ARCS Foundation, Metro Washington Chapter (MWC) March 2024 Newsletter |
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Mar 4: Visit at University of Maryland, 10:30 am
Apr 5: Eagle Award and 55th Anniversary Celebration
Apr 10: Visit at Georgetown University, 11 am
Apr 15: Visit at Johns Hopkins University
Apr 24: (Virtual) visit at George Washington University, 2:30 pm
May 8: Visit at University of Virginia, 11:30 am
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This year has been filled with Chapter activities leading up to Metro Washington Chapter's 55th Anniversary celebration on April 5 honoring our Eagle Awardee, Dr. Renee Wegrzyn. We already feel the excitement around this event—reconnecting with past ARCS-MWC members, friends and scholar alumni and raising funds for our scholar awards. This will be a wonderful evening to bring friends and potential members, and we have already heard from so many of you.
Thank you to Charlotte Knight and Mary Jo Ruane for organizing our Feb 3 Winter Membership Meeting and to Alice Laning for sponsoring us at the Army and Navy Club. We were so pleased to have 46 attendees and to have Susan Trice lead our New Member Orientation.
Another special thank you to Lubna Zahir for hosting the February membership coffee where we prepared “ARCS Loves You” cards for members.
Thank you to Jane Riddle for leading our Nominating Committee. Please contact Jane if you are interested in becoming more involved with our chapter.
We look forward to seeing you at our Eagle Award and 55th Anniversary Celebration on April 5. Please consider placing a tribute message in the program, and bring your checkbooks for the fabulous live auction! All funds raised go to the scholar fund.
~Julie Hohl and Patty Sparrell, ARCS-MWC co-presidents
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eagle award and 55th anniversary |
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Get your tickets here by March 24 for our 2024 Eagle Award and 55th Anniversary Celebration, which will be held on Fri, Apr 5 from 6:00 to 9:30 pm at The Army and Navy Club in DC. Bring family and friends to join ARCS member as we celebrate together.
An open bar reception, where you can mingle with friends and share memories, will be followed by dinner in the beautiful main dining room of the Army Navy Club. You will hear from various scholars and speakers as well as our 2024 Eagle Awardee, Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D., Director Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
We are celebrating 55 years of dedication by our chapter members, past and current, who support research today that will contribute to the scientific advancements of tomorrow. We acknowledge and admire the commitment of founders and past members who have financially supported STEM research since 1969. In our daily lives, each of us has been impacted by these actions. Let’s gather together to applaud this effort.
Consider placing a tribute in our special program even if you are unable to attend the event. You can find info about tributes below and on the tribute card that was included in your paper invitation.
The evening will end with a live auction of 7 exceptional items. It will be a lively, informative, and celebratory evening celebrating 55 years of ARCS-MWC. Bring a friend and be a part of it!
Click here by March 24 for more info and to get your tickets.
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This year, as part of our Eagle Award and 55th Anniversary Celebration, we are providing an opportunity to members and companies to include a Tribute message in our event program to raise funds for our 55th Anniversary Scholar Awards.
What is a Tribute?
A Tribute is a personal- or company-sponsored message or greeting that will be included in the program for our Eagle Award and 55th Anniversary Celebration on April 5. All funds (minus the cost of the tickets) will be donated to our 55th Scholar Award fund. You can enhance our celebration through a tribute.
What is included with a Tribute?
There are different levels of sponsorships for tributes, many of which include event tickets.
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What does a Tribute Look Like?
Tributes/Greetings are fully customizable with the wording and full-color graphics of your choice. Examples shown are the eighth and quarter page aspect ratios. Please note they are not to scale. Actual printed sizes will be as listed above.
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I’m Interested. What should I do?
Don’t miss your opportunity to include a Tribute in the program. Click here by Mar 14 to order your Tribute messages. There are also opportunities for event sponsorship. Questions? Contact Danielle Robinson (703) 650-8526.
