Education 7.27.25 - Flipbook - Page 1
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, July 27, 2025 1
EDUCATION
A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF BALTIMORE SUN MEDIA • SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2025
INSIDE:
2 Students learn by doing
From study abroad to teaching and
cybersecurity, colleges provide
hands-on experiences
3 Opening doors to the world
Salisbury University
4 New programs address
workforce needs
Busy professionals benefit from
flexible formats
4 Transforming health care
with high-tech, hands-on
learning
Virtual reality, artificial intelligence
and high-tech equipment
power immersive learning
5 Colleges use technology
to prepare students for
workplace experiences
Stress management and wellness
top-of-mind along with academic
achievement
6 Colleges adopt programs
in rapidly changing tech
environment
Cybersecurity and drones are
increasingly of interest to students
Education publishes four times a year
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© 2025 Baltimore Sun Media
Terrapin Works is one of the country’s largest university-based makerspaces.
Photo by Maximilian Franz for Maryland Engineering
From cadavers to CNC machines:
How colleges are powering STEM innovation
Students gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology
By Claire Duarte, Contributing Writer
nside a classroom at Towson
University’s college of health professions, students aren’t huddled over
textbooks or staring at diagrams on
PowerPoint slides. Instead, they’re
gathered around six life-sized digital cadavers, exploring the human
body in ways previous generations of students could only imagine.
This immersive setup is part of the university’s Anatomage Lab, a new addition
that opened in 2024 and gives students
access to state-of-the-art virtual dissection tables. The touch-screen tables allow
users to rotate, cut and study 3D anatomical structures from every angle – no
scalpels required.
For Kate Rankstad, a doctoral student
in Towson’s occupational therapy program
and a graduate assistant in the lab, the
experience has been transformative. She
I
first encountered the Anatomage tables
during an undergraduate cadaver course,
and says she was immediately drawn in by
the unique learning environment.
“The ability to manipulate anatomy in
ways not possible with real cadavers and
being in a classroom setting that felt more
comfortable than a traditional cadaver
lab – it just made it more accessible,”
Rankstad says.
The tables go beyond basic anatomy.
Equipped with features like a beating heart
and simulated EKG readouts, the digital
cadavers offer interactive views of functional anatomy. According to Rankstad,
those capabilities make a lasting impression.
“There was an orientation experience
we had with the tables, and I remember
realizing just how much was possible,” she
says. “Compared to a traditional cadaver,
the level of interactivity and precision really
struck me. It’s an amazing study tool.”
In addition to standard dissection functions, students can use the tables to
quiz themselves and others in real time,
creating a much more active learning
environment. The platform allows users
to build flashcards and receive immediate
feedback on structure identification – features that make it especially valuable as an
academic resource.
“It’s a great visual tool for understanding anatomy from various angles,”
Rankstad explains. “It’s hands-on learning,
with zooming and cutting features, and
there’s even a notes function that provides
instant information about each structure.”
That ability to engage with the material – rather than simply memorize it – has
proven essential for Rankstad and her
peers as they prepare for clinical work.
She emphasizes that the experience isn’t
just about learning anatomy, but about
From cadavers, continued on page 8
Bringing
liberal arts to
the forefront
New programs
foster creativity,
entrepreneurship
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
F
or Claire Madarasz, 20,
art was an integral part
of her upbringing in West
Chester, Pa. Both of her
parents are artists, and she
was exposed to sculpture, painting
and drawing.
“It’s always been something that
I’ve been involved in throughout
my life in different ways,” says the
rising junior at Salisbury University.
“Initially, I went to college not as an
art major. After I took a glass class
on a whim, I changed my major to
glass. I wasn’t planning on it. It just
really spoke to me.”
Salisbury University is home to the
state of Maryland’s only collegiate
hot glass program. Students pursue
a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and
can identify concentrations including
glass, ceramic sculpting, painting,
drawing, new media and graphic
design. Non-art majors may also
enroll in glass classes as electives
while pursuing degrees in other
academic areas.
