The second talk in the smart grid seminar series will feature Virginiia Tech Professor Robert Broadwater who will talk on Integrated System Model for Electric Grids at 4:00pm on Monday 20 September 2010 on UMBC’s South Campus. Here is the abstract.

“A fundamental concept in software engineering is to discover and model all “fundamental objects”. An object-oriented model that includes all fundamental objects in the problem domain can be used to solve all problems in the problem domain. For utility systems such models can contain millions of objects consisting of customers, structures, equipment, and measurements. Here such a model is referred to as an Integrated System Model (ISM). A single ISM may span multiple utility systems and include interdependencies. The Distributed Engineering Workstation may be used to build an ISM, that for an electric utility models transmission, sub-transmission, primary distribution, secondary distribution, and all customers in a single model. Using an ISM for both collaborative designs and real time, distributed calculations and control will be discussed. The fundamental software paradigm used to implement ISM technology, generic programming, will be considered. Demonstrations with ISM models will be provided. The progress made in implementing ISM technology at utilities will be reviewed.”

UMBC's SGA is not an ordinary student government.  For one thing, it's much larger and more inclusive than most, so students with a variety of interests and passions find a home.  Last year more than 140 students served in SGA positions; this year, the total will undoubtedly be even higher.

• SGA's Executive Branch is looking for staff members work on a variety of initiatives to support students and enhance campus life.  Each staff member works within an Executive Branch department, under the guidance of the President, Vice Presidents and Department Directors and Assistant Directors.  Staff positions are available in the departments of Academic Affairs; Community and Governmental Affairs; Environmental Affairs; Finances and Operations; Health and Wellness; Public Relations; Service, Volunteerism and Awareness; Student Advocates; and Student Organization Support.  No experience is necessary; training is provided.  If this is NOT your first year at UMBC and you want to apply for an Executive Branch position, follow this link:  Executive Branch Application (first year students, please read on).

• If this is your first year at UMBC, consider applying to be a First Year Ambassador.  First Year Ambassadors serve in the SGA Senate, Finance Board and Executive Branch.  They have all of the responsibilities of other SGA officers (except that First Year Ambassadors serving in the Senate and Finance Board do not vote), but receive special training and opportunities to learn about SGA's and UMBC's structure and operations.  In addition, First Year Ambassadors have the opportunity to represent SGA on the First Year Council.  To apply to join SGA as a First Year Ambassador, follow this link:  First Year Ambassador Application

•  Finally, one of the students elected to the SGA Senate last spring has resigned, and SGA will appoint a new Senator to fill the vacancy.  The 11 SGA Senators meet weekly (Mondays at 5:30 p.m.), connect with other students to learn about their experiences and frustrations, represent students in formal and informal policy discussions with other campus leaders, and develop initiatives in partnership with the Executive Branch.  To apply for the vacant SGA Senate position (application is due 9/17), follow this link:  SGA Senator Application

Facebook has rolled out Facebook Browser as what sounds like a simple and effective idea — recommend pages based on on a user’s country and social network. My impression is mixed, however. While I like it’s top recommendation for me, I am already a fan. It’s suggestions for the celebrities category are a bust — Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Mark Levin, Red Green and Bill O’Reilly. And Movies? Don’t even go there! Maybe it’s trying to tell me I need a new set of friends? Inside Facebook summarizes Facebook Browser this way:

“Facebook has launched a new way to “Discover Facebook’s Popular Pages” called Browser. It shows icons of Pages that are popular in a user’s country, but factors in which Pages which are popular amongst their unique friend network. When the Page icons are hovered over they display a Like button. Browser could cause popular Pages to get more popular, widening the gap between them and smaller Pages, similar to the frequently criticized and since abandoned Twitter Suggested User List.”

I think the idea is sound, though, and I like my Facebook friends. So, my conclusion is that Facebook needs to tweak the algorithm.

The US Army War College publishes Parameters as the “US Army’s Senior Professional Journal”. The summer issue has an article by Fort Leavenworth analyst Timothy L. Thomas, Google Confronts China’s Three Warfares, that discusses alleged recent Chinese hacking attacks on Google, censorship, Google’s reactions, and other related events. His article concludes:

“The Chinese probes of the world’s cyber domains have not ceased. Recently, Canadian researchers uncovered a massive Chinese espionage campaign targeting India. In their report, Shadow Network, they outlined the massive campaign emanating from Chengdu, China that harvested a huge quantity of data from India’s military and commercial files. China’s activities against Google and India (and their reconnaissance activities in general) portend a much broader pattern, a long-term strategy to hold military and economic assets of various nations hostage. There are a number of Chinese books that support this supposition. Gaining the high ground in international digital competition is becoming a national objective for the Chinese. China’s previous activities certainly afford them a political advantage in any future conflict.”

UMBC’s Multicore Computational Center will host the Second Workshop on Frontiers of Multi-Core Computing on 22-23 September 2010. The workshop will involve a wide range of people from universities, industry and government who will exchange ideas, discuss issues, and develop the strategies for coping with the challenges of parallel and multicore computing.

“Multi- (e.g., Intel Westmere and IBM Power7) and many-core (e.g., NVIDIA Tesla and AMD FireStream GPUs) microprocessors are enabling more compute- and data-intensive computation in desktop computers, clusters, and leadership supercomputers. However efficient utilization of these microprocessors is still a very challenging issue. Their differing architectures require significantly different programming paradigms when adapting real-world applications. The actual porting costs are actively debated, as well as the relative performance between GPUs and CPUs.”

The workshop is free but those interested should register online. See the workshop schedule for details on presentations and timing.

Hey everybody. It’s your old pal, treeveins, here.

So, I’m doing the dishes just now (quick tangent: isn’t that weird, how we say that? Why don’t we say, “cleaning the dishes” instead?), and I’ve got my Pod playing. This great Limbeck song comes on, and BAM! I’m hit with just a split second of regret.

Let’s take it back… way back to my junior year,  my first of two years in Potomac. It was an idle Tuesday or whatever, and my good friend calls me up to let me know Limbeck is playing in DC in a night or two and if I want to go.

You can probably guess that I didn’t. I told him I had to write a paper, or study for an exam,  or whatever it was I did. Him: “Aw, c’mon, it’s gonna be so fun.” But no, for some reason, I was trying to put on my good-student face that night.

I couldn’t tell you what I skipped that concert for today if you paid me, but I still think about that show I didn’t make it to, with a friend who I used to live with, see often, but now see maybe once a year.

Listen here, kiddos. Do your school work and get good grades and all that, but make sure you live and do things that make you genuinely happy as well as make you feel a little uncomfortable and get you out of your shell. Feel ok about a B you got on that paper instead of an A- because you went and did something really fun with a great friend. I’m not saying do that every night for 4 years because that’s probably not very sustainable, but once in a while… yeah, go for it. I think you’ll be glad you did. 

That’s all I’ve got for now. A warm welcome to any new readers, hello again to the old readers, and best of luck to all students, staff and administrators as a new school year begins.