May 31: Annual Membership Luncheon Meeting, 1-3 pm, home of Robyn Smith

Jun 7: Picnic/Barbeque, 4-7 pm, home of Patty Sparrell

Dear ARCS MWC Members,

What a month it's been! We began with a wonderful New Member Orientation, where 15 new and current members gathered for an engaging evening. Hilary Sparrell (co-VP Membership) provided an excellent overview of the ARCS MWC mission, our university partnerships, chapter structure, and calendar.

We also wrapped up our our annual university visits with visits to Georgetown University and George Washington University. As with our prior visits, it was an honor hearing directly from our scholars about their research—and reconnecting with alumni.

I’m also pleased to share that the slate for our 2026–27 Board is complete. We are grateful to those stepping into leadership roles: Yvonne Chen (University Relations), Margaret Hackbarth (Secretary), and Helen Miller (President-Elect). The slate will be presented for a vote at our Spring Membership Meeting on May 31, hosted by Robyn Smith.

We closed the month with a very successful Eagle Celebration on May 1. Many thanks to Patty Sparrell and her committee for a beautifully executed event. We were honored to recognize our Eagle Awardee, The Honorable Deborah Wince-Smith, and to hear from ARCS Scholar Alum Dr. Peter McDonnell.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the Spring Membership Meeting and then the June Backyard BBQ.

~ Julie Hohl and Jane Riddle, ARCS MWC Co-Presidents

Sunday, May 31, 1-3 pm

Home of Robyn Smith

The agenda includes social time, potluck lunch, and the business meeting (starts at 2 pm).

Lunch entree and drinks will be provided. If you’d like to bring a potluck item to share, appetizers, salads, sides, or desserts are all appreciated.

We need to have a quorum at this meeting to vote in our incoming 2026-27 board members. An online option will be provided to ensure all available members can participate in the vote.

Sign up here to RSVP! 

Sign up here to participate online!

2025 BBQ l-r: Karen Finkbiner, Lorraine Nordlinger, Claudia Benack, Connie Watts.

2025 BBQ l-r: ARCS Scholar Emily Cheung, Scholar Alum Mason Molesky, Patty Sparrell, Scholar Alum Daniel O'Brien, Julie Hohl.

Patty and Duncan's backyard and inviting pool!

The Nominating Committee will present the slate for the 2026-28 Board of Directors in the positions of President-Elect, Secretary, and University Relations for Active Members' vote at the upcoming Spring Membership Meeting. Many thanks to these Members, who have pledged their time and talents to these positions in the furtherance of the ARCS MWC mission. They are:

President-Elect: Helen Miller

Secretary: Margaret Hackbarth

University Relations: Yvonne Chen

Here is the full slate for next year:

Fundraising training is a core strategic support frequently requested by ARCS Chapters. ARCS National is hosting two upcoming webinars to help Chapters craft their fundraising stories. These sessions will be led by Rebecca J. Zanatta, President of RJZ Connections, Inc.

Webinar 1 - May 20, 3-4:30 pm: Story That Inspires Giving

Webinar 2 - Jun 15, 3-4 pm: Story to Strategy – Inspire Giving

To learn more and register, click here for Webinar 1 and here for Webinar 2.

These training webinars are open to all members and any interested ARCS MWC members are encouraged to join!

Each year, all fifteen regional chapters of ARCS Foundation are invited to participate in the annual Chapter Challenge, a friendly competition to raise funds for ARCS National. This year's challenge is open! Donate in honor of your ARCS Chapter to help your chapter's chance to win Scholar Awards Grants! There are monetary awards to the Chapters with the highest total donations (of $50 or more) and also the highest percentage of member participation. Click here for more information and to make a donation in honor of ARCS MWC! Scroll to the bottom of the page for the Chapter Challenge designation. Last day to donate: May 31, 2026.

Members of the ARCS® Metro Washington Chapter (ARCS MWC) and other ARCS chapters, donors, Scholars, Scholar Alums, and guests, gathered May 1 at The Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC, for a joyous 2026 Eagle Award Celebration!

