TOP TERPED-OUT ROOM BRILLIANT MACHINES LIVING THE DREAM ACT OLD LINE, FINE WINE LATE PROFESSOR, A BONE NEW GAME INSPECTOR PLAN
SPRING 2015 / Connecting Connecting the the University Universityof ofMaryland MarylandCommunity Community
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AN EMINENT ALUMNUS TURNS HIS ZEAL FOR INNOVATION T0 THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING, PG. 26
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L ETT E R F ROM T H E E X ECU T I V E DI R ECTOR
SPRING 2015 / VOL. 12, NO.3
PUBLISHER
Peter Weiler VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY RELATIONS A DV I S E R S
Brian Ullmann ’92 ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Amy Eichhorst EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Margaret Hall EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CREATIVE STRATEGIES M AG A Z I N E S TA F F
Lauren Brown UNIVERSIT Y EDITOR
John T. Consoli ’86 CREATIVE DIREC TOR
Joshua Harless ART DIREC TOR
Liam Farrell Chris Carroll Karen Shih ’09 WRITERS
Alex Stoller ’16 EDITORIAL INTERN
Megan Blair Kelsey Marotta ’14 Jeanette J. Nelson M.B.A. ’14 Beverly Yeager DESIGNERS
Gail Rupert M.L.S. ’10 PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT
Jagu Cornish PRODUC TION MANAGER
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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.
My first six months as executive director of the University of Maryland Alumni Association have been a wonderful and thrilling experience. I am very impressed with everything I’ve seen—the caliber of our faculty, staff and students is truly amazing. And, of course, I am delighted to support our remarkable alumni. The Terp network is 350,000 strong, with global reach and impact. Since my very first day, I’ve been inspired by the achievements of our Alumni Hall of Fame members, pictured in the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. Each of them demonstrates the transformative power of a Maryland education. I recently had the opportunity to accompany President Loh to our Fearless Ideas events in Los Angeles, Baltimore and South Florida. It was nice to meet so many of you in person. Alumni are the only permanent stakeholders of the university—you have a unique connection and responsibility to Maryland. You are the business leaders, policymakers and community champions who drive economic development, social change and the cultural life for the state of Maryland. Your reach is incredible. At the alumni association, our goal is to provide meaningful opportunities for each of you to engage with the university. Our focus will be on professional development and career success; prospective, admitted and current student engagement; and creating a host of events, programs and volunteer opportunities that appeal to a diverse group of alumni—both on campus and around the country. You’ll hear much more about this in the coming months, and I’m hoping that you’ll find a way to reconnect with your university. This issue of Terp magazine is once again full of amazing stories about our alumni, faculty, staff and students. Don’t miss the feature “The End of Pain,” which details how one alumnus is working to eradicate migraine pain. There are also great stories on the state of Maryland emerging as a leader in wine and how our Robert H. Smith School of Business is helping former NFL players launch second careers. You’ll also find more online at terp.umd.edu, where we’ve added bonus content, including videos. I encourage you to check it out and share with your friends and colleagues. This May, more than 8,000 students will graduate from the university. Please join me in welcoming all of them to Terp Nation! Go Terps!
Amy Eichhorst Executive Director, Alumni Association
Departments IN BRIEF
2
CLASS ACT
5
CAMPUS LIFE
8
INNOVATION
14
FACULTY Q&A
19
PARTING SHOT
36
4 Ask Anne
8 Dinner with the Symphony
14 Brilliant Machines
Features
20 CAN MARYLAND BECOME THE NEXT GREAT WINE STATE? For more than a decade, UMD Extension expert Joe Fiola has guided a new generation of Maryland vineyard and winery owners, and now Old Line State’s wine is ready to crush the competition. By Karen Shih ’09
➢ find new stories every week at terp.umd.edu.
26
30
THE END OF PAIN Esteemed inventor Robert E. Fischell has spent a lifetime on novel engineering solutions to medical problems. Now he’s focused on perhaps the trickiest of all: physical suffering. By Chris Carroll
A NEW GAME PLAN Sidelined by age or injury before they turn 30, many pro athletes need to prepare for a second career. Faculty in the Robert H. Smith School of Business have teamed up with the NFL to help make sure former players don’t fumble their financial futures. By Liam Farrell
IN BRIEF
Arts Venue to Change Tune of College Park The Clarice Smith Performing Arts The Cellar. Terrapin Station. The Center and Philadelphia music venue Thirsty Turtle. Whatever the name of the MilkBoy are teaming up to open what biggest bar on downtown Route 1, generathey’re temporarily calling “art house” in tions of Terps hunting for cheap drinks and Fall 2016. The real-estate and economic a crowded dance floor followed the same development advisory firm working with routine: Step into the dark, let the doors the university predicts it will trigger a slam shut and enter a world closed off from downtown revival—and ultimately contribthe campus and surrounding community. A new proposal for the cavernous space— ute to College Park’s emergence as one of the nation’s top college towns. most recently the Barking Dog—would “Great cities are not made of great big instead open it up, bringing together UMD projects. They are made of great small students and College Park residents for projects,” says Omar Blaik, founder and codrinks, fresh food and a feast of performing CEO of the firm, U3 Advisors. “We think that arts in a creative, fun environment. art house will be transformative to College Park. It will bring the academic side, the community side and the students together in a way that will help reimagine what College Park can be.” Martin Wollesen, executive director of The Clarice, is a proponent of creating ways for people to enjoy the arts outside
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traditional spaces. At the University of California, San Diego, where he provided strategic artistic direction, he opened a performance lounge and wine bar, the only venue of its kind on a college campus. He says art house will showcase a range of artistic voices from The Clarice’s national and international artists series, as well as emerging talent from the School of Music and the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Jazz, global, contemporary and classical music; spoken word, performance and film; as well as visual and projection art will mix with indie rock and pop. Wollesen also envisions this creative incubator to be a place for campus, alumni and community artists to perform. “This is an arts bridge between the campus and College Park,” Wollesen says. “This space—a public-private partnership, a campus-community partnership—is going to reframe what it means to develop our community and campus through the lens of the arts.” The organizers are pursuing public and private grants to pay for renovating the 14,000-square-foot building, nearly triple the size of MilkBoy Philly. That venue, a bar and restaurant that hosts alternative
ART HOUSE RENDERING COURTESY OF MSR DESIGN
The university is also welcoming two other major projects on Route 1:
and rock bands, is credited with sparking redevelopment in the neighborhood around Thomas Jefferson University. Jamie Lokoff, a MilkBoy partner, says the first floor of art house will have a small stage along with the dining and bar areas, while a larger second-floor stage will accommodate crowds of about 400 people. He envisions art house attracting the same kind of eclectic audience that comes together at MilkBoy Philly. “That stretch on Baltimore Avenue is such a perfect spot for this,” he says. “Once we create some energy there, it’s going to bring other retail businesses and really create some excitement.” Architecture Professor and former dean Garth Rockcastle is designing art house. He and Wollesen are also evaluating ideas from architecture undergraduates in a new Partnership in Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) course that calls for them to redesign downtown College Park and focus on art house. Their ideas include bringing in lots of light, adding green spaces and outdoor dining, and
extending the idea of performance into the dining experience. “This is my town,” says Associate Professor Madlen Simon, who is teaching the course. “I feel a personal investment in the community. I’m excited about the opportunity to get involved.” Less than 4 percent of UMD’s employees live in the city, which is striving to become more diverse and prosperous. Eric Olson M.A. ’95, executive director of the College Park City-University Partnership, says art house has the potential to stimulate that. “When you think of the great college towns, you have entertainment, you have great cafes, you have a lot of activity going on. This is a project that’s going to help transform our downtown into that type of place,” he says. “It will attract more faculty and staff to live here, and more investment into our community. The more we can make it a vibrant experience, the more we will experience success.”–LB
“Great cities are not made of great big projects. They are made of great small projects.” —Omar Blaik, founder and co-CEO, U3 Ventures
HOTEL RENDERING COURTESY OF GORDON & GREENBERG ARCHITECTS; TARGET EXPRESS RENDERING COURTESY OF CA VENTURES
Construction is under way on the Hotel at the University of Maryland, just across from the main entrance to campus. Recently shortened to accommodate concerns about flight safety near College Park Airport, the four-star hotel now will have 10 floors and 297 rooms. Its restaurants will include Chef Mike Isabella’s Kapnos, Potomac Pizza, Bagels ’n Grinds and a new high-end American eatery from the owner of nearby Franklin’s Restaurant, Brewery and General Store. Another restaurant, an Elizabeth Arden spa and a UMD memorabilia store will also be inside. David Hillman, CEO and founder of Southern Management Corp. and funder of the university’s Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, is developing the three-acre site. The hotel’s opening is anticipated in Fall 2016.
A Target Express will open in the new Landmark apartment building rising at the site of the former Book Exchange, just in time for the start of classes this fall. At less than 15,000 square feet, it will be about a tenth of the size of a typical big-box Target, and will focus on convenience products in beauty, grocery, pharmacy, school supplies and other household goods. In addition, the Target Express will likely offer a variety of food options, says David A. Israel, senior vice president and counsel of Chicago-based CA Ventures, which owns the property.–LB
ASK ANNE
Questions for Anne Turkos, the university archivist
Q
IS IT TRUE THAT THIEVES ONCE BROKE INTO THE MEMORIAL CHAPEL? —Allen Tan ’10
Q
A: Sadly, it happened twice in 1969. In May, someone stole the flagon that was part of a silver communion set donated by the chapel’s architect, Henry Powell Hopkins. It was found abandoned in the grass and returned. In June, thieves struck again, taking not only the flagon but also the Episcopal Foundation’s complete communion silver service. No one was ever arrested, and the silver was never recovered. The rest of the Hopkins set is now housed in Hornbake Library, though the chaplains borrow pieces for special occasions.
