Precious Gem: Cassidy Laidlaw

This week, we at the Stone would like to recognize yet another one of the exceptional members of the Gemstone program.  Rising sophomore Cassidy Laidlaw, new member of team BIASES, is a Computer Science and Mathematics double major.  Last semester, he enjoyed his heavy course load complete with programming, algorithm analysis, and abstract algebra.  However, Cassidy is much more than a double STEM major as he is also a member of the Men’s Choir and a jazz ensemble on campus at the University of Maryland.

Cassidy’s face lit up during our interview whenever he spoke about music.  During the spring semester, he was busy performing in weekly concerts for both of his music groups.  As a member of Men’s Choir, Cassidy had the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center with some of the cast members of Les Miserables, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.  In addition to performing, music also influenced Cassidy a different way this semester.  He participated in a Jerusalem Marathon where he raised over $2,500 to support children in Israel.  At the end of his fundraising, he flew to Israel over spring break to run the marathon and to meet the child he was partnered with for the duration of the fundraising.  During his time overseas, Cassidy had the chance to hear his partner sing with the charity choir, which he described as a beautiful and special experience.  His affiliation with Israel does not stop with this touching experience. Cassidy will be a co-president of Terpim next semester, which is an Israeli culture group on campus.  While participating in all of these activities would be enough for most people, he also finds time to tutor kids in 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grades in a nearby community, to work on a computer program he took on as a side project, and to satisfy his love of the outdoors by biking and running.

Cassidy’s plans for the future are just as impressive as the litany of activities he participates in now.  He is currently weighing his career preferences, but he believes that he would be happy doing research as a professor.  However, he is very excited by the possibility of working at Not Impossible Labs, a company that looks to solve the diverse problems facing humanity.  Cassidy is attracted to the opportunity of having a job where he could directly see his ideas and work affect other people positively.  His last goal may not be entirely surprising, as Cassidy bikes all over campus, but he hopes one day to bike all the way across the country.  He may have just been placed on his Gemstone team but Cassidy is already doing great things, and there is no doubt that he will continue to do so throughout his time at the University of Maryland.

- 15 June 2015 – Nate Nenortas 

Precious Gem: Tommy Tran

Meet Tommy Tran. This Neurobiology and Physiology major from Rockville, Maryland is finishing his freshman year here at UMD. He is on the recently formed Team PHAGE, a Gemstone team that he coauthored. Team PHAGE is looking to use bacteriophages to develop a disinfectant for use in hospitals and farms. This would be an important alternative to antibiotics because it can still attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and doesn’t promote their resistance. He explained that as the project co-author he wasn’t the one to come up with the idea for Team PHAGE, but he did a lot of the research in order to write the literature review section of the proposal. Tommy is premed, and will doubtlessly use what he has learned in his chemistry and biology classes to be an asset to his team. I asked him about when he knew he wanted to be a doctor, and he said at one point he realized he enjoyed his science classes the most, and it was the right fit. His favorite class this year was organic chemistry because figuring out the problems is like a “puzzle”.

Tommy is busy outside of the classroom as well. He is on the club tennis team, and his weeks are filled with practices and tournaments. The team hasn’t gotten to nationals yet, so one of Tommy’s goals is to help them on this quest. This summer, Tommy will be working as a tennis instructor, developing juniors (kids ages 5-15) in tennis. In addition, he’ll be doing an internship at an orthopedic center shadowing a doctor in Rockville and taking a sociology course online. Come late August, he’ll be a camp leader for Gems Camp. He says he’s most looking forward to comparing himself as a freshman to the class of 2019. I asked him about his experience going to Gems Camp and coming to Gemstone the first semester. He says he was skeptical; coming from Gonzaga College High School, an all boys private school, he was used to knowing everyone in his grade very well. Now looking back at the end of the year, Tommy can safely say he found a new home in Ellicott Hall. 

