Senior economics major Zahra Schenck needed a science credit that wouldn’t tank her GPA.

With graduation looming, she was in search of a natural science lab that would fulfill her last requirements — but spare her from chemistry or physics, she said.

She stumbled upon astronomy principal lecturer Melissa Hayes-Gehrke’s astronomy course and enrolled in it last spring.

“I just thought, ‘Okay, planets are cool,’” Schenck said. “I didn’t fully know what I was getting into.” 

By the end of that semester, she and 11 other students published scientific findings about the physical properties of an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, which they later named “Diamondback.”

Students in Hayes-Gehrke’s class observe an asteroid and publish research in the scientific journal Minor Planet Bulletin. “There are very few university courses in the world that offer this opportunity,” the class syllabus reads.

[UMD STEM students worry about impact of AI, federal workforce cuts on job market]

Hayes-Gehrke said the opportunity to publish research is exactly what sets the class apart.

“Students love that they’re actually doing something new,” she said. “Usually in classes, you feel like there’s busy work, and you get to some result, but you feel like the result was already predetermined.”

The opportunity proved invaluable for students such as CC Lizas, who was on Schenck’s team.

“I didn’t do other science stuff at all,” the senior philosophy, politics and economics major said.  “I just was so excited to have the chance to do this.”

Schenck, Lizas and their team members remotely controlled a telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia to track the asteroid. They took images of the asteroid using online software and recorded its brightness over time to track its movement in the solar system.

Schenck and her teammates completed their research last spring despite technical problems and weather-related setbacks. Their findings were published in the Minor Planet Bulletin in late September, according to a computer, mathematical and natural sciences college news release.

[3 UMD grants among $7.5B in Department of Energy cuts nationwide]

Schenck and Lizas both said their biggest takeaways came from working together.

Hayes-Gehrke mixed students into teams with different majors, including philosophy, computer science, economics and government. This allowed them to lean on each other’s strengths, Lizas said.

“The whole class is a group project,” Lizas said. “We were all learning so much from each other because we did have these different backgrounds.”

According to Lizas, the diverse makeup of teams was intentional. Teams were carefully constructed based on surveys to ensure diverse expertise, she said.

Hayes-Gehrke said she designed the class around collaboration. The amount of data students collect throughout the asteroid-tracking process would be overwhelming to sift through individually, she said.

The teams faced one more decision after completing their observations: what to officially name their asteroid that previously carried the temporary name “2000 OS51.”

[UMD TerpAI updates aim to boost campus adoption]

Following the precedent of another team in Hayes-Gehrke’s previous classes that named an asteroid “Testudo” in 2024, the team wanted another university-related name, Schenck said.

Schenck said her team chose “Diamondback” because they believed many students at the university would connect with it.

For Schenck, now a finance graduate student at this university, the teamwork skills she gained while tracking the “Diamondback” asteroid were immediately applicable.

“You need to be able to communicate and also collaborate within your own team to get stuff done,” she said. “Those sorts of lessons were more important to me.”

Lizas, who is studying abroad in Copenhagen this semester, said a class she thought would simply help fulfill her science requirement ended up exceeding expectations.

“It was the perfect class,” she said. “It really was.”

The energy department announced in a news release Wednesday it decided to end 321 grants that supported 223 projects across the country after a review. The department determined the grants did not “adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

The three grants totaled more than $5.8 million, according to a fact sheet created by Democratic members of  the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. The fact sheet did not include the individual projects the grants were awarded for.

The university declined to comment about the grant cancellations.

The cancellations primarily targeted Democrat-led states, including Maryland. Thirteen energy department grants in Maryland were among the hundreds cancelled Thursday, according to the list.

“These reckless budget cuts threaten critical clean energy research at the University of Maryland, projects that are driving innovation, creating good-paying jobs, and advancing our fight against climate change,” U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), who represents College Park’s congressional district, said in a statement to The Diamondback. “I strongly oppose any effort to undercut Maryland’s leadership in building a cleaner, more sustainable future.”

An estimated 60 federal grants to researchers at this university had been cancelled as of Sept. 12, totaling more than $30 million, The Diamondback previously reported. The loss of those grants will be seen over the course of multiple years.

Federal grant recipients have 30 days to appeal the termination of their funding.

