance. This study examined if targeted, curriculum-based direct instruction would result in higher test scores among 52 tenth-grade students, including ten students with accommodations. Students were given two diagnostic assessments at the beginning of the year and one halfway through the year. Over the course of the year, instructional materials were incorporated to strengthen student understanding of test taking concepts. This study aimed to determine if students would increase at least 5% in performance. Students who scored perfectly the first time would be expected to maintain their initial score. These findings suggest that instructional materials such as study guides, test-oriented journal prompts, and group activities centered around test topics were effective in improving student performance on tests.

Sex-Dependent Mechanisms Underlie Stress-Induced Changes in Synaptic Plasticity
Ella Reinders, Nick Anderson, Ashley Copenhaver, Jalane Campbell, Deeya Mistry
Tara LeGates, Biological Sciences

Stress-related psychiatric disorders, including depression, are widespread and diverse. Males and females exhibit striking differences in the prevalence and presentation of stress-related psychiatric disorders. However, the mechanistic basis for these differences remains elusive, exacerbating depression vulnerability. Neuroplasticity, the ability to change the strength of synaptic transmission, plays a central role in reward and stress responses. Bidirectional modulation of Hippocampus–Nucleus Accumbens (Hipp-NAc) synapses is a critical mediator of motivation, whereby potentiation supports reward learning, and chronic stress disrupts it. Though this occurs similarly in both sexes, our recent work showed that potentiation is mediated by sex-specific mechanisms, suggesting that mechanisms underlying stress may also be sex-specific. To evaluate if latent sex differences underlie stress-induced plasticity alterations, we used western blotting and whole-cell electrophysiology to examine the expression and function of key plasticity-related proteins in the NAc of control and chronically stressed male and female mice. While we found many similarities between sexes, we observed a stress-induced decrease in L-type VGCC expression in females, an ion channel required for plasticity in this sex. These findings demonstrate that similar behavioral responses to stress can arise from distinct molecular mechanisms, underscoring the importance of further investigation of reward-related neuronal circuit mechanisms in both sexes.

This research was funded, in part, by U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

A Survey of the Ethical, Legal, And Social Implications of Digital Twins For Health
Nia Richard, Chaw Maung¹
¹Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Shimei Pan, Information Systems

The Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of Digital Twins for Health (DT4H) highlights the challenges of integrating computational models into healthcare systems. Digital twins are virtual representations of patients, organs, medical devices, and healthcare systems. They integrate real-time biological, behavioral, and environmental data to transform diagnostic processes and personalize treatment and preventive care. However, their implementation raises concerns about privacy, consent, governance, bias, accountability, and equity. DT4H are continuously evolving “living models” that maintain an explicit representation of patients. Unlike other Artificial Intelligence for Health systems, DT4H systems require ongoing updates to reflect new clinical, behavioral, and physiological data. This governs obligations around continuous model maintenance, and lifecycle management to ensure reliability over time. The nature of DT4H complicates consent because the digital twin evolves incorporating new data sources, enables expanding simulation capabilities, and sustains patient control over how the digital representation is used and modified. Ambiguity persists around liability when errors occur within the DT4H. The differentiation of responsibility lies neither with developers nor clinicians. Ethical oversight and adaptive regulation is essential to ensure DT4H improves care without compromising ELSI.

The Relation Between Social Media Use and Sleep Quality: A Survey of UMBC Undergraduate Students
Alycia Rigosi
Matthew Novak, Psychology

High levels of social media use are associated with mental and physical health challenges, including increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. In particular, among college-aged adults, problematic social media use can negatively affect academic performance, sleep quality, and other aspects of daily functioning. Thus, we conducted an online survey of UMBC undergraduate students to assess their social media use and sleep patterns. The survey included a modified Internet Addiction Test (IAT) to measure levels of social media use and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality. Data collection is currently ongoing, with a goal of 200 respondents. Planned analyses will assess relations between social media use and sleep quality as well as respondents’ motivation to reduce social media use. Additional information and results will be updated as data are collected. Findings from this survey will inform development of future research focused on mitigating adverse effects of high levels of social media use.

Narratives and Philosophy: Teaching High School Students Ethics One Trolley Problem at a Time
Lauren Rivarde
Greg Ealick, Philosophy

This research aimed to explore how high schoolers learned introductory philosophy when taught to work through ethical questions utilizing narrative. Ethics is an important and interesting part of everyday life that is not usually covered in a high school setting. As a tool, narratives have been used in teaching, specifically in teaching ethics, for centuries. They have shown to be useful in clarifying philosophical ideas. When asked if storytelling was useful in their understanding of ethical principles, most high schoolers responded that it was. Student preferences trended towards more complex narratives as most useful. This research will hopefully provide guidance on effective methods to introduce philosophy and ethics to high schoolers.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics and Imaging Reveal Spatial Lipid Metabolism Alterations in Mouse Brains During Aging
Anderson Rivas, Nimalee Jayasekera, Sean O’Sullivan, Ginny Murray, Nav Raj Phulara, Weihong Lin
Herana Kamal Seneviratne, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Neurodegenerative diseases are a worldwide health problem and aging is a major risk factor for neurodegeneration. The brain exhibits substantial heterogeneity and neuroanatomical regions are enriched in lipids. Nonetheless, it is poorly understood how brain lipid metabolism alters during aging. We postulate that lipids, their metabolites, and lipid-metabolizing proteins are perturbed in a region-specific manner during aging. To elucidate changes in lipid-metabolizing enzymes during aging, we harvested brain tissues from adult (three to four months) and aged (17 to 19 months) female C57BL/6 mice, and prepared lysates for proteomics analysis. Further, we conducted immunoblotting and immunofluorescence analyses to confirm expressions of select proteins and their spatial localizations. To determine altered spatial localizations of lipids during aging, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging experiments were performed using brain tissues from adult and aged mice. In sum, our proteomics and immunoblot data demonstrated differential levels of lipid metabolizing proteins including Ceramide synthase 2, Acid ceramidase 1, and Alkyldihydroxyacetonephosphate synthase, peroxisomal, and lipid binding protein Fatty acid-binding protein 7. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed the regional distribution of Ceramide synthase 2 and Lysophaspatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 in the brain. Results from mass spectrometry imaging experiments characterized distinct spatial changes in lipid localizations during aging.

This research was funded by a startup grant from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (H.K.S.), START (H.K.S.), and SURFF (H.K.S.).

Synthesis And Photochemical Characterization of Pt(II)- and Pd(II)-Porphyrins
Aliyyah Roberson
Marcin Ptaszek, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Porphyrins are a group of organic tetrapyrrolic molecules that possess photochemical properties useful in applications such as oxygen sensing, biological imaging, and solar energy conversion. Photochemical properties, namely wavelength and intensity of emission, are influenced by structural changes such as metallation and functionalization. We hypothesize that introducing aryl groups into the porphyrin structure will quench phosphorescence intensity by promoting rapid, competitive internal conversion. To further investigate this structural-property relationship, we compared the emission spectra of Pd(II)- and Pt(II)- tetraphenyl porphyrins (TPP) to Pd- and Pt- porphines, which are unsubstituted porphyrins. The syntheses and photochemical characterizations for Pd(II) and Pt(II) TPP and porphines are presented.

Does the Apple Fall Far from the Tree? The Relationship Between Multiracial Racial Identification and Social Upbringing
Kaia Robertson
Jé St Sume, Political Science

Multiracial individuals are the fastest growing racial group in America (Jones et al., 2021) yet little research explores their political attitudes. In Politics Beyond Black and White, Lauren Davenport (2018) examines the relationship between the political and social opinions of monoracial individuals and multiracial individuals. Davenport showcased that some multiracial individuals have different racial identities, and that those identities shape their racial attitudes as well as their political and social opinions. My project builds on this by focusing on a possible cause for how multiracial adults develop their racial identity. I will interview 5-10 multiracial people about their family, environments, and their racial identity. The questions will focus on their experiences of socialization, including their connection to monoracial people, their upbringing, and how they believe they were perceived. The findings from this research will help explain the relationship between familial and social upbringing and the racial identification of multiracial individuals.

This work was funded using Dr. St Sume’s research funding.

Exploring the Structure and Mechanisms of HIV-1 Virion Assembly Through Gag-RNA Interactions
Ariana Rodriguez
Michael Summers, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); Pengfei Ding, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), UMBC

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) affects over 39 million people worldwide. The existing antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not curative and HIV’s high mutation rate makes long term treatment difficult, necessitating further study of the HIV-1 replication cycle. During assembly, two copies of the viral genomic RNA (gRNA) are selectively incorporated into the progeny virion through interactions mediated by dozens of Gag polyprotein and an RNA packaging signal (Psi) located at the 5’-leader of gRNA. However, the recognition mechanism between oligomerized Gag and Psi remain elusive. To elucidate the Gag/Psi recognition mechanism, we study the interactions between Psi and Gag fragments containing the capsid (CA) and nucleocapsid (NC) domains, which are responsible for self-association and RNA binding respectively. The binding and assembly behavior of these Gag derivatives with Psi are evaluated through electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) and negative stain electron microscopy (EM). These techniques determine assembly conditions that may be suitable for cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) for atomic structure determination. The three-dimensional structure will provide the detailed Gag/Psi recognition mechanism underlying Gag assembly initiation and selective gRNA packaging. Gaining a better understanding of these processes will facilitate future development of therapeutics targeting Gag-gRNA interactions during genome packaging and virion assembly.

Support for this research was provided by NIH/NIAID #U54-AI1-700660, NIH/NIAID #5 RO1-AI1504989-36, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Bridging the Test Score Gap Between ESOL and Native Speakers
Frank Rodriguez
Cheryl North, Education

This study examines 30 English Language Learners (ELLs) at a Title I school, covering a vast range of both languages and English proficiency levels. The intention of the study is to examine the effectiveness of explicitly teaching test-taking strategies in order to increase performance on multiple-choice tests. The participants vary in their English proficiency levels, from students who are nearing the point of exiting the program, to those with very low proficiency, and thus in need of more support. Additionally, students vary in their need for support in test-taking strategies. This is why the focus of this study is on attempting to improve the test-taking skills of these ELL students, particularly regarding multiple-choice questions using tactics such as answer elimination, text scanning, as well as word and tone recognition. Over the course of several months, students have been exposed to test-taking strategies to better enable them to perform on par with their peers, despite them being naturally disadvantaged linguistically within their space. Baseline data indicated that the ELL students averaged roughly 15% success at the beginning of the study. After targeted instruction, students have improved with the goal of every student reaching at least a 40% baseline.

