This past summer and early fall, the DoIT Infrastructure teams rolled out significant technology upgrades across campus, directly impacting the quality and consistency of your classroom experience. These projects ensure our most-used spaces are equipped with modern, reliable, and accessible tools for everyone.

Classroom Technology Refreshed

DoIT's Audiovisual Services and Desktop Support teams have successfully completed a comprehensive technology refresh in several high-traffic, Registrar-controlled classrooms. These include:

• Information Technology and Engineering (ITE) 241

• Engineering (ENGR) 022, 104/104A, GAIM Lab 005

• Physics (PHYS) 201

• Math and Psychology (MP) 008, 012, 102, and 105

• Engineering 027 Lecture Hall

In the DoIT Computer Lab 104/104A, the Desktop Support team installed 49 new Dell All-in-One computers with the latest instructional software. In the CoEIT GAIM Lab, ENGR 005, the Desktop Support team worked with Computer Science faculty to redesign the lab to provide both BYOD (bring your own device) and new Dell workstations to enhance the student instructional experience.

Explore Engineering 027 Lecture Hall in the video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c_I73-4JaM

These upgrades do more than just replace aging equipment. The new systems immediately support lecture capture technology and significantly improve accessibility, ensuring that classroom content is easier for every student to access.

Best of all, every room now features the familiar campus standard AV control interface. This means whether you're a professor teaching in PHYS 201 or a student presenting in MP 105, the technology will be reliable, intuitive, and consistent.

Beyond these central spaces, AV Services also worked with departments across CAHSS, CNMS, COEIT, and several administrative units to refresh their departmental classroom and conference room systems.

Several departments and offices relocated to the renovated Sherman Hall in the early Fall with the support of DoIT's AV Services, Desktop Support, and Network Engineering Teams. They assisted Academic Engagement and Transition Programs, Individualized Study Program, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Department of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, Language Literacy and Culture Doctoral Program, Naval Science Lab, Sherman Scholars, and the Education Department with their office moves.  In addition, the Desktop Support and Network Engineering teams moved eight other departments in late summer in order to support the second phase of the Sherman Hall renewal.  

Collaborative efforts were made to ensure new technology was documented in our inventory process, and old equipment was properly disposed of and documented.

Sherman Hall Renovation: Building a Modern Hub

DoIT is a critical partner in Phase I of the multi-year Sherman Hall renovation, a project led by Facilities Management that will transform one of UMBC's core academic buildings. This renovation is creating a modern, technology-enabled learning hub at the center of campus.

Our teams defined the necessary technology standards, coordinated infrastructure, and oversaw the installation of new network, audiovisual, and other essential systems. Throughout departmental moves to temporary spaces, teams from Audiovisual Services, Client Services, Network Engineering, and Telecommunications ensured that technology remained fully operational.

Working closely with the Classroom Committee, CAHSS, and other colleges, the AV team designed classrooms, conference rooms, and specialized spaces to meet the current and future instructional needs of our faculty and students.

Phase I will conclude in fall 2025, with Phase II following. Once complete, Sherman Hall will feature new, cutting-edge classrooms, offices, and student gathering areas that will significantly enhance the academic experience at UMBC.

Learn more about the Sherman Hall Phase 1 completion on the "Sherman Hall's Phase 1 renovation is complete, creating space for creative collaboration" post. 

Full Evaluation for All Classrooms

A complete campus classroom and lecture hall evaluation has been completed to maintain and care for existing campus instructional systems. This evaluation included: 

• Full system operation check

• Firmware and software updates

• Projector maintenance and lamp changes

• Replacement of failed components

• Full inventory check

• Verify remote system status monitoring

This process allows our team to detect issues early and maximize the system process. By catching issues early and often, the campus can ensure the classroom and lecture halls are ready for use when faculty and students arrive, avoiding delays and frustrations. A thorough review of the systems also reduces the response times of technicians because the systems are up-to-date, making the diagnostic process quicker. 

Great job to our DoIT Infrastructure teams!

SAP Concur Launch Week: Day Three!

We're keeping the momentum going as we continue to roll out SAP Concur!

Join us today from 9:30–11:00 AM for virtual support on Webex — our team is here to answer your questions and help you get comfortable using the new system.
Join the session (this is not a training) 

Today's Highlight: Travel Discounts

We are thrilled to announce that Ed Kelly has been awarded the October DoIT Gritty Award! This well-deserved recognition celebrates his outstanding contributions to the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) over his remarkable 18-year tenure at UMBC.