This story has been updated.

Reach Apurva Mahajan at amahaja@umd.edu. If you are a researcher, faculty member or student impacted by federal grant cancellations and would like to speak with a reporter, contact Apurva securely on Signal: amahaja.80

The updates, set to launch by the end of September, are meant to broaden the chatbot’s appeal while providing equal access to AI for all students, said Axel Persaud, assistant vice president within the Division of Information Technology.

As part of the new updates, DIT plans to add access to more than 11,000 AI models to TerpAI, including the newly released GPT-5, Persaud said. TerpAI users can currently chat with OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which was released in 2024.

To help users pick the right model, eventually the platform will sort the models into categories, such as creative writing or general purpose, Persaud said. The categorization will make the chatbot easier for students to use, he added.

As of September, at least 3,600 students, or 9 percent of the student body, have used TerpAI. Many university faculty and staff members have used the chatbot as well.

“We want to make sure everyone has some base-level of access to generative AI technology,” Persaud said.

[New Microsoft center at UMD continues effort to increase statewide quantum research]

While AI services such as ChatGPT offer limited free use, certain features sometimes require a paid monthly subscription.

For some students, such as sophomore computer engineering major Jason Lima, a university-sponsored chatbot that surpasses those limits sounds valuable.

“It’s $20 a month, which is kind of expensive, but it might be worth it,” Lima said, referencing ChatGPT’s plus subscription. “A free version for university students, that’d be really nice, more convenient.”

Beyond its major updates, some faculty members are finding creative uses of TerpAI.

Jim Purtilo, an associate professor of computer science, worked with DIT in the spring to develop specialized AI chatbots for his software engineering students using TerpAI.

In Purtilo’s capstone class, students work on semester-long projects with real customers, including businesses and organizations that need software.

Purtilo hopes students can use his chatbots to practice mock interviews with customers, where the chatbot takes on the role of someone in need of a software solution. Students can refine their critical thinking skills with the activity, he said.

While working with TerpAI, Purtilo said he encountered some technical limitations with the platform. In one instance, an AI chatbot he tried creating for his class failed to work properly on TerpAI’s platform, forcing him to use ChatGPT instead.

Despite this setback, Purtilo said he plans to test his new chatbots with students for the first time this fall.

[UMD students awarded $250,000 for school shooting detection AI tool]

Even with TerpAI’s planned improvements and widespread faculty adoption, students’ awareness and perception of TerpAI remains mixed. For some students, overarching concerns about AI outweigh any potential benefits.

“I hate AI. I actually really despise it,” said Madison Van Dyke, a senior government and politics major. “The environmental consequences just outweigh any of the benefits.”

Others, such as senior economics major Nicolas Recio are open to using AI for certain tasks but question whether it should be a university priority.

“I’m fine with it being used as a learning tool, on the premise that it will even the playing field because it’s a great resource,” Recio said. “The school’s resources could go to a lot more important things.”

The research center will allow the company’s engineers to collaborate with university community members, bring quantum experts to the state and become a place of collaboration for advanced quantum technologies, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s office wrote in a Wednesday news release.

“Maryland is making big bets on the future to grow our economy and drive innovation. Quantum is at the center of that strategy,” the release read.

[Maryland Corps welcomes nearly 600 inductees at UMD Xfinity Center]

Local experts will also be able to use quantum prototypes such as Majorana 1, an innovative quantum chip. The technology could allow breakthroughs in quantum computing years earlier than experts predicted, according to the release.

Microsoft’s decision to open a quantum center in College Park was influenced by Moore’s Capital of Quantum initiative launched in January. The program is providing more than $1 billion in state, private and federal contributions toward quantum research over five years to make Maryland a global leader in the field, a previous news release stated.

[UMD students awarded $250,000 for school shooting detection AI tool]

University president Darryll Pines said in a news release the new quantum lab is a landmark moment for the university and the school.

“The launch of Microsoft’s advanced quantum lab in our Discovery District is a testament to the incredible momentum we’ve built in quantum science and innovation,” he said in the release. “We are proud to work alongside Gov. Moore, Microsoft and our federal partners to drive the next wave of quantum breakthroughs—and to do it right here in College Park.”

