The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is currently accepting applications for its Summer 2013 Student Volunteer Program. Serving as an OSTP Student Volunteer provides a unique opportunity to work closely with senior White House officials and science and technology policy analysts in OSTP's topic-based divisions (Division internship), or on OSTP's legal team (Legal internship).

The application deadline is 11:59pm Friday, February 22nd. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will be actively enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student during the Fall 2013 semester are welcome to apply.

The mission of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is threefold: first, to provide the President and his senior staff with accurate, relevant, and timely scientific and technical advice on all matters of consequence; second, to ensure that the policies of the Executive Branch are informed by sound science; and third, to ensure that the scientific and technical work of the Executive Branch is properly coordinated so as to provide the greatest benefit to society.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is currently accepting applications for its Summer 2013 Student Volunteer Program. Serving as an OSTP Student Volunteer provides a unique opportunity to work closely with senior White House officials and science and technology policy analysts in OSTP's topic-based divisions (Division internship), or on OSTP's legal team (Legal internship).

The application deadline is 11:59pm Friday, February 22nd. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will be actively enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student during the Fall 2013 semester are welcome to apply.

The mission of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is threefold: first, to provide the President and his senior staff with accurate, relevant, and timely scientific and technical advice on all matters of consequence; second, to ensure that the policies of the Executive Branch are informed by sound science; and third, to ensure that the scientific and technical work of the Executive Branch is properly coordinated so as to provide the greatest benefit to society.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is currently accepting applications for its Summer 2013 Student Volunteer Program. Serving as an OSTP Student Volunteer provides a unique opportunity to work closely with senior White House officials and science and technology policy analysts in OSTP's topic-based divisions (Division internship), or on OSTP's legal team (Legal internship).

The application deadline is 11:59pm Friday, February 22nd. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will be actively enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student during the Fall 2013 semester are welcome to apply.

The mission of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is threefold: first, to provide the President and his senior staff with accurate, relevant, and timely scientific and technical advice on all matters of consequence; second, to ensure that the policies of the Executive Branch are informed by sound science; and third, to ensure that the scientific and technical work of the Executive Branch is properly coordinated so as to provide the greatest benefit to society.

The UMBC Linux Users Group (LUG) will meet during the spring semester on Mondays starting on February 4 from Noon to 1:00pm in ITE 234. If you are interested in becoming a member, please come to a few meetings and check it out.

The UMBC LUG was established in 1997 as an organization of and for people interested in the Linux operating system.  This includes people who want to learn how to install and use it on their personal computers as well as those who use it regularly and want to expand and deepen their knowledge about it.

The LUG also helps members and non-members install, update and use Linux Operating System and software during its periodic Installfests.

UMBC-LUG members come from all walks of life and courses of study. You'll find among its ranks faculty, staff and students from Information Systems, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Math, Visual Arts, Sociology, Music, Social Work, and yes, even Computer Science, all bound together by a common love of Linux. Membership is not limited to UMBC students and attendance by non-members and prospective members is always welcome.

Scholarships for for rising juniors and seniors and graduate students interested in cybersecurity-related studies are availabe, with a deadline of February 8 for two programs: the Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service. US citizens capable of receiving security clearances are eligible for these programs. These scholarships require the recipient to work for the government following graduation. The awards include full tuition, stipend ($30k/year for PhD students, $25k/year for MS/MPS students, and $20k/year for BS students), and more. See this announcement for more information.

CSEE Colloquium

Energy Efficiency in Large-Scale Computing

David Prucnal, PE
Advanced Computing Systems

*TO BE RESCHEDULED, ITE 227, UMBC

Data center power demand and energy consumption have grown substantially over the past 10-20 yrs. For high performance computing, power has become one of the main limiting factors. The Supercomputing Top500 List is now dominated by individual machines that demand nearly 10MW, which is equivalent to the technical load of an entire data center just 10 yrs ago. In addition these machines require another 5-10MW to power the necessary cooling systems. This talk will examine the power problem, and discuss some approaches to improving energy efficiency in large scale computing environments. In particular, it will look at demand side techniques for fully exploiting existing infrastructure, and at the use of immersion cooling.

Mr. Prucnal has been active as a Professional Engineer in the field of power engineering for over 25 yrs. Over the past 15 yrs. he has been involved with designing, building, and optimizing high-reliability data centers. He joined the Agency as a power systems engineer and was one of the first to recognize the power, space and cooling problem in high performance computing. He moved from the facilities engineering directorate to the research directorate to pursue solutions to the HPC power problem from the demand side versus the infrastructure supply side. Mr. Prucnal leads the Energy Efficiency Thrust within the Advanced Computing Systems research team. His current work includes Power-Aware Data Center Operation, and Immersion Cooling. He also oversees projects investigating single/few electron transistors, 3D chip packaging, low-power electrical and optical interconnects, and power efficiency through enhanced data locality.

more information and directions

Both the Washington Post and New York Times report that the Pentagon has approved a five-fold expansion of the US DoD Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) over the next several years to enhance its ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive computer operations against foreign adversaries.

The expansion is in response to concerns about threats of potential attacks by "malicious actors" on US computer infrastructure, networks, computer systems. The Post article says that

"The gravity of that threat … has been highlighted by a string of sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe data a from more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company last summer."

The Cyber Command will have three different forces: national mission forces to protect computer systems that support the nation’s critical infrastructures, such as the electrical power grid, combat mission forces to plan and execute attacks on adversaries and cyber protection forces to secure DoD networks and computer systems.

The current Cyber command comprises about 900 personnel and is expected to grow to include 4,900 troops and civilians.

Both the Washington Post and New York Times report that the Pentagon has approved a five-fold expansion of the US DoD Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) over the next several years to enhance its ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive computer operations against foreign adversaries.

The expansion is in response to concerns about threats of potential attacks by "malicious actors" on US computer infrastructure, networks, computer systems. The Post article says that

"The gravity of that threat … has been highlighted by a string of sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe data a from more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company last summer."

The Cyber Command will have three different forces: national mission forces to protect computer systems that support the nation’s critical infrastructures, such as the electrical power grid, combat mission forces to plan and execute attacks on adversaries and cyber protection forces to secure DoD networks and computer systems.

The current Cyber command comprises about 900 personnel and is expected to grow to include 4,900 troops and civilians.

Both the Washington Post and New York Times report that the Pentagon has approved a five-fold expansion of the US DoD Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) over the next several years to enhance its ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive computer operations against foreign adversaries.

The expansion is in response to concerns about threats of potential attacks by "malicious actors" on US computer infrastructure, networks, computer systems. The Post article says that

"The gravity of that threat … has been highlighted by a string of sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe data a from more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company last summer."

The Cyber Command will have three different forces: national mission forces to protect computer systems that support the nation’s critical infrastructures, such as the electrical power grid, combat mission forces to plan and execute attacks on adversaries and cyber protection forces to secure DoD networks and computer systems.

The current Cyber command comprises about 900 personnel and is expected to grow to include 4,900 troops and civilians.

Maryland and Baltimore are top places for cybersecurity jobs according to the Cyber Jobs Report released earlier in January. The report includes a snapshot of the industry, its job openings and educational opportunities, and a proposed standardized cyber security nomenclature for this emerging industry.

The study searched approximately 340,000 cybersecurity jobs offered by more than 18,000 companies across the country and found that Maryland had 19,413 job openings in the industry. With more than 13,000 of these job openings located in Baltimore City, the city placed third among major cyber hot beds, behind only Palo Alto and San Francisco in the number of available cybersecurity positions.