- 1 June, 2015 - Elliot Frank

Precious Gem: Tori Queeney

Hello from the Netherlands! Or as they say here, hoi-hoi! I’m currently spending the semester in Maastricht, a small city in the southernmost province of the Netherlands. I originally was going to study in Amsterdam, but Dr. Coale and Dr. Skendall were really interested in a program here in Maastricht and how it could be adapted for the Gemstone curriculum, so I did a little research and found myself volunteering to be the first UMD student to study here! I liked the program here because of the four-week “project period” at the end of the semester. The project that the Gemstone staff was interested in is called Think Tank, where teams of students (sound familiar?) work together to solve problems posed to them by real-world companies and institutions. I’m the first UMD student to come to Maastricht, but we’re hosting a UCM student in the fall and hope to have more Gemstone students study abroad here in the future. Of course, I’m still working with my Gemstone team while I’m here – I mostly do editing for grant proposals and other writing things. I love being able to stay involved – my team, CATTAILS, recently won the library award and I’m so proud!

Precious Gem: Zeke Gonzalez

On a dark, stormy night, a Precious Gem nomination was received for our very own GSC President: Zeke Gonzalez.
This member of Junior Team SAVIOR had apparently just made 8 tupperwares' worth of homemade chili.

"He transcends everyone in popularity, thoughtfulness, playfulness, and originality," his nominator wrote. They had "come to realize Zeke has many talents, including cooking, [...] maintaining friendships, corralling [his] housemates together for bonding activities, managing his portion of the bills, leading his Gemstone team, leading the Gemstone GSC, leading his Swim practices, being an active participant in his classes, [and] managing a crazy schedule." And as we continued to read the nomination, we also wondered how we would even go about writing about our dear President. In other words, the question we started to ask ourselves was:

How do we begin to describe Zeke Gonzalez?

Throwback Thursday: Jonathan Roberts

Jonathan Roberts, Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.

We recently caught up with alumnus Jonathan Roberts at a Banneker/Key Alumni event. He was a member of Team Universal Playgrounds in the Class of 2003, and is now a patent attorney at Nixon & Vanderhye. He was gracious enough to answer some of our questions, so follow the jump for more!

Precious Gem: Taylor Liu

Taylor Liu is this week’s Precious Gem! She is a Cell Biology and Genetics major, and plans to go on to medical school after graduation. I asked her how she liked her classes, and it’s clear she has a passion for biology. As a freshman, Taylor is not on a team yet, but she proposed Team OSCAR (Optimizing Siderophores for Commercially Applicable Relevance), the continuation of Team SILVER’s work. She said she was attracted to this project because it is building off prior research, and it has the potential for a tangible outcome. Team OSCAR is currently combining their proposal with that of another team, Team GASTRIC, but Taylor seemed to be looking forward to this process and the additional perspective that they should bring.

As our conversation moved away from Gemstone, it became clear that one thing that makes Taylor exceptional is her commitment to helping others. We often see her frequently helping her fellow freshmen with homework in the Ellicott lounges. I learned, however, that she takes this skill out of the residence hall by being involved with America Reads. In addition, she’s taking a class in “Urban Education and Social Justice” this semesterm, and she says she’s enjoying it greatly. To be in the class, one is required to be a volunteer with America Reads/America Counts, but students learn much more than methods of tutoring. The class involves reading articles and then presenting on topics including social justice, developmental psychology, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Students are also preparing for a reflection workshop at the end of the semester involving all the mentors in the program.

This past Spring Break, she went with Alternate Breaks to a charter school in Chicago to help students and study how the school operates. The best part of her trip was her fellow students: she said they had a two-hour reflection session each night, so they got to know each other well. Taylor says she doesn’t want to go on to a career in teaching, but the trip gave her an understanding and appreciation of the hard work that teachers do. No matter what she ends up doing, we’re sure she’ll bring a commitment to helping others and a fierce intellectual curiosity.


