Terp—Fall 2011

fall 2011 / Connecting the University of Maryland Community

Net Gain

The winning strategy of UMD-China Partnerships pg. 24

FIVE-TIME TONY WINNER 11 / “AMERICA” FLIPS foR GYMKANA 13 / PEDAL-POWERED HELO 28

letter from the editor

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P U B L I S H E d by Division of Universit y Rel ations A DV I S e R S

Brodie Remington Vice President, Universit y Rel ations

Brian Ullmann

Assistant Vice President, Marke ting and Communications

Margaret Hall

E xecutive Direc tor, Cre ative Str ategies

Brian Shook

interm e xecutive direc tor, Alumni Progr ams

Beth Morgen

Chief Administr ative Officer, Maryl and Alumni Association m ag a z i n e s ta f f

Lauren Brown Universit y Editor

John T. Consoli ’86 Creative Direc tor

Jeanette J. Nelson Art Direc tor

Monette A. Bailey ’89 Kelly Blake Mandie Boardman ’02 Kimberly Marselas ’00 Tom Ventsias Writers

Mira Azarm ’01 Joshua Harless Patti Look ’08 Catherine Nichols ’99 Brian G. Payne designers

Gail Rupert ’10 M.L.S. photography assistant

Christie Liberatore ’11 Magazine Intern

Kathy B. Lambird ’94 Produc tion Manager

Terp magazine is published by the Division of University Relations. Letters to the editor are welcomed. Send correspondence to Managing Editor, Terp magazine, 2101 Turner Building, College Park, MD 20742-1521. Or, send an email 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 nondiscrimination regarding race, color, religion, age, national origin, political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

8 

t’s been nine years since a baby terrapin

hatched from its shell on the first cover of Terp magazine. We’ve grown and evolved since that rather dramatic debut. But after a while, even the spunkiest—and best-looking—Terp could use a freshening up.

The staff here tossed around a few ideas on what to tweak in the magazine, what to add and what to kick to the curb. Before we went any further, though, we turned to the experts: you.

This spring, we conducted a survey through CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and more than 500 of our alumni and supporters responded. You offered terrific insight into the magazine, telling us what you love, what you want to see more of, and what just doesn’t appeal to you.

We incorporated that feedback into our reworking of Terp. The design and the writing should better reflect the personality of our alumni: Intelligent. Distinctive. A little quirky.

We’ve renamed the sections and reorganized the Table of Contents to improve clarity and to add some “pop.” We’re providing a new Campus Life section, to ensure we give more attention to an area that interests you. We’ve added fun facts and stats that illuminate the stories. And for the first time, we’re giving you a way to comment online about stories—or anything else in the magazine.

But don’t worry. We’ve stuck to our original mission of helping you stay connected with Maryland, highlighting the innovation and accomplishments of the university as well as students, faculty and alumni. We still feature solid writing and great photos, graphics and illustrations.

Our turtle just got a little more spring in his step.

Departments 2 In Brief 5 Ask Anne 6 Class Act 10 Campus Life

14 Innovation 18 Centerpiece 32 Giving 36 Interpretations

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13

Lauren Brown University Editor

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fall 2011 vol. 9, no. 1

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Features

20 The Gospel of Prevention

The School of Public Health's Cheryl Holt hopes to reduce the rates of cancer among African Americans by bringing her message of education to their churches.

By Lauren Brown

24 Net Gain

Nearly 40 years after Chinese pingpong players made a historic visit to UMD, China and the university have forged more than 60 academic, research and business partnerships.

By Monette Austin Bailey ’89

28 A Lofty Aspiration

A team of students is pursuing one of rotorcraft engineering’s most difficult challenges: Design, build and fly a human-powered helicopter.

By Tom Ventsias

NSNS

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i co n i n d i c at es a d d i t i o n al o n li n e co n t e n t

E m ail

terpmag@umd.edu

o n li n e vi d e o news

terp.umd.edu

terpvision.umd.edu newsdesk.umd.edu

fac eb o o k .co m /UnivofMaryland

28 Historical photo courtesy of the University Archives Illustrations by Diane Kredensor, Catherine Nichols, Jeanette Nelson and Brian G. Payne

f li c k r .co m /photos/wwwumdedu t w i t t er .c o m /UofMaryland vi m e o.co m /umd yo u t ube .co m /UMD2101

President’s Presence

in Brief

Obama visits campus for fourth time

New Deans, VPs Stress Collaboration Three academics known for their work on multidisciplinary collaborations have been appointed deans, and two vice presidents have been named in a flurry of university hiring.

Brian D. Voss

Robert Specter

Bonnie Thornton

Patrick O’Shea,

Jayanth R.

is the new vice president of information technology and chief information officer. He served in a similar post at Louisiana State University and has more than 25 years of experience in the field. Voss is a nationally recognized leader in cybersecurity, IT strategy and disaster recovery planning.

began serving as vice president for administrative affairs and chief financial officer— the university’s chief fiscal and administrative official—on Sept.

1. He served in the same capacities at the University of Delaware, Baruch College of the City University of New York, and Oregon and Montana state universities.

Dill, first female

former chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is now vice president for research. He leads a campus enterprise that brought in nearly $1.5 billion in the past three years.

O’Shea seeks to expand partnerships with industry and government and bolster ties with University System of Maryland institutions.

Banavar, a physicist whose research frequently involves collaborations with the life sciences, is the new dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences. He chaired the physics department at Penn State University for 12 years, using the physical sciences to better understand natural phenomena.

dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, began her two-year term Aug. 1. She is a 20-year member of Maryland's faculty, including former chair of the Department of Women’s Studies.

Internationally known for research on intersections of race, gender and ethnicity, Thornton Dill intends to strengthen the college's intellectual community.

–LB

“We will be bold, diverse, adaptive, creative, innovative and entrepreneurial,” O’Shea says. “Our aim is to take our place among the great institutions of the world, dedicated not only to the dissemination of knowledge, but to its creation and application.”

2 terp fall 2011

Photography by John T. Consoli

President Barack Obama might want to consider getting a parking spot on campus.

In his fourth trip to Maryland in five years, he held a town hallstyle meeting at Ritchie Coliseum on July 22 to talk about government spending and the federal budget.

Obama also fielded questions from the audience of 1,200, mostly students.

Obama came to campus as a senator in 2006, to campaign for then-U.S. Senate candidate Ben Cardin. He stumped here before the 2008 election, and spoke at a health-care rally in September 2009.–LB

Se Sy nC

$27.5M Grant Helps Launch Environmental Center

A new research and policy center led by the University of Maryland is expected to provide national leadership in addressing large-scale environmental challenges like clean water, sustainable food production and the interaction between human activity and ecosystems.

Announced in August, the Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, known as SeSynC, uses data and knowledge gleaned from biologists, economists, social scientists, policy experts and others to “synthesize” innovative solutions, in hopes of providing new environmental science and policy choices with a far-reaching impact.

“It’s a high-level think tank done in a very different way than we’ve historically seen—we’ll seek out scientists and policymakers with particularly creative ideas, and provide them high-end computing resources and other tools that foster collaboration and innovation,” says Margaret Palmer, a noted UMD environmental scientist and executive director of SeSynC. Located in Annapolis, Md., the center is supported primarily from a nearly $27.5 million, fiveyear grant from the National Science Foundation.

It also receives funding from the university, the state of Maryland and the University System of Maryland.

Palmer says local officials want the center to work on regional issues like the health of the Chesapeake Bay, while also addressing broader topics like sustainable energy or human behavior as it relates to climate adaption.

SeSynC is also developing undergraduate courses in environmental synthesis that will be cross-culturally tested at Gallaudet University (for deaf and hard-of-hearing students); Coppin State University (a historically black institution); the University of Maryland (a large, mainstream university); and the University of Washington, Vancouver (with many older, continuing education students).

Aside from UMD faculty, SeSynC includes senior staff from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science as well as Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.–TV

fall 2011 terp 3

Maryland Brings Judicial Leadership Skills to Vietnam With a groundbreaking partnership in Southeast Asia, Maryland’s international reach has extended a little farther.

UMD officials traveled to Vietnam earlier this year to formalize an agreement with the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi, launching the first criminology graduate program between a U.S. university and Vietnam.

Students in the master of professional studies program in justice leadership are examining topics that include criminal procedure law, comparative international law and policy analysis, says Cynthia Hale, assistant dean of the Graduate School and director of the university’s Office of Executive and International Programs.

These young professionals are expected to play a critical role in judicial reform efforts within the Vietnamese government.

The first cohort of 38 police officers that started in April will complete 10 courses within 16 months: three taught by Vietnamese instructors and the remainder

by Maryland faculty from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the School of Public Policy.

“It reflects the university’s commitment that some of our leading faculty have agreed to go to Hanoi and teach these courses,” Hale says. Maryland faculty are getting a firsthand look at investigations the Vietnamese police are conducting involving terrorism, human trafficking, drug abuse and gang violence, which aids in their own research, she adds.

In the fall of 2012, the Vietnamese students will come to College Park, spending six weeks on campus to complete the program’s capstone course.

“The United States and Vietnam have a long and complex history,” says Charles Caramello, dean of the Graduate School.

“But through programs like these we are looking toward a very peaceful and collaborative future.”–TV

Route 1 to be revamped

College Park’s busiest street is set to get a facelift.

In July, state officials announced the release of almost $9 million in federal funds for the first phase of design to revamp three miles of Route 1 from the Capital Beltway to downtown College Park.

Plans call for new sidewalks, landscaping, curbs and median strips to increase safety for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. The project has three phases, starting with the section of Route 1 between downtown and Route 193, University Boulevard.

4 terp fall 2011

webcams have been installed across campus for live feeds of campus goings-on.

McKeldin Mall The Diner Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building Oakland Hall Physical Sciences Complex construction Take a peek at www.umd.edu/webcams.

The design and engineering stage will take about three years.

These improvements are important in light of new student high-rises and other planned development along the roadway, says Terry Schum, the city’s director of planning.

“This is the ‘Main Street’ for the city and the university,” Schum says. “We want it safe, attractive and functional.”–TV

McKeldin photograph by John T. Consoli

Q. Are there any pictures or documents that depict the Armory for

what it was originally built for (in particular, the classroom space was a rifle range)? —Ann G. Wylie, senior vice president and provost

We have the original blueprints (above) from architect Henry A.

Powell Hopkins that clearly show the rifle range on the ground floor of the Armory. Also, documentation in the old President’s Office files describes the special construction elements involved in installing this facility.

Q.

Q. My grandfather, Elsworth Gayle, was a mason in

A.

