By Megan Hanks

Sensing an opportunity to improve wind energy: Maryland Innovation Initiative and bwtech help UMBC faculty commercialize their research

Soobum Lee, right, with his business partners Ahmed Abdelaziz, center, and Pranay Kohli. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Bringing research to consumers

Technology with an impact

The UMBC Career Center is partnering with the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS) to co-sponsor the third annual CAHSS Careers Conference on Thursday, March 5 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the UC Ballroom. Join us for an evening of getting to know the value of your unique degree and the resources your college and Career Center have to offer you.

The agenda will include:

• Stories from successful CAHSS alumni
• Employer panel discussing the benefits of your degree in the workplace
• Opportunities to connect with fellow CAHSS students
• Heavy hors d'oeuvres and dessert

Registration is required for this event. Please click here to reserve your spot. Students of all arts, humanities, and social science disciplines are encouraged to attend. Please be aware that because this is a catered event, we must charge a no-show fee to those who cancel less than a week in advance.

If you have questions or need accommodations, please contact Kacie Lawrence, Associate Director of Internships & Employment, at klawrence@umbc.edu.

"UMBC Suits You" is collecting new and gently used professional clothing as part of Career Month.

Students will have the opportunity to learn about dressing professionally and will then be able to select one free outfit to use in their job search. We are asking staff, faculty, alumni, and affiliates to donate new and gently used professional interview attire clothing at collection bins around campus from February 18th - March 3rd.

Starting February 18th, Professional Clothing can be dropped off at the following on-campus locations:

• Career Center, Math/Psych, Room 201, 8:30am-5pm
• Financial Services, Administration Building, 4th Floor in the Lobby, M-F 8:30am-4:30pm.
• Division of Professional Studies, Sherman Hall East-4th Floor (reception area near elevators), M-F 9am – 4pm.
• The Shriver Center, Public Policy, M-F, 8:30am-5pm.
• The Mosaic Center, The Commons 2B23, Monday: 9:30am - 5pm
  Tuesday - Thursday: 9:30am - 6pm
  Friday: 10am - 5pm
• CWIT, ITE452, M-F 9am-4 pm
• Student Conduct and Community Standards, Student Development and Success Center, M-F 9am-5pm
• Residential Life Office, Erickson Hall, M-F, 8:30am- 5pm
• NEW! OCA Mocha, 5410 East Dr, Arbutus, MD 21227, M-F 6am-10pm, Sat 8am-10pm, Sun 8am-3pm

SUMMER 2020

Interdisciplinary CoLab is a 4-week paid summer internship on narrative-based research offered to undergraduate UMBC students. Participants work in interdisciplinary student teams to create effective narratives about our campus, our larger communities, and our lives. Their research results in public-facing products, such as websites, apps, or videos. Open to all majors, it is an excellent opportunity for students in STEM fields to learn to tell effective stories and for students in social science and humanities fields to gain research and technical skills.

Participants receive a $3000 stipend and a scholarship for a 3-credit internship course. The internship commitment is 30 hours per week (Monday - Friday, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm) during the 4-week Summer Session One, which runs from Tuesday, May 26th - Friday, June 19th.

Low cost summer housing is available in on-campus residence halls and apartments.

For more information, and to apply, please visit:

https://summer.umbc.edu/beyond-the-classroom/colab

SUMMER 2020 PROJECTS

1) A Protocol Manual for Urban Forest Health as Citizen Science: From Patch Sample to Public Advocacy

Project Leader: Dr. Jennifer Maher, English

Project description

The mission of the non-profit organization Baltimore Green Space is "to be a leader and partner in ensuring the communities’ open spaces and forest patches are considered priority assets in the growth and redevelopment of Baltimore.” The organization supports scientific documentation of the “social, health, environment, and economic benefits” green spaces create. The goal for this interdisciplinary team of student researchers will be to produce an urban forest health research protocol manual. Building on the collaboration of Baltimore Green Space, Dr. Matt Baker’s Summer Forest Patch Project, and community land stewards, the CoLab team will create the field manual to enable other advocates of forest health to develop persuasive, evidence-based information related to urban forest health for policymakers and the general public. 

Required skills and abilities for applicants

Student members of the interdisciplinary team should share the following traits: intellectual curiosity, strong written and oral communication skills, leadership ability, and solid research skills. Ideally, the team would have student expertise in:

• Environmental science

• Rhetoric/technical communication

• Web design and video editing

2) Jazz and Justice: An American Art Form as Civic Deliberation

Project Leader: Dr. Earl Brooks, English

Project description

Celebrated trumpeter Wynton Marsalis calls jazz a model of participatory democracy and integration. Its performance as well as its complex history bridge the divides between art, rhetorical invention, and civic deliberation. At a time when democracies around the world are grappling with the immense challenges of polarization, wealth inequality, mistrust of institutions, and a media landscape that is as disorienting as it is informative, the history and vitality of jazz takes on a new importance. What does jazz teach us about navigating the issues that paralyze and fracture public consensus? This CoLab attempts to wrestle with such questions by exploring the local history of jazz in Baltimore. Students will work with the Baltimore Jazz Alliance to create content to educate the public about the history and importance of jazz for their newsletter and website.

Required skills and abilities for applicants

This project will require students to build strong written and oral communication skills, facility with multimedia composing platforms (i.e. Adobe Spark, Audacity, iMovie), research skills, leadership ability, logistics, and organizational strategies.

3) People and Places of Baltimore City - An Audio Tour of the Historic Zion Church of the City of Baltimore

Project Leader: Susanne Sutton

Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication

Project description

The Zion Church of the City of Baltimore is one of the oldest churches in the city. Founded in 1755 as “The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation at Baltimore Town,” it serves Baltimore’s German immigrant community. Throughout its over 250-year history, pastors and congregations left their mark on Zion and the city as they led efforts to expand the church, to add a school, and to rebuild after a fire in 1840. Zion Church leaders are looking to modernize the visitor experience to appeal to a wider audience and increase interest in the Church as a central institution in Baltimore. The goal of this project is to produce an audio narrative tour of the historic Church. The CoLab student team will meet with Church leaders, examine historical resources, and, using appropriate technological tools, create audio narratives about the Church and its history for use in a digital visitor guide.

Required skills and abilities for applicants

Team members should have excellent communication and problem solving skills, work well in a group, and be flexible and creative. They should also have an interest in local history. Useful specific skills are: technical skills needed to produce audio narratives and display them and possibly link them to an existing website. Knowledge of historical research methods as well as writing and editing of audience-directed narratives are also important. 

4) Radical Literature: Radical Literature in the First Half of the 20th Century

Project Leader: Dr. Kate Drabinski

Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies

Project description

An interdisciplinary team of student researchers will explore UMBC’s Special Collections holdings in radical literature. The collection boasts important primary sources for understanding the history of socialist movements in the United States, and debates within that movement about internationalism, racism, sexism, and other issues. Based on their research, the student team will create an online exhibition for the Special Collections website that will include a historical timeline, digital stories, and 2-4 research essays based on the collection. Additionally, the team will create a pamphlet about the collection that borrows from the style of the documents themselves to advertise the collection. The project’s goal is to make visible the collection’s breadth to encourage researchers, including students, faculty, and researchers from elsewhere, to use the collection.

Required skills and abilities for applicants

Student members of the interdisciplinary team should come to the project with an interest in understanding radical political movements in the past, and strong written and oral communication skills. At least one student should have some experience with graphic design and/or website production. Students will be trained to use the Omeka platform, but it would be helpful to have at least one member of the research team with some familiarity with digital skills. 

5) The German-American Cultural Center: Celebrating Baltimore’s History and the German-Americans Who Helped Shape It

Project Leader: Dr. Xenia Wolff

Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication

Project description

The Baltimore City Heritage Area includes Gay Street, a once vibrant main mercantile thoroughfare. The street has notable examples of late 19th and early 20th century small-scale commercial buildings. The last remaining example of this architecture is the Sexton House / Storefront at 146 North Gay Street, constructed in 1922. It is one of three buildings on the campus of the Zion Church of Baltimore. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it will house the German-American Cultural Center. Heritage Walks through City districts give visitors unique glimpses of important landmarks. The German-American Cultural Center will be an important stop along this Heritage Walk. In collaboration with Zion Church leaders, the interdisciplinary team of students will create a well-researched, informative, and entertaining website and a promotional video telling stories of Baltimore’s German-Americans and their role in Baltimore’s history for use in the Center at the Sexton House.

Required skills and abilities for applicants

Diverse skills are needed for the successful completion of this project. The ideal student team will have the following strengths: an interest in local history; ability to work as a group towards a common goal; ability to work with archived texts and images from various sources; interview skills; and web-building and video production skills.

To apply:

URCAD.umbc.edu

(200-word abstract required)

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) features research, scholarship, and creative work carried out by UMBC undergraduates. Student work is shared through oral presentations, posters, artistic exhibits, performances, and film. URCAD is April 22, 2020!

All current undergraduates who have conducted research, scholarship or creative work in the last year may apply to present their results at URCAD. 

Application Deadline: 2/14/20

To apply:

URCAD.umbc.edu

(200-word abstract required)

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) features research, scholarship, and creative work carried out by UMBC undergraduates. Student work is shared through oral presentations, posters, artistic exhibits, performances, and film. URCAD is April 22, 2020!

All current undergraduates who have conducted research, scholarship or creative work in the last year may apply to present their results at URCAD. 

Application Deadline: 2/14/20

Panel Discussion:

"The engineering job search: What do they want from me?"

The ASME Baltimore Section is hosting a panel discussion to tackle your questions about the job search in 2020. Our panel is made up of local professionals directly connected to the hiring process in the government and industry.

It's a great time to look for a job; the market is in your favor. But how do you best position yourself to land the job you want? When is it acceptable to have a resume longer than 2 pages? How do you find who to follow up with when you've applied to the position through the website?

Enjoy the grandeur of The Engineers Club at the Garret-Jacobs Mansion in the Mount Vernon area of Baltimore and meet with local area professionals.

Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions at the event and meet with the panelists. We encourage you to submit your questions in advance for the panel's consideration (email asmebaltimore@gmail.com).

A cash bar will be available at 5:45 - 8pm. The panel discussion will start at 6pm followed by a networking hour with hors d’oeuvres from 7-8pm. Connect with new engineering colleagues or reconnect with those you haven’t seen for a while. The panel will then give their closing comments at 8pm.

Date:  Tuesday, February 25th, 2020

Time: 5:45pm to 8:00pm

Location: The Engineers Club of Baltimore

11 W. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21201

Your local ASME Chapter sponsors the evening, complete with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar; prices include your first drink.

Cost: includes your first beverage and hors d’oeuvres. A cash bar will also be open.

Students $5 - Caution-https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=M9DYFFD7XSSAA

Members & Non Members $10 - Caution-https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7ATGZWTB6RXG2

Open to engineers of all disciplines!

Feel free to distribute to others that may be interested.

Please make your reservations and respond by Friday, February 21st, 2020.