Terp Fall 2006

TERP

CONNECTING CONNECTING

THE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY THE OF MARYLAND MARYLAND OF COMMUNITY COMMUNITY

VOL. 4, 4, NO. NO. 11 FALL FALL 2006 2006 VOL.

Fast Forward The University at the Threshold of Greatness

JOURNALISM IS KNIGHT-ED 2

AN INCENTIVE TO GIVE 18

ENGINEERING FOR LIFE 26

TERP PUBLISHER

Brodie Remington Vice President, University Relations ADVISORY BOARD

J. Paul Carey ’82 M.B.A. CEO, Enumerate Terry Flannery ’83, ’87 M.Ed., ’95 Ph.D. Assistant Vice President, University Marketing and Communications John Girouard ’81 President and CEO, Capital Asset Management Group Anil Gupta Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Strategy and Organization, Robert H. Smith School of Business Danita D. Nias ’81 Executive Director, Alumni Relations Vicki Rymer ’61, ’66 M.B.A., ’83 Ph.D. Teaching Professor, Robert H. Smith School of Business Keith Scroggins ’79 Bureau Head of General Services, City of Baltimore, Dept. of Public Works Lee Thornton Professor and Eaton Chair, Philip Merrill College of Journalism MAGAZINE STAFF

Dianne Burch Executive Editor Beth A. Morgen Managing Editor John T. Consoli ’86 Creative Director Jeanette J. Nelson Art Director Mira Azarm ’01 Joshua Harless Bryan Kestell Catherine Nichols Brian Payne Contributing Designers Monette A. Bailey ’89 Kimberly Marselas ’00 Tom Ventsias Writers Nancy Grund ’79, M.B.A. ’90 Karin Jegalian Jessica Price Rosemary Faya Prola M.A. ’06 Pamela Stone ’95 M.A. Lee Tune Mark Walden ’96 Contributing Writers Michael D’Anglo Amanda Nachman Magazine Interns E-mail terpmag@umd.edu Terp magazine is published by the Division of University Relations. Letters to the editor are welcomed. Send correspondence to Beth Morgen, Managing Editor, Terp magazine, Alumni Association, Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, College Park, MD 20742-1521. Or, send an e-mail to terpmag@umd.edu The University of Maryland, College Park, is an equal opportunity institution with respect to both education and employment. University policies, programs and activities are in conformance with pertinent federal and state laws and regulations on non-discrimination regarding race, color, religion, age, national origin, political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Dear Alumni and Friends, EVERY YEAR it happens. As the students arrive in droves for the fall semester, I wax nostalgic about my Maryland undergraduate experience.There I am: a freshman eager (and a little nervous) to explore new ground; an upperclassman, confident with several semesters behind me; a senior, poised in the last stretch of my college career. Finally, a graduate, ready for the world.

Back then, with my college degree in hand, the future was all about my goals, my dreams, my plans. Maryland had given me the education and the experience. Now I could take off—to put my acquired skills to work, to start a new phase in my life.The university was behind me.

Or so I thought. Not so fast, a dear friend, mentor and fellow alumnus told me. Col.Thomas Fields ’43, former Terp athlete and then director of the Terrapin Club, encouraged me to give back, to get involved. Current and prospective students had dreams to fulfill, too.The university had research to continue and programs to grow. I had been a cheerleader, so joining the Terrapin Club and volunteering for Maryland Athletics was a good fit for me. My student experience may have been over, but my alumni days would go on for a lifetime.

Our fall issue of Terp highlights the many ways alumni have stayed connected to their alma mater. It arrives in your mailbox as the university launches Great Expectations, an ambitious fund-raising campaign.Turn the pages to learn how alumni support of the Incentive Awards Program provides young people a chance for a college education that may have been impossible otherwise (page 18). In

“Inspired Giving,”on page 22, hear what drove alumni to give back and the ways in which they did—from establishing scholarships to supporting educational programs that touch the lives of students in Prince George’s County. Read on to see how the generosity of alumnus Robert E. Fischell is putting Maryland on the map for bioengineering, (page 26).

For many of us, the financial resources and time commitments of the alumni highlighted in this issue are a substantial reach. But there are myriad ways to give back, to get involved.

Volunteer (turn to page six to read about opportunities here on campus). Make a donation to the Maryland Fund for Excellence. Join the alumni association.

Attend a university event (consider the options on page 16.)

No longer are we students, receiving the lectures, the insight and the inspiration.We are alumni—stewards for the generations to come and for this great institution.

Cheers!

Danita D. Nias ’81 Executive Director, Alumni Relations

2 BIG PICTURE Sculpture scrapbook; Campaign etymology; The World Is Flat named First Year Book; and more 6 THE SOURCE Give and receive through these UM volunteer opportunities 7 ASK ANNE Remembering the Terrapin rocket; First Midnight Madness scrimmage; and more 8 CLASS ACT Female Terp sets rock climbing records; Former Maryland football player turns artist; How to be a Terp for Life; and more 12 M-FILE UM software zooms through digital pics; Engineers replicate the sense of smell; and more 16 MARYLAND LIVE Fear the Turtle sculpture auction; Terps battle NC State on Homecoming weekend; Jim Henson exhibit opens; and more 29 IN THE LOOP Competitive grants mean big opportunities for Chemical and Life Sciences and Performing Arts 30 PLAY-BY-PLAY CRC naming honors legendary Terp 31 SPOTLIGHT The undersea world of Emory Kristof 32 INTERPRETATIONS Defining Great Expectations

departments

features 18 AN INCENTIVE TO GIVE Full tuition recipients from Baltimore and Prince George’s public schools demonstrate academic promise while facing difficult family or financial circumstances.They thrive at Maryland, each grateful for the opportunity to succeed. BY MONETTE AUSTIN BAILEY ILLUSTRATION BY LEIGH WELLS

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INSPIRED GIVING

Donations and scholarships reflect givers’ passions at Maryland—from athletics to the performing arts. By customizing their gifts, donors can choose when and how their support is spent while working with the university to see results.

BY KIMBERLY MARSELAS

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ENGINEERING FOR LIFE

A major gift to the Clark School initiates an impressive bioengineering department.With growing enrollment, a dynamic research program, nearby internship opportunities and plans for a new building, the generous contribution of alumnus Robert E. Fischell primes Maryland for bioengineering prominence.

BY ROSEMARY FAYA PROLA

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bigpicture Navigating a Flat World In his job as a New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman has explored international economics, the birth of the World Wide Web and the end of the Cold War. That’s exactly why a university committee selected his latest full-length work, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, as the 2006–07 First Year Book.

“The traditional student (entering as a freshman this fall) was born in 1988,” says Lisa Kiely, assistant dean for Undergraduate Studies. “What do they know about the fall of the Berlin Wall or the world before the Internet?”

Friedman says those developments and eight other “flatteners” have combined to create Globalization 3.0, a phenomenon that will require today’s students to compete for jobs and work alongside individuals all over the planet in order to succeed.

“Every person now must, and can, ask: Where do I … fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day?,” writes the Pulitzer Prize winner and Bethesda resident. He argues that workers will have to enter the market with specialized skills and a willingness to partner up with people and businesses that have different cultural frameworks.

Launched in 1993, the First Year Book program was designed to provide all freshmen a common experience and get students talking about subjects outside of their comfort zone. Events held throughout the year—including a November visit from Friedman—will serve as launching pads for discussion and debate.

The World Is Flat is not required reading, although some faculty members will assign sections for English 101 or UNIV 100 courses. The idea is to ensure that students have the opportunity to explore the book’s themes, including access to education and democracy, climate change, security, and math and science competency.

“International issues are really a part of students’ education more than ever before,” Kiely says. “[This book] gives us a starting point to talk about globalization.” —KM

For more information on this year’s selection, please visit www.firstyearbook.umd.edu.

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Journalism Building Is Knight-ed STOP THE PRESSES; this just in.

The long-awaited new home for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism will be named John S. and James L. Knight Hall, following a $5 million gift to the building fund from the newspaper publishers’ foundation.

The move honors the namesakes of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has given the university more than $20 million in the course of a nearly 20-year relationship. “Our faculty see this partnership as the creative spark that can unlock the full potential of this place,” says Merrill College Dean Thomas Kunkel. “Knight Hall

can be the engine that drives the networking, professional development, training and the improvement of journalism education here at Maryland.”

The $27.7 million building is expected to be a major hub of journalism activity on the East Coast, bringing together under one roof programs now scattered across the campus. Groundbreaking for Knight Hall is expected in early 2008 for Fall 2009 occupancy. Earlier this year, the state legislature approved $15 million in capital funds, to be matched by $12.7 million in private funding to be raised by the Merrill College.

A $20 Million Field of Dreams CHEVY CHASE BANK and the University

of Maryland have expanded their longterm relationship in an agreement that will mean the Terrapins’ football and lacrosse teams will play on Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. The agreement will provide the university with $20 million, which will contribute a significant portion of the overall cost of improving Byrd Stadium. New suite Athletics Director Deborah A. Yow, and mezzanine seating, improved ADA seating and other President C.D. Mote Jr, Chevy Chase Bank Chairman and CEO B. Francis enhancements are scheduled to be completed by the Saul II, Gov. Robert Ehrlich and start of the 2009 season.

Coach Ralph Friedgen celebrate the Of the agreement, University of Maryland President field naming.

C.D. Mote Jr. says, “As the state’s flagship university, our challenge is to create opportunities to make a Maryland education accessible and affordable for our students. Corporate partners like Chevy Chase Bank, with its tradition of supporting higher education, will help us prepare the students who will continue leading our community well into the future.”

Says B. Francis Saul II, chairman and CEO of Chevy Chase Bank of the university, “Its graduates are critical to the betterment and growth of our region. As a fellow member of the ‘home team’, we are delighted to be able to deepen our support of the university, and it is a privilege to be associated with what has become one of the most prestigious learning and research institutions in the country.”

FIRST YEAR BOOK PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; ATRIUM RENDERING COURTESY OF THE PHILIP MERRILL COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM ; FIELD NAMING PHOTO COURTESY OF MARYLAND ATHLETICS

YOURwords UM Welcomes New Vice President for Research THIS FALL, the University of Maryland welcomes

Melvin Bernstein as vice president for research. In this role, Bernstein connects faculty researchers inside the university with each other—and with external constituencies.

Bernstein is responsible for sustaining strong growth in the university’s research programs, which in FY06 reaped $350 million in research and outreach awards. He will continue to develop partnerships and agreements with government and industry, leading to more projects at M Square, the university’s research park. He also oversees some of the university’s major research centers, including the Center for Advanced Study of Language

and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

Prior to joining the university on Oct. 1, 2006, Bernstein was acting director of research and development for the Department of Homeland Security.

“Mel Bernstein’s high-level experience suits him ideally for taking on the charge of connecting the university to the federal and private sector organizations in the Greater Washington region and beyond,” says President C.D. Mote Jr. “Leveraging these connections will pay great dividends on behalf of our students, the state of Maryland and the larger community.”

Campaign’s Past, Maryland’s Future THE UNIVERSITY may be embarking on a campaign for hearts and minds, but what does that really mean?

If you told Oliver Cromwell’s cavalryman, Edward Sexby, that a campaign were on the horizon, he would have shined his rapier. Edward Lloyd, U.S. Senator from 1819 through 1826, would have quietly agreed to serve if elected and 20th century public relations pioneer Edward Bernays would have started analyzing his audience. From one Edward to the next, the word “campaign” has added new shades of meaning, revolving around place, time, objective and audience.

Sexby’s generation took its definition—armies meeting between spring and autumn to resolve differences—from the French champagne and the Italians’ campagna, the open field where such battles took place. After campaigning to rid themselves of the British, American politicians like Lloyd adapted the word, circa 1809, to describe the run for office.

Today, pols and industry executives alike follow Bernays, who combined advertising with psychology to create the modern public relations (PR) campaign. Targeting specific groups in particular ways at strategic periods of time, the father of PR could make the Russian ballet and Lucky Strike cigarettes popular among puritanical Americans in the 1920s.

Though Maryland’s own campaign differs substantially from its etymological relatives, time, objective and audience are still important. Beginning October 20, 2006, the university will invite its friends and family to join our Great Expectations campaign to expand scholarships, broaden excellence and secure a Top 10 ranking among public research institutions. —MW

Background for this article was provided by Maryland faculty experts Douglas Gomery, Resident Scholar, Library of American Broadcasting; Shawn ParryGiles and Linda Aldoory of the Department of Communication.

PEACE T-SHIRT IMAGE COURTESY OF PATRICIA KRASOWSKI

WOW! I truly was impressed with your list of coaching legends (“A Look Back: Terrapin Coaching Legends,” Terp, Spring 2006), but there are two more who deserve mention: Bill Campbell, swim coach, and Frank “Harf ” Harford Cronin, boxing and golf coach. As a member of the 1964 ACC Championship Golf Team (tied with South Carolina), which is the only title won in my sport by the Terps, I can speak volumes about “Harf.” I have my trophy on my mantle, and when I die, it will go to the Comcast Center to display.

—Frank E. Herrelko Jr. ’64

Editor’s Note: Among his many accomplishments Coach Frank Cronin was named to the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame, won 50 consecutive dual meet matches and coached many AllAmericans, including Deane Beman, former PGA Tour commissioner. Bill Campbell is the winningest coach in the history of Maryland swimming and diving.

I enjoyed reading the spring issue of Terp. Of particular interest was “Domino Effect Hits Route 1.” I was part of the protest during that era. Reading that brought back many memories.

But, to me, what is most cherished is a shirt that I took somewhere on campus and had the back silkscreened with a dove and lettered with “Peace.” My daughter now wears it, and amazingly it is still in one piece. I enjoy getting the magazine—this year especially with all of the [reflections]. I graduated in 1970, so the stories bring back a lot of forgotten days. Thanks for an enjoyable read.

—Patricia Germek Krasowski ’70

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bigpicture

GROWTH spurt

T

he Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center met a mega milestone this year, seating its one-millionth patron. The center has attracted talented students and top performers and has commissioned more than 20 new works. Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the center merits a curtain call.

Choosing Maryland Since the center’s opening in 2001, the number of applications in the School of Music is up five-fold and the Departments of Theatre and Dance have also seen significant increases. The university now competes with such renowned conservatories as The Juilliard School and University of California, Los Angeles’ Department of Theater for talent—and for funding. Maryland was one of three (including Michigan and Illinois) out of 100 schools considered for a grant from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation this year. The center received a grant worth $1.125 million dollars. (Read more about the grant on page 29).

Setting the Stage Seedlings and saplings were breaking through the grounds surrounding the performing arts center when it first opened. Thanks to the continued support of alumnus Robert H. Smith ’50, whose initial gift named the center in honor of his wife, the Clarice Smith Performing Art Center’s landscaping now deserves its own applause. Evergreen and shade trees, colorful perennials and border shrubs abound, creating a setting as pleasing outside of the center as it is on the inside.

This fall, granite will grace the walkways that surround the center.

Redefining the Performance What happens before and after the show sets the performing arts center apart. A Web blog invites audience members to discover an artist’s creative process or share how a performance transformed them. In “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial,” based on the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial transcripts, the public could choose among three free events that added greater context to the docudrama, including a panel discussion with faculty from UM’s College of Chemical and Life Sciences. The artists themselves go beyond teaching the traditional, one-time “master class,” and instead may stay for weeks, such as contemporary puppeteer Blair Thomas who is performing and teaching in the Department of Theater this season.

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TOP PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Summer Scrapbook

Maryland Fans Pose with Their Favorite Terp FEAR THE TURTLE sculptures dotted the university campus and surrounding region throughout the summer, providing plenty of photo opportunities for Maryland fans of all ages. The sculpture project was part of a series of activities and events celebrating the university’s 150th Anniversary. In addition to having a unique design and theme, many of the 50 sculptures had a sponsor. Thirty-one of the unsold sculptures will be up for bid at a special auction on October 19 at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. Proceeds will benefit University of Maryland student scholarships.

For more snapshots and information about the auction, visit www.feartheturtle.umd.edu/fttsculptures. —AN 1

1 Terpedo’s sidekick Ian Phillips is ready for superhero action.

2 Potential Terps gather around Testudo the Grad.

3 “We have the same hat,” said this young visitor to Outstanding in His Field.

4 These 2006 grads pose with Choose Your Path.

5 A 1974 grad holds a “future Terp” next to Fear the Author in Baltimore’s Harbor Place.

6 Breaking it down with Terp Chaos.

7 Pals President Dan Mote and Testudo pose with Taste the Tradition outside of Phillips Hotel and Restaurant in Ocean City.

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SCRAPBOOK PHOTOS BY MARYLAND ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

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the Source WANT TO SEE A FREE SHOW AT THE CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER? OR CATCH SOME OF A WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GAME IN COMCAST WITHOUT A TICKET? SIMPLY VOLUNTEER. YOU AND THE UNIVERSITY REAP THE BENEFITS.

Of Hot Dogs and Helping Hands Where: Athletic event concession stands What you give: The elbow grease of you and some friends

A Show of Giving Where: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center What you give: Your time and winning smile as an usher What you receive: Free admission to the show How it works: Fill out an application, only to gather contact information and to share the types of performances you prefer.

What you receive: A chance to watch men's and women's basketball, football, lacrosse and baseball games and special events for free while earning money for your nonprofit organization How it works: It may be too late for football season, but basketball sign-ups began in September. Groups are given thorough briefings and assigned a stand manager to help with the shift. Each group is guaranteed at least $200.

H OT L I N E

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: Call 301.405.ARTS

and ask for patron services or the volunteer department.

ATHLETIC EVENTS:

Call Dan Robertson, concessions manager, at 301.314.8586.

Research for What Puzzles You Baby and Me, and the Professor Where: Maryland Infant Studies Laboratory What you give: A little bit of you and your baby's time What you receive: A small toy for your wee one and a chance to spend fun, quality time with your baby, while helping university researchers with “this simply fascinating stage of growth” How it works: Sign up to contribute to the research of Amanda Woodward, professor in the Department of Psychology, and her colleagues as they seek to better understand how babies think and process the social world.

Where: Various academic departments on campus What you give: Maybe a health history, some time to answer questions or take tests What you receive: Small monetary or medical incentives, such as personal nutrition analysis or fitness training How it works: Visit or call various academic departments to inquire about participating in research studies. Certain units are known to provide regular opportunities, such as the departments of Psychology, Kinesiology and Family Studies.

MARYLAND INFANT STUDIES LABORATORY:

Visit www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/woodward/lab/index.html, or call 301.405.4782.

For PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH, visit www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc

For KINESIOLOGY RESEARCH, visit www.hhp.umd.edu/KNES/ For FAMILY STUDIES, call 301.405.3672

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THE OTHER HERE PERFORMANCE IMAGE COURTESY OF THE CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER; OTHER PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

ask Anne Questions for Anne Turkos, university archivist for University Libraries, may be sent to terpmag@umd.edu.

Q. I have an original [Richard Q. “Moco”]

Yardley cartoon autographed to me when I was very young. The cartoon appeared in The Sun following a 40

to 21 University of Maryland victory over Navy. It’s titled “Perils of the Briney Deep.” I would appreciate knowing the date of the game.

—Joseph A. Lurz, Jr. Q. I was pleasantly surprised at the picture of the Terrapin rocket on your [Maryland Day] brochures and flyers. This was actually taken 50 years ago this summer and published in The Diamondback and I have copies, along with others taken at the same time. I worked on this as a graduate student and shared in the publicity. I am curious as to how you came about finding this in the archives. Was it indeed because it was exactly 50 years ago? Or random?

Having graduated with a Ph.D. in plasma physics, I am now a senior research scientist in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP) here at Maryland. —Ray Elton M.S.’56, Ph.D. ’63 A. We have an original print of this photograph here in the University Archives, and it has always been one of my favorites. I did a little bit of digging about the history of rocketry on our campus early in 2005 for a manuscript I was compiling and am eager to know more.This image was also used last fall in the 150th Anniversary exhibition, “Moving Pictures,” in the Stamp Student Union art gallery. It speaks to our momentum as a campus and our involvement on the cutting edge of so many areas of science and technology. It was not a deliberate choice to highlight the 50th anniversary of this project, however; this is a happy coincidence.

