UMBC Ph.D. candidate Kavita Krishnaswamy receives
Google and Microsoft awards for robotics research

Kavita Krishnaswamy ’07, computer science and mathematics, Ph.D. ’18, computer science, has been named both a 2017 Microsoft Fellow and recipient of the Google Lime Scholarship. These prestigious honors recognize emerging scholars in computing who are dedicated to increasing diversity in the field, and Krishnawamy’s awards will support her Ph.D. research on “Smart Algorithms via Knowledge Management of Safe Physical Human-Robotic Care.”

“I am very humbled, honored, and grateful to Google Lime and Microsoft for providing me with this enriching experience and lifetime opportunity to serve society by advancing the field of human-robot interaction,” Krishnaswamy says.

The Google Lime Scholarship seeks to promote greater access to knowledge for people with visible and invisible disabilities. It was established through a partnership between Google and Lime Connect, a nonprofit focused on breaking stereotypes about disability and encouraging companies to recognize the importance and value of employing people with disabilities.

The program encourages students with disabilities to pursue their passions in computing and technology, and to become leaders in those fields. As part of the fellowship program, Krishnaswamy will receive scholarship funding and will participate in the 2017 Google Scholars’ Retreat.

Through the Microsoft Fellowship, Krishnaswamy will receive funding to support her Ph.D. research and will participate in the Microsoft Research workshop held in fall 2017. Her research currently focuses on building a teleoperated mobile robotic prototype, in addition to creating an accessible robotic interface, that seniors and people with disabilities will be able to control by repositioning their arms and legs. Tim Oates, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, is Krishnaswamy’s Ph.D. advisor.

“Our goal is to explore the intersection between providing physical care and robotics, and how it is possible to translate safe patient handling and mobility guidelines into smart human-robotic interaction algorithms,” Krishnaswamy explains. “As assistive robotics become more mainstream, these best practices can improve safety in direct physical care in the process of repositioning the human body with a mobile robotic arm.”

Krishnaswamy is excited about the possible new directions her research can now explore, thanks to support from these awards. “The resources will provide me with a solid and steady foundation to cultivate new technical expertise and professional skills to successfully continue my dissertation research in robotics, and to broaden my knowledge in the field,” she says.

Krishnaswamy has been recognized internationally as an emerging leader in robotics and accessibility design throughout her graduate studies. She is a former Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. In 2015, she was named to Robohub’s “25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About” list.

This post was adapted from a UMBC News article written by Megan Hanks. Image by Kavita Krishnaswamy.

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Join UMBC experts 4:00-6:00pm on Friday, 18 August 2017 at the National Press Club in Washington DC for a panel on how cybersecurity touches our everyday lives and how journalists can engage a wide range of readers in cybersecurity news. This panel will touch on topics ranging from online commerce to national conversations about security leaks and will explore how best to prepare the next generation of cybersecurity leaders to effectively tackle the challenges we are facing.  Registration by August 15 preferred.

Featured panelists include:

• Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, UMBC President
• Anupam Joshi, Director, UMBC Center for Cybersecurity; Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
• Rachel Cohen ’16, Computer Science and Cyber Scholar; Software Engineer, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
• Andy Williams, CEO, iCyberCenter@bwtech
• Tina Williams, President, TCecure, LLC; Cybersecurity Academic Innovation Officer for University System of Maryland

Contact Candace Dodson-Reed at *protected email* for questions.

The post Engaging Readers in Cybersecurity News, 8/18 National Press Club, Washington DC appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Do you have an interest in Becoming a Nonprofit Leader or Social Entrepreneur?
Are you ready to intern within a Nonprofit or Social Venture this Fall?

If yes, apply to the Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change.  DEADLINE TO APPLY:  Friday, July 28th

The Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change prepares UMBC students for the rigors and rewards of entrepreneurship and social innovation. This program places highly-motivated students from diverse backgrounds in mentored internships to better prepare them to launch nonprofit or social ventures. Students get training and experience to empower them to become the next generation of social entrepreneurs–working largely in the not-for-profit world, developing and delivering innovative solutions to some of our region’s most urgent social problems.