The Gritty Award is given to DoIT employees and teams who exemplify outstanding work and go above and beyond, and Ed has certainly done both. His dedication, expertise, and collaborative spirit have made a lasting, invaluable impact on critical university systems and student services.

Recognizing Exceptional Contributions

Throughout his career, Ed has been instrumental in numerous strategic projects, earning the admiration of his colleagues as a trusted team member. What truly sets him apart is his unselfish willingness and ability to share knowledge, mentoring countless individuals across UMBC, UMGC, and Io Consulting. Early in his career as an EPIC PeopleSoft Technical Trainer, he even achieved a kind of "celebrity" status, known and respected for his passion for teaching and practical tips.

His foundational and ongoing work is what keeps many of UMBC's most important systems compliant and functional.

Key Highlights of Ed's Impact

Ed's technical prowess and steady leadership have been critical to the success of several high-profile initiatives:

• PeopleSoft Campus Solutions System Implementation: Ed was a pivotal figure during the challenging implementation of PeopleSoft. Serving as both a consultant and confidant, his expertise was essential in navigating difficult phases, ensuring that Student Administration (SA) continues to operate smoothly today.
• Creation of UMBC's Advising Center: Soon after the PeopleSoft launch, Ed developed the UMBC Advising Center. This resource was ahead of its time, pre-dating the widespread "Student Success" movement. For over 15 years, it has centralized key advising information, creating significant efficiencies for the advising community. It remains a dynamic tool, recently enhanced with automated advising notes.
• Personalized Student Experience via myUMBC: Ed designed the underlying data mechanics and logic that allows myUMBC to deliver a personalized student experience. His development of APIs also facilitated profile sharing, addressing long-standing access concerns. As Collier Jones from the myUMBC team puts it, "Ed is the bomb—without his expertise... we wouldn't be where we are today."
• Transcript Ordering System: Ed engineered the transcript ordering process, allowing alumni, students, and former students to efficiently request, pay for, and receive transcripts. This system generates between $70,000 and $100,000 annually for UMBC.
• Incomplete Grade Agreement: Ed created the functionality for the "Incomplete Grade Agreement," which helps students and faculty manage the process of converting an "I" (Incomplete) grade to a final grade. This resolved a long-standing issue caused by unclear communication or unavailable instructors.
• Ongoing SA Framework and Maintenance: An often unseen but crucial contribution is the foundational framework Ed developed. This framework allows the SA team to seamlessly apply routine image and regulatory updates, keeping all systems compliant and functional.

For his eighteen years of Grit, dedication, and invaluable service to UMBC and DoIT, we are proud to present Ed Kelly with the DoIT Gritty Award. Congratulations, Ed!

The Gritty Award is in recognition of outstanding work within the Division and beyond. Full-time DoIT employees, DoIT student employees, and teams are eligible to be nominated for going above and beyond! Anyone in DoIT can nominate someone for the Gritty by completing this short Gritty Nomination Form. 

The DoIT Community & The DoIT Gritty Committee

Erica D'Eramo

Ada Crutchfield

Andrew Shebest

Anthony Finneran

Carlos McKinney

Daniel Loftus

Dave Souder

David Toothe

Debbie Michaels

Dondre Hatef

Josh Abrams

Khalil Alston

SAP Concur Launch Week: Day Two!

We're here to help as you get started in the new travel system, SAP Concur.
Join us today from 9:00–11:00 AM and 12:00–2:00 PM — we'll be live in the UC Lobby in front of the Center for Global Engagement (Room 207) and also available virtually on Webex for one-on-one support.

If you can't make it in person or online, you can always email us your questions at travel@umbc.edu.

In addition, SAP Concur provides User Support Desk assistance directly to all UMBC travelers. You can access it right within Concur for help with system navigation or troubleshooting.

And don't forget to visit our new website at travel.umbc.edu for the Interim Travel Policy, FAQs, discounts, training links, and more.

View original post here.

Over a thousand students gathered at the UMBC campus and virtually for the 11th annual hackUMBC. It was a fun, snack-fueled 24-hour competition where teams built innovative apps and tools to solve problems important to them.

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) sponsored a special challenge track called the Data Science Track: Best Student Insight Hack. Most innovative solution using a knowledge graph of simulated academic student data. The track boasted a much-desired prize: a brand-new Nintendo Switch 2 bundled with Mario Kart World!

