Our students are in schools within several institutions within the University System of Maryland. Some go to school in, are from, or serve in the areas that have been hardest hit by the unrest. In the spirit of community, we know that our graduate students, staff, and alumni have been working to share in the clean up, offer support, and serve others. The sense of community extends outside of the walls of the institution. As we learn more, we will share information, as we stand strong with Baltimore.

UPDATE, 4/29/15: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO SEVERAL CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING THE BALTIMORE CURFEW WHICH NECESSITATES A CHANGE OF SCHEDULE. HOWEVER, THERE WILL BE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR A VISIT TO FROSTBURG IN THE NEAR FUTURE. 

—————————————

PROMISE will be joining Frostburg State University for their undergraduate symposium, on Friday, May 1, 2015. If you are interested in joining us, please send email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Frostburg.” We will leave UMBC’s campus around 7AM on that Friday morning, and will return Friday night around  9 PM.

PROMISE participants will have opportunities to mentor undergraduates during the day. There will be a PROMISE talk at 3PM that afternoon. Frostburg is one of the schools that is part of our University System of Maryland PROMISE AGEP.

Here is the information that was shared by Frostburg’s graduate dean, Vickie Mazer:

Calling all STEM Students (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

Is Graduate School In Your Future?

Begin your Planning Now

Dr. Renetta Tull

Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County

“Preparing for Graduate School”

May 1   3:00 to 4:00

It can never be too soon to begin preparing your next step toward your career path. Dr. Tull’s presentation will focus on how students in the STEM fields should prepare to improve admission and funding opportunities for graduate school.  

Dr. Tull is the Founding Director of PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), a program of the National Science Foundation. This program is intended to increase significantly the number of domestic students receiving doctoral degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with special emphasis on those population groups underrepresented in these fields (i.e., African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders). In addition, AGEP is particularly interested in increasing the number of minorities who will enter the professoriate in these disciplines.

UPDATE: 4/30/15: This event will still take place on Saturday, 5/2. Please feel free to come out and take a brief break from your activities and join us from 1-4. We will celebrate graduates at 3. Given the current state of unrest, we also know that people are interested in knowing about opportunities to help in Baltimore. Informal sharing of information will be welcomed.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Saturday, May 2, 2015: PROMISE AGEP Family and Friends Celebration of Graduates Cookout

You are invited to come, bring your friends, family, and anyone who supports your journey through graduate school. This event is free. Graduate students from all schools within the University System of Maryland (USM) are invited!

Here is a list, if your school is listed, you are invited! http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/

Alumni, faculty, and staff are invited.

Friends and family members of students who have participated in PROMISE are invited. 

If you are from another school, e.g., Howard, Hopkins, GW, and have come to a PROMISE event in the past such as SSI, you are also invited to participate.

Please register below.

Register for the PROMISE Friends and Family Cookout and Celebration of Graduates:

If you are graduating from a USM institution with an M.S. or Ph.D., please send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com with your name, school, department, and degree, by 9AM, Wednesday, April 29, 2015, so that we can recognize you at the event.

Location:
High Ridge Park Pavilion
10100 Superior Avenue
Laurel, MD 20723

Directions:
PDF | Google Maps

Park Phone:

410-313-4700

This event provides food, fun, connections, and networking. Please plan to attend.

–
Piyush Waradpande
Graduate Assistant

Yarazeth Medina
Program Assistant

Introducing new updates to the GradSense Website

As part of the “Enhancing Student Financial Education” Best Practice project, CGS project staff have been working to enhance the GradSense website by responding to suggestions made by graduate students on site visits to 15 research partner universities. We want to draw your attention to the newly created Budget Calculator in the new Cost of Living section. This tool is designed with students in mind and allows them to view possible budgeting scenarios. Students enter their available funds, monthly and one-time expenses, and then receive an output of where they stand financially along with helpful budgeting advice. The addition of this tool will help graduate and undergraduate students make wise financial decisions that will support their long term academic and professional career goals.

Financial Literacy Seminar – Wed, April 22, 2015

This week, we also have a Financial Literacy Seminar coming up. The seminar would be advice for graduate students on “Managing student debt & building resources for your future“. Don’t forget to RSVP! Here are the event details: Date: April 22, 2015 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Venue: UMBC Commons 331 Speakers: Shanna Smith AVP Branch Manager, Catonsville Branch, PNC Leslie McSweeney Campus Relations Manager, PNC.

RSVP HERE on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/events/29319

If you do not have a UMBC ID, you may RSVP in the comment section below, with your name, school, and department, and we will add you to the list.

If you are unable to attend in person, we have set up a live webcast.