Internships last one semester (15 weeks) and students will work, on average, 8 to 10 hours per week. Students receive a stipend of $1,500 toward their compensation. In addition to the internship, students engage in projects and activities that further expose them to the social entrepreneurial mindset.

Why Participate?
- Earn a competitive stipend of $1,500 plus an opportunity to potentially earn credit and obtain up to $5,000 for a scholarship or seed funding for a new venture or community-based social entrepreneurship projects
- Gain valuable experience in your career field by interning 120 hours over the course of the semester (8-10 hours per week)
- Be exposed to the knowledge, skills, and mindset required to successfully launch and manage a nonprofit/social venture
- Develop a network of contacts in the nonprofit community for future references and opportunities
- Apply classroom knowledge in a realistic work environment and apply lessons learned in the workplace to academic coursework

TO APPLY:
Interested students are asked to submit a Resume and a Cover Letter answering the following questions:
Discuss your interest in social entrepreneurship/nonprofit leadership and this intern program.  What has been your entrepreneurial involvement thus far such as coursework, seminars, etc. (if applicable)?  What type of nonprofit would you like to intern for and why? 

Credentials can be submitted via UMBCworks (position 9293228) or e-mailed to:
Christine Routzahn
Director
UMBC Career Center, UMBC
routzahn@umbc.edu, 410-455-3671

DEADLINE TO APPLY:  Friday, July 28th

Do you have an interest in Entrepreneurship?
Are you ready to intern within a Start-up this Fall?

If yes, apply to the Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change.  DEADLINE TO APPLY: FRIDAY, JULY 28TH

The Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change prepares UMBC students for the rigors and rewards of entrepreneurship and social innovation. This program places highly-motivated students from diverse backgrounds in mentored internships to better prepare them to launch for-profit ventures.

Internships last one semester (15 weeks) and students will work, on average, 8 to 10 hours per week. Students receive a stipend of $1,500 toward their compensation. In addition to the internship, students engage in projects and activities that further expose them to the entrepreneurial mindset.

Why Participate?
- Earn a competitive stipend of $1,500 plus an opportunity to potentially earn credit and obtain up to $5,000 for a scholarship or seed funding for a new venture
- Gain valuable experience in your career field by interning 120 hours over the course of the semester (8-10 hours per week)
- Be exposed to the knowledge, skills, and mindset required to successfully launch and manage a growing business
- Develop a network of contacts in the entrepreneurial community for future references and opportunities
- Apply classroom knowledge in a realistic work environment and apply lessons learned in the workplace to academic coursework

TO APPLY:
Interested students are asked to submit a Resume and a Cover Letter answering the following questions:
Discuss your interest in both entrepreneurship and this intern program. What has been your entrepreneurial involvement thus far such as coursework, seminars, etc. (if applicable)? What type of start-up would you like to intern for and why?

Credentials can be submitted via UMBCworks (position 9293227) or e-mailed to:
Christine Routzahn
Director
UMBC Career Center, UMBC
routzahn@umbc.edu, 410-455-3671

DEADLINE TO APPLY: FRIDAY, JULY 28TH

Professor Cynthia Matuszek has received a research award from the National Science Foundation to improve human-robot interactions by enabling them to understand the world from natural language in order to take instructions and learn about their environment naturally and intuitively. The two-year award, Joint Models of Language and Context for Robotic Language Acquisition, will support Dr. Matuszsek’s Interactive Robotics and Language Lab, which focuses on how robots can flexibly learn from interactions with people and environments.

As robots become smaller, less expensive, and more capable, they are able to perform an increasing variety of tasks, leading to revolutionary improvements in domains such as automobile safety and manufacturing. However, their inflexibility makes them hard to deploy in human-centric environments, such as homes and schools, where their tasks and environments are constantly changing. Meanwhile, learning to understand language about the physical world is a growing research area in both robotics and natural language processing. The core problem her research addresses is how the meanings of words are grounded in the noisy, perceptual world in which a robot operates.