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Seven unique and exciting items will be auctioned live at the April 5, 2024 Eagle Award & 55th Anniversary Reception to raise money for our Scholar Awards:
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Betsy Forster 20.5” x 20.5” framed pastel titled “Sunrise”
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Three nights for up to 14 guests at a lakefront home on Deep Creek Lake in Maryland
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Two nights for 2-4 guests at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia
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One luxurious night at The Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
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Dinner with a Scientist at The Chart House Restaurant in Old Town Alexandria
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Three nights for 2-4 guests at The Manhattan Club in New York City
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Five nights for up to 10 guests at a North Lake Tahoe area home
Click here for full descriptions of the auction items. Auction instructions will be provided at the event. If you are unable to attend, you may arrange for an in-person proxy to bid on your behalf.
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55th anniversary scholar award campaign |
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We are still accepting donations to our 55th Anniversary Scholar Award Campaign. Though the competition ended, you can continue to make donations until our Eagle Award Celebration on Apr 5. Help us finish strong and ask your friends to help us surpass our goal of $20,075 to fund one graduate and one undergraduate scholar.
You and they can donate $5, $50, $55, $100, $500, $5,000, $15,000, any amount. Send checks, payable to “ARCS/MWC” with your name on the memo line, to:
P. O. Box 60868
10221 River Road
Potomac, MD 20859-0868
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Our University Relations council has been hard at work scheduling a visit with each of our university partners. Visits offer members the chance to hear from our scholars, their professors and school administrators, see the labs and learn what's new on campus. We hope you will join us at one or more university.
Here's the schedule:
- Mar 4: University of Maryland, 10:30 am - 2:45 pm
- Apr 10: Georgetown University, 11 am - 1 pm;
- Apr 15: Johns Hopkins University, at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, time TBD;
- Apr 24: (Virtual) George Washington University; 2:30 – 4:15 pm;
- May 8: University of Virginia; 11:30 am - 3 pm;
RSVP, with any dietary restrictions, for any or all visits directly to Miriam Erickson at Miriam.erickson@outlook.com. Watch your email, as we will continue to send details, including agendas, as they become available.
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winter membership meeting recap |
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We held our Winter Membership Meeting on the evening of Feb 3 at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC. After a brief member meeting and new member orientation presided over by Co-Presidents Julie Hohl and Patty Sparrell, about 46 members and guests mingled before enjoying a delicious dinner.
The evening was capped by Sounil Yu’s presentation, entitled “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Your GenAI Baby.” Mr. Yu is an author, speaker, advisor, and board member in the cybersecurity field. Characterized by one member as “mesmerizing,” Mr. Yu’s presentation touched on many aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s role in its evolution and the commercial transformation of AI from its earliest iterations through the contextual adaptation stage (the third stage of AI) and beyond. He also spoke about the growing applications for AI in the knowledge economy.
The questions flowed fast and furiously until the evening ended all too soon. Kudos and thanks to the organizers of the event - Charlotte Knight, Alice Laning, and Mary Jo Ruane, aided by Lorraine Barclay Nordlinger.
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As we celebrate our chapter’s 55th anniversary, we highlight Peggy Adams' involvement in ARCS-MWC.
Peggy Adams joined ARCS-MWC in 1984. Peggy recounts that several ladies from MWC, especially Kay Roath, said that the organization would be a good fit for her, so she attended several events and liked it. Kay and Gloria Christian were Peggy’s sponsors.
She stayed in ARCS-MWC because it is such a wonderful organization, especially how it gets young people involved in the sciences and engineering. Peggy served ARCS-MWC in many leadership roles, serving on Activities and University Relations; as Historian; and, from 1992-94, as President.
Peggy says that one of her proudest achievements was starting the endowment fund around 1984 with wives of several Martin Marietta executives, saying it is wonderful how the fund has grown! They started with $10,000 and Bill Harwood (the Martin Marietta executive who presented Ethel Iverson, the ARCS MWC President at the time, with the check) said to watch the endowment grow, adding that in a few years it might be worth $100,000. As of 2023, the Endowment Fund is now over $1 million!
Peggy says in closing that the way the nation and the world is today we need many young people in STEM fields so rock on!
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Zoe X. Malchiodi – Matt Riddle Scholar
1st Year Scholar, PhD Candidate, Tumor Biology
Georgetown University
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Research:
Investigating mechanisms of immune cell interactions in pancreatic cancer by utilizing high through put special technologies. This approach will provide insights on immune cell localization and identify new therapeutic targets to promote anti-tumor immune responses and immunotherapy efficacy in pancreatic cancer.