Out of 18 projects, the big winner of the DoIT Data Science track was Ruben Finkel for his project called "StudyCompass." Ruben is a senior at Pikesville High School and is currently applying to computer science BS programs. This was his first hackathon experience, and he was excited to see the whole room full of coders in Engineering Lecture Hall 1. He described the 24-hour hackathon as grueling, intense, and energized by many Red Bulls. Throughout the first hour, he kept coming back to the idea that he wanted to design something that would help students like himself. Then he began building his project off this idea, which developed into his creation of an AI Guidance Counselor. 

Left to right: Isabella Golster, Logan Montgomery, Ruben Finkel, Jason Paluck, and Todd Haddaway. 

StudyCompass: Like Having a Personally Trained Guidance Counselor on Your Laptop

What exactly is StudyCompass? Think of it as a digital guidance counselor. It's a web tool that helps you plan your classes and fix your study habits so you can do your absolute best in school.

Ruben was inspired because he felt like many students in large schools don't get enough one-on-one time with their guidance counselors. He wanted to build the perfect tool he wished he had.

What StudyCompass does:

• Checks Your Studying: It looks at how you study and gives you advice on how to study smarter, not just harder.
• Tracks Your Grades: It helps you keep an eye on how you're doing in your courses.
• Plans Your Future: It can make a personalized road map of the classes you should take, even telling you which classes are harder or more important for your major.

Study Compass Short Demo Video

Ruben used simulated university data provided by DoIT to make StudyCompass smart enough to help students with their real-world problems.

Shoutout to the DoIT Team

The hackUMBC event wouldn't have been possible without the people in DoIT who set up the challenge!

A group of people, including Jason Paluck, Todd Haddaway, Logan Montgomery, and Erica D'Eramo, worked hard to create the Data Science track. Jason came up with the highly detailed challenge, giving everyone data and great ideas. Todd was the superhero who stayed up until 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning to answer questions and help the students as they worked! Logan, who had been to hackUMBC before, gave the team tips on what the student hackers would need. Stacy Cahill, the Chief Information Security Officer, stopped by to cheer on the students!

Great job, hackUMBC organizers!

The DoIT team is thankful for the impressive coordination and leadership of all of the hackUMBC leaders and volunteers. A special shout-out to Isabella Goltser, the president of hackUMBC and a computer science major, and Jay Gepilano, the Design Team Lead and a computer science major and double minor in bioinformatics and Gender & Women's Studies. Their assistance in making our track happen during the hackathon is greatly appreciated!

Check out more about how HackUMBC goes virtual in a big way, attracting over 1,000 students!

In a world where AI is becoming commonplace, students are learning how and when to navigate these tools. Each student should follow their professor's guidance in regarding to the use of AI in their courses. UMBC's enterprise license for Google Workspace means the basic features of Google Gemini AI are available to all UMBC users free of charge. Importantly, the information you type into the free version of Gemini AI is protected for Level 1 data, which is data not considered public. This could include internal communications and non-sensitive administrative data. 

Resources:

• Access Point: Visit gemini.google.com to use the free version, which is protected for Level 1 data.
• Enablement Toolkit: Gemini for Education and NotebookLM
• UMBC Gen AI FAQ
• UMBC Google Gemini FAQ  

We all use the Google Suite in the form of our emails, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations on the daily. While these tools are awesome on their own, there are a ton of advanced features and hidden gems in the suite that you might not be taking full advantage of (or maybe haven't even heard about). Here's a quick look at some of these under-the-radar tools, features, and applications that could seriously boost your productivity, whether you're working or studying.

Applications

Google Tasks 

'Find a Time'  in Google Calendar

Struggling with busy schedules not lining up? Calendar can automatically find a time where all participants are available for an event with guests. 

Under 'more options', the Find a Time menu shows all guest schedules side-by-side. 

For additional help with Calendar, please consult the Calendar Help Center 

Gmail Tasks Integration

Gmail has a useful integration with the previously mentioned Tasks application, allowing you to turn an email into a task. 

After opening an important email, simply click on the checkmark in the top bar. The email will automatically be marked on your tasks To-Do lists. 

For more help with Gmail, please consult the Gmail Help Center

Google Drive's PDF to Doc Conversion

With only a few clicks, you can instantly open a PDF file in Google Docs for editing. 

Within Google Drive, left click on a PDF file, select 'open with', and choose Google Docs. The 'open with' feature is also available at the top of your screen when directly viewing a PDF through drive. 

Google Calendar Daily Email Brief

Google Calendar offers the useful feature of delivering your tasks for the day as a daily email brief, and enabling it is quite simple. 

Through the settings menu on Google Calendar, under 'settings for my calendars', the option can be found in the 'other notifications' category.

For additional help with Calendar, please consult the Calendar Help Center