AS AN AVID WATCH COLLECTOR FOR 20 OR MORE YEARS AND AN NCAA BASKETBALL NUT, I HAVE STUMBLED UPON A LITTLE PIECE OF MARYLAND BASKETBALL HISTORY. I have a 1974 Tissot automatic watch with a custom-commissioned dial for the 1974-75 Maryland Invitational Tournament (MIT). In today’s dollars this watch would have cost the university $600 or more, which leads me to believe that it was most likely not given to student athletes, but rather coaches, the athletic director or important boosters. Since there's no engraving indicating for whom it was made, do you have any ideas?
Q
DO YOU HAVE A DATE FOR THE STUDENT PRODUCTION “DARK OF THE MOON?” I THINK JIM HENSON DESIGNED THE POSTER, PROGRAM AND SETS FOR THE SHOW.
—Mark Whitaker
A: The MIT was a men’s basketball tournament hosted at Cole Field House around the Christmas holidays from 1971 to 1980. In the 1974–75 season, the Terps played Georgia Tech, then UCLA. I spoke to former coach Lefty Driesell, and his recollection is that his friend and NBA coach Red Auerbach had a brother who worked for jeweler KahnOppenheimer and had the watches made for the university. Since Maryland did not win the MIT that year (the only season the Terps didn’t win their home tournament), he suspects the watches went to all the participating teams and coaches.
—Karen Falk, the Jim Henson Company
A: Jim, a 1960 alumnus, is listed in the program as part of the scenery crew and as co-chairman of publicity for the production, which ran Dec. 2–10, 1955. A faculty member, James Byrd, was listed as designing the “settings.” Jim did design the program and cover, drawing the spiky trees used in the sets.
Questions may be sent to terpfeedback@umd.edu or @UMDarchives on Twitter. ONLINE
lib.umd.edu/univarchives | BLOG umdarchives.wordpress.com | FACEBOOK University of Maryland University Archives
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WATCH PHOTO BY MARK WHITAKER; DRAWING COURTESY OF HENRY POWELL HOPKINS III; PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
CLASS ACT A male Agapostemon sericeus from Prince George's County.
ALUMNI PROFILE / SAM DROEGE ’80
Working Out the Bugs BIOLOGIST’S QUEST TO COUNT NATIVE BEES FACES CHALLENGE
“ANIMALS AND PLANTS , they just don’t like to be counted,”
Sam Droege ’80 observes. That hasn’t stopped the eccentric biologist from trying. He has spent 13 years at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Center working to collect samples of all 4,000 species of North American bees, most of which are the size of a grain of rice and nearly indistinguishable from each other. His efforts will help establish the health of the continent’s native bee population. While it’s well-documented how colony collapse, parasites and disease have decimated honey bees and jeopardized the long-term outlook for fruit and vegetable production, native bees are also important pollinators, evolving in tandem with North American plants like summer squash. But nobody knows how many are out there, how they’re doing or what their future looks like. When Droege started his latest volunteer-based project (he’s previously counted crickets and frogs), he thought he’d send off collected samples to experts for identification and quickly get some answers. But it turned out there’s so little data on them—10 percent don’t even have names—that he had to become that expert. “I’ve painted myself into a bee corner,” says Droege, who has collected about 3,000 species and 400,000 specimens so far. His first love, however, was a different winged creature: birds. He virtually memorized his grandfather’s 1915 bird See more of Sam Droege and his team’s bee photos at terp.umd.edu.
book to identify species near his Hyattsville, Md., home. Eventually, that led to the bird club at Patuxent, where the shy, self-proclaimed “nerd child” thought, “Oh my God, I’ve found my people.” He came to UMD with that passion for all things that fly, crawl and scamper, learning to identify and gather everything from small mammals to insects (he amassed the second-largest collection in UMD history). As a graduate student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, he adopted a sustainable lifestyle long before it was trendy. When his funding got cut, he moved into his office, ate roadkill and trapped animals like squirrels and raccoon and tapped trees to make syrup. These days, at his Upper Marlboro home, he has a large garden and gets his meat from the one deer he kills per year. Even his cooking methods are green: He throws a frozen chunk of venison into the solar oven in the office kitchen in the morning, and by the evening, “it’s falling apart.” Sadly, that could also describe Maryland’s native bee population. “It’s tanking,” he says, because of increased construction. But that can change. “In the past, conservation focused on the glamorous animals: the grizzly bear, panther, salmon. But there’s nothing the average person could do except pledge money,” Droege says. With bees, “you can reverse their decline. Plant native species that bloom at different times of the year in your yard. You can’t escape some responsibility.”–KS
BEE PHOTO BY WAYNE BOO
SPRING 2015 TERP 5
ALUMNI PROFILE / ROBBIE ROGERS
CONFIDENCE GAME LA GALAXY PLAYER COMES OUT, STRONGER Robbie Rogers came out as gay to a stranger at a bar in London. The pro soccer player, who had spent his entire 25 years wracked by the suffocating fear that his family, friends and fans would discover his homosexuality, just blurted it out one night to a woman who’d hit on him. It was so freeing that he summoned the courage over the next few weeks to tell his loved ones. Then he wrote a letter that he stored on his laptop for four months before posting it as a blog entry on Feb. 23, 2013. Today, Rogers, who played on the Terps’ national title-winning team in 2005, is part of the defending MLS champion allowed to play the sport he loved. LA Galaxy and the only openly gay man He planned to go pro after high school, competing in a major American sport. He but UMD soccer Coach Sasho Civorski, chronicled his lifelong struggle to come coming off three consecutive Final Four to terms with his sexuality in the autobiappearances, convinced Rogers to give ography “Coming Out to Play,” which was Maryland a chance. published in November. Now his story has “I told him I thought he was the missing inspired an upcoming ABC sitcom. And he’s become an outspoken advocate for gay piece to winning a championship,” Civorski says. “And the rest is history.” rights in sports. Rogers, for his part, calls Civorski “I never thought I would be this kind “amazing,” but left UMD after one year when of person,” he says of his new role in an he was recruited by a Dutch team. A year interview. “When something is so meaningful or I feel like I can make a difference, later, a homesick Rogers was back in the U.S. playing for the Columbus Crew. Even I want to voice my opinion.” after that team won the MLS Cup, and he Rogers grew up in Southern California played in the U-20 FIFA World Cup and the learning to play soccer and absorbing 2008 Olympics, he says, he never felt joy. homophobia at home and in the locker “I wasn’t open to the emotions of what room. He was convinced that if anyone was happening to my life,” he says. “I figured out he was gay, he’d never again be look back, and I’m sad just thinking about it. It was a constant feeling of being nervous and scared and a cramping feeling in my stomach.” In England, he was exhausted from quashing attractions to men and battling injuries when he decided he was done. Done playing soccer. Done hiding his secret.
So he posted the blog he thought was a coming out/retirement announcement. But instead of a backlash, he soon discovered the global soccer community was congratulating him. He was touched by the thousands of emails and letters he received from gay men and women who said his courage gave them hope. The support he received spurred him to return to the sport and to use his role as a public figure to do good. He signed within weeks with the Galaxy. Since then, Rogers has headlined several anti-prejudice campaigns and wrote a USA Today column blasting FIFA for failing to support gay players. During a White House ceremony in February honoring the Galaxy for its national title, President Barack Obama singled out Rogers, saying he had “inspired a whole lot of folks here and around the world, and we are proud of you.” Rogers wrote that he still has a lot to learn about living an open life, but he predicts that “before long, no young LGBT athlete dreaming of a pro career will have to live in secrecy.”–LB
Robbie Rogers is among several former Terp soccer players helping to start a scholarship memorializing the newborn son of a former teammate. Luca Wyatt DeLaGarza, the first child of A.J. ’08 and Megan (Viering) DeLaGarza ’09, died of a heart defect three days after his birth in September. A.J. DeLaGarza, like Rogers, plays for the Galaxy. He and his wife are from Southern Maryland, and both majored in criminal justice, so the new scholarship fund will support a student from Charles County with a major in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
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TOP PHOTO BY TOM JENKINS / GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM PHOTO BY BRAD SMITH / ISI PHOTO; ILLUSTRATION BY KELSEY MAROTTA
CLASS NOTES
NO PLACE LIKE YOUR SECOND HOME
Submit your class notes and read many more at terp.umd.edu.
The gates are always open to Terps at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. It opened 10 years ago as the campus home for Maryland graduates, welcoming them back to reminisce with classmates, celebrate with friends and family, and network with colleagues. Sparked by an initial gift from Samuel Riggs ’50, designed by illustrious architect Newell Jacobsen ’51, D.F.A. ’93 and supported by gifts from alumni and friends, the building is known for its Baltimore rowhouse-inspired look, its brilliant ocular window featuring the state flag, and the UMD colors blooming in its lush gardens.
The Riggs Alumni Center hosts the alumni association’s signature events of Homecoming and the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and countless other events, steeping the building in pride, tradition and more than a few memories. Returning Terps are sure to discover (or rediscover!) in Riggs the perfect gathering place and a most inspiring space.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT STEPHANIE TADLOCK AT STADLOCK@UMD.EDU OR 301.405.4678.
HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE WAYS THE RIGGS ALUMNI CENTER HAS PASSED THROUGH ITS FIRST DECADE.