The Honorable Deborah Wince-Smith, Founder and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness and an ARCS MWC member, received the Eagle Award in recognition of “her extraordinary leadership in the advancement of American science, technology, medical research, and engineering.” In her inspiring remarks, she reminded us, “To the ARCS Foundation Metro Washington Chapter—thank you! For your commitment to science, for your investment in people, and for understanding that national strength begins with human talent. We do not inherit the future; we build it! And we will only build it if we invest in the people capable of carrying it forward.” 

Other highlights of the evening included remarks from ARCS Foundation President Jill Bray of the Phoenix Chapter; ARCS MWC Scholars Kieran Barvenik (UMD), Darrian Mills (GTWN), and Clara Stahlmann Roeder O’Connor (UVA); and 1982 ARCS MWC Scholar Alum Dr. Peter McDonnell, Director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University. As Dr. McDonnell noted, “Investing in people at the beginning of their research careers will have great impact going forward. This is more impactful than recognition at the end of a career.”

The evening was also an extremely successful fundraiser! Our guests were incredibly generous, enthusiastically donating more than $50,000 to our Scholar Fund through the Live Auction and Raise the Paddle. The Scholar Fund will also benefit from additional pre-event donations from Silver and Bronze Sponsors and other donors.

We thank our host at The Army and Navy Club, ARCS MWC member Alice Laning. We also thank the event lead, Patty Sparrell, immediate Past ARCS MWC Co-President and VP, Development, and entire Development Council. Thanks too are owed to our chapter’s Co-VP’s of Activities, Charlotte Knight and Mary Jo Ruane, and the entire MWC Eagle Event Support Team, including event planners, the communications team, venue coordinators, welcome greeters, auctioneers, auction item donors, and the check-out team. Their collective efforts made this wonderful celebration possible.

2026 Eagle Award Recipient, The Honorable Deborah Wince-Smith, flanked by ARCS MWC co-Presidents Jane Riddle and Julie Hohl.

l to r: Scholar Alum Speaker Dr. Peter McDonnell and Jane Riddle.

l to r: Our Army and Navy Club Host Alice Laning and Karen Finkbiner.

l to r: Melissa Rhoads-Simpson, Ryan Simpson, Kristen Bloschock, Leo Bloschock, Sarah Doverspike and UVA Scholar Alum Dr. Ori Fox.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the University Visits over the last month. See highlights from the last two visits below.

Georgetown University Visit

April 16

Scholar Darrian Mills in his lab.

Darrian in his lab.

l-r: Sharon Gross, Julie Hohl, Scholar Darrian Mills, Scholar Katelyn Dial, Michelle Francis, and Jane Riddle.

George Washington University Visit

April 23

ARCS Scholar Isaac Bilsel.

ARCS Scholar Olivia Nippe-Jeakins.

ARCS Scholar Phoebe Sharp.

ARCS MWC Membership hosted a New Member Orientation on Fri, Apr 10 at the home of Jane Riddle. New members who have joined in the past three years gathered for social time and then an orientation to the ARCS MWC councils and committees, including time for Q&A. Huge thanks to co-VP Membership Hilary Sparrell and the Membership Council for organizing the event and to Jane for hosting!

l to r: Ming Ward and Lubna Zahir.

l to r: Michelle Francis, Julie Hohl, and Jane Riddle.

l to r: Robyn Smith, Lauri Rustand, Helen Miller, Carolyn Hayward-Williams, Jamie Loving, and Hilary Sparrell.

l to r: Jane Riddle, Sharon Gross, Michelle Francis, Julie Hohl, Lauri Rustand, Helen Miller (standing), Susan McQuade, Ming Ward, Robyn Smith, Carolyn Hayward-Williams, Jamie Loving, and Mary Jo Ruane.

