Chemistry Professor Maricris Mayes didn't always know she was going to be a chemist. During her high school years, her chemistry teacher wasn't very good. "She would assign us readings from the textbook, and we would get tested on the material without any lectures," Mayes said. "Because of this, I spent some time trying to understand the material on my own and found the ideas in the textbook to be very fascinating."

 

Mayes' fascination with Chemistry skyrocketed when she began her college studies. Even though she didn't know anyone in a chemistry-related field, she still pursued the major. "In college, I had amazing teachers," Mayes said. "I felt really challenged and engaged." It was during the undergraduate thesis process that Mayes realized she wanted to continue learning. She received her Ph.D. at Michigan State University and did her postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory. 

 

Now at UMass Dartmouth, Mayes is making quite an impression. Just recently, she was selected to receive a 2015 IUPAC Young Observer fellowship grant. The grant, which is administered by the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, helps to introduce the best young researchers from the United States, encourages them to be involved, and prepares them to assume leadership roles. In August, Mayes will be attending the 48th IUPAC General Assembly and 45th World Chemistry Congress in Busan, South Korea.

 

Until then, Mayes concentrates on her research, which focuses on removing harmful contaminants from fossil fuels. For this research, she received a course release through the Dean's External Funding Support Program. The course release will help Mayes focus on writing grant proposals for her research. "My research will contribute to UMass Dartmouth's growing and very active scientific computing community," Mayes said. "My research program will expose UMass Dartmouth's students to high quality research and aid in the training of next-generation researchers with interdisciplinary expertise related to theory, modeling, and simulation."  

An Incubator for Food Justice

 

Two years ago, food justice became an important conversation on campus. Professor Anicca Cox and a group of students started the UMass Dartmouth Hunger Initiative to address food scarcity and the lack of food options in the area. "We got interested in the food justice area and formed the Hunger Initiative," Cox said. "Then we began to look at food growing components and to think about how to integrate our efforts into the community." Partnering with Sociology Professor Rachel Kulick and Lydia Silva, a permaculture consultant, an interdisciplinary initiative was developed to address food issues on campus and in the larger community.

 

Recently, this initiative, titled "UMass Dartmouth Grows - South Coast Permaculture Incubator for Food Justice," won a Creative Economy Initiatives Award. The award, which supports faculty initiatives in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, is a system-wide award and incorporates all five UMass universities. The funds from the award will help revitalize the Cedar Dell Garden, and it will help meet the food needs of students on campus and disenfranchised local communities. "The idea is for the garden to have some producing quality, but to have a strong educational focus as well," Kulick said. "We want to think about food security issues ecologically, politically, sociologically, and economically."

 

Professors Rachel Kulick and Isabel Feo Rodrigues have even brought food justice into the classroom, and the garden is part of that complex curriculum. For students like Gabrielle Monteiro and Meagan Lincoln, the experience has been profound. "It's important for me to understand where healthy food comes from and how we can put healthy food into the community," Lincoln said. "And I feel that in order to be an effective leader, you have to, quite literally, get your hands dirty."

 

Everyone's hands are dirty with this project. The project, which involves other groups and departments on campus, is modeled after UMass Amherst's Permaculture Studies program. But there is a larger focus on food justice and security issues. "It is really a living, learning laboratory to understand food justice and security needs in the area," said Kulick. "And we are thinking about how students and the campus can become an anchor institution."

Alumna Uses Math Degree for Real-World Applications 

 

Stephanie Dunbar has come a long way in twenty years. In 1995, she earned her Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from UMass Dartmouth, and subsequently earned her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Virginia. "I always loved Math, and I knew I would go on for a Ph.D.," Dunbar said. "But I wondered how I would apply it in the real world if teaching was not of interest to me."

 

Instead of the classroom, Dunbar's degree took her to Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the top ten pharmaceuticals companies in the world. There, she heads the Global Statistics Organization and helps to design studies, analyze data, and deliver high quality results. It is chaotic at times, and Dunbar can lose sight of why she does what she does. But thankfully, there are times when she is reminded. "When you hear patients thank you profusely for what you do every day, it is so rewarding," Dunbar said. "I lead a global organization of statisticians who play an integral role in improving patients' quality of life all around the world."

 

Even twenty years later, Dunbar still remembers her first semester at UMass Dartmouth. She dropped out of a math course midway through the semester, and she was not very proud of her grade point average. Yet, she didn't give up. She sought out her professors, asked for advice, and worked harder. "At UMass Dartmouth, I not only learned mathematics, but I learned how to ask for help and how to maneuver through adversity," Dunbar said. "I learned how to believe in my own capabilities."