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Join us on April 12th for URCAD!
Riya will present her poster from 1-2:30pm in the UC Ballroom
Immigrant Attitudes Toward Women’s Participation in Politics in Maryland
Riya Patel
Mentor: Felipe Filomeno, Political Science
Acculturation theory states that immigrants usually maintain some beliefs and values from their homeland during their adaptation process in a new country. Based on this theory, it is plausible that immigrants will hold onto the attitudes toward women typical of their home countries when developing their attitudes toward women’s participation in politics in the United States. Previous literature finds that the country of origin influences immigrant attitudes toward women. Few studies have examined immigrant attitudes specifically toward women in politics across multiple immigrant groups. This study investigates how homeland views on gender roles might influence the perceptions immigrants have toward women in politics in the United States. The study used a survey applied to 163 immigrant adults from multiple countries in Maryland. After conducting difference of means tests, single variable linear regressions, and multivariate regressions, this study finds that immigrants from countries with more egalitarian attitudes toward women are more likely to hold positive attitudes toward women’s participation in politics in the United States compared to immigrants from countries with more patriarchal attitudes toward women. Furthermore, the study also found that gender, political orientation, and age were strong predictors of immigrant attitudes toward women in politics in the United States.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
]]>Name: Shikha Jaitwar
Internship, Co-op, or Research Site: Maryland Department of Health, Co-op
Position Title: Data Analyst Intern
Major or Program: Information Systems
Current Class Level: Master's Student
Work Term: Spring 2023
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
My day-to-day responsibilities involves analyzing and visualizing data, building and communicating with program managers and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement, and collaborating with my team to ensure that my work aligns with the overall goals and objectives of the organization. Overall, my internship experience has provided me with valuable hands-on experience in data analysis and modeling, as well as exposure to the challenges and opportunities in the healthcare sector.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I came across this opportunity through handshake and applied immediately. I have been interning as Data Analyst intern with this company from October 2022 and it was been learning experience.
Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?
UMBCworks and Handshake
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
This internship gave me opportunity to use a variety of tools and techniques, such as Excel, Power BI, SQL, and Python, to analyze and visualize data, and to build logistic data models and I enjoyed working on these tools and technologies
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I have made significant impact by utilizing my skills in statistical modeling, ETL, data analysis, and data visualization, I have been able to provide program managers with valuable insights and identify specific areas for improvement.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
I would say be open to new roles and challenges as internships/co-op are great way to explore various careers options and learn from them.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.
I appreciate the support and resources provided by Career Centers, including guidance on finding and applying for internships, resume and interview preparation, and professional development workshops. Overall, completing an internship and working with a Career Center is a valuable experience for students like me, providing us with the skills, experience, and connections needed to succeed in our chosen career path.
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#UMBCintern
Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday! ]]>Into the Great Outdoors: An Ethnographic Exploration of Hiking, Conservation, and Nature in Maryland
Tristan Diaz
Mentor: Bambi Chapin, Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health, UMBC
Each weekend, people across the country head out “into the great outdoors” to “get away from civilization.” As they do so, they engage with ideas about nature that have a long and varied history in the United States, many of which conflict with each other. Further, these ideas underlie ways that individuals, groups, and governments interact with the natural world, shaping the environment, sometimes in ways that cause irreparable harm. This study explores how ideas about nature and human activity are vocalized and employed by members of one large and active Maryland-based hiking club as they head out on trails winding across parks, preserves, and urban areas. Through ethnographic methods, including participant observation and several forms of interviewing, this project demonstrates how participation with this hiking club shapes members’ views of nature and their activities within it. This qualitative data was principally collected during organized hikes of varying size and difficulty level. This investigation of hikers’ ideas about nature and their place within it has implications for building stronger community engagement with the environment as well as policies and practices that conserve it.
T. Rowe Price is committed to providing access and opportunities to diverse talent considering a career in asset management. In support of that commitment, we will be hosting our third annual Launching Your Legacy program.
T. Rowe
Price’s Launching Your Legacy program is an opportunity for diverse
undergraduate talent to gain exposure to careers in asset
management – from investing and financial planning to developing and
enabling financial technologies and operations. We invite current
undergraduate students to apply to this exploratory program, where you
can learn from and make valuable connections with
our professionals. The deadline to apply is April 10. If you are interested in applying to the program, submit your resume and application responses
HERE.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Join other students from diverse backgrounds and participate in an
exposure program designed to introduce you to career pathways at T. Rowe
Price, including but not limited to Investments, Distribution (Sales
& Marketing), Finance & Accounting, Investment Operations,
and Global Technology.
This program will be hosted virtually on the evenings of April 26th and 27th from 5:30-8:00 pm EST. Program components include:
Successful
participants will have an opportunity to be considered for 2024 early
talent internship opportunities on an accelerated
timeline.
ELIGIBILITY
Students with backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in
finance, investing, or technology are encouraged to apply. This
includes, but is not limited to, students who are female, Black,
Hispanic or Latino, Native American, or LGBT+; students with
disabilities; veterans; or those from socio-economically challenged
backgrounds. All undergraduate students currently enrolled in a 4-year
program graduating between December 2024 and May 2026 are eligible to
apply.
There is no
cost to apply for the program, and there is no expectation or
requirement for participants to utilize any T. Rowe Price services.
How to Apply
Take the first step in Launching Your Legacy and submit your resume and application responses by
April 10.
By exploring how chemical contaminants move through the environment and affect aquatic food webs, Upal Ghosh, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), aims to develop and implement technologies to help ecosystems recover from pollution.
With consistent NIEHS funding since 2007, Ghosh studies contaminants called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which can build up in organisms over time and along the food chain. Ghosh assesses pollutant bioavailability, or the amount of a contaminant available for uptake by fish and other organisms, with a particular focus on PCBs.
“During my undergraduate studies in chemical engineering, I got to visit different industrial sites and understand how we produce chemicals in bulk,” Ghosh said. “Although chemical industries provide many benefits for people — producing thousands of consumer products we use today — I was disappointed to see the problems that occur when chemicals like PCBs are mismanaged and enter the environment.”
His goal is to use nature-based strategies to clean up contaminants and reduce exposures in aquatic organisms and humans alike.
PCBs are a group of chemicals formerly used in many industrial and consumer products, such as electrical equipment, insulation, paint, and plastics. Although the federal government banned PCB production in 1979, the compounds persist in soils, sediments, and water bodies due to their stable chemical structure.
Exposure to PCBs has been associated with a wide variety of health effects, including liver problems, poor birth outcomes, hormone disruption, and cancer. In general, people are exposed to PCBs by eating contaminated fish, meat, or dairy products.
“If we can limit the amount of PCBs bioavailable to fish, we can also help protect human health,” Ghosh explained.
To better understand PCB accumulation in organisms, Ghosh’s team has been studying the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., which faces ongoing PCB contamination. The river’s long history of urbanization and industrialization has resulted in pollution, poor water quality, and contaminated sediments in the riverbed.
The team deployed passive samplers and freshwater mussels into the Anacostia River as dual methods to identify PCB sources. Mussels are sedentary, long-lived filter feeders that have been shown to accumulate contaminants without metabolizing them. They then developed models to accurately predict PCB accumulation in mussels and different fish species in the river.
According to Ghosh, this research demonstrated that controlling ongoing PCB inputs from one heavily impacted tributary was critical for the reduction of PCB levels in fish.
“At many contaminated sites, we found that PCB hotspots were located near disadvantaged communities, which poses an environmental justice and health equity issue for the people who live there,” Ghosh said.
image credits:
Photo courtesy of Upal Ghosh
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