Washington, D.C. My mom maintained that he had a big hand in building Cole Field House. Are there any photos of the building of Cole, and/or any records of the men who built it?—Andrew Johnson ’83 Unfortunately, we couldn’t come up with conclusive proof that your grandfather worked on Cole Field House. The payroll records maintained by Baltimore Contractors Inc., the firm that built it, do not go back that far, and they don’t have any current employees who remember him. We have many construction photos of Cole, however, and I invite you to visit the University Archives and review them to see if you can locate your grandfather.

A.

ASK ANNE

Questions for the University Archivist

Was the University of Maryland awarded a national championship football trophy for its undefeated football team of 1953? If so, where is it on campus? —Burt Bondy ’67

The team was awarded the Rev. J. Hugh O’Donnell Trophy, named for a past president of Notre Dame. As was the custom at the time, the trophy changed hands each year, so the Terrapins did not keep it. The O’Donnell Trophy was retired after the 1956 season and was replaced by the AP Trophy, which still exists today.

There is a crystal trophy in the Football Hall of Fame in the Gossett Team House representing this landmark season.

Questions may be sent to terpmag@umd.edu.

Blueprint and historical Cole Field House Photography photo courtesy byofJohn the University T. Consoli Archives / photo credits

fall 2011 terp 5

class act

“ He doesn’t embrace any of the clichés of being a

trainer, leaning against the rail nodding in approval as his horses work. Nobody has ever done it quite this way.

”

—andrew Beyer Ben’s Cat storms home first in the Jim McKay Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in May, giving trainer King T. Leatherbury (inset, below) his 6,318th career win.

Highlights of King T. Leatherbury’s Career

52

Maryland training titles at the Laurel and Pimlico tracks

4

starters in the Preakness Stakes, with two fourthplace finishes

100+

horseracing neckties, possibly the largest collection anywhere

6,300+ races won

6 terp fall 2011

 alumni profile / King T. Leatherbury ’56

“King” of Maryland Racing Still Riding High The greatest racehorses are usually those that are the best prepared and last the longest—a combination that can bring repeated trips to the winner’s circle.

The same can be said for thoroughbred trainer King T. Leatherbury ’56, whose savvy management and passion for the sport have carried him to success for more than a half-century.

Leatherbury, 78, ranks third on the all-time win list with more than 6,300 victories. He saddled his first winner in 1959 and dominated the Maryland racing circuit during the 1970s and ’80s when he would often send out four, five or even six winners in a single day.

Though the game itself has changed since then—fewer owners and breeders investing in racing means fewer horses to train—Leatherbury is still winning, with no plans to retire.

“Hell, no. This is who I am. It’s my life,” he emphatically said the day before running Ben’s Cat—a horse he bred, owns and trains—in a $200,000 stakes race. (The horse won by a

neck, earning Leatherbury the $120,000 winner’s share.)

There are other sharp trainers in Maryland, yet Leatherbury has kept it going for a half a century with a style uniquely his own, says Andrew Beyer, the renowned Washington Post horseracing columnist.

Leatherbury, who graduated from Maryland with a business degree, runs his operation from a home office, telephoning instructions to assistants while he scours over racing data that helps him place horses in winning spots.

“He doesn’t embrace any of the clichés of being a trainer, leaning against the rail nodding in approval as his horses work. Nobody has ever done it quite this way,” Beyer says.

With many of Leatherbury’s longtime clients either dying or getting out of the business, the last few years have seen his racing stock dwindle to fewer than a dozen. Ben’s Cat has brought renewed vigor to Leatherbury’s stable, which during its peak regularly saw 60-plus horses under his care.

“He’s the backbone of my operation now, and we’re having a lot of fun with him,” Leatherbury says.–TV

King T. Leatherbury portrait by Jim McCue, courtesy of Maryland Jockey Club / Racing photo by Eric Kalet Glaciarium photos courtesy of Pablo Güiraldes / Kermit photo by Scott Suchman / Illustration by Christie Liberatore

75

JIM HENSON‘S BIRTHDAY Muppet maker Jim Henson ’60 would have turned 75 on Sept. 24, and his legacy of creativity, humor and imagination still thrives at Maryland. So does his presence on campus.

University Libraries has 70-plus digital videos spanning his groundbreaking work in TV and film. Puppeteer Basil Twist, recently a Jim Henson Artist in Residence in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, will perform on campus in March. And the sculpture of Henson chatting with Kermit the Frog outside the Stamp is the perfect place to sit back and think boldly—just as he did.

In fact, hundreds of students gathered there last month to sing “Happy Birthday” to Henson and snack on cake and cupcakes.

Decorated with “Kermit green” icing, of course.–LB

 alumni profile / Pablo Güiraldes, M.Arch. ’98

Architecture on Ice Alum Designs Argentina’s Glaciarium The breathtaking Patagonian ice fields,

located along South America’s southwest tip, are not only the subject of Argentina’s new Glaciarium. They’re also the inspiration for its design by architect Pablo Güiraldes, M.Arch. ’98.

Güiraldes looked to the dramatic shape of the glaciers, their broken geometry and the interplay of the forces of gravity interacting with the light to imagine the museum.

Located just outside Los Glaciares National Park, the museum showcases the history of exploration and the importance of this glacial region, which is increasingly threatened by climate change. It opened in March.

Güiraldes applied his experience designing inexpensive community centers in his native Buenos Aires to make the museum’s design cost-effective.

“Because of our limited budget, it had to use very simple shapes,” Güiraldes explains, “and because there are usually 60 mph winds there, the construction had to be simple and fast. We used metallic sheeting for the exterior of the sheds, and a composite wall of projected concrete with Styrofoam thermal insulation for the towers.”

Like the Glaciarium, Güiraldes’ other recent architectural endeavors also come with an environmental message. He was hired to design the Glaciarium based on his work with the El Cóndor nature reserve. The project protected about 99,000 acres for bird habitat near the northern border of Patagonia by developing about 1 percent of the area for tourism. His latest project is an eco-resort in Delta El Tigre, a small island near Buenos Aires, that will leave the site as pristine as possible and will include a small museum about the ecology of the delta.

Güiraldes still has many urban design projects in his portfolio, and maintains his ties to Maryland as a visiting lecturer. He assists Professor Matthew J. Bell in teaching the winter Urban Design Studio in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, an ancient Roman seaside resort whose panoramas almost rival the Argentine Patagonia.–KB

Friendship Fuels Bike Tour Best friends Gordon Jayne ’82 and Christopher Morris ’82 first met when they rented rooms in a Hyattsville boardinghouse just after graduation. Seven years later, Jayne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Morris and the cycling team he started to support Morris have since raised $340,000 for a cure. This spring he biked nearly 3,000 miles solo, raising $32,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.–LB

fall 2011 terp 7

“

I’m a big traveler, and I wanted to show kids in a fun way…that there are other places to see.

—diane kredensor ’89

 alumni profile / diane kredensor ’89

Life Animates Art You may not have heard of Diane Kredensor ’89, but the

children’s cartoon fans in your life know her work well.

Kredensor is an Emmy Award-winning animator who’s inked episodes of PBS, Nick Jr. and WB kids’ favorites “Pinky and the Brain,” “WordWorld,” “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and more.

She’s also an author-illustrator, with her first book, “Ollie & Moon,” released this spring. It’s the story of two cat friends, one trying to surprise the other, as they romp through Paris. Kredensor’s expressive, humorous drawings are superimposed over city photographs.

“Before college, I loved art and storytelling. I just wasn’t sure what to do with it,” says Kredensor. Her “very practical” parents suggested a liberal arts education at the university. Here, she enjoyed 3-D design and typography courses.

After graduation, she worked in advertising, but found it hard to be creative about products to which she had no connection. So she moved to Los Angeles to work in children’s television.

Kredensor, now living in New York, eventually started her own animation production company, Tricycle Films. At the invitation of Random House Children’s Entertainment, it’s developing a TV series based on ”Ollie & Moon.”

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be working on this,” she says. “I’m a big traveler, and I wanted to show kids in a fun way ... that there are other places to see.” –MAB

Ollie and Moon illustrations and photo courtesy of Diane Kredensor

Friendship Fuels Bike Tour (continued) 8 terp fall 2011

”

class notes

Bookshelf by Alumni

To submit notes, send an email to terpmag@umd.edu.

’00s Heather Halpin Perez M.L.S. ’06, archivist at the

The Carter era, according to J. Brooks Flippen Ph.D. ’94, stood at a fault line in American culture, religion and politics.

In Jimmy Carter, The Politics of Family, and the Rise of the Religious Right, Flippen examines Carter’s struggle to placate competing interests against the backdrop of difficult foreign and domestic issues.

The contentious history of Mexico provides the context to the novel The Last California by Robert Sanabria M.F.A. ’79.

The murder of his family at the order of a government minister plunges Gar Montalvo into a lifealtering chain of events.

Winner of the 2011 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Wait by Alison Stine M.F.A. ’02, is part fairy tale and part Gothic ballad. The collection of poetry spans a single year in a small town leading up to a young woman’s marriage.

Atlantic City Free Public Library since 2006, has been providing archived library resources for the TV series, “Boardwalk Empire,” now airing on HBO. She also appeared last year in a promotional documentary about the show and in a documentary produced by The Press of Atlantic City about Atlantic City in the 1920s and Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (the focal points of the series).

’90s Tyrone Brooks ’96, direc-

Ruppersberger Urges Alumni to “Step Right Up”

running for Congress in New Mexico. He has been a Democratic state senator since 2008, and was an Albuquerque city councilman from 2001 to 2005. He kicked off his campaign with a May 7 rally.

l

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Want to see more Class Notes? Visit w w w.t erp.u m d. e d u/c lass n o t es .

IRELAND jun e

For more information, visit alumni. umd.edu or contact Angela Dimopoulos '07 at 301.405.7938 / 800.336.8627 or adimop@umd.edu.

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• Alumn iT

ve

Eric Griego ’91 is

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Timmy Ruppersberger portrait by by Michael Stavrinos / Tyrone Brooks photo by Tony Richards

ra

“They reported back that they could not accomplish their mission because some ‘blond witch’ threw them out,” she says.

Ruppersberger has served on the alumni association board of governors since 2007. As she begins her two-year term as president, Ruppersberger is urging more Terps to join the alumni association.

“Maryland alumni are part of a great institution that strives to represent and serve the state and its citizens by providing opportunities for personal growth, academic advancements and awareness of the world around us,” she says. “We need to be proud of that and not forget that there are others yet to come who deserve the same or even a better opportunity. If you are not a member, step right up because we have much to do.”–MB

2, –2

New University of Maryland Alumni Association Board of Governors President Timmy Ruppersberger ’77 (inset below) wants to see more Terps involved. And with 29 years of experience fine-tuning her persuasion skills as a public finance lawyer, she will likely achieve her goal.

