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June 5: Mayer Mall Dedication June 7: Pirates of Penzance Performing Arts Scholarship Benefit June 11: 5th Annual Engineering Alumni and Faculty Golf Outing and Banquet June 12: Terps Take Manhattan June 24: Baltimore Regional Alumni Event |
Join the university as we celebrate the dedication of the William E. and Kathy Mayer Mall just outside of the Smith Business School. To RSVP and learn more, contact Tina Murphy at 301.405.3467 or |
 Building First-Class Learning EnvironmentsFuture Secured for Gateway Chemistry Lab
The Douglas Kent Shaffer Analytical Chemistry Laboratory will benefit from the sustained support of a $50,000 endowment. “When professors apply for grants, they usually get money for big ticket items,” says Shaffer. “But they often don’t get funding for basic supplies and equipment that the students really need. I saw this as an area where my contribution would make a real difference.” Chemistry department chair Michael Doyle agrees, noting the challenge of maintaining high tech laboratories in the face of declining state funding. The heavily used analytical laboratory is where most students say they gained an intimate understanding of proper measurement and laboratory operations. “This gift, the first one to a laboratory in the chemistry program, increases our ability to give students a first-class education,” says Doyle, “to replace instruments that have exceeded their usefulness and to bring in instruments and supplies not supported by state and federal grants.” Shaffer, a Hagerstown native who transferred to Maryland as a junior, credits his career start to experiences in the laboratory and working with Professor Kenneth Henery-Logan, an early pioneer in the laboratory synthesis of penicillin. Work in a microanalysis lab after graduation led to a position with Lockheed Martin, where he developed materials for the space industry for 13 years. Long before the intricate workings of crime scene laboratories could be found on network television, Shaffer became intrigued by the forensic tales of author Patricia Cornwell. “I saw it as an opportunity to apply the sophisticated research and analytical techniques I had been using to a new discipline,” says Shaffer. He began to look closely at how forensic evidence had been used in big criminal cases from the Kennedy and King assassinations to O.J. Simpson and the Unabomber. In 1996 Shaffer landed a position with the Maryland State Police Crime Laboratory. By 2003 he was analyzing ink, paper and other physical features of fraudulent documents at the United States Secret Service and, since 2006, he has worked at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Forensic Document Laboratory. “We analyze questioned travel and identity documents from around the world in immigration-, criminal- and terrorist-related cases,” says Shaffer. He says chemical evidence can be as critical as a fingerprint or DNA in criminal cases. Shaffer regularly talks about careers and issues in forensic chemistry with students in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. “It is very satisfying to help the program that you came through, and to see the renovations and growth within the chemistry department,” he says. A long-time member of the Terrapin Club and basketball season ticket holder, Shaffer was drawn into deeper involvement with the university as he saw Maryland's growing commitment to academic achievement and creating scholar athletes. His participation has expanded to serving as a volunteer with the Great Expectations campaign working with the Washington, D.C. Regional Committee. “I am sharing with others how mutually beneficial it is to come on campus, enjoy sporting events and social events, and at the same time, give back a little,” says Shaffer.  | ||||||
