Amr Keshta (’17, MEES) came to Maryland in 2013 as a visiting scholar to conduct research on the Northern coastal wetlands of Egypt through a research collaboration between Egypt and the United States. He used remote sensing platforms to study carbon sequestration and vegetation changes in these wetlands. While here, he was accepted for doctoral study in the Department of Marine Estuarine Environmental Science. During his studies, he was awarded the Society of Wetland Scientists' Wetland Ambassador Graduate Research Fellowship to study the impact of sea level changes and grazing on the coastal saltmarshes of the Wadden Sea. Through this project, Amr collaborated with colleagues at Hamburg University in scanning soil cores from coastal wetlands using X-ray Computed Tomography scans. Currently, he is a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology where he teaches wetland restoration.
Jarred Alexander Young (’17, Aerospace Engineering) recently completed his Ph.D entiled "Ion Plume Damage in Formation Flight Regimes." Throughout his academic career, he received numerous awards and accolades, such as the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship in 2010, the National Minority STEM Fellowship in 2011, and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2012. As an intern for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, he contributed to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) missions performing derating analyses on the LRO systems and the SMAP radiometer while in its early design phase. After completing his degree, Jarred plans to lecture on Space Systems Design and perform surface topography analysis on asteroid materials altered by laser ablation as a postdoctoral fellow. His research interests include plasmas, spacecraft-material interaction, space system design concepts, and the development of next-gen space propulsion technologies.
Brandy Naughton ('98, Art History and Archaeology) was recently named Dean for Community Education at Harford Community College (HCC). An HCC employee for 18 years, Brandy served most recently as the Director for Adult Basic Education and Interim Director for Community Education. In her role as Interim Director, she provided leadership and oversight of the College's Community Education and Adult Developmental and Literacy Programs, which encompass avocational programs, adult learning programs, youth and senior adult programs, and the Early Learning Center. In addition to her work at HCC, Brandy taught college-level art history courses at various institutions. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Harford County Local Management Board Champions for Children & Youth's award for Outstanding Service to Children & Youth. In addition, Brandy received a National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Award in 2008.
Jaime Gomez (’15, Chemical Physics) is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) working in the Nuclear Physics group. His primary focus of research is to measure the energy spectrum of prompt neutrons emitted during fission. As an analog to his thesis he has started a program measuring angular correlations of those same neutrons in an attempt to understand the population of excited states during fission. He is soon to give a staff scientist conversion seminar in the Nuclear Astrophysics group at LANL.
Dave Grolling ('15, Geographical Sciences) is a GIS Strategist at the American Academy of Family Physicians. One of the interesting projects he completed was the production and dissemination of 50 static maps showing the different locations where nurse practitioners practice in each state.