Assessing the Reliability of Neural Network Bird Song Detection
Charles Rogers
Kevin Omland, Biological Sciences

Automated acoustic monitoring is becoming an integral part of bird conservation research. However, the efficacy of neural network identifiers under varying field conditions remains insufficiently evaluated. We assessed the performance of custom BirdNET classifiers developed for the Puerto Rican Oriole using passive acoustic recordings collected using automated recording units (ARUs). We evaluated how accuracy changed with the amount of training data and the distance between the bird sound and the recorder, using both field recordings and controlled playback experiments. Four different proportions of training data were used from a library of 150 Puerto Rican Oriole songs. We compared the BirdNET results to manually reviewed recordings in order to measure accuracy. Performance metrics included precision, recall, maximum confidence scores for false positives, and threshold-dependent retention of detections. Precision and recall generally improved with increasing training dataset size, whereas detection performance declined with increasing distance from the sound source. Our results provide a framework for evaluating and optimizing custom neural network audio classifiers for ecological monitoring applications. This research will be beneficial for the monitoring and conservation of the Puerto Rican Oriole.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Secure-by-Disguise: Clinical Validation of Disguised Nets for Confidential Medical Imaging
Jason Rojas, Jiajie He
Keke Chen, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

The integration of deep learning (DL) into clinical workflows has revolutionized medical image analysis; however, the intensive computational requirements of these models often necessitate outsourcing training to public cloud environments. This practice introduces significant privacy risks, as sensitive Protected Health Information (PHI) within medical images remains vulnerable to exposure or reconstruction during cloud-based processing. While DisguisedNets—a framework utilizing Random Multidimensional Projection (RMT) and AES-pixel-level encryption—has successfully enabled confidential training on low-resolution benchmarks like MNIST and CIFAR-10, its efficacy in complex, high-resolution medical domains remains unverified. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the clinical utility and security of DisguisedNets across classification and semantic segmentation. Leveraging high-resolution open-source clinical datasets, we demonstrate that models trained on disguised images maintain high diagnostic accuracy for classification, ensuring that raw anatomical structures remain visually and algorithmically unintelligible to the cloud provider. Our findings also reveal a notable “privacy tax” in pixel-level segmentation. This work provides the first empirical evidence that DisguisedNets can successfully scale to real-world clinical classification, offering a secure, HIPAA-compliant pathway for resource-limited clinics to leverage high-performance cloud computing. Conversely, our results highlight that further advancements in image-disguising technologies are required to achieve satisfactory performance in spatially-sensitive tasks like segmentation.

NSF #2517121.

Strengthening Claim, Evidence, And Reasoning Skills in Middle School Science
Roxanne Romero
Christopher Rakes, Education

The present study investigated whether differentiating claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) responses improved students’ ability to analyze data and apply scientific ideas to support a claim with appropriate evidence and reasoning. Support was provided to 25 sixth-grade science students. CER ability was analyzed through guided practice assessments and individually graded responses to experiments.

Early intervention for misconceptions in scientific writing is especially important in the rapidly advancing age of generative artificial intelligence. Conducting experiments and forming claims supported by evidence and scientific reasoning prepares students for a STEM pathway. Noticeable improvement was observed when students analyzed poorly written CER examples. Their ability to distinguish evidence from an experiment and translate those observations into scientific reasoning based on scientific principles improved. When differentiation supports were removed, students continued to struggle to write CERs independently but demonstrated increased confidence in their CER writing. CER writing is a complex skill because it draws on multiple levels of learning and the application of recalled information. Mastery of scientific principles is demonstrated through CER writing, and science classrooms should provide students with increased exposure and focused practice to strengthen this skill.

Synthesis Of Novel Heterocyclic Thiols as Potential Inhibitors Of NDM-1 β-Lactamase
Laci Rothblum, Alexander Joshua
Paul Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry

β-Lactam antibiotics have been used to treat numerous bacterial infections, saving countless lives. However, a class of hydrolytic enzymes known as β-lactamases (MLBs) hydrolyze the β-lactam ring, causing antibiotic inactivation and thus antibiotic resistance. Of particular concern is the MBL NDM-1, which contains two zinc ions in its active site that are responsible for catalysis. The Smith lab has previously synthesized effective inhibitors with a zinc-binding motif containing a (hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole and a carboxylate group. Molecular modeling suggests the carboxylate makes a single contact with one of the active site zinc ions. Based on the high affinity of sulfur for zinc, it is reasoned that replacing the carboxylate group with a thiol will produce more effective inhibitors. Efforts toward the synthesis of such a compound will be presented.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Structural Characterization of Aichi Virus IRES Using Fab-Assisted RNA Crystallography
Magdalen Ruth
Deepak Koirala, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-dependent translation allows positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses to hijack host cellular machinery. The Picornaviridae family, including Aichi virus, contains diverse IRES types that use distinct RNA structures to initiate viral protein synthesis. Because IRES elements are key targets for antiviral strategies, this study aims to characterize the RNA domains of the type V IRES in Aichi virus and identify features essential for its function and regulatory activity. RNA constructs containing key stem-loop regions were designed for crystallization studies. To facilitate structure determination, a synthetic antibody fragment (Fab BL3-6) was used for chaperone-assisted crystallography. Functionally unimportant loop sequences were replaced to enable Fab binding and stabilize the RNA structure. After synthesis and purification, binding assays confirmed high-affinity RNA-Fab interactions and RNA integrity. The purified RNA-Fab complex was screened against approximately 400 crystallization conditions using sitting-drop vapor diffusion methods. Although multiple crystals formed within a week, they were too small for high-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis. Current optimization efforts focus on improving crystal size and quality by adjusting parameters such as pH and precipitant concentration. High-quality crystals will enable detailed structural analysis of the Aichi virus IRES and support rational antiviral therapeutic development efforts.

This work was funded, in part by a stipend from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Investigating Potential Hyper- and Hypo-Septators within the Aspergillus Nidulans Kinase Deletion Library
Sami Saeed, Olivia West, Meredith Morse, Joshua Dayie, Alexander Doan, Steven Harris¹
¹Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Filamentous fungi are utilized in bioprocessing to manufacture high-value commercial products, while also including deadly pathogens like Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans, responsible for over 1.5 million deaths around the world annually. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the synthesis and repair of the fungal cell wall, critical to the survival of fungi, will enable us to better interact with fungi. Protein kinases regulate cell wall integrity in various ways, among these being septation, which aids in cell wall stress survival. Previous research has established a link between the septation initiation network (SIN) and cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway. Based on further research, we have narrowed down 14 kinases of interest which we suspect may play a role in regulating septation. We will analyze these 14 kinase deletion strains under normal and micafungin-induced cell wall stress, using fluorescent microscopy to measure growth and septation. Multiple replicates will be performed for each strain to account for error. The results will then be compared to the wild-type strain to verify the significance of each kinase’s effect on the cell wall stress response.

This work was funded, in part, by U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

Understanding the Arab Patient’s Healthcare Experiences in the United States
Aya Saeid
Robert Anderson, Psychology; Rachel Amey, Psychology, UMBC; Samir El Omari, MLLI, UMBC

Despite the high rate of chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension among Arabs in the United States, little research captures how cultural and religious factors shape their actual lived experience with healthcare. Existing literature discusses Islamic beliefs, family-centered decision-making, modesty norms, and acculturation stress as potent influences on medical decisions, pain perception, and clinical interactions. Conceptual descriptions of these influences often exclude patients’ personal reflections, which may contribute to underrepresentation. Such underrepresentation may critically limit understanding of culture-based experiences in healthcare and the development of effective ameliorative strategies, frequently lacking in the literature. This project addresses that gap through surveys and focus groups with Arab patients to capture their perspectives, combined with interviews with experts in cultural competence & communication, to elucidate reasons and solutions for limited interventions targeting this unique cultural experience. Based on these findings, the study aims to provide culturally informed recommendations and/or outline a cross-cultural communication training framework for medical professionals to improve chronic disease care and patient-provider relationships.

Exploring Chinese American Adolescents’ Motivation for and Facilitators of their Civic Engagement
Daniela Salguero Monge, Xue Fang Deng¹
¹Psychology, UMBC
Charissa S. L. Cheah, Psychology

Amidst rising anti-Asian threats, Asian American adolescents (AAA) demonstrated resilience through their civic engagement (CE) activities (de Guzman et al., 2020). However, AAA’s CE, motivation for, and facilitators to CE remain understudied. Limited research on AAA CE can lead to deficit-based perspectives of Asian American communities by emphasizing their vulnerabilities and limiting the recognition of AAA’s community successes in mobilizing social change (Yip et al., 2023). This qualitative study analyzed virtual interviews with AAA between 10 and 18 years old (N=51; Mage=15.61 years; SDage=1.98, 49% female). Our analysis (K = 0.78-0.96) revealed three major patterns of current involvement: (1) active civic participation, (2) active learning, and (3) varying involvement (e.g., notifying authorities about discrimination). Our analyses also revealed 5 major motivations for CE: (1) community development, (2) personal goals, (3) personal interests, (4) proximity salience, and (5) shared identity. CE Facilitators included: (1) institutional, (2) online, (3) peer, and (4) community opportunities. Understanding AAA’s motivation for and perceived facilitators to civic involvement informs culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate community interventions that uplift AAA’s civic engagement.

PSMark: A Distributed IoT Benchmark for Publish/Subscribe Under Domain-Based Workloads
Nathan Samson, Christian Badolato, Roberto Yus, Houssam Hajj Hassan¹, Chih-Kai Huang², Georgios Bouloukakis³, Primal Pappachan⁴
¹Orange Innovation, France / Télécom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France, ²Télécom Paris / Télécom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France, ³>University of Patras, Greece, ⁴Portland State University, USA
Roberto Yus, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Christian Badaloto, UMBC

The Publish/Subscribe (pub/sub) paradigm is widely used in the Internet of Things (IoT) for scalable, decoupled communication between devices and servers. Selecting and configuring a pub/sub protocol requires evaluating network requirements, device reliability, and Quality-of-Service guarantees. However, existing benchmarks focus on stress testing with static, homogeneous publishers, failing to represent real-world IoT deployments. We present PSMark, a distributed, multi-protocol benchmark for evaluating pub/sub systems under workloads representative of real IoT environments. PSMark supports heterogeneous device configurations with varying payload sizes, publication rates, and connection stability; distributed deployments with multiple data aggregation servers; cross-protocol measurement across MQTT and DDS; and a modular design for extensibility. We construct twelve IoT-focused workloads derived from seven real-world datasets spanning manufacturing, healthcare, smart homes, and smart cities. Using PSMark, we benchmark five popular MQTT brokers and one DDS implementation across multiple testbeds and QoS settings. Key findings include that workload composition matters more than raw message volume, QoS-throughput trade-offs are steep at scale, and resource efficiency varies widely across systems. PSMark and all experimental artifacts are publicly available for community reuse and extension.

This work was funded, in part, by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation actions under grant agreements No. 101168560 (CoEvolution) and No. 101168465 (MEDIATE) and NSF Award #2451803.

Examining Contemporary Media’s Portrayal of True Crime and the Attraction to Audience
Ava Schreiber
Kathalene Razzano, Media and Communication Studies

From podcasts, to documentaries, to docu-series, to dedicated cable channels, true crime content is consumed by 57 percent of the American population. What is behind this interest to learn about the violence experienced by men, women and even children? People’s fascination with sensationalized crime dates back to the earliest days of the printing press. Today this content is often viewed in the comfort of our own homes through streaming platforms like Netflix and the ID channel, which is exclusively devoted to true crime content. This project utilizes content and textual analyses of true crime content and a survey of true-crime viewers in order to examine the psychological satisfaction the viewer gets from observing this specific genre. This research offers a perspective on true crime, its viewers, and its place in the media landscape that sheds light on the intersection of hegemonic media techniques, psychological and cultural discourses of crime, gender and deviance. As true crime becomes a major part of our present-day media culture, audiences follow along.

