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The Patuxent Partnership Physics Scholarship Awarded

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, in continued partnership with The Patuxent Partnership (TPP) – a local nonprofit organization that works with government, industry, and academia on initiatives in science and technology – has awarded the inaugural The Patuxent Partnership Physics Scholarship.

First-year student Caitlin Kubina, of Columbia, Maryland, has been selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship award for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Because of TPP’s investment, Kubina is better positioned to be among the more than 50 St. Mary’s College physics students to work with Navy scientists as part of her college experience. Kubina could even convert her physics experiences into a related field within the Navy upon graduation as more than 40 St. Mary’s College physics students have accomplished in recent years.

The Patuxent Partnership Physics Scholarship is the latest of many ways TPP has worked in strong collaboration with St. Mary’s College, its students and faculty over the years.

In 2012, TPP invested $1 million to grow and expand the College’s physics offerings, including applied physics, of particular value to the Navy and STEM careers.

“We are extremely grateful to The Patuxent Partnership for its generous and continued investments in our students,” said St. Mary’s College of Maryland President Tuajuanda C. Jordan. “Each year more and more St. Mary’s College students are making invaluable STEM connections with our community and TPP plays a tremendous role in those connections which support our Honors College Promise and our mission. I truly value the relationship the College has with TPP and look forward to it building even more momentum in the future,” Jordan said.

St. Mary’s College students benefit greatly from the College’s close proximity to NAS Patuxent River — headquarters for Naval Aviation — and other facilities in the region.

The College maintains educational partnership agreements with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head (NSWCIHEODTD) and TPP. Through these relationships, St. Mary’s College students enjoy many opportunities, including internships, scholarships and careers. Opportunities are particularly abundant for students majoring in physics, chemistry, computer science and psychology. Examples include:

Physics

  • St. Mary’s College faculty work with Navy scientists and St. Mary’s College students on developing new types of sensors for navigation, imaging, and submarine detection including cutting edge research in quantum sensing.
  • In recent years, 30 physics students have done their St. Mary’s Project (SMP) — an eight-credit senior research project — with NAWCAD labs.
  • Over 50 physics students have done internships (summertime and academic year) at Navy facilities, with more than 40 converting their St. Mary’s College physics experience into jobs as engineers, physicists, and program managers with the Navy and its contractors.

Chemistry

  • St. Mary’s College faculty work with Navy scientists and St. Mary’s College students on developing new types of functional coatings and electronics like sensors and printable solid-state devices.
  • Over the past five years, 17 St. Mary’s College students have completed their St. Mary’s Research Projects on Navy related technologies. At least four chemistry students have accepted internships at Navy federal laboratories, seven students have co-authored Navy supported publications or patents, and six have been hired after graduation.
  • For students interested in applied materials careers, the chemistry and physics departments also support the materials science program on campus.

Computer Science 

  • St. Mary’s College faculty Navy projects include augmented reality and data science.
  • In the past five years, eight students have been hired directly by the Navy after graduation; one or two students a year in the Navy’s Pathways internship program; and one ongoing SMP with a Navy lab.
  • The Navy is heavily recruiting students with degrees in computer science.

Psychology

  • St. Mary’s College faculty and students work with Navy scientists on human factors in aviation research including attention, performance, and decision making.
  • A number of psychology graduates have transitioned their psychology degrees to employment at NAWCAD in positions such as engineering psychologists, contract specialists, analysts, recruiting managers, and financial managers.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.

SMCM Title IX Office Collaborating with Johns Hopkins University on Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative

Michael Dunn (L), Assistant Vice President of Equity and Inclusion / Title IX Coordinator and Helen Ann Lawless (R), Assistant Director of Title IX Compliance and Training

Michael Dunn and Helen Ann Lawless from SMCM’s Office of Title IX Compliance and Training recently finalized a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The new initiative aims to conduct evaluation research on ‘Hot Spot Mapping’ as an environmental change strategy for sexual violence prevention on college and university campuses. The three-year project is titled: Creating Protective Higher Education Environments for Sexual Violence Prevention: Practice-based Evidence and Evaluation.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will lead the initiative, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several college and university partners. Goals of the project include:

  • Development of campus- and program-specific logic models, outlining the inputs, activities, process measures, and outputs of a Hot Spot Mapping intervention to reduce sexual violence
  • Identification of existing survey instruments and evaluation data sources, and conceptualization of new data sources to meet evaluation goals
  • Identification of students and additional stakeholders for further discussion and activities related to logic model development
  • Identification of a diverse set of appropriate initiatives to respond to Hot Spot Mapping findings in order to reduce sexual violence
  • Review and advise on the resulting practice-based monitoring and evaluation guide for campus-based Hot Spot Mapping, as well as related dissemination of project outputs

Subsequent project phases may include:

  • Testing of new measures and evaluation procedures, and
  • Pilot hot spot mapping evaluation

The SMCM Title IX Office has already begun work on the initiative and will receive $15,000 during the three-year project to compensate for the time involved in attending meetings, reviewing documents and coordinating stakeholders for meeting participation.

