UMBC is once again hosting the Global Gam Jam this January. It will run from 5pm Friday, January 24th to 5pm Sunday, January 26th, just before classes start. Once again, thanks to a generous donation by NextCentury, registration is free. Space is limited, so sign up now! 

For anyone who hasn't participated, the global game jam is a 48 hour game development event with hundreds of host sites around the world. At 5pm local time, introduce the jam and announce this year's theme. Previous year's themes have ranged from a phrase ("as long as we're together there will always be problems") to a word ("extinction") to an image (ouroboros: a snake eating its tail), to a sound (the recording of a heartbeat). Participants brainstorm game ideas around the theme, form into teams, and spend the weekend building games that are designed to be both fun and express the theme.

The UMBC site is not restricted to just students. In previous years, we have had a mix of UMBC students, faculty, alumni, students from other schools, game development professionals, and just people with an interest in game development. More details at gaim.umbc.edu/global-game-jam. However, we are limited to just 40 participants, so sign up early if you want to come. If the UMBC site fills, other local(ish) sites include the Unviersity of Baltimore, American University, and George Mason University.

Meet Emily. She is a Music major and current Undergraduate Research Award (URA) Scholar. Her current research focuses on the influential American flutist William Kincaid.

How did you find your mentor for your research project?
My flute teacher, Dr. Lisa Cella, suggested that I apply for the URA. We discussed possible projects and decided on one together. It only seemed natural for her to be my mentor after this collaboration.

How did you know that this was the project you wanted to do?
As a flute player, I have always been interested in the history and development of the various styles of playing the flute in different countries. When I learned about William Kincaid, the father of American flute playing, I was fascinated by what I read and desired to learn more.

Is this your first independent research project?
This is not my first independent research project. In my high school, we were expected to successfully complete two twenty-page theses on topics of our own choosing in our junior and senior year. We were assigned faculty mentors to help us hone our topics. This experience greatly prepared me to apply for the Undergraduate Research Award.

Do you get course credit for this work? How much time do you put into it?
I do not receive course credit for this work. I plan to complete much of my research this summer. Part of my research entails attending master classes to interview various flutists who have been influenced by Kincaid’s teaching. Both of these one-week master classes occur in the summer. 

How did you hear about the URA Program?
My faculty mentor suggested I apply for the program; I also heard about it from various professors who recommended that I apply.

What academic background did you have before you applied for the URA?
I have played the flute for eight years and I am a music major with a double emphasis in education and performance.

Was the application difficult to do?
For me, the most difficult part of the application was the editing process. I worked closely with my mentor and sent several drafts of my proposal to a few of my professors to get their thoughts. Hearing their insights really helped to hone my proposal.

What has been the hardest part about your research?
For me, the hardest part I think will be pacing myself. I am trying to do most of my research this summer as I have a heavy academic load during the fall and spring semesters.

What was the most unexpected thing?
I did not realize how intensely I had to revise my proposal. Every word had to be purposeful and communicate exactly what I meant. Writing the proposal was a wonderful writing exercise.

How does your research relate to your work in other classes?
My research will greatly aid in my Performance Studies class. My research entails attending several master classes over the summer, which have proven to be both enlightening and challenging. 

What else are you involved in on campus?
In addition to my academic classes, I am involved in CRU, Campus Crusade for Christ.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
I would highly recommend that all students pursue some type of research during their undergraduate years. It is a wonderful opportunity to develop close relationships with professors and it is a great academic experience. It also is a superb addition to any resume.

What are your career goals?
After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I would love to pursue a Master’s degree in both Music Education and Music Performance. I also would enjoy teaching music both privately and in an elementary school.

Read Emily's abstract here...

Story from: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/12/03/preparing-for-interview-questions-that-dont-have-a-right-answer

Imagine that you are in a job interview , the first thing you encounter is a purposefully unpredictable off-the-wall question like: "A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?" or "How many windows are in New York City?" According to Glassdoor's Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions survey, these questions were actually asked during interviews at Clark Construction and Bain & Company.

Other times, you'll encounter the same old, same old questions you've come to expect: "Tell me about yourself," "What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?" and "Why did you leave your last job?" Still other times you will be asked behavior-based questions that classically begin with "Tell me about a time when…" or "How would you do…?"

Regardless of which kind of approach is taken, the whole idea behind these questions for which there is no one right answer is less about the actual content but rather to discern aspects about your personality, work style, values, perspective and how your mind works. These are all things one can't reliably ask directly.

Nonetheless, you can anticipate legitimate issues of any employer's concern, prepare by crafting stories in response to these questions and display yourself in the best possible light.

1. Do you show up for work? On one very basic level, an employer wants to know that you live within a reasonable commuting distance so that you are able to arrive on time and not be mentally fatigued. But on a deeper level, be prepared to demonstrate with your answer that you actually care about your work, take it seriously and are psychologically engaged as opposed to just physically present.

Do you immediately accept the challenge of figuring out how many windows are in New York? Do you relish the opportunity and show how you would dig in to go about finding a reasonable approximation? Can you talk about how in the past you jumped into a job or project with both feet first?

2. Are you flexible? Prepare stories that demonstrate you can adapt to changing circumstances and needs. Can you speak about how you have adjusted your schedule, come in early and left late or adapted to the work style of a new boss or different team members? Are you willing to shift your priorities and work style to meet the needs of others?

What stories can you tell to demonstrate that you can go with the flow to help get done whatever needs to happen?

3. Are you ambitious? Few people can actually predict what they will be doing five years from now. But can you talk about the overall arc of your career up to this point? Do the transitions from one position to the next over the course of your professional life make sense, or are they happenstance? Can you articulate the general direction in which you want to move?

What have you done to propel your career forward up to this point? And, are you relying on what you did in 1985 and how you did it to get hired today? Do you think that the skills and knowledge you have will get you by for the long haul, or what are your plans to keep up with the latest and greatest information, innovations, trends and technology?

Put simply: can you articulate a vision of what you want to accomplish in the job for which you are applying, and beyond? And can you weave this vision into the narrative you tell?

4. How well do you communicate? It is rare to find a job description that doesn't include strong communications skills among the requirements, and few are the résumés that don't claim that those skills. Most interviewers will judge your level of intelligence and your attitude by the way you speak and convey your own personal story.

Often, interview questions are purposefully open-ended to see how you will respond when challenged. Do you summon relevant facts and stories from your past, or do you meander through an answer without dealing with the concern of your interviewer? Do you engage through dialogue, open body language and clarity of thought? Do you understand when enough has been said and it is time to stop speaking?

When you take the time to step back from the interview process to think about the underlying concerns of any employer, you can gain valuable perspective. Then you can go about effectively crafting your own stories with these concerns, and thereby increase your odds of hearing the words that every job hunter craves: "You're hired."

Happy hunting!

Story from: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/12/03/preparing-for-interview-questions-that-dont-have-a-right-answer

Imagine that you are in a job interview , the first thing you encounter is a purposefully unpredictable off-the-wall question like: "A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?" or "How many windows are in New York City?" According to Glassdoor's Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions survey, these questions were actually asked during interviews at Clark Construction and Bain & Company.

Other times, you'll encounter the same old, same old questions you've come to expect: "Tell me about yourself," "What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?" and "Why did you leave your last job?" Still other times you will be asked behavior-based questions that classically begin with "Tell me about a time when…" or "How would you do…?"

Regardless of which kind of approach is taken, the whole idea behind these questions for which there is no one right answer is less about the actual content but rather to discern aspects about your personality, work style, values, perspective and how your mind works. These are all things one can't reliably ask directly.

Nonetheless, you can anticipate legitimate issues of any employer's concern, prepare by crafting stories in response to these questions and display yourself in the best possible light.

1. Do you show up for work? On one very basic level, an employer wants to know that you live within a reasonable commuting distance so that you are able to arrive on time and not be mentally fatigued. But on a deeper level, be prepared to demonstrate with your answer that you actually care about your work, take it seriously and are psychologically engaged as opposed to just physically present.

Do you immediately accept the challenge of figuring out how many windows are in New York? Do you relish the opportunity and show how you would dig in to go about finding a reasonable approximation? Can you talk about how in the past you jumped into a job or project with both feet first?

2. Are you flexible? Prepare stories that demonstrate you can adapt to changing circumstances and needs. Can you speak about how you have adjusted your schedule, come in early and left late or adapted to the work style of a new boss or different team members? Are you willing to shift your priorities and work style to meet the needs of others?

What stories can you tell to demonstrate that you can go with the flow to help get done whatever needs to happen?

3. Are you ambitious? Few people can actually predict what they will be doing five years from now. But can you talk about the overall arc of your career up to this point? Do the transitions from one position to the next over the course of your professional life make sense, or are they happenstance? Can you articulate the general direction in which you want to move?

What have you done to propel your career forward up to this point? And, are you relying on what you did in 1985 and how you did it to get hired today? Do you think that the skills and knowledge you have will get you by for the long haul, or what are your plans to keep up with the latest and greatest information, innovations, trends and technology?

Put simply: can you articulate a vision of what you want to accomplish in the job for which you are applying, and beyond? And can you weave this vision into the narrative you tell?

4. How well do you communicate? It is rare to find a job description that doesn't include strong communications skills among the requirements, and few are the résumés that don't claim that those skills. Most interviewers will judge your level of intelligence and your attitude by the way you speak and convey your own personal story.

Often, interview questions are purposefully open-ended to see how you will respond when challenged. Do you summon relevant facts and stories from your past, or do you meander through an answer without dealing with the concern of your interviewer? Do you engage through dialogue, open body language and clarity of thought? Do you understand when enough has been said and it is time to stop speaking?

When you take the time to step back from the interview process to think about the underlying concerns of any employer, you can gain valuable perspective. Then you can go about effectively crafting your own stories with these concerns, and thereby increase your odds of hearing the words that every job hunter craves: "You're hired."

Happy hunting!

Hacker School is a free, full-time, immersive school in New York for becoming a better programmer. Participants come from around the world to spend 12 weeks writing code and growing as programmers. Three sessions are run each year, with one in the summer.

Hacker School is largely unstructured, self-directed, and project-based with optional activities and structure: reading groups, mini workshops and seminars, weekly dinners and talks, group presentations, and more.

The program is tuition-free, but participants are responsible for their own living expenses. Some aid is available, including more than $150,000 from Google for need-based grants for female programmers to come to Hacker School. For more information and to apply, see the Hacker School site.

Hacker School is a free, full-time, immersive school in New York for becoming a better programmer. Participants come from around the world to spend 12 weeks writing code and growing as programmers. Three sessions are run each year, with one in the summer.

Hacker School is largely unstructured, self-directed, and project-based with optional activities and structure: reading groups, mini workshops and seminars, weekly dinners and talks, group presentations, and more.

The program is tuition-free, but participants are responsible for their own living expenses. Some aid is available, including more than $150,000 from Google for need-based grants for female programmers to come to Hacker School. For more information and to apply, see the Hacker School site.

Hacker School is a free, full-time, immersive school in New York for becoming a better programmer. Participants come from around the world to spend 12 weeks writing code and growing as programmers. Three sessions are run each year, with one in the summer.

Hacker School is largely unstructured, self-directed, and project-based with optional activities and structure: reading groups, mini workshops and seminars, weekly dinners and talks, group presentations, and more.

The program is tuition-free, but participants are responsible for their own living expenses. Some aid is available, including more than $150,000 from Google for need-based grants for female programmers to come to Hacker School. For more information and to apply, see the Hacker School site.

The inaugural hackUMBC hackathon was a smashing success!

Held in the UMBC Skylight Room from 7:00pm Friday to 7:00pm Saturday this past weekend, UMBC’s first-ever hackathon was open to all UMBC students of any skill level, from innovators and explorers to designers and hardcore coders. Its purpose was to allow students to mingle and collaborate for 24 continuous hours of community exploration to grow technology projects from scratch while expanding their connections to other students, industry leaders, and faculty. Admission was free and attracted students from across the UMBC campus community, including CS, CE, EE, IS, Biology, Biotechnology, Math, Physics, and Media Studies.

The term ‘hackathon’ hearkens back to the original meaning of “hacker” and “hacking” in early Internet history — namely, to “hack together (create) something quickly” instead of their current interpretations typically referring to illegal cybersecurity activities.

The theme for hackUMBC 2013 was “Hacking to Improve Campus Life” with the goal of ‘hacking together’ any sort of hardware or software project that helps students, teachers, or schools. Accordingly, projects developed during the event included a textbook resale service, realtime intelligent parking space sensors, Peoplesoft interface refinements, and mobile apps to help UMBC students network, socialize, and monitor class schedules, among many others.

Throughout the event, volunteer mentors from UMBC and local industry circulated amongst the teams to offer advice and guidance on their efforts, including how to successfully ‘pitch’ their products to the judges.

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski joined the festivities early Friday evening to offer words of encouragement and motivation for the nearly 100 UMBC students competing in this innovative and highly charged event.

hackUMBC was conceived by CSEE students Perry Ogwuche and Randi Williams following their summer experience as fellows at CODE2040. Assisting in the effort was Prajit Kumar Das, CS PhD student and president of UMBC’s ACM chapter, and Alexander Morrow, a senior CS student and president of UMBC’s Cryptocurrency Club. CSEE’s Dr. Rick Forno served as faculty advisor to the event.

Projects were evaluated by several faculty and staff judges based on creativity, technical difficulty, polish, relevance, and usefulness. More than $2500 in prizes were awarded!

Second Place: Erill Labs (Robert Forder, Talmo Pereira, Patrick O’Neill, Sefa Kilic)

Third Place: Clever Source Solutions (Edward Mukasey, Ian Shefferman, Chinonso Ugwu)

hackUMBC Judges: Tim Oates, Rick Forno, Wesley Griffin, Dan Hood, Shawn Lupoli, Valerie Thomas, Geoffrey Weiss, and Ashwinkumar Ganesan.

hackUMBC was sponsored by Northrop Grumman, the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, ClearEdge IT Solutions, Independent Security Evaluators, Next Century Corporation, TriTech Systems, Github, CODE2040, the UMBC BWTech Cync Program, and the UMBC Alex Brown Center.

More information can be found at the hackUMBC page.

Name:  Yohka Tanaka

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Japan International Food for the Hungry

Major(s)/Minor(s): Interdisciplinary Studies

Expected Graduation Year: 2014

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, research, or service- learning opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

I got my intern site, Japan International Food for the Hungry (JIFH), by typing "npo kiga (meaning "hunger" in Japanese)" in a search box, getting the site's website, and contacting them if they provide an internship opportunity, even though I found on their website saying: "At this time, there are no volunteer opportunities available." I just ignored it and asked them if there are internship opportunities available. The result is: I got an internship opportunity. 

What I'm doing is:
1) Learn about JIFH (what it does, how it works, etc)
2) Inform myself about what has happened in areas where JIFH have supported (9 countries in Africa, 7 countries in Asia, and 1 country in South America).
3) Office work (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, sorting documents), including translation between English and Japanese.
4) Event planning, preparing, and facilitating
5) Summarize information to make a report, which will be read by other NPOs, FAO Japan office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affair (Japan).
At the very beginning, I spent most of my time for learning, and then I've moved on to the next step: JIFH will ask me to write a report, plan/ prepare/ facilitate events, or join meetings for the World Food Day.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

Specifically, I was so excited at the meeting for the World Food Day. People from FAO Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affair, Table For Two, Second Harvest Japan, and six other NPOs working on food-related issues came by and talked about what we can do in Japan to support World Food Day. I was just listening to what they said, but it was pleasure to be there and to get their business card.

What have you gained from your experience that you could not have gained from another opportunity?

Face-to-face talk with people whose work is my dream job.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

Don't give up. Actively seek an opportunity.

As I described how I got my internship opportunity...
(copied and pasted from the question #1)
I got my intern site, Japan International Food for the Hungry (JIFH), by typing "npo kiga (meaning "hunger" in Japanese)" in a search box, getting the site's website, and contacting them if they provide an internship opportunity, even though I found on their website saying: "At this time, there are no volunteer opportunities available." I just ignored it and asked them if there are internship opportunities available. The result is: I got an internship opportunity. 

How do you see your experience as meaningful? This might involve skills you’ve gained, information you’ve learned, mentors you’ve connected with, or projects you’ve completed.

I want to eradicate hunger. On UMBC campus, I established Table For Two UMBC (Table For Two is a Japanese NPO simultaneously addressing under-nutrition and over-nutrition). My experience as an intern at Japan International Food for the Hungry will directly contribute to my future, which is to establish a NPO to eradicate hunger. I'm feeling how my intern site is operated and connecting with people working at NPOs and the government that are interested in World Food Day. I feel that everything is meaningful.

Please provide a short quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / the internship placement process / the Shriver Center:

Networking: I could meet people and get their contact information, which will be surely used once I could establish my own non-profit organization.