As associate vice president for quantum research and education, Campbell will work to advance Gov. Wes Moore’s vision of Maryland as a global quantum capital, expand curricula for K-12 through graduate programs and put this university at the forefront of quantum research, according to a Monday news release.

Campbell assumed her new role on Sunday. She joins this university from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she served as assistant director for quantum information science and was director of the National Quantum Coordination Office.

[USM partners with Google to offer career certificates, AI courses]

Quantum research at this university spans multiple disciplines, from computer science and cryptography to engineering and materials science, according to its website.

Campbell’s appointment comes after two developments that continued this university’s quantum commitment.

In January, Moore said the “Capital of Quantum” initiative will secure more than $1 billion in economic investments over the next five years to establish the state as a quantum innovation hub. The state will also make the Capital Quantum Benchmarking Hub, which will be located at this university’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security, Moore announced.

[UMD announces Patrick O’Shea as next research vice president]

Campbell has also held multiple leadership roles at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the news release read. She was co-director of the Joint Quantum Institute — a partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology, this university and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences — from 2016 to 2025. She has also been an adjunct professor in this university’s physics department since 2009.

“I’ve been fortunate to be part of Maryland’s quantum community for many years,” Campbell said in the news release. “Stepping into this new role, I’m excited to help build on that foundation and continue advancing our leadership alongside our outstanding faculty, students and partners.”

Campbell earned her doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her bachelor’s degree in physics from Wellesley College.

O’Shea, who was this university’s vice president for research from 2011 to 2016, will manage research initiatives at the College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore campuses in collaboration with both universities’ presidents, according to the announcement. He is set to step back into the role on July 1, succeeding Gregory Ball.

The university announced in January that Ball would be stepping down from his position after more than three years.

O’Shea is currently this university’s deputy vice president for research and an electrical and computer engineering professor. He also holds positions with the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics and the physics department.

He will oversee research in areas such as quantum science, artificial intelligence, data science, national security and biomedical advancement for the College Park and Baltimore campuses, which together spend about $1.4 billion on research annually, according to Monday’s announcement.

[UMD joins 10 research universities in lawsuit against defense department research cuts]

“I am honored to step into this role and deeply committed to ensuring that our two universities continue to rise as pinnacles of excellence, taking their places among the leading institutions in the world,” O’Shea wrote in the news release.

O’Shea added that his motivation to take on the position stems from his love for the state, the universities and the “many wonderful colleagues” he has worked with at both campuses.

O’Shea also previously served as president of University College Cork, Ireland after his first term as vice president for research at this university. He has also worked at Duke University and the University of California Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to the release.

During O’Shea’s first term as vice president for research, this university acquired a “record level of funding” from competitive grants and contracts, according to the release. O’Shea also helped establish this university’s research partnership with Baltimore’s campus, the release read.

“His extensive experience and distinguished scientific background make him well-suited to lead us into a new era of research,” university president Darryll Pines wrote in the news release. “Under his guidance, I’m confident we will continue Maryland’s strong upward momentum.”

She was nearing the final stages of her work, where her team was supposed to bring its findings together into final reports for the National Science Foundation. Then, while at a conference with the teachers her team was working with, Jass Ketelhut was notified that her grant was terminated.

Jass Ketelhut was one of multiple professors at this university who lost their National Science Foundation research grants within the last month. The foundation has been stripped of much of its funding due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s cuts, which have impacted research universities nationwide.

“Effective immediately,” Jass Ketelhut said, recalling the moment of her grant’s termination. “It’s like you walked into your job and your boss met you at the door and said you can’t go into your office to collect anything. You’re done, turn around and walk away. That’s the way it felt.”

At least 14 National Science Foundation grants funding researchers at this university have been terminated as of May 12, according to the Grant Watch database compiled by a team including a Harvard University researcher. Data is collected from submissions, government websites and federal databases, according to Grant Watch’s website.

The National Science Foundation grants make up a part of the 70 grants — totaling about $12 million — that have been cancelled or paused at this university since Trump returned to office in January, according to university president Darryll Pines. The grants, Pines said, also came from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education and other agencies. 

[Maryland Democrats unite against Trump’s proposed federal budget cuts]

Many researchers were left with little to no information about why their grants were terminated, leaving them to guess what went wrong. Katie Shilton, a professor at the information college, said she was told that her work no longer fit with agency priorities — which multiple other professors were informed of as well.  