6,759 EVENTS
113 YEARS OF YEARBOOKS HOUSED IN THE CHANEY LIBRARY 1,501
1 NOBEL PRIZE HONOREE FETED (THOMAS SCHELLING, ECONOMICS)
PERSONALIZED BRICKS AND PAVERS PLACED IN LEGACY PLAZA /
742 MEETINGS & CONFERENCES
7,200
1,080
POUNDS OF POPCORN POPPED AT TAILGATES
ALUMNI TRAVEL 290 WEDDINGS
GREAT YEARS
Cruise along South America’s east coast. Gaze at white-sand beaches in French Polynesia. Ring in the new year in London. These are just a few of the adventures that the Maryland Alumni Association has mapped out for 2016 through its travel program. For more details and to make your reservation, visit umaa.umd.edu/Travel/2016.
R I G G S I V A LU M N I C E N T E R
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President Obama recruited D.J. PATIL M.A. ’99, PH.D. ’01 to serve as the White House’s first chief data scientist and deputy chief technology officer for data policy. He previously worked at LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Skype and venture capital firm Greylock Partners and is now pushing for new applications of big data across all areas of government, with a focus on health care.
MARYLAND BLUE CRABS SERVED
10 SAMUEL
NEELA VASWANI PH.D. ’06
won a Grammy for Best Children’s Album for her narration for the young readers’ edition of the audio book “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World.” She is also an author and education activist and teaches at Spalding University.
75 ALUMNI HONORED IN THE REVER ALUMNI HALL OF FAME
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CAMPUS LIFE
For more information, visit GourmetSymphony.org.
MASTERPIECE
Having Your Symphony (and Eating at It Too)
DOCTORAL STUDENT’S VENTURE BRINGS CLASSICAL CONCERT MUSIC TO THE MASSES The gentle clink-clink of silverware during Beethoven and the crowd mingling around the orchestra—even pausing at the elbow of the conductor—makes it clear: This isn’t your grandma’s classical music concert. That’s conducting graduate student John Devlin’s (below) goal with Gourmet Symphony, a new series of events that combine food and music for a multisensory experience. “A traditional classical music performance is an antisocial experience for the audience,” he says. “We want you to be able to have a great time listening to a cellist from the National Symphony Orchestra, then immediately be able to talk to and have a beer with them.” Devlin M.M. ’11, who completes his doctoral degree in May, co-founded Gourmet Symphony last spring with John Coco, former food and beverage director at the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. While Coco worked with local restaurants to develop country and era-appropriate food pairings, Devlin recruited young musicians, including from the National and Baltimore symphony orchestras, the military service bands and local freelancers. “There’s a lot of historical precedent for pairing food and music,” says clarinetist Evan Ross Solomon M.M. ’04, executive director of the Grammy-nominated Inscape Chamber Orchestra, who played at the premiere concert and dinner on Valentine’s Day. “If you get more senses involved, it’s more memorable.” The sold-out event at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington drew a crowd of about 200 who enjoyed
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risotto balls with Rossini, beet salad with Tchaikovsky, beef cheeks and spaetzle with Beethoven, and macarons and madeleines with Ravel. Musicology Associate Professor Patrick Warfield introduced pieces with funny tales of how the audience “hurled pieces of half-chewed meat at live actors” during the opening of “The Barber of Seville” in 1816. “I’ve never seen an orchestra live,” says D.C. resident Hugh Blackwell, who decided to finally try it because this concert seemed “more laid back.” To Devlin’s delight, Blackwell joined the crowd that took the chance to peer over a bassoonist’s or violinist’s shoulder and experience the music differently. This isn’t the first time Devlin has shaken things up: He started as a clarinet player, but soon realized he couldn’t tie his boundless energy to a lifetime in practice rooms. He pursued conducting after graduating from Emory, and at UMD, under Associate Professor Jim Ross’ tutelage, he’s conducted the Capital City Symphony, bringing to life Go-Go Symphony, which integrates D.C.’s funky regional style; the Youth Orchestras of Prince William; and the UMD Repertoire Orchestra. He’s also consulted with the National Symphony Orchestra on IMAG visual projection. This spring and summer, Devlin is planning smallerscale, restaurant- and bar-based Gourmet Symphony events, featuring quartets or smaller ensembles, followed by a second major concert in the fall. “I love the National Symphony Orchestra, which presents works at the highest possible level,” he says, but “we provide an additional option for people who want to experience same type of music in a more intimate and, well, delicious environment.”–KS
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN DEVLIN; PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY KELSEY MAROTTA
TR IBU TE S OR TR AS H? STU DEN T FINA LS TRA DITI ON ESC ALATES IN REC ENT YEA RS
THEY CAM E AT FIRS T bearing cand y bars, beads and cups of coffee. Then they left couches. A deep fryer. A water fountain. For decades, superstitious students have brought offerings to the bronze Testudo in front of McKeldin Library during finals week in a silent plea for good grades. But in the past five years or so, these gifts have gone from the sentimental to the downright strange. “It’s like a competition,” says Bryan Mansaray, landscape technician supervisor who overs ees the early morning cleanups. “Every year, some one’s trying to outdo the last year.” Though his crew finds some of the offerings “hilarious,” he cautions students to be caref ul as they move things like cement benches. Last year, University Libraries launched the #MyTestudo campaign to encourage students to leave items of personal significan ce, which could be curated and shared with a wider audience in an online collection. “If students attach some sort of sentiment to it,” says Director of Communications Eric Bartheld, “perhaps it will lead to a reduction of these outrageous items.”–KS
ODDBALL OFFERINGS INCLUDE: LIGHT POLE / STOP SIGN / SOMBRERO / OLD-SCHOOL TUBE TV / NEWSPAPER RACK TRAFFIC CONE / CVS BASKET / CHILD'S BIKE / ANALOG WALL CLOCK / TOILET / MICROWAVE / LAPTOP / DOOR FROM A LAB
PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PHOTO CREDITS
SPRING 2015 TERP 9
COMMITMENT TO CONSENT “CONSENT BRO” SEEKS TO MAKE SEXUAL ASSAULT EVERYONE’S ISSUE A WHITE FRATERNITY member
stands in front of an African American sorority to talk about how to give consent for sexual encounters and the strategies women can use to help protect themselves from sexual assault. The students seated before Ian Tolino ’15 listen respectfully, but one finally acknowledges the awkwardness and asks: Does he ever get mocked for giving these presentations? Yet Tolino, a peer mentor for UMD’s Campus Advocates Respond and Educate (CARE) to Stop Violence, feels no embarrassment in addressing any audience—neither slightly skeptical women nor potentially surly fraternities—about such
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uncomfortable, intimate topics. Dubbed “Consent Bro” last fall by The Washington Post, he has a simple reason why: If you have a mother, a sister, a girlfriend or any other woman in your life, sexual assault is your concern. “It’s been my issue since I was alive. I just didn’t know it,” Tolino says in an interview before the sorority meeting. “We need a culture shift. And it starts with young people.” Sexual assault, especially on college campuses, has become one of the country’s high-profile issues, with even the White House pushing a new “It’s on Us” prevention campaign. Dozens of schools are under federal investigation following allegations of mishandling complaints,
and many others—including UMD—have tightened their sexual assault policies. Hanging in the background are plenty of troubling dynamics: victim blaming, kneejerk skepticism of accusers, discomfort with open dialogue, and ignorance. Tolino, who grew up in Middletown, Md., admits that he was oblivious to the pervasiveness of the issue when he came to college. But after attending a seminar on bystander intervention for his fraternity, Chi Phi, and hearing a victim’s story, he says, “a light switched in my head.” As a sophomore, he joined CARE, which provides support for sexual assault victims and organizes presentations about the issue.
These presentations are part sociology and part sex ed. Tolino and nearly 20 peers cover subjects like the vast differences in how men and women approach prevention of sexual assault (“nothing” vs. pepper spray, buddy system, parking lot strategies, etc.); the definition of consent; and how the media can skew perceptions of who a “typical” rapist is. Tolino often tries to brighten the mood with humor. (If your bike is stolen, no one asks, “Why was it out so late?”). Catherine Carroll, director and Title IX officer of UMD’s Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct, says peer education on these issues is “critically important.” “Training students on how to
The Rhodes to Success SCHOLAR FINDS JOY IN HELPING OTHER MINORITY STUDENTS SUCCEED
“We need a culture shift. And it starts with young people.”
effectively intervene and/or interrupt what appears to be a bad situation or call someone out on using derogatory language is what will change the culture on campus regarding these issues,” she says. “Leveraging their strength is what will make those who do engage in such behavior more isolated, more noticeable and much less tolerated.” Carroll says single- and mixedgender discussions can both be beneficial, with opportunities to create a more comfortable atmosphere or have an audience challenge their own attitudes toward the opposite sex. Tolino acknowledges the awkwardness of frank talk about sexual consent in a fraternity meeting. But he wants to make sure that sexual
PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
assault prevention is not painted solely as a women’s issue, especially since men are overwhelmingly the aggressors and can change their own behavior to solve the problem. Tolino, who originally wanted to be an engineer, is about to graduate with a criminal justice major and is close to earning a certificate in women’s studies. A bouncer at the Cornerstone Grill & Loft on Route 1, he is always looking to see if someone may have had too much to drink and needs help home or is being harassed. In the future, he hopes to keep pursuing the issue through educating high schoolers or working in public policy. “It truly changed my life,” he says. “I was going left and I took a hard right.”–LF
Growing up in a poor neighborhood of London, Fang Cao ’15 and his parents slept on cardboard in their apartment because they couldn’t afford mattresses. He was a latchkey kid at age 7, when his parents worked side jobs while attending graduate school. Cao will be returning to London this fall, this time as a graduate student at the University of Oxford studying medical anthropology on a Rhodes Scholarship. “I know what it’s like to worry about money, so having to not have to worry about money is something that feels pretty amazing,” he says. An American citizen since age 12, Cao received a full scholarship to Maryland as a Banneker/Key scholar. He has a 4.0 GPA as a neurobiology and physiology major, has done research at the National Institutes of Health and Children’s National Medical Center and studied abroad at a health clinic in Jamaica. “I remember the first email he sent me about a particular issue in biochemical thermodynamics,” says biology Professor Todd Cooke, who became a mentor. “And my first thought was, ‘Oh, this is going to be more challenging than I thought.’ He’s extraordinarily bright.” Amid all that, Cao started two tutoring programs at nearby Northwestern High School to help disadvantaged minority students improve in science and prepare for college. Two dozen UMD students are now volunteering, playing games like “Biology Jeopardy” with the teens. “I thought I could contribute to improving educational opportunities for those who are less fortunate,” he says. “I guess I saw a bit of that from my own past experiences.” Cooke says Cao’s commitment is unsurprising. “Fang is very conscious that he has been given incredible gifts, and he sees a deep responsibility to share his gifts and his challenges and his opportunities with people.”–AS
HOME-GROWING SOLUTIONS For 25 years, the Home and Garden Information Center has been answering Marylanders’ questions about pests and plants. An arm of the University of Maryland Extension, the center provides free, research-based information to everyone from apartment dwellers with ants to avid gardeners with aphids. Its team of certified horticulturists has fielded more than a few odd questions among nearly a half-million phone calls and online queries. These are just a few that Director Jon Traunfeld “WHAT SHOULD I insists his experts DO ABOUT CROWS didn’t make up:
Find a longer list of funny questions at terp.umd.edu.
“WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE RED TREE ON THE ROAD TO PENNSYLVANIA?”
“IF I LEAVE THE TOILET SEAT DOWN, WILL IT KEEP THE SQUIRRELS FROM COMING UP THROUGH THE PIPES?”
FORNICATING IN MY RAIN GUTTER?”
“DO YOU HAVE A SOIL TEST FOR CRYSTAL METH?”
“WHAT KIND OF BEE IS THIS? IT HAS ANTLERS.”
“DO YOU KNOW OF A SOURCE FOR FIRE ANTS? I WANT TO USE THEM TO GET MY HUSBAND OFF THE SOFA.”
“I WANT TO HELP THE CICADAS EMERGE. IF I DIG UP MY DRIVEWAY, WILL THAT HELP?”
“I THOUGHT I ROTOTILLED A BAG OF SAND INTO MY VEGETABLE GARDEN, BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE PORTLAND CEMENT.”
The center welcomes your questions via its website. (The phone service has been discontinued.) Visit extension.umd.edu/learn/ask-gardening. 12 TERP .UMD.EDU
PHOTOS BYILLUSTRATION JOHN T. CONSOLI; BY MARGARET PHOTO CREDITS HALL
PLAYBYPLAY
Pitch Perfect
TERP LOOKS TO CONTINUE BASEBALL’S NEW SUCCESS
Sophomore pitcher Mike Shawaryn has a simple goal whenever he takes the mound: command the strike zone. But since coming to Maryland two years ago, he has done more than that—his arm controls the whole diamond. Sharwaryn is helping create a new era for Terp baseball. The All-American led the ACC and set the Maryland single-season record in 2014 with 11 wins—a milestone not even reached by Terps who later played in the major league. It was the most successful season in Maryland history; the team fell just one game short of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. “You didn’t realize how precious that moment was until after the season,” he says. “You just think, ‘That was a special ride.’” Shawaryn is enjoying another special ride this season. At press time in late April, he was 9-0 with a 1.67 era and 82 strikeouts. Opponents were hitting just .190 when facing his arm. As a high schooler in New Jersey, he won four consecutive state titles and had three no-hitters in his senior year. Recruited by baseball powerhouses like Louisiana State, Miami and Vanderbilt, and drafted in 2013 by the Kansas City Royals, Shawaryn says he came to Maryland because he could get an education, play at a high level and be close to home. Helping to end a 43-year drought of postseason play, and to secure the Terps’ first-ever series win by sweeping South Carolina—snapping the Gamecocks’ 28-game home postseason winning streak in the process—wasn’t on his mind when he got to College Park. “I didn’t really know what to expect,” he says. “There is something to be said for being the first (to accomplish something) at a program.” The college baseball world took notice, as sports media picked the Terps to win the Big Ten this year, and some ranked the squad in the preseason top 15. About three-quarters through the season, the Terps were still in the top 25 and fourth in conference standings. The challenge during the whole season for Coach John Szefc, now in his third year, is to make sure the players stick to the same daily grind that earned them last year’s success. “I don’t think you have a lot of monstrous egos around here. Mike is a great example of that,” Szefc says. “The guy knows nothing but winning championships (from high school). And that’s how we try to treat it.” Not surprisingly, Shawaryn echoes that sentiment. Making history is nice, but winning championships is better. “We want to make it to Omaha and do something special,” he says.–LF
PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
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INNOVATION
A robot pours a drink in a UMD lab where researchers are developing systems with the ability to learn. Yiannis Aloimonos, center, works with graduate student Aleksandrs Ecins on robots that can see and react to objects without preprogramming.
A CENTURY OF ROBOTS Fictional robots have always been able to think for themselves, while real ones were mostly preprogrammed manual laborers. But now researchers are closing in on true robotic autonomy. 1927 MASCHINENMENSCH “METROPOLIS”
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1962 ROSIE “THE JETSONS”
1965 B-9 “LOST IN SPACE”
1977 R2-D2 “STAR WARS"
1980s INDUSTRIAL ROBOT ARM
2000 ASIMO HONDA
2013 ATLAS BOSTON DYNAMICS
Brilliant Machines
SURE, ROBOTS ARE COOL. MARYLAND RESEARCHERS ARE MAKING THEM SMART THE HULKING BLACK AND RED ROBOT car-
ries out its tasks like a distracted 3-year-old helping out in the kitchen. It’s finally able to grasp a box of tomatoes and dump it awkwardly into a bowl, but not without accidentally squishing one. Compared to the powerful, precise industrial robots found on production lines worldwide, it doesn’t look very impressive. So why all the excitement in the robotics world over this demonstration in the Autonomy Robotics Cognition (ARC) Lab, jointly run by the Institute for Systems Research and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies? Because the shaky salad-making attempt isn’t the simple, scripted performance of an industrial robot, which a technician could preprogram to dump tomatoes quickly and smoothly. If you wanted the factory robot to add other ingredients, you’d need a program for each one. And make sure they’re always in the appointed places, because this robot lacks smarts to look for things. Need it to slice a cucumber? Get ready for a programming nightmare. A very different approach is needed if we’re ever going to have broadly useful robots, says Yiannis Aloimonos, a computer science professor. “We’re trying to build the next generation of robots,” he says. “These are robots that can interact with people naturally and do a variety of useful things.” He and his colleagues in the ARC Lab are devising revolutionary ways for robots to teach themselves useful things, avoiding arduous programming for every task. Ultimately, they hope to impart something similar to the situational awareness—even common sense—that humans use to get things done.
“We’re trying to really go after true autonomy,” says John Baras, professor of electrical and computer engineering and founding director of the lab. “Nothing is preprogrammed. It has to be able to react to whatever it finds in the environment.” They’re starting in the kitchen. The cooking robot learned its rudimentary culinary skills from analyzing dozens of YouTube cooking videos. The feat was presented in a groundbreaking paper by Aloimonos, research scientist Cornelia Fermüller and computer science students Yezhou Yang Ph.D ’15 and Yi Li Ph.D. ’11. At first, they tried having the system simply ape the motions of people in videos, but that resulted in robots unable to do much of anything. “We discovered what we needed to imitate was not the movement—it was the goals that existed within an activity that had to be imitated,” Aloimonos says. So they devised a vision system able to recognize important objects and actions within the video, breaking those down into “meaningful chunks,” he says. To pick up the tomatoes, the robot analyzes how a YouTube cook grasps a similar container, and decides what would be its own most effective grip, and only then lifts the container. From there, the robot strings together known objects and observed actions into completed tasks. Or that’s the plan. Even if the lab’s robots learn to successfully imitate tasks this way, they’ll still need to get smarter. That’s where Don Perlis comes in. The computer science professor specializes in an area of artificial intelligence known as commonsense reasoning. Perlis says he realized the limits of his systems just as the computer vision specialists, Aloimonos and Fermüller, realized the limits of theirs.
