University of Maryland Giving Newsletter: December 2015 | Passion by University of Maryland

PASSION A NEWSLETTER FOR SUPPORTERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND / DECEMBER 2015

TO INSPIRE MARYLAND PRIDE / INSPIRATION TO TRANSFORM THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE / BOLDNESS TO TURN IMAGINATION INTO INNOVATION / CURIOSITY TO DISCOVER NEW KNOWLEDGE

ALL TOGETHER NOW Donor-supported Scholarships Fire Up Student-Athletes PAGE 3

ACCESS CODE / PAGE 3 A PERSONALIZED FUTURE / PAGE 6 A CHANGING AMERICA / PAGE 7

GIVING INSIGHT

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN EVERY PART OF THE STATE’S ECONOMY. EACH YEAR, OUR FLAGSHIP INSTITUTION GRADUATES THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS WHO STRENGTHEN THE WORKFORCE AS SCIENTISTS, SCHOLARS, ENGINEERS, ENTREPRENEURS AND INNOVATORS. We attract investment, launch successful startups and stimulate job creation. We share our expertise with businesses and communities on important issues such as health care, education and the environment. We are proud to serve this state. Pride is built on the playing field through our outstanding student-athletes, on a stage through our amazing student-artists and through the impact we make in the communities around the state. Our university is driven by passionate faculty, staff and students, not merely to learn and succeed, but to share that knowledge, and make a positive impact in the lives of millions around the globe. Of course, the tremendous impact our university has is simply not possible without the generous philanthropic support of our alumni and friends. In this issue, I am pleased to share with you just a few of the people and projects that help this university Inspire Maryland Pride. As always, I welcome your feedback at pweiler@umd.edu. Go Terps!

Sincerely,

Peter Weiler Vice President University Relations

ALL TOGETHER NOW With donor support, UMD awards about $13 million in scholarships to the 400 students competing on varsity teams. These scholarships change the lives of their recipients. Meet three of them:

Robert Carter ’17

Skylynne Ellazar ’18

Adreene Elliott ’15

SPORT / POSITION: Basketball / forward

SPORT / POSITION: Softball / infield, outfield

SPORT / POSITION: Volleyball / outside hitter

HOMETOWN: Thomasville, Ga.

HOMETOWN: Kahului, Hawaii

HOMETOWN: Winston-Salem, N.C.

MAJOR: Family science

MAJOR: Criminology and criminal justice

MAJOR: Economics

WHY UMD: I transferred (from Georgia

WHY UMD: I I love the campus, and the

WHY UMD: I wanted to work in interna-

Tech) to be in a better situation in basketball and also to get another opportunity to get a great education. The University of Maryland is up in the ranks as one of the best colleges in the country as far as academics and also in basketball.

school spirit, traditions and history.

tional development and be close to Washington, D.C., where I interned with USAID and the Maritime Administration.

DOWNTIME ACTIVITY: I cook rice every day

and make pork and chicken dishes from home. It makes me feel like I’m not so far away. OUTSTANDING ATHLETICS MOMENT: Starting as

DOWNTIME ACTIVITY: I try to sleep a lot

a freshman against Lafayette.

and do homework. I just try to get my work done, make good grades and play basketball.

QUOTE: Being from Hawaii, not many kids

OUTSTANDING ATHLETICS MOMENT:

Definitely just the wins last year, being able to take this program from not so good a year ago and help them every day to improve. QUOTE: Maryland is always the best

atmosphere I’ve ever played at. The fans are dedicated, they love us, they come out every game and scream and yell and try to do whatever it takes to help us get an edge.

Photos courtesy of Maryland Atheletics

go to school for sports. Now I set the tone for the little kids from home who look up to me. I want to be a good role model, and show that you can go to college and graduate.

DOWNTIME ACTIVITY: I launched my own

company, Body by God apparel and accessories, in May. I love that there’s a focus on entrepreneurship here. You’re constantly around big thinkers and people challenging you to think bigger and “why not?” OUTSTANDING ATHLETICS MOMENT: Leading

the Terps to victory against Rutgers Oct. 24 with my first career doubledouble: 19 kills and 10 digs. QUOTE: I really value this opportunity as

a blessing. I focus on that more than the 6 a.m. lifts and waking up at 5 and the sacrifices—all of that’s there, but I’m more bent on showing how grateful I am for this chance.

For more information about scholarships for studentathletes, contact Joe Foley, deputy director of athletics, at 301.314.1270 or joefoley@umd.edu. DECEMBER 2015 3

Access Code few women pursue computer science careers.

umd pushes to change that.