Southern Maryland Folklife Center Presents Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, June 23-25, 2021

The Southern Maryland Folklife Center will present the first annual Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops at St. Mary’s College of Maryland this June 23-25, 2021. Attendance registration is required by visiting https://www.somdfolklife.org/.

During the three-day event, workshops will be offered celebrating and supporting community-based living cultural traditions of Southern Maryland. The workshops will culminate in a public exhibition and celebration event at the College’s Boyden Gallery. Workshops will take place from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. each day. Registration costs are $10 for one workshop, $20 for two workshops and $30 for four workshops. A separate music and dance performance and Historic St. Mary’s City excursion are also available for $10 each.

Choose from an array of folklife workshops:

  • SOMD genealogy
  • History of wampum
  • Contra dance
  • History of bluegrass
  • Small farm entrepreneurship
  • Stuffed ham two-day event
  • Landscape painting
  • African American hair
  • Learn a folksong

This year, the Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops will maintain a hybrid approach with both virtual and in-person offerings. The latter will adhere to the State of Maryland’s guidelines, including face coverings and social distancing. In person workshops will take place at the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium, River Center, Goodpaster Hall and Montgomery Hall on the St. Mary’s College campus, along with Trinity Church Parish Hall.

The summer workshops will be the backbone of the newly formed Southern Maryland Folklife Center, which is part of the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) Folklife Network. This summer’s event is funded by the MSAC’s “Maryland Traditions” program.

For more information, email somdfolklife@gmail.com.

Professor of Art Sue Johnson Awarded a 2021-22 Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Maker-Creator Research Fellowship

Professor of Art Sue Johnson will be in residence for one-month to carry out collection research for her project, Woman, As Advertised, which focuses on 19th and early 20th century material culture sources for the creation of new works for her on-going project, Hall of Portraits from The History of Machines. She explains the importance of the process of research that informs her creative work that “mining the archive is like building a time machine; I look at the material culture of the past as a way of understanding what has come into being in our contemporary times.“

The Maker-Creator Fellowships are designed for artists, writers, filmmakers, horticulturalists, craftspeople, and others who wish to examine, study, and immerse themselves in Winterthur’s vast collections in order to inspire creative and artistic works. Fellowships include a research award of 1750.00 per month and access to Winterthur’s museum, garden, and library collections that focus on American life from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Fellows share their work by giving a public lecture and gain new perspectives from others on site, including librarians, curators, conservators, students, and other fellows.

About Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: http://www.winterthur.org

According to the website, “Almost 60 years ago, collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969) opened his childhood home, Winterthur, to the public. Today, Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”) is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America between about 1640 and 1860. The collection is displayed in the 175-room house, much as it was when the du Pont family lived there, as well as in permanent and changing exhibition galleries.”

Image: Sue Johnson, exhibition view of Briinng and Western Electric Sculptura ‘doughnut” telephone, Hall of Portraits from The History of Machines, 2021, Workhouse Arts Center.

Professor Patterson and Assistant Professor Cai Named 2021 Independent Arts Award Recipients by Maryland State Arts Council

Professor of Art Carrie Patterson and Assistant Professor of Photography Tristan Cai are 2021 recipients of the Independent Arts Awards presented by the Maryland State Arts Council. In addition to the recognition, both will receive grants to support their continued artistic growth. Patterson will receive a regional grant of $2,000 to recognize promise, and Cai will receive an award of $10,000 to recognize notable artistic achievement.

“As an artist and educator, I am always in the practice of communicating ideas, both visual and verbal. And it feels really good when the objects I make have a positive impact on other people,” said Patterson. “This award affirms my commitment to continue making work in Maryland and it feels good to be recognized by my peers as a Maryland artist.”

“The award encourages me to take more creative risks in my art practice and to dive deeper into the research-based works that I have been creating. I also want to thank MSAC and my colleagues for all their support,” said Cai.

This year’s awardees were chosen from a pool of 540 applicants through a public panel process. With this year’s awards focused on visual and media arts, 2021 awardees represent a wide range of artistic talents from all across the state, from painting, ceramics, and works on paper to digital media, film, and installation. Click here for the full list of winners.