Watch robots in action at terp.umd.edu. PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
“They were saying, ‘We need to add reasoning into our vision systems,’” he recalls, “and we said we need to add perception into our reasoning systems.” Common sense—the ability to deal successfully with things that are uncertain and ill-defined—will be a key attribute for useful robots, Perlis says. There are plenty of so-called expert systems programmed to do one thing well, like win at chess or prospect for minerals. But when the subjects are vague or poorly understood—how humans process speech, for example—artificial intelligence falters. Perlis and his group are focusing on how computers deal with mistakes and unexpected changes. “That view says the world is so complicated there’s not going to be a perfect set of axioms to get everything right,” he says. “You may have figured out everything yesterday, but today something will be different.” Imagine you have a helper robot you order to bring a book from a library at the other end of the building, he says. You expect it to find its way to the library and locate the book. But what if a shelf has fallen? A robot lacking common sense could look through the entire pile while you wait impatiently in your office. A more shrewd robot might realize the task can’t be completed on time and send you an email. With no other assignment, it would even clean up the books, Perlis says. To be completely functional, robots, like people, need flexibility, he says. “They’re not going to do everything perfectly, and humans don’t either, “ he says. “But we’d like them to muddle through and get things done.”–CC
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DEPRESSION DETECTION MOBILE APP COULD DETECT MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM DEPRESSION often fail to realize when their situation has become desperate. A new app being designed by three UMD researchers could soon detect a worsening mental state and make the crucial link to care automatically. Their smart mobile system will monitor a range of subtle signs and symptoms—vocal inflections, slight facial movements, language content—and integrate them into an objective mental health snapshot. Though still in its formative stage, the system could one day gather all the data it needs from patients simply speaking to their smartphone for a few minutes while wearing a heart rate monitor like an athlete might use. “If it works like we hope, [mental health professionals] would get advance warning, and they’d be able to call the patient in to adjust medication, for example, or provide counseling,” says Monifa VaughnCooke, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. The sound of the user’s voice alone will indicate potential problems, says her research partner, Carol Espy-Wilson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering with a joint appointment in the Institute for Systems Research. “We know people do talk differently depending on the mental state they’re in, and so we are looking for those markers,” she says. Among the markers the system will track, she says, are shimmer, a measure of short-term variations in loudness of vowel sounds, and jitter, or short-term variation in pitch. Both increase among people experiencing depression, Espy-Wilson’s research shows. Breathier speech is another depression indicator, along with slower speech. Philip Resnik’s contribution to the developing system isn’t concerned with how people sound, but what they say—although what
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people might think they’re saying and what the system hears will likely be very different. Just as an email system learns to look for certain words to filter out a scam email, systems can learn features of language that tend to be associated with depression. One example might be language indicating low energy levels or emotional stress, says Resnik, a professor of linguistics with a joint appointment in the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. His research in cutting-edge statistical language analysis known as topic modeling could help the app go a step further and uncover telling patterns hidden deep in language. “One of the values in creating a system like this eventually is that it does not depend on self-reporting, because people have biases and sometimes they lack the awareness to self-report accurately,” he says. In the Hybrid System Integration and Simulation Lab, VaughnCooke has been gathering physiological feedback from research subjects as they answer a series of questions like “What was the saddest part of your day?” Computer analysis of facial expressions for emotion, heart rate data, breathing rates—all of it will eventually feed into the system alongside the audiological and linguistic signals uncovered by Espy-Wilson’s and Resnik’s research. This broad, integrated approach to using technology to assess mental health is the first of its kind, and could one day improve treatment for the seven percent of U.S. adults the National Institutes of Mental Health estimates suffer yearly from major depression. “Ultimately, we’re beginning this collaboration to triangulate,” Resnik says. “We’re coming at this question from multiple directions.”–CC
ILLUSTRATION BY JEANETTE J. NELSON
NEWSDESK
Ripe on Time
WIRELESS SENSORS SET TO IMPROVE STRAWBERRY FARMING
Trying to harvest a successful crop of strawberries could make any farmer go bananas. They’re a fussy fruit, susceptible to frost, disease, mold and bugs. But they’re also in high demand, with the U.S. producing more than 36 million pounds of strawberries in 2012. Professor John Lea-Cox in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture is leading a team of Maryland researchers as part of an effort among 12 land-grant universities to help farmers navigate these difficulties and grow a better berry. Through the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative, funded by the Walmart Foundation, the UMD team has placed wireless sensor networks on three Maryland farms: alumni-owned Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, Shlagel Farms in Waldorf and the university’s Wye Research and Education Center in Queenstown. Radio nodes with sensors have been installed in the soil, the plant canopy and weather stations, collecting precise data on environmental conditions, soil moisture and temperature and fertilizer concentration. Farmers can access this data from their fields in real time using a computer, smartphone or any other device connected to the Internet. “Providing farmers with their own information is critical to them making good decisions and can save them a lot of time and effort where labor, frost protection, irrigation and nutrient management are involved,” Lea-Cox says. “We believe we can make a tremendous difference for strawberry producers in terms of conserving resources, reducing costs and improving sustainable production practices.”–LB
For more information and to follow the project’s progress, visit sensingberries.net.
PEACOCK ILLUSTRATION BY KELSEY MAROTTA
“He’s damaged goods now, [and] we don’t know if NBC will uncover more evidence of fabrications.” MARK FELDSTEIN, JOURNALISM, A FORMER NBC NEWS PRODUCER, ON THE SIX-MONTH SUSPENSION OF ANCHOR BRIAN WILLIAMS, IN NEWSDAY, FEB. 1
“On the left, there’s a strong feeling that everyone that’s eligible for a benefit should claim it. On the right, there’s a discomfort about that. If people didn’t think they needed the benefit, why should we force them into governmental dependency?” DOUGLAS BESHAROV, PUBLIC POLICY, ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S EXPANSION OF THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP), IN THE WASHINGTON POST, APRIL 7.
“The budget and educational policies proposed by Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration are out of step with the demographic changes taking place across the state in Maryland public schools.” GAIL SUNDERMAN, EDUCATION, IN THE BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 13.
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Happiness Gap
RESEARCHER TRACKS FEELINGS OF WELL-BEING WORLDWIDE
While economists traditionally deploy cold, hard numbers like gross national product and growth rates to compare welfare around the world, Carol Graham (below, inset) is trying a less conventional measurement: happiness. Graham, a professor in the School of Public Policy and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, is a leader in a movement using subjective feelings of happiness to examine economic success and social mobility. For a recent study published in the journal World Development, she and her research partner, Milena Nikolova Ph.D. ’14, analyzed well-being metrics from the Gallup World Poll to assess factors that make people feel good— and how they vary across countries and income levels. Graham, who has published several books on the subject, focused on three subcategories of happiness. The first, hedonic well-being (from the same root word as “hedonism”), is a measure of how day-to-day existence feels. People in the poorest countries rated this kind of happiness most important. In richer lands, people focused more on (and indeed, had had higher levels of) evaluative well-being, dealing with perceptions of overall success, rather than simply meeting basic needs. The third kind of happiness Graham tracked, called eudaimonic, is a measure of how fulfilling and meaningful people find their lives and roughly tracked income levels. Her findings upend some stereotypes. For instance, conventional wisdom says Latin America is the capital of disparity between rich and poor, while the United States is the land of opportunity. Graham says, however, “We’ve found that the gaps in well-being between rich and poor are bigger in the United States than in Latin America.” According to her research, the poor in the U.S. suffer greater stress and have less faith in the value of hard work than their low-income peers in Latin America, where rich and poor have roughly equal optimism about the possibility of getting ahead. In the United States, Graham says, only the wealthy buy into that. The new reality appears to have arisen in recent years, she says. Although there’s not enough data to explain why, the change could be a result of some Latin American countries’ efforts to clean up their economies and take care of the poor, coupled with the U.S. financial crisis of 2008. “We’ve always had this Horatio Alger, pull-yourself-up-byyour-bootstraps society and belief,” she says. “But it has obviously changed.”–CC
FACULTY Q & A / JASON NICHOLS ’00, PH.D. ’12
BEAT DREAMS When JASON NICHOLS ’00, PH.D. ’12 isn’t lecturing in the African American studies department, he’s going by the name Haysoos as half of the D.C.-based rap duo Wade Waters. He combines those passions at Words, Beats & Life, a nonprofit he and Mazi Mutafa ’06 co-founded in the city to teach at-risk kids hip-hop and life skills. He edits a scholarly journal of the same name, focused on international hip-hop culture. Terp gets to the bottom of what an academic journal and an afterschool program have in common. How did you discover rapping and MCing? There was a song called “My Philosophy” by Boogie Down Productions. When I heard the song, it felt like something I could identify with. When I was in high school, my neighbor would record me. We started making tapes and playing them in the car. I remember being so proud. Where did it all start? Mazi and I were really close friends. He was Black Student Union president for a little while, and he put together a hip-hop conference. It was unbelievable. You went to all of these great lectures. Everybody was there—Tricia Rose, Saul Williams. I actually performed at the end and opened for Phife Dawg and A Tribe Called Quest. Mazi said, “We’ve got to keep this momentum going.” He wanted to form an organization, and he wanted the organization to have a publication to go along with it. He talked to me about being a part of that. How did Words, Beats & Life come to life? It’s an organization that does afterschool programs where they teach MCing and DJing and B-boying. It gives them a skill that they can actually use to sustain themselves. There’s one kid who’s helping himself partially through college DJing. What kind of research is in a hip-hop journal? We are the first peer-reviewed journal on hip-hop. We have poetry, art and commentary. We want to put scholarship in conversation with art. We have articles written in [different languages] and translated into English. Hip-hop is global.
What do you teach your students in your course, “Black Culture: Black Masculinities in Art, Music and Dance”? I was looking at a YouTube clip of my own performance, and I said, “Wow. I didn’t even know I was doing this with my body. What am I trying to say with that movement?” I started thinking about masculinity and art. The class starts looking at some of the artists who have expressed masculinities in their art. Then you start to look at your own masculinities that you express every day. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female; you have some expression of masculinity. That’s the beauty of cultural studies—you can really delve into things that affect your own life.–AS
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JEANETTE J. NELSON; PORTRAIT BY JOHN T. CONSOLI
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iN
the mountains of Western Maryland, a world away from the Chesapeake Bay that dominates so much of the state’s industry and culture, is a man on a mission to change Maryland’s signature drink. Lowbrow Natty Boh beer paired with bushels of blue crabs or chugged at a local bar? Forget it. Joe Fiola Ph.D. ’86 wants you to drink Maryland wine. But you might think: Does Maryland even make wine? (Yes, in every county.) Is it any good? (It wins gold medals.) Why should I try it? (To save the environmental costs of shipping your preferred Australian or French wine, and to make good on that locavore pledge.) “We can compete with anyone in the world,” says Fiola, principal agent and extension specialist at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center (wmrec). “Taste the wines. There’s the proof.” Despite having a similar climate and latitude as traditional wine producers like Spain, Italy and France, Maryland never had much of an industry. In 1662, Gov. Charles Calvert planted 200 acres of European grapes along the St. Mary’s River, only to see the vines wither within a few years. It wasn’t until nearly 300 years later that Boordy Vineyards opened in Baltimore County. What held grape growers back? A combination of archaic laws, dating back to Prohibition; lack of interest and support from the state government; the dominance of crops like tobacco and corn; and a dearth of knowledge about the types of grapes that could be grown in the state’s four distinct growing regions, ranging from cooler, dry mountains in Western Maryland to the wet, flat plains of the Eastern Shore. Local wine also suffered the reputation of being sweet, since inexperienced winemakers tended to add sugar to compensate for varietal shortcomings. But since he arrived in 2001, Fiola (right) has helped Maryland’s wine industry expand dramatically, from just 11 wineries to close to 70 today, and from 450,000 bottles to more than 1.7 million sold in 2013.
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OPENING-SPREAD PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN T. CONSOLI AND MEGAN BLAIR; GRAPE IMAGES COURTESY OF JACLYN FIOLA
“The quality has just exploded since 2000,” says Dave McIntyre, wine columnist for The Washington Post. “People have learned how to get the grapes riper, and that makes the wines better, and that’s why you see really good improvement almost across the board.” That’s thanks in part to Fiola’s research on every aspect of grape growing and wine production, from the introduction of new varieties and improved methods of pest control to the development of detailed site maps. He’s guided a new generation of vineyard and winery owners throughout the state—and now, he’s ready for Maryland wine to crush the competition.
Learning TO Grow In 1960s South Philadelphia, where the only neighborhood greenery was the rare tree or two and the weeds sprouting through sidewalk cracks, young Joe Fiola found an oasis in his grandparents’ back yard. There was a fig tree from which he’d pluck ripe fruit throughout the summer; basil and tomatoes that formed the base of his family’s homemade pasta dinners each Sunday night; and even a sprawling grapevine. He hovered over simmering sauces in his grandmother’s kitchen, marveling at how the ingredients came together for their meals—served, of course, with wine.
PHOTOS BY EDWIN REMSBERG
That’s what inspired him to dig up a corner of his family’s quarter-acre back yard when they moved to New Jersey when he was 12, creating a garden with tomatoes, radishes, peppers, raspberries and strawberries. “It was such a satisfying feeling, to plant a seed or a plant, get a good harvest… then watch my mom cook,” Fiola says. He pursued that interest at Rutgers, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant and agricultural sciences. He came to umd for his doctorate, but after graduating, he returned to Rutgers Cooperative Extension to work as a small fruit specialist, breeding hardier, better-tasting fruits and earning a dozen patents. Traditionally, “small fruits” focused on blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, but he added grapes to the mix, and by the time he left in 2001, he had helped grow the number of New Jersey wineries from 13 to nearly 50. Researchers in Maryland noted his successes, and hoping to play catch-up with Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry, the umd Extension recruited Fiola back to the state.
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“We were lucky to snag him,” says Kevin Atticks, executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association. Fiola often talks of being “blessed,” and in many ways, his return to Maryland seemed preordained. While he was working at Rutgers, his UMD adviser asked him to help set up vines at WMREC in Keedysville to study clones and disease control. He also planted some Eastern European varieties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, to see how they fared in the sandy soil. Finally, he was asked to help extension agents in Southern Maryland create a variety trial to determine what grapes could grow best in a challenging region that was looking for a new industry after tobacco buyouts. When he got the offer from Maryland, he already had grape research going in every corner of the state.
Good Grapes, Winning Wines “You don’t realize it, but there are thousands of varieties of grapes,” says William Layton ’96, owner of Layton’s Chance Vineyard and Winery on the Eastern Shore, who started with four hardy, easy-to-grow varieties recommended by Fiola: chambourcin, vidal blanc, traminette and Norton. “Merlot and chardonnay are just a couple that everyone has heard of.” Finding the best vines for Maryland is a major part of Fiola’s research. Since it takes three or four years to produce a major crop, and seven or eight to develop a more mature taste, growers depend on Fiola—who makes about 100 to 150 batches of wine per year—to show them the best potential grapes for their region. “It doesn’t matter how well they grow if they don’t make great wine,” Layton says. Fiola, who plants vines at four research centers throughout the state, has won at least a halfdozen awards from the National American Wine Society Amateur Wine Competition each year over the last decade, including a double gold for a Cabernet Franc, three silvers and five bronzes in 2014 alone. In addition to seeing which varieties from Maryland’s European cousins can grow well here, he’s also looked farther afield. He was one of the first to bring new Eastern European varieties to the United States—and the only one to see
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their potential and continue to grow them for years. “They make the most beautiful, aromatic wine,” says Atticks. “They’ve never been in such a warm place, and they fruit prolifically.” Fiola’s willingness to try the unusual (and the unpronounceable) has paid off: Big Cork Vineyards in Washington County became the first commercial grower to make wines from the Eastern European varieties. “Russian Kiss,” which won double gold in an international wine competition in 2014, is “stunningly beautiful,” Atticks says. Fiola has expanded into other fruits as well. One colleague is studying the health benefits of antioxidant-rich chokeberries, so Fiola made a couple jugs of chokeberry wine to test its potential. He’s also experimented with apple wine, hard ciders and ice wine, which can create a major source of income for Maryland fruit growers competing with cheap Chinese apple concentrate. Pests and disease are another area where growers look to Fiola and his extension team. With a new pathologist and new entomologist on board, he’s better able to diagnose and treat problems, like stinkbugs. He has a whole wall of stinkbug-infused wines, each with a different proportion of stinkbug to grape (one per gallon and up) to determine just how many of the insects can get into a batch before they affect the taste. Fiola has also created detailed maps of the state that account for factors such as elevation, soil, slope, land use and zoning so potential growers can understand their farms’ grape-growing suitability and which varieties are most likely to thrive there. But perhaps the most important thing is getting all of this information out to those who need it. “He’s not only really good at research but really good at explaining and walking through what are the positives and negatives of what we’re dealing with here on the East Coast,” says Roy Crow ’77, owner of Crow Farm and Vineyard on the Eastern Shore.
Romance AND Reality “Don’t do it.” That’s the first thing Fiola tells anyone attending his annual New Grower Workshop. It might seem like an unlikely, even harsh, message from a man who’s trying to expand the industry—especially one who’s so friendly he prefers a hug over a handshake. But growing grapes is hard work, and he wants to ensure everyone who
comes to him knows that. The labor-intensive crop requires constant canopy management throughout the growing season and careful pruning throughout the winter. “People are seduced by the romance of the After all he’s accomplished, Fiola could kick industry,” he says. About half of the people back, enjoy the more than 3,000 bottles of wine he’s who come to these meetings have collected with his wife, Deborah ’81, M.S. ’85, and zero experience in agriculwatch his children, Jaclyn ’15 and Greg ’18, graduture, but have a vision of a ate college and enter the working world. charming little winery on a But he’s not satisfied. Fourteen years, hillside, full of guests sipping the time he’s worked in Maryland, is cabernet sauvignon. nothing in the wine world. The EuroThe other half are peans have had millenia to perfect the established farmers looking craft, and even relative newcomers to diversify, perhaps those such as Chile and California who have taken tobacco have been refining their wines buyout money, or who plant for centuries. soybeans, corn and wheat He also knows that no like Layton, whose family has matter how much research farmed for generations. he does and how many acres When Layton decided to join of grapes he helps get planted, the family business with his wife, none of it matters if nobody Jennifer ’96, and work with his drinks it. Just 2.4 percent of the father, Joe ’70, he thought, “How are wine sold in the state is created in we going to carry the farm for the Maryland (up from 0.6 percent in 2001), of grapes are next 20 to 30 years?” and he’s thrown himself into promotion to He wanted a crop with a lot of convert more drinkers. university and state support, and in the Fiola organizes the Maryland Governor’s in Maryland mid-2000s, that was grapes. Cup and Wine Masters competitions each each year Fiola offered hands-on assistance, visityear, as well as contests in Pennsylvania and New ing the farm before Layton started planting Jersey; he’s helped create wine trails to encourage to help establish the best location and point day trips; and he promotes the health benefits of out the challenges of high groundwater. wine through workshops and dinners for the public. (Layton incorporated a tile drainage system Those efforts have brought national recognition: The to ensure dry soil for the grapes, which Drink Local Wine organization picked Maryland in 2013 lose cold tolerance and flavor with too much as just the fifth state for its annual conference, bringing water.) These days, when Layton sees an unusual 100 wine reviewers from across the country to taste and insect or potential signs of disease, like patchy evaluate Maryland wines. Restaurants as far away as New York brown leaves, he shoots an email to Fiola to get his take. and London have added Maryland wine to their lists, though Fiola also helped bolster state support by connecting with the market is still primarily local. former state Sen. Donald Munson to show him Maryland’s So next time you’re browsing for a bottle, Fiola says, look wine potential. Munson worked to get then-Gov. Robert beyond your everyday red or white or rosé, and give Maryland Ehrlich to create a state commission to offer grants to new wine a swirl. growers and help promote the industry. It put in motion a “You name it, we can produce it,” he says. “You just have to decade of reforms. Today, wineries can sell wine by the glass try it.” TERP to visitors and set up stands and offer samples at farmers markets, and Marylanders can now order wine online and receive it through the mail. That’s helped farmers like Layton, who sold 50,000 bottles last year, just eight years after he planted his first vines.
Giving Maryland A Chance
800 tons
harvested
Find Terp wine online | Take a virtual tour of Terp-owned vineyards and wineries throughout Maryland at terp.umd.edu.
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KELSEY MAROTTA
THE END OF
PPAAIINN
AN EMINENT ALUMNUS TURNS HIS ZEAL FOR INNOVATION T0 THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING BY CHRIS CARROLL There was usually a warning one day in advance, when Carol Murphy would feel a chill she couldn’t shake—a “bone cold,” she says—in her feet and lower legs. Next came the sparkly visual distortions known as aura, a light show of misfiring neurons in her brain. When that stopped, the pain of the migraine descended—crushing, constant and seemingly endless, stretching out for days. Over the years, Murphy, of Fairborn, Ohio, tried every migraine drug and therapy she could, but often they made her feel worse. “It was 15, 16, 17 days a month I would be at half-mast, but I was raising three children,” she says. “You can’t just go to bed.” As she got older, the pain grew stronger. Approaching age 60, the cutoff for the drug trials she was participating in, she saw an article about an experimental drug-free migraine treatment. In late 2005, researchers at Ohio State University handed her a curious device the size of a large book to take home. Known as a transcranial magnetic stimulator (TMS), the device sends magnetic pulses into the brain in hopes of stopping migraines. “I had an aura, so I held it up to my head and pulsed it, and the aura sort of stopped,” she says. “About an hour later, the aura came back, so I pulsed it again.” When the aura finally halted, the pain should have hit. Except it didn’t. “It was, whoa, there’s no pain,” she says. “It was immediate. It was amazing.” Amazing, but maybe not surprising, given the source. The headache device, which received final approval from the Food and Drug Administration last year, is the brainchild of one of the great biomedical inventors of the past century, Robert E. Fischell M.S. ’54, Sc.D. (honorary) ’96.
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His drive to devise solutions to nagging problems has resulted in more than 200 patents and a bewildering array of medical developments, including rechargeable pacemakers, the first implantable insulin pump and modern coronary stents. Now Fischell, 86, has one of the biggest, most intractable problems of all squarely in his sights: physical pain. No, he’s not going after the kind that warns us to move our hands away from hot burners or skip that last heavy set in the weight room. Instead, he wants to end the chronic pain that the Institute of Medicine says causes suffering for more than 100 million Americans like Carol Murphy. “We have a way to eliminate pain without drugs and with zero side effects,” he says. “The opportunity to help people is tremendous.”
FLEETING BURSTS OF ELECTROMAGNETISM known as pulses create electrical current in body tissues, blocking pain. That’s the concept behind the headache device, which he patented in 2002 along with his oldest son, David, and Canadian neurologist Dr. Adrian Upton. UMD researchers helped develop prototypes of the device being brought to market by the Baltimore-based company eNeura. It is now delivering the device, called SpringTMS, to headache clinics around the nation in preparation for broader distribution in the next year. How do electromagnetic pulses kill pain? Strangely enough, science can’t precisely answer that question because of our limited knowledge of the brain and nervous system. But Fischell’s theory is that the magnetic field scrambles communication between nerve cells. The result, he says, is that the signals received by the brain no longer register as pain. Magnetic pulses have been used to treat depression, and implantable electrodes that direct electrical currents through the back for spinal pain work on a similar principle—although that requires expensive surgery and carries all of its associated risks, Fischell points out. David Rosen, CEO of eNeura, predicts SpringTMS will revolutionize migraine treatment, but clinicians may at first be wary. “Doctors, neurologists and headache specialists have spent
virtually their entire careers treating migraines only with drugs,” Rosen says. “What we’re doing is really disruptive to the market.” The only published efficacy study of the device showed that it works. The 267 migraine sufferers who participated had far better results using TMS than with a placebo treatment. A safety study, meanwhile, showed no harmful effects. After the studies were released, though, the California Technology Assessment Forum dismissed the device for working no better than a common class of migraine drugs called triptans, while costing more. But that trial was done using only a few magnetic pulses, Rosen says. Ongoing studies in Britain, where the devices are used in clinics, suggest more pulses work better. And even if SpringTMS is only as effective as triptans, it still wins, he argues. “Which would you choose if you had your choice between two equally effective treatments, but one has no side effects and you didn’t have to ingest something?” he says. Once the devices are introduced broadly, Rosen says, the company plans to rent them for home use, aiming to price them about the same as popular migraine drugs. “We want people to be able to afford to use it,” he says.
AS HIS MIGRAINE DEVICE COMES TO MARKET, Fischell is pushing the technology in new directions. If pulsed electromagnetic pain relief works on the head, he wonders, why not on other parts of the body? We’ll soon find out if he’s right. Researchers with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, which Fischell and his family founded with a $31 million donation in 2005 (the largest gift in UMD history at the time), as well as with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working on a new device. It has a roughly 50 percent stronger magnetic field than the cordless SpringTMS. Because it plugs into a wall socket, it also provides a series of zaps more rapidly. In a windowless lab in A.V. Williams Hall strewn with bits of circuit board and esoteric-looking components, Wesley Lawson, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has devised a working prototype of the device, and students are painstakingly building 12 copies.
MIGRAINE SUFFERER CAROL MURPHY DEMONSTRATES
the springtms device
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
find a comfortable seat and place the device on a flat surface
insert sim card with prescribed treatment
power up to begin treatment
place device against base of skull to treat
Migraine devices in various states of assembly line Fischell’s desk in his Dayton, Md., home, where the inventor continues to put in several hours of work each day.
“I’M GOING TO DEVOTE MY LIFE TO THIS NEW PAIN EFFORT.” ROBERT E. FISCHELL
The machines will be tested on back, shoulder, knee and foot pain, and could be effective elsewhere, Fischell says. Once the devices are ready, a small clinical trial targeting lower back pain will begin at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, overseen by Dr. Peter Rock, chair of the anesthesiology department. “Certainly if this works, it’s not going to be a treatment for all types of pain, but there is a significant number of people who would benefit if it does,” Rock says. “And any ability to make a dent in opioid use would be worthwhile.” Fischell is confident of his device’s success. His ability to invent, he says, is an instinctive method of quickly grasping a problem and producing a solution—sometimes it appears in his mind’s eye as an engineering drawing. He thinks he’s done just that with his campaign against physical pain. Fischell is planning a network of U.S. clinics where people suffering from bad backs, nerve pain from chemotherapy, achy arthritic joints and a host of other maladies can seek affordable, drug-free palliative care. Along with business partners—including UMD and the School of Medicine, each with a 3 percent cut—he’s set up a company called Zygood LLC to lay the groundwork for the clinics, which he hopes will operate nationwide and bring comfort to millions. “I’m going to devote my life to this new pain effort,” he says.
IN 2006, NINE MONTHS AFTER CAROL MURPHY got the prototype of Fischell’s migraine device—allowing her what she considered a normal life for the first time in years—the Ohio State researchers took it back and ended that part of the study. Her pain immediately returned. She turned again to drug treatments, even having Botox injected into her head and neck, and steroids injected into her spine. All the while, she waited for the device to reach the market. Frustrated by the delay, she agreed to testify before Congress in 2011 on speeding up the development of medical devices. There, she met Fischell, who had one of his migraine machines in tow. She looked at it longingly. “I want to steal that from you,” she said. Fischell chuckled and later provided Murphy with a phone number to a doctor in Britain, where the device had already been approved. She spent thousands to fly there and receive Fischell’s device on prescription, and since 2011 has been nearly migraine-free. Her 38-year-old daughter, Cassie, is beginning to experience worsening migraines. “I see her following in my footsteps and it scares me,” she says. “I would love for her to be able to get this soon.” TERP
“His energy and drive,” says Fischell Department of Engineering Chair William Bentley, “will benefit in ways beyond the patient using his devices. That is helping to catalyze the Fischell Department: 400-plus undergraduate students, 100-plus graduate students and 20 faculty all seeking to make a similar impact. At some of our department-wide events, he’s been known to say that perhaps one of these inspired students will be the next Bob Fischell.”
FISCHELL PHOTO BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAROL MURPHY AND ENEURA INC.
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A NEW
GAME Smith School Helps NFL Players Discover New Opportunities After Football By Liam Farrell
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DURING A LIFETIME SPENT AS A FOOTBALL PLAYER, Vaughn Parker always knew what to do:
Get faster and stronger; protect the quarterback; line up and hit the man across the line of scrimmage. ¶ What he wasn’t ready for was the day when there was no one left to push, pull or wrestle to the ground. ¶ A second-round NFL draft pick in 1994, the 6-3, 300-pound tackle had been a core offensive player for the San Diego Chargers. But after tearing knee ligaments in 2003 and spending half a season with the Washington Redskins, playing in just one game, he decided it was time to walk away. ¶ Yet without the rigors and routine of football, Parker found himself without a purpose. Oh my God, what do I do with myself? he thought. The recession sank his once-successful ventures in real estate, he gained a significant amount of weight, and he eventually separated from his wife. ¶ “I didn’t call it depression, but that’s what it was,” he says. “Even though I was doing the real estate stuff, I was still in that fog. There was a lot of activity. I’m just not sure how productive I was.”