YARDLEY CARTOON COURTESY OF JOSEPH A LURZ. COACH DRIESELL AND ROCKET IMAGES COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.

A. The game to which you refer took place on Nov. 10, 1951. It was one of the six wins we have had against the Midshipmen in the entire history of our rivalry.

Former Maryland men’s basketball coach Lefty Driesell began Midnight Madness, a Terps tradition marking the official start of basketball practice.

Q. On Oct. 1, 1972, at 12:01, I, as head referee, tossed the ball for the start of Midnight Madness. Playing in that game were Len Elmore, John Lucas and Tom McMillen, and the coach was “Lefty”! If my memory is correct, it followed a Count Basie concert. Was this the official first Midnight Madness? —Bob Schiller A. We date the beginnings of Midnight Madness to

1971, when the first practice of the season consisted of a run around the track inside Byrd Stadium shortly after the clock struck midnight on October 14.The game that you refereed— which took place Oct. 15, 1972—must then be the first time they scrimmaged at midnight.

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classact Terps Make Long-Term Commitments

NI PRO F AL UMOnline IL E

Life Membership Returns to Alumni Association IF YOU’RE MAD for Manhattan, you can sport an “I NY”T-shirt. If you’re a sucker for the rod and

reel, you can take your pick from an unlimited number of “I’d rather be fishing!” bumper stickers.And if you’re committed to a pace-setting Top 20 public university, you can now carry a life membership card.

In July, the Maryland Alumni Association introduced its Life Member Program.The initiative allows graduates and friends of the university to join the association with a one-time payment or five annual installments and receive a lifetime of benefits.

Beyond access to the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, financial services and networking opportunities, life membership also shows an unwavering love for Maryland, says membership director Sonia Huntley ’92.

“When our life members show their membership cards at tailgates and merchandise tents, you can see the pride in their eyes,” she notes.“Sure, they receive discounts but they have also joined a thriving community and made a life-long commitment to the university.”

Maryland’s present alumni association was chartered in 1988 through the same state legislation that designated the College Park campus as the system’s flagship. Members who joined this new organization were given the opportunity to purchase life memberships for a limited time only.After a hiatus of almost two decades, the program is back permanently.

Alumni and friends interested in purchasing life memberships for themselves, or as gifts for their favorite Terps, should visit the alumni association’s Web site, www.alumni.umd.edu. —MW

LIFE

MEM

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Submit

Stay In Touch Update your Alumni Profile MOVED RECENTLY? Changed your e-mail address? Stay connected with Maryland by updating your alumni profile at any time through the Terp Alumni Network. Simply visit www.alumni.umd.edu. Click on Terp Alumni Network found along the red bar. Then click on Update Profile seen on the left side of the page. First-time users will have to register first—it’s free!

Returning users, enter your username and password. Questions?

Contact the alumni association at 301.405.4678, 800.336.8627 or alumni@umd.edu. —AN

Association Members Reserve Another New Benefit THIS JUST IN from the Maryland Alumni Association:Terps who Carry the Card

(an association membership card) can now join the elite Williams Club of New York.

No,The Williams Club isn’t an alliance of Gary Williams fans. It’s an organization that offers comfortable meeting facilities, reasonably priced lodgings and fine dining in the heart of Manhattan. Founded in 1913, it caters exclusively to graduates, faculty and administrators from America’s leading colleges and universities.

The club’s historic brownstone townhouse promises to provide an elegant venue for small- to medium-sized special events, hosted by the Maryland Alumni Association throughout the year. It also serves as home base for the Williams’ own slate of programs, which includes annual barbeques and evenings at the Metropolitan Opera.

Association members who apply for admission will have access to all of this and more—with reciprocal arrangements at other national and international clubs,The Williams Club is “both a place to call home in Manhattan and a key to explore the world.”

For more information on The Williams Club benefit, visit www.alumni.umd.edu.To speak with an alumni association membership representative, call 301.405.4678 or 800.336.8627. —MW

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE WILLIAMS CLUB

alumniprofile Alumna Takes Career to New Heights is climbing her way to success, one boulder at a time.

STEPHANIE DAVIS ’93

travel 2007 The Majestic Cathedrals of France May 23 – June 2 Explore the most famed architecture in present-day France, the 12th-century Gothic cathedrals featuring intricately stained glass, ornately crafted spires and daunting gargoyles. Enjoy the romance of France through its rich history.

Amazon Voyage February 16–25 Experience the beauty of the natural world on a colorful voyage down one of the longest rivers in the world. Explore the lush Amazon Rainforest to see elusive wildlife and meet the interesting people who call this region home.

Treasures of Southern Africa May 28 – June 10 Indulge your cultural curiosity, spirit of adventure and discover a land of spectacular diversity. Experience Cape Town’s flat topped Table Mountain, Zambia’s Victoria Falls and Thornybush Private Game Reserve’s “Big Five” animals.

For more details on these and other

Regarded as one of the best female rock climbers in the world, she was partially following her parents’ dream when she enrolled in a master’s program at Colorado State University. But she couldn’t dismiss the real reason she chose to further her education there.

“I was always thinking, ‘I really want to be climbing right now,’ ” she says.

It was as a freshman at Maryland that Davis became instantly hooked on the sport after she climbed Carter Rock in nearby Potomac. She later traveled to Colorado to experience the challenging climbs of the West.

Once she admitted to herself (and to her more than surprised parents) that she wanted to pursue climbing full time rather than a law degree, she began traveling across country, sometimes living out of her car, to sharpen her skills and build her climbing reputation.

Since then, Davis has earned sponsorships from outdoor apparel companies, such as Five Ten and Patagonia, and has climbed some of the most difficult rocks in the world. She was the first woman to summit all seven major peaks in Argentina’s Fitzroy Range, and in 2003 became the second woman to free climb Yosemite’s El Capitan in one day.

“Our society runs all over nature. But when you go out as a climber, it’s not about controlling—it’s about working with nature and conforming yourself to it,” she says. “That, to me, feels like a really true way of living.”

Today, she and her husband, Dean Potter, also a rock climber, spend most of their time climbing in Yosemite and Argentina, where they camp in the mountains two to three months each year.

Davis devotes her free time to writing. Her book, an autobiographical collection of essays and photography, is scheduled to be released by Mountaineer Publishing in spring 2007.

“It turns out that my English degrees came in use after all,” she says. “It just goes to show that you can pursue your passion, and it will evolve into a career over time.” —JP

tours featured in the Travel 2007 program, visit www.alumni.umd.edu or call 301.405.7870/800.336.8627.

TRAVEL IMAGES COURTESY OF ALUMNI HOLIDAYS INTERNATIONAL, DAVIS PHOTO BY JIMMY CHIN

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classact alumniprofile

A Terrapin at the National Zoo

AS DIRECTOR OF THE Smithsonian’s National Zoological

Park in Washington, D.C., John Berry ’80 (above) is responsible for the care and oversight of almost 2,000 animals, many of them representing rare and endangered species. Still, when making the rounds as ambassador for the nation’s only federally funded zoo, the 46-year-old Maryland alumnus usually begins with, “I’m John Berry, and I work for Tai Shan.”

Tai Shan, the beloved giant panda cub that just turned 1 in July, has been a public relations bonanza for the National Zoo. “It’s just been phenomenal,” says Berry. “He has brought incredible energy and public awareness—not only to his own species—but to wildlife and conservation issues in general.”

Hoping to leverage Tai Shan’s immense popularity, Berry now wants to showcase other animal exhibits, as well as increase the National Zoo’s conservation science efforts at a 3,200-acre auxiliary campus in Virginia. “As the nation’s zoo, it is our responsibility to welcome everyone—free of charge—to see the beauty of these animals close-up,” he says. “But we also want to educate people about the serious wildlife and conservation issues facing us.”

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Prior to leading the National Zoo, Berry was executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and also served as assistant secretary for management and budget in the Interior Department. “My background and training is really in management and finance,” he says. “But my passion has always been conservation and wildlife.”

When Berry was hired as director of the National Zoo in 2005, things were not all rosy: a National Academies of Science report had faulted prior management, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums called for an overhaul of the 163-acre facility’s aging infrastructure.

Berry immediately went to work fine-tuning a strategic plan that, he says, will make the National Zoo the “world’s finest” within the next 10 years. To make that happen, Berry and his 300-member staff will concentrate on four key objectives: providing the highest quality animal care; conducting world-class conservation science; increasing education; and promoting the concept of sustainability. “There won’t be a future for wildlife,” Berry says, “unless our species [humans] learns to better manage energy use, water use and our impact on the habitat.” —TV

Tai Shan (above) digs into a special frozen birthday treat made of bamboo leaves, carrots, pears, beets and apples, before sharing it (top) with his mother, Mei Xiang.

The giant pandas are just one endangered species that are in the process of being repopulated by scientists and veterinarians at the National Zoo. “I like to call it Noah’s Ark work,” says the zoo’s director, John Berry ’80, who explains there are four species at the National Zoo that are officially considered extinct in the wild. “We are the last holder, if you will, of those precious species,” Berry says.

“So it is critical to turn their decline around, breed them back up, and then attempt to undertake the very complicated process of reintroducing them back into the wild.”

BERRY PHOTO BY MATTHEW WORDEN; PANDA PHOTO BY ANN BATDORF/SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

alumniprofile Terp Trades a Pigskin for a Paintbrush

AS A CHILD, Lynde Washington ’99 loved to watch the television sitcom “Good Times,”

but not because he had a crush on a young Janet Jackson and not even to follow the storyline. “I would watch the show just to see the paintings hanging in the background,” he says.

Though he didn’t know who he was at the time, the artist of the “Good Times” paintings, Ernie Barnes, would become a big inspiration to Washington. Not only did they have a similar artistic style, but Barnes, like Washington, was also an ex-NFL player.“He’s the one artist other than my great-grandfather who I ever paid attention to,”Washington says. “I was just excited when I looked at his work.”

Washington, a former Maryland cornerback and Baltimore Raven recently took off his own helmet to pursue his passion for painting full time. His paintings, which he describes as scenes from his past, portray black culture in warm tones of reds, oranges and yellows.

“The colors kind of tell a story, especially with the faces and expressions I use,” he says.

“The colors bring it out for me.”