-3 April, 2015 - Elliot Frank

#TBT: Jaishri Shankar: A Love Letter for All Things Gems

Hey there, Gemstone! Most of you probably don't know me, but my name is Jaishri. I graduated from UMD and Gemstone (Team SWAMP) in 2013 and promptly moved to South Carolina to join Teach for America. I'm now in my second year as a TFA corps member, and I teach 8th grade Science to a very energetic and dynamic group of young men and women in Kingstree, South Carolina. I'm placed a very rural area at the local middle school, and everyone in town knows me as the crazy 8th grade Science teacher who loves turtles just a little too much...wonder why...? ;)

#WCW: Dr. Skendall

"I met our Woman Crush Wednesday, Dr. Skendall, two Friday afternoons ago as the Gems Suite was clearing out for Spring Break. Our conversation ranged from talk of her latest conference, to her role on Gemstone, to her children literature preferences." - Elliot Frank, Stone Journalist

#TransformationTuesday: Edward Lin

Yesterday we had Man Crush Monday so of course today at The Stone we have Transformation Tuesday! As you all know, college is typically a time of great change and the activities we are involved in can play a huge role in that change, so it makes sense that Gemstone has caused some big transformations in the students who have completed all four years!

Meet Ed Lin.

Actual depiction of the transformation Ed underwent in college

#MCM: Dr. Coale

It's Man Crush Monday here at The Stone, and all Gemstone students know that the ultimate man crush is the Director of the Gemstone Program, Dr. Frank Coale. Yet, few Gemstone scholars know much about this mysterious man. I have recently interviewed Dr. Coale and I am eager to share the inside scoop about our collective man crush.

Guest Alumni Post: Jessica Lu

Class of 2014 - Team MEGA

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (MS1)

"Gemstone is a four-year, interdisciplinary team research program where students develop and conduct their own project aiming to address a broader societal issue." 

After four years of talking about Gemstone to freshmen in GEMS100, prospective students, and inquisitive family/friends, those words start to tumble out instinctively. When I was interviewing at medical schools, every single interviewer wanted to learn more about Gemstone. I don't know whether it was the elegant name, or they just had no idea what aquaponics meant and why I decided to work with fish for so many years... but by the end of interview season, I had my elevator pitch down to stand-up routine perfection. However, I did notice that every interviewer focused on a single word in my well-rehearsed spiel: the word "team". They had seen research before, but seldom team research, which encompasses its own unique assets and challenges. That intrigued them. 

Precious Gem: Unnati Mehta

This past Monday, I had the pleasure of interviewing this week’s Precious Gem, Unnati Mehta of Team BRAIN BLAST. Originally from Clarksville, MD, Unnati is a Behavioral and Community Health major with a minor in International Development and Conflict Management (IDCM). She is also part of the Global Semester program on campus, for which she interns at the National Institute of Health three days a week conducting HIV/AIDS outreach. She enjoys her internship because not only is she helping her community, but she is also gaining experience in the field of public health, which she hopes to work in one day. This semester Unnati is focusing mostly on her IDCM minor, as she is taking the minor’s two capstone courses that focus on development and conflict. Although the material is dense and requires much reading, she says that these are her favorite courses she is taking this semester.

One may expect that with her course load and work from her internship, Unnati would try and relax with whatever free time she has—but in her case, she uses time outside of class to engage in various extracurricular activities. Unnati has been part of the dance team Entouraas for her past two years at UMD and while she did not originally plan on joining the team this semester, she was asked recently to come back to fill an open spot. She has a great love for dance so she jumped at the opportunity and even participated in a competition in Miami the weekend before our interview. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity at the University of Maryland. Unnati also loves to travel: she has studied abroad in both London and Amsterdam, where she studied the cities’ public health systems. She also travels to India every year to visit family.

Gemstone has reinforced Unnati’s love of research to the point that she sought additional research opportunities outside of the program. She has conducted research in the dietetics department at UMD and would like to incorporate research into her future career. She plans on attending graduate school after her time at UMD is complete in order to pursue a Master’s in Public Health, followed by a Ph.D. in epidemiology. Currently in the process of researching graduate programs, she would like to attend graduate school somewhere on the East Coast, her current preference being Columbia University. While Unnati does not have her exact career planned out yet, she is certainly setting herself up for success. She lives by the motto: “do what you’re passionate about,” and will certainly be able to continue to uphold this after she receives her graduate degrees. Whether she is at her internship, attending a fraternity event, fulfilling her love of dance, or in the lab for BRAIN BLAST, Unnati will undoubtedly be doing something exceptional if you spot her around campus.


