We are proud to announce that UMBC will be hosting introductory workshops on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, as well as LGBTQ Safe Zone Ally Development Training, throughout the Spring 2012 semester. Our aim is to help students, faculty and staff promote a more welcoming atmosphere for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning members of the UMBC community.

The first session is a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Introductory Workshop. It will cover basic ideas and terminology related to LGBTQ issues and is intended for those with a very general understanding of what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning. This session is for beginners.  The first Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity workshop will be taking place on Thursday,February 23rd, 2012 from 2:30pm - 4pm.

The second session is Safe Zone Ally Development Training.  It will prepare participants to join UMBC’s formal network of Safe Zone advocates, if they wish. Advocates are community members who agree to be publicly identified as being dedicated to making UMBC safer for students, faculty and staff of all sexual orientations and gender identities. One does not need to be a member of the LGBTQ community to become an advocate; all it takes is a genuine wish to be involved in helping students, faculty and staff feel safe and encouraged to be themselves as much as possible.

Since Safe Zone Ally Development Training does presume some level of knowledge and familiarity with LGBTQ ideas and terminology, Session II participants are expected to have a basic understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity through previous training (for example, the Session I Introductory Workshop), personal background or past experiences. 

A flyer with full descriptions for each workshop has been attached to this news story.  All community-wide workshops will take place in the OSL Mosaic Center, Commons 2B23 (unless otherwise noted).  RSVPs via email (mosaic@umbc.edu) are strongly encouraged.

V-DAY is coming and we need volunteers who'd be interested in reading excerpts of "The Vagina Monologues"!

Please join us in a special Valentine's Day coffeehouse where we'll be doing a community reading of Vagina Monolgues excerpts. Feel free to stop by and join us in some fellowship, conscious raising, and conversation!

V-Day Coffee House: Community Reading of Vagina Monologes

When: Wed, February 15, 12pm – 1pm
Where: Women's Center Lounge (Commons 004)

For more information, contact Jess at jessm@umbc.edu

• Modern Style Construction LLC -- Administrative & Marketing Assistant -- ID# 9249235
• Black Rocket Productions -- Instructors/Assistant Instructors -- ID# 9249171
• YMCA of Central Maryland -- Sports Instructors (668-221) -- ID# 9249203
• SECU Credit Union -- Teller -- ID# 9248279
• Progress Unlimited -- Awake Overnight - Direct Support Staff -- ID# 9249182
• Pershing -- Front Desk Assistant/Data Entry Clerk position -- ID# 9249228

UMBC Cyber Defense Lab Research Meeting

Using data visualization techniques to support digital forensics

Tim Leschke

11:00am-12:15pm, Friday, Feb 3, 2012
ITE Room 228

Digital forensic examiners explore large datasets in search of evidence of a crime. In order to keep pace with the growing amount of data that is subject to a forensic examination, digital forensic examiners need to be more selective about the data they examine. One way to be selective about data is to focus attention at data that has changed-over-time. We present Change-Link, a data exploration tool which allows the user to see directories that have changed within an operating system. Our novel contributions are 1) the development of a segmented-box-and-whisker icon for representing change to individual directories, and 2) the first data visualization tool developed specifically for the domain of digital forensic data. We show that by using Change-Link to view change to a directory-tree structure, digital forensic examiners can enhance their ability to perform forensic examinations.

Tim Leschke is a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science program at UMBC.

Host: Professor Alan Sherman

EACH SUMMER, the Maryland Sea Grant Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program offers fourteen students the opportunity to conduct marine research on the Chesapeake Bay — the program is especially designed for students majoring in such fields as biology, chemistry, ecology, environmental science, engineering, physics, marine science and mathematics.

The Maryland Sea Grant Program, with support from the National Science Foundation provides each fellow with:

• a stipend of $4,300
• dormitory costs
• round-trip travel expenses

During this 12-week REU program each student works with a mentor on an individual research project at one of two labs located on the Chesapeake Bay: the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's (UMCES) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Maryland, or its Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland.