The UMBC Career Center is looking for CAHSS and CNMS graduate students to provide feedback on the Career Center website.

The goal is to ensure the website’s content and user experience are tailored to the unique needs of graduate students. The Career Center is hosting in-person focus groups on the Catonsville campus to gather your input on usability and resources.

Focus Group Details:

• When: To be announced, seats going fast, sign up!

• CNMS : 7/22 2:30 pm

• Time Commitment: 60–90 minutes

• Where: In-person.

• Perks: Food and beverages will be provided, and all participants will be entered into a raffle for a $75 UMBC Bookstore gift card!

If you are a graduate student in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) or the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS), we want to hear from you.

Sign up here!

If you have any questions about this project, please reach out to kelseyj2@umbc.edu or Dr. Rowena Winkler at rbwinkler@umbc.edu.

Sincerely,

UMBC Career Center

GSA is sharing this announcement on behalf of the UMBC Career Center

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) has opened a second round of nominations to fill vacant Senator positions for the upcoming 2026–2027 academic year. This is an opportunity to advocate for your peers, participate in university-wide committees, and strengthen the graduate student voice at UMBC.

Open Positions

• Student Affairs Senator

• CAHSS Senator (College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences)

• CNMS Senator (College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences)

Role Responsibilities: GSA Senators represent graduate student concerns, communicate GSA updates, participate in Senate meetings, and contribute to university committees and graduate student initiatives.

How to Nominate: You may nominate yourself or another eligible graduate student. All nominees will be contacted to confirm their interest and eligibility before the election.

• Nomination Deadline: Friday, August 7, 2026

• Submit a Nomination: GSA Nomination Form

Library Summer Hours

The library will be open the following schedule during summer session:

Monday – Thursday     8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday                            8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday                        Closed

Sunday                          Noon – 7 p.m.

The RLC and atrium are open 24/7 with Retriever Card swipe.

Printing is available on the 1st, 2nd and 7th floors of the library.

Department Hours

Research Help

Chat Support: Monday - Friday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

Research Help Desk: Tuesday - Wednesday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

Make a Research Appointment

Digital Media Lab
By appointment only; reserve recording space's here. Equipment Holds can also be made online.

Innovation Lab
Monday – Thursday (Noon to 4 p.m.) Visit the lab's website for current policies and training information. 

Special Collections Reading Room
By appointment only; schedule your time here

Gallery
Closed during Summer Session

The AOK Library and Gallery will be CLOSED Wednesday, July 8, 2026 due to a staff meeting. We will reopen at 8 AM on Thursday, July 9, 2026.

The Atrium and RLC will be open via cardswipe to all current students, faculty, and staff. Online resources will be available through library.umbc.edu.

Printing is available in the RLC and the Commons.

Recordings from our spring semester workshops are available for students to watch on their own schedule.

Use the recordings to refresh your research skills, explore new tools, or prepare for upcoming projects before the fall semester begins.

Access the recordings here: https://www.youtube.com/@umbclibrary/videos

Need one-on-one research help this summer? Make a research appointment with a subject librarian.

Call for UMBC SCIPE (UM-CIP Fellows) Graduate Fellows - Fall 2026
Submission Deadline: July 10, 2026

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) SCIPE program (Enhancing the Transdisciplinary Research Ecosystem for Earth and Environmental Science with Dedicated Cyber Infrastructure Professionals), CGC-SCIPE is a collaborative effort between the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) - iHARP and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES). The project aims to strengthen the research capacity in Earth and Environmental Sciences by leveraging High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence, and data-driven modeling, while developing the next generation of Cyber Infrastructure Professionals (CIPs). This project, as part of the iHARP center and Mdata lab, invites applications for UMBC CIP Graduate Fellows (UM-CIP Fellows).

About the Fellowship
The UM-CIP Graduate Fellowship supports a senior PhD student whose dissertation research aligns with Earth or Environmental Science and who seeks to incorporate HPC or advanced AI into their work. The Fellows will receive guidance from an HPC mentor to expand their technical and computational expertise.

Fellowship Details
* Duration: One Year (Starting Fall 2026)
* Funding: Support for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, including tuition, health insurance, and stipend. Note that summer will be supported at 20 hours per week.
* Focus Areas: Earth and Environmental Science (Students may come from any department but must have these focus areas for their research). 

Fellowship Eligibility
* Must be a PhD candidate at UMBC who has completed their dissertation proposal defense by the time of the appointment.
* Must have a research focus in Earth or Environmental Science.
* Must demonstrate interest in using advanced computing High Performance Computing (HPC) in the research. They should describe how they plan to incorporate HPC into their research.
* Students who are already using advanced computing will not be considered for this call. Fellowship Expectations
* A fellow is expected to continue with their research topics identified in their dissertation proposal defense and continue to be mainly advised by their PhD advisor(s)
* A fellow is expected to engage with the SCIPE team and Cyber Infrastructure Professionals (CIPs)
* A fellow will be expected to present the progress of their work during the fellowship year.
* A fellow's work will have the UMBC SCIPE grant in acknowledgment of all work developed through the fellowship. A final publication is an expected outcome of this fellowship.
* A fellow is expected to participate in CGC-SCIPE related events, such as workshops and seminars.
* Fellowship stipend will be based upon the current Information Systems Department stipend rate.
* Previously awarded fellows are not eligible.
* As this is a full time fellowship, fellows may not be supported by another grant funding source or full time support.

