UMBC Hour of Code events

This week on Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00am – 1:00pm, the UMBC Computer Science Education Club will host Hour of Code events in the Engineering Building Atrium. Hour of Code is an annual campaign that is part of Computer Science Education Week with the goal of expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing the participation of women and underrepresented minorities.

On Wednesday, December 5th, the focus will be on on computer science outreach within the UMBC community. There will be an Arduino workshop from IEEE from 11:30am – 12:45pm (bring your laptop if interested), interactive games teaching introductory programming concepts, and Makey Makeys.

On Thursday, December 6th,  students from Lakeland Elementary School will visit the UMBC campus and learn about programming. The CS Ed club are still accepting volunteers to help students during the activity, and/or attend lunch with the students. You can sign-up here. Computer Science Education Club would appreciate any time you can dedicate to this event.

Email *protected email* with any questions. For more information about Hour of Code, visit https://code.org/about.

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Distinguished Departmental Seminar

The Web PKI in Theory and Malpractice

Dr. Bruce Maggs, Duke University

11:00am Friday, 7 December 2018, ITE325b

The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for the web was designed to help thwart “phishing” attacks by providing a mechanism for browsers to authenticate web sites, and also to help prevent the disclosure of confidential information by enabling encrypted communications. For users to reap these benefits, however, the parties that implement and operate the PKI, including certificate authorities, web-site operators, and browser vendors, must each perform their roles properly.

This talk focuses on one aspect of the PKI: certificate revocation. The security of a web site hinges on the ability of the site operator to keeps its private keys private. While most operators guard their keys carefully, on occasion software vulnerabilities such as the notorious Heartbleed Bug have put millions of keys at risk. If a web-site operator fears that its private key has been compromised, it should ask its certificate authority to revoke the corresponding certificate. Browsers, however, often do not fully check whether the certificates they receive have been revoked, and mobile browsers never check. There are a variety of reasons for not checking, but the most important are the amount of bandwidth required to download certificate revocation lists in advance, the latency of checking certificates on the fly, and the slow progress of upgrading every web server to support the newer certificate status stapling approach.

This talk presents a new and much more efficient system, CRLite, for pushing the revocation status of every certificate to every browser. CRLite leverages a recent development: although lists of revoked certificates were previously available, Google’s Certificate Transparency project now also provides a log of all unrevoked certificates as well. With both lists in hand, a compact data structure called a filter cascade can be used to represent the status of every certificate with no false positives and no false negatives. CRLite requires a browser to download a 1.2MB filter cascade initially, and then a 40KB update (on average) every day. Our results demonstrate that complete revocation checking is within reach for all clients.

Bruce Maggs received the S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985, 1986, and 1989, respectively. His advisor was Charles Leiserson. After spending one year as a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT, he worked as a Research Scientist at NEC Research Institute in Princeton from 1990 to 1993. In 1994, he moved to Carnegie Mellon, where he stayed until joining Duke University in 2009. While on a two-year leave-of-absence from Carnegie Mellon, Maggs helped to launch Akamai Technologies, serving as its first Vice President for Research and Development. He retains a part-time role at Akamai as Vice President for Research. In 2017 he won the Best Dataset Award at the Passive and Active Measurement Conference, The Best Paper Award at CoNEXT, a Distinguished Paper Award at USENIX Security, and the 2017 IEEE Cybersecurity Innovation Award for work that appeared at IEEE Security and Privacy. In 2018 he was part of a large team that received the inaugural SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award for the Akamai CDN.

Supported by UMBC’s Eminent Scholar Mentoring program.

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Computer Science Lecturer, Professor of the Practice and Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

The Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) invites applications for multiple non-tenure track positions at the ranks of Lecturer, Professor of the Practice and Visiting Assistant Professor. The positions begin Spring or Fall 2019 (January or August). Some of these positions will have teaching and/or administrative responsibilities in the computer science program to be offered at The Universities at Shady Grove, in Montgomery County, Maryland.

For the position of Lecturer, the preferred qualification is a master’s degree in computer science or a closely related discipline. Applicants for the Professor of the Practice or Visiting Assistant Professor positions should have completed or be about to complete a doctoral degree in computer science or closely related discipline. Ideal candidates will have evidence of strong organizational skills. Experience in academia, industry and government will be considered in the evaluation of the candidate. Candidates who have had a non-academic career with a demonstrated commitment to teaching are encouraged to apply.

The Lecturer and Professor of the Practice (PoP) positions are renewable. Lecturers and PoPs teach a wide range of courses, primarily at the undergraduate level. They advise students, mentor teaching assistants, and help shape departmental practices and policies. Lecturers and PoPs are expected to continue their professional growth. Lecturers have the opportunity to be promoted through the ranks of Senior Lecturer and Principal Lecturer. PoPs are expected to provide leadership in the administration of the department.

The position of Visiting Assistant Professor is a short-term appointment that is appropriate for new and recent PhDs who would like to bolster their teaching and research profiles before applying to a permanent position.

The CSEE department is large and growing, with a diverse community of approximately 2,000 undergraduate majors in computer science and computer engineering.  Professors of the Practice, along with Lecturers and a cadre of tenure-track faculty, are the driving force behind the department’s broad effort to ensure a quality education for our undergraduates: working to improve computing education, curriculum, diversity, and student support. CSEE faculty collaborate with the Center for Women in Technology to increase the diversity of those who create technology, with programs designed for women in computing and engineering, transfer students from underrepresented groups, and diverse students interested in cybersecurity.  In addition to our undergraduate programs, the department has graduate programs in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, cybersecurity and data science. Our faculty enjoy collaboration within the department, across departments, and with partners outside the university.

UMBC is a dynamic public research university integrating teaching, research and service. As an Honors University, the campus offers academically talented students a strong undergraduate liberal arts foundation that prepares them for graduate and professional study, entry into the workforce, and community service and leadership. We are dedicated to cultural and ethnic diversity, social responsibility, and lifelong learning. The 2018 US News and World Report Best Colleges report placed UMBC seventh in the Most Innovative National Universities category and 13th in Best Undergraduate Teaching, National Universities category.  The Chronicle of Higher Education named UMBC as a Great College to Work For, a recognition given to only 86 universities. Our strategic location in the Baltimore-Washington corridor puts us close to many important federal laboratories and agencies and high-tech companies, facilitating interactions, and collaboration.

UMBC’s campus is located on 500 acres just off I-95 between Baltimore and Washington DC, and less than 10 minutes from the BWI airport and Amtrak station. The campus includes the bwtech@UMBC research and technology park, which has special programs for startups focused on cybersecurity, clean energy, life sciences, and training. We are surrounded by one of the greatest concentrations of commercial, cultural and scientific activity in the nation. Located at the head of the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore has all the advantages of modern, urban living, including professional sports, major art galleries, theaters and a symphony orchestra. The city’s famous Inner Harbor area is an exciting center for entertainment and commerce. The nation’s capital, Washington, DC, is a great tourist attraction with its historical monuments and museums. Just ten minutes from downtown Baltimore and 30 minutes from the D.C. Beltway, UMBC offers easy access to the region’s resources by car or public transportation. UMBC is one of nine institutions represented at The Universities at Shady Grove, a consortium of universities within the University System of Maryland, located in Rockville, MD.

Applications are accepted on Interfolio http://apply.interfolio.com/57568. The initial application consists of the candidate’s curriculum vitae or resume and a brief statement describing the candidate’s teaching experience. Promising candidates will be asked to supply three letters of recommendation and a statement describing how the candidate will contribute to UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence. For best consideration, submit all application materials by January 18, 2019.  Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.  Questions regarding the positions or the application process may be directed to the chair of the search committee at *protected email*.

UMBC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation ADVANCE award to promote hiring and advancement of women in science and engineering. We welcome applications from women, minorities, veterans and individuals with disabilities.

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