“That’s all we got, so we just have to speculate,” Shilton said. 

Shilton was working with a group of other researchers creating a content moderation tool for online groups and forums. The tool would have catered to each online community and flagged items that could have broken the group’s rules, such as sharing homework answers or spreading misinformation.

She suspects that her project’s grant was cancelled because her work deals with misinformation, which she said is a common thread among other National Science Foundation grants cancellations for computer science and engineering-related projects. 

Trump has argued that regulating misinformation violates free speech, such as in a Jan. 20 executive order. Shilton said her research was just trying to help make moderators’ jobs easier by helping flag content that didn’t abide by a forum’s rules.

Now, nearing her project’s end date at the end of the summer, Shilton and her team have found themselves without a clear way to move forward. 

“I have no idea how we’re going to finish,” Shilton said. 

Multiple other professors told The Diamondback they suspect their grants were cancelled due to the use of the words “diversity, equity and inclusion,” in their research.

This includes Scott Wolpert, a professor emeritus in this university’s mathematics department and a senior consultant at a post-secondary education mathematics advocacy group who was researching how to improve student success in mathematics. These words, he said, were used about 30 times in his proposal.

“These are virtually prohibited words, as far as the Trump administration’s concerned,” Wolpert said.

Some professors said they want to continue their work, but are struggling to figure out how they can afford to push forward. 

Jass Ketelhut, the researcher working with science teachers, said she was told to submit a final report to the National Science Foundation after receiving her stop work order. Even though she wants to finish this project to help children, she doesn’t want her and her colleagues to work for free and only has the next two months before her retirement.

[Here’s a look at Trump’s recent executive orders targeting education]

“We should always have children’s best interests at heart, and I don’t think we do right now,” Jass Ketelhut said.

Several professors also pointed to the impacts this funding loss has on their graduate and undergraduate student workers as well as researchers with less job security.

“This is not just about people not getting money or some such thing,” Jass Ketelhut said. “There are careers at stake.”

In an interview with The Diamondback, Pines said individual colleges are making an effort to try and fund graduate students through the end of their degrees.

This university’s research division and general counsel’s office are working to appeal terminated grants on a case-by-case basis, vice president for research Gregory Ball wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Tuesday. Ball said the university is encouraging researchers to still apply to grants from the National Science Foundation and other agencies.

Niambi Carter, an associate professor at the public policy school, said the drive to do research and for knowledge is “baked into” academics, but that it will require researchers to be inventive with how to move forward. 

Carter’s research focused on the public’s political beliefs and attitudes about “elites.” Her grant expired last fall, but her team applied for an extension at no additional cost to include information from the 2024 election. She received an order to stop work less than a week before her deadline.

“This is just a sad day, not for our universities but our country,” Carter said. “There’s so many people who will now know less because the research funds are not there.”

News editor Natalie Weger contributed to this story. 

Mother and daughter Oberhasli goats Sadie and Ariana moved to the campus farm in January, according to animal and avian sciences senior lecturer Monica VanKlompenberg. Sadie’s kid arrived Wednesday, April 16, VanKlompenberg said, and Ariana gave birth two days later on Friday, April 18.

“Goats give a really fun approach to understanding animal science,” VanKlompenberg said. “They’re very curious. They’re easy to handle and work with.”

The kids are currently unnamed and referred to by their identification numbers through the American Dairy Goat Association, VanKlompenberg said. They will likely remain unnamed until it is determined whether or not they will stay on this university’s farm, according to sophomore animal sciences major Brian Salmeron.

This semester, VanKlompenberg is leading this university’s pilot goat management course through the agriculture and natural resources college. The 10 students in the class usually have lectures twice a week and lab once a week, VanKlompenberg said. In their lab, the students often visit the campus farm and put their knowledge into practice.

“It’s really good to be able to actually use our knowledge and use what we’re doing in class to raise animals and see them grow,” senior animal sciences major Ayeesha Fadlaoui said.

[Miniature mascots: UMD class uses diamondback terrapin hatchlings to teach climate change]

The pregnant does were donated by La Chevre d’Or Family Farm in Rocky Ridge, Maryland, with help from Cheyenne Van Echo, whose family owns the farm. Van Echo graduated from this university in 2024 with a degree in animal sciences.