Clara Stahlmann Roeder O’Connor – MWC Chapter Scholar

1st Year Scholar, PhD candidate, Biology & Biomedical Engineering

University of Virginia

Research: My research studies how age and prior social experience affect the perception and response to social environments, focusing on fighting behavior in the long-lived forked fungus beetle, including how these factors influence future fighting success, strategies, mating behavior, and pheromone composition.

How Will Your Research Benefit Society?

All animals age and many animals, including humans, show strong behavioral responses to negative social experiences. My research seeks to determine how these near ubiquitous factors interact and decode the unnoticed mechanisms that communicate both age and experience. My findings are not directly applicable to humans, but they may offer novel perspectives on common patterns that we see in human society: the reduction of social interactions with age and the broad impacts of losing a competition on other behaviors and social interactions.

How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?

I have found that both age and prior fighting experience have a huge impact on social behavior, and I am currently testing the hypothesis that the beetles I study can communicate this through pheromones. This hypothesis cannot be tested using my field’s typical methods, which has driven me to incorporate techniques from analytical chemistry and chemical ecology. The ARCS award would support these combined multidisciplinary investigations, allowing me to ground the observed behavioral responses from my dissertation in the actual chemical communication given and perceived by an individual, together explaining both the mechanism and function of social communication.  

Career objectives: Following the completion of my PhD, I plan to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship that will expand my technical expertise and knowledge of the genetic basis of social behavior. I then hope to secure a tenure-track research faculty position at an R1 institution with a strong connection to a biological field station. There, I will establish a research program integrating the multidisciplinary methods I am developing to study the effects of aging and social experience on behavior, teaching this integrated approach to the next generation of scientists and conservation biologists.

Nicole Crumpler – Michelle & Julian Francis Scholar

1st Year Scholar, PhD candidate, Physics & Astronomy

Johns Hopkins University

Research: My research combines theoretical physics and observational astronomy to explore unknown physics, such as dark matter and quantum gravity, by using black hole mergers and white dwarf stars to search for new signals.

How Will Your Research Benefit Society?

Modern technology hinges on our understanding of the fundamental “stuff” that makes up our Earth and the universe — particles and the forces through which they interact. This understanding is captured by a framework known as the Standard

Model of particle physics. However, we know from astrophysical observations that this model is incomplete: most of the matter in the universe, so-called dark matter, does not fit within the Standard Model. My current research focuses on uncovering the nature of this missing mass. 

Understanding dark matter is not just one of the biggest open questions in theoretical physics; it has concrete implications. Throughout history, many technologies we now take for granted, from GPS and medical imaging to semiconductors and the internet,

emerged from fundamental physics research that initially seemed purely theoretical. By pushing the boundaries of our knowledge of the universe’s building blocks, we pave the way for potential future technologies that we cannot yet imagine. 

How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?

While I am fortunate to receive some funding through the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, this support primarily covers my basic stipend and tuition. However, there are many other costs associated with research beyond this basic support. In particular, my advisor has very limited funding to cover the costs of publishing papers (my last paper cost ~$3,000 to publish) and the cost of attending conferences. An ARCS award would directly enable me to publish my upcoming papers and to participate in conferences that are critical for refining my research through expert feedback and collaboration.

Career objectives: Looking ahead, I’m excited to transition from academic research to a career in industry where I can apply my technical expertise – using advanced data science techniques to manage, analyze, and interpret data – to real-world problems. In particular, I’m drawn to sectors like finance, where large, complex datasets are the norm and where predictive modeling can offer tangible, high-impact insights. I’m especially interested in roles that allow me to build models that anticipate trends, detect anomalies, or optimize decision-making processes, whether in banking, fintech, or adjacent fields.

Ultimately, my goal is to bridge the rigor and creativity of scientific research with the practical, fast-paced environment of industry, bringing an analytical perspective shaped by years of working with challenging datasets. 

Submit articles, pictures, pdfs, and website links by the 25th of each month for publication the following month to Helen Miller at mwcnewsletter@arcsfoundation.org. 

ARCS^® and its logo are registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

ARCS MCC

P.O. Box 60868

10221 River Road

Potomac, MD 20859-0868