Seven Surprising Hobbies of UML Faculty and Staff

02/04/2025
By BCCS Staff

Behind the lecterns and lab coats, UMass Lowell faculty and staff members lead lives rich with unique passions and pursuits. 

Whether it’s commanding the battlefield in historical reenactments, lifting weights for empowerment or crafting cocktails inspired by global cultures, their hobbies reveal fascinating layers beyond their academic roles and research.  

Here’s a look at some of the surprising pursuits that fuel the creativity, curiosity and sense of adventure for UMass Lowell faculty and staff in their free time.
 
Nuclear Engineering Professor Blends Culture and Travel Through Mixology

“Atomic cocktails” were the rage during the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. These days, Nuclear Engineering Prof. Sukesh Aghara prefers concocting more benign-sounding drinks for his family, friends and guests during his free time at home.

“Cocktails bring together my passion for learning about different cultural perspectives,” says Aghara, whose interest in mixology is driven by his Indian heritage and his travels, particularly to East Central Europe. “I love studying culture. Each culture is so unique in how it takes local ingredients and mixes them to create food and drinks.”

His favorite ingredients include herbal and fruit-based European liquors (his basement bar is stocked with more than 20 different liquors with such flavors as pistachio, cardamom, pear and elderberry), spices such as fresh mint, ginger and turmeric, and spirits such as whiskey, bourbon, rye and gin.

What kind of new cocktails has Aghara created?

“I make a bohemian martini, which is a twist on regular martini using Czech liquor and bourbon,” he says. “I also make turmeric and ginger-infused botanical gin at home, which I mix with simple syrup and soda for a summer drink.”

Aghara’s interest in mixology started after he sampled his first cocktail on a cruise ship in Alaska in 2007. As a nuclear engineer, he appreciates the difference small details can make.

“Standard cocktails done to perfection are like operating a nuclear reactor reliably and consistently,” he says. “Making new cocktails is like pursuing new reactor designs, in which we are still working with the same basic ingredients – fuel, coolant, control and moderator – but we can design thousands of different alternatives.”

Figure Skating Gives Accounting Professor a Break from the Routine

When Stefanie Tate sees that one of her accounting students is having trouble grasping a concept, she thinks about flying camels and flip jumps.

Tate, an associate professor and chair of the Accounting Department, has been a competitive figure skater for more than 30 years. She says challenging herself on the ice makes her a more empathetic teacher in the classroom.

“It's a reminder of how difficult it is to learn new things,” she says. “I know what it's like to get problems wrong, because I know what it's like to fall down all the time. I know what it's like to need coaching, to need somebody there to guide you and help you do it better.”

Tate learned to skate on frozen ponds while growing up near West Point, New York. She didn’t get serious about the sport until her mid-20s, however, when a friend invited her to skate at a rink on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

“I started skating because I love to spin. I think it's just magical,” says Tate, who began taking lessons while working as an auditor at Big Four accounting firm KPMG in Washington. She soon found a coach and put together a program for competitions. She finished second in her debut event.

Tate, who joined UML in 2007, now skates with the Northeast Ice Skating Club. She’s treasurer of the club (of course) and practices with the group twice a week at rinks in Lawrence and Haverhill, Massachusetts.

“I enjoy the camaraderie with the kids,” she says of the other club members. “It's fun to be the old lady at the rink, doing most of what they’re doing at my age.” 

The Redcoats are Coming! Biology Professor Suits Up as British Soldier

In the classroom, Michael Graves is an associate professor of biological sciences. But on the battlefield, he's a lieutenant colonel.

For nearly two decades, Graves has been a member of His Majesty's Tenth Regiment of Foot in America, a nonprofit organization that portrays the British Army during American Revolutionary War reenactments.

The Redcoats’ biggest annual event is on Patriot’s Day in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts — which will mark its 250th anniversary this year. The group also marches in parades, practices living in encampments and undergoes monthly drills to learn skills such as proper musket handling.

Graves joined the Tenth Regiment due to his son’s love of history and was immediately hooked. His wife also joined as a civilian volunteer.

“It’s like a second family to us,” he says.

One of Graves’ fondest Tenth Regiment memories came during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. In a celebration aboard the USS Constitution, members of the regiment paid homage to the queen.

“In my British grenadier officer’s uniform, I got to read then-Gov. (Charlie) Baker’s proclamation for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as they raised the British flag over the USS Constitution,” he recalls. “It was something you don’t get to do every day.”