-6 March 2015, Nate Nenortas

Precious Gem: Andrew Zhao

Team INJECT

This week’s Precious Gem is Andrew Zhao, a sophomore bioengineering major. We started discussing his experience in Gemstone on Team INJECT. Team INJECT is looking for a treatment for Age-Related Macular Degeneration, which occurs mainly in adults fifty years and older and is “a pretty common form of eye loss”. Their treatment uses curcumin, which, according to Andrew, is “not that great as an actual drug” but has a lot of potential as a “therapeutic” due to its antioxidant properties. They are engineering nanoliposomes to transfer the curcumin through the membranes of the body, and then release the drug when it gets to the macula. When I asked Andrew about his role on the team, he called himself “just a regular team member”, meaning he doesn’t manage money, talk to the librarians, or do another specific role. However, as I kept talking to Andrew, it became clear that he was much more that the average team member.

For one, Andrew is a bioengineering major, so he is already well equipped to work in the lab, go through the literature, and design experiments. He is extremely interested in research, and enjoys picking out techniques and interesting ideas from journal articles. Moreover, he has a great deal of lab experience already. Last summer he was part of the inaugural International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team at University of Maryland. Their project revolved around a pathogen, dermo (Perkinsus marinus), which attacks oysters by binding to their hemocytes and acting as a parasite. This is a problem that affects many oyster populations, including those in the Chesapeake Bay. Their solution was genetically engineering E. Coli to act as a sensor for dermo. By modifying the bacteria to produce a protein, it can bind to the dermo and then reveal how much dermo is in a water sample. He worked with Integrated Life Science undergraduate students, graduate advisors, and professors, and it’s clear he absorbed a lot of advice about being a researcher and an engineer.

Before the interview, Andrew was coming from his “Transport Process Design” class, which incidentally is taught by his Gemstone mentor. He says that this class, which focuses more on the mathematical modeling side of bioengineering, is close to what he wants to research after UMD. Andrew is planning on going on to get a PhD in bioengineering, although he’s still considering his options. This summer he’s looking at internships at private companies to get a feel for that side of research. No matter where Andrew ends up, it is clear he’s going to bring experience and a deep understanding of bioengineering with him. Even from our one conversation, I was inspired by Andrew’s love of research and his ability to take advantage of all that Gemstone and UMD offer. Best of luck to this week’s Precious Gem, Andrew Zhao!



20 February 2015 - Elliot Frank

Precious Gem: Pablo Goldschtein

Our sophomore Precious Gem this week is Pablo Goldschtein, who a valued member of Team MORALS. Pablo hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina and is an International Business major with a minor in Spanish Business and Culture. As if that was not enough, he is seeking to add another major within the Business School as well. He is currently enrolled in 15 credits this semester, which include his Gemstone meeting, some business classes, and Gen Ed classes. He speaks most fondly of his Conflicts of Latin America class in which, as the name would suggest, he learns all about the dynamics of different conflicts throughout the history of Latin America.

Pablo has many passions, which is why he is a member of the Primannum Honor Society, as well as the Association of Latino Professionals in Accounting and Finance (ALPHA) in the Business School. Of all that he does, his biggest passion is soccer. Whether playing, coaching, or watching, chances are you can find Pablo around a soccer field if he ever wants to relax and enjoy himself. Pablo even says his fondest moment about soccer is "going to the stadium for the first time with my brother and my father. I was five. There was no going back at that moment, soccer became my passion.” He currently plays in the Washington International Soccer League and in the OAS Inter-Business League. He also coaches the under-13 and under-14 teams for Toca Juniors FC, for whom he played when he was younger, and at summer camps in between semesters.

Pablo has his sights set on a career that allows him to use his International Business major and also allows him to travel back to Argentina. His family is very important to him and he cherishes every opportunity he gets to see not only his family in the United States, but also his extended family back in Argentina. While he would still like to live in the States, the possibility of going back to see family, friends, and enjoy Argentinian culture excites and motivates him to succeed in his academics. Pablo works harder than most with soccer, extracurricular activities, school, and Gemstone, but he is still a charming guy, who is fun to talk to. Be sure to be on the lookout for him around campus.