Palladium-Catalyzed Synthetic Strategies Toward Novel Metallo-β-Lactamase Inhibitors Targeting NDM-1
Kevin Schwanebeck
Paul Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry

β-Lactam antibiotics such as penicillin remain critical treatments for bacterial infections, but their effectiveness is increasingly threatened by metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), bacterial enzymes that use zinc ions to break down these antibiotics. Of particular concern is NDM-1, an MBL for which no FDA-approved inhibitors exist, representing a major public health threat. This research aimed to synthesize novel inhibitors of NDM-1 based on two approaches: derivatives of the previously identified sub-micromolar inhibitor OP-I-61 and thiophene-based compounds designed to bind zinc ions in the enzyme’s active site. Multiple palladium-catalyzed synthetic strategies were explored, including Mizoroki-Heck, Suzuki cross-coupling, and Sonogashira coupling reactions to attach hydrophobic groups that enhance binding to NDM-1. These synthetic approaches yielded mixed results based on proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance characterization. Ongoing research efforts are exploring zinc-containing analogs of OP-I-61 as potential inhibitors, hypothesized to be more effective through their ability to deposit zinc in the active site of NDM-1. This work contributes to understanding structure-activity relationships for combating antibiotic resistance and preserving β-lactam antibiotic efficacy.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Benchmarking Early Deterioration Prediction Across Hospital-Rich And MCI-Like Emergency Triage Under Constrained Sensing
Joshua Sebastian, Karma Tobden, KMA Solaiman
KMA Solaiman, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

What happens when a 7.0 earthquake hits a city and emergency responders are triaging hundreds of casualties with no hospital infrastructure, no labs, and no imaging, just the readings on a portable monitor? This is the problem we designed our research around. We introduced a benchmarking framework that tests machine learning models under the kind of severe information constraints that define disaster triage: inputs limited to basic vital signs captured within the first hour of patient contact. Using MIMIC-IV-ED, we compared this field-like vitals-only setting against a hospital-rich baseline, and found that models retain most of the predictive power even with restricted to early vitals. We compared from simple regression models to ensemble methods to modern deep tabular models. Structured ablation experiments reveal that respiratory rate and oxygen saturation are the most clinically informative signals, and models exhibit graceful degradation as sensing is progressively reduced, a property essential for real-world deployment reliability. This work provides a reproducible, clinically grounded benchmark for evaluating triage decision-support systems designed to operate across the full spectrum of resource availability, from disaster zones to emergency departments.

“Hypocrisy in Faculty Use”: Student-Driven Recommendations for AI Policy in a Design Classroom
Kaoru Seki, Manisha Vijay
Yasmine Kotturi, Human-Centered Computing

Generative AI is reshaping education, yet most classroom policies are written without students and focus on penalizing misuse. This top-down approach sidelines those most affected—students—who have little say in governing their everyday learning, resulting in confusion and fear about acceptable use. We examine how participatory, student-led AI policy design can address this disconnect. We position students as lead users—early adopters of generative AI—and report on a three-part participatory workshop series in HCC629 (Fundamentals of Human-Centered Computing) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Two student co-researchers, without faculty present, facilitated workshops where eight participants surfaced candid AI uses and co-developed ten policy recommendations, later visualized in a zine. Two additional students who declined workshops due to AI skepticism contributed via follow-up interviews. Findings highlight the need for safe spaces to discuss unfiltered AI practices and suggest that student-authored policies can clarify expectations and support more purposeful AI use.

Cost-effective Detection of Microplastics Using Fluorescence Microscopy and Nile Red Staining
Joaquin Seminario, Zoha Waleed
Mickey Dehn, Anne Arundel Community College

With the rapid increase in the documentation of microplastics (MP) worldwide, techniques for detection have increased but are often costly. This research focused on (1) developing an accessible and cost-effective method to detect MP using Nile Red (NR) stain and a low-tech fluorescence microscope (FM) assembly, and (2) quantifying and identifying MP collected from a local beach using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). We tested NR’s capacity to stain five types of plastics in three solvents of varying polarity (hexane, toluene, and ethanol) at 1 mg/1ml; plastics stained with NR in toluene fluoresced with greatest intensity. We assessed the effect of plastic color on fluorescence by staining different colored pellets; black pellets fluoresced the least compared to red and yellow. Aging plastics in water over 7 d. decreased fluorescence intensity compared to pristine plastics. Thus, we concluded that researchers are at risk for underestimating the number of black plastics and those exposed to the elements in environmental samples. In sand sampled from Ft. Smallwood Beach Park, MD, the concentration of MP (2-5mm) was greater further away from the water line. Identification of MP sampled revealed polyethylene (46.7%) and polypropylene (22.2%) to be the most abundant plastic types found.

The Anne Arundel Community College Building Research Infrastructure at Community Colleges (BRICCs) project was supported by the National Science Foundation ITYC program, Award #2412646, with a grant of $600,000, which is 100% of the total cost of NSF-ITYC activities college wide.

Electronic Cigarette Vapor Exposure Disrupts Olfactory Function and Induces Neuroinflammation in Mice
Silvi Shah
Weihong Lin, Biological Sciences; Tatsuya Ogura, Department of Biological Sciences, UMBC

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) usage is a public health concern due to exposure to nicotine and other harmful substances, despite being marketed as attractive, flavored alternatives to traditional cigarettes. During vaping exposure, nicotine, flavorant metabolites, and heavy metals can interact with the olfactory system, impairing the sense of smell and disrupting brain signaling. Previous research in mice shows that e-cigarette vapor exposure disrupts olfactory bulb function, though the effects of nicotine, flavorants, and heavy metals remain unknown. This study investigates how vaping disrupts the rodent olfactory system by altering the morphology of the glomerular layer and its neuroinflammatory responses in the olfactory bulb. We hypothesize that increasing chemical components in e-cigarette vapor exacerbates neuroinflammation and olfactory disruption. Each group, containing nine to ten mice, was exposed to e-cigarette compounds (propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, e-liquid containing flavorants and nicotine, with or without heavy metals) or air for eight weeks. Post-exposure, olfactory bulb tissue was analyzed via immunohistochemistry using antibodies against VGluT2, TH, OMP, and GFAP, to determine morphological changes to olfactory glomeruli and inflammation in the olfactory bulb. We are collecting data to explore how exposure to these components, particularly flavorants and heavy metals, may contribute to neuroinflammatory and olfactory dysfunction.

Support for this research was provided by the National Institute of Health grants (T32GM066706) and (T32GM158458). Silvi Shah was supported in part by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant (52008090) to the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Empowering Data Literacy: Fostering Self-Regulation and Adaptive Agency Through Personal Informatics
Emma Shay, Jennifer Posada
Karen Chen, Information Systems

Goal-setting, adapting to change, and decision-making are essential to student success and well-being; however, the development of self-regulation and adaptive agency is not explored enough within data science education environments. Data science skills are in high-demand in recent years with advancements in technology. This study explored how students learned data science skills in a manner that was personally meaningful, supported well-being, and was relevant for workforce readiness. This project focuses on Empowered Analytics, a framework that positions students as agents who design and test analytics systems to support inquiries meaningful to them. Implemented within a preliminary data science course at UMBC, 44 diverse learners engaged in Personal Informatics (PI) and analyzed their own behavioral data over the course of the semester, and reflected on their experience. This process bridged Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), the cognitive monitoring of one’s progress, with Self Determination Theory (SDT), which emphasizes the psychological need for autonomy and competence. By taking ownership of their data, students further developed their technical skills and practiced the autonomy required for SDT and SRL. Preliminary findings demonstrated the power of data literacy for both academic success and personal well-being and a deeper understanding of their own development.

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Using Data to Inform Models of Nucleus Accumbens Neurons
Branwen She, Matyas Marek, Ashley Copenhaver
Tara LeGates, Biological Sciences; Kathleen Hoffman, Mathematics and Statistics, UMBC

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays a key role in regulating motivated behaviors and is implicated in several psychiatric disorders, which tend to be highly complex and heterogeneous. Thus, determining how the activity of these neurons encodes behavior and disease states is crucial. Though typically accomplished through conventional neuroscience experiments, mathematical modeling of electrical transmission in the brain has been used as an effective tool to understand functional properties of different regions of the brain. However, these models alone are unable to capture the complexity and variability of biological systems. Here, we utilized empirical data to inform the parameters of the model and to accurately reflect the dynamics of a single NAc neuron. We used the Izhikevich model and tools such as identifiability to determine whether the parameters can be uniquely estimated from the experimental data. We then estimated parameters to understand how various factors (like stress and sex) impact parameter values and further compare the accuracy of two different estimation methods: traditional parameter estimation techniques and machine learning methods. Ultimately, this work has the potential to accelerate the development of new therapeutics by providing insights into the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders.

This work was funded, in part, by UMBC’s G-RISE grant (T32GM144876-02), NSF (IOS2402645), the Merck Academic Fellowship, and UMBC’s CIMBRE Student Research Award.

Development of Analogical Reasoning After Learning a Vocabulary in Two Languages
Ipsa Sindhwani
Mirela Cengher, Psychology

Trelles & Castro (2019) stated that one in four children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is being raised in a household that speaks two languages. Although research over the years has indicated that language development in children with ASD is not impeded by bilingualism (Garrido et al., 2024), research on foundational skills promoting bilingual acquisition remains limited. Zhao et al. (accepted) taught child participants to label items in two languages, and then probed translations between languages (e.g., “Dog in Spanish is…”). The authors found that children learned the labels, but demonstrated low scores on translation probes. In the current study, we are evaluating a novel procedure to facilitate translation between languages. Specifically, we teach participants to label objects using words from two abstract languages and then test them on their ability to complete translational analogies (e.g., Hervidor is to Kettle as Esponja is to _____). We found that the participant engaged in analogical reasoning following the acquisition of three stimuli in two abstract languages. We plan to replicate these procedures with additional participants. This study will inform the development of procedures that would help children in learning and translating between two languages.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Physician Burnout Through the Emotional State Theory of Happiness
Shreya Singh
Kyle Bates, Emergency and Disaster Health Systems; Blake Francis, Philosophy, UMBC; Eric Brown, INDS, UMBC

Physician burnout is widely documented, yet it is most often described in terms of stress, workload, and institutional pressures rather than as a disturbance in physicians’ underlying emotional condition. Less attention has been given to how burnout relates to the structure of happiness, understood as a stable affective orientation rather than a series of momentary feelings. This project examines a physician’s memoir through the framework of Daniel M. Haybron’s Emotional State Theory of happiness, which defines happiness as the individual’s overall emotional condition, constituted by central affective states and mood propensities. Using close textual and philosophical analysis, this study will identify narrative patterns such as emotional exhaustion, detachment, loss of meaning, and moral distress, and interpret them as disruptions in central affective states and in the mood propensities that shape a person’s general emotional orientation toward the world. This approach will allow for an examination of burnout as a shift in the physician’s global affective state. The aim of this project is to develop an account of physician burnout that connects lived experience to a philosophical theory of happiness and to clarify how medical training and practice may alter the emotional conditions that underlie well-being.