Washington says he’s been drawing since day one, and learned the techniques of perception and proportion from his great-grandfather.“When I went to visit, all I’d want to do is watch TV and be outside. But he always made me practice a couple of hours each weekend,” he says.

He wasn’t introduced to football until age 7, when his father taught him how to play.

Unable to deny his talent,Washington pursued the sport and received a full scholarship to play for the Terps. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Fine Arts.

Shortly after his acceptance to Hofstra University in pursuit of his master’s, the Baltimore Ravens picked him up as a free agent.

“I went back and forth. I said ‘Football is not who I am, it’s what I’m doing.’ It put me through school for free—but I didn’t want to be one of those guys who kept trying to play,” he says.“I didn’t want to depend on it.”

Washington knew he could make a career out of painting. He wanted to capture the memories of his past on canvas, and says that his family served as the biggest inspiration.

“Growing up around my family I saw a lot of things that people can relate to,” he says.

“Some of them are in poverty, some are not, but those that make money now, they can appreciate it because they know where they came from.They can see it in my art work.” —JP Lynde’s work can be seen at www.lyndeditions.com.

PAINTINGS AND PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNDE WASHINGTON; ALUMNI BOOKS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI

BYalumni In The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Temple University Press), David Weinstein M.A. ’92, Ph.D. ’97 examines the history of television during the 1940s to 1950s.

Through exclusive interviews and research of rare documents, he tells the story of the DuMont network and its most memorable programs and personalities including Dennis James, “Captain Video” and Jackie Gleason and “The Honeymooners.”

Mary L. Tabor ’66 compiles her awardwinning stories into the The Woman Who Never Cooked (MidList Press), a combination of sex, adultery, death and food—the main ingredients of one woman’s life. Her characters obsess over which disasters deserve attention in their lives as the exhilaration of love is measured against the acceptance of loss.

In her mystery novel Identity Crisis (Quiet Storm Publishing), Debbi Mack ’82, M.L.S. ’02 creates a complex case of murder and identity theft.

To get to the truth, her protagonist, Maryland attorney Sam McRae, tries to solve the case that has her running from the mob, breaking laws and forming a shaky alliance with a private investigator. Along the way, Sam learns false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives.

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m-file Free UM Software Zooms through Gigabytes of Photos with Ease

NEWSdesk UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND FACULTY ARE THE SOURCE NEWS MEDIA TURN TO FOR EXPERTISE—FROM POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY TO SOCIETY AND CULTURE TO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. “There are very few of us who feel that we get all the compensation and all the perks that we want and need as part of doing our jobs, so we feel entitled to take those things.”

“We teach these kids to fight, but we don’t equip them well for the psychological aftermath.The time to do all this is in basic training.”

GLENN SCHIRALDIL, PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY HEALTH,

JOSHUA NEWBERG, BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS, ON

ON POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN THE MILI-

WHY WORKERS PILFER OFFICE SUPPLIES, THE

TARY, THE OBSERVER (GUARDIAN, UK), JULY 2

[BALTIMORE] SUN, JULY 17

“Entrepreneurs are much more interested in ‘wealth’ rather than ‘riches.’ … If the compensation is just cash, then the practice of entrepreneurship will not be very rewarding.”

“It’s just a stupid donkey attitude— I’ve got to do this or else there’s no reason for me to do anything. I have the religion of moschata.”

HARRY JAN SWARTZ, AGRICULTURE, ON HIS MANY ATTEMPTS TO BREED A BETTER STRAWBERRY WITH THE

SCOTT LAUGHLIN, DIRECTOR OF THE MARYLAND

FLAVOR OF FRAGARIA MOSCHATA (THE MUSK STRAW-

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE, ON FAMOUS

BERRY), “THE MOST AROMATIC STRAWBERRY OF ALL,”

ENTREPRENEURS STRIVING FOR MORE THAN BIG FOR-

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, JULY 2006

TUNES, USA TODAY, JULY 31

“Dance is bodies sounding off.”

TAKING DIGITAL PHOTOS has got-

Download PhotoMesa

ten so easy. Managing a vast and and learn about other ever growing database of images products like DateLens, a unique calendar interface remains challenging. for Pocket PCs and Ben Bederson, director of Outlook, at: www.windsorinterfaces.com. the University of Maryland's pioneering Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, understands this problem — his own digital library has nearly 10,000 images. And he has a great, and free, solution: fast, easy Windowsbased software that he and Hyunmo Kang, a recent Ph.D. graduate, developed, known as PhotoMesa.

According to Bederson, PhotoMesa has two features that set it apart: The first is a zoomable image browser that allows a user to zoom in and out on large groups of images at the click of a button. Many images can be quickly scanned because PhotoMesa displays all the images from multiple folders or from a search.

And as the cursor passes over a thumbnail image, a larger version of that picture appears.

“This helps people find a photo quickly even if it is unlabeled or they don't know exactly what they are looking for,” Bederson says. The second feature allows direct annotation of individual photos and of individuals in photos. “For example, a user can take names from a list of family and friends and drag them right onto a person in the photo,” Bederson explains. The program then associates a name with a person in the image, letting users see the names as they scan photos with the zoomable browser or search the database to find every photo in which a person appears. —LT

JUDITH LYNNE HANNA, ANTHROPOLOGY, ON HOW AMERICANS USE DANCE TO EXPRESS EMOTION, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, JULY 2006

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ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN PAYNE

A Conversation with Scientist Ruth DeFries Lee Tune, a senior media relations specialist at Maryland, sat down to talk with geography professor Ruth DeFries.

Q: How did you feel when you learned you had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences?

DeFries: Stunned! It’s definitely an honor, but there are so many other people who deserve this honor. Certainly, it is very gratifying that research in the area of land cover and land use change is being recognized. It’s also a big responsibility.

Q: What do you mean?

Ruth DeFries, professor of geogDeFries: It’s an opportunity to raise the profile of land cover raphy with an appointment in research, promote working with scientists from other fields, the university’s Earth System and develop dialogue with the policy community.

Science Interdisciplinary Center, I also think [my election] shows that it is possible to do was recently elected to the good science and still keep your personal priorities. I worked National Academy of Sciences. part time for many years when my children were young, Election to the Academy is made because raising them was my priority. in recognition of distinguished Q: Can you tell us more about your work and your current and continuing achievements in research? original research, and is considDeFries: I look at the role of land cover changes in climate, in ered one of the highest honors terms of effects on the carbon cycle, as well as the implications in American science and engifor conservation and other services people derive from ecosysneering. tems. Satellite data allow us to see these changes.

What we are seeing in parts of the tropics is continuing Using data from satellites and deforestation, in many cases for large-scale conversion of land fieldwork, DeFries researches to mechanized agriculture. Land use change not only has reper- deforestation and other changes cussions for climate, but also for animal and human habitats that humans are making to the that can include reduced biodiversity, loss of watershed protec- Earth's land surface. tion and impacts on human health.

Of course, there is always a balance, or a trade off, between economic benefits of land use changes and the costs of these changes. Understanding the cost side of the equation requires not only measuring the immediate impacts of land use and land cover change, but also understanding climate and biological systems and how they are affected by these changes over longer periods of time.

Q: What do you think is the scientific consensus about climate change or global warming, as it is commonly called?

DeFries: There is a wide consensus that we are experiencing climate change and that it will accelerate in the future. The question is how human society will adapt to the changes that are occurring.

Knowing how we need to adapt means that we need to understand the climate system so we can have the best, most accurate projections of the effects of climate change.

Q: What do you like best about what you do?

DeFries: I love working with students. Students are so creative and they really want to make a difference. And I love getting out in the field and really being able to see the changes on the ground and how people interact with their environment. —LT

TERP FALL PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI

2006

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m-file Youth Sports Boosts Democracy HOW CAN SPORTS make a difference in a child’s future? Data from a recent national survey shows that young people involved in sports are more likely to vote, volunteer and engage in their communities as adults. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), based in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, helped to organize the survey and to analyze the results.

CIRCLE promotes research on civic engagement in hopes of increasing young people’s interest in politics and their community. Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE, explains that his group used statistical analysis to sort out the effects of sports participation, race, gender, family income and many other variables on civic engagement. The analysis showed that sports participation itself boosts civic participation.

The teamwork, required by most sports, might be the answer to why this correlation exists, says Levine. Even interacting with a diverse group of teammates may encourage future civic engagement. Athletes also gain discipline and organizational skills valuable for future success in community involvement.

Especially with members of sports teams that travel to compete, he adds, athletes have a greater opportunity to talk more about public issues.

These results, however, surprised researchers. “A lot of people suspected a negative correlation,” says Levine, referring to the “jocks vs. nerds” stereotype that assumes athletes will not perform as well as non-athletes intellectually. Researchers already know participating in sports helps girls gain self confidence and organizational skills, but now CIRCLE has found the same positive effects apply to both young men and women.

With physical education classes often being the first to go for low-income schools, Levine hopes that CIRCLE’s conclusions will “persuade school districts to hold onto sports.” In the future, he believes that continuing to interview and observe children will further explain why this promising relationship exists. —AN

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Online Opinion Analysis Tool Wins Computerworld Award IN AUGUST, OASYS, a unique system for online opinion analysis developed by researchers in the university’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies won a Horizon Award from Computerworld magazine.A second Maryland technology, digital fingerprinting, developed by faculty in the A. James Clark School of Engineering received an honorable mention.

OASYS won because it can quickly search millions of Web documents (RSS feeds) in different languages to measure the amount of positive or negative opinion about a product, politician or other desired topic and chart how that opinion varies over time.The system was developed through a combination of computer

science, linguistic, statistical, database management and human cognition research.

“We are thrilled to win this award and are particularly proud to be one of only two universities selected among a list of winners that features so many leading technology companies,” says computer science professor V.S. Subrahmanian, who led the development of OASYS. Don Tennant, editor-in-chief of Computerworld notes that, in winning the Horizon Award,“the University of Maryland joins a select group of innovators focused on bringing new thinking and solutions out of the lab and into the market to the benefit of all.” —LT

Powerful CARMA Brings Cool, Far Out Astrophysics More in Focus IN MAY, ASTRONOMERS from the University of Maryland, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign and the California Institute of Technology dedicated the world's most powerful millimeter-wave-length radio telescope.