Here are the links: YouTube: http://youtu.be/k3cyjUbLBcY GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/events/c4p0jfeu4ufjkuh4bolvg3g879o

Feel free to return to this site and watch from here.

— Piyush Waradpande Graduate Assistant, PROMISE AGEP

YOU ARE INVITED! Communicating Climate 2015

April 20, 2015, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University Center Ballroom

Celebrating 20 Years of JCET Climate Research

Climate affects all residents of the Earth but we all have different perspectives and ways of talking about it.

The UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology and the UMBC Sustainability Working Group invite the campus community to a symposium focused on communicating the results of scientific climate investigations.  A panel of noted climate researchers will contribute their knowledge of Earth’s climate a discussion prompted by questions from the broader UMBC audience.  This Communicating Climate symposium also celebrates the integration of art and science with renowned musician and composer Kenji Williams who will perform the multi-media presentation,  “Beautiful Earth.”

Agenda

12:30 PM Registration & Poster Setup

1:00 PM UMBC Speaker Welcoming Remarks

1:30 PM Climate Panel: Moderator: Joe Witte, NASA/GSFC Climate Communicator

Panelists:

• Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller (Howard Univ.)
• Dr. Antonia Gambacorta (STC)
• Dr. Thorsten Markus (NASA GSFC)
• Dr. Steve Platnick (NASA GSFC)

3:00 PM UMBC Sustainability Working Group

3:30 PM Kenji Williams:    “Beautiful Earth”

He will perform LIVE! See his TEDx talk here:

5:00 PM Posters & Reception

6:00 PM Dr. Belay Demoz, JCET Director Closing Remarks

UMBC

A N   H O N O R S   U N I V E R S I T Y   I N  M A R Y L A N D

You can now purchase a copy on Amazon. The book features PROMISE SSI programs from 2003-2013!

Purchase here: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-AGEP-Professional-Development-Workshops/dp/1503321770/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428803526&sr=1-1

Please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31161

Students who are not from UMBC, and are coming from other schools within the University System of Maryland, may RSVP by placing your name, school, and department into the comment section below.

UMBC participates in the national effort to connect graduate students with options for careers through the Council of Graduate Schools’ effort, Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. 

REF:  Council of Graduate Schools and Educational Testing Service. (2012). Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. Report from the Commission on Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

WEBSITE with the report and additional resources: http://www.pathwaysreport.org/

Confirmed organizations as of 4/4/15

• National Security Agency
• The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratories
• District of Columbia Public Schools
• Aflac
• SABREE, Inc.
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Senaissance software
• The Hilltop Institute
• Creative Staffing International
• Social Security Administration
• City of Baltimore – Bureau of Budget and Management Research (BBMR)
• Basis, Inc.
• US NAVY
• US Secret Service
• Northrop Grumman
• National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to meet Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Volkow is coming to UMBC as the Spring 2015 Distinguished Speaker for the ADVANCE program at UMBC. UMBC ADVANCE reached out to PROMISE and worked with Dr. Volkow to create a special session specifically geared to connect with graduate students. Dr. Volkow’s research is on addiction and the brain, but she is also interested in sharing about her role as a woman leader in STEM. Dr. Volkow grew up in Mexico and has been studying addiction since she was a teenager. She has published more than 580 articles, and 90 book chapters and other papers!

Come and meet this phenomenal leader!

• Monday, April 13, 2015
• Special Session for graduate students and postdocs: 1:00 – 2:00 PM, UMBC Campus, University Center, Room 310 (Light refreshments will be served.)
  • UMBC RSVP here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31746
  • Grad students who have participated in PROMISE, but are not at UMBC, RSVP with your name and school in the comment section below.
• Afternoon Research Lecture: 4:30-5:30 PM, AOK Library Gallery (All invited, reception to follow), http://my.umbc.edu/groups/advance/news/50784

NIDA’s website describes Dr. Volkow’s work as follows:

Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs. Her studies have documented changes in the dopamine system affecting, among others, the functions of frontal brain regions involved with motivation, drive, and pleasure in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging. (REF: http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page)

See Dr. Volkow’s talk from TEDMED:

_______________________

The PROMISE AGEP would like to express gratitude to UMBC ADVANCE for specifically developing a session with Dr. Volkow for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. We express sincere thanks to Dr. Autumn Reed (Program Coordinator for Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Provost, UMBC)  for strengthening the ADVANCE-AGEP connection through this structured and coordinated event with Dr. Volkow. 

• ABOUT ADVANCE: National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE)
• ABOUT ADVANCE at UMBC: http://advance.umbc.edu/
• ABOUT the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM Project with UMBC & Puerto Rico: https://hispanicstemwomen.wordpress.com/

_______________________

Dr. Volkow’s image and biographical information are reprinted with permission from the National Institute on Drug Abuse Press Office.