Awardees will be highlighted during the virtual Maryland Arts Awards event at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 16. Visit marylandartscouncil.eventbrite.com for more details.

Professor Julia King Receives Prestigious Fellowship in Landscape Studies from Dumbarton Oaks

Julia King, professor of anthropology and chair of that department at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, has been awarded a prestigious residential fellowship at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.

Administered by the trustees for Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks supports research and learning in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, internships, meetings, and exhibitions.

King will spend her fellowship researching the experiences of Indigenous communities in the Rappahannock River valley in eastern Virginia between 1500 and 1900, linking these experiences to the river valley’s Native landscape. Using the extensive archaeological database assembled during the College’s recently concluded NEH-funded project in the Rappahannock valley, King will draw on Dumbarton Oaks’ extensive library holdings to place the finds in their greater context. The fellowship will allow King time to prepare a book exploring how the Native Rappahannock communities negotiated settler colonialism over the course of four centuries.

“The Dumbarton Oaks Library holds one of the most extensive collections anywhere of published and unpublished materials on landscape, including Indigenous landscapes,” King noted. “The opportunity to have access to DO’s holdings for the fellowship period will enhance my understanding of the Native landscapes my students, staff, and I have been studying over the last decades.”

King is an anthropological archaeologist who has 30 years’ experience researching, studying, and teaching about the Chesapeake region’s rich past and its relationship to the present. She is a past president of the Society for Historical Archaeology and the recipient of the Society’s 2018 J. C. Harrington Award in recognition of her scholarship and contributions to the field of historical archaeology. Her work has also been recognized by the Archaeological Society of Virginia and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Kelly Neiles and Team Invited to Join Inclusive Excellence Learning Community

Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Kelly Neiles, along with colleagues at SMCM, have accepted an invitation from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to participate in an Inclusive Excellence Learning Community. The award includes $30,000 to support participation in the Learning Community, which focuses on the evaluation of inclusive teaching and is meant to build capacity for inclusion of all students, especially those who have been historically excluded from science. Neiles stated that she and her team “are excited for the opportunity this will provide the College both in terms of educating ourselves on this important topic, and also in positioning ourselves to gain future support for this work”.

The following individuals helped Neiles develop the proposal to HHMI:

  • Katy Arnett, Professor of Educational Studies, Faculty Advisor for Accessibility Services, and Coordinator of Transparent Teaching & Assessment
  • Chris Burch, Senior Developer/Architect in the Office of Information Technology
  • Emily Casey, Assistant Professor of Art History
  • Tayo Clyburn, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion/Chief Diversity Officer
  • Samantha Elliott, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching & Learning and Associate Professor of Biology
  • Gili Freedman, Assistant Professor of Psychology
  • Josh Grossman, Professor of Physics
  • Argelia Gonzalez Hurtado, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies
  • Shanen Sherrer, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
  • Christine Wooley, Associate Dean of Curriculum and Associate Professor of English
  • Diego Tibaquira Professor of Computer Science at Miami Dade College

The Inclusive Excellence Learning Community will be organized in two phases. Phase 1 of the Learning Community will:

  • help members apply an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist lens to their continued self-study,
  • hold one another accountable as members develop inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approaches to address selected challenges, and
  • help inform HHMI’s development of Phase 2.

Neiles’s team will participate in a learning community cluster with approximately 14 other teams from other institutions, focusing on evaluation of inclusive teaching. Two other clusters will concentrate on content of the introductory science experience, and effective partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions.

An essential element of an inclusive stance is a commitment to dismantle institutional structural racism. HHMI also promotes moving from a scarcity mindset that emphasizes competition to an abundance mindset that embodies collaboration and community. By the end of Phase 1, HHMI’s goal is for each institution to be ready to develop an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approach to address their selected challenge and have a community to rely on as they implement their ideas and strategies. HHMI will host meetings throughout Phase 1 so that the cluster members can convene and process their learning together.

Professor of History Christine Adams Interviewed on Her Work as a Newberry Library Fellow

Professor of History Christine Adams, on sabbatical work as a Newberry Library residential fellow through June 2021, was interviewed recently about the Newberry Library, her current project: The Merveilleuses and their Impact on the French Social Imaginary, 1794–1799 and Beyond, and on how the events of the past twelve months have impacted her project.

Adams described how current events have affected the way she’s approached her project. Her research is focused on “a really tense and chaotic moment in French history, right after the Terror has come to an end, and the French are trying to stabilize the country (they are at war and the economy is really suffering; in 1795 and 1796 in particular, misery is rampant throughout the country), and they are dealing with immense political divisions. My research has provided a lens to think about current events, and current events have been in the back of my mind as I work on this project.”