Formed from a linked array of 15 radio telescope dishes perched high in the cool, dry desert of eastern California's Inyo Mountains, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, or CARMA, gives scientists unprecedented power to look across the universe (and back in time) to learn more about the birth of galaxies, stars, planets and even the universe itself.

“Most of what we know about the universe has come from optical or light-observing telescopes,” said University of Maryland astronomy professor Stuart Vogel, who chairs the science steering committee for CARMA. “However, each part of the electromagnetic spectrum opens new windows on the universe, and the millimeter-wave portion of the spectrum is the ticket for observing the universe's coldest matter, gas that is only tens of degrees above absolute zero.”

A Nose on a Chip

“It turns out that planets, stars and even galaxies are assembled from this very cold gas,” says Vogel, who is director of the University of Maryland's Laboratory for Millimeter-wave Astronomy. “What’s special about CARMA is that it has the resolving power and sensitivity to observe this cold gas.”

Developing the CARMA site involved moving the nine 6-meter telescopes at the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array and the six 10-meter telescopes at Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory to the higher elevation Cedar Flat location, and adding new, updated technology.

“We’ve recycled the two U.S. millimeter arrays to make a new telescope that is 10 times more powerful than what existed before,” says Vogel, who was a director of the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array prior to its incorporation into CARMA. “It’s hard to believe that after a decade of pushing, it's finally happened.” —LT

Fifteen linked radio telescope dishes give CARMA power to see the universe.

CARMA PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEVIN P. RAUSCH; TECH NOSE ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN PAYNE

IMAGINE AN ELECTRONIC device that has a dog’s

sense of smell but never gets tired or bored. Two researchers in the A. James Clark School of Engineering would like to create just such artificial noses. To build a nose on a chip, Elisabeth Smela, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Pamela Abshire, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, are taking advantage of the work already done by nature in creating olfactory neurons—the exquisitely sensitive cells in biological noses that convert chemical signals into electrical ones.

Smela points out, “It’s not possible for humanengineered systems to replicate what nature has developed over millions of years of evolution.” The researchers envision making “cell-based” sensors that could be sensitive and specific enough to spot counterfeit perfumes, detect poison gases in subway stations, warn soldiers of chemical weapons or even diagnose cancer.

To achieve such goals, the researchers will need to position individual types of olfactory neurons over electronic sensors, keep the cells separated in individual vials, provide a steady supply of nutrients and remove waste. When the cells of a particular type fire, sensors under them will need to detect those electrical signals, and the circuitry on the chip will have to interpret the signals coming from the different cells.

At this point, Smela and Abshire have a prototype chip less than 1/16 of an inch across and containing 10 to 20 vials. Smela can open and close each micro-vial independently. Meanwhile, Abshire has been able to detect and transmit signals from individual cow heart cells, which—like olfactory neurons—produce electrical signals. Once Smela and Abshire can reliably detect signals from cow heart cells, which are robust and easily grown in culture, the researchers will start working with olfactory neurons.

They are a long way from being able to reproduce even a portion of the capacity of an animal’s nose, but if this field flourishes, cell-based electronic noses could become essential tools everywhere from agricultural fields to battlefields, wineries to doctors’ offices. —KJ

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Reunion for the Classes of 1956 and 1966, including the Golden Terps Luncheon and Reunion Reception, October 20-21

Black Alumni Club, “Unplugged: A Jazz Affair” October 20

Homecoming Festival at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center with activities for the whole family, October 21

Terps vs. Wolfpack Homecoming Football Game, October 21

Place: Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center/ Byrd Stadium Come home for a Terp football battle against the NC State Wolfpack. Explore the growing campus and rouse the Terrapin spirit with fellow Maryland fans during Homecoming/Reunion Weekend 2006.

Catch the action at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center and on the field at Byrd Stadium. Choose from a variety of activities:

OCTOBER 20–21 Homecoming/Reunion Weekend 2006

Place: Campus Drive and Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center Parade Begins at 10:00 a.m.; turtles on display from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Come see all of the 50 nifty Fear the Turtle sculptures before they are auctioned. They’ll show off their shells in a parade through campus and be on display for last hugs and kisses. These are the same turtle sculptures that have graced the Maryland region all summer, each of them reflecting a different theme and personality, but all representing the state’s flagship university.

OCTOBER 18 Turtles on Parade

FEAR THE TURTLE SCULPTURE PARADE AND AUCTION

A parade and public viewing of the popular Fear the Turtle sculptures kicks off Homecoming weekend at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, the place to connect with alumni and friends before watching our Terrapin football team take to Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. Also, the College Park campus is the star of its own opera, and the university welcomes two important guests with a global perspective.

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Time: 8:00 p.m. $30 ($24 for subscribers) Squonk Opera? Good question. Let’s say it’s a cross between avant-garde theater, performance art, musical theater, physical comedy, puppetry and rock ‘n roll. Come see your neighbors, friends and favorite spots in College Park when Squonk presents a roast/toast of the home of the Terps.

NOVEMBER 9–10 Squonk Opera College Park: The Opera

TOP LEFT & MIDDLE PHOTOS COURTESY OF SPORTS INFO; TOP RIGHT BY DAVE OTTALINI; BOTTOM LEFT ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID WALLACE; BOTTOM MIDDLE ILLUSTRATION BY MIRA AZARM; BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF HENSON PRODUCTIONS

Relive the career and innovations of beloved Muppet creator and Alumni Hall of Fame member Jim Henson ’60 through a gallery exhibition and the newly digitized Jim Henson Television Collection, made possible by a grant from Jane Henson ’55. See how it all began with “Sam and Friends,” walk the streets of “Sesame Street,” look back on “The Muppet Show” and much more.

Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Exhibition—Jim Henson: Performing Artist

Through June 30, 2007

301.405.0800 www.lib.umd.edu/PAL/music

MICHELLE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS LIBRARY

301.405.6734 www.bsos.umd.edu/sadat

SADAT LECTURE FOR PEACE

301.405.9363 www.firstyearbook.umd.edu

FIRST YEAR BOOK PROGRAM

www.feartheturtle.umd.edu

FEAR THE TURTLE ANNIVERSARY SCULPTURE EXHIBITION

301.405.ARTS (Ticket Office) www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

301.314.7070 (Ticket Office) www.umterps.com

ATHLETICS

301.405.4678 or 800.336.8627, www.alumni.umd.edu

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

H OT L I N E

Place: Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center Time: 6:00 p.m.

This is a ticketed event—serious bidders should visit www.auction.umd.edu/bidder to register. Thirty-one of the sculptures will go to the highest bidder, with all proceeds benefiting University of Maryland student scholarships.

OCTOBER 19 Bidders’ Auction and Reception

Presented by the Office of Undergraduate Studies Place: Tawes Theater Time: 2:00 p.m.

The University of Maryland welcomes to campus Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, the 2006–07 First Year Book Program selection for Maryland’s incoming students. Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. In his latest work he takes account of the great changes taking place in the 21st century. Hear from the author examples of these changes, based on his own travels, and how they are flattening the world around us.

NOVEMBER 1 Pulitzer Prize-winning Columnist Thomas Friedman

Place: Dekelboum Concert Hall at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Time: 7:00 p.m.

This October, Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will take his place on a growing list of distinguished international figures who have delivered the Annual Sadat Lecture for Peace, sponsored by the Sadat Chair for Peace and Development. Visit the Sadat Chair Web site for ticket information.

OCTOBER 24 Sadat Lecture for Peace Featuring Mohammed El Baradei 2005 Nobel Prize Laureate

BY MONETTE AUSTIN BAILEY

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omi Akoumany’s slow, shy grin hints at the young man’s modest character.

He doesn’t talk easily about himself.

When asked about the next stage of his 19-year-old life, however, he beams and words jumble together as he tries to explain.

K

A new University of Maryland Incentive Awards Program scholar, Akoumany received a full ride to the university beginning this fall.

In terms of distance and expectations, it is miles away from where his life was headed in his native Togo,West Africa. “It’s unbelievable.

I would never think about anything like this happening to me. It happens on TV,” he says.

This sentiment is echoed in many scholars’ stories.Their circumstances differ, but what it means to them to receive a full award (tuition, room and board) to the state’s flagship institution is the same. It means opportunities beyond their imaginations. Now in its sixth year, the Incentive Awards Program, or IAP was started in Baltimore City, creating a pipeline into Maryland for students from a number of the city’s public high schools. President Dan Mote modeled the Incentive Awards on a similar program he started while at the University of California, Berkeley.

Akoumany is in the first class of students from the program’s expansion into Prince George’s

County Public Schools this year.The chosen young people demonstrate not only academic promise, but they do so in the face of sometimes harsh circumstances.

“These students have faced significant loss, volatility and struggle throughout their lives,” says Jacqueline Lee, director of IAP. “But they persevere.They rely on incredible fortitude and strength of character to succeed academically, socially and, after graduation, professionally.”

Lee and others say the program is not about scholarships, as much as it is about fulfilling the university’s promise to provide greater access while maintaining quality.What Christopher Brown ’06 wants people to understand is that being an Incentive Awards Scholar doesn’t mean receiving handouts.

“If you want to walk in our shoes,” concedes Brown, and earn a scholarship that way, “go ahead.” He doesn’t recommend it. “It’s hard working six days a week and keeping good grades. A lot of other students just don’t understand,” he says shaking his head. During high school Brown worked two jobs, in the training department at the Bosch tool company and at a supermarket, in order to help his grandmother take care of him and a younger cousin.

The reward, though, was worth it.

“YOU CAN TAKE SOME PRIDE IN HAVING CHOSEN A STOCK OR A BOND, SEEING ITS VALUE INCREASE, BUT IT IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE SATISFACTION OF SEEING THESE YOUNGSTERS EMERGE AND BLOSSOM AS THEY DO.” —Murray Valenstein. He and his wife Suzanne have made a generous commitment to establish an endowment that will ultimately support what the university will call the Suzanne G. and Murray A. Valenstein Baltimore Incentive Awards Program.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT VISSER

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Class of 2006

Class of 2007

Class of 2005

Class of 2008

Class of 2010

Class of 2009

Brown, who graduated with a political science degree and now works for the Environmental Protection Agency, talks about all of the cultures he’s been exposed to and how much he’s learned—about himself and others.“I’ve met so many different kinds of people, people I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” he says.