Ariana is a first-time mother, while Sadie has previously birthed numerous kids, Van Echo said.

This is the first time on record that this university has had goats as permanent residents on the campus farm, according to VanKlompenberg. Sadie and Ariana replaced two cows that had previously been at the farm, she said. Having goats continues to allow students the experience of working with dairy animals while also utilizing the small available space, she added.

“The goats are a little bit more approachable than a large cow,” VanKlompenberg said. “It gives [students] more confidence that they can go in and work with animals in future careers.”

Anticipating the kids’ birth, goat management students did farm chores and night watches, where students stayed on the farm overnight to watch for signs of kidding or difficulty from the does, according to junior animal sciences major Thu Nguyen.

Nguyen thinks caring for the goats with a small class size allows students more teacher interaction and closer relationships with peers.

“I’ve gotten to know everyone on a much deeper level,” Nguyen said. “That’s been nice, getting to know everybody individually.”

VanKlompenberg grew up participating in 4-H, a nationwide network of various youth education programs, where she got involved in breeding and showing her own goats. She also worked with dairy goats while completing her doctoral degree at University of California, Davis. She enjoys being able to share the experience with her students, she said.

Fadlaoui, one of the students in the goat management class, also participated in 4-H growing up, but was never directly involved with livestock projects. She wanted the opportunity for hands-on livestock experience at this university’s campus farm, she said.

[20 organizations petition to classify diamondback terrapins as endangered species]

“Having the experience of handling animals at varying stages of development … is a really great experience to prepare yourself better for a career that studies animals in really any capacity,” Fadlaoui said.

Various opportunities to work with animals through an on-campus farm is not something that is offered by a lot of universities, Fadlaoui said. The ability to experience handling animals as a student was a major reason why she chose to attend this university, she said.

Nguyen’s work with the goats has also been a source of stress relief for her, she said.

“It’s just nice to be taken away from your typical STEM classes,” Nguyen said. “Spending time with animals … and seeing them grow up is really rewarding.”

Goat management students are creating informative displays about the goats to present at Maryland Day on Saturday. Their presentations will detail information such as facts about the species and the uniqueness of the goat industry.

Sadie and Ariana, and possibly their kids, are also expected to make a public appearance on Maryland Day.

The university hosted the “Quantum for All: Bridging Science and the Arts in the International Year of Quantum” event at the Iribe Center. The celebration featured quantum technology demonstrations, an interview with a physics Nobel Laureate and a look at this university’s quantum and arts project collaboration.

World Quantum Day is an annual celebration that promotes public awareness of quantum science and technology around the world, according to the celebration’s website. Quantum involves multiple disciplines to help technology be more efficient, such as using quantum computing to execute tasks faster than supercomputers, according to this university’s quantum website.

William Phillips, the 1997 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize of Physics and distinguished physics professor, was the event’s featured speaker. Williams spoke about the history of quantum mechanics and the importance of quantum in daily life.

[Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, UMD announce $1 billion quantum technology initiative]

“We can’t explain anything without quantum mechanics,” Phillips told event attendees. “So quantum mechanics is everywhere, and part of our lives, part of everything that we experience.”

Yanne Chembo, an electrical and computer engineering professor and director of this university’s research in electronics and applied physics institute, told the audience about the International Year of Quantum, the United Nations’ campaign to educate people on quantum science and technology.

Chembo was part of the delegation that brought the International Year of Quantum proposal to the United Nations. Anyone can design and organize events to promote the yearlong initiative, Chembo said.

“The International Year of Quantum is not just a year for those who do quantum science and technology,” Chembo said. “It’s something that is organic, it’s for everyone.”

The state and this university have announced multiple initiatives to advance the quantum industry.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and this university announced in January the “Capital of Quantum” initiative, which will generate $1 billion investments in quantum over the next five years.

Moore’s budget for the next fiscal year includes $27.5 million for the initiative, which will position the state as a quantum epicenter, according to a news release from Moore’s office.

This university launched the National Quantum Laboratory in 2023 in partnership with IonQ, a quantum computer company based in College Park.

Steven Rolston, the chair of this university’s physics department, told the audience that this university seemed like a “natural place” to work on quantum research with IonQ.

