Dear UMBC Community,
As we move towards the end of summer and begin preparation for the coming academic year, we write today with several important and timely updates on recent federal actions and our work to respond to them.
Recent ICE Detentions at U.S. Airports
The New York Times reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is detaining certain foreign nationals at U.S. airports. This activity has occurred during domestic travel and has impacted individuals whose Form I-94 admission periods had expired, even if they had pending applications to extend, change, or adjust their status. Notably, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University and an instructor from the University of Maryland, Baltimore were recently detained while boarding flights.
The team in the Center for Global Engagement (CGE) recently shared a communication with potentially affected international employees, providing information and recommended actions. We are closely monitoring these developments and will share updates as more information becomes available. David Di Maria, UMBC’s vice provost for global engagement, and the CGE team are leading our efforts.
Final Rule Ending Duration of Status and Imposing Academic Mobility Restrictions
In July, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that, effective September 15, F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, and their dependents will no longer be admitted for an indefinite period. Instead, they will receive a specific "Admit Until Date" (AUD) on their Form I-94, limiting their stay to their program end date—up to a maximum of four years—plus a 30-day grace period. This new “Admit Until Date” (AUD) will appear on the Form I-94 Arrival and Departure Card.
Those requiring additional time for academic objectives must file formal extension applications with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a process previously managed by university officials. They also must receive approval from USCIS for any extension beyond the AUD. This application will require a formal recommendation by an advisor in the Center for Global Engagement and timely filing of a petition for extension of stay on Form I-539 with USCIS.
F-1 and J-1 students may continue their studies as long as their extension of stay (EOS) application is pending, but only certain types of employment authorization will receive an automatic extension. Students and exchange visitors provided an AUD should familiarize themselves with current USCIS Form I-539 processing times and filing fees, and plan to file EOS applications early to avoid interruptions.
We recently shared an abbreviated version of this detailed communication about the policy change with campus. The detailed communication outlines transitional provisions to prevent status violations and actions our CGE team is taking to support our international community, including scheduling information sessions and updating digital resources.
Additional Changes to Travel, Immigration and Visa Policies
CDC Travel Restrictions
In an effort to reduce the risk of Ebola importation into the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to extend restrictions on entry for individuals, including U.S. citizens, who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) within 21 days of their flight to the U.S. All individuals, including U.S. citizens, who were present in Uganda or South Sudan within 21 days of their flight must enter the U.S. through designated airports for enhanced screening. Travelers should also be aware that several other countries have imposed similar entry restrictions on individuals who recently traveled to the DRC, South Sudan, or Uganda.
Potential OPT Fee
We are aware of a July 30 report from the Wall Street Journal indicating that the federal government is considering imposing a $100,000 fee on applications for Optional Practical Training (OPT). OPT is a program that allows F-1 international students to receive temporary employment authorization in the student’s area of study. As of today, there has not been a formal announcement regarding this potential fee and it is uncertain whether such a change in policy will actually occur.
B-1/B-2 Visa Bond Program is Now Permanent
The U.S. Department of State published a final rule on August 3 making permanent the B-1/B-2 visa bond program that it piloted in August 2025. Under the new rule, the required bond amounts increased between $5,000 and $15,000 depending upon the country. Currently, the visa bond program impacts 50 countries. While this visa bond program does not directly impact international students and scholars, it does apply to prospective students wishing to visit campus prior to obtaining a student visa and it impacts the ability of students’ family and friends to visit them in the U.S.
USCIS Authorized to Deny Filings Without First Issuing a Request for Evidence
On August 5, USCIS issued a policy alert informing the public that its adjudicators are now authorized to deny immigration benefit applications or petitions without first issuing a request for evidence. Prior to this change, adjudicators generally gave filers a 12-week period to provide any missing documents or address other concerns that might result in a denial of their request.
Visa Processing Delays
We are aware that admitted international students are experiencing visa processing delays and may be unable to arrive until after the first day of classes. We ask our campus community to be understanding of these late arrivals given the difficult challenges these students are facing in order to join UMBC.
Research Impacts
On May 29, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed the Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance to revise the federal grants framework. This represents the most significant update to the Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards in decades, impacting over $60 billion in federal research and social assistance programs. These changes could revise the grant review and award process, increase administrative burdens, shift costs, and expand institutional liability — potentially slowing the pace of scientific discovery.
As of July 13, the final day of the comment period, the proposed rule (which was originally proposed to become effective October 1) had received 497,000 comments. Karl V. Steiner, UMBC’s vice president of research and creative achievement and chief research officer, submitted comments on behalf of UMBC.
We shared a communication about the proposed rule and other important news in June, and we will update the campus community as we receive news regarding the status of the proposed rule. At this time, the OMB is reviewing comments, and the Senate has proposed delaying the rule’s implementation until December 11.
Finally, we recognize the distress caused by the unpredictable nature of federal rulemaking and are committed to keeping you informed as the situation evolves. Thank you for your partnership and dedication to our campus community.
For the latest updates on our response, please visit our information and resources site.
Sincerely,
The UMBC Federal Orders and Actions Core Team
Valerie Sheares Ashby, President
Manfred H. M. van Dulmen, Provost and Senior Vice President, Academic Affairs
Tanyka M. Barber, Vice President, Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer
Kacey Hammel, Chief of Staff to the President
Renique T. Kersh, Vice President, Student Affairs
Paul A. Meggett, Vice President and General Counsel
D. Paul Monteiro, Vice President, Government Relations and Community Affairs
Karl V. Steiner, Vice President, Research and Creative Achievement
Lisa K. Van Riper, Vice President, University Communications and Marketing
David L. Di Maria, Vice Provost, Global Engagement
Yvette Mozie-Ross '88, Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Priorities and Initiatives
Ana Oskoz, Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs
Thanks to everyone who joined us for this year's Summer Undergraduate Research Fest!