USP8 Manipulations Lead to Synaptic Morphology Alterations and Sensory Behavior Disruptions in Drosophila Larvae
Shreya Singh
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by challenges in social interactions, communication, and atypical behaviors, with symptoms typically emerging in early childhood. Affecting about 1 in 100 children worldwide, ASD presents a wide range of abilities and needs. Synaptic elimination, or pruning, shapes neural circuitry by removing incorrect synaptic connections. Disruptions are linked to ASD. Over 100 genes are associated with ASD development. This project investigated the role of USP8, an autism associated gene, in synaptic regulation in Drosophila melanogaster larvae. Loss- and gain-of-function manipulations were compared with controls. Microscopy revealed increased ectopic synapses at the neuromuscular junctions (NMJ), possibly indicating that both reduced and elevated USP8 activity disrupt synaptic development and synaptic pruning. Further analysis of cIVda sensory neuron projections in the central nervous system (CNS) showed increased axonal projection volume for both loss- and gain-of-function genotypes, but imaging revealed distinct morphological differences. Behavioral assays showed altered nociceptive responses across groups. These results point to a dose-dependent requirement for USP8 in synaptic development and provide insight into how dysregulated synaptic pruning may contribute to ASD.

Structural Characterization of Enteroviral Type I IRES Domains II and IV Using Fab-Assisted RNA Crystallography
Barathi Sivakumaran
Deepak Koirala, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) type I is a conserved RNA element that enables certain viruses to initiate protein synthesis independently of the standard cap-dependent cellular mechanism, making it an important target for studying viral infection and antiviral development. This project examined the structural properties of Type I IRES found in enteroviruses such as EV71, CVB3, and PV to better understand how this RNA region folds and interacts with host proteins. In particular, domain II (dII) and domain IV (dIV) are critical structural domains that bind the IRES trans-acting factors PTB and PCBP2, respectively, interactions that are essential for efficient viral translation. However, the absence of high-resolution structural information has limited understanding of their structure-dependent mechanisms. To address this, we used Fab-assisted RNA crystallography to determine the crystal structures of these domains. DII constructs were generated, purified, and subjected to crystallization screening, yielding crystals under multiple conditions that were optimized and tested for diffraction. Although high-resolution data have not yet been achieved, preliminary results indicate that the RNAs adopt stable conformations suitable for structural analysis. Ultimately, this work aims to define the 3-D structures of dII and dIV and clarify their roles in viral protein recruitment.

by NIH MIRA grant.

Open-Source Software Suite of Bioinformatic Tools for Dynamic Omics Data Analysis
Jessica Slaughter
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Harley Edwards, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, UMBC

Advancements in high-throughput technologies have made large, system-scale assessments (e.g., genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic) common in biology. As the cost of acquiring large data sets from omics experiments decreases, the availability of dynamic omics trajectories increases, with data collected across various conditions (e.g., time points, dosages). While these dynamic datasets offer deeper insight into complex biological processes, their analysis remains difficult because many bioinformatics methods are designed for static experimental designs and are unfit to capture trajectory-dependent behavior. To address this technological need, we developed a suite of bioinformatics apps that specialize in analyzing dynamic omics data. Our suite of bioinformatics tools houses the Derivative Profiling omics Package (DPoP), ‘Omics’ Clustering & GO Term Analysis (OCA), Dynamic Volcano Plotting (DVP), Dynamic Ratio-Intensity Plotting (DRIP), and Omics Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (OMARS) applications. These tools provide generalizable techniques for a broad range of omics data while remaining computationally inexpensive. For convenience, all methods have been packaged in open-source, graphical user interface-based MATLAB applications with cross-compatible import/export data structures to facilitate multiple levels of analysis within the suite. By combining advanced statistical methodologies with a user-friendly interface, this suite empowers omics researchers to derive meaningful, data-driven hypotheses from complex, dynamic datasets.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Modeling Ionic and Metabolic Dynamics of Neurons and Glia Under Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation
Jalynn Somerville, Dr. Monica La Russa Gertz¹, Frank Cline²
¹Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Cornell University, ²George Mason University
Parag Chitnis, George Mason University, Bioengineering Department; Dr. John R. Cressman, George Mason University, Physics & Astronomy Department

Focused ultrasound stimulation (FUS) is an emerging noninvasive neuromodulation technique capable of altering brain activity with high spatial and temporal precision. At high-frequencies, FUS can target small, localized brain regions with minimal energy loss, making it well suited for treating neurological disorders that involve ionic imbalance or disrupted neuronal metabolism. Despite expanding clinical and experimental applications, the metabolic and ionic mechanisms underlying FUS remain poorly understood.

This project develops a computational model to study how high-frequency FUS affects potassium signaling and oxygen dynamics in neural tissue. Built on an extended Hodgkin–Huxley framework, the model incorporates ion channels, pump dynamics, and cell volume changes in both neuronal and glial compartments. Extracellular potassium and oxygen are tracked as indicators of ionic and metabolic activity and validated against experimental recordings.

Simulations show that stimulation duration is a key driver: longer exposures produce greater potassium accumulation and altered oxygen availability, consistent with observed data. These findings suggest FUS can modulate neural activity while imposing distinct metabolic demands, which our model captures accurately.

By linking neuron–glia dynamics with oxygen availability, this work provides a mechanistic framework for ultrasound neuromodulation. Future work will incorporate vascular components to broaden applicability and support safe, optimized treatment protocols.

I am a recipient of a UMBC Travel Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Anywhere, Nowhere, Everywhere, Somewhere: The Effects of Nostalgia and Anemoia on Memories and Emotions
Sydney Spradlin
Bryan O’Neill, Visual Arts

This project investigates nostalgia through the reenactment of forgotten photographic negatives discovered in my family’s generational home. The original images, found in my grandmother’s closet, documented my relatives’ childhood moments. Using these negatives as references, family members were asked to recreate the photographs using Kodak Gold color negative film and an SLR camera, replicating the original mode of image capture. Rather than pursuing an exact replication of poses or compositions, the recreations prioritized emotional and atmospheric continuity between the original images and the contemporary ones. The project was influenced by John Koenig’s concept of anemoia, coined in his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, meaning “nostalgia for a time you never experienced.” This motivated my engagement with the concept of inherited memory. Both the original photos and the recreations were compiled into a handmade photobook, designed with a visual language inspired by my families’ photo albums, before being printed and hand-bound. Qualitative data collected through quotations from family members reflected on their memories and emotional responses. The findings suggest that while specific events depicted in the photographs were often not consciously remembered, the affective qualities of those periods endured. This project shows how photographic reenactment explores generational memory and its associated emotions.

Structural Characterization of the HIV-1 Gag-Ψ Nucleation Complex
Aryan Srivastava, Ariana Rodriguez
Michael Summers, HHMI at UMBC; Pengfei Ding, HHMI at UMBC

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) pandemic remains a global health crisis and drug resistance continues to drive the need for new therapeutic development. As a critical stage of the viral life cycle, the initiation of HIV-1 assembly represents an important therapeutic opportunity. Viral assembly is orchestrated by the structural protein Gag, which selectively packages the viral genomic RNA by recognizing an RNA packaging signal (Ψ) located within the 5′ leader region. Currently, the detailed recognition mechanism between oligomerized Gag and Ψ remain largely elusive. We hypothesize that multiple Gag proteins assemble on Ψ to form a nucleation complex that initiates viral assembly. To study Gag/Ψ recognition, we engineered Gag derivatives containing the nucleocapsid and capsid domains, which are responsible for RNA binding and protein-protein interactions, respectively. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and negative-stain electron microscopy were employed to assess the quality and morphology of resulting nucleoprotein complexes. Our results indicate that these Gag derivatives form homogeneous higher-order assemblies with Ψ. This favorable behavior of the Gag/Ψ complex will enable atomic structure determination using cryogenic electron microscopy. This research will advance our mechanistic understanding of HIV-1 assembly and highlight new strategies for therapeutic intervention aimed at disrupting viral assembly and genome packaging.

Support for this research was provided by NIH/NIAID # U54- AI170660, NIH/NIAID #5 R01-AI1504989-36, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). This research was funded, in part, by a grant to UMBC from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Pre-college and Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Reliable Measurement of Apparent Octanol-Water Partition Constants for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
Jennafer Stevens
Lee Blaney, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

The Environmental Protection Agency adopted new maximum contaminant levels for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used in consumer and industrial products. PFAS exposure causes toxicity in humans. The environmental fate and transport of PFAS depend on partitioning reactions between water, solids, and air. This behavior is related to hydrophobicity, which is measured as octanol-water partition constants (Kow). Previous research has reported inconsistent log Kow values for PFAS: -1.98–6.26, perfluorooctanoate; and 0.49–6.73, perfluorooctane sulfonate. To address this knowledge gap, we measured apparent octanol-water partition constants (log Dow) at pH 1.3–13.8 for 14 PFAS with variable head group, chain length, and degree of fluorination. The log Dow data were deconvoluted to solve for acid dissociation constants and log Kow,0 and log Kow,1 values for protonated and deprotonated PFAS species, respectively. The high acid dissociation constants indicated that PFAS mainly exist as anions in water. The log Kow,1 values exhibited a strong linear relationship with chain length (R2 > 0.99), and the contributions of fluorinated methylene groups to log Kow,1 were consistent for all head group chemistries (e.g., 0.70-0.76). These outcomes enable estimation of log Kow,1 and improve overall understanding of PFAS fate and transport.

This research was funded through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (ER25-4792).

Quantifying Color Change in Male Darter Fish (Genus Etheostoma)
Eunice Sung
Tamra Mendelson, Biological Sciences

Observations have shown that male darter fish change color when confronted by another male. However, there has been no attempt to quantify their color change. Here, we have developed methods to assign a numerical value to each male’s color, measured as brightness, over the course of a fight. In this experiment, we used four species found in Maryland: Etheostoma flabellare, E. caeruleum, E. olmstedi, and E. blennioides. Eight males from each group were paired into four dyads, and each dyad was released into a narrow tank to fight. The fight was video recorded, and the footage was analyzed using ImageJ. Screenshots of each fight at five different intervals were taken, converted to greyscale, and the brightness values of landmark locations on the head, body, and tail were recorded. We scored the behavior, keeping track of the number of times each fish chased or fled from another fish, and the number of fin flares, to infer a “winner” and “loser” of the fight. On average, we observed that the more aggressive males were darker and inferred to be the winners. We also found that of the four species, E. caeruleum and E. blennioides were the most aggressive, with a clear winner.

