The Department of State's Pathways Recent Graduates Program Job Announcement is now open on USAJobs.gov for the IT Specialist job series, and is scheduled to close at 11:59pm EST on the day that 200 applications is received, or Friday, November 8, 2013, whichever comes first.

Go to https://state.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/344074900 to view the vacancy and start the application process.

To qualify for a Pathways Recent Graduates position, you must meet the qualifications listed in the announcement, and have COMPLETED your educational requirement BY THE DATE OF APPLICATION.

We appreciate your interest in a career with the U.S. Department of State.

Visit our forums if you have any questions, or to search for topics of interest. The forums can be found under Engage on the careers.state.gov website. You can also search our FAQs for more information.

U.S. citizenship is required. An equal opportunity employer.

Convergent Technologies in bwTECH research park is looking to hire multiple interns this Spring. Currently, they are seeking interns in Database, Java, C ++, and Marketing. 

Check out their full job descriptions in UMBCworks by searching Convergent Technology. 

CTI has been providing professional services to clients since 1997.

CTI’s work with federal and private sector customers is based on a simple premise: 

“to provide customers with highly qualified Engineering, Support, and Consulting services at a reasonable cost.” 

We do this by attracting the ‘best and brightest’ at what they do, 
then give them the opportunity to grow in ways they could not in the larger corporate environment. Our customers benefit by gaining access to ‘top notch’ personnel at competitive rates.

CTI offers consulting expertise in the areas of Internet solutions, IT infrastructure architectures and systems integration to help you plan, implement and manage your distributed network computing environment.

Effective network computing requires an IT infrastructure tailored to meet your specific business needs. It requires expertise in network computing and Internet innovation-- the kind of experience you'll find at CTI.

Please note you must be a U.S. Citizen to qualify for this position. 

Name:  Marissa Pigeols

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Office of External Affairs, Social Security Administration

Major(s)/Minor(s):  English, History, Media & Communication Studies

Expected Graduation Year: 2016

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

My internship is with the Office of External Relations within Social Security Administration. As the name of my position (Social Media Intern) may suggest, my assignments have all been within the realm of social media. Some of my assignments have included: writing blog posts for the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) blog, By the Numbers, designing award certificates for employees, designing banners for web pages, designing info graphics for OIG’s Facebook page, and completing other various editing tasks.

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

I have strongly enjoyed using my design and editing skills in a practical manner. Everything I had designed up to this point had been for personal use. The items I designed for OER were to be used on their main web pages, their blogs, and their Facebook page. The certificate was likely my favorite thing to create, as I knew other people would be directly receiving it. Creating graphics for other people was incredibly rewarding.

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

Keep an open mind. When I received an invitation to apply for the internship, I was surprised - I had never applied for this. It turned out they’d received my resume from the school and were interested in interviewing me. I was apprehensive at first, considering I already had a summer job, but I went for it and I’m so glad I did! It ended up being such a great opportunity to test my design and writing skills and to learn more about public relations.

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.

Before this internship, I knew very little about Social Security. I knew I had a SS number, and I knew I needed to protect this number to prevent my identity from being stolen. Through writing blog posts and reading testimony, I learned that crimes concerning Social Security can be the kind that destroys lives. As I have many elderly relatives, this kind of information was both concerning and valuable.

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

I have always been interested in both writing and design, but was unsure about exactly what I wanted to do in those areas. Working with External Relations made me realize that whatever product you produce, be it a blog post or an info graphic, is useless if you don’t have a message you need to get across and an audience to consume it. The people I worked with understood this perfectly. They needed to help the American public understand the work SSA is doing, and have been adapting social media and 21st century technologies to ensure this happens. I now have a better understanding of the importance of social media and communication in such a plugged-in world.

Name:  Marissa Pigeols

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Office of External Affairs, Social Security Administration

Major(s)/Minor(s):  English, History, Media & Communication Studies

Expected Graduation Year: 2016

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

My internship is with the Office of External Relations within Social Security Administration. As the name of my position (Social Media Intern) may suggest, my assignments have all been within the realm of social media. Some of my assignments have included: writing blog posts for the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) blog, By the Numbers, designing award certificates for employees, designing banners for web pages, designing info graphics for OIG’s Facebook page, and completing other various editing tasks.

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

I have strongly enjoyed using my design and editing skills in a practical manner. Everything I had designed up to this point had been for personal use. The items I designed for OER were to be used on their main web pages, their blogs, and their Facebook page. The certificate was likely my favorite thing to create, as I knew other people would be directly receiving it. Creating graphics for other people was incredibly rewarding.

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

Keep an open mind. When I received an invitation to apply for the internship, I was surprised - I had never applied for this. It turned out they’d received my resume from the school and were interested in interviewing me. I was apprehensive at first, considering I already had a summer job, but I went for it and I’m so glad I did! It ended up being such a great opportunity to test my design and writing skills and to learn more about public relations.

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.

Before this internship, I knew very little about Social Security. I knew I had a SS number, and I knew I needed to protect this number to prevent my identity from being stolen. Through writing blog posts and reading testimony, I learned that crimes concerning Social Security can be the kind that destroys lives. As I have many elderly relatives, this kind of information was both concerning and valuable.

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

I have always been interested in both writing and design, but was unsure about exactly what I wanted to do in those areas. Working with External Relations made me realize that whatever product you produce, be it a blog post or an info graphic, is useless if you don’t have a message you need to get across and an audience to consume it. The people I worked with understood this perfectly. They needed to help the American public understand the work SSA is doing, and have been adapting social media and 21st century technologies to ensure this happens. I now have a better understanding of the importance of social media and communication in such a plugged-in world.

Meet Kelsey.

She is a Biology major and McNair Scholar. Her research studies the effectiveness of community gardening in urban settings. In the spring of 2012, she studied abroad in New Delhi, India where she completed field studies in adolescent anemia. She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in Public Health or Nutrition Biology.

How did you find out about McNair?
During the fall of 2012 I saw various advertisements around campus that just said, “McNair Scholars Program.” Upon looking up the program, I realized it was just the program for me as a first generation and low income college student. The process of applying mirrors graduate school, which taught me a few important lessons.

What have you gained from being a McNair scholar?
Growing up with parents that struggled not having a college degree pushed me to work hard and earn a bachelor’s degree. The McNair scholars program opened my eyes to graduate school for the first time. College is not only about expanding one’s knowledge, but about learning the art of networking and following directions.

What is your most recent (or most interesting) independent research project?
I am currently working on a project in Baltimore City regarding community gardens and urban farms. The research is an exploratory study focusing on what factors contribute to adolescent girls’ eating habits. I conducted structured interviews with adolescent girls and community leaders, compared self-reported vegetable and fruit intake values to the Center for Disease Control and Preventions’ (CDC) recommended values, and merged statistics collected in the 2009-10 CDC’s National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES).

How did you find your mentor for this project?
Most scholars do their research within their department, which focuses the search for a mentor. I, on the other hand, am doing research outside of my department. I looked at various faculty websites in Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, and Sociology and Anthropology. With the help of Dr. Davis, McNair’s mentor lesion, I sent emails to the faculty doing similar research asking them to by my mentor. I had an in-person meeting with three of the faculty members, and one has been my faulty mentor and one has been a source of support along the way.

How did you know this was the project you wanted to do?
Spring of 2012 I studied abroad in New Delhi, India. During my time there I completed field studies on adolescent anemia, which fueled my passion for adolescent health. I knew I wanted to complete a similar project in the United States, but adolescent anemia is not as much of a problem here. Childhood obesity is of major concern the United States. As I read more research journals, the information lead me to the lack of services available for adolescent girls to prevent childhood obesity.

How much time do you put into it?
All McNair scholars must enroll in a research methodologies course with three components (lecture, library, and mentor). During the semester I spent to 10-hours per week outside of class preparing my proposal, reading journals, and increasing my methodologies foundation. Now in the summer, I spend 30- to 40-hours per week on my research project and preparing for graduate school.

What academic background did you have before you started?
Methodologies and field studies in India prepared me for some of the challenges related to field research. AFST 495, the McNair research methodologies course honed my skills for research in the United States. Various Biology and Chemistry courses prepared me for understanding the research articles, and being able to explain how nutrition plays a role in childhood obesity. English classes helped improve my writing, making me a competitive applicant for research opportunities.

How much did your mentor help you with your research?
Dr. Pinet-Peralta in the Sociology & Anthropology Department, associate director of HAPP, signed on as my mentor with the understanding we would apply to publish. Our research relationship is unique, because the project is my independent research. Dr. Pinet-Peralta has coached me through how to write literature reviews, explaining methodology, and has given me links to numerous research tools. He has not only been helpful in my project, but also in talking through graduate school.

What has been the hardest part about your research?
IRB approval, budget changes due to sequestration, and getting participants. Working with adolescent girls forced me to file for expedited review, which means they are considered a vulnerable population. The first proposal took a total of 7-weeks to get approved. Sequestration limited some of my research, which added additional time for approval of modifications. After one month into research I met with my first participant.

What was the most unexpected thing?
Research is unexpected. We spend hours putting together the ideal proposal with well-thought out methodologies, but it never works out just how you planned. There are small to large obstacles every day. My supportive mentor, the always patient McNair staff, and my previous field studies have helped guide me through the ups-and-downs of this research project.

How does your research relate to your work in other classes?
My research does not directly relate to my current classwork, but does translate into the work I plan to do in graduate school and in my career.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
Take advantage of undergraduate research opportunities at UMBC. Talk with your professors and fellow classmates about their experiences. Go to the Shiver Center and Career Services Center today to get help finding a research position or internship!

What are your career goals?
I will go on to get my PhD in either Public Health or Nutrition Biology. In Public Health I plan to focus on community health or maternal and children’s health. One day I hope to work with the United States Department of Agriculture, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, or a related agency. Ideally I will be able to focus on nutrition, whether preventative or couple with curative medicine.

Read her abstract here...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is pleased to announce the availability of scholarships (includes internships) to college sophomore students majoring in STEM disciplines related to oceanic and atmospheric science, research, or technology, and supportive of the purposes of NOAA's programs and mission, e.g., biological, social and physical sciences; mathematics; engineering; and computer and information sciences. 

NOAA is accepting applications from students who will have Official Junior status in Fall 2014.