PLAN PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PHOTO CREDITS
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FTER his lost decade, Parker (below, right) is trying to get back on track. And on a chilly day in March, that meant joining several other current and former NFL players to scrutinize a wall of spatulas. They formed an unlikely huddle amid the crowds at the NFL Consumer Products Summit in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. Their goal was to come up with an innovative way to market “homegating,” or bringing the stadium tailgate experience into living rooms across the country. It was just one part of the second consumer products “boot camp” organized by UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the National Football League, a four-day crash course meant to give athletes a guide to finding their lives’ second act. Participants attended seminars on the fundamentals of business planning, budgeting and marketing and listened to presentations from successful companies like ’47 Brand clothing and New Era. Men who spent years grappling with terminology like “cover one,” “A-gap” and “65 Toss Power Trap” now dived into defective allowances, gross margin requirements and EDLP (everyday low price). Besides the homegating team, a second Torrey Smith ’10 group had to research women’s apparel, and both presented their ideas to a panel of judges. Toby Egan, an associate professor at the School of Public Policy and senior executive fellow at the Smith School, says the program gives players a foundation to pursue a career in selling more than just NFL merchandise. “We hope to give them a developmental mindset, not only about consumer products, but about themselves,” he says. “We hope that they leave with a solid starter package and a really good social network.”
“The biggest obstacle for guys is they are not ready when it ends. My goal is to talk about finances the same way I talk about football.”
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DOLLARS AND SENSE The modern NFL is undeniably a success. Revenues are reportedly nearing $10 billion a year, and NFL games accounted for 45 of the 50 most-watched shows last fall. Super Bowl XLIX in February drew the biggest audience in U.S. television history, 114.4 million people. But one of the most persistent questions underlying the league is whether players have truly shared its achievements. Labor strife has been common throughout the NFL’s history, and even now, with the advantages of free agency and the steady drumbeat of large contracts being signed each spring, skepticism remains. A few factors get most of the blame, starting with the unique crush-and-smash physicality of football. One of the most popular football books of recent vintage, former Denver Bronco Nate Jackson’s “Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile,” details a world where the real struggle involves ligaments and bones more than Xs and Os. Contracts rarely include much guaranteed money, and the annual roster cuts from 90 players at the start of training camp to 53 at the start of the season leave a large population of men whose NFL “careers” consist only of practices. And those who actually make a team have the chance, and often feel the pressure, to chase an opulent lifestyle, as stories of NFL players burning through money on nightlife binges, fancy cars and houses and spurious investments formed the core of ESPN’s documentary “Broke.” An April study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that nearly one in six NFL players file for bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement. "Having played for a long time and been well-paid does not provide much protection against the risk of going bankrupt," the study says. The NFL is making an effort to create a healthy pipeline for the inevitable post-football life. In addition to the consumer products boot camp, NFL Player Engagement (motto: Prep, Life, Next) runs programs on topics such as business management, the hospitality industry, and sports journalism and communications. Torrey Smith ’10 heard the horror stories and has taken advantage of these resources, attending the inaugural consumer products boot camp last year in Baltimore. Smith, a wide receiver now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, is also working on an M.B.A. at the University of Miami. “The biggest obstacle for guys is they are not ready when it ends,” he says. “My goal is to talk about finances the same way I talk about football.”
AVERAGE CAREER EARNINGS $6.1M $13.6M
NFL
$17.9M
NHL
$24.7M
MLB NBA
AVERAGE CAREER LENGTH 6
5
4 YEARS
LEARNING FUNDAMENTALS In a conference room of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston, Hank Boyd, a clinical associate professor at the Smith School, takes the boot camp participants through the basics of product marketing. Take the example of a pair of torn, distressed jeans, he says. Why would someone buy them? Who is the target customer? What is the difference between a customer won on “value” versus a customer won on “satisfaction”? “One of the cool things, if you can pull it off, is to predict where demand is going to be,” Boyd says. “This is what it is all about. We are in the prediction game.” In the audience is David Quessenberry, whose NFL career might be over before it even starts. It’s not a question of work ethic. Quessenberry graduated high school without any athletics scholarship offers, but he went from a walk-on to an all-conference offensive lineman at San Jose State. In 2013, he was drafted by the Houston Texans. Yet Quessenberry missed his entire rookie year with a broken foot. Then he was diagnosed with lymphoma, and lost his second season to a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation.
NFL PLAYERS EARN THE LOWEST SALARIES AND HAVE THE SHORTEST CAREERS AMONG THEIR PEERS IN MAJOR PRO SPORTS
3
2
1
NFL
NBA
MLB
NHL
1:6
One in six NFL players file for bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement.
Sources: Forbes.com / ESPN.com / NYTimes.com / QuantHokey.com USAToday.com / National Bureau of Economic Research
PHOTO BY OTTO GREULE / ALLSPORT
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“We hope to GIVE THEM A DEVELOPMENTAL MINDSET, not only about consumer products, but about themselves. We hope that they leave with a solid starter package and a really good social network.” Toby Egan, associate professor at the School of Public Policy and senior executive fellow at the Smith School
61 61% 41% 41
of former players said they found it difficult to adjust to daily life after their NFL career
said the biggest challenge after the NFL was career direction Source: Newsday / NFL Players Association
cookers and cell phone chargers that they saw at the Now in remission, the tackle hopes to play for the products summit, a new thought was borne: How about Texans in the fall. But Quessenberry is here to prepare combining all this stuff into a package for fans? What for when football is no longer an option. “I just want to keep everything in front of me,” he says. about something like the Birchbox beauty product subscription service, but for football parties? Players say few athletes have the same mindset as Ken Jones, founder of Fusion Ventures and an Quessenberry while trying to hold onto their jobs on entrepreneur-in-residence at the Dingman Center for the field. And that can pose big problems. Entrepreneurship in the Smith School, told them it was In “Is There Life After Football?: Surviving the NFL,” a great idea. sociologists James Holstein and Richard Jones wrote “If you guys seriously did this, I would (invest),” he said about the significant challenges for players who “are the day before the presentations. “You are opening up a immersed in a cultural, structural, psychological and new channel.” experiential world that insulates them from many munFor $26, the team told the judges, you can get a dane aspects of everyday life.” standard box with items like disposable plates and cups; Retirement, they wrote, is rarely a clean process with an orchestrated announcement to a roomful of reporters. for $30, you can get one with ’47 Brand clothing and a coupon; for $40, you can get a premium box with a gift Instead, it is often the final step in an unceremonious like a beer stein. decline involving injury, contract renegotiations and Live near your team? Pick it up at a grocery store. lonely workouts in the hopes of making another team. Live in another state? Just go online and order the As those opportunities dry up, a player finds himself at franchise of your choice. And, in the era of social media, the end of a career when most people are still working teams can encourage fans to post pictures of their partoward the prime of their occupations. Identity—as well ties and give tickets to a winner each week. as employment—is at stake. The atmosphere in the pitch room, a meeting space at “It’s not just their jobs that disappear,” Holstein and the headquarters of Academy Sports + Outdoors in Katy, Jones say. Texas, wasn’t quite cutthroat, but the players earned praise The priority for Charles Way, a former New York for how far they got in just four days. Boyd reminded all Giants fullback and the head of NFL player engagement, the participants of a quote from Booker T. Washington: is getting more current players like Quessenberry into these educational workshops. Exploring a new career, he “An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.” The “Super Box” team prevailed over their rivals, says, is better done before a helmet and pads are taken who used the enthusiastic, if slightly off-key, vocal off for good. stylings of three-time Super Bowl champion Henry “You are under the gun (when you retire),” he says. Lawrence to pitch a gift registry for female fans. More “It’s easier when you are playing.” important to Parker, though, was the fact that an academic exercise ultimately wasn’t meant to be academic: He had spent four days with experts who have new NEW EXPECTATIONS expectations of his future. At the start of camp, Vaughn, Quessenberry and their “It’s been awesome,” he says. “They want you to take teammates had nothing but a market category and this and do something with it.” TERP seemingly endless options to bring to a panel of judges. But amidst the sea of NFL-branded beer cozies, slow
34 TERP .UMD.EDU
PHOTO BY MEGAN CAMPBELL
My company creates online simulations that teach cybersecurity basics to beginners and challenge advanced users to rescue a virtual city targeted by hackers. My products aren’t just games—they’re helping to prepare a new generation of cyber crime fighters. FRANZ PAYER ’17 / COMPUTER SCIENCE FOUNDER / CYBER SKYLINE HONORS COLLEGE / ADVANCED CYBERSECURITY EXPERIENCE FOR STUDENTS
PHOTOS BY JOHN T. CONSOLI; PHOTO CREDITS
FROM RESEARCH TO DEVELOPMENT TO LAUNCH, UMD IS DEDICATED TO THE POWER OF FEARLESS IDEAS.
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View more images of the Holi celebration at terp.umd.edu.
PARTING SHOT
A SPLASH OF SPRING
Students couldn't wait for nature to brighten up campus after a long winter. On April 5, hundreds of Terps gathered on McKeldin Mall for Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, to fling multicolored powder at each other. Hosted by the Hindu Students Council for the last two decades, the event draws students of all religions and ethnicities looking to dance, jump in a kiddie pool and celebrate the arrival of spring.
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PHOTO BY PREET MANDAVIA ’14
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