During visits to his former high school as part of IAP’s community outreach component, he told students, “ ‘You can do it too.This is not your last stop.’ Once you establish that, then you start talking specifics on how to make it happen.”

“It was so much more than I ever expected,” agrees Kelly Smith ’06, who spent 30 days in Italy as a study abroad student and attended plays with other scholars. She thought Maryland was for rich kids. Coming from a tough Baltimore neighborhood, where she was enrolled in the

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low-achieving and now-closed Southern High School, Smith knew the odds were against her.What the odds didn’t count on were Smith’s intense determination and her supportive family. A recipient of one of two Murray and Suzanne Valenstein Incentive Awards, Smith also found immediate mentors.

“Here was a program with an objective that made a great deal of sense to us. It is an investment of a very, very special kind,” says Murray Valenstein.Though he and his wife are graduates of Baltimore city schools, giving to IAP went beyond that connection.

“You can take some pride in having chosen a stock or a bond, seeing its value increase, but it is nothing compared to the satisfaction of seeing these youngsters emerge and blossom as they do. All you have to do is provide funds that enable a

process to take place.”

Akoumany demonstrates the process’ ripple effect.Though he has been in America since 2000, he doesn’t forget Togo. He says that for many in his country, escaping poverty means coming to the United States. A graduate of Central High School in Capitol Heights, he intends to use his Maryland opportunity to help provide advantages for his countrymen.With money he’s earned as a Web site designer for aerospace services company Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies Inc., in Greenbelt, Akoumany wants to work with family friends still in Togo to begin setting up free computer labs.

“I was fortunate to meet Komi during graduation and the Incentive Awards ceremonies,” says John Deasy, superintendent for Prince George’s County Public Schools. “He is extremely impressive, humble and

ary Williams, co-chair of the scholarship component of Maryland’s fundraising campaign and men’s basketball coach, uses the word “all-inclusive” when describing this area of the campaign. If someone shows potential, a great university should have money available “to make sure that person reaches his or her potential,” he says. He feels that the Incentive Awards Program is a good example of this thinking. “It opens up the university to those who may not have the means to come here.”

When Williams thinks of scholarships he also thinks of himself— and his older brother.

“He had better grades than I did, but there was no money for him to go to college. I got a basketball scholarship. He’s had a good life, but different. I wouldn’t have been a basketball coach had I not gone to college. The University of Maryland has been very good to me. This is a way for me to give back to the school.”

While scholarships tend to go to top achievers, Williams demonstrated that students with more moderate grades, such as his, can accomplish great things. So scholarship campaigns must also seek to be multifaceted, he says. “We don’t want an exclusive scholarship program.”

G

determined to succeed. His goals are admirable.”

Tiana Wynn ’05 is equally clear about how she’ll use her Maryland education. Possessing a surprisingly strong sense of self and purpose for one so young, her maturity begins to make sense once she tells some of her story. Adopted by her aunt at age 8,Tiana is determined to honor her mother, despite the drug addiction that claimed her life. Active in high school activities at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute,Wynn took advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow at Maryland, even if she wasn’t sure about coming to the university.

“I thought it was going to be this really big place and I was going to get lost. After my first year, I made my place on campus,” she says. “I feel I left a mark.” Indeed.Wynn was a resident assistant, taught UNIV 100

GARY WILLIAMS PHOTO BY JOHN CONSOLI

for other RAs, volunteered in the community and pledged a sorority.

She also traveled to London.Today she’s a newly hired external auditor for the Baltimore office of Ernst & Young.

It becomes clear that being an IAP scholar also means connecting with people in life-altering ways.“It’s more than just financial.This program lets people know that somebody cares, somebody has taken an interest in you,” says Chrisopher Brown.“You interact with the donors.You can look them in the eye and say ‘thank you.’ ” Kelly Smith talks fondly of the network of people that comes with being an IAP scholar. She could always count on Lee to either help her through a difficult time, or find her other resources to do so.The new graduate began working at PricewaterhouseCoopers in August, but like many of her IAP peers

she intends to continue the cycle of support, encouraging high school freshmen and sophomores to pursue a college education. She also wants to keep working with young children through a Langley Parkbased mentoring program.

Brown, who says Smith is like a sister, adds that other scholars are another valuable resource.Their shared entrée into this larger world of promise bonds them in a way that is far reaching.

“We’re so grateful for this opportunity. I plan to maximize it and I guarantee that I’ll be doing this for someone one day,” he says. TERP

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University supporters share the stories behind their involvement

When it came time to retire in the late 1990s, Robert and Carol Bennett contemplated moving to a city known for its performing arts venues. Instead, the devotees of chamber

Story by Kimberly Marselas

music and live theater decided to stay in College Park and await the opening of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

They were so excited by the center’s promise that they’d begun donating “a little here and there” to performing arts scholarships and other causes. Then five years ago—just after the Clarice Smith Center opened to rave reviews—the couple sat down with a fundraiser there to make a pledge. The associate professor of economics emeritus and his wife, an alumna, wanted to make a financial contribution that would express their appreciation for the arts and simultaneously make their gift-giving a little easier.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY LEIGH WELLS

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Personal Links That conversation—and many that followed—turned the Bennetts into annual donors. They pledged $15,000 over five years, dictating exactly how each year’s $3,000 gift should be spent. Having just made a new commitment to the center, they call their investment in the university “money well spent.”

“We were particularly interested in supporting [the Clarice Smith Center] and influencing a new direction for the university,” says Carol Bennett ’71, who remembers the university as athletically oriented during her time as a student.

“We were thrilled to be able to be a part of the emergence of the arts at Maryland.”

The Bennetts’ pledge is divided among four major causes: $2,250 a year to the center’s endowment; $250 to the Theatre Patrons Fund supporting current scholarships; $250 to the Dorothy Madden Dance Scholarship Endowment and $250 to the Artists Scholarship Benefit Series for the School of Music.

While their gift reflects a specific passion, others happen almost by coincidence, through direct solicitation or after years of consideration. No matter the size of a gift, university supporters can choose how, where and even when it should be spent.Those who guide such gifts to individual schools, colleges or programs work tirelessly to make sure donors’ wishes are met and that they see the results of their gifts.The goal is not just to raise money for the university but also to build lasting relationships with alumni, faculty, staff and friends whose presence and commitment to Maryland can make a difference in our community.

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Al Carey’s connection to the university began with athletics. A Long Island native, he was a heavily recruited track star who chose to come to Maryland, despite the fact that the university could only award him a partial scholarship during his freshman year.

Today, Carey ’74, is making sure there’s more scholarship money to go around, whether the student recipients are athletes or those with extreme financial need.

As president and chief executive officer of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division, Carey has shepherded several large corporate gifts to the university. He also gave enough of his own money to fund a four-year scholarship for a track athlete, part of an effort to increase that program’s scholarships from two to 12.5 a year.

In 2004, Carey also made a generous personal gift with a big emotional impact.

During a University of Maryland College Park Foundation Trustees meeting, Carey and fellow board member Bob Facchina ’77 heard the story of a young woman who was considering dropping out just shy of her senior year. Her father had cancer and had been forced to leave work, and the family could no longer afford their daughter’s tuition.That night, Carey and Facchina decided to split the remaining cost of her Maryland education, about $12,000, and donate the money to the foundation, which supports an emergency tuition program.The young woman has since graduated and become a teacher.

“It’s probably the best $6,000 I’ve spent in my life,” Carey says. “The letters we got from the student’s family were really incredible.”

Corporate Supporters Carey continues his gift-giving efforts, spearheading PepsiCo’s corporate contributions to the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the College of Education.

He got involved with education’s project after a former dean convinced him to give to it not once, but twice.

Run through the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education, the project connected local school officials and university educators and greatly improved college attendance rates and college scholarship awards made to students in Bladensburg, Md., schools.

Though the institute has been up and running since 2001, it doesn’t yet have the resources needed to make the larger impact officials envision. Earlier this year, they returned to some initial investors and sought out others who could help expand daily operations. Among others who committed to the new fundraising initiative were Doctors Community Hospital and Gary Michael/NAI The Michael Companies Inc., which each gave $100,000 to hire an executive director.

“I think it is extremely important for an organization such as Doctors Community Hospital to reinvest back into its community …,” says Philip B. Down, the hospital’s president and a member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.

“As this program continues to mature, I want to ensure that it is self-sustaining and continues to benefit our youth and contribute to an improved quality of life in Prince George’s County.”

“My brother believed in trying to help others in their The idea is to make permanent the pursuit of education.We thought institute’s outreach efforts, which include school-specific teacher training initiatives, that would be an inspiration.” mentoring and after-school and other support programs. Carey is also working on providing an endowed chair through the PepsiCo Foundation, which would enable the institute to research, implement and analyze the success of support programs in Prince George’s schools.

“This is a unique approach for a college to take,” says Andrew Sheehy, executive director for development in the College of Education. “We have community members who are becoming part of a collaborative to make students better prepared for work, better prepared for life, just better prepared to succeed.”

Lasting Legacies As public school teachers, Louis and Idell Vaughn knew the value of a good education.

Putting their middle son through college and graduate school taught them just how much it could cost. Kenneth Vaughn ’77 earned a bachelor’s degree at Maryland, then went on to earn a Juris Doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s at Stanford and a dual master’s/doctorate degree at Harvard.

“He was a perpetual student,” says Vaughn’s brother, Maryland Del. Michael Vaughn, who went to college on an athletic scholarship after watching his two brothers rack up tuition bills.“I used to tell him he had more degrees than a thermometer.”

Kenneth worked as an administrative law judge in New York and later as an ethics attorney for New York Power. He accomplished it all by the time he was 46, when

—Michael Vaughn, whose family created a scholarship in brother Ken’s name. the nonsmoker succumbed to lung cancer.

Looking for a way to honor their son, the Vaughns used money from several real estate investments to establish the Kenneth G.Vaughn Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Government and Politics.

They simply called the university and asked how to set it up the way they wanted. Now, their $100,000 gift provides about $5,000 in scholarship money each year for a student with a “B” or better average.

