A new partnership between UMBC and the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) will increase opportunities for HCPSS students in STEM, with a focus on computing, engineering, and information technology fields.

Through the collaboration, UMBC faculty and staff will serve as guest speakers in HCPSS high school classes and attend HCPSS professional development programs for computer science and technology educators. UMBC representatives will also inform Howard County students about engineering and information technology programs UMBC offers for both high school and college students. UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology, for example, offers programs for high school girls who are interested in pursuing engineering and information technology majors and careers.

Anupam Joshi, chair and professor of computer science and electrical engineering, hopes to engage more HCPSS students in the field of computing through the collaboration. “Nationwide, high schools have not traditionally thought of computing as a core STEM area, so many students have not had a chance to explore  it as a potential STEM career path,” he explained. “Our partnership with HCPSS will help change that perception.”

One  focus of the partnership is promoting STEM education and careers to students in underrepresented groups. “We’ll work together with HCPSS to expand and diversify the pipeline of students going into the computing discipline,” said Joshi.

The collaboration will also strengthen initiatives at both UMBC and HCPSS that work to eliminate achievement gaps among students, providing equal access to quality STEM educational opportunities for all students.

UMBC’s Antonio Moreira, vice provost for academic affairs, and Julie Ross, dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology, joined Joshi in signing the partnership agreement on September 1. HCPSS representatives included Howard County Board of Education Vice Chairman Ellen Flynn Giles, board member Sandra French, HCPSS Executive Director of School Improvement and Administration Frank Eastham, and Career and Technology Education Coordinator Sharon Kramer.

Image: UMBC and HCPSS faculty and staff at the signing of the UMBC-HCPSS partnership agreement. Photo courtesy of HCPSS Partnerships Office.

On May 3, UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski joined WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show for a discussion about the state of diversity in STEM fields and the importance of connecting STEM with work in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Pres. Hrabowski was joined by Brian Kelly, editor of U.S. News & World Report, and James Maiden, assistant dean of student affairs at University of the District of Columbia and principal investigator of the Minority Male Makers Program. The wide-ranging discussion covered several issues, including how studying the arts, humanities, and social sciences can help students develop the skills and knowledge needed to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.

“One of the ways we can get students to appreciate what STEM can do for our country is through the humanities, not only through reading skills, but understanding many of the ethical issues involved in the achievement gap, in health disparities, and in the environmental issues that we face,” Dr. Hrabowski said.

Pres. Hrabowski highlighted UMBC’s national leadership and strengths in inclusive excellence and focus on under-representation in STEM. Mentioning centers and programs like the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), Meyerhoff Scholars Program, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, and Humanities Scholars Program, Pres. Hrabowski shared how many students are combining majors in the arts and humanities with taking courses in STEM disciplines to pursue careers in a range of professions.

“We need many solutions that will connect disciplines that will solve the problems we find in society,” Dr. Hrabowski explained.

Later in the program, President Hrabowski also described UMBC’s partnership with Northrop Grumman and Baltimore City Public Schools to support students, teachers, and communities in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education.

Listen to the full segment “Local D.C. STEM careers are soaring-but for whom?” on the WAMU website.

Image: Pres. Hrabowski speaks at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, Jan. 2016. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and director of UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Computing Research Association (CRA).

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with leaders from both academia and industry to improve the national climate for computing progress by influencing national computing research and education policy,” says Rheingans.

She was one of ten people voted on by CRA member organizations to fill four academic openings for the CRA Board of Directors. Rheingans will serve in this role for three years, beginning in July 2016.

“I look forward to being able to advocate for practical research to address societal needs, educational foundations to build capacity for innovation, and increased diversity to strengthen our research community,” she says.

CWIT works to develop programs that increase the interest, representation, and retention of women in technology and engineering programs. As the director of CWIT, Rheingans oversees the scholars program for undergraduate students who are committed to increasing gender diversity within technology fields.

The CRA is composed of more than 220 groups across academia, government, and industry in North America. The goal of the CRA is to enhance innovation by supporting collaboration to strengthen research and advanced education in computing.

For more information about CRA, visit their website.

Image: Penny Rheingans talks with a student during a CWIT event. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The number of women in computing fields is not only well below the number of men pursuing similar careers, the proportion of women majoring in computer science has actually decreased in recent years. At this challenging moment for gender equity in the field, many college women pursuing computer science careers are using conferences and other networking opportunities to connect with mentors, support their peers, and learn about emerging developments in tech research and industries.

