What are the benefits of managing your storage?

5 Steps for Cloud Storage Management

1. Yearly or monthly clean-ups 

2. What should be prioritized on your UMBC Google Drive

UMBC Cloud Storage

• Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for classes, UMBC work
• UMBC-related documents
• UMBC Research documents
• Collaborative Files

Personal Cloud Storage, Hard Drive, External Drive

• Personal documents
• Personal photos and videos
• Personal Computer Backups
• Personal projects
• Long-term files not used regularly

3. Remember to empty the Trash bin!

5. File as you go

Do you want to learn more? 

Welcome to the Maryland Institute for Innovative Computing (MIIC) newsletter.

MIIC's purpose is to bring together researchers, educators, industry, and government to address challenges in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. Our goal is to keep Maryland at the forefront of discovery while providing opportunities for students, educators, and professionals to develop the skills needed in today's technology-driven world.

"The Range is a perfect fit for student-driven projects—whether they're preparing for competitions or building their own capture-the-flag challenges." 

In this first issue, we highlight one of our flagship initiatives: Maryland's access to the U.S. Cyber Range. This cloud-based training environment provides hands-on cybersecurity learning without the need for local infrastructure.

Thanks to state support, K–12 school systems and public higher education institutions can use the platform at no cost.

This newsletter will feature updates, events, and opportunities to engage with MIIC. We look forward to building this community together! 

For the complete newsletter, please check out the flyer attached!

We are excited to share our Academic Year 2024-2025 Project Report, highlighting key IT projects and initiatives completed over the past year. This report celebrates the progress made across multiple initiatives and the contributions of DoIT teams and campus partners.

This year's report features several major initiatives, including:

1)  AI Adoption: myUMBC Answers & Campus Resources
DoIT introduced myUMBC Answers, an AI-powered search bar that helps students quickly find answers to common questions. Additional efforts included launching AI resources, piloting tools like Gemini and CoPilot, and supporting open-source AI testing.

2) NSF Grant for Campus Cyber Infrastructure: Upgrades to Research Storage
DoIT and the Division of Research & Creative Achievement, Information Systems, Computer Science launched the Retriever Research Storage System (R-RSTOR), adding 2.5 petabytes of storage to support data-intensive research, collaborations with UMCES, and seamless data mobility between on-prem and cloud systems.

3) Reports and Data Infrastructure Converted to New REX Environment
DoIT's Analytics & Business Intelligence team is modernizing UMBC's reporting infrastructure by converting legacy reports to Tableau, launching new visualizations, and creating a centralized reporting homepage. This is making data more accessible for decision-makers across campus and improving data infrastructure and long-term sustainability.

4) Registrar Classroom & Engineering Lecture Hall Upgrades
AV technology was upgraded in multiple Registrar-controlled classrooms and the Engineering 027 Lecture Hall, adding lecture capture and accessibility features to enhance teaching and learning experiences.

5) Sherman Hall Renovation: Phase I
DoIT supported Phase 1 of the Sherman Hall renovation by equipping classrooms and offices with network, AV, and telecom technology. Phase 2 begins this fall, bringing new classrooms and gathering spaces by 2026.

Click here to view the full project report

About the DoIT Project Management Office: In the fall of 2023, DoIT established a Project Management Office (PMO) to ensure consistent project management processes, align project objectives with divisional and university strategic goals, and enhance stakeholder communication. The PMO has made significant strides in building a project management framework in DoIT to better support our campus partners in critical IT projects. 

Do you have an idea or an upcoming initiative involving IT? Let us know! Submitting an Idea Form helps us understand your initiative and assist with the discovery process to refine goals and objectives. Click here to submit the Idea Form and read more about the project process.

Thank you for your continued support and collaboration with DoIT! 

If you have questions about the DoIT Project Management Office or the projects listed above, please contact us at doitpmo@umbc.edu. 

What's new this fall?

1. Profile

• Under your “Profile” tab, you can find different cards for information about you as a member of UMBC 
• You can find information about your degree, registration, grades, billing, financial aid, parking, and more 
• There is also a list of tabs on the left of the page that has a few more options, including “Housing” and “Timesheets”

2. Guide

• Here you’ll find information about upcoming deadlines/important dates for the campus, basic profile information, and links to various campus resources
• Along the side are different categories of resources for the university
• Student staff will also find links and resources for their position

3. Events

• “Groups” is where you can find and receive information about specific clubs, organizations you have joined, as well as different UMBC Departments
• By joining groups, you can choose if and how you want to receive updates about events going on or general information about the group

5. Help

• The “Help” tab can be used to find links for information or request help on specific topics

Want to learn more about the myUMBC as a site?

Here are some resources about myUMBC

• UMBC Community Standards · About myUMBC 
• Use of Student Data · About myUMBC

1. Find and Delete Your Largest Files

The fastest way to free up space is to target the largest files.

• In Google Drive, click on the Storage tab in the left-hand menu. Your files will automatically be sorted by size, from largest to smallest.
• Review this list and delete any files you no longer need. This is where you'll find space-consuming files like video files (.MP4, .MOV), large presentations, and audio recordings (.WAV). 

2. Clean Up Files You No Longer Need

If you're not sure which files to delete, consider looking at their last accessed date.

• Use Google Drive's advanced search feature to find old files. Click the slider icon at the end of the search bar to open advanced search options.
• You can search for files by type, owner, and date. For example, search for "Last modified: Before [Date]" to find all files you haven't touched in over a year.

Advanced Search can be accessed by clicking the slider icon at the end of the search bar

3. Address Shared and Duplicate Files

• Remove yourself from shared folders no longer in use: Removing yourself from a shared folder doesn't reclaim your storage space (the files still belong to the owner), but it's an excellent way to reduce clutter in your drive.
• Identify and delete duplicate files: It's easy to create unnecessary copies of documents. Regularly search for and delete duplicate files to free up space.

4. Empty the Trash

This is the most critical step! When you delete a file, it's sent to the trash bin and continues to count toward your storage limit for 30 days. To immediately reclaim that space, you must manually empty your trash.

• Navigate to the Trash tab in the left-hand menu.
• Review the contents and click Empty Trash to permanently delete the files and free up your storage.

5. Consider Archiving Old Projects

For files you want to keep but don't need daily access to, consider archiving them.

• Download them to a hard drive or an external storage device.
• You can also compress multiple files into a single .zip folder for easier downloading and storage.

Do you want to learn more?