Although Kenneth was an alumnus of four universities, the family decided the gift would have the most impact at the University of Maryland, located in the same county where Kenneth grew up and the rest of the Vaughns still live.

“Kenneth believed in trying to help others in their pursuit of education,” Del.Vaughn says. “We thought maybe that would be an inspiration to someone else.”

Ellie Fields ’49 hopes her gift does the same. As a lover of football and her university, she hasn’t missed much action at Byrd Stadium over the last few decades.

Fields and about 25 friends comprised the self-proclaimed “Moldy Group,” a close-knit circle of older Maryland alums that once overtook three rows during Saturday home games. Although the group

has dwindled to a handful of members, Fields is still an ardent fan and supporter of athletics.Whether traveling to an Atlantic Coast Conference game, playing golf at the university course or serving on a committee overseeing renovations there, Fields’ loyalty to the red and white is always evident.

In 2001, her strong connection to Maryland athletics moved her to give a $50,000 annuity that will fund the Eleanor H. Fields ’49 Scholarship Fund in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics upon her death.

The gifts will be a legacy of sorts for Fields, a one-time president of the University of Maryland Alumni Association-International and lifetime Terrapin Club member. But more importantly to her, it will reflect her appreciation for the university, its student athletes and the joy both brought her over the years.

“I’m very fond of the University of Maryland,” says Fields, who worked in radio and television production and still lives in University Park. “You’re an undergraduate for maybe four or five years … but you’re an alumnus for the rest of your life.” TERP

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25

Engineering for

Life

by Rosemary Faya Prola Photos by John T. Consoli

F

or many people, engineering research conjures up images of projects on a grand scale—a bridge spanning a breathtaking river chasm or a vehicle hurtling through limitless outer space. Few of us imagine engineers charting the inner workings of the human body. But, that is the focus of the newest department in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the Fischell Department of Bioengineering.The department was established through a $30 million gift from University of Maryland alumnus Robert E. Fischell, with an additional $1 million gift from Fischell’s three sons, David, Scott and Tim. The bioengineering department represents a tremendous opportunity for students and faculty, says Clark School Dean and Professor Nariman Favardin: “Some of the most exciting, unsolved problems today are at the boundary between traditional engineering disciplines and biological sciences.” Here, researchers are applying the quantitative systems approach of engineering to the study of cells, subcellular systems and systems of cells.

It is critically needed work. “In order for the next generation of biomedical devices to perform more efficiently and effectively, there must be a close interaction between the engineering and human physiology,” states William E. Bentley, Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor and bioengineering department chair. Research conducted by faculty and students will ultimately contribute to the development of better tools and techniques for the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of disease.

The Clark School took the first step toward creating the department with the establishment of a graduate program in bioengineering (M.S. and Ph.D.) in 2002. Advising students were faculty from a dozen academic areas, all of them engaged in bioengineering research. Now, with well-funded ambition, the Clark School is poised for leadership in the bioengineering field.

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It Begins with Faculty The bioengineering department’s focus on applied research and cross-disciplinary collaboration is helping to attract some of the brightest young minds in the field. Members of the department are working in research areas fundamental to modern medical practice, including cardiovascular mechanics, cellular and metabolic engineering, and nanobiotechnology.

John Fisher, assistant professor of bioengineering, heads up the department’s Biomaterials Laboratory.

Fisher is a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Award, which he is using to further groundbreaking studies in cell signaling (communication) within engineered cells.This knowledge will contribute to his research in the development of techniques for the replacement of bone and cartilage lost due to injury or disease. A polymeric biomaterial for tissue transplants developed by Fisher and students in his lab recently received a university innovation award and has a U.S. patent pending.

Enrollment in the graduate bioengineering program now totals 33; with about 30 more students involved in the new undergraduate program that began this fall. Among the department’s outstanding students is Matthew Dowling, the recipient of the 2005 Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering. The fellowship is awarded annually and supports a full-time doctoral student who is working to develop a new medical device or system. Dowling is exploring the use of nano-sized molecular containers to improve the system of drug delivery in treating cancer. After a year of study and research, he appears to be on track for his longterm goal of biotechnology entrepreneurship.

Robert E. Fischell M.S. ’53, Hon. Ph.D. ’96 is a scientist, inventor and entrepreneur whose innovative medical devices have improved the quality of life for millions of people. Fischell’s $30 million gift to the Clark School, one of the three largest contributions ever received by the University of Maryland, is the latest entry in his continuing support. In addition to a $1.5 million gift establishing the Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering, he has contributed to the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences for the Board of Visitors Distinguished Scientist Award/Honorarium and the Robert E. Fischell Lecture, and general operating support for the physics department. In the College of Arts and Humanities, he established the Fischell Associate Artist Fund.

His other gifts have supported university-wide endeavors— including the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the Athletic Facilities Renovation Fund, the Terrapin Club and the William E. Kirwan Prizes.

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Everything in Place

Only the Beginning

The school’s location—close to federal health care agencies, biotechnology firms and the university system’s medical, dental and pharmacy schools—has also promoted collaborative scholarship. An ongoing partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will further foster student research and faculty exchanges.

Next summer, the department is planning to move into a new $8.5 million, 6,000-sq.-ft. addition to the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, partially funded by the Fischell gift.The new facility will accommodate the program’s short-term needs, but within four years, the Clark School hopes to construct a new building for the bioengineering department and the Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, a separate entity that will take shape as the department grows.

“Once we have a building, we’ll take another step forward,” predicts department chair Bentley.

“We will be able to hire additional faculty—people who bridge engineering with the clinical environment such as Maryland’s medical, dental and pharmacy schools—and to create a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program, giving students a wide range of research opportunities.”

“Right now, the bioengineering faculty is composed of very dynamic, very productive people, but this is just the beginning. Keep watching us,” Nariman Favardin asserts. “We are building one of the strongest bioengineering departments in the country.”

The beneficiaries of this brain trust will be people everywhere, according to the dean. “Through the work of faculty and students—work that results in improved medical treatment, enhanced quality of life and reduced costs—our bioengineering department can make a substantive contribution to health care in the nation and in the world.” TERP

Current Research in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering

• Adam Hsieh is studying the response by intervertebral disc cells to mechanical and biological stimuli, preliminary steps in the development of preventative and therapeutic techniques to treat spinal disc degeneration.

• Peter Kofinas is working on the development of molecularly imprinted polymers that can be used as virus sensors with potential applications in areas that include gene therapy and homeland security.

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• Helim Aranda-Espinoza is investigating the mechanisms by which cells adhere, spread and crawl over adhesive strata, focusing on cells involved in cardiovascular disease, with potential in the diagnosis and prevention of arteriosclerosis.

in

theloop Two Awards Confirm Maryland’s Rising Status WHEN THE University of Maryland demonstrates broad-ranging excellence in a staggering variety of disciplines,Terps everywhere can share in the achievements.

Maryland earned two diverse grants this summer from nationally recognized foundations.The College of Chemical and Life Sciences triumphed in an amazing fourth bid for a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) award worth $2 million over five years.The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center garnered $1.125 million in endowment and operating funds from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF).

The DDCF award is the single largest foundation grant ever received at the center. It will be used to expand campus partnerships and resident artist programs that introduce audiences to the creative process. Chemical and Life Sciences will use its funding to grow initiatives that bring underrepresented groups into the lab and generally increase science literacy.

“Our HHMI program,” says Dean Norma Allewell,“begins with camps for middle and high school students, then continues with a catalyst seminar for incoming freshmen—many of whom will eventually compete for research fellowships also sponsored by the grant.” These independent research fellowships are conducted in association with faculty mentors and can last up to three years.

But the size of these awards is only half the story. Both grant applications were by invitation only, from organizations that demanded strong proof of merit. Competition was stiff.

Chemical and Life Sciences vied with more than 150 institutions, including Princeton and Yale, for one of 50 Hughes awards.

Allewell believes that the college’s integrated approach, committed faculty and general reputation for quality impressed the foundation, which “prizes intellectual daring.”

The DDCF discovered an ample supply of intellectual daring at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Of the 100 universities in its original survey, only Maryland, Illinois and Michigan made it to the winner’s circle.

“Programs like The American Piano, which brought together visiting artists, faculty and students have focused attention on our unusual mission to make the Clarice Smith Center a place of learning, exploration and growth,” says the Center’s Executive Director Susie Farr.

Maryland’s achievements in research, the arts and more have drawn attention to the entire university. Grants from Maryland Senior Anahi Rivera ’07 is one of more than 400 undergraduates institutions like the Howard who have carried out research with Hughes Medical Institute and faculty mentors under the College of the Doris Duke Charitable Chemical and Life Sciences’ Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Foundation prove that grant.

Maryland has indeed become a renaissance university. —MW

specialGIFTS Charles A. Irish Sr. ’52, member of the A. James Clark School of Engineering Board of Visitors and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees, recently established a $1 million charitable remainder annuity trust to benefit equally the Charles A. Irish Sr. Chair in Civil Engineering and the engineering dean’s fund.

American Journalism Review, the national bi-monthly magazine published by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, received a commitment of $500,000 over five years from The Ford Foundation to offset AJR’s publishing and operating costs. This is the magazine’s second major gift from Ford and is designed to help AJR maintain the quality of its critical coverage and assessment of professional journalism practices, and to enhance its Web site.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BARBARA THORNE

The Division of Student Affairs received an anonymous pledge of $500,000 in cash and in-kind support toward Student Affairs initiatives, including the Vice President for Student Affairs’ Student Crisis Fund, student programming in the residence halls, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Greek Programming Fund and Family Weekend.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai has made a new commitment of $500,000 over five years to provide support for the university’s Bahai Chair for World Peace. This significant gift will allow the Bahai Chair to conduct published research, design courses and conduct seminars in the fields of world peace and international development without financial constraints. The Bahai Chair for World Peace has a long record of promoting intercultural and inter-religious understanding.

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play-by-play SCOREcard

CRC Naming Is a Fitting Tribute FOR MORE THAN 50 years,

Geary Francis “Swede” Eppley ’20, M.S. ’26 was a fixture at the University of Maryland, touching countless lives and influencing many areas of the campus.When family, friends and former students were looking for a way to pay tribute to him, they found a good fit with the Campus Recreation Center (CRC).