Link to view the images are up on the main page of SURF.UMBC.EDU
]]>Want to launch a venture, understand start-up financing, or how to fund social ventures?
If you are thinking about starting a business, joining a high-growth startup, or being an intrapreneur or social preneur, ENTR 330: Entrepreneurial Finance will give you the real-world money skills to succeed. Here are 5 quick reasons to add it to your schedule:
Learn to Manage Real Cash Flow: Discover how early-stage businesses actually manage money and keep the doors open before turning a profit. Learn about how to create a funding plan that's sustainable.
Counts as an Entrepreneurship Minor Upper-Level Elective!
Understand how investor's think.
Develop a pitch deck ready for investors.
Boost Your Resume for Any Career: These financial skills aren't just for founders—they are essential if you want to work in your own venture, startup operations, or corporate innovation.
Ready to gain a competitive edge? Talk to your academic advisor about adding Entrepreneurial Finance to your course load this semester!
If you haven't taken the prereqs (ENTR 200 or 201), email Kevin Fulmer for permission to take the class. kevinf@umbc.edu.
Don't miss this class--it's only offered in the Fall Semester!
Class will be held on Wednesdays from 4:30-7 pm.
Instructor: Jonathan Sachs, Director of Workforce Development, Baltimore County
]]>The original post from CNMS Advising, as well as the link to join the webinar, may be found on the CNMS Advising myUMBC Group.
Are you taking CHEM101/102 this fall? This week we will be talking to Learning Assistants for introductory Chemistry courses! While these folks may only be working as an academic support person for one of these courses, they've also taken courses in Biology, Physics, and Math, so they have some of the absolute best advice for you!
Not sure what a 'discussion' is? Looking for the best tips on success in the courses? Wondering how a professor creates test questions or the best study strategies to be fully prepared? They'll answer all these and more!! Join us tomorrow, August 11, at 2PM in WebEx (just click the link). We can't wait to see you!
UMBC Hillel is looking to organize a weekday Orthodox mechitzah minyan for Mincha. Please use the form linked here to let them know if you are interested.
This will be participant-led, but the logistics will be handled by their office.
Please join me in welcoming a few CNMS Dean's Office new hires.
We are delighted to have them all join our office!
Regards
Rebecca Struckmeier, CNMS Assistant Dean of Finance
]]>The Dresher Center for the Humanities is pleased to announce that we are able to provide close to the same level of funding for scholarly research as previous years thanks to continued support from the Division of Research & Creative Achievement (ORCA), as well as the Dresher Center Endowment. There are some changes that we would like to share with you.
What Has Changed
The maximum award amounts for our three major research funds have changed.
Scholarly Completion Funds now have a maximum of $4000.
Scholarly Development Funds now have a maximum of $2000.
Research Funds for Teaching Professor and Part-Time Faculty now have a maximum of $2000.
Instead of rolling deadlines there will now be 3 deadlines throughout the year: September 15, December 15, and April 15. The Dresher Center cannot fund expenses retroactively. Only apply when you will be expending the funds in next three to four months, otherwise wait for the next deadline.
The separate funding for Faculty Manuscript Workshops has been ended; these workshops can be funded through the Scholarly Completion Fund.
We have transitioned to Google Forms for the application process for all of our research opportunities.
We have made all of these changes in response to faculty usage and to ensure funding supports a large number of Humanities faculty throughout the entire year
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to director, Amy Froide, froide@umbc.edu.
]]>To all chip users,
On Tuesday August 25th, the chip cluster will be inaccessible from 0800ET - 1800ET. This maintenance window will focus on installing critical security patches for the chip cluster, upgrading the version of ceph running on RRStor to improve performance, and implementing Slurm scheduler tweaks to reduce queue bottlenecks caused by large job volumes.
We understand that this downtime will be disruptive, but the Research Computing & Data Team will endeavor to complete this and other routine maintenance quickly and alert the user base to resumed operations.
Please note that the current downtime plan does not include cancelling running jobs, but any jobs requiring access via the login nodes (e.g., interactive jobs) will be disrupted. Though it is not the plan, do note that circumstances may arise that could interrupt access to storage volumes or require the compute nodes to be rebooted, which would cause running jobs to be killed; please plan your jobs accordingly.
Remember to submit any issues you have here:https://rtforms.umbc.edu/rt_authenticated/doit/DoIT-support.php?auto=Research%20Computing
and check out our documentation here:https://umbc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/faq/pages/1082589207/UMBC+HPCF+-+chip
--
Give me all the bits!
Gregory Ballantine
HPC Specialist
]]>Hello, we have a tall, black, metal bookshelf in the VPSA suite, located in Commons 319, that we no longer need! Available for pickup by Departments only. Please respond to Gina Hoagland at ghoaglan@umbc.edu if interested.
]]>NIST seeks feedback on its TEVV-Athlon Framework, a flexible, four-stage methodology developed to help organizations design customized Test, Evaluation, Verification, and Validation (TEVV) assessments tailored to the real-world risks and objectives of their AI systems. Adaptable across diverse technologies, including LLMs, agentic systems, and multi-modal models, it structures evaluations around specific Events and Tools that capture performance data across targeted measurement domains (Blocks). By producing context-driven, repeatable evidence, the framework can verify that an AI system reliably achieves its intended goals while minimizing potential harms. Read the complete TEVV-Athlon Framework here.
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