13 February 2015 - Nate Nenortas

Precious Gems: Katie Krejcik

This week's Precious Gem spotlight is Katie Krejcik, a freshman Materials Science and Engineering major from Baltimore, MD. Although Katie hasn't been at UMD for long, she seems to be adjusting to college very well. She is on top of her school work even in CHEM135, which she calls her hardest class this semester. Katie spoke very fondly of GEMS100 and her history class on the life of people in the American Revolution, which are her two favorite classes.

Outside of class, Katie has had no issue in finding ways to fill her free time. She played soccer from age 3 to high school and plays for the club soccer team here. The season recently ended but that doesn’t stop Katie from heading over to La Plata beach to enjoy the game when she can. In addition to her interest in athletics, Katie played the alto sax throughout high school and taught herself a bit of piano as well. She also finds time to give back to the community as she is the VP of Greensquad in RHA for Ellicott Hall.

Katie hasn’t had your typical freshman year so far. Recently, she attended GE's Female Diversity Leadership Recruitment Summit. There were 5 colleges represented at the conference and Katie was the only representative from the UMD. Her days consisted of getting to hear the stories of executives in the engineering field and touring GE’s aviation facility. Also, the summit gave the attendees a chance to interview for an internship working with ceramics for GE next semester. Katie knocked the interview out of the park and received an offer for the internship.

It may be Katie’s freshman year, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing big things. Whether she’s making plays on the soccer pitch or casually getting a huge internship in her first semester, she’s making a huge splash. Be on the lookout for this precious gem around campus, Katie is going to do big things.

14 November 2014 - Nate Nenortas

Precious Gem: Gregory Mathews

Don’t try to fence Gregory Mathews in. This junior on Team SAVIOR is a scholar, outdoorsman, and is this week’s Precious Gem. Greg hails from Frostburg, Maryland and Bishop Walsh high school. His high school graduating class had 49 students, so you might be tempted to think it was hard for him coming to a school of 26,538 undergraduates. However, from talking to Greg it’s clear he’s easily carved a niche out for himself at UMD.

Greg is on Team SAVIOR, which he enjoys immensely. Team SAVIOR is investigating the spread of the invasive species the northern snakehead (a fish) throughout the Potomac River ecosystem. This summer Greg spent a lot of his time driving around Southern Maryland to do surveying with his team. His team no doubt appreciated his efforts, and in turn Greg says that getting to know his team has been the best part of his Gemstone experience.

He was originally attracted to the project because it relates well to his major, environmental science. He was inspired to study this field because some of his uncles are wildlife biologists, and it’s clear his whole family has a connection to the outdoors. Greg told me stories about hunting, fishing, and camping back home with his relatives, and it’s clear he has a passion for nature.

Greg is also an incredibly involved student on campus, and had been an ambassador for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, a section leader for GEMS104, and a volunteer with the Catholic Student Center. He has volunteered with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, and is looking for internships and jobs to put his studies to good use.

You may see Greg around campus with his Plant Science 253 class, learning about the local trees. Or, you might see him relaxing at Lake Artemsia, which he says is his favorite spot to get away from the business of campus. In any case, be on the lookout for Gregory Mathews- environmental scientist, nature lover, and Precious Gem.


31 October 2014 - Elliot Frank

Precious Gem: Zack Siegel

Zack is a senior mathematics, physics, and computer science triple major on team QUANTUM SEA. Zack hails from Rockville, MD and attended high school at Wootton High. An active member of his Gemstone team, Zack used MATLAB to write the modeling program that his team now uses. In fact, QUANTUM SEA’s mentor has pitched the idea of getting his program formally published.

Outside of his team, Zack conducts physics research at the Joint Quantum Institute, is a vice president of the National Mathematics Honors Society, Pi Mu Epsilon, and is on the sponsorship team for BitCamp 2, a college hacking marathon. He enjoys spending time not devoted to his vast array of academic activities doing outdoor activities such as hiking and playing sports. For the past few summers he has interned at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, and worked at Oculus VR. He was even able to spend some summertime on the beaches of southern CA.