On Oct. 20, 2006, the CRC building will be named in Eppley’s honor.The naming will officially launch the Eppley Fund for the Enhancement of the Student Experience, a $2 million initiative to support student recreation services.

“It’s a perfect building for him, because he was so dedicated to athletics and physical fitness,” says Frances Eppley Tobin ’52, M.S. ’54, Eppley’s daughter.

Eppley entered the forerunner Maryland Agricultural College as a student in 1914, earning his bachelor’s at the University of Maryland in 1920 after interrupting his studies to serve in World War I. A student athlete, he lettered in football (while playing for then football coach Curly Bryd ’08) and track. In 1922, he returned to the university as assistant professor of agronomy, earning his master’s in 1926.

During this time, he began coaching the track team, which he would continue to do until 1941, mentoring track stars Jim Kehoe ’40 and Tom Fields ’42 and leading the track team to national championships. He helped found the M Club, an organization of varsity athletic letter winners, which still exists today. He was also director of athletics, director of student

(Left to right) Elizabeth Eppley Danforth ’48, Frances Eppley Tobin ’52, M.S. ’54 and Geary W. Eppley stand in front of the Campus Recreation Center that will be named in honor of their father and dedicated alumnus, Geary F. Eppley ’22, M.S. ’26, on October 20.

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activities and student welfare, and dean of men, a position he held until his retirement in 1964.

He put students first, says Jane McCarl ’52, who remembers Eppley always sitting in the student section at games.

McCarl, a member of an alumni committee that recommended the naming of the CRC, got to know Eppley when she chaired the junior prom, and he was director of student activities.

“The most memorable thing about him was his loyalty,” she says.“He was able to cope with change and was flexible in that respect.”

As director of student activities, Eppley helped the university prepare for and adjust to a near doubling in enrollment when, in 1946, students entered the university for the first time on the GI Bill. He traveled the country, visiting other universities to research student union facilities. His recommendations to President Curly Byrd resulted in Maryland’s own student union, later named in honor of Adele Stamp, dean of women.

“Everyone who knew him loved him,” says McCarl.“I hope to see current students inspired by his loyalty.”

With Eppley’s name on the Campus Recreation Center, a popular location for students, she just might get her wish. —BAM For more information about the Eppley Fund for the Enhancement of the Student Experience, contact Jim Rychner, Student Affairs, at 301.314.7918.

The NCAA Champion Maryland women’s basketball team was nominated for an ESPY Award in the category of Best Team. The Lady Terps had good company— fellow nominees were the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, NBA Champion Miami Heat, NCAA Champion Texas Longhorns and the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, which won.

Maryland field hockey player Paula Infante received the Mary Garber award, given to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Female Athlete of the Year. Infante is the first female honoree since women’s lacrosse standout Jen Adams won the award in 2000 and 2001.

Former Terp football player Vernon Davis has exchanged his red and white uniform for red and gold. The talented tight end was the number six pick in the NFL draft, selected by the San Francisco 49ers. His contract makes him the highest-paid tight end in the league.

Track and field’s Dominic Berger won his first international title in July by finishing first in the men’s 110meter hurdles at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) under-23 championships.

PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI

spotlight

Kristof: Making Photographic History

The Undersea World of Emory Kristof

IF A PICTURE says a thousand words,

the photographs and video by Emory Kristof (shown right) documenting the mysteries of the world’s oceans would fill volumes.

Kristof, B.S. ’64, journalism, who spent more than 43 years as a photographer for National Geographic, is internationally renowned for his high-tech underwater photography. Using robot cameras and remotely operated vehicles, he combines technical wizardry with an amazing photographic eye, detailing an environment miles beneath the surface.

“There is kilometer after kilometer of deep water out there covering 70 percent of our planet, but we know more about the surface of the moon, and now Mars, than we do about most of our own world,” says Kristof, whose images have opened this undersea vista, offering hints of a world where humans seldom venture.

Using the latest technologies as his tools, Kristof says he approaches projects “in the same way a plumber just goes in and gets the job done.” Quite an understatement from the man who organized a Soviet Canadian expedition to shoot three-dimensional stills and video footage of the Titanic for an IMAX production, using what he calls “the most powerful lights ever set up to work in the deep ocean” and worked with shark specialist and Professor Emeritus Eugenie Clark to lure and photograph an eight-meter Pacific sleeper shark at 1,300 meters—the largest animal ever seen in the deep through a submarine porthole.

Kristof was always mesmerized by the sea, especially the underwater images of Jacques Cousteau, and made a career of PHOTOS COURTESY OF EMORY KRISTOF

combining his passions for photography and scuba diving. As an undergraduate, he worked on the university yearbook, Terrapin, and the humor magazine, Old Line. One of his first underwater photographic essays was staged on the College Park campus.

Following intense spring flooding, Kristof planned a satiric photo essay for Old Line to give students a view of the life aquatic that included desks, chairs, books, papers and “anyone who could swim and was willing to get wet.”

Although the prank contributed to the demise of the magazine, it marked the beginning of a lifetime of undersea explorations that will be included in a special exhibit this fall.The retrospective will feature Kristof ’s early work on campus, in National Geographic, as well as the Titanic expedition and his use of engineering in photography. —NG The exhibit, “Emory Kristof: Around the World in 800,000 Chromes,” sponsored by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, with support from National Geographic, is on view at the Union Gallery in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union through November 2.

1963–64 • Introduced the first full-color, 16page signature in a college yearbook and was named college photographer of the year.

1976 • Worked with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and its submersible dubbed ALVIN. His technologies and techniques made possible the first remote pictures of ALVIN on the ocean bottom at 3,000 meters.

1985 • Created the preliminary designs of the electronic camera system for the Argo vehicle that located the Titanic (shown top left and above) and was part of the crew that found it.

1995 • Led an expedition to recover the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald and produced the first deep-water images with high definition television.

1998 • Received the J. Winton Lemon Fellowship Award from the National Press Photographers Association as one of the profession’s “most imaginative innovators.”

2000 • Led a project to produce the first color images of the interior of the sunken battleship Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

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Interpretations Our Great Expectations Drive Us

OUR EXPECTATIONS for the university

and for our students, faculty and alumni who bring it to life are virtually boundless.

We are passionately determined to be excellent in everything we do. Our extraordinary rise over the last decade has demonstrated that we have the will, the ability, and the capability to succeed.

Maryland’s accomplishments are enviable.

Top 20 ranking among the nation’s public research universities, a faculty of international stature, and a student body noted for its talent and diversity make Maryland special indeed.

But these achievements only set higher expectations.While we are proud of what has been accomplished, our work is far from done. Our students and faculty expect to make a difference: to energize our economy, enrich our culture, enhance our environment, and promote intercultural and international understanding. Our state and the nation expect and need the University of Maryland to be a leader.

We are at a crucial point in our history.

We are prepared to move up to the next level, but to do so will require support far beyond what the state provides. I have spoken in this column before about the reality that public research universities nationwide are receiving a dwindling portion of their budgets from their respective states. More 32

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and more, our state funding is also tied to our ability to generate support from others.

Within this issue of Terp, you have read about two examples of such partnerships.

Our expansion of Byrd Stadium—a storiedfacility sorely in need of renovation— required major corporate support to ensure that our necessary plans could move forward.We thank Chevy Chase Bank for its extraordinary financial commitment and multifaceted partnership that benefits both our institutions.

Likewise, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism is on a trajectory that will make it the top-ranked journalism school in the country. However, the college’s current building is critically outdated and is holding us back from reaching that lofty goal.

The state of Maryland has made a $15 million commitment—about half of what is needed to fund a superb new teaching and research facility.

Thanks to a $5 million gift from the Knight Foundation, a new building, to be named Knight Hall, will become a reality.

Our partnership with the Knight Foundation has many other dimensions as well, including more than $15 million in grants to Merrill College programs. Knight Hall will be home to our prestigious professional centers that include the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, and J-Lab:The Institute for Interactive Journalism.

These are but two entrepreneurial and innovative initiatives of the university. The expansion of Byrd Stadium and construction of a new journalism building are catalyzed respectively by a leading regional company and a prominent foundation, but it is the support of our alumni that makes the biggest difference. Last year, more than 40,000 alumni and friends contributed a record-setting $130 million in gifts supporting scholarships, faculty, new and refurbished facilities, and more.

Our new fundraising drive, Great Expectations, the Campaign for Maryland, is the linchpin in our plan for achieving greatness as a university with national and international impact.With the commitments of many dedicated volunteer leaders, we will be presenting our case to Maryland’s alumni and friends. Let’s join together in realizing our expectations.

–Dan Mote, President

PHOTO BY JEREMY GREEN

TIME WELL SPENT

The Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center was designed to be all things to all people. It is a conference facility for business and community leaders; a gathering place for alumni and friends; and a special setting for family events. Spend time in each of our unique rooms and you are certain to find one or more that will fit your needs, whether you are planning an annual board meeting or a once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

BUSINESS TIME

FINE TIME

PLAY TIME

50-seat boardroom with custom-designed table

Suitable settings for any occasion, from grand galas to wedding celebrations

Sports bar fitted with fireplace, big screen TVs and replica of Cole Field House center court

Stained glass ocular, travertine marble floors and clerestory windows

Spacious plaza with Byrd Stadium in the background

Mahogany-paneled library

Outside terraces for old-fashioned picnics and cocktail receptions

State-of-the-art meeting rooms equipped with multimedia technology High-speed wireless Internet access Flexible space options, whether for large conferences or small retreats

or the Root fteam in home mni home! lu ni your a Riggs IV Alums for

venue amuel The S ers several d fans ff o la r ary n ames.

Cente g host M you to me football our ho ry before rve space fo arty p Rese tailgate private day! to

Lush gardens of red, white and gold surrounding a crystalline fountain

Prime space for private tailgate parties

The Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center is the perfect location for all of your most important events. Contact one of our professional event planners today.

301.405.9756

800.336.8627

riggsinfo@ur.umd.edu

www.riggs.umd.edu

We are one of the nation’s top-ranked public research universities and behind that achievement is something greater — the dedication and support of our alumni, students, faculty and staff.

Maryland’s progress has been remarkable and we are fiercely determined to continue on a path to being the very best. We have great expectations and, together with your support, there is nothing that can stand in our way.

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