Philosophy Professor Finds Empowerment Through Powerlifting

Image by courtesy

Philosophy Assoc. Teaching Prof. Christa Hodapp grew up watching strongman contests and football on TV with her younger brother. Her brother also got to play football, a sport that girls were barred from playing.

“He tackled people and he lifted heavy weights, and I just thought it was so cool,” she says.

So, when she was 25 and in graduate school at the University of Kentucky, Hodapp joined a women’s rugby team. When she moved to the Boston area, she continued with North Shore Women’s Rugby – and then discovered powerlifting when she joined a gym in Everett, Massachusetts, for strength training and conditioning.

At 34, she “retired” from rugby to focus on powerlifting, even competing a few times. She now trains weekly with professional strongman Eric Dawson at his gym in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and lifts regularly.

“It is empowering,” says Hodapp, coordinator of the Gender Studies program. “The more you lift, it just changes your life. I can do anything. I have never had to call anyone for help lifting anything.” 

She won’t say how much weight she lifts, “because powerlifting for empowerment means the numbers don’t matter.”

Hodapp has also met great people through the sport, including students who stay after class to chat with her about it. She notes that powerlifting is now a UML club sport open to all.

“It’s getting more popular,” she says. “I love it that girls are lifting.”

Computer Science Professor Keeps the Algorithm as Salsa Dancer

Image by courtesy

Computer Science Asst. Prof. Maru Cabrera grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, where she says salsa dancing is “a part of your life.” At every family party, salsa music would be playing in the background, and a typical night on the town meant you were going salsa dancing.

When Cabrera came to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in industrial engineering at Purdue University, she joined the school’s student-run salsa club, where she received her first formal training in the dance style.

“I found it fascinating that they broke it down into these very rigid and constructed steps,” she says. “In many ways, I had to relearn salsa.”  

Cabrera went on to perform with the dance team at the University of Washington, where she completed her postdoctoral research. Dancing salsa and bachata, Cabrera learned how to lead and follow in both Latin dance styles.

Cabrera has continued to incorporate dance in her life since joining the Miner School of Computer & Information Sciences in 2021. She participates in salsa classes at Lowell’s Panela Restaurant and takes salsa and bachata classes at Bella Vita Dance Company in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

And if any students are interested in creating a salsa club at UMass Lowell, Cabrera says she would be more than happy to serve as the faculty advisor.

From Still Life to Real Life: Danielle Fretwell’s Artistic Passion

Danielle Fretwell’s official job title — program coordinator for graduate studies and research at the Dean’s Office in the Francis College of Engineering — doesn’t give a hint of her artistic talent.

Fretwell, who joined the staff in 2022, is also an accomplished oil painter. She is represented by the Alice Amati Gallery in London, with recent exhibitions in London, Milan and Miami.

She was also recently featured in Vogue Italia as one of “the five artists whose names you should note down right away,” a recognition that helped expand Fretwell’s international visibility.

“Painting is not something that I do for leisure or as an escape, but to process and critically engage with the world around me. It’s not something that can be picked up or put down at will,” says Fretwell, who creates still-life compositions that pay tribute to Dutch old masters such as Pieter Claesz and Floris van Dyck.

Fretwell earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Endicott College in 2018 and a master of fine arts from Boston University in 2021. She was artist-in-residence at The Studios at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 2021.

After working in a studio in Lowell for three years, Fretwell recently built a home studio with her partner, who is also an artist. It’s “where we spend most of our time creating new work,” she says.

Physical Therapy Professor Dives Into Ocean Swimming

Michele Fox ’94, ’06 realized her love of swimming in the ocean while racing in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay.

“It was the first time I swam in the ocean without a wetsuit, and I found that I enjoyed the peace of the water and the views of the sky, land and bridge from the vantage point of the ocean,” says Fox, an associate teaching professor of physical therapy and kinesiology.

A competitive swimmer since she was 8 years old, Fox has raced in the waters of Bermuda, Lake Tahoe and Hawaii. Her biggest challenges include a 10-mile race in Vermont and a swim from Falmouth to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

As a member of the U.S. Masters Swimming community, Fox recently traveled with a group of 14 women to Greece’s Little Cyclades Islands, where they swam in the Aegean Sea. Staying on the island of Schinoussa, Fox swam 3½ miles per day and logged more than 16 miles in one week.

An Andover, Massachusetts, resident, Fox swims at her local YMCA during the winter. From April to November, she swims most days off the coast of Newburyport, Gloucester or Falmouth, Massachusetts, in ocean temperatures as cold as 50 degrees.