Zack spoke very fondly of his experience at CERN. He spent his summer with a diverse group of 300 students from all over the world. His days were comprised of lectures in the mornings from famous physicists and he spent his afternoons on a software development team working on simulations for the large hadron collider. Zack also made sure to keep busy in his down time by traveling and enjoying the beautiful scenery that Switzerland and France has to offer. During his travels, Zack also climbed halfway up the Matterhorn, which is one of the highest peaks in the Alps (4,478 m). As if his experience was not packed enough, Zack also received an email during his time abroad about a memorial scholarship from Oculus VR, which sought applicants interested in computer science and nature. Zack decided to write his essay that day while drawing inspiration from a mountain which he could view from his window. He won the scholarship.

While at BitCamp during last school year, Zack spoke to a recruiter from Oculus VR, who ensured that Zack got an internship with the company. That small foot-in-the-door was all he needed to get an internship with Oculus that summer. He worked on software for the second iteration of the Oculus Rift, the premier virtual reality device developed by Oculus VR. His individual project focused very heavily on the optics of the Oculus Rift. In addition to the large quantity of free stuff, he enjoyed the passionate working environment that Oculus VR offered.

Zack is very personable and is more than willing to bring the discussion of complex computer science, physics, and mathematics down to a level that anyone could understand. He has a resume that is filled with valuable and interesting experiences. It was certainly a pleasure getting to know this Precious Gem!


17 October 2014 - Nate Nenortas

Freshman Precious Gem: Alex Boukhvalova

Freshman Alex Boukhvalova reflects on her experience at the NYC Wakeup Tour and Uncubed Event.  Alex was sent by the University of Maryland Computer Science department to the two day Wakefield Media sponsored event.

Overall it was a really awesome and unique experience! The first day was a huge convention called Uncubed where over 80 startup companies and entrepreneurs that founded some of those startups came to give skills talks about how they founded their companies as well as talk about positions they are hiring for. I learned a lot about the nature of what it takes to get a start-up running, the mindset needed, as well as the technical versus business side for a lot of the companies. I got to talk to and visit the booths of companies like GrubHub, Buzzfeed, Gilt, and Birchbox and talk to their representatives about potential internships for next winter and summer. The convention center itself has a really cool layout with game centers to relax at, and picnic areas indoors and all of the companies were giving out free things and food as well as BarkBox who even brought dogs to play with. 

The second day was the Wakeup Tour, where all of the attendees of the convention from the first day chose one of four tracks where they would visit a set of four startup companies throughout the day and then everyone would reconvene at a reception at the end of the day. I have to say that this experience was beyond cool and really helpful. I cannot say that I had a completely solid idea of the inner workings of startup tech companies and after Friday, I was definitely a lot more informed. I got to visit Shapeways Factory, a 3D printing manufacturing company, in Long Island City where they showed us the factory set up as well as all of their various machines for 3D printing. After that we saw Amplify, a company that makes e-learning tablets for a wide range of schools across the U.S. I began to realize after Amplify that a lot of these companies are already really well established startups considering their body of work and clientele. Also, I realized that startup during this trip was a very loose term from a company that just started this year to one that has been well established for the past 7 years. At the Amplify facilities we saw how their workspace was set up, learned about their work environment and mindset in relation to product development, and got to go through a demo of their tablet product. After that, we visited Gilt which is a huge fashion flash-sale e-commerce site. I absolutely loved this one from the fashion aspect of  course, but also because I really saw at this company that every company needs a prominent tech group for just about all of the behind the scenes work. When thinking fashion, I don't immediately think tech but Gilt started out specifically as a tech company and they have a very strong computer science foundation. After Gilt, we visited Shutterstock offices (on the 20th and 21st floors of the Empire state building!). This company definitely reminded me of the Google tech stereotypes in terms of their offices. We saw their hidden conference rooms, massage rooms since they have masseuses come every Friday, multiple arcade rooms, hanging benches in the open hangout spaces, and more. At all of these companies after touring their facilities we got to have Q&A sessions with groups of representatives and talk about what they do specifically and what they think is necessary to become successful in the tech world. Finally, we ended up at the WeWorks company for the reception. I thought WeWorks was one of the coolest places I saw on the trip, aside from Shutterstock and Gilt,  because it was a tech incubator which I have never saw before. This trip taught me a lot about the startup tech world and gave me a chance to look into a lot of companies and make connections with the ones that I would possibly want to have job opportunities in the future.