Spiritualized Disability and Liminality in the Book of Margery Kempe
Ryan Supplee
Kathryn McKinley, English

My research centers around perceptions of the disabled body within medieval Europe. The particular focus of my research is the medieval relationship between Christian faith and disability. To this end, I intend to investigate The Book of Margery Kempe, written by the titular Christian mystic herself. I intend to discuss and research the role of physicality in both Kempe’s understanding of her faith as well as her understanding of disability. I intend to investigate how some medieval cultural understandings of physicality and spirituality sought to make sense of the disabled body. I intend to investigate three major scenes in which Kempe’s faith informs her understanding of disability. These scenes include Kempe believing that God sent a broken-backed man to be her servant, Kempe insisting that lepers are more blessed than herself, and Kempe’s justification of why her husband became disabled. This research is necessary, as it offers a touchstone to better understand the roots of many modern expressions of ableism (the discrimination against non-normative or otherwise impaired bodies and minds.) Many of Kempe’s misconceptions about disability are still present in modern society (albeit far more subtle.)

Ion Pairs Inhibit Ammonium Recovery by Donnan Dialysis
Maaike Swaters, Sahar Souizi
Lee Blaney, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Circular recovery of ammonium from wastewater is essential for food,water, energy, and climate security. Donnan dialysis leverages electrochemical potential gradients to sustainably transport ammonium in feed solutions (e.g., wastewater) across cation-exchange membranes and into saline receiver solutions. Ion pairs (e.g., Na+Cl–) can potentially form and transport across the membrane, decreasing ammonium recovery. This study evaluated the influence of cation-exchange membrane properties and receiver solution composition on ion pair formation and ammonium recovery by Donnan dialysis. Batch reactors were equipped with BPPO-C or CMVN cation-exchange membranes with 64.5% and 11.5% water uptake, respectively, and 0.24 meq/g and 1.26 meq/g ion-exchange capacities, respectively. Receiver solutions contained 100-200 mN of NaCl or Na2SO4. Ammonium, sodium, chloride, and sulfate concentrations in the feed and receiver solutions were recorded for 48 h of operation. The CMVN system exhibited 99.3% lower chloride leakage compared to BPPO-C. Sodium leakage was greater for the NaCl receiver solution due to more favorable formation of bimolecular ion pairs (e.g., Na+Cl– vs. Na+SO42–Na+) and weaker Donnan exclusion of monovalent ions (e.g., Cl– vs. SO42–). In summary, membranes with lower water uptake and greater ion-exchange capacity better mitigate ion pair transport, thereby improving ammonium recovery by Donnan dialysis.

This research was funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (MD.W-2019-06552).

From Page to Space: Reinterpreting 20th-Century Spanish Literature With Augmented Reality
Camryn Sydnor
Erin Hogan, Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; Dave Greber, Visual Arts

This project explores the intersection of literature, visual media, and technology through an augmented reality (AR) video interpreting three works of 20th-century Spanish-language literature: La casa de Bernarda Alba (1936) by Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra (1987) by Equatoguinean author Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, and La flor de la playa (1920) by Spanish writer and journalist Carmen de Burgos. These texts represent diverse cultural and historical perspectives: oppressive social structures in pre–Civil War Spain, postcolonial identity and memory in Equatorial Guinea, and early feminist thought in Spain.

Through textual analysis, the project identifies themes such as repression and authority, cultural identity and memory, and romantic freedom and social norms, translating them into immersive visual narratives using storyboarding and AR tools. The AR experience is presented in Spanish and English, enhancing accessibility while highlighting linguistic and cultural dimensions.

Drawing from textual analysis, the project preserves themes, character arcs, and narrative structures. Inspired by a museum setting, it engages audiences spatially and visually, providing an interactive interpretation rather than a linear, page-based one.

This work demonstrates how immersive technologies can reinterpret canonical literature, making it more accessible and fostering cultural and artistic engagement.

Determining the Direct Downstream Substrates of MAPK15 in Ovarian Cancer Cells
Zoya Syed
Achuth Padmanabhan, Biological Sciences

Ovarian cancer is the second most lethal gynecological cancer in the United States, with a five-year survival rate of 31%. This clinical reality highlights the need to identify novel therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer. Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 15 (MAPK15) is a protein kinase that is overexpressed in many cancers, including ovarian cancer. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database reveals that MAPK15 amplification occurs in 54% of ovarian cancer patients. Despite being overexpressed at such high frequency, MAPK15’s functional role in ovarian cancer remains unclear. Data generated in our lab demonstrates that MAPK15 promotes proliferation, migration, and adhesion of high-grade serous ovarian cancer cell lines. However, the precise mechanism by which MAPK15 impacts these processes remains unknown. To address this, I will identify downstream substrates of MAPK15 in ovarian cancer cells. I will clone and express 6xHis tagged active and kinase-dead MAPK15 in E. coli. Recombinant MAPK15 will be purified from E. coli using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. These recombinant proteins will be used to conduct kinase assays using fractionated ovarian cancer cell lysate. Phosphorylated proteins will be identified by mass spectrometry. Identifying direct MAPK15 substrates will enable us to identify downstream pathways in ovarian cancer cells regulated by MAPK15 overexpression.

I am a recipient of a UMBC Travel Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Amplifying Asian American Voices: Teachers’ Explorations of Picture Books Centering Asian American Characters
Sabrina Tan
Amy Tondreau, Education; Shuling Yang, Education

This qualitative study examined how elementary teachers engaged with Asian American picture books when supported by analytical tools grounded in Asian Critical Theory. As classrooms in the United States become increasingly diverse, teachers are expected to use children’s literature to support conversations about identity, culture, and belonging, yet many feel uncertain about how to guide these discussions. Participants included in-service teachers, preservice teachers, and teacher educators from multiple states who participated in interviews and guided focus group discussions centered on selected picture books. Guided by AsianCrit tenets and the Culture Tree framework, participants reread texts together and discussed instructional possibilities. Analysis showed that teachers moved beyond surface-level cultural observations to notice stereotypes, historical silences, and the emotional complexity of children’s experiences related to immigration and family. Teachers also described changes in how they approached reading picture books, noting increased confidence when facilitating classroom conversations. In addition to these findings, a separate reflective exploration of Asian American picture books extended the study by highlighting how personal histories and lived experiences shape how texts are read and interpreted. This study highlights the importance of professional learning that supports teachers in selecting diverse texts and learning how to read and teach them critically.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Characterizing yhe Cross-Pathway Regulation of a Conidiation-Independent Transcription Factor in Aspergillus Nidulans
Greeshma Tarimala, Alexander Doan1, Harley Edwards¹, Joseph Zavorskas², Kelsey Grey¹, JungHun Lee¹, Meredith Morse¹, Heather H. Wilkinson³, Danniel Ebbole³, Brian D. Shaw³, Steven D. Harris⁴, Ranjan Srivastava⁵
¹Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, UMBC, ²Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA, ³Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA, ⁴Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, ⁵Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Mark Marten, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering; Walker Huso, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, UMBC

Filamentous fungi are deadly human pathogens as well as beneficial organisms widely used in the food, agriculture, healthcare, and bioprocess industries. The cell wall is of great importance, as it protects hyphal integrity and defines complex morphologies in filamentous fungi. The cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway is of particular significance since it is the primary mechanism through which filamentous fungi respond to cell wall stress and control cell wall repair and biosynthesis. BrlA is a transcription factor involved in the conidiation pathway in Aspergillus nidulans. RNA sequencing data of A. nidulans under synchronized conidiation indicate that BrlA is one of the transcripts involved in both the conidiation pathway and the CWI pathway, suggesting a potential role linking developmental and cell wall stress responses. To experimentally test the results of this bioinformatics data, we performed sensitivity assays on A. nidulans when exposed to the cell wall perturbant micafungin, and compared the differences in growth of the wild-type and ΔBrlA strains. These measurements will allow us to quantify BrlA-dependent differences in fungal growth and draw conclusions about its role in cell wall regulation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2527369.

Leveraging Optical Strain to Control Magnetic Properties in Layered Materials
Aria Tauraso, Mathew Varghese, Geoffrey M. Diederich
Geoffrey Diederich, Physics

Numerous studies in the last few years have identified strain as a powerful tool to tune magnetic properties in layered van der Waals (vdW) materials. However, experimental techniques for applying uniaxial out-of-plane strains are lacking. This work aims to use ultrafast optical techniques to generate localized transient strain pulses to dynamically control magnetic properties in nanoscale materials, expanding on recent reports of spin wave generation in the vdW antiferromagnet CrSBr. In this study, we employed a femtosecond laser pulse to induce a localized strain wave packet in the crystal lattice of magnetic materials. In this talk, we will show preliminary data that demonstrates strain pulse generation in ~300nm thick crystals. The changes presented in the reflectivity data track movement of the strain pulse through the material while the frequency domain shows the vibrational standing waves that add up to give this strain pulse. Having demonstrated this phenomenon, we aim to apply it to magnet materials to control their properties which could have a broader impact for next generation magnetic devices.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Power and Control: The Impact of Religious Cults on the Lives of Women
Amy Taylor, Margot Anthony
Lauren Allen, Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center; Emma Archibald, Women’s, Gender, & Equity Center

This study examined how the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a high-control religious organization, structures female submission to male authority as a system of power and coercive control that produces distinct psychological, social, and economic outcomes for women. This topic is relevant to the general public because gendered systems of control in cults affect mental health, family functioning, and economic stability. Using a social work lens and the power and control wheel framework, this mixed-methods approach examines IBLP teachings and documentaries that expose the adverse effects of joining. Preliminary findings suggest that women experienced elevated isolation, anxiety, fear, shame, and diminished self-efficacy associated with enforced submission and restricted autonomy. Social outcomes include women’s constrained peer networks and reliance on male authority. Economically, women faced barriers to education, employment, and financial independence. These findings highlighted how IBLP generates gender-specific harms while constraining all members through control, underscoring the importance of trauma-informed, gender-responsive social work practice, advocacy, and policy interventions.

Deciphering Age-Dependent Changes in Nucleotidase Protein Abundance in the Mouse Brain using Biochemical Approaches
Christian Taylor, Anderson Rivas, Korin Murray
Herana Kamal Seneviratne, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Age-related neurodegeneration contributes to many neurological disorders and is associated with altered metabolic processes in the aging brain. During aging, nucleotide metabolism is disrupted in the mouse brain, which can perturb mitochondrial respiration. Nucleotidases play a major role in nucleotide metabolism; however, age-related disruption of nucleotide metabolism is understudied. In this study, we hypothesized that aging alters the abundance of key nucleotidases in the brain, including ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase 1 (ENTPD1), cytosolic-5′-nucleotidase 3 (NT5C3), and cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A (NT5C1A). Brain tissues were collected from young (4 months, n=3) and aged (11 months, n=3) female C57BL/6 mice. The harvested brain tissues were analyzed using immunoblots and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Label-free quantitation was performed to determine the levels of nucleotidases in young and aged brains. Immunoblot analyses revealed differential expressions of several nucleotidases, with a marked reduction in NT5C1A abundance in aged mouse brains. Further, major nucleotidases, including NT5C3 were detected from bottom-up proteomics analysis. To assess sequence differences, multiple sequence alignments were performed comparing mouse and human nucleotidase proteins. Interestingly, NT5C1A and NT5C3 exhibited high sequence identity and similarity. Ongoing studies aim to correlate these findings with the levels and localizations of nucleotides along with their metabolites.