Rupperberger began strengthening her leadership skills at Maryland, where she was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and president of Kappa Delta Sorority. Her true test came one night as a group of Delta Tau Delta pledges raided her sorority house. As president she was forced to take charge.

tor of baseball operations for the Pittsburgh Pirates, returned to campus this spring to host the Smith School’s Baseball Industry Networking Night. He brought together a variety of baseball professionals who talked about what it takes to break into the sport.

campus life

Get Up and Grow Students Tend New Campus Gardens

$147k Amount of money distributed to nine student projects in the first round of awards from the Student Sustainability Fund

The first sign that the new Public Health Garden would be unique was the goats. Thirtyone of them. Munching on weeds.

Students, led by Rachel Tennant M.S. ’12 and Allison Lilly M.P.H. ’12 (below), rented the goats this spring rather than use herbicides to help transform a forgotten plot outside the School of Public Health building. By this summer, the space was a thriving home to marigolds, green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers; a site for research and teaching; and a community gathering spot.

“It’s so academically and personally fulfilling,” says Tennant, who’s studying sustainable development and conservation biology.

At the same time, other students created a rooftop garden on the South Campus Dining Hall, with planter boxes recycled from wooden pallets, a bubbling fountain that sends water to the flowers and vegetables, and a sound system, lights and picnic tables. Still another group tended 2,000 sedum plants on the new 251 North dining hall, keeping the interior of the hotspot cool.

Greg Thompson, assistant director of dining services and an enthusiastic supporter of rooftop gardening, calls the surge of student involvement “amazing.”

He credits former intern Jesse Yurow ’11 with starting the trend by cultivating a garden on the Diner in Summer 2010 to show the possibilities of urban agriculture. But volunteers

couldn’t access the loading zone to reach that roof, so they won a Green Fund grant from the Office of Sustainability to install safety fencing and a door to the South Campus Dining Hall roof. The “blank slate” there has been irresistible to students seeking sunshine—or to exercise their green thumbs, Thompson says.

“We want them to put their own mark on it,” he says.

For the Public Health Garden, Tennant and Lilly worked with Facilities Management to determine costs, won nearly $15,500 from the Green Fund, joined with landscape architecture students on a final design and mobilized volunteers to tend the plants (many of which students grew from seeds in the university’s greenhouse).

Over the long term, they expect the Institute of Applied Agriculture, civil and environmental engineering and other disciplines to cultivate plots, and to build amphitheater-like seating where people can meet if they don’t want to dig.

“Not everybody wants to plant turnips or turn compost,” says Lilly, who is studying environmental health. “However students or community members can get engaged with the garden, we’d like to see those linkages happen.”–LB

Are you an alum from the 1970s who remembers the first rooftop patio at the South Campus Dining Hall? If so, share your memories with Greg Thompson, who wants to find out what shut it down so he can keep this one open. Email him at gkt@umd.edu.

10 terp fall 2011

Photography by John T. Consoli / Illustration by Catherine Nichols

homecoming’s coming

Masterpiece

Broadway’s Illumination Sensation

Before Maryland takes on Clemson on Oct. 15, visit the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center for the Maryland Alumni Association Homecoming Festival. Catch up with former classmates and enjoy music, activities, game-day fare and beverages, in addition to the Backyard Bash. Learn more at alumni.umd.edu or homecoming.umd.edu.

In a world that vacillates between unrelenting brightness and Third World gloom and doom, Brian MacDevitt controls the light switches.

As lighting designer for the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon,” MacDevitt illuminates the cast, spotlights their follies and bathes the audience in emotion. In June, the associate professor of theater won his fifth Tony for his work.

A collaboration between the creators of “South Park” and the composer behind the raunchy “Avenue Q,” “The Book of Mormon” follows two naïve missionaries from pristine Salt Lake City to tribal Uganda.

MacDevitt, who last won a Tony for 2009’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” says musicals call for “four times the amount of energy and four times the amount of anxiety.” But he couldn’t pass up the chance to work with “South Park’s” Trey Stone and Matt Parker.

“The material is breaking boundaries,” says MacDevitt.

“It’s exciting, new and original, but it still respects the … format of a traditional musical.”

When MacDevitt sat down with “The Book of Mormon’s” creative team, he envisioned bright lighting with rosy overtones—“a little bit pink and a little bit fake.” For the Ugandan scenes, MacDevitt favored overcast lighting.

“The set looked like you could get tetanus from it,” he says.

But with two decades of Broadway experience, he understands if those who fall in love with what’s been called “the best musical of this century” don’t recognize his contributions.

“It’s a lot like scoring a film,” says MacDevitt, now attached to “The Mountain Top,” starring Samuel L. Jackson as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “We always say, ‘If you don’t notice the lighting, it’s good lighting.’”–KM

Associate Professor Brian MacDevitt (above) won his fifth Tony for “The Book of Mormon” (below), where he was assisted by graduate students Ariel Benjamin and Jonathan Dillard.

Remember the old North Woods Dining Hall?

It’s gotten modernized and madeover this fall as 251 North, the campus‘ only all-you-careto-eat dining hall. Open for dinner only, it features a menu (changing weekly) based on the “biggest hits” elsewhere at Maryland. Other highlights of the building renovation include a coffeehouse with huge TVs and a gelato bar and a new convenience store.

MacDevitt portrait by Anita and Steve Shevett / ”Book of Mormon” photo by Joan Marcus / Marching band photo by Lisa Helfert

fall 2011 terp 11

play by play

From College Station to College Park new B-ball Coach Mark Turgeon Forges Own Identity Athletic Director Kevin Anderson

knew that Mark Turgeon could be the next Maryland men’s basketball coach. He just needed to find him.

The Texas A&M coach was camping with his family in the mountains of Pennsylvania with no cell service. When Anderson was finally able to get through as the family headed home on Sunday, he said to Turgeon, “I’m driving up there to meet you.”

Dressed in sweats with a weekend’s worth of stubble, Turgeon met with Anderson at a Pittsburgh hotel. Yet he was exactly what Anderson was looking for: a great leader and tough competitor who isn’t intimidated by anyone.

In four seasons at Texas A&M, he posted a 97–40 record and led the Aggies to four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. He was Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011. He’s also led the teams at Wichita State and Jacksonville State, compiling a lifetime record of 250–159.

A former player for Kansas, Turgeon met his wife, Ann, there; he says only a terrific opportunity like the one at Maryland could convince them to move their three children across the country again. Turgeon also says he can’t try to fill the shoes of retired coaches Gary Williams or Lefty Driesell. He reached out to two coaches he worked for, Roy Williams and Larry Brown, after a tough loss early in his career. “They both told me, ‘Don’t

try to be us, just be Mark Turgeon,’” he recalls.

That means he’ll be brutally honest, completely fair and tremendously demanding, he says. He’ll recruit players with “character first” and push his athletes hard academically so they can graduate. Each day players have to sign in at Comcast and stick their heads into every coach’s office. “Whether it’s one minute, 10 minutes or just to say hello, we have to see their face every day,” he says.

He’s also intent on building relationships within the Maryland basketball community as well as recruiters and coaches along the East Coast. Most important, as he told Anderson at the hotel in Pittsburgh, “Kevin, I hate to lose.”–MB

rethinking a thriller The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and Georgetown University are collaborating on a new multimedia production that re-imagines the making of the 1955 thriller “The Night of the Hunter.” The chilling movie, about a serial killer who marries the widow of a former cellmate in order to find his stolen money, was largely ignored upon its release. Now it’s regarded as an American masterpiece. The new production, “A Child Will Lead Them: Making ‘The Night of the Hunter,’” is woven from the screenplay and firsthand accounts of the filming. Performances will run at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Kogod Theatre Nov. 12–19. www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.–LB

12 terp fall 2011

Turgeon photograph by John T. Consoli / Gymkana photo courtesy of NBC-Universal

“America” Flips for Gymkana Gymkana, the Maryland gymnastic troupe committed to promoting healthy lifestyles, vaulted, swung and tumbled its way into the semifinals of “America’s Got Talent” this summer.

The student acrobatics team won a place on the NBC reality show through a YouTube competition. Gymkana and 11 acts edged out almost 10,000 others that submitted audition videos.

The student-athletes performed their ladder routine in their first TV appearance on Aug. 9. Six members elegantly balanced by their feet from a pair of 20-foot-high ladders held up by two of the team’s strongest, while the remaining six flipped over and around them.

“I just can’t believe you’re not professionals,” said judge Sharon Osbourne.

Viewers’ votes put them in the semifinals with 23 other acts seeking the $1

million prize and show in Las Vegas. In that outing, Gymkana’s hopes of advancing further ended when its ring of fire tipped off-balance, then toppled as the final troupe member soared through it.

“We were upset that it ended with a crash, but being on ‘America’s Got Talent’ has taken Gymkana’s message to a new level,” says member Orsam “Sami” Ahmed. “We’re really energized to show more people what we do and what we stand for.”

Based in the School of Public Health, Gymkana regularly performs at schools across the D.C. region, and members mentor children through gymnastics classes and a summer camp. By pledging to remain drug-, alcohol- and tobaccofree, they act as “ambassadors of healthy living” to young people.–LB

University Libraries marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with an exhibit

examining its impact on students, faculty and administrators at what was then known as the Maryland Agricultural College. Founder Charles Benedict Calvert was a slave-owning Union supporter.

Stockholder John H. Waring, father of two students who served in the Confederate army, was imprisoned for harboring rebel sympathizers.

Trustee John Merryman was the subject of a legal challenge to President Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. “A College Divided” showcases these stories and more through images and documents drawn from University Archives and historical repositories across the United States. It and a second exhibit, “Women on the Border: Maryland Perspectives of the Civil War,” run concurrently at Hornbake Library through July 15, 2012.–LB

Historical portrait courtesy of the University Archives / Agricultural College courtesy of the Library of Congress, lot 4165-c

fall 2011 terp 13

innovation

Dividends Grow from Seed Grants If you were playing the market, a multimillion-dollar return on a $70,000 investment would seem pretty savvy, wouldn’t it? It would look even better if your investment could address major health concerns like breast cancer or diabetes.

A seed grant initiative between the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore is paying just such dividends, jumpstarting research between the state’s top public research institutions that can lead to large, external grants and new scientific discoveries.

The National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and other funding agencies often require cross-institutional, interdisciplinary proposals, says Ken Gertz, UMD’s associate vice president for research development.

“It’s proven effective for generating new ideas and new approaches on complex public health issues,” he says.

To date, the seed grant program has provided more than $2 million for 31 projects. The seven proposals funded this year include research to track insulin resistance in diabetes patients, diagnose cardiac arrhythmias with robotics and model how financial strain can affect the health of seniors.