[$1 billion ‘Capital of Quantum’ initiative to establish UMD, Maryland as quantum hub]

“The real end goal is that we become the national place to go explore quantum computing applications,” Rolston said.

The event ended with Craig Kier, director of this university’s Arts for All initiative, presenting a “Quantum Choreographies” project that explores how humans dancing can serve as a visual metaphor to communicate quantum computing principles.

This university’s research division and Arts for All initiative funded projects that bring people in the quantum world together with artists, according to Kier, a music professor.

Kier said quantum is complicated for him to understand as an opera conductor, but it feels like an art form. Through workshopping “Quantum Choreographies,” students who knew nothing about quantum began to understand concepts and use vocabulary they had never heard of before.

“Pretty extraordinary things can happen when you put artists with other disciplines,” Kier said. “It sparks dialogue. It’s a fantastic educational tool.”

The class, Decolonizing Climate Change Education: Fostering Inclusivity, Equity, and Holistic Understandings, explores how climate science is taught in K-12 schools, according to Amy Green, the course’s professor. The hatchlings’ visit gave students experience with the species and was a way to increase their interest in conservation and sustainability, the assistant clinical education professor said.

“It’s one thing to learn about animals in general or turtles or terrapins, kind of in the abstract of the textbook,” Green said. “It’s another thing to see one up close, and hold one, and look at one and have it look at you.”

The diamondback terrapins were brought to this university’s education college through the Terrapin Education and Research Partnership. The TERP program places hatchlings from Poplar Island, a Maryland wildlife refuge, in classrooms across the state, according to Green. Professors raise and study the hatchlings, which are later released back into their natural habitat.

[Maryland leaders, fishermen split over proposed Chesapeake Bay preservation bill]

Green referred to the hatchlings as “empathy ambassadors,” or as a way for students to build their empathy with the species. Empathy is a driver for human behavior, ethics and beliefs, and is an important factor in environmental conservation and sustainability, she said.

Assistant clinical education faculty member Angela Stoltz, who has helped take care of the hatchlings since December, described them as “smart and curious.”

She also said having firsthand experience with animals is important for caring for their environments.

“It draws out a different kind of response from a person when you’re able to touch and communicate and use all your senses to observe and come into a relationship with something,” Stoltz said.

During the class, students made connections between human-accelerated climate change and its consequences that affect terrapins, including sea level rise disrupting their marshy habitats and nesting sites, Green said. Warming temperatures also risk skewing the ratio of male to female hatchlings, as a nest’s temperature determines the sex of the terrapin, she added.

Green said the lack of shade on Poplar Island combined with the summer heat during hatching season results in many of the terrapins in the program to be female, including Artemis and Athena.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the diamondback terrapin as a vulnerable species.

“It’s important as we are making sense of some of these issues related to global warming and the changing planet, to make sense of them in the context of some of the non-human species that are impacted,” Green said. “Accelerated climate change is affecting all life on this planet, and not just human life.”

Students also made models to reflect how terrapins interact with their environment and humans’ impact on it, while taking breaks to hold and handle the hatchlings, Green said.

[20 organizations petition to classify diamondback terrapins as endangered species]

Daphne Arthur, a senior human development major, described holding the terrapins as an “unreal experience” that highlighted the importance of viewing the environment beyond a human-focused perspective.

“This whole idea of an empathy ambassador is important,” she said. “We should have a more ecocentric view of animals, of wildlife, of plants — just everything that is not a human — so we can restore the planet.”

Arthur said learning how to implement climate science education into elementary school classrooms is important to influence younger generations to make more sustainable decisions in the future.

Science education doctoral student Gianna Fogelbach, who is taking the class as an independent study, said she thinks it’s important to make climate science accessible to everyone.

“We have some folks who are business majors, who are computer science majors, and they may not get this content in an academic setting outside of K-12 education,” Fogelbach said.

The class of 35 has students from 23 different majors, according to Green.

Fogelbach said it was powerful to see the variety of students who chose to take this class as an elective.

Stoltz hopes the TERP program will become permanent at this university, so both students and the public can learn more about terrapins beyond being a “token mascot.” She said she feels community members have a responsibility to care for the health of terrapins and their ecosystem.

“[Diamondback terrapins] are iconic around here, culturally and ecologically,” Green added.