Investigation of Riparian Soils for Potential Sources of Stream Sulfate Within an Urban Watershed
Pj Terhune, Mary McWilliams¹
¹Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
Clair Welty, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education; Joel Moore, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University; Daniel Bain, Department of Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh

Base flow sampling of Dead Run near Baltimore, MD from 2021-2024 revealed unexpectedly high concentrations of sulfate in headwater areas. In an effort to link stream sulfate concentrations to source materials, we sampled riparian soils near identified stream “hot spots”. Riparian soil cores 1 m deep were collected 1 m, 3 m, and 6 m from the stream edge. Mortar and asphalt samples were collected from the streambed near core sample sites. Sulfate was extracted from all solid samples in the lab and quantified using a photometer and an ion chromatography system. Analysis of riparian soils indicated sulfate concentrations ranging from 2.0 to 740 mg SO4/kg sample. ANOVA statistical analysis revealed proximity of the soil sample to the stream and depth of the sample as statistically significant factors related to the concentration of extractable sulfate. Higher soil sulfate concentrations were detected closer to the stream edge and with depth. Analysis of mortar and asphalt samples resulted in sulfate concentrations of 270 to 3400 mg SO4/kg sample. Results suggest that riparian soil sulfate concentrations appear to be influenced by connection with stream water. Mortar and asphalt debris may be a potential anthropogenic sulfate source to stream base flow.

This work was funded in part by National Science Foundation award number 2012340.

Investigating Extracellular Matrix-derived Factors in the Activation of Adipose Tissue T-cells During Severe Obesity
Irene Teye
Diana Elizondo, Biological Sciences

Obesity is a growing public health crisis, characterized by low-grade inflammation. It is hypothesized that uncontrolled growth of adipose tissue-derived extrinsic factors immunomodulates T-cell responses in severe obesity, thereby sustaining pro-inflammatory tissue conditions that result in metabolic dysfunction. Male and female C57BL/6 mice were placed on a 60 percent high-fat diet for two, four, six, eight, and ten weeks, beginning at six weeks of age. Control littermate mice were placed on a standard chow diet. Mice were monitored for changes in body weight, glucose, and insulin responses, and then euthanized at the end of the diet treatment. Altered T-cell populations were observed, and immunophenotyping and Secondary Analysis of a single-cell RNA-sequencing dataset were performed to monitor immune imbalance. It is expected that a high-fat diet will lead to an increase obesity-associated changes in adipose tissue T cell recruitment. Understanding these T cell-mediated low-grade chronic inflammation is crucial for identifying new targets for obesity related diseases, particularly those aimed at modulating cytokine signaling, correcting immune imbalance, or improving insulin sensitivity. Investigating T cell responses to actively expanding adipose tissue offers new insights into the immunometabolic mechanisms underlying the etiology of metabolic dysfunction and type 2 diabetes.

This work was funded, in part, by UMBC McNair Scholars Summer Research Institute

Bacteria Testing at Your Fingertips: Modular Silver Chloride Electrode
Umar Thangalvadi
Chengpeng Chen, Chemistry and Biochemistry; Monia Kabandana, Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Bacterial infections are crucial health problems around the globe. This study was aimed to design a modular silver chloride electrode to detect bacteria with sensitivity, accuracy, and speed. The modular design for the electrode was achieved with 3D printing software using computer aided design (CAD). Each electrode gave specific, selective, and linear responses to silver. First, the 3D printed electrodes were fabricated as detectors. These detectors required a potentiometer, for which an Arduino was developed to couple the electrode for data transduction. Using this sensory system, bacteria could be detected to as low as 5 CFU/mL within 10 minutes. Not only is this sufficient for many diagnoses (urinary tract infection >1000 CFU/mL), the system was cheaper, required less sample volume, and has a lower response time compared to commercial silver electrodes. Overall, the low-cost modular silver electrode design would make testing for bacteria more accessible without sacrificing accuracy, sensitivity, and precision.

This investigation was sponsored by the U-RISE Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), which is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T34GM136497.

Gallic Couple
Kathryn Thayer
Kimberly Anderson, Visual Arts

Gallic Couple, a gouache painting, was based on research that was conducted during the 2025 Study Abroad program to France. This research included an exploration of Gallic imagery by the Greeks and Romans and its effects on modern Gallic stereotypes. The archaeological visibility of Greek and Roman representations of Gauls has in part shaped the image of the people that is most familiar to modern viewers. The Capitoline Museum’s Dying Gaul exemplifies these conventions through its portrayal of a defeated, nude warrior with wavy hair, a mustache and the characteristic torc on his neck. This ancient metal jewelry identifies his ethnic identity and reinforces long standing iconographic stereotypes. In France, more accurate depictions of Gauls are found in locations such as the Oppidum d’Entremont in Aix-en-Provence, which once housed statues located now at the Musée Granet. The composition of this painting was the result of an effort to create a less mythologized depiction of Gauls, while still being easily recognizable to modern viewers. This research facilitates a better understanding of how exactly these Gallic stereotypes flourished, and how modern perceptions of ancient people can still be influenced by outdated Greek and Roman perspectives.

International Field Research Award.

Investigating Estrogen-Dependent Neuroimmune Response Across Menopausal-like Stages in Astrocytic Culture
Trisha Grace Tomcy
Carmen Munoz-Ballester, Biological Sciences

Women are disproportionately affected by neurodegenerative diseases. Changes in estrogen levels may contribute to this increased vulnerability. Estrogens are neuroprotective hormones that regulate immune signaling in the brain by suppressing pro-inflammatory gene transcription. Neurodegenerative risk rises after menopause, when estrogen declines. Although hormone replacement therapy—which reintroduces estrogen after its decline—has been explored, its efficacy remains controversial and appears to depend on timing, but the mechanisms behind it remain unclear. Neuroinflammation, an early indicator of neurodegenerative disorders, becomes damaging when excessive. Astrocytes are central regulators of neuroimmune responses, releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α and IL-1β. Estrogen receptor-β signaling in astrocytes, not neurons, may support cognitive health.

This project investigated whether loss and reintroduction of estrogen during menopausal-like stages alters astrocytic inflammatory responses. We hypothesized that early estrogen re-exposure reduces pro-inflammatory activation, while delayed re-exposure results in dysregulated inflammatory signaling. Human neural stem cell–derived astrocytes received estrogen withdrawal followed by early or late re-exposure prior to TNF-α and IL-1β stimulation. Neuroinflammatory responses were quantified using confocal microscopy and immunofluorescent staining for NF-κB—a regulator of inflammatory gene expression—, and GFAP and C3—markers for reactive astrocytes. This work aims to provide insight into how age-related estrogen changes may shape vulnerability to neurological disease.

The Language of Decriminalization: Drug Policy Rhetoric and Public Health in 21st Century Canada
Maia Turman Cooke
Earl Brooks, English

As of January 2026, the official sunset of Canada’s drug decriminalization exemption marks a critical turning point for justice. This research draws from archival records and media coverage to expose how drug policies in Canada and the United States use rhetoric to decide who is protected and who is punished. At stake are not semantics, but lives. While our language has shifted from the punitive labels of the past toward frameworks of harm reduction, this project interrogates the silence that remains. It argues that decriminalization without the radical creation of healing spaces is an incomplete liberation. Changing the law is not enough if we leave the soul of a carceral system intact. This is a call to move beyond the reach of a prison cell and toward a justice that refuses to look away. It is a call to finally choose healing and to honor life over law.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Computational Modeling of Adsorption Processes to Support Water Treatment and Environmental Remediation
Muhammad Usman
Tyler R. Josephson, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Adsorption is the process by which molecules adhere to the surface of a solid, and it plays a key role in determining how pollutants behave once they enter an environment. In aqueous environments, it controls whether contaminants move freely, accumulate in soils, or can be removed through treatment.
Amorphous silica is a major component of natural mineral surfaces. Unlike idealized crystalline materials, it exhibits significant structural disorder and chemical diversity that strongly influence pollutant interactions. This research explored adsorption processes in aqueous environmental systems. My contribution focused on generating heterogeneous amorphous silica structures through molecular dynamics simulations.

We used a melt–quench molecular dynamics simulation approach in LAMMPS to generate these structures. This method produced models that captured the structural disorder and surface diversity characteristic of natural minerals. These models provided a realistic and tunable platform for examining how atomic-scale surface features influence adsorption at solid–water interfaces.

By improving how adsorption is represented at natural solid–water interfaces, this work enables more accurate predictions of pollutant behavior to support the design of more effective water treatment and environmental remediation strategies.

Army Research Office/Army Research Laboratory via grant #W911-NF-24-1-0399 to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Immigration Vulnerability and Self-Rated Oral Health Among Latin* Adults: A Pilot Study
Anelsy Valencia
Dina Garcia, Virginia Commonwealth University

Latin* populations in the United States experience disparities in oral health (OH), which is increasingly recognized as interconnected with chronic conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Self-rated oral health (SROH), a subjective measure of OH, reflects both clinical factors and broader structural inequities. Yet, minimal research explores upstream drivers of SROH in Latin* populations. This pilot study examined the association between immigration vulnerability (IV) and SROH among Latin* adults in the Greater Richmond area of Virginia. In spring of 2023, 164 participants were recruited from an academic dental center. They completed a phone survey assessing sociodemographics, OH, and immigration experiences. IV was measured using select items from the Perceived Immigration Policy Effects Scale (PIPES), which captures perceived risks and stressors related to immigration policy. IV responses were dichotomized into low or high IV. SROH was assessed through a single-item measure of perceived OH status, categorized as excellent/very good/good versus fair/poor. Logistic regression analysis indicated that participants with high IV had marginally higher odds of reporting poor SROH [OR=3.85, (CI:1.29, 11.48)]. This research emphasized the role of structural and social determinants in shaping OH inequities.

Investigation of Bacterial Lipid Inclusions to Inform Tuberculosis Research
Julia Van Der Marel, Jonathan Padilla Gomez¹
¹Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department for Biological Engineering
Bryan Bryson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department for Biological Engineering

Formation of intracytoplasmic lipid droplets is one mechanism through which bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria behind the leading infectious disease Tuberculosis, are able to facilitate their own survival when engulfed by macrophages. Previous evidence has shown that these lipid droplets can be used by bacteria as an energy source. The formation of lipid droplets in bacteria is currently poorly understood, and further investigation could yield results with clinical significance for Tuberculosis treatments. A method called proximity labeling was used in which an enzyme performs a reaction that “tags” protein in their nearby vicinity. These “tags” can then be observed to inform what proteins are involved in lipid droplets. Mycobacterium smegmatis was used as a model bacterial system to contrast control strains to a strain genetically engineered to include a proximity labeling system which localizes to lipid inclusions. An analysis of the performance of these strains was done with a Western Blot in order to investigate where the proximity labeling enzyme was located and where the proximity labeling reaction occurred. In the future, a variety of media conditions can be used to investigate what factors promote or inhibit lipid droplet formation.

This research was funded in part by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Summer Research Program. This research was also supported by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) under National Research Service Award T34 GM 136497.