By Chris Carroll

css/custom-theme/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom.css” /> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-1.6.min.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom/js/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom.min.js”></ script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/date.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://w.sharethis.com/button/buttons.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/sitewide.js”></script> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom/css/custom-theme/calendar_override.css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/spark/spark.css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” <p> href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/front_page.css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/front_carousel.css” /> when amritha jayanti ’18 attended her first hackathon in April, she

found it awash not just in caffeine—mandatory for a marathon 36-hour

T EC HNIC A BY THE NUMBERS :

400 75% 47% 30% 20%

<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml”> <head> <script type=”text/javascript”> Hours of Participants Hackathon UMD students Out-of-state High schoolers document.documentElement.className = ‘js’; first-timers nonstop hacking participants or younger </script> <title> The University of Maryland :: A Public Research University Advancing our State and the World </ title> <meta http-equiv=”content-type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8”/> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/yui/reset-min.css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/yui/fonts-min.css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/sitewide.css” /> Plane, a computer science seniorhref=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom/ opportunities in high-paying fields, to the broad range of possibilities <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” lecturer and director of the Maryland but women aren’t going for them. in the field and help them connect css/custom-theme/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom.css” /> Center for Women in Computing. According to the latest socially with other girls who share <script type=”text/javascript” The center, founded src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-1.6.min.js”></script> in 2014 with Department of Education statistics, similar interests. <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom/js/jquerysupport from the Maryland Center men earned over four times as many One of the attendees at the July ui-1.8.13.custom.min.js”></script> for Women in Computing Fund, undergraduate computer science camp, Courtney Tse, 15, was glad <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/date.js”></script> encourages girls to consider computer degrees as women, with similarly boys were absent. <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://w.sharethis.com/button/buttons.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/sitewide.js”></script> science majors, and supports women disparate ratios at the graduate level. “It seems like they’re not worried once they’ve enrolled. In fact, thousands more women if they mess things up and make Computer science is a high-paying earned computer science degrees in mistakes,” says Tse, of Ellicott City. <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery-ui-1.8.13.custom/ field; the average starting salary tops 1985 “I think if there were boys here, it css/custom-theme/calendar_override.css” /> than they did in 2013. $60,000, according to a January href=”/spark/spark.css” To turn that around in Maryland, would be harder, because it wouldn’t <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/front_page.css” />be as open.” report by the National Association Plane oversees seven undergraduate <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> of Colleges and Employers. A 2014href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/front_carousel.css” “ambassadors” from the center who The goal is not gender analysis of job postings nationwide travel to schools and clubs around segregation in computing, says <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/libraries/jquery.cycle/jquery.cycle.all.min. by the Brookings Institution showed the state to nudge science and mathTechnica director Jayanti. It’s to js”></script> vacancies in computer oriented girls toward computing help women realize they have the <script160,000-plus type=”text/javascript” src=”/spark/spark.js”></script> <script and type=”text/javascript” src=”/2011_05_refresh/js/front_page.js”></script> mathematical occupations— careers and to advise teachers on how necessary skills to compete in the more than in any other field. They’re to support them. sea of testosterone. </head> also among the hardest to fill, with Each summer, Plane also runs “If we can introduce more <body> each position open an average of 39 Computer Science Connect, a girls’ women to it in a place that seems <div id=”site_container”> days (gaps that rise to 46 and 47 days, day camp that introduces skills safer, they’ll realize what a <div id=”social-icons-floating”> <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/UnivofMaryland”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/ respectively, in the Baltimore and like Web development, computer hackathon is about,” she says. “And fb-icon.png” alt=”Facebook Icon” /></a> Washington areas). security and programming in popular then later they’ll be comfortable <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/user/UMD2101”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/ That means great job languages. The goal is to expose girls in the coed environment.” youtube-icon.png” alt=”Youtube Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://twitter.com/UofMaryland”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/twitter-icon. png” alt=”Twitter Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwwumdedu/”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/ social/flickr-icon.png” alt=”Flickr Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://vimeo.com/umd”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/vimeo-icon.png” alt=”Vimeo Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://www.umd.edu/umnews/rss_feeds.cfm”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/ social/rss-icon.png” alt=”RSS Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://www.umd.edu/iTunesU/index.cfm”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/ itunes-icon.png” alt=”Itunes Icon” /></a> <a href=”http://pinterest.com/umdedu/”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/pinterest-icon. png” alt=”Pinterest Icon” /></a> <a href=”https://www.coursera.org/umd/”><img src=”/2011_05_refresh/images/social/coursera<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml”> <head> <script type=”text/javascript”> document.documentElement.className = ‘js’; </script> <title> The University of Maryland :: A Public Research University Advancing our State and the World </ title> Photos by John T. Consoli <meta http-equiv=”content-type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8”/> <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” href=”/2011_05_refresh/css/yui/reset-min.css” />

DECEMBER 2015 5

A Personalized Future POPULATION

“People don’t always know what they want,” Rust says. “Sometimes you reveal your preferences by what you actually choose.” To some extent, this poses a question to consumers: How much information and control are you comfortable giving away? Rust says the answers often come down to a generation gap. “Most people are willing to give up some privacy to be served better,” Rust says. “Our students are much more comfortable with that. They can see the value.” This research is part of Rust’s broader effort to track the big developments revolutionizing the field of marketing, from the social networks that allow immediate and constant feedback between companies and customers to the lower costs of storing and analyzing huge amounts of data. Rust came to UMD from Vanderbilt University in 2000, and says his endowed chair was the reason for the move. (Endowed professorships allow Maryland to recruit and retain talented faculty, and to give them the resources to pursue their research and scholarship.) Those funds have been critical in supporting his research and the travel necessary for presentations and networking. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that,” he says. “If you want to have top talent, you have to have those.” Photo by Tony Richards

45 M

62%

U.S. IMMIGRANT POPULATION (U.S. TOTAL 321 M)

ROLAND RUST, the David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, knows the future of companies today depends on how well their products can be personalized. But it turns out that a computer might be more successful at identifying those preferences than the customers themselves. Rust, along with Smith colleague Michel Wedel and Tuck Siong Chung Ph.D. ’07 of Nanyang Technological University, published an article earlier this year measuring the performance of a mobile news app with different personalization methods. They discovered that, perhaps contrary to most people’s expectations, readers weren’t good at choosing the types of articles they wanted to read. Instead, personalizing with a computer algorithm had much better results, particularly if paired with data on what was being read by customers’ linked social network.

BY LIAM FARRELL

1 8 % H I S PA N I C

ENDOWED BUSINESS PROFESSOR ANALYZES HOW TECH IS REVOLUTIONIZING MARKETING

B 12 % N A 6 % ASI projected foreign-born population

18%

in 2020, up from 14% in 2015.

POLITICS

40%

of growth in the electorate through 2030 to come from Hispanics.

2030

2015

40M

23.7M

57%

of registered Hispanic voters lean Democratic.

Points of UMD Pride You might think the university’s sole mission is to deliver a top-notch education to students— and it certainly does that, awarding nearly 10,000 degrees a year. But UMD is also committed to service to the state, providing value to Maryland every day.

Understanding a Changing America UMD’S CENTER FOR THE HISTORY OF THE NEW AMERICA expands our understanding of the long

immigration history of this country, from 1500 to the present, and its connections to world history. It brings together scholars, policymakers and students to conduct research, host conferences, train faculty and provide courses about the legal and demographic changes that have made the United States an immigrant society. Here’s a look at those changes:

EDUCATION

ECONOMY

41%

of immigrants arriving in the U.S. in the past five years completed at least a bachelor’s degree. (20% in 1970)

24 M

15 20

immigrants account for 16.6% of U.S. employment

0 197

2.8 M 1970

or 19%, of the nation’s 14.6 million selfemployed workers are immigrants.

2015

23%

of new arrivals didn’t finish high school. (50 % in 1970)

Statistics courtesy of the Pew Research Center

Map illustration by Vicky Robinson

Here are a few examples:

$3.16B IN ANNUAL ECONOMIC IMPACT ON THE STATE’S ECONOMY

$33.9B IN REVENUE AND

8,000 JOBS DIRECTLY CREATED BY MTECH VENTURES OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS

$750M IN NEW PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN THE CITY OF COLLEGE PARK IN THE PAST THREE YEARS

DECEMBER 2015 7

University Relations Office of Marketing and Communications 2101 Turner Hall, 7736 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20742

WHY I GIVE BY PROFESSOR ANGUS MURPHY

Rebecca Selleck was just the sort of student we want in the plant science graduate program at UMD. She was passionate about breeding crops for enhanced nutrition and disease resistance, particularly crops that are vital to subsistence farmers. Rebecca arrived here in 2014 to work with Professor Kate Everts on one project involving pathogens that infect lima beans, particularly on the Eastern Shore, and another project on sunflower seeds.

REBECCA SELLECK

Rebecca rapidly became a strong presence within the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture and the voice of environmental and social conscience in the graduate student community. She also became very aware of the challenges faced by junior women faculty members striving to establish themselves.

The work she did does not attract support from agricultural companies or governmental funding agencies. A little funding goes a long way for a student who takes on this type of work. It seemed natural to establish a fund in Rebeccaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name to provide graduate research funding in this challenging area and to provide the community and her family a vehicle to recognize her extraordinary qualities.

Then, one day, she was gone. Rebecca was killed May 11 by a freight train at a dangerous College Park railroad crossing. The sense of shock and loss in our community was overwhelming. As we gathered and remembered Rebecca, we were all reminded of her pragmatism and disdain for sentimentality. It seemed that the best way to remember Rebecca was to make it possible for future students to follow in her path.

My wife, Assistant Professor Wendy Peer, had taught Rebecca in her plant physiology course, and suggested that we provide the funds to nucleate this effort. Friends and community members have donated to the Rebecca Selleck Sustainable Crop Research Award fund as well. It is our hope that others will contribute to help future graduate students do the work to ensure that the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest farmers have better lives.

Professor Angus Murphy is chair of the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. Photo by Agnus Murphy