Federal dollars resulting from the seed grants have a ripple effect, Gertz says, allowing for the purchase of new laboratory equipment and the funding of graduate assistants and postdocs. “But the biggest payoff has been the science itself,” he says. “We’ve already seen some real breakthroughs.”–TV

14 terp fall 2011

some notable grant achievements

$37.5K  $1.6M

Seed Grant

Additional Funding

UMD’s Iqbal Hamza is collaborating with UMB’s Angela Wilks to study how genetic and cell biochemical approaches can identify and treat host-pathogen interactions— particularly involving iron deficiencies and parasite infections.

$75K  $4M Seed Grant

Additional Funding

UMD’s William Fourney, UMB’s Gary Fiskum and others are developing computer models, neuroimaging techniques and treatment options to address the energetic effects (pressure changes and violent shaking) from improvised explosive devices on the human brain.

$70K  $1.4M Seed Grant

Additional Funding

UMD’s José Contreras-Vidal (featured in the last issue of Terp) and UMB’s Larry Forrester are continuing work on the noninvasive “decoding” of electroencephalography, or EEG, signals related to human gait, which may help people affected by stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis or limb loss.

Photograph by John T. Consoli / Plant sculpture by Mira Azarm

Team Power

Researchers, children create interactive game

Drug Delivery System Shares Top Honors A cost-effective system for

medicine to seamlessly enter the bloodstream has been recognized as one of the university’s top inventions.

A research group led by Professors Lyle Isaacs and Volker Briken developed the “molecular containers,” one of four new discoveries honored at this year’s Invention of the Year reception.

Hosted by the university’s Office of Technology Commercialization, or OTC, the event recognizes the best in UMD-born projects that can be licensed to private investors.

Isaacs and Briken are using special container molecules known as cucurbit[n]urils to increase a drug’s ability to dissolve in water, which Since 1986, otc has allows its active ingredients to be generated easily absorbed into the system. in technology The containers are transfer income scalable, offering lower production Licensed costs, Lyle says, and are wellUMD-based technologies suited for certain to private industry anti-cancer, anti-arrhythmic helped create and anti-clotting drugs. high-tech startups Other invenbased on technologies developed at UMD tions honored include a drug delivery method using gastrointestinal pathways, “digital fingerprinting” software for protecting wireless transmissions, and a thermo-elastic “smart metal” that can dramatically improve the efficiency of cooling systems.–TV

$23.5M+ 540+ 60+

KidsTeam illustration by Jeanette J. Nelson

Doctoral student Greg Walsh’s research has kids jumping with joy—and learning at the same time.

Walsh and his design team of children have developed a prototype game called Energy House that teaches them about electricity and sustainability.

“Co-design is the idea that you work cooperatively with your target audience in the design of things for them,” explains Walsh, who studies human-computer interaction in the iSchool, Maryland’s College of Information Studies. “I feel that it yields better design than stuff that adults alone try to do.”

Walsh was drawn to the university’s esteemed Human-Computer Interaction Lab by its history of working with kids to build new learning tools.

His “KidsTeam” includes six to eight kids, ages 7–11, UMD researchers

and participants from groups like the National Park Service, or NPS. They designed Energy House in response to the NPS challenge, “How can we help kids be more ‘green?’” It uses an interactive floor mat coupled with a display screen that shows users how much physical energy it takes to provide electricity for common household items. Kids have to jump longer and harder to power up the larger appliances, such as a plasmascreen TV that plays a cartoon if the kids work hard enough.

“We created this game in an attempt to develop new co-design techniques,” explains Walsh. “We ended up with an educational tool that kids love, and were able to apply lessons from the design process to the design of other technologies.”–KB

Environmental Research Goes Social What’s driving environmentally friendly

legislation and “green” activism in the United States? Nobel Prize winner Al Gore and congressional leaders or your neighbor digging dirt in a community garden?

A university sociologist is interviewing hundreds of people—from senior legislators to Department of Energy officials to community volunteers—offering a snapshot on the movers, shakers and diggers involved in environmental causes.

“Society is going to be the push that makes [environmental] legislation and change possible. It just doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” says Dana R. Fisher, an associate professor in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

Fisher recently unveiled the Center for Society and the Environment, which encourages participation from Maryland faculty and students interested in the social component of environmental research.

In one project funded by the National Science Foundation, Fisher is collecting data from key government officials on how they make decisions related to the environment.

“If we can discover their networking patterns, or where they get their [scientific] information, it might help bring disparate groups together,” she says.

In another study, Fisher is collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service to interview participants in “MillionTreesNYC,” an effort among local government agencies, nonprofits and private citizens to plant and maintain one million trees in the Big Apple over the next 10 years.

Understanding the “who, how and why” of urban greening is essential to long-term sustainability efforts, Fisher says, adding that the Forest Service is particularly interested in how the New York data might strengthen similar programs in cities throughout the United States.–TV

NewsDesk

University of Maryland faculty are the source news media turn to for expertise.

“This discovery pushes the detection of water one billion years closer to the Big Bang than any previous find.”

—aLBERTO BOLATTO, astronomy, part of the research team that discovered the largest, oldest mass of water detected in the universe, MSNBC, July 22.

“It seems to assume the worst about teachers, that teachers are sexual predators.”

—Christine Greenhow, education and information studies, questioning a new Missouri law (now blocked) limiting student-teacher actions online, The Huffington Post, Aug. 3.

“The evidence of health disparities would be easy to ignore were they not so well-documented. Members of racial minority groups live sicker and die younger than their white counterparts.”

—STEPHEN THOMAS, public health.

BET.com, July 25.

16 terp fall 2011

Illustrations by Christie Liberatore

Hear more University of Maryland experts in the media at twitter.com/UMDNews.

faculty Q & A

A Healthy Perspective Jane Jakubczak is a registered dietician and nutritionist at the University Health Center, providing counseling to individual students and reaching out to groups on campus for the past 11 years. She’s also in her fifth season as team nutritionist for the Washington Redskins. She talked to Terp about both roles, and offered some food for thought.

How have students’ eating habits changed over the years? » They’re busier juggling heavier course loads, internships, jobs and volunteering. Food is an afterthought; they’re at the mercy of whatever food falls in their path. I often say to students, “If you let food just happen, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

What’s the most surprising part of your job at the university?

The interest, motivation and discipline students have for nutrition.

Students are more aware about health than we were a generation ago.

The dilemma is the pressures to be thin vs. the toxic, overabundant food environment they live in.

What does your Redskins job look like? » It’s pretty much 10 months a year, with strength and conditioning starting in March.

Spring is when I work most closely with the players, getting them in shape for training camp in August. We meet to assess their nutritional status, body comp goals, food likes/dislikes, eating patterns and cooking skills, and I create an individualized meal plan. I’ve had players text me from the grocery store to ask what to buy, or from a restaurant to see how a menu item meets their meal plan.

How do NFL players’ diets differ from the general public’s?

They’re like any other population. Some are conscious about everything they put into their mouths. For others, it hasn’t been a real focal point. But as professional athletes, they take every aspect of their training seriously, and they tend to be motivated and disciplined—their livelihood depends on it.

What’s a common mistake they make in maintaining good nutrition? » It’s what I call “backloading.” They don’t eat enough

during the day because they’re too busy with practice, meetings, strength and conditioning and travel. Then they go home and eat most of their calories at night. It’s like filling the tank after a long journey.

How do you recommend they fuel up for a game? » A balanced meal rich in carbs, small amount of protein and low in fat three hours before kickoff. Their postgame recovery meal has more protein to repair muscles, lots of carbs to refuel muscle glycogen and healthy fats to reduce inflammation. I tell them that food is their fuel, and they wouldn’t put cheap gas in a sports car.–LB

Portrait by John T. Consoli

fall 2011 terp 17

centerpiece

DUKE’S TREE » Under the majestic white oak near Memorial Chapel, many alumni have gotten engaged, picnicked or just enjoyed the view of the university’s sloping front lawn. This tree and Jerome “Duke” Sellers, the now-retired groundskeeper who took care of it for decades, are featured in the latest episode of “TerpVision,” available online at www.terpvision.umd.edu.

t erp.u m d. e d u

18 terp fall 2011

Photograph by John T. Consoli

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

fall 2011 terp 19

Researcher Spreads the Gospel of Cancer Prevention

by Lauren Brown

20 terp fall 2011

Photography byIllustration John T. Consoli

by Jeanette / photo J. Nelson credits

no man likes to talk about his prostate. James Thompson tries to get them to do it anyway.

Thompson, clinical counselor at an African-American church just outside Washington, D.C., occasionally invites prostate cancer experts to speak at men’s group meetings. Or sometimes, men bring him stories about “a friend” with discomfort or sexual performance problems, giving Thompson an opening for a private chat.

He knows prostate cancer isn’t a death sentence. He had it. And he survived.

“There’s a lot of fear,” Thompson says. “I’m not sure the black community is aware of how it can affect their bodies.”

Maryland’s Cheryl Holt is trying to change that, and she sees African-American churches as one way to preach the gospel of prevention.

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

fall 2011 terp 21

African-American Incidence rate / Death rate per 100,000

PROSTATE CANCER

250/53 Compared to whites: 143/23

BREAST CANCER*

118/33 Compared to whites: 120/23

COLORECTAL CANCER

53/23 Compared to whites: 44/16

Holt, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, has interviewed hundreds of African-American men and women who link faith and health. They’ve told her that God helps them cope with sickness or embrace wellness. Or, in a health crisis, their church or Bible provided comfort as much as their family.

A social psychologist who specializes in community health, Holt has made a career of studying that connection, specifically how churches can encourage minority populations to get potentially life-saving health screenings.

Last year, the American Cancer Society, or ACS, awarded her $1.8 million to research how African-American churches can help men make informed decisions about prostate cancer screening.

This spring, the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, granted her nearly $3.2 million to help churches independently launch her programs promoting early detection of prostate, breast and colorectal cancers.

“A lot of work is needed in this community,” Holt says. “We know that African-American populations experience higher rates of cancer and cancer deaths than white populations.”

Prostate, colorectal and breast cancers are the most common forms of the disease in the U.S., after lung cancer. The NCI estimates 217,730 new cases of prostate

Cheryl Holt says she learned early in her career that when talking to African Americans about cancer, “the issue of God is going to come up.”

22 terp fall 2011

cancer in 2010, and 32,050 deaths from it.

Black men are more than twice as likely as any other ethnic group to die of the disease. (The prostate is a walnut-size sac that produces the fluid used to carry sperm.)

African Americans are disproportionally affected by the other cancers, too: Black men and women have higher incidence rates of colorectal cancer. And while white women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, black women succumb to it more frequently.

Screenings are available for all three cancers. The ACS recommends yearly mammograms for women starting at age 40 and once-a-decade colonoscopies for most people starting at age 50. But for prostate cancer, the ACS is less clear: It recommends only that men make “an informed decision with their doctor” about whether to get screened.