The ability for robots to follow spoken or written directions reduces the adoption barrier for robots in domains such as assistive technology, education, and caretaking, where interactions with non-specialists are crucial. Such robots have the potential to ultimately improve autonomy and independence for populations such as aging-in-place elders; for example, a manipulator arm that can learn from a user’s explanation how to handle food or open novel containers would directly affect the independence of persons with dexterity concerns such as advanced arthritis.

Matuszek’s research will investigate how linguistic and perceptual models can be expanded during interaction, allowing robots to understand novel language about unanticipated domains. In particular, the focus is on developing new learning approaches that correctly induce joint models of language and perception, building data-driven language models that add new semantic representations over time. The work will combines semantic parser learning, which provides a distribution over possible interpretations of language, with perceptual representations of the underlying world. New concepts will be added on the fly as new words and new perceptual data are encountered, and a semantically meaningful model can be trained by maximizing the expected likelihood of language and visual components. This integrated approach allows for effective model updates with no explicit labeling of words or percepts. This approach will be combined with experiments on improving learning efficiency by incorporating active learning, leveraging a robot’s ability to ask questions about objects in the world.

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CWIT Student Assistants 2017 -2018

The Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) is seeking two student assistants to support CWIT initiatives -- including the CWIT Affiliates Program (www.cwit.umbc.edu/affiliates), which strives to foster community among women in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). CWIT is dedicated to increasing the representation of women and other minorities in engineering and computing majors and fields.

Description: The position begins as soon as the first day of classes for Fall 2017 (exact date is negotiable) and ends as late as the last day of classes for Spring 2018 (with the possibility of renewal for additional semesters; student assistants will not work during the winter session).  Specific job tasks may include:

• Implementing an overall marketing strategy for CWIT Affiliates events in coordination CWIT staff. This includes capturing the attention of women students (and others who are interested) in COEIT using myUMBC groups, Facebook, Twitter and printed materials.

• Communicating regularly with COEIT students about CWIT programs and events throughout the semester.

• Working with CWIT staff, the CWIT Student Council, and other COEIT student organizations to promote CWIT programs and events.

• Assisting with CWIT website redesign and maintenance, and completing other design related projects such as brochures, displays, videos, etc. depending on applicants’ interests, skills, and CWIT needs.

• Working with CWIT staff to plan and implement the Affiliates Peer Mentoring program for approximately 50 new students (primarily women) entering engineering and computing majors at UMBC (mentor/mentee matches, mentor training, etc.)

• Working with CWIT staff to plan and implement other Affiliates events.

• General office support (e.g., maintaining event attendance records, making copies, other duties as needed.

Required qualifications: Candidates must be creative, have good oral and written communication skills, and be able to work effectively independently and as part of a team. Candidates must also be dependable, flexible, and enthusiastic about supporting fellow students. Minimum GPA is 2.5.

Desired qualifications: Ideal candidates will have a combination of the following: previous experience with peer mentoring; knowledge of graphics and multimedia software programs (Photoshop, Illustrator, Publisher, etc.); event planning and marketing experience with a UMBC student organization; and knowledge of or curiosity about engineering and computing majors/careers.

Compensation: Student assistants will work 10 hours per week at a rate of $10 per hour during the fall and spring semesters.  Office hours should take place during regular business hours (approximately 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday). Exact hours can be coordinated with CWIT staff upon hire in order to work with the students' class schedules as well as to meet CWIT’s needs.  Students may be asked at times to work during an event outside of regular hours.

How to Apply:  For best consideration, complete the CWIT Student Assistant Application form by August 4, 2017.

Questions about the position? Contact Dr. Danyelle Ireland, CWIT Associate Director, at direland@umbc.edu or 410-455-3109.