News & Stories

Hernandez founded the Audelia Community Response Team (ACRT) to address food insecurity in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. What began as an effort by Hernandez and three of her siblings, who were working in a physical therapy clinic at the time, to help a patient impacted by COVID-19 has grown to a robust Latinx-centered organization serving more than 1,400 families annually.

Just two years after graduating, Khalil Pettus '15 established a scholarship fund recognized by ODK, within the Division of Student Affairs, to support students who are “leaders among leaders.” The Kiyomi D. Harper ODK Scholarship Fund, named after Pettus’ mother, is his love letter to his mom as well as a lasting expression of his appreciation for his leadership and educational experiences.

There is a reason Jonathan White’s name is well known to Civil War scholars and history buffs. He’s the author or editor of 17 books.

As a 14-year-old math and physics major at Maryland, Charles Fefferman '66 got more than his share of double takes from classmates.

Helping to advance the field of synthetic biology, Bryan Dickinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Chicago since 2014 established a lab that seeks to create “functional molecules” that could lead to biological discoveries and technologies.

Levin is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, where he is director of the Center for BioComplexity in the High Meadows Environmental Institute. The center considers coupled human and environmental systems—from ecosystems to the biosphere —and how they support life on Earth.

Following her 2002 retirement, Margaret Moose Swallow '75 launched a second career, becoming executive director of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). The nonprofit helps coffee farmers in developing countries—30% of whom are women—produce higher-quality beans. That, in turn, has translated into higher prices and more economic prosperity.

Sollins didn’t think twice about volunteering for his alma mater for 14 years after graduation. Starting in 1998 he served as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Governors, two years as president, and also as an Alumni Association regional alumni network leader. Additionally, he was an appointed and elected trustee of the University of Maryland, College Park Foundation, and he was a major donor to the Hall of Friendship in the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center.

Dealing with racial disparity during his childhood helped shape Dorsey’s empathy, and his role at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). There, in addition to his job as national program leader for public policy, he also was special emphasis program manager for LGBTQ federal employees.

Since founding New York-based StartUp Health, Steven Krein, the CEO, and his team have assembled a worldwide network of founders, funders, innovators and industry leaders to prevent, manage and cure not only Type 1 diabetes, but also to collaborate on 13 health “moonshots,” including Alzheimer’s disease, a disorder of progressive cognitive and memory decline now affecting more than 55 million people globally.