AN UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH

Prostate cancer is tricky. A blood test or digital rectal exam used to diagnose cancer can’t always determine how aggressive the patient’s case is. And it can grow slowly with no apparent side effects, so doctors may recommend treatment in a younger man or monitoring an older patient. Treatment options include having the prostate removed or radiated; caught and treated early, the disease is curable.

Michael Naslund, M.D., head of urology and director of the Maryland Prostate Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, says there are several reasons why men don’t get tested.

Unlike women who develop relationships with their ob/gyns through their childbearing years, men tend to avoid seeing doctors as long as they feel fine. Another is obvious: Nobody wants a rectal exam.

“In African-American culture, there’s even more of a negative thought on that exam,” Naslund says. “They view it as a threat to their manhood, and they don’t get the evaluations that others get and they should get.”

The other screening tests aren’t a dance party, either. Mammograms

“It surprised us how the guys were really interested in getting together in a man-to-man setting and talking about health issues.”

—cheryl holt

health disparities and prolonged suffering from related chronic disease complications among the underserved and nonserved minority residents of the county,” Muwwakkil says.

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

All of this informs Cheryl Holt’s work. While earning her doctorate, she started a “spiritually themed” intervention program on breast and prostate cancers in African American churches in St. Louis, and later a secular program in barbershops in Birmingham, Ala. Now at Maryland, James Thompson, clinical counselor at Maple Springs Baptist Church, talks and with the help of with men about issues including obesity, sexual health, high blood pressure, Muwwakkil’s nonprofit and HIV/AIDS and prostate cancer. the Community Ministry of Prince George’s County, she’s preparing the ACSfunded education program in 20 local can be awkward and uncomfortable, while black churches. colonoscopy patients have to endure the Holt’s team organized an advisory colon “cleansing” the day before.

But in underserved groups, the biggest panel of health professionals, community leaders and local pastors—including barrier to getting a cancer screening may Thompson, of Maple Springs Baptist be access to quality health care.

Church in Capitol Heights—who offer Bettye Muwwakkil, founder of the advice on spiritual themes, program connonprofit Access to Wholistic and tent and recruitment strategies and how Productive Living Institute, says it’s a problem in Prince George’s County, home to integrate the program into churches’ health ministries. She brought in Naslund to the University of Maryland as well as a to write about the disease and treatments. majority black population. She says many Her research team also convened of Access’ underinsured clients have to focus groups of men from black go to D.C. or Montgomery County to get churches, asking them what they know low-cost or free screenings—and that’s if about prostate cancer, what they would they have transportation. like to know, and what might keep them “Lack of access has resulted in

from getting screened.

“It surprised us how the guys were really interested in getting together in a man-to-man setting and talking about health issues,” she says.

The program, which is scheduled to debut in January, will comprise four sessions led by trained “community health advisers,” or trusted members of the church. They’ll talk with men about the prostate and the pros and cons of screening and different treatments. Doctors, pastors and cancer survivors will be invited to offer their insights.

The NCI-funded study will piggyback on this, adding discussions for both genders on colorectal and breast cancer, and may include a more technical element, like text messages or a website. More importantly, it will focus on disseminating the program to churches and getting them to run with it. Holt and her team will monitor how the churches fare and how the programs are preparing participants to make decisions on the cancer screenings.

Jimmie Slade, executive director of the Community Ministry, says the cancerprevention program started at his church years ago is thriving. Through Holt’s work, he says, “We’re hoping to plant seeds to increase those efforts.”

For Thompson, the research project is about making health ministries like his even more effective. He beat thyroid cancer twice before getting prostate cancer in 2007, and doesn’t mind sharing details of his treatment. He even keeps an anatomically correct model of the male reproductive system on his desk as a conversation starter.

“It’s very important for men to be aware of what’s going on in their bodies,” he says.

“Men tend to ignore this stuff.”

Photography by John T. Consoli / Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, 2007 figures / *Breast cancer statistics for women

fall 2011 terp 23

NS

24 terp fall 2011

net

gain Uni v ersi t y- Chin a pa r t nership s s t res s “ F r i e n d s h i p f i r s t, c o m p e t i t i o n s e c o n d ” Tensions between China and the U.S. were thawing in 1972.

President Nixon had stood at the Great Wall. The trade embargo had been lifted.

The two superpowers were looking for anything to sustain that momentum.

Ping pong, anyone?

The Chinese, who revered table tennis, hosted American players a year earlier.

Now the Chinese government was sending its professional team to these shores. The tour extended from Canada to Mexico and included the White House, the United Nations and cities such as Detroit, Memphis—and College Park.

A crowd of more than 11,000 packed Cole Field House on April 17 to watch the Chinese trounce the American team, though approximately 200 people protested the communist country outside of the building. The Chinese athletes later shared a meal with Maryland students in Denton Dining Hall.

Today the ties between the university and China continue to build on the theme of Ping Pong Diplomacy, “Friendship first, competition second,” through more than 60 academic, research and economic partnerships.

Illustration by Brian G. Payne

They include the groundbreaking professional master of criminal justice degree in cooperation with Nanjing Normal University, a 2+2 program with China Agricultural University that allows Chinese students to spend two years here finishing a bachelor’s degree; and the China Business Plan Competition that draws MBA students from Maryland and three Chinese institutions.

In June, university President Wallace D. Loh traveled to his native China with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, state educational officials and a few UMD executives to solidify existing relationships and develop new ones with technology companies and universities.

The trip supported one of Loh’s strategic priorities: expanding the university’s international exposure and presence, particularly in China, Southeast Asia and South America.

“The Asia-Pacific region is the world’s center of gravity in the 21st century, and the U.S.-China relationship is at the strategic core,” Loh says. “The opportunities for mutually beneficial UMD-China partnerships are limited only by our imagination and engagement.”

fall 2011 terp 25

These agreements enrich the educational experience here and abroad and create ambassadors for the university, says Saul Sosnowski, former associate provost for international affairs and director of the Institute for International Programs. They also strengthen the state’s economy. One of the Chinese corporate tenants of the university-run Maryland International Incubator pledged to make a $3 million investment in the state.

“It isn’t just about internationalization,” says Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development. “What other kinds of opportunities are going to emerge from the world’s second-largest economy?”

China also has the largest population and the fastest-growing large economy, and it’s America’s second-largest trading partner, behind Canada. A university working to secure its worldwide reputation and standing can’t ignore the nation, Darmody says.

Strengthening the university’s ties to China was one of former Maryland president C. D. Mote, Jr.’s priorities. He traveled there dozens of times to establish relations with universities, businesses and government agencies. Loh says he’s expanding and deepening that network.

Our two nations must learn to work together—rather than against each other— to advance mutual security and prosperity,” he says. “I am confident that the academic and economic exchanges between UMD and China will contribute to the flourishing of this bilateral relationship.”

E n t r e pr e n e u r s h i p Pay s Of f i n Con t e st The China Business Plan Competition,

organized by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, promotes entrepreneurship in China, but benefits participants from both sides, and beyond.

While competing against Chinese peers, Maryland MBA students learn about the Chinese market and culture as they prepare to pitch their idea for a venture in China or using Chinese resources. “The program gives our students a competitive advantage on how global businesses are developing and competing,” says Asher Epstein, Dingman’s managing director.

In addition, says Smith School Dean G. “Anand” Anandalingam, participants learn how to create business plans, get connected to potential investors and—especially important for China— gain a greater understanding of the entrepreneurial process. “[The country] is still getting into entrepreneurship in significant industries,” he says. “China is thirsting for business education.”

Ning Tang and his company, CreditEase won the $25,000 grand prize three years ago. The firm facilitates peer-to-peer loans that help rural women sustain businesses, students pursue higher education and others rent housing.

“Consumers cannot get credit from banks. It’s really hard,” says Huan Chen, a company manager. “With peer-to-peer platforms, it is very helpful for borrowers and lenders.”

With the clout of the win, says Chen, managers were able to attract the venture capitalist firm KPCB. This has encouraged more investment in CreditEase, helping it provide more loans.

A record 31 teams participated in last year’s contest, the sixth.

In addition, the Smith School’s master in finance program is overwhelmingly populated by Chinese students. Now the school is not only relaunching its China executive MBA program with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, but also collaborating with School of Management, Zhejiang University and the India Institute of Management in Bangalore to offer an innovation and leadership nondegree program.

Ventures Grow at Incubator's Business Park A collaboration with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology is connecting Maryland and Chinese companies right on the Maryland campus for successful joint ventures.

The University of Maryland-China Research Park, anchor tenant of the Maryland International Incubator, is the first and only China research park in the U.S. It connects Chinese and Maryland companies in energy, health care, 26 terp fall 2011

agriculture, environment and fire protection through business consulting, funding introductions, investment opportunities and networking with potential customers and partners.

The companies get access to Maryland’s faculty, students, research facilities, training and business resources.

The university’s faculty and students benefit from intellectual and cultural exchange. And the Maryland economy enjoys increased commercial activity.

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

Sharing Wisdom a n d C u lt u r e

Finding Common G r o u n d o n S ta g e

The Confucius Institute at Maryland, established with support from the Office of Chinese Language Council International, promotes the study of the country’s language, culture, ethics and teachings of one of its greatest philosophers. It offers language instruction at all levels, training programs to teach Chinese as a foreign language, summer camps for children, lectures, cultural events and more.

The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts are coming together to stage a bilingual production of one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays.

Maryland faculty members traveled to China in May to meet their counterparts and lay the groundwork for the performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in both countries in Fall 2012. The mixed cast will speak their lines to each other in their native language. Subtitles will be projected overhead so the audience can follow along.

SN

F u e li ng C r i m i na l J ust ic e R e f o r m Maryland launched one of its first collaborations with

而是心

China, the professional master’s program in criminal justice, in 2003. Based in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, it has graduated more than 110 mid-level Chinese officials. Each student completes a research project that addresses an issue in China, like migrant populations or cybercrime.

Sujun Zhang M.A. ’03, a vice minister in China’s criminal justice system, is testing a “community corrections” model he started researching at Maryland. It calls for a version of probation that could mean putting fewer nonviolent offenders in Chinese prisons. On a larger scale, Zhang hopes to move his country toward policies based on research rather than ideology.

He earned a research fellowship to Harvard to continue his studies and visited President Loh in August while in the States.

“This research will help me direct the pilot program, enlarging it to full-scale implementation in the whole country,” says Zhang.

A Maryland physics professor played an impor-

tant role more than 30 years ago in forging a relationship between the state of Maryland and China.