A group of 31 undergraduate students and nine faculty, staff, and post-doctoral candidates from UMBC attended the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) of Women in Computing held this fall in Houston, Texas. The event brought together women exploring careers in technology with the goals of increasing the visibility of research by women in computing and supporting women pursuing computing careers. Organized by the Anita Borg Institute, the GHC is named for U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, an early computer programmer who invented the first compiler for programming languages.

Susan Martin, associate director of the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) at UMBC; Marie desJardins, associate dean in UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology and professor of computer science; and Cindy Greenwood, assistant director of the CWIT at UMBC, supported the UMBC group during the GHC event.

Sessions offered during the conference provided participants with a broad range of perspectives from within the industry and inspiration to move forward with their career goals. 

“It is a unique and transformative experience for a female computer scientist to attend the GHC,” says desJardins. “For many of them, it will be the first time they’ve been a room full of computer scientists in which women were the majority.”

desJardins continues, “It’s quite powerful to walk into the plenary session, with thousands of computing professionals, look around, and see a sea of female faces—but still a truly diverse group of people, with women of all ages, ethnicities, geographical origins, educational backgrounds, and industry/academic positions—as well as a supportive group of men.”

GHC attendees also report that the conference gives them greater resilience in facing the challenges of being a women in computing. “Being in the minority in these majors can take its toll on women’s overall confidence and perceptions of their technical competence,” explains Martin. “Women in computing often encounter microaggressions, subtle or hidden messages that may invalidate their identity as computer scientists or computer engineers, or their experiences as members of a minority group.”

After the conference, UMBC’s GHC attendees completed a survey about what the conference meant to them and how they predicted the experience would impact their futures.  

“It was a great opportunity to experience an inverse of normal gender ratios within technology,” one sophomore computer engineering major wrote. “That experience overall is valuable to women and men. It was a great opportunity to travel and meet new people, within the context of our majors, interests, and fields of study.”

The conference also allowed UMBC students to work on collaborative proposals and meet professionals who are already pursuing careers in their fields of study. “Attending GHC enabled our UMBC students to connect with each other at a deeper level and to plug into a national and global network of highly successful women in technology,” says Martin. “It is these connections that will sustain them as they encounter the typical challenges associated with their academic and professional careers in computing.”

Post-event survey responses indicated that before attending GHC nearly 56% of the participating students felt “very sure” they would complete their degree in a computing major. After the conference that proportion jumped to 83%.

As one sophomore computer science major who attended the event wrote, the Grace Hopper message was clear: “It is time for women to be inspired to do more and to go further in computing.”

Image: A panel of images at the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), named for U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper.

Photo by D Coetzee, CC0 1.0.

There is a high demand for fresh talent in information security, but the industry has struggled to hire and retain professionals from an essential portion of their potential talent pool: women. Just 10 percent of people working in information security are women, and in a new Slate article UMBC’s Marie desJardins suggests the emphasis that recruiters and people in the industry place on competitive extracurricular activities, such as hackathons, may be dampening women’s interest in the field.

Activities such as hackathons—events where coders compete to build a new product or service, working continuously over a set period of hours or days—offer participants the chance to network with corporate recruiters, present their creations to industry experts, and even land internship offers. However, desJardins points out, “The way we train our girls, we don’t necessarily raise them to be competitive against other people.” This can leave girls at a disadvantage when recruiters expect them to have experience in highly competitive extracurricular activities, even more than demonstrating strong grades in challenging coursework.

To increase the number of women who choose careers in information security and cybersecurity, desJardins suggests emphasizing how the creations developed at events like hackathons can impact society, and creating more opportunities for students in these fields to demonstrate their skills and talent in ways that recruiters value.

“It’s not that girls don’t like these things, but it’s one kind of thing. It’s one way of testing out scientific ideas and comparing them against other people,” desJardins notes.

Read the full article, “Hackathons Have a Gender Problem,” on Slate.

Image: Information Systems PhD student Erin Buehler (standing, left) and principal investigator Prof. Marie desJardins, associate dean of COEIT, address high school teachers at the July 2015 CS Matters in Maryland pilot teacher workshop. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Sarah Jewett, head of the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative, along with Susan Martin of the Center for Women in Technology, writes about the importance of promoting STEM success for underrepresented and underserved student populations.
• Roy Meyers, political science, questions the methods the Mercatus study used to determine Maryland’s fiscal health.
• Anupam Joshi and Richard Forno, cybersecurity, comment on the Ashley Madison data dump.
• Steve Bradley, visual arts, will speak at the Chesapeake Arts Center town hall meeting on September 8.
• Steve Sharkey ‘06, M.P.P. public policy, current head of Baltimore City’s Department of General Services, has been featured on the Baltimore Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list.
• Dennis Coates, economics, supports Baltimore City Council President Jack Young’s plan to sell the city-owned Baltimore Convention Center Hilton hotel.
• Medhi Benna, Center for Space Science and Technology, is lead author on a paper confirming neon in the moon’s exosphere.
• Lynn Cazabon, visual arts, has placed second in the Trawick Prize competition, held annually by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District to honor artists from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Jason Hughes ’15, M.F.A. intermedia and digital arts, claimed third prize.

