Faculty News

Recent Research Activity

April 2026, Dr. Arielle Kuperberg co-authored the journal article, “From Munches to Meaning: BDSM Communities, Connection, and Social Networks”

December 2025, Dr. Arielle Kuperberg co-authored journal articles, “Student Loan Debt and Higher Education Disruptions During COVID-19”, and “From Wonder Woman to Fifty Shades.”

November 2024, Dr. Sameera S. Nayak, Dr. Christine Mair, and SMaRT Scholar Suliyat Adewuyi published the first SMaRT Scholar co-authored publication.

Read their journal article “Immigrant Status and Social Ties: An Intersectional Analysis of Older Adults in the United States.” in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

May 2024, Dr. Sameera S. Nayak along with collaborators at Northeastern University and Cornell University, investigated associations between county-level political group density, partisan polarization, and individual-level mortality.

Read Dr. Nayak’s journal article “County-level political group density, partisan polarization, and individual-level mortality among adults in the United States: A lagged multilevel study”

May 2024, Dr. Aubrey Jackson Soller published her paper “The gendered ecology of violent victimization and the stress process” on how neighborhood context shapes the consequences of victimization for girls’ and boys’ mental health.

May 2024, As the 2024-2025 Lipitz Distinguished Professor at the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Dr. John Schumacher is set to expand his research on how generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is changing the way we teach in colleges. He plans to expand his focus beyond teaching/pedagogy to Gen AI’s emerging impacts on both the conduct and teaching of research/scholarship in the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. Dr. Schumacher suggests in-depth, sustained attention is urgently needed to thoughtfully engage the UMBC community of faculty, students, and staff regarding the rapidly changing Gen AI landscape.

Media Highlights

October 19, 2024, Dr. Arielle Kuperberg, Associate Professor of Sociology in the Sociology, Anthropology and Public Health Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was recently re-elected to lead the Council on Contemporary Families for the next three years, as Co-Chair of the organization alongside Dr. Alicia Walker, Associate Professor of Sociology at Missouri State University. Dr. Kuperberg recently completed a three-year term as Chair of the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonpartisan interdisciplinary organization aimed at connecting rigorous academic research on families with the public and the press. Dr. Kuperberg’s research examines families, romantic and sexual relationships, and the impact of student loans on young adults, and she frequently serves as an expert for the press discussing current events related to families, relationships, gender, young adulthood, and more. Her recent press appearances include The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, The Boston Globe, Vox, Teen Vogue, and The Economist. Dr. Kuperberg completed a joint PhD in Sociology and Demography from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 and joined the faculty of UMBC in Fall 2024.

Dr. Arielle Kuperberg on Academic Row at UMBC

June 17-18 2024, MdPHA member, Dr. Andrea Kalfoglou, was in attendance at APHA’s Policy Action Institute held in Washington, DC. Sessions were held in varying advocacy topics aimed to equip public health professionals with effective advocacy strategies.

December 2023, Dr. Sameera S. Nayak published a study that highlights structural barriers to the well-being of immigrant survivors of violence and makes policy recommendations for how to improve our current immigration system.

Read Dr. Nayak’s journal article “No Safe Spaces”: The Retraumatization and Dehumanization of Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence in the United States in the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.

September 2023, Dr. Jun Chu published a study on “School-Based Health Centers, Access to Care, and Income-Based Disparities” in JAMA Network Open.

August 2023, Dr. Marina Adler and Dr. Tino Schlinzig from ETH Wohnforum in Zurich, concluded a study of nearby Brooklyn conducted by graduate students Molly Finch, David Gilliland, and Markya Reed that analyzed how age-friendly the area is.

Read their research report “How Age-friendly is Brooklyn?” (PDF)

July 2023, Dr. Sameera Nayak officially launched the Research on Social Conditions and Health Equity “ROSCHE” lab.

July 2023, Dr. John Schumacher published a new article, “Developing a Geriatric Emergency Department, People, Processes, and Place,” in Clinics in Geriatric Medicine.

June 2023, Dr. Sameera Nayak published an article, “Implementing Integrated Early Childhood Mental Health Services in Primary Care: Relationships, Vision, and Sustainability,” in Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research Health.

May 2023, Dr. Andrea Kalfoglou was awarded the UMBC START Grant for her proposal Problems Enforcing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

May 2023, Dr. Marina Adler published a book: “The Changing Faces of Families: Diverse Family Forms in Various Policy Contexts” 

April 2023, Dr. Christine Mair published a study that examines the effects of widowhood, gender, and social ties on older Chinese adults titled “Widowhood, social networks, and mental health among Chinese older adults: The moderating Effects of gender.” in Frontiers in Psychology – Psychology of Aging. 

March 2023, Dr. Christine Mair published research that examines the later-life experiences of older adults without spouses or children titled “End-of-Life Experiences Among ‘Kinless’ Older Adults: A Nationwide Register-Based Study.” in Journal of Palliative Medicine. 

March 2023, Dr. Sameera Nayak published an article analyzing how well state-level abortion policies reflect public opinion titled “Alignment of state-level policies and public attitudes towards abortion legality and government restrictions on abortion in the United States.” in Social Science and Medicine.

February 2023, Dr. Christine Mair published an article examining the racial and ethnic disparities in stress and coping in areas of high environmental risk titled “Examining Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Coping and Stress Within an Environmental Riskscape.” in Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

February 2023, Dr. Brandy Wallace was awarded Year 3 funding on her project “Trauma Informed Care in Nursing Homes” by the Oregon Community Foundation.

January 2024, Dr. Sameera S. Nayak presented her research, “Health in the Turbulent U.S. Sociopolitical Climate: Mental Health, Abortion Attitudes, & Immigration,” at the UCLA California Center for Population Research.

October 2023, Dr. Christine Mair was featured in The Academic Minute for her research on caring for “kinless” older adults.

June 2023, Dr. Brandy Harris-Wallace and Dr. Christine Mair were featured in Episode 43 of the “Retrieving the Social Sciences” Podcast where they discussed the Applied Sociology MA Program.

May 2023, Dr. Christine Mair addressed the aging population captured by the 2020 U.S. Census results in The Baltimore Sun.