Chuan Sheng Liu was headed to his native country in 1979 to give lectures when the late John Toll, then the university’s president, asked him to deliver an invitation from then-Gov. Harry Hughes to Wan Li, governor of the province of Anhui.

Liu “opened the state to China,” says Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development.

Liu helped with preparations for the state to host its first visit by a Chinese governor. Hughes

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

reciprocated with a visit to China in 1980, a first step in the formation of a sister-state relationship, and Toll and Liu were part of the delegation.

“In 1994, the market economy was just introduced to China,” says Liu. “They wanted the University of Maryland to help educate its leaders.” This led to the establishment of what is now the Maryland China Initiative, which has trained thousands of Chinese leaders.

The collaborations in education and business that followed led to the formation of the MarylandChina Business Council, the United States’ first trade office in China. The nonprofit is dedicated to helping mid-Atlantic companies succeed in China.

fall 2011 terp 27

Lofty A Ambition

By Tom Ventsias

Engineering students’ spirits dip, soar in building a human-powered helicopter

28 terp fall 2011

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

As Judy Wexler powered a spindly, 105-pound vehicle aloft using only her hands and feet, she carried with her almost three years’ worth of inspiration and innovation from a team of Maryland engineering students.

Wexler’s 11.4-second journey aboard Gamera—named for a giant flying turtle popular in Japanese sci-fi films—set a U.S. record for human-powered helicopter flight.

“It felt really satisfying. It’s what I’ve been training for all along,” an elated Wexler said of her July 13 ascent in the Reckord Armory. The flight easily eclipsed the vehicle’s 4.2-second maiden voyage in May and set a record for the longest duration flight by a female pilot.

With a series of test runs behind them, the Maryland team will now attempt one of aeronautical sciences’ most lucrative and elusive challenges: the Igor I. Sikorsky HumanPowered Helicopter Competition, better known as the Sikorsky Prize.

Photography by John T. Consoli / Illustrations photo creditsby Team Gamera

Established by the American Helicopter Society in 1980 and still unclaimed, the $250,000 prize honoring helicopter pioneer Igor Sikorsky is meant to inspire ingenuity in rotorcraft design. It requires a human-powered craft hover for 60 seconds within a 10-meter square while momentarily reaching a height of three-meters.

“The vehicle needs to reach that height for only a few seconds, but the extra power needed to get there is exponentially greater than what we’ve achieved thus far,” says Brandon Bush M.S. ’07, who completes his doctoral degree in aerospace engineering this fall.

Still, the 50 graduate and undergraduate students from the A. James Clark School of Engineering believe they’ve gained enough knowledge from Gamera’s test flights to make a bold run for the Sikorsky Prize within the next nine months. “It’s difficult,” Bush says, “but not impossible.”

fall 2011 terp 29

10'

1

70'

2

From Lunch to Launch Impossible-sounding engineering feats inspire students, says Darryll Pines, dean of the Clark School. Pines experienced this firsthand as a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where, in the mid-1980s, he watched his roommate and other students build a human-powered fixed-wing aircraft named Daedalus that flew 74 miles across the Aegean Sea. “I saw how intently focused they were, and told myself if I were ever in a position that I would try something similar,” he says.

Pines first broached the idea to colleagues at a luncheon in 2008, when he was chair of Maryland’s aerospace engineering program. The Clark School had the right ingredients for success: It was home to one of the nation’s top rotorcraft engineering centers; its graduate students were already winning high-level competitions; and design-testing methods and advances in composite materials

30 terp fall 2011

had come a long way since a Japanese team from Nihon University had unsuccessfully tried for the Sikorsky Prize in 1994. (There have been 19 attempts thus far. Only three—a team from Cal Poly in 1989, the Nihon effort, and now Gamera—have gotten airborne.)

Pines and others began recruiting students to work on a human-powered helicopter, and when he was named dean in 2009, he made student engineering teams—whether they were building underwater robots, Baja racing cars or human-powered rotorcraft—a priority, committing the funding needed to launch the Gamera project.

The team knew its design needed to be sturdy yet nimble enough to be lifted by one person. Gamera’s 42-foot blades are built of a lightweight structural foam and balsa wood covered by a synthetic material called Mylar. The main airframe, cockpit infrastructure, rotor-drive pulleys and the spars supporting the blades are made of high-performance carbon fiber composites.

Like the copter, the pilot would also have to be lightweight, but strong. The team posted flyers around campus in hopes of finding one, and Wexler, a 107pound competitive cyclist, responded.

She was taking postbaccalaureate classes at Maryland before starting a doctoral program in evolutionary genetics at the University of California, Davis.

“I thought from an athletic perspective that it would be a really fun way to apply a skill that I already have,” she recalls.

As the May 2011 date for the initial test flight approached, the team confidently assembled the vehicle in an auxiliary gym at the university’s Comcast Center.

Reporters and spectators crowded into Comcast, anticipating Gamera’s success.

But the vehicle refused to cooperate. First the drive train used to propel the rotors malfunctioned. Then the suspended cockpit holding Wexler began to sway back and forth, expending valuable energy needed to get off the ground.

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

the nuts and bolts of gamera's design 1. infrastructure The main airframe is made of highperformance carbon fiber composites with styrofoam braces. Total weight of the vehicle, including the 107pound pilot, is about 210 pounds.

3

2. propulsion The gears and transmission system are made of aerospace aluminum alloys and lightweight polymers.

3. Pulley The pulleys that propel the rotors can rotate at up to 20 revolutions per minute. The vehicle needs its rotors to spin at about 16 revolutions per minute to get airborne.

4. Rotor blades 4

Pines made the media rounds, relaying a simple message: “That’s engineering. … We design, build, test, and then redesign if needed.”

A dozen students worked through the night trying to fix the problems, but testing was almost scrubbed again the next day when a piece of the infrastructure broke in half. A clever repair using Super Glue allowed Wexler to climb into Gamera’s cockpit for one more attempt.

At 5:30 p.m., the Clark School’s communications director tweeted, “She did it!!!!! #gamera” as the vehicle lifted several inches off the ground.

On balance, a success While initial testing showed that the fully assembled vehicle could, in fact, get airborne, the Gamera team continued to refine its handiwork, looking for any edge to fly longer and higher.

Photography by John T. Consoli / photo credits

“The pilot is already producing maximum thrust, so we knew that any additional lift would have to come from optimizing the rotor blades and trimming the vehicle’s overall weight,” says Joseph Schmaus, a second-year aerospace engineering doctoral student.

More testing was scheduled, but July 12 brought everything to a standstill.

During a flight attempt, one of the four pulleys that drive the rotor blades lost power. One end of vehicle pitched upward about five feet, and before Wexler could react, the unbalanced aircraft slammed down on the armory’s wooden floor. As team members rushed over to check on Wexler (she was unharmed), the sight of a severely buckled infrastructure and broken rotor shaft cast a pall throughout the building.

With faculty adviser Inderjit Chopra assisting the students until 3 a.m., the team mended the craft and began another round of testing throughout the next day,

The blade features a leading edge made of lightweight foam. It has a custom cutout that seamlessly attaches it to a load-carrying spar made of carbon fiber composites. The trailing edge is lightweight foam, with balsa reinforcements covered by Mylar.

achieving its record-setting flight late in the afternoon.

While the thought of capturing the Sikorsky Prize is a driving force behind Gamera, almost everyone involved says that’s only part of the picture.

“Even if they fail, they have gained invaluable experience by working on a project just as significant as building any new commercial helicopter,” says Chopra, who is director of the engineering school’s Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center.

“That is something that will guide them throughout their careers.”

The project comes with some bragging rights, too.

“We’ve shown that Maryland students are good and that we can do something special that other people have struggled to do,” says William Staruk, a second-year doctoral student advised by Chopra.

“Think about it—how many people get to actually design, build and fly a humanpowered helicopter? We’ve done that.”

fall 2011 terp 31

“It’s been a remarkable thing. Just to watch it all come together, and see how passionate they are about their Maryland experience.” —coach john Tillman

At top, Attacker Grant Catalino ’11 sidesteps a defenseman at the NCAA title game in May. Below from left: The 2011 team celebrating its ACC championship, the refurbished

locker rooms, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson, David Saunders '81 and President Wallace D. Loh, and midfielder John Haus.

32 terp fall 2011

giving

Lacrosse Alumni Show Muscle Grassroots Group Forms to Support Men’s Team

With its two-month gap between coaches, the death of a player’s mother at the height of the season, and the unlikely march to the NCAA championship game, the men’s 2010–11 lacrosse program had plenty of drama.

But just before that heartbreaker of a final, in which the unseeded Terps fell 9–7 to Virginia on Memorial Day, another story was unfolding. Nearly 500 Maryland men’s lacrosse alumni—a staggering number representing every decade since the 1950s—had reunited to cheer on the team and cement a new commitment to the program.

It started a year ago with David Saunders ’81, a successful hedge fund manager in Connecticut who’d always been bothered by the loss of the connections he forged on the lacrosse team.

“I think for anybody who has played on a team, who’s trained and practiced together, won and lost games together, lived together for four or five years, there’s a bond that’s created— and it’s a pretty deep, thick bond,” he says.

“Post graduation, there’s this enormous void.

Everybody looks at each other on graduation day and says, ‘Now what are we going to do?’”

Before Facebook and email, reconnecting wasn’t easy. But prompted by a friend who was raving about the lacrosse alumni group at his alma mater, Saunders pasted the email addresses—without even knowing the owners’ names—from an older mass message from former coach Dave Cottle into a new one asking if anyone would like to get together in New York City. More than 60 alumni showed up, as did newly hired Coach John Tillman and Athletic Director Kevin Anderson.

“The electricity in the room, the excitement in the room—we had people who hadn’t seen each other in 30 or 40 years,” Saunders says.

“We had ghosts coming out of the closet and wanting to do something. No one had ever asked them before.”

With the university’s support, he organized another reception three weeks later in College Photos by Greg Fiume—Intercollegiate Athletics

Park. This one drew 100 alumni. After that, he went to Tillman to ask how this group could help the team.

“Being the new guy, I’m still getting a feel for what was here when I got here, like the relationship with the alumni,” Tillman says.

“We haven’t really solicited and said we need money. We said, ‘We want you back and we want you involved.’”

In two weeks, the newly mobilized alumni raised enough money to gut and refurbish the worn-out locker room. They replaced the lockers and carpet and installed flat-screen TVs and a sound system, making it a warmer place where the athletes now meet between classes or study.

More than 350 alumni showed up for the Hopkins-Maryland matchup in April. A few days later, they joined the team in rallying around senior attackman Ryan Young, who lost his mother to pancreatic cancer. They sold 1,000 purple T-shirts in Maria Young’s honor to raise money for cancer research.

