Dr. KAUSIK DAS - 2023 - 2024 KAVLI INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS FELLOW
Dr. Kausik Kas Photo Courtesy: UMES
March 1, 2023 - Congratulations to our very own Dr. Kausik Das, who was selected as a 2023-2024 Fellow with the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Kausik Das is an award winning Professor of Physics and serves as Director for Student Excellence at the School of Agricultural & Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Dr. Das is also a long time MEES Faculty member, is affiliated with the Earth & Ocean Foundation, and has mentored many MEES graduate students. According to the UMES announcement article, Dr. Das will visit the institute this summer 2023 where he will “explore and develop collaborative designs for cutting edge undergraduate research projects and to integrate remote labs at UMES” .
The Kavli Institute is among the most renowned in the world for theoretical physics and brings a diverse group of scientists in physics and related fields together “fostering an environment for listening and considering new ideas” on topics at the forefront of theoretical science. Dr. Lars Bildstein, an astrophysicist known for his work on supernovae and white dwarfs, is the institute’s current director who will serve as Dr. Das’ scientific liaison.
According to the UMES article, collaborative events have already entered the planning stages: UCSB’s Director for the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research and Learning Dr. Linda Adler-Kassner suggested a joint UCSB and FITP seminar series featuring meaningful stories of minority student success that would be open to the media, as well as UCSB Professor of Physics and Biomolecular Science & Engineering Dr. Deborah Fygenson and Dr. Das are exploring ways to design and integrate web-based remote controlled labs in undergraduate physics labs at UMES. Dr. Lars Bildstein suggested Dr. Das also return to the institute to present a colloquium to share success stories of undergraduate research students in his lab at UMES to inspire others.
We at the MEES Program are very proud of our faculty whose passion for teaching, learning and discovery are being rewarded! For more on Dr. Bildstein & the Kavli Insitute, click here. For more on Dr. Kausik Das, click here.
MARCH 2023 - national WOMENS HISTORY MONTH
Monthly Spotlight: National Women’s History Month (March 2023) - In honor of both this past month’s (February 2023) National Black History Month and this current (March 2023) National Women’s History month, this month’s spotlight is on our very own Dr. Viktoria Volkis, who, along with many UMES faculty & staff members, are serving as mentors for Team UMES at this year’s HBCU Battle of the Brains in Austin, Texas which takes place March 8th - 12th, 2023. Team UMES consists of eight students from disciplines across the UMES campus who have been selected to represent the university.
Dr. Viktoria Volkis is a phytochemistry and material and polymer chemist by training. Dr. Volkis is an Associated Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Natural Sciences, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. A long time MEES Faculty member, Dr. Volkis has mentored many graduate students in the MEES Graduate Program. Dr. Vollkis joins Pamela Allison (chair of UMES’ Entrepreneurship and Program Innovation), William Weaver (UMES associate professor of analytical chemistry), and WOM Communications LLC in providing team training activities prior to the event.
Team UMES joins approximately 50 teams from other history Black colleges and universities in a four day competition where after presenting their ideas to a panel of judges, five finalists will compete on stage with a seven minute pitch format followed by a Q & A session.
HBCU Battle of the Brains teams will be vying for a top institutional prize of $50,000 ($25,000 and $10,000 for second and third, respectively) along with eight individual scholarships ranging from $2,000-$5,000. For more on this wonderful competition, click here.
Alumni Corner: Dr. Jeanette Davis (Ph.D, ‘15), also known as “Dr. Ocean”, is a Marine Microbiologist who contributes to ocean science nationally and internationally and has traveled to several countries speaking about her research and coordinating ocean science. Advised by Dr. Russell Hill, at the Institute of Marine & Environmental Technology, Dr. Davis earned her Ph.D. in MEES in Spring 2015 from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science where she focused on marine drug discovery and was cited in Science Magazine for helping to discover a marine bacterium that helps fight cancer. Dr. Jeanette Davis has also been featured in several prominent magazines such as Ebony, Essence, and Black Enterprise. She has worked with other distinguished scientists to a author national publication released from the White House that highlights essential ocean research and technology topics for the next decade. Dr. Ocean also founded the Marquis Pressey Scholarship to fill the void of educational and career opportunities for African American men in her hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
During her time in the MEES program, Jeanette served as president of the then GSA, and also was instrumental in putting together and implementing changes to the annual MEES Colloquium, most notably replacing the long lectures with the MEES alumni panel. Dr. Jeanette Davis is a strong advocate of community and seeks to empower people through science while creating safe spaces for underrepresented groups to explore science. We at the MEES program are very proud of our passionate alumni! For Dr. Davis’ children’s book: “Science is Everywhere: Science is for Everyone” click here, as well as her own personal website, click here.
MEES Research Corner: Nina Santos (ECOL SYS, ‘21) is a Ph.D. MEES student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Nina, based at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, is advised by Dr. Ryan Woodland, and is investigating the diet and prey preferences of Neomysis americana, a species of mysid, in order to inform a predictive food web model. Nina’s work involves laboratory feeding experiments as well as measurements of mysids collected in the field for gut content analysis, bulk stable isotope analysis, and compound specific stable isotope analysis. Prior to entering the MEES program, this daughter of of New England fisherman, was on the Chancellor’s List for Academic Achievement, and was awarded the Chancellor’s Merit Scholarship & the John & Abigail Adams Scholarship each year during her entire stay at the University of Massachusetts (2012-2016) where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology (2016), and went on to earn her M.S. at the University of Rhode Island (2020) investigating food web dynamics and the effects that anthropogenic activities – such as climate change – can have on ecological relationships that organisms have with one another using the Black Sea bass and the Atlantic Cod as model species. Nina is a MacMillan Fellows (2019) and was awarded the Nature Conservancy-URI Student Research Award in 2020. Her Master’s thesis was on “Overlap of Atlantic cod and black sea bass trophic niche due to warming southern New England waters.” For more information on Nina, click here.