Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git’s features (learning ease, tiny footprint and fast performance, services like GitHub) have caused many to choose it over older alternatives like Subversion and CVS. If you want to find out how you can use Git, come the LUG Git tutorial this Wednesday.

The UMBC Linux Users Group will sponsor a lecture and workshop on Git led by Alexander Bauer from Noon to 1:00pm on Wednesday, February 26 in the ITE 240 computer laboratory at UMBC. “Git” is a term that has become familiar to a great many of us in the technical world, whether as users or as developers. With the rise of such services as GitHub and BitBucket, and an increasing number of open source projects being hosted as Git repositories, yet many people are still unfamiliar with its use and potential use cases. During the workshop you can use your own laptop or a lab computer.

The UMBC ACM Student Chapter will kick off the Spring Hi-Tea series this week at 3:00pm on Friday, February 20. Hi Tea is a student-run social event held (nearly) every Friday from 3:00 to 3:30 in the third floor hallway of the ITE building outside the CSEE Department suite (325 ITE). All students, staff, faculty and friends of the CSEE Department are welcome to attend. Each week, a group of students will plan and assemble simple refreshments for the event. See our photo sets for pictures of past Hi-Tea events.

This week the event host is the IEEE Student Branch and next week it will be the Ebiquity Research Group.

This time we are changing the competition model to bring in more participants and give away more prizes. We are also modifying the judging process to bring in more votes from the faculty, staff and students who are attending the event. We will continue to have faculty and/or staff judges at the same time, that would help us find a right balance for the judging process. Although the competition rules remain the same, we are now going to have four winners and instead of a knockout tournament format we will have points based ranking format. Here are the rules:

• Form groups of one to three members. Teams do not have to have all members from the same lab. So feel free to form a group with any of your friends from the CSEE Department.
• Create a name for your team or use your lab’s name.
• The winning team will be chosen from a weighted combination of points given by judges and attendees.
• Each week one or more teams may participate. All of them would get points on the judging criteria from the judges and attendees.
• Points obtained through the semester would be ranked and the top four team would receive the prizes.
• Each team should limit their presentation to $25. Each team MUST save their receipts to obtain their reimbursement. We will inform you how to get the reimbursement.
• Teams will be judged on creativity, presentation, and budget planning. It is preferred that you list how you managed your expenses for the judges to verify limit-to-$25 rule.
• The Hi-Tea competition will proceed through the semester and at the end of the semester the winners would be announced.

For questions, comments, and registration, send email to one of the Hi-Tea committee members: Genaro Hernandez Jr. (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. ), Primal Pappachan (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. ) or Sunil Gandhi (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. ).

The following part-time positions have been posted within the past week to UMBCworks. Login to your account (via the link in the Jobs & Internships topic in myUMBC) and find details and application instructions as well as hundreds of other job postings!

9263940 - Substitute - School/Residential Program - Linwood Children's Center
9263922 - Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper - Property Management Associates, LLC
9263890 - Youth Soccer Coach - Soccer Shots
9263861 - In-Home Instructors for Children with Autism - Trellis Services
9263849 - Bilingual Patient Access Associate - Sinai Hospital of Baltimore

The following on-campus positions have been posted within the past week to UMBCworks. Login to your account (via the link in the Jobs & Internships topic in myUMBC) and find details and application instructions as well as hundreds of other job postings!

9263846 - Business Manager - The Retriever Weekly
9263917 - Database Assistant - Office of Technology Development
9263894 - Desktop Support - Division of Information Technology
9263935 - Editorial Assistant for Website Development - Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
9263938 - Student Receptionist - techcenter@UMBC

Summer 2014 - Research Experience for Undergraduates

Sensors and Sensing: From Molecules to Applications
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Florida International University
The main objective of the REU program is to expose undergraduate students to interdisciplinary research in the field of sensing, monitoring and detection.

During the 10 week program (5/19/14-7/26/14) the participants will closely work with faculty and graduate students on cutting edge research projects that bridge traditional chemistry disciplines. Beside full time research, participants will be involved in weekly seminars and workshops focused on modern problems in the chemistry of sensing, monitoring and detection, ethics in science, professional growth, and the role of the scientist in modern society.

The REU program provides a $ 5,200 summer stipend. In addition, housing and travel, (including travel for presentation of work in conferences) is provided by the program . Sophomore, junior, and rising senior students are encouraged to apply.

DEADLINE MARCH 1, 2014

Fostering Advancement & Careers through Enrichment Training in Science (FACETS)

FACETS (Fostering Advancement & Careers through Enrichment Training in Science) is a school-wide 4-week summer program set to begin June 16, 2014.

The program provides participants with exposure to the range and applicability of public health.  Participants will receive introductory coursework in epidemiology and biostatistics, formal lectures from different faculty within HSPH. Participants will also engage in a group research project with an assigned HSPH faculty member. These faculty members will be based in the Departments of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Health Policy and Management, Environmental Health, Nutrition, or Genetics and Complex Diseases. Students have the opportunity to select areas of interest on the FACETS application.

For more specific training, HSPH currently offers 3 department-based summer programs, which include the Summer Program in Epidemiology (Department of Epidemiology), Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences (Department of Biostatistics), and the Summer Program in Biological Science in Public Health (Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases).

FACETS participants will receive summer salary, housing, and funded travel.

Please find the online application here!

The application deadline is March 15, 2014

Efficient Secure Multi-party Computing and Its Applications

Dr. Yan Huang
University of Maryland, College Park

1:00-2:00pm Monday, 24 February 2014, ITE 325b, UMBC

Secure Multiparty Computation offers cryptographically strong guarantees on the secrecy of data used in collaborative computing among untrusted parties. It has many important applications ranging from peer-to-peer secure auction to privacy-preserving data mining. In this talk, I will present my experience in making secure computation practical. I will also share my vision on how to blend modern cryptography, programming languages, and artificial intelligence research to solve interesting cyber-security problems.

Dr. Yan Huang is a research associate at the University of Maryland and the Maryland Cybersecurity Center. Dr. Huang is interested in developing secure protocols, with applications in private collaborative data mining, secure cloud computing, and cyber-physical systems. His research combines techniques from systems, cryptography, and programming languages to build secure systems. He is the creator of FastGC, a practical secure computation software framework, which has been downloaded more than 500 times and used in several research projects by both academia and industry labs world-wide. Dr. Huang graduated from University of Virginia with a Ph.D in Computer Science in 2012.

Check out our Graduate School Application Guide provides comprehensive information and great resources to help students like you prepare for graduate school, select the best graduate program, complete the application, and fund your education. There is also a typical timeline for applying to graduate school.

Selecting the Best Graduate Program for You

The Guide contains a series of questions to help you determine which program is best for you. Directories and guidebooks can be helpful during the initial planning stage. Professional Journals can help you identify the type of research professors are conducting and where the professors are located. Student organizations can be helpful with networking and providing networking opportunities.

Funding

A graduate degree is an investment in your future. It is important to determine how the education will be financed. You should budget for: tuition, fees, housing and costs of living, books and academic materials, lab costs, and transportation. The Graduate School Application Guide discusses graduate assistantship positions, research assistant positions, fellowships, scholarships, traineeships, federal and state financial aid, and other resources to help students fund graduate school.

Test Preparation

Most universities require admission tests. Some admission tests include Dental Admissions Test (DAT), Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT), Professional Assessment for Beginning Teachers (Praxis), VCAT Veterinary College Admission Test (VCAT), and Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

International students may be required to take a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to demonstrate competency in writing and speaking English sufficient for graduate study.

There are several test practice centers that offer test-prep courses where you can learn test-taking techniques and practice taking admissions exams. These courses can help you improve your score and prepare for what to expect. 

We are here to help! We can critique  personal statements, help you with your graduate school application and preparation, and examine the best graduate school options for you. Please schedule an individual appointment. You can now schedule appointments online using UMBCworks.