GRIT-X

Global. Research. Innovation. Trends. Excellence.

GRIT-X is an annual series of presentations launched in 2016 to celebrate the passion and achievements of UMBC’s alumni, faculty, and graduate students, featuring invited speakers to convey compelling aspects of UMBC’s impact in the areas of research and creative achievement.

GRIT-X Speaker Nomination Form

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GRIT-X 2024 PRESENTATIONS AGAIN

GRIT-X 2024 – Fine Arts Recital Hall – Oct 24, 2024
Click on speaker’s photo to view their presentation

Stefanie Mavronis ’12

Making the Impossible Real – Homegrown Leadership and Violence Prevention in Baltimore

Todd Pittman
Quantum Entanglement – From Fundamental Physics to an Information Revolution

Guenet Abraham
Typography – The Elements of a Word

Tamra Mendelson
The Biology of Beauty – How the Peacock Got Its Tail

G. Derek Musgrove ‘97
From “Protest to Politics” to Protest and Politics – The Black Freedom Struggle in the 1980s

Takashi Yamashita
When Does Our Education End? – Aging and Life Course Perspectives

Patricia Ordóñez ’10, ’12
Why Moms Should Be Leaders in Computing Education

Mehdi Benna
Taking a New “Small Step for Man” – The Giant Leap of Our Generation

Aryya Gangopadhyay
Where Humans Can’t Go – Human Robot Teaming

GRIT-X 2023 – Fine Arts Recital Hall – Oct 14, 2023

Melanie Okoro ’11
Disruptive Thinking – A Bold Business Strategy to Change How We Lead, Innovate, and Transform Companies in the 21st Century

Justin Webster
The Map is Not the Territory – Tales of Interest in Nonlinear Elasticity

Cynthia Matuszek
Talking to Robots – The Role of Language in Human-Robot Interaction

Zhensen Huang ’00, ’04
Create Possibility – On Campus and in Business

Mercedes Burns
Loving the Unloveable – Learning to Appreciate Arachnids

Charles Ichoku
Wildfires, Climate, and People – A Triangular Threat to Global Sustainability

Michelle Scott
Jazz Age Resistance – Economic Empowerment and Entertainment in a Divided Nation

Carlos Romero-Talamás
The Fusion Energy Solution – Why Engineering Simplicity Matters

Irina Golubeva
The Power of Intercultural Learning

GRIT-X 2022 – Fine Arts Recital Hall – Oct 15, 2022

Delali Dzirasa looking into the camera and smiling

Delali Dzirasa ’04
Rethinking Digital Divides – Creating Access, Experiential Learning, and Empathy in the Digital World

Vandana Janeja
Can We Reduce the Deluge in the Sea Levels with a Data Deluge?

Airi Yoshioka
Sounds of the World Through the Violin

Alicia Wilson in front of a Made in America backdrop, wearing a red dress and smiling

Alicia Lynn Wilson ’04
Community Building – How to Build With Materials That are Stronger than Brick and Mortar

Minjoung Kyoung
Glucosome – 4D Visualization of the Secret Society of Metabolic Enzymes

Matthew Fagan
Green Walls or Greenwashing? Tree Planting Dreams Meet Reality

Kaitlyn Sadtler ’11, Sc.D. ’22
The Many Faces of Immune Cells – Building Back Tissues After Trauma

Sebastian Deffner
The Quantum Universe is Weird, but Our World is Not – Schrödinger’s Cat is Dead, Right?

Nkiru Nnawulezi
Sometimes Systems Fail Us – Designing Alternatives for Domestic Violence Survivors

GRIT-X 2021 – Proscenium Theatre – Oct 9, 2021

Letitia Dzirasa ’03
More than a Dashboard – The Heightened Role of Data in Driving Equity

Erle Ellis
Nature Needs Culture – Conservation in the Age of Humans

Kathie Seley-Radtke
Fleximers – Bending over Backwards for a Cure

Andrea Kleinsmith
Stressing Connections – Designing for Affective Awareness

Belay Demoz
Start Small but Start – The Story Behind a Unique Climate-Observing Site in Maryland

Zoë McLaren
The Math That Explains the Pandemic

Sankarshan Murthy ’06
The Next Computer That We Will All Live in – HOMES!

Charissa Cheah
Parenting – Looking for Answers Within and Across Cultural Borders

Upal Ghosh
Saving our Environment from the Past – A Story of Chemicals and Fish

GRIT-X 2019 – Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building – Oct 12, 2019

Crystal Watkins Determination in Dementia – Perseverance through Memory Loss	Kevin Omland Why Diversity Matters – Gender Biases and the Study of Female Bird Song	Tinoosh Mohsenin Micro AI – When Intelligence Moves to Low Power Sensors
Premal Shah F!@$ Cancer – Using Your Data to Kill It	Lisa Moren What is the Shape of Water?	Mustafa Al-Adhami The Quest – Finding Medical Answers from the Unknown
Gregory Szeto The Frenemy Within – Mining the Wisdom and Ignorance of our Immune System	Carolyn Forestiere See the World and find Yourself – Why Study Abroad Matters	Yonathan Zohar More People eat more Fish – Can we Prevent Empty Oceans?