News & Stories

Grossmueller McClure was on a pre med track in high school. But visits to a family friend’s sample room, complete with multiple types of materials, colors and textures, helped sway her into a new focus.

Before arriving at the University of Maryland, Susan Wood ’84 thought her destiny was to become a doctor. But there was one significant obstacle to that career path: “I’m squeamish at the sight of blood,” Wood laughed.

Karen Loucks Rinedollar ‘85, author of “Working for Peanuts: The Project Linus Story”, was compelled to help young children in hospitals after reading an article, which prompted her to start Project Linus, a movement that became widely known. Read on to learn more about her novel, her inspiration, and about Project Linus itself.

Read about UMD alumnae Sydney Parker '16, Imani Rickerby '17 and Jasmine Snead Ferguson '18, MBA/MPP '21, who founded Aurora Tights out of a need to see athletes and performers compete in tights that matched their skin tone.

In this short narrative, Lauren Leftkowitz '98 recalls how she changed her life with the help of a coach. From overload and feeling burnt-out, to a life of choice and purpose.

With more than 61,000 pizzerias spread like pepperoni across the American landscape, there’s no shortage of competition for your palate. Luke Watson ’18, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Timber Pizza, thinks he knows what will have you coming back for more.

“Our crust is king,” he says. “We’re all about the dough. It’s a step above the rest.”

Hallie Williams '95, founder of Right Next Door, discusses his advice for starting a journey in entrepreneurship. With vast experience working with new and seasoned entrepreneurs, he consults what it takes to grow successful businesses.

Danilo de Sousa Nhantumbo, M.A. ’18, and Chris Light ’92 ‘93 are both entrepreneurs, working in their respective fields to improve life for others.

While most of us go through life trying to figure out our place in the world, it’s the people that look to inspire positive change in others that we remember most fondly.

As kids growing up in Baltimore in the 80’s, both Ali Smith ’01 and Atman Smith ’02 were taught that in order to bring about positive change in the world, they first had to start by becoming masters of their domain. And that meant becoming their own boss in a world where that isn’t always the easiest path.

Whether you’re asking Google for driving directions or enabling your computer’s spam filter, artificial intelligence – or AI – is an indispensable part of life. The idea that computers can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition and decision-making, was once the stuff of science fiction. For Adriana Avakian ’12, the future is now.