How Will Your Research Benefit Society?
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common form of pancreatic cancer, has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 12% and is poised to be the second deadliest cancer in the US by 2025. PDAC’s aggressiveness is attributed in part to its dense desmoplastic stroma and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which account for at least 50% of the total tumor volume. CAFs promote fibrosis, poor delivery of therapeutic agents, and immune suppression, creating immunologically “cold” tumors. Although there have been extensive studies exploring T cells in the PDAC tumor microenvironment (TME), the roles of other immune cells, such as NK cells, are less well studied. NK cells are cytotoxic components of the innate immune system and are known to target cancer cells. Recently, spatial multi-omic technologies have provided important information in cancers, yet little is known about the spatial relationships of NK cells in the PDAC TME. To further examine immune-stromal cell interactions in the PDAC tumor microenvironment (TME), we utilized Imaging Mass Cytometry (IMC) where I made two key novel observations. 1) NK cells associate with malignant epithelial cells in the PDAC TME. 2) NK cell content is inversely proportional to the abundance of CAFs in epithelial-ductal regions of interest (ROIs) in the PDAC TME (not shown). I hypothesize that CAFs protect malignant epithelial cells by preventing NK cell-mediated accumulation and cytotoxicity. I propose to use spatial transcriptional profiling to define gene signatures. The results will provide insights into the crosstalk between these cell populations and identify potential therapeutic targets to increase NK cell-mediated anti-tumor immune responses in PDAC.
Career objectives: Based on my research experiences, my long-term career goals are to
provide novel information to enhance the translational potential of therapeutically manipulating the tumor microenvironment of solid tumors. I also aim to serve in leadership roles, where possible, as I am passionate about advocating for science education and research. These goals align with the purpose of the ARCS Award of “whose research in the hard sciences and engineering disciplines… could feasibly serve as breakthrough technology or discovery".
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Harrison J.V. Simms – Danaher Corporation Scholar
Undergraduate Scholar – Biomedical Engineering
Johns Hopkins University
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Research:
Research involves the development and evaluation of a novel syringe organizational tool meant to reduce anesthesia delivery errors and improve operating room safety. Through an in-situ study, I will evaluate the impact of this tool on operating room workflows specifically looking at its impact on syringe motion.
How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?
A portion of the funds would be applied directly to my research pursuits by subsidizing travel expenses to a professional conference. I would like to pursue the opportunity to give an oral presentation at the Human Factors in Healthcare Symposium this coming spring in Chicago. Support from ARCS will alleviate this financial hardship. With this funding, I will be able to present the culmination of two years of my research work and participate in a high-profile conference.
The ARCS Award would also benefit my research by freeing up time to focus more on research projects. Next semester, I was planning on taking on an additional part-time job to help pay for my tuition and living expenses. In taking on this part-time job, I would be forced to reduce the time spent on my research. This award will be pivotal in ensuring that my research continues in my senior year, and it will give me more opportunities to present my work in a variety of high-profile research settings.
Career Objectives:
Going into my senior year of college, I have given much thought to my career plans. As an undergraduate fortunate enough to have many opportunities to conduct research, I fell in love with academia, and I knew for most of my college career that I wanted to continue on to graduate school. I am now planning on pursuing a PhD in industrial engineering with a concentration in human factors engineering. I am planning on doing PhD research in the area of human factors in healthcare, and I specifically want to write my dissertation on human-robot teaming in the medical setting. After getting my PhD, there are two goals that I have set for myself: (1) improve the current state of healthcare and (2) train the next generation of human factors engineers. After time in a corporate setting, I would like to return to academia where I could teach human factors engineering students.
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Check here for updates from the ARCS-MWC councils.
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Development: Our 55-day scholar award fundraiser is accepting donations! Details are above. Help us reach our goal.
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Nominating: We are working to fill the positions for our 2024-25 board. Are you interested in becoming more involved with our chapter? Contact Jane Riddle at jriddle13998@gmail.com. |
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University Relations: Our schedule for university visit is above. Watch your email for further details.
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P.O. Box 60868
10221 River Road
Potomac, MD 20859-0868
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