-Alex Boukhvalova: Team SCOPE : Class of 2017

Mixing Gemstone with the Blarney Stone: A Student Perspective to Studying Abroad

Sophomore Eric McCaffrey shares her experience studying abroad in Ireland: 

This semester I set off for the Emerald Isles to study abroad at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. I think the biggest draw to studying abroad is, of course, the opportunity to experience a new culture. However, since arriving in Ireland two months ago I have found that studying abroad enhances nearly every facet of the college experience… Gemstone included! From an academic standpoint studying abroad has afforded me the opportunity to continue with my coursework for my microbiology major while also diving into the Irish culture. It has become a ‘normal’ day for me to go from speaking Gaelic and listening to Irish traditional music in the morning to learning about Immunology and Medical Microbiology in the afternoon! Additionally, participating in a public health internship is giving me the chance to gain a new perspective on health and medicine.

I am of course still a member of my Gemstone team—Team ATTENT—while abroad. While it may seem difficult or a burden to maintain work on a Gemstone team while abroad, it has actually been a very easy transition. My team, mentor, and the Gemstone staff have been incredibly accommodating. One of my favorite parts of the week is being able to Skype into team meetings and see some familiar faces from back at home! I still feel that even while abroad, I am able to contribute towards all the work the team has been doing on our thesis proposal and grant applications this semester. While in Ireland I have gotten the opportunity to converse with professors and medical professionals about the research Team ATTENT will be doing. Hearing their input and perspective is definitely enriching the research process and allowing me to look at our research problem in new ways.

If the academic opportunities and Gemstone experience are not enough of a reason to study abroad as a Gemstone student then the cultural opportunities should seal the deal. To be able to experience the Irish culture, along with other European countries, makes every day an exciting adventure! For all that it has offered me already, studying abroad is the best decision I have made while at UMD… besides joining Gemstone of course!

-Erin McCaffrey: Team ATTENT: Class of 2016

A Startup Straight from the Minds of Some of the Gemstone Program's Precious Gems: Mindforge Design

After the first week of the fall semester, Aerospace Engineering student Brett Potter decided to have some fun. After buying a kit for a 3-D printer off the internet for $300, he spent an entire Saturday putting it together. Now a semester later, the sophomore from Team TESLA is working on a startup with a few friends, with the printer at the center.

Potter first gained experience with the up-and coming technology in high school, and thought it would be cool to get his own desktop model. Roommate and fellow Gemstone student Ben Tunick (Bioengineering, Team BASIC) soon took an interest in Potter’s creation, followed closely by their across-the-hall neighbor Sam Thomas (Criminology and Criminal Justice major). After Thomas mentioned the possibility of turning the printer into a business venture, the three sophomores realized it could be a great idea.

Once they embraced the opportunity, the trio soon began spreading the word and preparing to open for business. It wasn’t long before they branched out. Their startup, christened “Mindforge Design,” has an Xbox Kinect to scan objects and people into their computers, and can print bobble heads and small copies of said object from the scanned model. In addition to offering a line of small Maryland-themed products, Mindforge offers printing of custom designs, regardless of whether the client can make a model in CAD.

Since then, Mindforge Design opened for business and even turned a few heads. Late in the semester, the three entrepreneurs were accepted into the Startup Shell, an on-campus club aimed at guiding new startups and helping them succeed through collaboration and support. In addition, the group has been contacted by Route 1 Apparel. The two parties are currently negotiating the sale of a few 3D printed Maryland items through the popular retailer.

 

Keep a lookout for these guys going forward! Their website is http://www.MindforgeDesign.com/

-Ben Tunick: Team BASIC: Class of 2016