The team went on to win the ACC championship, then the chance to win its first national title since 1975. By then, an unprecedented number of alumni—including national hall of famer Frank Urso ’76 and acclaimed former coach Dick Edell—were tailgating together at M&T Bank Stadium.

Now the group is creating fundraising and networking arms and pairing alumni mentors with players. It's also organizing an alumni weekend in Baltimore this fall, with the first board meeting, a golf tournament and a scrimmage between current players and alumni.

“It’s been a remarkable thing,” Tillman says, “just to watch it all come together, and see how passionate they are about their Maryland experience.”–LB fall 2011 terp 33

Building Support

Jack Kay’s generosity funds arts, Jewish studies Between his civil engineering studies and breaks spent overseeing janitors at a local apartment complex, Jack Kay ’47 graduated from Maryland well equipped for a career in the building industry.

But it was lessons from home—where the Kays often hosted Golda Meir and other prominent advocates for Jewish statehood—that led to his role as a civic leader and philanthropist.

“I was brought up in a house where my mother and father were always involved in different causes,” recalls Kay, chairman of the board of Silver Spring-based Kay Management Co. “I’ve tried to carry on what they did.”

Over the last 20 years, Kay has donated millions of dollars for cultural and academic programs at Maryland, helping to found the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and establishing the Abraham S. and Jack Kay Chair of Israel Studies.

The Israel studies program has been transformed since Yoram Peri, a former political adviser and newspaper editor, accepted the chair in 2009. He has added a minor and about a dozen courses, with more than 400 students now enrolled. Peri routinely recruits international guest lecturers, and he brought the journal Israel Studies Review to Maryland.

While other Middle East programs have politicized Israel, Peri says Kay’s support helped Maryland build a reputation for objectivity and scholarly research.

“Maryland is becoming a major force in the region for the development of Israel studies,” Peri says.

Kay and his first wife, Ina, lent their names and money to many causes, including a 650-seat theater at the Clarice Smith Center. Ina Kay passed away in 2002.

Mr. Kay has continued their legacy of giving. His family is supporting the construction of a new hospital in Israel, while he and his second wife established the Barbara and Jack Kay Endowed Doctoral Fellowship Fund at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.–KM

GREAT Expectations campaign total as of sept. 5, 2011

$859,449,618

34 terp fall 2011

PhotographyPhotography

by John T. Consoli

by John/ T.Jack Consoli Kay by / Mike photoMorgan credits

Take a Sip, Help a Terp “He understood the importance of academic engineering connecting to real people. It wasn’t research for the sake of research. It was about making a difference in real people’s lives.”

—Patrick O’Shea

Entrepreneurship Awards Honor Late Professor’s Spirit Jimmy Lin (above) was a popular professor of electrical engineering known for not only his energy and dedication—he missed just one class all his years of teaching—but his ideas. A pioneer in circuit and semiconductor development, he invented the wireless microphone and many components of audio amplifiers and held 57 patents.

Following his death in 2009 at age 89, his widow is furthering his legacy as an advocate of innovation and entrepreneurship. Anchen Lin has donated $400,000 to the university to establish the Jimmy Lin Endowment for Entrepreneurship, which will provide four annual awards to students, staff and faculty seeking to get their inventions into the marketplace. In 2008, he endowed a similar fund focused on innovation.

“He understood the importance of academic engineering connecting to real people,” says Patrick O’Shea, former

chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, or ECE, and now vice president for research. “It wasn’t research for the sake of research.

It was about making a difference in real people’s lives.”

The new endowment will fund awards to the teams from ECE that place highest in the university’s annual Business Plan Competition and the Invention of the Year contest. A third award will support internships with startup companies in the University of Maryland-China Research Park for students in the A. James Clark School of Engineering. And a scholarship will go to ECE graduate students who earned their undergraduate degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Lin’s alma mater.

Lin worked in industry in China and the U.S. before coming to the University of Maryland in 1969. He retired in 1990, then served as professor emeritus, mentoring junior faculty.

One of them, Martin Peckerar, is now a full professor. He says Lin “bubbled over” with ideas and believed true innovation happens at the grassroots level in small businesses, which add jobs and produce revenue for the state. “Jimmy’s contributions will synergize with the state’s ongoing efforts,” he says.–LB

Page from an illustrated history of German Jews published by Adolf Kohut in 1898 Jack Kay photo by Mike Morgan / Testudo and coffee photos by John T. Consoli

Drink more coffee and raise money for scholarships—what could be better?

In a unique partnership, the University of Maryland has joined with Sun Coffee Roasters to license a private-label line of organic and fair trade coffee. A portion of all proceeds will benefit Keep Me Maryland, a scholarship program for Maryland students facing dire financial situations.

Certified Organic USDA, rainforest and bird friendly and Fair Trade, Sun Coffee Roasters is committed to social responsibility from sourcing to packaging.

This fall, specially designed coffee bags (recyclable and biodegradable, of course) featuring the university’s shell icon and Keep Me Maryland will go on sale at more than 100 locations throughout Maryland, including all Giant Food stores. Additionally, the coffee will be featured in a new on-campus coffee shop, Cool Beans, located on the Denton Quad.–BU

fall 2011 terp 35

class notes

’10s Kenneth John Tozzi Jr. ’11 is engaged to marry

Anna Elizabeth Erickson in Spring 2012. He is a special education teacher for the Baltimore City Public Schools, as part of Teach for America, Baltimore Corps.

’00s Karen Guralnick ’07 married Fikile

Christopher Painter ’05 married Kathryn Bristol

Meghan Fialkoff ’06

Megan Poinski M.I.M. ’11 wed Tim Field May 28 in a newspaper-themed event featuring Royal typewriter centerpieces, newsboys in knickers handing out the TMeg Gazette and press passes for wedding place cards. The couple shared their story, with The Atlantic, which shared how they “fell in love fighting corruption as an investigative reporting duo at The Virgin Islands Daily News.”

does fundraising, community and other events for nonprofits including Foundation for a Drug Free World, Youth for Human Rights and United for Human Rights. She’s put on more than 100 events at schools throughout Greater New York. In 2007, she founded the Drug Free Heroes Awards Ceremony, now held annually in honor of the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse.

Matt Hutchison ’06 and Dana James ’06

are engaged to marry on Oct. 1. She is a May 2011 graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing and a nurse at the University of Maryland 36 terp fall 2011

F2011_TERP_FINAL_Class notes.indd 36

Amalie Brandenburg M.B.A. ’05 has been

appointed to a five-year term on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.

Brushett on June 25 in Columbia, Md. She works for Exxon Mobil at the Joliet Refinery, in Illinois.

’10s

Medical Center in Baltimore.

He is an assistant program supervisor at American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Materials Reference Laboratory in Gaithersburg.

at Marriott Frenchman's Reef and Morningstar Beach Resort in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands on May 7. He is a commercial real estate underwriter. The couple lives in Towson.

Jeffrey Riley ’05 married

Kelly Baugh on April 2 at St. Joseph's Monastery, in Baltimore. He is a security specialist for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Rajiv C. Gandhi Ph.D. ’03

has been named a Fulbright Scholar at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai. He is an associate professor of computer science at the Camden campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and he researches the design and theoretical/ experimental analysis of algorithms.

Theresa R. Alban Ph.D. ’02 is the new superinten-

dent of Frederick County

Photography courtesy of theatlantic.com

9/28/11 1:30 PM

Public Schools. She received her B.A. in elementary education and special education, summa cum laude, from the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore.

She has a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Loyola College in Baltimore. She has spent her 30-year career working in Maryland school systems, most recently serving as chief operating officer for the Howard County Public School System.

Aaron A. Reid M.A. ’02

has been named executive director of the United Way’s Warren County, Ohio, chapter. He previously served as assistant director of the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore in Salisbury, Md., since 2006.

education at the Children’s Aid Society Nursery School in New York. She received a master’s in early childhood and elementary education from Bank Street College of Education. The bridegroom, 41, who is known as Mickey, is the founder and the chief executive of IntelliPayment, a payment-processing company in New York.

Jennifer Steinberg Holland ’98, a senior

writer at National Geographic magazine, did the round of network TV morning shows, including CNN and CBS, this summer to promote her bestselling book “Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom.” The New York Times called it “irresistible.”

Robert Kucner ’01

married Kristen Hicks in May at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in manufacturing/industrial engineering from the University of Michigan and is an engineering consultant at Caterpiller Corp., in Peoria, Ill.

’90s Marisa Kate Goldsmith ’99 and Michael James

Cavuoti were married May 16 in New York City. She is the director of admissions and

Photography courtesy of Bruce Matez

F2011_TERP_FINAL_Class notes.indd 37

Wes Wehunt ’97 is the new head of Davidson (N.C.) Day School’s lower and middle school. He previously served as the head of lower school at Augusta Preparatory Day School in Augusta, Ga. Wehunt earned his master’s of education from Marymount University in Alexandria, Va., in 2007.

Aaron Greenfield ’94

was recently appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Lawyers Committee. He is special counsel in Duane Morris’ Corporate Practice Group and also serves clients as a

managing director of public affairs firm Duane Morris Government Affairs in Baltimore. He represented an international coalition of Holocaust survivors and family members in their attempts to hold SNCF accountable for its role in the Holocaust, which, in part, led to the passage of legislation that requires the French rail company Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français to fully disclose to its victims and Maryland taxpayers its role in transporting tens of thousands of victims to Nazi death camps during World War II. Jyl Josephson Ph.D. ’94 has been named a

Fulbright Scholar at the University of Iceland. She is an associate professor of political science and

director of women’s studies at the Newark campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She has published many articles on gender and public policy, and has written one book, “Gender, Families, and State: Child Support Policy in the United States,” and co-edited “Fundamental Differences: Feminists Talk Back to Social Conservatives” and “Gender and American Politics: Women, Men and the Political Process.”

Matthew Haas ’93

was appointed managing director and principal at Colliers International, a commercial real estate firm headquartered in Columbia, Md. He specializes in leasing and selling office and flex real estate throughout the Baltimore region. He

previously was vice president of Manekin LLC after serving as president of Haas Tailoring Company, his family business.

Jay White ’91, D.M.A. ’05

has been appointed associate professor of voice at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University. He sang eight seasons with the professional choral ensemble, Chanticleer and has taught at Maryland and the University of Delaware, and just completed five years at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.

’80s Lt. Col. Dawn M. Davis ’88, an 18-year veteran in the

Air Force, is the new commander of Alabama State

’80s Bruce P. Matez ’86 has been named a 2011 Top Divorce and Family Attorney by SJ Magazine. The magazine, which serves Southern New Jersey communities, compiles its annual list by asking South Jersey lawyers which of their peers they felt were the tops in their respective fields. This is the second time Matez, of Borger Jones Matez & Keeley-Cain, PA, has made the list. He received his law degree in 1989 from Villanova University. fall 2011 terp 37

9/28/11 1:30 PM

Deaths University’s ROTC detachment. The senior Air Force officer on campus, she also heads the Department of Aerospace Studies. She has a master of science degree from Troy State University.

