Education Guide 7.26.26 - Flipbook - Page 8
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| Sunday, July 26, 2026
Area Universities Embrace
Latest in High-Tech
From research to relaxation, universities
are applying the latest in technology for the
benefit of faculty and students alike
By Carol Sorgen, Contributing Writer
I
n 2025 University of Maryland
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Miguel Vilar, Ph.D., opened a lab
for students to trace their ancestral
roots with saliva samples, as well as a
smaller lab that can extract DNA from
fossils to further our knowledge of how
ancient animals – and perhaps one
day, humans – lived and ate.
Known as genetic anthropology,
this field of research was developed in
the late 1990s/early 2000s, and is, Vilar
explains, “the merger of lab and social
sciences.”
“While using popular DNA sites
helps us find our personal roots, genetic or molecular anthropology takes a
more global and historical approach,
through which we can find patterns
that answer key questions about civilization,” Vilar continues.
Vilar became interested in the field
when he himself was an undergraduate and discovered that anthropology
merged his interests with his skills
in math and science. “I wanted to
study people,” he says, adding that
his work as a journalist, as well as
his love of travel and the discovery of
new cultures, eventually led him to the
University of Maryland, where the field
is attracting more students every year.
One of those students is Fernanda
Breckenridge Ferrarini, a Ph.D. student
in anthropology, who is originally from
Brazil and expects to graduate in 2028.
Fernanda applied to UMD specifically to work with Vilar. “I was interested in his work using genetics to understand human and animal migration and
evolution, and working on islands,” she
says. Fernanda joined Vilar’s research
team in The Bahamas between 2024
and 2026, studying the Bahamian
genetic ancestry, and her participation
in the group involved a project to look
at the presence of malaria resistance
gene variants in the population.
“Nowadays, I am more involved in
setting up the Archaeogenetics laboratory to start working with ancient
animal DNA samples from Iceland,”
she says. “We want to use genetics
to better understand the relationship
between humans and animals, signs of
evolution due to geographical isolation
and migration patterns, and possible
trade connections.”
Sarozini Shrestha is another of
Vilar’s students, who is also pursuing a
degree in anthropology and expects to
graduate in 2028.
Photo: Adobe Stock
“In my first semester at University of
Maryland, one of my professors in the
anthropology department mentioned
that Dr. Vilar’s labs were opening up
soon,” she recalls. “I had already been
interested in genetics and epigenetics
(the study of how the environment
impacts gene expression), and I was
interested in learning more about what
genetic anthropology entailed.”
Sarozini has been working as a
lab assistant in Vilar’s labs while also
learning how genetic data is gathered
and analyzed and hopes in the future
to help expand the school’s available
Mitochondrial DNA databases to have
more information from underrepresented ethnic groups and learn more about
extracting and analyzing DNA from
ancient remains.
Loyola’s Computer Cluster
Supports Faculty Research
In 2025, Loyola University Maryland
invested $80,000 to update its computer cluster, essentially a networked
set of many computers that can be
used for computationally expensive
tasks. The cluster was originally funded through a $285,000 NSF grant in
2016 and is available for any Loyola
faculty member who needs access for
a research project.
Megan Olsen, Ph.D., professor and
Hyman Science Scholars Admissions
Director in Loyola’s department of
computer science, observes that while
most people are familiar with working
with a single computer, or possibly
remotely accessing another computer,
these computers are generally limited
when it comes to computational scientific research. “A computing cluster is
essentially a large number of powerful
computers combined together into one
system,” she explains, noting that in
Loyola’s case, the cluster consists of
31 computers.