Read more at UMBC Insights!

Sarah Jewett, executive director of the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative, and Susan Martin, associate director of the Center for Women in Technology, recently co-wrote a two-part series op-ed for Evolllution about their work developing programs to bridge access to STEM fields, focusing on underserved transfer students.

The first part of the series discussed the STEM Transfer Success Initiative, which creates local institutional partnerships to support the success of students in transition, and the T-SITE Scholars program, which targets talented engineering and computing transfer students who demonstrate financial need.

“These projects illustrate the potential of collaborative relationships to improve academic success, increase retention in STEM majors and decrease time to graduation,” Jewett and Martin wrote.

The second part of the series focused on reflecting on the lessons that were learned during the launch process of the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative and T-SITE Scholars program.

“Improving the success, retention and graduation rates of transfer students requires institutions to engage in critical self-reflection. Given that transfer students comprise almost half of the student population at UMBC, it was imperative for us to think seriously about how students experienced the transition between institutions, and to adopt new approaches to improve the process,” the authors wrote.

The complete two-part series can be accessed below:

STEM Transfer Success: The Value of Critical Reflection and Shared Responsibility
STEM Transfer Success: Reflecting on Lessons Learned

In an article about the AMC drama “Halt and Catch Fire,” CNN explored the dearth of women in computing fields and efforts made by universities to encourage women in computer science. The article discusses UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology’s Bits and Bytes program, which introduces girls in their junior year of high school to engineering and information technology majors.

The article cites a recent National Science Foundation study that found that only 18% of computer science majors were female. “In the ’80s, there were more women getting degrees in computer technology than there are now, which is mind-blowing,” actress Kerry Bishe of “Halt and Catch Fire” told CNN. “It’s more important now to show women in the culture, on a TV show, showing that these are options for good jobs.”

Read “Why women in tech came to a ‘Halt’” on CNN.

Penny Rheingans, director of The Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), Susan Martin, associate director of CWIT, Carolyn Seaman, information systems, and E.F. Charles LaBerge, computer science and electrical engineering, recently received a $632,488 grant from the National Science Foundation to support transfer scholars in computer science, computer engineering, and information systems.

The grant will continue the work of the Transfer Scholars in Information Technology and Engineering (T-Site) program. The program provides scholarship funds, academic and professional programming, and a supportive community to encourage transfer student success in computing majors. The program is open to transfer students from Maryland community colleges.

Click here to learn more about the T-Site Scholars program.

UMBC is always full of hard-working people who aspire to do great things, and the class of 2014 is no exception. Today, we wanted to share with you what some of our recent graduates are planning to do with their Retriever education.

Tabitha Haverkamp, information
systems, quickly made her mark at
UMBC by  co-founding UMBC’s Industry Certification Training Group and and serving on the executive board of the Information Systems Council of Majors. She also completed undergraduate research in geographic information systems, was a member of the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), and won the 2014 Student Leadership Award from the Department of Information Systems. Haverkamp now plans to work with the Department of Defense.

After only being enrolled for a year in the Language, Literacy, and Culture program, Heather Linville, Ph.D. language, literacy, and culture, was offered a faculty position at American University. She has taught English teachers in Indonesia, Mexico, and Panama through working abroad. In addition to her Ph.D., Linville has also earned a master’s degree in instructional systems design at UMBC. She was chosen as an English Language Specialist for the U.S. State Department plans to continue her work there while working towards a tenure-track faculty position.

A Meyerhoff Scholar, Janice Antoine Lumpkin Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar, and a MARC U*Star Scholar, Dalton Hughes, chemical engineering, has earned many Undergraduate Research Awards. Hughes has also worked in leadership in UMBC’s Engineers Without Borders to attempt to create sources of clean water for a community in Isongo, Kenya. He also spoke about his experiences at UMBC at the U.S. News Stem Solutions conference, and now plans to earn his M.D./Ph.D. at Duke University.

Read more about the Class of 2014!