Turtle Thrashing
Karlos Lorenzo Veloso, Caleb Moesner, Damon Gullion, Adam Tran, Jasmine Kareem-Robinson, Liam Scott, Daniel Noonan
Eric Jordan, Visual Arts

Turtle Thrashing is a game about a silly turtle in a two-dimensional auto-shooter in the Godot game engine. In this game, the player is a turtle who is just minding their own business until a bunch of enemies start coming to attack them. Utilizing an arsenal of attacks that range from fun to goofy to absurd, the turtle fends off an increasing horde of enemies until they finally face and take down the final boss to make them stop bothering them. Artists were able to use any Art/Animation-based Program they were accustomed to, allowing players to choose through a diverse range of stylized upgrades/attacks, and various enemies to tactically evade and take down. Programmers were tasked to balance the power of these various and diverse attacks and enemies, allowing players a plethora of playstyles to either counter specific enemies, do as much damage as possible, or whatever random array of attacks they think are the coolest. This game will showcase the combined efforts and challenges both our Artists and Programmers faced in creating a fun and dynamic experience.

Cost-Effective Detection of Microplastics Using Fluorescence Microscopy and Nile Red Staining
Zoha Waleed, Joaquin Seminario
Mickey Dehn, Anne Arundel Community College

This work was funded, in part, by the Anne Arundel Community College Building Research Infrastructure at Community Colleges (BRICCs) project, which was supported by the National Science Foundation ITYC program, Award #2412646, with a grant of $600,000, which is 100% of the total cost of NSF-ITYC activities college wide.

Analysis of FMRI Data to Characterize Brain Connectivity Across Socioeconomic and Racial Backgrounds
Amir Walton-Irvin, Alan Zonderman1, Michele K. Evans¹
¹National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health
Tulay Adali, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Shari Waldstein, Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Stroke and dementia disproportionately affect African American (AA) and low socioeconomic status (SES) populations, yet subclinical functional differences underlying these disparities remain understudied. We analyzed resting-state fMRI data from 176 neurologically healthy adults in the HANDLS Study (High-SES n=121; Low-SES n=55; AA n=65; White n=111) to investigate subclinical brain health disparities. We applied Independent Component Analysis to decompose fMRI data into intrinsic functional brain networks and their time courses, using biologically validated spatial priors to guide decomposition toward reproducible network estimation. Ten decompositions were evaluated using Cross-Intersymbol Interference to assess cross-run stability. Using the most stable decomposition, spatial and temporal Functional Network Connectivity (FNC) maps were generated. Temporal FNCs quantified correlations between network time courses, while spatial FNCs measured similarity between spatial network representations. Low-SES individuals exhibited increased connectivity within the Auditory and Sensorimotor networks, whereas high-SES individuals demonstrated greater Default Mode connectivity. African Americans demonstrated greater connectivity within the Auditory, Sensorimotor, and Subcortical regions compared to White participants. Consistent with prior studies demonstrating socioeconomic and racial disparities in white matter lesion burden, these findings suggest that demographic factors are embedded in intrinsic brain organization prior to clinical disease and establish a foundation for identifying biomarkers of neurological disease risk.

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01 AG034161 and R56 AG064088-01A1) and the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program (ZIAG000513). Amir Walton-Irvin was supported in part by a grant to the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Age-Dependent Innate Behavioral Preferences Shaped by Founder Effects in Drosophila Melanogaster
Jordan Wandja Petnji, Antonio Marini-Davis
Fernando Vonhoff, Biological Sciences

Innate behavioral responses allow organisms to recognize beneficial stimuli and avoid harmful ones without prior experience, which is foundational for survival. These behaviors change consistently throughout development, especially during an organism’s transition into sexual maturity. However, the mechanisms governing the development of innate behaviors remain poorly understood. We used Drosophila melanogaster, a fast and cost-effective genetic model, in a naive two-choice preference assay to study the development of innate behaviors throughout early adulthood. We observed age-dependent shifts in innate stimulus preference, supporting the use of Drosophila to study developmental shifts in innate behaviors. While exploring potential molecular mechanisms, data analysis revealed significant overdispersion in preference across groups of subjects, indicating that correlations within groups of individuals were influencing responses. We hypothesized that social cues between individuals were biasing choices within groups, a phenomenon previously referred to as the founder effect. To determine whether the founder effect influenced stimulus preference, we removed the stimulus and observed significant clustering of responses. We seek to further investigate the mechanism of the founder effect by using anosmic flies to determine whether this effect operates via olfactory stimuli. This research provides crucial insight into the social and behavioral mechanisms influencing behavioral studies ofDrosophila melanogaster.

How Victim Participation Influences Judicial Decision-Making: a Comparative Analysis of Extraterritorial Courts
Mack Watkins
Jeffrey Davis, Political Science

Regional human rights and international criminal courts provide accountability and truth-finding, and through this, can offer victims healing and reparation by procedural integration of victims in court proceedings. While the influence of their participation on the victims themselves has been examined, it remains unclear whether victim participation in these proceedings has shaped judicial outcomes. This research analyzes how participation in court proceedings influences judicial decision-making across these courts. Informed by transitional justice scholarship (the process through which accountability and reparation are sought in post-conflict societies), this study asks to what extent and in what ways victim participation influences judicial decision-making. This study uses a comparative qualitative analysis of judgments, reparations orders, and other case documents to measure influence across three aspects of decision-making: fact-finding, narrative, and remedial. This research aims to guide scholars and practitioners on the effectiveness and legal implications of incorporating victims into court proceedings.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Synthesis of Motion: Navigating the Interdisciplinary Roles of Choreographer, Director, and Editor in Screen Dance
Gwyneth Watson
Ann Sofie Clemmensen, Linehan Artist Scholars Program

This research investigates the interdisciplinary intersection of choreography and cinema, specifically examining the fluid roles of the “choreographer-director” within the medium of dance on film. Through a practice-based methodology, the study explores the tension and synergy between planned composition and real-time improvisation during the production process. Central to this research was a summer Dance Film intensive with the Maryland-based Orange Grove Dance Company, which offered deep insights into the integration of technical design, pre-visualization, and post-production editing as choreographic tools. The culmination of this study is an original dance film. By synthesizing movement with cinematic technicality, the project demonstrates how a unified creative vision can streamline the transition from the studio to the screen. Ultimately, this research asserts that fluency across the roles of choreographer, director, and editor in screen dance enables more informed design decisions and a more cohesive artistic output in the evolving field. Furthermore, the study proposes a new framework for collaborative authorship, suggesting that hybridizing these roles not only enhances visual storytelling but also redefines the boundaries of somatic expression in a digital landscape.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Visualizing Natural Disaster Inequality in America
Taylor Watson
Dena Aufseeser, Geography and Environmental Systems

In America, weather-related disasters have increased in frequency in the last decade, with forty seven percent of billion-dollar disasters (since 1980) taking place from 2015- 2025 (NCEI.NAAO.GOV). The frequency of disasters has led to a sense of inevitability and indifference, placing certain vulnerable communities at even more risk. In an effort to challenge indifference, this presentation visualizes the social inequalities of disaster. Utilizing animation, this project highlights the disastrous nature of weather phenomena on vulnerable populations, expressing the instances of increased poverty, displacement, and the uprooting of entire communities. This project’s research highlights disaster inequality in America, while simultaneously bringing awareness to the subject. Using the individual experiences of vulnerable adults who’ve experienced these inequalities, this project connects true stories, numerical data, and artistic expression to evaluate the concepts of vulnerability, equity, and how they relate to the current social outlook on “natural” disasters.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Assistantship Support (URAS) Award from the UMBC Office of the Vice President for Research.

The Making of Paradox: The Animated Series
Chloe Weaver
Sharon Tran, English

This presentation details the background and first season outline of Paradox, an original animated series. In an intergalactic age where faster than light travel is old news, Paradox follows a pair of USPS (United Space Postal Service) workers as they make their way along an indefinite route. Traveling planet to planet, the duo encounters alien allies and nebulous enemies. Each episode explores different planets decades after an intergalactic warring period that resulted in the unification of galactic factions. Cycles of oppression seem boundless as Paradox’s societal landscape mirrors our own reality. Science fiction offers imaginative perspectives on what fighting for freedom means and looks like. An important focus of the research for this project was studying iconic sci-fi pieces and analyzing how writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler dealt with the different stages of societal development and descent. Theories of modern physics such as relativity and quantum mechanics were researched in order to apply theory to the episodic structure and travel methods. These studies informed many themes that are presented in Paradox. The other aspect of research that was focused on is scriptwriting in order to master structure and complex storytelling.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Toy Choice: Does Gender Matter?
Caroline Wehinger, John Eiers, Besjanë Krasniqi
Susan Sonnenschein, Psychology; Michele Stites, UMBC, Department of Education

The toys children play with can influence their development and self-identity. Although parents recognize the developmental value of toys, their child’s gender may still influence their choices. While parents recognize the value of play, investigating how two choices change when imagining a child as the opposite gender gives a very unique window into implicit biases regarding child development. This study explored how 38 U.S. parents of children aged 4-9 would select toys if their child were the opposite gender. Interviews were transcribed verbatim before being analyzed and coded by two independent coders. Using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework, four preliminary themes emerged from the analysis: same toys, different toys, child-preferred, and activity-dependent. Specifically, 45% would offer the same or child-preferred toys, while 34% of parents would choose different toys. These patterns may signal that some parents are moving beyond gender- typed toys and toward choices that give their children the chance to engage in various kinds of developmental experiences. The differential parental perspectives likely carry over into daily interactions, shaping activities that children are encouraged to explore and influencing their understanding of what behaviors and identities are considered socially acceptable.

Increasing Student Retention of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Vocabulary Using Explicit and Implicit Strategies
Gabrielle Whitfield
Edralin Pagarigan, Education

A critical skill for student success in science is the ability to accurately understand and apply scientific vocabulary when explaining concepts, gathering and interpreting data, and constructing evidence-based responses. However, many students struggle to move beyond simple memorization and need structured support to build meaningful connections between vocabulary and prior knowledge. In this research, the goal was to strengthen those connections through repeated use of vocabulary in different contexts, combining direct instruction and inquiry-based learning while intentionally highlighting students’ past experiences. Students received direct instruction with application opportunities, student-friendly definitions, background-linked examples, and guided practice using vocabulary in argumentative constructed responses. Each assessment point was analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional strategies and to ensure the most successful approaches were consistently implemented. The study was conducted with all standard biology students (88 total). A target subgroup of 27 students who scored below 20% on the pre-test was selected, with a goal of increasing their scores by at least 30% by the end of the period. The same assessment was used as both the pre-test and post-test to measure growth. Four total assessments were administered: two focused on vocabulary knowledge and two measured students’ ability to apply key scientific terms.