Applicants should submit a one-page research statement outlining the research question and approach, the type of data used or planned, and how HPC will be incorporated or enhanced through the fellowship. Please attach a copy of your CV or Resume and provide at least one Letter of Recommendation (preferably from your PhD advisor).

Please submit via this Google Submission Form by July 10, 2026.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Vandana Janeja (vjaneja@umbc.edu).

As we prepare to close out the 2025–2026 GSA year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we have accomplished together and thank the graduate student community for allowing us to serve.

Over the past year, GSA has worked to advocate for graduate student needs, strengthen communication and transparency, and create more opportunities for graduate students to engage with one another and with university leadership. Through Meet & Confer, college and campus-wide town halls, weekly office hours, committee representation, advocacy meetings, grant funding, Graduate Student Appreciation Week, community-building events, and partnerships across campus, we have worked to ensure that graduate student voices are represented in conversations that impact student life and success at UMBC.

At the same time, we have continued to listen. Every email, office hour conversation, survey response, town hall discussion, committee report, and student concern helped guide the work we pursued this year. None of our accomplishments would have been possible without the students who chose to engage, ask questions, provide feedback, challenge us, and help us identify ways to improve the graduate student experience.

As one leadership team prepares to pass the torch to the next, I am excited to introduce the 2026–2027 GSA leadership team, which will begin serving on July 1:

Executive Council

• President: Ahmet Kaan Aydin

• Vice President: Kennedy Davis

• Chief of Staff: Xixëllonjë Nebihu

• Secretary: Tori LaChapelle-Sproat

• Treasurer: Milind Ramesh Rampure

• Speaker of the Senate: Diane Placide

• GRP Chair: Aminah Amjad

• GEARS Chair: Gaurav Shinde

• GAAC Chair: Rishav Gupta

• EoF Chair: Pavan Raj Ravi

Student Affairs Senators

• Dharani Nadendla

• Diane Placide

• Aaryaa Rajendra Gaikwad

COEIT Senators

• Sreeja Lakkakula

• Krish Mehta

• Suma Ronanki

• Monika Battula

CNMS Senators

• Vaibhavkumar Ginoya

• Chelsea Hook

CAHSS Senators

• Elle Hook

• Carole Njoroge

• Alfred Boakye

Directors

• Director of Events: Bethel Gabriel Beyene

• Director of Communications and Marketing: Saad Ahmad Khan

Please join me in congratulating these student leaders and supporting them as they begin their service to the graduate student community. I know they will bring new ideas, energy, and perspectives while continuing GSA's mission of advocacy, service, and community building.

While the individuals serving in GSA may change, our commitment to graduate students does not. GSA will continue to advocate for your needs, amplify your voices, and work toward making graduate student life at UMBC the best it can be.

We are also still seeking graduate students interested in serving as GSA Senators. If you are passionate about representing your peers and helping shape the future of graduate student life at UMBC, we encourage you to get involved.

Interested in serving as a GSA Senator? Sign up here                               

Serving as your GSA President has been one of the greatest honors of my graduate journey. Thank you for your trust, your support, your feedback, and your willingness to work alongside us. I hope that, through our efforts this year, we helped make GSA a little more visible, a little more accessible, and a little more connected to the graduate students we serve.

With gratitude,

Aminah Amjad
GSA President, 2025–2026

Here are the links to what you all have been waiting for, recapping the memorable graduate student appreciation week! 

Note: Please log in with your myumbc account if you are unable to access the links.

• GSAW Pictures
• GSAW - Breaking the Mold 
• GSAW - Candle Making
• GSAW - Cultural Day 
• GSAW - Grad Prom & Awards 
• GSAW - GEARS Research Symposium 

Pixilated Photo Booth:

• GSAW - Grad Prom Pixilated Photo Booth Photos 4-10-26
• GSAW - Ebony Sneaker Ball 4-11-26 Pixilated Photo Booth Photos

The Library is digitizing old issues of the UMBC Review and making them available in ScholarWorks@UMBC. We've been able to obtain all of the issues except vol 14 (2013) from Undergrad Research, and we don't have that issue in the Library. Do you any of you have it and would you be willing to lend it to us to so that we can scan it to make it available online? If so, please contact Michelle Flinchbaugh, flinchba@umbc.edu, Digital Scholarship Services Librarian.

Good morning Retrievers, 

Please note that the Office of Graduate Student Life will be closed for the day today.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to your plans. We will resume our normal operating hours of 10AM - 2PM tomorrow.