Adams’s full interview, along with additional Newberry Fellows, can be read here.

 

SMCM Archaeologists Featured in Archaeology Magazine

Professor of Anthropology Julia King and adjunct instructor of anthropology Scott Strickland ’08 are featured along with Chief Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe in the January/February edition of Archaeology Magazine. The article, “Return to the River,” focuses on their work tracing the history and development of the Rappahannock Indians in early American history. The anthropology department at St. Mary’s College first began studying the Rappahannock River valley’s history in 2016 at the request of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office and the Chesapeake Conservancy. The work was undertaken to provide interpretive support for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and led to the Rappahannock Indians’ return to the river when former Senator John Warner and his daughter, Virginia Warner, donated land to the Rappahannock in their ancestral homeland. The survey of the greater river valley has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

St. Mary’s College Chemistry and Biochemistry Professors Among Authors of ACS Symposium Series Book

To address the national need of professional skills training for chemists and biochemists, seven faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry authored seven chapters for a recently released American Chemical Society (ACS) Symposium Series book, “Integrating Professional Skills into Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula.”

Contributors from St. Mary’s College of Maryland included Assistant Professor Geoffrey Bowers, Adjunct Professor Ruth Bowers, Assistant Professor Daniel Chase, Professor Andrew Koch, Professor Pamela Mertz, Associate Professor Kelly Neiles, and Assistant Professor Shanen Sherrer.

The department’s complete professional skills curriculum—which spans the first year, first semester course all the way through upper level courses—is described in five chapters of the book, for which Neiles and Mertz—along with Justin Fair of Indiana University of Pennsylvania—served as editors. Authors from nine institutions besides St. Mary’s College contributed chapters.

The book defines professional skills as “non-technical skills needed to be an effective chemist/biochemist including, but not limited to, career skills (job searching, resume writing, networking, and having a professional mindset), scientific thinking (critical thinking, problem solving, and big picture thinking), scientific identity development, learning skills (self-regulated learning, initiative, study strategies, etc.), communication skills, and interpersonal skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and leadership development.”

The professional skills curriculum written by the St. Mary’s College co-authors was developed by all chemistry and biochemistry department members as part of the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) Transformations Project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF-DUE 1625354). Programs involved in the CUR Transformations Project are revising four-year undergraduate curricula in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology to integrate high-quality undergraduate research experiences.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is one of only 12 institutions selected by CUR for its Transformations Project, a four-year project now in its final year. A team of several faculty and staff members at St. Mary’s College is participating. Mertz and Neiles lead the chemistry and biochemistry team, while Aileen Bailey, professor of psychology,  leads the psychology team.

Neiles and Mertz said that while the CUR project is focused mainly on undergraduate research, the College’s move toward its Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery (LEAD) initiative laid the foundation for the chemistry and biochemistry department to take a closer look at using methods from the CUR project to incorporate program specific professional skills into its curriculum.

“I think those two coupled together, the CUR Transformations Project and what was happening on the campus, is how we ended up here, to be honest,” Mertz said.

Neiles said she and colleagues began presenting what their department was doing to incorporate these skills into their programs and noticed colleagues and students from other institutions taking an interest. “That’s when I knew we had something,” she said.

The recently published book was developed from a symposium planned for the 2020 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia that would address each of the chapters as a talk; however, it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The value of the content was such that the ACS continued with the book project.  Neiles said the symposium will run virtually at the upcoming spring ACS meeting.

The book is timely as the ACS Committee on Professional Training is working on new guidelines for professional skills and competencies and the book could help guide programs at other institutions on how to incorporate this training into their curricula.

Neiles and Mertz explained that it is notable that the vast majority of the writing, review process, and editing happened during the pandemic.

“To say we are all proud is an understatement,” Neiles said.

Challenges brought on by the pandemic served to test the contributors’ own professional skills as they worked to meet deadlines while adjusting to professional and personal changes brought on by COVID-19.

Neiles and Mertz said the co-authors and editors were very supportive of each other during the entire process and were determined to have the project completed by year’s end.

“I found that being able to support each other by accepting where the other person was on any given day ended up being incredibly important. There were days where co-authors just couldn’t do any writing due to family, COVID, and just life complications. Nobody got frustrated with each other. We just picked up the baton on days we could and let others pick it up on the days we couldn’t,” Neiles said.

Reflecting on her own experiences with a challenging spring semester and personal life, Mertz said she was extremely happy to see this book being published in 2020, as the accomplishment was a much needed “shining light” on a very difficult year.

For more information on ACS or the ACS Symposium Series book, “Integrating Professional Skills into Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula,” go to acs.org.