The COVID-19 pandemic has caused various parts of our society to move online and in turn served to further amplify the digital divide in that lacking reliable broadband connectivity can have a larger impact now more than ever before. As so many facets of the world have continued to shift into the digital world in recent years, members of our society without access to high-quality internet connectivity are prevented from being able to fully participate in this new world. The arrival of COVID-19 magnified this problem since so many services and social activities have moved online. We explored the impact of not having reliable high-speed home Internet connectivity on families in Baltimore City, with a specific focus on the impact on educational, employment, social activities, and health. We conducted pilot interviews with community participants, stakeholders working to alleviate this issue by setting up community Internet connectivity resources, and informal educators working in this space. To date, we have found that participants value connectivity and also see the importance of developing reputable, safe, and inclusive resources to ease a move online for families who are just receiving broadband Internet.

This work was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.

Deadline Extended for applications for the 2021-22 URA program. 

New deadline: Friday, May 7th by midnight.

Undergraduate Research Awards

URAs provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor on an original project. UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they will remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work.

Apply here: 

URA Applications

Applications require a research proposal and mentor statement of support.

https://ur.umbc.edu/ura/

Questions: aprilh@umbc.edu

Undergraduate Research Awards

URAs provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor on an original project. UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they will remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work.

Applications for the 2021-22 URA program are open

The deadline is May 3, 2021.

Start your process here: 

URA Applications

*Special information related to Covid-19:

There are many changes happening to student research as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and campus closure. The URA selection committee has some advice to encourage you to apply for a URA and start to plan your research, even if there are some unknowns for the summer and fall semesters.

1. Some research that was scheduled to start this summer may be delayed until the fall or spring semester- that’s ok!
2. The URA is good for the entire year, June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022. You can complete the research at any point during that time frame.
3. Our expectations for a final product are fluid and relaxed. If the research plan doesn’t work out exactly as you proposed, that’s ok- it’s the nature of doing research.
4. Be creative in the ways you think about your project. You may have to focus instead on doing a thorough literature review, using a pre-formed data set to analyze, or looking at case studies, rather than collecting in-person data, or conducting research in a lab.
5. Methods such as lab benchwork, participant observations, focus groups, travel-related, in-person interviews, or other real-time collection methods may need some re-thinking. How can you collect data via online interviews, the internet, or other technological interventions?
6. Creative arts projects may incorporate some kind of online delivery method. We are hoping to be back on campus for URCAD 2022, but consider how VoiceThread might be used to display your creative work. Be sure to visit the archive of  URCAD Online, April 19-25, 20021 at URCAD.umbc.edu to see what completed projects from this year’s URA Scholars look like.

Applications require a research proposal and mentor statement of support.

https://ur.umbc.edu/ura/

Questions: aprilh@umbc.edu

On behalf of the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all the student researchers and artists, their mentors, and the guests who participated in URCAD 25 Online this year.  Over the course of the week, 11,272 people visited and 3,511comments were posted to students' VT presentations. Visitors logged on from all over the world, including Spain, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Bhutan, Germany, and the U.K.

A special thanks goes out to Michael Mower, UAA’s IT Web, and Graphic Design Specialist, and to our partners in the Division of Information Technology, especially Peter Ariev and Josh Abrams, for helping to host URCAD online using the VoiceThread platform. Thank you also to our Alumni Keynote Speaker, Klaudine Wakasa, for her inspiring words of wisdom in these challenging times. Thanks also goes to Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye for moderating the live Q&A with Klaudine. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of URCAD, Diane Lee, Kathy Sutphin, Janet McGlynn, and Elizabeth Pennington recorded a fireside chat about the history of the event- thank you! I would also like to acknowledge the URCAD Selection Committee and its chair, Dr. Stephen Miller, for all their work in making selections and giving students feedback on their abstracts, and Dr. Raimi Quiton and Dr. Timothy Phin for helping prepare the students to present. And thank you to Provost Philip Rous and Dean Katharine Cole for their continued support of the event.

You will still be able to view the presentations throughout the summer, although some students may choose to turn off their comment function. To view student projects, see the URCAD presenter listing and click on any VT icon. Projects are also viewable by department. Be sure to check out the UMBC news story about URCAD which will be out next week. 

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for URCAD 2022, which will be held next year on Wednesday, April 20, 2022! Stay safe, and we hope to see you next year on campus for URCAD XXIV!

April Householder, Director of Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Scholarships, Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Two days left to visit URCAD 25!

URCAD.umbc.edu

Influence of COVID-19 at UMBC: Analyzing Predictors for Undergraduate Students’ Academic Success

Jane Nam, Sarah Turner, Mansha Maheshwari, Jeniffer Khorsandian, Mireille Alcheikh Hanna, Mike Spano, Aysha Nasir, Samantha Galczyk
Mentor: Susan Sonnenschein, Psychology

For the past 11 months, COVID-19 has impacted the quality of life and learning of UMBC students’, which in turn has possibly affected their academic success and engagement. The pandemic has elicited potential financial, medical, and academic strains for students. This study will investigate variables that positively and negatively affect students’ academic success during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are currently collecting data from UMBC undergraduate students, by inquiring them to complete an online survey that includes questionnaires about their motivation, engagement, and self-reported GPA. Additional factors such as family and peer support, institutional support, student home environment, and access to technology are being measured. Potential stressors include lack of financial income, deprecation in mental health, and inadequate access to technology. The descriptive results will demonstrate what the stressors and protective factors are for UMBC undergraduates during COVID-19. Furthermore, regression analyses will show the effects of these two categories of factors on these students’ academic engagement and achievement. We also will conduct analyses to see if various subgroups of students (e.g., first generation students) are differentially affected by the impact of COVID-19 or have independent factors affecting them.

• Jane Nam, Sarah Turner, Mansha Maheshwari, Jeniffer Khorsandian, Mireille Alcheikh Hanna, Mike Spano, Aysha Nasir, Samantha Galczyk | Influence of COVID-19 at UMBC: Analyzing Predictors for Undergraduate Students’ Academic Success | Mentor: Susan Sonnenschein | Psychology