Beyond the Lecture: Evaluating Game-based Training to Foster Empathy & Perspective-taking in Future Helping Professionals
Stephanie Williams, Willow Brandy
Kerri Evans, Social Work

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a simulated training module designed to foster empathy toward immigrant populations in the United States. With over 44.5 million immigrants nationwide and one in four children growing up in immigrant families, social workers and educators must be prepared to understand the barriers these communities face. Because empathy is closely linked to emotional engagement, traditional lecture-based instruction may be insufficient. Participants engaged in a group-based interactive board game focused on the experiences of immigrant students and families. The activity highlighted systemic challenges, encouraged reflection on personal lived experiences, and aimed to evoke emotional responses. Following gameplay, participants engaged in small- and large-group discussions to connect the experience to their professional roles and goals. Data were collected from 371 participants through pre- and post-tests and focus groups. Thematic analysis of qualitative data revealed increased curiosity, emotional connection, and nostalgia. Working together and having group discussions helped people to understand the lived experiences of their classmates, and to feel enlightened. Quantitatively, 93% reported increased empathy, 93% increased knowledge, and 94% found the training more engaging than lectures. This suggests that immersive methods may enhance empathy development and strengthen perspective-taking and a desire to engage in advocacy.

The development of the intervention was funded by the UMBC Hrabowski Innovation Fund, and the evaluation work is funded in part by the UMBC Supplement for Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) funding.

Micromouse B
Nicholas Wilson, Lea Peck, Blake Webb, Yomi Adamo, Emily Bearden
E F Charles LaBerge, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Paris von Lockette, Mechanical Engineering

The IEEE Micromouse competition acts as a testing ground for autonomous intelligence, bridging the gap between theoretical maze-solving algorithms and practical, real-world robotic navigation. The objective of our Capstone team is to design and build an autonomous mouse capable of traversing a maze without human input. This is a multi-disciplinary project that merges mechanical transmission design (control system/chassis), hardware assembly (soldering), electrical engineering (sensors/power), and computer science (coding) to teach a machine to navigate an unknown environment. It involves the creation of a system that receives input from its surroundings, processes that information via an algorithm to make decisions, and executes movement via motors. The micromouse has two modes. The mapping mode maps a 16 ft x16 ft maze, and the navigation mode solves the maze to determine the fastest path. Two separate algorithms are used for searching and solving the maze. The micromouse is capable of smooth autonomous steering and sensor to motor communication. The micromouse project includes the design of the micromouse body (chassis), implementation of the mapping and solving algorithms, and more advanced steering and sensing.

This work was funded through the Multidisciplinary Capstone Program.

Tears Made of Ink
Trilece Wilson
Nicole Pekarske, English

A small collection of my poems composed within a poetry course at UMBC and in personal time. The collection includes poems that were composed using various techniques and stylistic constraints, showcasing my range of work, experimentation, and growth as a poet and artist. Pathetically Poetic was composed in personal time. Family Dinner 504 was created from a prompt, “Childhood Kitchen”, students were instructed to describe the kitchen, physical elements, such as colors, textures, sounds. A Damning of Jurors was composed by taking a collective noun prior to writing, and making the collective noun the title of the poem. Children and A Broken G.I. Joe was composed by taking a previous longer poem, creating a list of words found within that poem, then using that list of words to create a new poem. The Cruelties of War and The Beauties of Beyond was created in a similar way, but with even stricter parameters. Both of these poems were created from assignment instruction in ENGL 273: Introduction to Poetry. Children and A Broken G.I. Joe and The Cruelties of War and The Beauties of Beyond were written sequentially. I am inspired by lyric and confessional poetry, emotionally driven and emotionally honest writing.

Production of Extracellular Vesicles from Mammalian Cells Modulated by a Biomimetic Surface
Ariel Wilson-Gray, Melanie Nelson¹
¹Biological Sciences Department
Jorge Almodovar, Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized compartments secreted by cells as part of cellular signaling. Encased in a lipid bilayer, they carry proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, making them promising candidates for drug delivery, diagnostics, and immunotherapy. However, conventional isolation methods face challenges due to EV variability. This study compares EV production from three cell types—NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, human Schwann cells, and human mesenchymal stem cells—using two isolation techniques: chemical isolation alone and in combination with centrifuge filtration. Findings show that integrating centrifuge filtration enhances purification, yielding smaller EVs associated with intercellular communication. Additionally, we investigate EV production on a biomimetic surface composed of heparin and collagen. Collagen facilitates sustained miRNA release, potentially improving EV therapeutic applications, while heparin inhibits EV transfer between cells, allowing for accumulation and improved isolation. Leveraging heparin’s affinity may provide an additional purification strategy. Future research will explore a collagen/heparin multilayer surface to further optimize EV isolation and composition, complementing existing methods. These advancements could enhance EV-based therapies, broadening their potential impact in medicine.

Human Presence in Fragile Spaces: A Study of Antarctic Tourism
Kaitlin Worzalla
Charles Kaylor, Geography and Environmental Systems

As Antarctica faces the effects of climate change and increased tourist activity, understanding the intersection between human presence and ecological sensitivity is critical. Using data collected during a December 2025 expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula, this research provides insights into Antarctic tourism through geospatial analysis, wildlife observations, and evaluation of visitor protocols. This project’s significance lies in the findings around the extensive and complex governance surrounding human activity below 60° South. While extensive regulatory frameworks and biosecurity protocols were in place and effectively minimized environmental disturbance, these same regulations had loopholes and appeared fragile. It additionally revealed opportunities for citizen science initiatives that contributed to ongoing wildlife conservation and environmental science efforts. Finally, it showed that tourism vessels function not only as recreational platforms, but also as logistical supports for seasonal research stations. In terms of a warming planet, polar regions are widely considered to be Earth’s climate regulators. As traveling to Antarctica becomes more accessible and popular, it is important that we continue to monitor the impacts of tourism in polar regions and enact responsible tourism practices that can act as models for other tourist destinations.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Mathematical Model of Drosophila Neuronal Pruning Process
Alice Yacubovich
Bradford Peercy, Mathematics and Statistics; Fernando Vonhoff, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Biological Sciences

Neuronal pruning is a critical mechanism in the development of organisms, responsible for selective elimination of unnecessary synapses. In the Drosophila Melanogaster neuromuscular system, this process is controlled by the chemorepellent Sema2a and its receptor, Plexin B. Presynaptic electrical activity sensitizes the neuron to Sema2a, signaling it to prune the connection. However, disruption of this process may lead to the creation of functional ectopic synapses, neuronal contacts that were meant to be pruned away, but are incorrectly maintained in the system. To investigate this refinement process, we propose a mathematical model using differential equations to characterize the dynamics of the system including periodic calcium and cAMP signals affecting Plexin B receptors. This model will allow us to understand the conditions under which pruning succeeds and fails to be applied in specific biological contexts. Given that an abundance of ectopic connections has frequently been linked to disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia, we hope to utilize this model to explore the direct cause of ectopic connections, as well as how to prevent them.

This work was support by the Merck Academic Fellowship Program which is aimed at increasing the number of data scientists in the life sciences workforce.

Fluids on the Bloch Sphere: Quantum Algorithms for Solving PDEs on NISQ
Monty Yates, Reece Robertson
Sebastian Deffner, Physics

Quantum algorithms have a variety of applications, including solving differential equations. In this work, we analyze the effectiveness of NISQ devices at solving partial differential equations (PDEs). To this end, we combine a classical linearization routine with a hybrid quantum-classical adaptation of the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm, a quantum algorithm for solving linear systems of equations. We demonstrate our routine by solving Burger’s equation on both superconducting and trapped-ion quantum hardware, and compare the runtime to classical PDE solvers.

Potions, Please!
Mino Yevdayev, Elijah Manning, William Zendgraft, Megan Gregory, Tim Reiss, Priscila Herrera, Alex Mosko
Eric Jordan, Visual Arts

Created in UMBC’s Team-Based Game Development course, Potions, Please! is a two-dimensional (2D) crafting game developed in the Godot 4 game engine and art assets created in art programs Procreate, Krita, and ibis Paint X. The player is a witch apprentice, Yasmeen, who must run her mentor’s potions shop after mysterious business requires her to travel away. Yasmeen must decipher her mentor’s scatter-brained recipes to collect the correct ingredients and complete potion orders. The entire team collaborated to come up with interesting ideas for gameplay and storytelling. The artists developed a warm and whimsical style that suits the game’s content, designing original characters, objects, and environments. The coder integrated gameplay mechanics and user-interface (UI) as well as coding compelling ingredient collection minigames that would not be too difficult for the average player while still being engaging. Between puzzles to solve, non-playable character (NPC) story lines, and a fluffy feline familiar, Potions, Please! is a fun and creative game for our team to develop and foster a deeper understanding of programming, visual design, and team-based game development.

Advancing Antibody Engineering for Broader and Longer-Lasting HIV Protection
Roza Zareidoodeji
Mohammad Sajadi, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

HIV remains a major global health challenge because current therapies can suppress the virus but require lifelong treatment and do not provide a cure. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) offer a promising complementary strategy, as they can directly block diverse HIV strains and support immune mediated clearance of infected cells. However, earlier generations of bnAbs lacked sufficient potency, breadth, and durability for optimal clinical application. In this study, we engineered an enhanced version of N49P9, a potent anti-CD4 binding site antibody (targets the viral site used to bind human CD4 immune cells) originally isolated from an individual whose immune system naturally neutralized diverse HIV variants. Through structure-guided design, targeted genetic modifications, and laboratory evaluation, we strengthened its binding to the HIV envelope protein, expanded activity across global strains, reduced polyreactivity, and extended its in vivo half-life. Neutralization assays demonstrated markedly improved potency compared to earlier variants. In specialized mouse models mimicking key features of the human immune system, the engineered antibody remained in circulation longer and fully protected animals from HIV infection. Additional refinements improved stability and manufacturability for clinical development. These engineered antibodies show promise as therapeutic agents for HIV prevention and long-term treatment.

This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Intramural Research Program of NIAID. Structural studies were supported by the IBBR CryoEM Center and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. The graphical abstract was created using BioRender.

Elucidating the Residue-Level Mechanism of Arginyltransferase-1 (ATE1)-Catalyzed Protein Arginylation
Caleb Zeleke
Aaron Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Arginylation is a critical eukaryotic post-translational modification in which the amino acid Arg is added to an acceptor protein in an ATP-independent, non-ribosomal manner. Catalyzed by arginyltransferase-1 (ATE1), arginylation is a key step in the N-degron pathway that links the degradation of proteins to the identity of their N-terminal amino acid. Although the process of arginylation has been studied at the cellular level, less is known about the mechanism of ATE1 action and its regulation. We have previously shown that there are four conserved Cys residues located in the ATE1 N-terminal regulatory domain that coordinate an [Fe-S] cluster to regulate arginylation in vivo. However, how this cluster regulates ATE1 function remains unclear. Furthermore, we hypothesize that two additionally conserved vicinal Arg residues in the N-terminal regulatory domain are critical for substrate recognition and structural integrity. To probe the role of these residues, we have recombinantly expressed and purified several Cys and Arg variants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATE1. We are currently optimizing a luminescence-based ATE1 activity assay to measure the activity of these variants. Future work will aim to identify crystallization conditions of these variants to determine whether the structure of ATE1 is preserved or altered by these amino acid modifications.

This research was funded by NIH grants R35 GM133497 and U-RISE at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) supported by NIGMS/NIH under National Research Service Award T34 GM136497.

Search UMBC

Subscribe to UMBC Weekly Top Stories

I am interested in: