Ebony Tongo, Chemical Engineering Major

President of UMBC's Society of Women Engineers

Meet Deborah. She is an Animation major. Her research explores the inner workings of the body through the medium of 3D animation. Typically, the only way the inside of the living body can be observed non-invasively is through the use of specialized medical equipment.

Who did you work with on this project?
I worked on it myself.

Was this your first independent research project?
Yes.

Do you get course credit for this work? How much time do you put into it?
Yes. Each art major is required to take a class in which they create their senior capstone project. This project has occupied most of my free time this semester.

What academic background did you have before you started?
I had been studying computer animation for about five years.

How did you learn what you needed to know to be successful in this project?
I studied anatomical books, drawings, and videos so that I could make my project as accurate as possible.

What was the hardest part about your research?
Making all parts of the model move together accurately.

Is this the first time you have applied to present at URCAD? How did you find out about applying to present your work? Are you excited?
This is my first time. The professor who teaches my senior projects class mentioned that, to fulfill one of our assignments, we could submit our projects to URCAD. I am very excited to have my work seen by people outside my department.

How does this research experience relate to your work in other classes?
Besides my animation classes, I have used knowledge from the computer science classes I have taken to write the code that controls the arm model in my project.

What are your career goals?
I would like to work as a computer animator for practical applications, such as the federal government, serious gaming, or medical visualization.

Read about her research here...

This year, SGA's Prove It! grant competition features many student groups looking to create real change on campus.  On the week of March 24-28, UMBC students will vote for the grant proposals they like the most.  The two winning ideas will receive $10,000 to implement their programs on campus.

One of the campaigns that students can vote for is Veteran Peer Mentor Program.

The student veteran population is one of the fastest growing populations at UMBC.

A solid support system at UMBC has not yet been developed to meet all their needs.

We need to implement a Veteran Peer Mentor Program to help meet those needs and provide the camaraderie many vets miss after leaving the military.

 Transitioning veterans to be successful students adds a valuable resource and benefit to the whole UMBC community.

Having veterans adds depth and diversity to the student body. Veterans are an incredibly team oriented, resilient, and motivated group of individuals.  They bring unique perspectives to the classroom from their experiences.  They understand the importance of cooperation, having been used to working in close-knit teams in the military; their peers were sometimes the difference between life and death.

Their military training prepared them to handle life and death situations but not how to transition to being a college student.  When a veteran doesn't feel connected to their university they may be more inclined to leave school.  Student veterans do not respond to traditional methods of outreach.  A Veteran Peer Mentor Program will enable veterans to achieve a higher level of academic success and smoothly transition to student life which not only benefits veterans but the entire UMBC community

Veterans have invested in our nation.  Now it’s our turn to invest in them.  Vote for the Veteran Peer Mentor Program on the Prove It! poll at http://my.umbc.edu/discussions/11313

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR RESEARCH STUDY.

The Role of Skin Color & Hair Politics in Black Women’s College Experiences

I am a graduate student, in the UMBC Language, Literacy, & Culture doctoral program, conducting research to explore the ways in which Black, female, undergraduate students’ experiences are impacted by hair and skin hue politics within campus culture.  Please contact me for more information if you meet the following eligibility criteria and are interested in participating:

•Black/African American

•Female

•18-25

•Enrolled at UMBC full-time

You will be asked to share your on and off campus experiences, as they relate to hair and skin color, individually or in a small group setting of no more than twelve students for participation in a focus group.  Focus Group participants will receive a free pizza dinner.  Individual Interview participants will receive $20 cash.

Latasha Eley

leley1@umbc.edu  -  757-777-6173

The next Council of Computing Majors (CCM) will be at Noon this Wednesday, March 26th, in Math/Psychology 008. One of our group members, Patrick McElvaney, will give a presentation about a new CCM project: using the Raspberry Pi and photo-receptors to analyze water in the Chesapeake watershed. His talk will provide an overview of the installation of sensing equipment, specific details on how the photo-receptors can differentiate between organic and inorganic compounds, and information on how other students can get involved.

The CCM is a student organization for undergraduate computer science and computer engineering majors as well as other students interested in computing. If you are interested in starting your own project, please come and speak with any of the officers after the meeting.