INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH & INITIATIVES

The Department of English’s Center for Literary and Comparative Studies and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center, along with the Office of International Affairs and Global Classrooms, sponsored an event to celebrate “Her True-True Name,” the trailblazing 1989 collection of stories by women writers from across the Caribbean. The event was moderated by Grenadian writer and Professor of English Merle Collins, who retired from UMD in the spring, and who was among the 31 writers published in the original anthology.

Ph.D. students Erika Exton, Madison Buntrock and Kathleen Oppenheimer from the Maryland Language Science Center are working with researchers from the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences and a faculty member from the University of Maryland, Baltimore to study how different view settings in a remote learning environment—such as on Zoom— impact children’s learning. The prediction is that gallery view, where students see the rest of the “class,” provides more opportunity for social engagement with peers but also more opportunities for distraction.

Xiaoli Nan, professor of communication and director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, was part of a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore that received $98,432 from the MPowering the State initiative to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 in Maryland and beyond. Their research aims to help understand why African Americans, who suffer disproportionately from the adverse health and economic impact of the pandemic, might accept or reject the COVID-19 vaccine. Several School of Music students participated in a music aerosol research study co-led by Jelena Srebric, UMD professor of mechanical engineering. One of the purposes of the study was to find ways to play music safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school quickly implemented the study’s scientific recommendations for in-person music. These included using modified instrument masks and bell covers to help contain aerosols.

Associate Professor of Violin Irina Muresanu is working with Cornelia Fermüller, an associate research scientist at the Center for Automation Research at UMD’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, to develop artificial intelligence technology to assist in violin teaching. The project was awarded a $115,000 Maryland Technology Development Corporation Maryland Innovation Initiative Award, a partnership between the state of Maryland and five Maryland academic research institutions.