The glass program features
glass blowing, which is the most
well-known of the genres, but also
wax casting, which is more like a
Salisbury University is home to the state of Maryland’s only collegiate hot glass program.
foundry process employed in bronze
or metal casting and uses a kiln,
and warm and cold glass working,
including engraving, grinding,
cutting, polishing and sandblasting.
“The students get well-rounded
training in all of these different areas
of the studio,” notes Aric Snee,
assistant professor of art and
head of the glass department at
Salisbury University. “[This includes]
everything from the applied fine
arts, which could be straightforward
product design all the way through
to using the material of glass to
approach fine art and contemporary
sculpture. The outcomes are wideranging, and it’s really about learning
to use the material and then learning
how you want to use the material to
create work.”
Students also learn about the
value of preparation, planning,
research and collaboration, all
aspects of the field that occur well
before their time in the glass studio.
They work in pairs or teams to
produce their artwork to ensure
safety and also spur creativity.
“It definitely does push you to
think of ways of doing things you
wouldn’t have previously and just
kind of innovate,” Madarasz says.
“You can’t necessarily get something
to look exactly like what you want it
to look like because you can’t sculpt
it that precisely if you’re blowing it,
and so it just forces you out of your
comfort zone, to think about new
ideas of how to do things.”
The focus of the glass program is
product design, which mirrors Snee’s
research in the field. He developed a
line of self-watering planters made
of glass and an iPhone acoustic
amplifier, and recently started
conversations focused on a line of
glass tumblers.
Students have the opportunity
to display and sell their works at
department festivals held throughout
the academic year. Monies raised
fund a trip to the Corning Museum
of Glass in Corning, N.Y.
A program melding artistic
methods into traditional academic
subjects will be implemented this fall
at Anne Arundel Community College
after a successful pilot year. The arts
integration HUB aims to enhance
Liberal arts, continued on page 7
Ask Margit
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
mbweisgal@gmail.com
Heavy Metal
Summer Experience
Picture this: You’re 16 to 20 years
old, in your last year or two in high
school or you graduated and all you
can think about is, “What’s next?”
Or you say to yourself, “What am
I going to do now?” Maybe you’re
saying this to your kids. Here’s one
answer.
Today, right now and in the
foreseeable future, there are
job openings in these positions:
plumbers, pipefitters, welders, sheet
metal workers, duct construction,
heating, ventilation, air conditioning,
and
refrigeration
(HVAC&R),
electrician. Also known as building
trades.
Every summer, throughout the
United States at 51 locations (so
far), there are camps that last a
week, where you get to try your hand
at some of the above-mentioned
jobs. Welcome to the Heavy Metal
Summer Experience (HMSE).
Imagine yourself learning from
some of the most skilled practitioners
out there. You show up on the first
day, and you are given a pair of work
boots, compliments of HMSE. Over
the coming days, you will construct
a toolbox and then receive the tools
that go inside.
And the best part? If you are
interested and this is a job that
you’d like to try, you could be hired
and paid as an apprentice to learn
how to do these jobs.
History
Angie Simon grew up in Ventura,
Calif., and wanted to be a project
manager. She started out working for
a small contractor and then moved
to Western Allied Mechanical (WAM).
There, she found exactly what she
was looking for: a company for life.
She worked her way up the ladder
and, in 2008, became its president.
In 2020, she was getting ready to
retire and already knew she wasn’t
interested in staying home. She
started planning and designing a
program to bring young people into
the trades. After she retired in 2021,
she immediately implemented the
idea for these camps. Working with
WAM employees, they came up
with projects, a playbook on what
the kids would do at the camp,
permission slips, release forms and
safety protocols. That’s when the
Heavy Metal Summer Experience
was born.
In the first year, there were only
two camps and 28 attendees. Four
years later, there are 900 students
at 51 locations. “After years in the
industry, plus being on the board
for SMACNA (Sheet Metal and Air
Conditioning Contractors’ National
Association) and well connected
with MCA (Mechanical Contractors
Association), I have a lot of
contacts,” says Simon. “Every host
is amazed at how much it helps their
company.”
Why HMSE? “Right now,” says
Simon, “there are over 400,000
construction job openings spread
Ask Margit, continued on page 7