John Rohde ’86 has been

promoted to vice president at MacKenzie Contracting Company LLC. He joined the company in 2004 and has 25 years of experience in the construction industry

’70s

Steve Simpson ’88

has been hired as an assistant field hockey coach at Syracuse University. Simpson has been an assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maryland.

Michael F. Duggan ’86

has been selected as the 2011-12 Supreme Court fellow assigned to the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned an M.A. in liberal studies from Georgetown University in 1989, an M.L.S. from Catholic University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in history from Georgetown in 2002.

He has worked for the U.S. Supreme Court since 1991 and is the bench supervisor of marshal’s aides at the Court’s oral arguments and weekly conferences.

Henderson County (N.C.) Public Schools string teacher Margery Kowal ’74 was honored at her retirement by the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra at its May 7 concert. In 1978, she was enlisted by the Hendersonville Symphony to start a string program in the Henderson County schools. The pilot project started in three schools with 55 students. Today, it has five teachers in four middle and high schools and over 400 students. She also cofounded the Hendersonville Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1982. She played with the HSO for 24 years and served as its principal viola for many years. She has played with the Asheville Symphony since 1974 and was principal viola from 1978 to 2007.

To submit notes, send an email to terpmag@umd.edu.

Thomas Eugene Lewis ’85 died on June 23, in a plane crash on Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle of Florida.

He was 50. He was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist for St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge from 1992 to 2008. More recently, he was a wildlife pilot for the Fish and Wildlife Service, primarily involved with migratory bird programs. Thom was born on 15 October 1960 in Pasadena, Maryland. He was pursuing a master’s degree from Texas A&M University at the time of his death. Thom is survived by JoAnne, his wife of over 20 years.

Anne M. Broderick M.L.S. ’84, a retired history professor, died June 16 at the Riderwood Village retirement community in Silver Spring. She was 80 and had congestive heart failure, according to The Washington Post. She was a 1949 graduate of the old Good Counsel College in White Plains, N.Y. and received a master’s degree in history from Columbia University in 1952. She taught at schools in White Plains and then at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., from 1966 to 1974. Later, she volunteered at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill and So Others Might Eat. Survivors include her husband of 23 years, James A. Broderick; a stepdaughter, Susan Broderick Reiter of Wexford, Pa.; a sister; and a grandson. A stepson, Michael P. Broderick, died in 2010.

Morris L. “Moe” Hennessey ’63, former division chief of water quality monitoring and control for the Maryland Department of the Environment, died May 14 of a heart attack at his Gambrills, Md. home. He was 71.

Hennessey joined the Maryland Department of Health around 1960 as a sanitarian and served in state government for 32 years. He was predeceased by his wife, Anne Lipp Hennessey. Survivors include three stepchildren, Ronald W. Brown, Jude Anne Brown and Tracey E. Brown Lambeth; a sister, Jackie Binetti; and four grandchildren.

Robert E. Moran Jr. ’58, a lifelong golfer and member of the PGA for three decades, died of cancer Aug. 14 at his home in Bel Air. He was 69.

He turned professional in 1959 and worked at Hillendale Country Club, Essexshire Gate Golf Club and Dulaney Springs, where he ran the annual Heart Association Pro-Celebrity Tournament. He helped open and run the Winters Run Golf Club in Bel Air. He kept active in the PGA and continued to teach golf while working in sales for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 1997, he returned to the game full time, becoming the golf professional for Dick’s Sporting Goods in Hunt Valley. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Rita “Tuffie” Fauth Moran; daughters Kelly Smith of Forest Hill and Tracy Moran; and four grandchildren.

38 terp fall 2011

F2011_TERP_FINAL_Class notes.indd 38

9/28/11 1:30 PM

James L. Martin ’57, M.A. ’67, retired chief Washington lobbyist for the National Governors Association, died July 17 at his Silver Spring, Md. home at age 76. He had complications from a fall in May, according to The Washington Post. After working behind the scenes for the association from 1967 until 1998, Martin had a private consulting firm until his death.

His marriages to Barbara Ringo, Elizabeth Odean and Margaret Goodwin ended in divorce. Survivors include his fourth wife, Carol Courtney Martin; a daughter from his first marriage, Mary Sue Martin; two children from his third marriage, Matthias Martin and Charis Martin; two sisters; and five grandchildren. A son from his first marriage, John Paul Martin, died in 2009.

Ethel Lillian Young M.A. ’54, a retired educator and local historian, died June 19, at the family home where she was born near Russell, Pa. She was 95. She spent much of her career in the Seventh-day Adventist Church school system. She served as a teacher and a supervisor of elementary school across the mid-Atlantic and, for four years, in Singapore, then edited textbooks and wrote curriculum guidebooks for 15 years. She finished her career as associate director of education for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Mich., in 1972. She was predeceased by an older sister, Inez May Young Gleason, in 1999. Survivors include three nieces and a nephew: June Gleason Roys, Gay Gleason Mack and Dell Gleason Bond.

Robert E. Perdue Jr. ’49, a retired botanist who helped conduct research into the use of plants in cancer-treating medicines, died July 20 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda after a stroke, according to The

Photography by John T. Consoli

F2011_TERP_FINAL_Class notes.indd 39

Washington Post. He was 86. Perdue received a master’s degree in 1951 and a doctorate in 1957, both in botany, from Harvard University. He joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1957 and worked for the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville. In 1960, Perdue worked in cooperation with the National Cancer Institute to help procure plant samples to be tested for use in anticancer drugs. After retirement from the department, he started his own company that helped develop plant crops in Latin America. In 2010, Perdue self-published a book on the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime forerunner of the CIA, and its World War II operations in Greece. His first marriage, to Gloria Pugh, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Georgia Persinos Bergstrom Perdue; three children from his first marriage, Robert E. Perdue III, Susan Sherwin and Holly Boyle; 10 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Mary Clare England ’43, former head librarian at Chevy Chase Library, died Aug. 1 at the Brooke Grove retirement community in Sandy Spring. She was 88 and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to The Washington Post. She received a master’s degree in library science from Catholic University in 1969 and began working in the Montgomery County library system in 1960. She ran the Chevy Chase branch from 1972 until her retirement in 1987. In 1944, she married J. Merton England. They separated in 1972, and he died in 2007. Survivors include their four children, Leslie DeJarnette, Mark England, Stephen England and Bruce England; a brother, Robert Bonham; a sister, Barbara Young of Greenbelt; and four grandchildren.

Charles Ignatius Jarowski ’38, Ph.D. ’42, a research chemist, academic and pioneer in the development of tetracycline and other pharmaceuticals, died June 4, 2010. He was 92. He served as the first director of Pfizer’s Department of Pharmaceutical Research and Development in 1948, then served on the faculty of St. John’s University from 1970 to 1987. He went on to create a food supplement based on his original research in amino acids. He is survived by his wife of nearly 65 years, Winifred Jarowski; children Charles, Paula and Stephen; two grandsons; and a great-grandson.

fall 2011 terp 39

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interpretations

The Reach of a Modern Land-Grant University

agriculture to “ From engineering to business, I pledge to harness this university’s resources to make a positive difference in our communities in our state, country and world.

That’s something that we can all be proud of.

—wallace d. Loh

”

It has been nearly one year since I assumed the responsibility of serving as president of the University of Maryland. I have met with hundreds of alumni—at games, at events from California to New York and in your homes— and one thing is clear: Terrapins everywhere share spirit and pride in their alma mater. As president, it is one of my core responsibilities to ensure that sense of pride grows as this university continues its remarkable ascendency.

The University of Maryland has dramatically risen in prominence and impact in recent years, and we are now rightfully considered among the world’s best research institutions. It is even more dramatic when you consider our humble beginnings in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. The signing of the Morrill Act in 1862 established the land-grant college system, laying the foundation for the United States to develop the best higher education system in the world. With our original emphasis on agriculture and engineering to benefit our local communities, the University of Maryland is proud of its land-grant roots.

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act. It provides us with a unique opportunity to embrace our wonderful tradition and celebrate what it means to be a land-grant institution in the rapidly changing and shrinking world of the 21st century.

Service to the state of Maryland will always be at the heart of this university. To that end, we are:

• Working with elementary schools in Prince George’s County to encourage students to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields;

• Using the innovative Grow It, Eat It program to teach Marylanders how to grow their own sustainable gardens;

• Pairing our top academic researchers with private industry to develop marketable products and services and make real economic impact.

In today’s global marketplace, the impact of our academic and research enterprise must go beyond our state’s borders. Already, we are:

• Designing low-cost energy systems in Costa Rica and Sierra Leone that convert agricultural byproducts into methane gas for cooking or heating.

• Training community health workers in Iraq’s Kurdistan region in a new coping strategy that they can use to treat victims of torture under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

• Establishing a master of professional studies program in justice leadership with the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi (story on page 2), which is expected to play a role in the Vietnamese government’s judicial reform efforts.

From agriculture to engineering to business, I pledge to harness this university’s resources to make a positive difference in our communities in our state, country and world. That’s something that we can all be proud of.

—Wallace D. Loh, President

40 terp fall 2011

F2011_TERP_FINAL_Class notes.indd 40

Portrait by John T. Consoli

9/28/11 1:30 PM

No matter where you go, you’re always a

Terp!

The Maryland Alumni Association is your lifelong Terrapin connection. Join fellow Terps wherever you live! There are more than 50 regional and special interest alumni clubs and academic chapters from which to choose.

To start a club, join today! Your 100% tax-deductible membership gift helps you to connect with Terps and supports alumni and student programs, including scholarships.

For more information, contact Mario Peraza M.Ed. ‘04, director of alumni volunteer programs, at peraza@umd.edu or visit alumni.umd.edu/clubschapters.

Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center • College Park, MD 20742–1521 301.405.4678/800.336.8627 • alumni.umd.edu • alumni@umd.edu Follow Us On

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE Terp magazine Division of university relations College Park, md 20742–8724

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PERMIT NO. 10 COLLEGE PARK, MD

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The Mighty Sound of Maryland making an entrance / A mega-screen outside Riggs showing college football / Pulled pork / Burgers / Bacon cheese fries / Frosty beverages / Inflatables / Kids' games and face painting / Cheerleaders / Maryland athletes signing autographs / A deejay / The Backyard Bash, featuring the winner of the online Battle of the Bands / Some darn good football

Get your game on at Homecoming OCT. 15 MARYLAND TERRAPINS VS. CLEMSON TIGERS / The party starts three hours before kickoff