All,

Just a reminder that autoclaves are being serviced today, The tech is starting in the vivarium and will work his way up through the building. Please hold off on using this equipment until later this afternoon.

Thank you!

In observance of Independence Day, the RAC will be closed on July 3 and 4, 2026.

Name: Rushali Sreedhar

Pronouns: She/Her

Semester of Internship: Fall 2025

Major: Information Systems

Current Class Level: Master's Student

This semester I completed a(n)...: Internship

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): CISO Execnet

Location of the Organization (City, State): Baltimore, Maryland

Title of position: Data Analyst

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:

During my internship as a Data Analyst at CISO Execnet, I worked on analyzing business data to support decision-making. My day-to-day responsibilities included cleaning and organizing data from multiple sources, building ETL pipelines to streamline data processing, identifying trends, and creating dashboards to present insights in a clear and simple way. I collaborated with team members to understand their needs and helped turn raw data into meaningful insights that could support strategy and improve overall performance.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I came across this position through Handshake and applied around June 2025. 

What resources did you use to find your current experience?

Handshake

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?

What I enjoyed the most about my position was the opportunity to work with real-world data and see how my work could directly support decision-making. I really liked the process of turning raw data into something meaningful and useful. I also enjoyed the collaborative environment, where I could work closely with team members, learn from them, and contribute my ideas. Overall, the experience helped me grow both technically and professionally, and gave me confidence in my ability to solve real business problems.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I believe I made an impact by improving the way data was structured, accessed, and used within the organization. My work helped bring clarity to complex information and made it easier for the team to rely on data for their decisions. By simplifying processes and making insights more accessible, I contributed to a more efficient and data-driven approach across the team.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

My advice would be to stay consistent and keep applying, even if you face rejections. Focus on building your skills through projects and hands-on practice, because that makes a big difference. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, take initiative, and learn from others once you get an opportunity. Most importantly, be open to learning and stepping out of your comfort zone, as that’s where real growth happens.

Watch your email, myUMBC and Blackboard for notifications regarding online Student Course Evaluations beginning June 29th.

The survey window for Session One (6 week) Summer 2026 is June 29th through July 2nd 11:59pm.

The secure online system grants students 24/7 access during the evaluation period. Surveys must be completed before the July 2nd deadline.

Survey results available to instructors after Summer 2026 grades are posted. 

Chinwe Okpala, a UMBC MS in Cybersecurity student, and Daniela Pineda Iriarte received the Best Real-World Potential award for their MedBridge project in the Prompt to Prototype: A Generative AI Hackathon held last week at the Universities at Shady Grove.

The award recognizes the project that judges believe was most likely to be pursued, funded, adopted, or implemented. Their MedBridge project addressed the challenge of helping healthcare providers in Nigeria and other developing countries transition from paper-based patient records to secure digital health systems without disrupting patient care.

See the article below about the value of philosophy from The Economist

"Why big AI labs are hiring so many philosophers" (Note: You can either create a free account to view it, or you can log into the UMBC library to view it.)

I know it's so late now, and its probably thrown away :(

May 16 I had stayed up late, so May 17 I was pretty sleep deprived. I had an exam May 18, so I wanted to get some more studying in before sleeping. I met up with a classmate and studied until 2/3 AM, but when I studied with them, I asked for a pencil. Basically, I showed up without my pencil case, and assumed I left it in my partner's car, who was the one who dropped me off on campus. But it wasn't there. So I'm wondering whether I was so out of it that I just asked my classmate for a pencil when I had it.

SO
I'm wondering if someone had found a grey pencil case on the fourth floor lobby of erikson ?east wing? (sorry I'm a commuter, so I'm not so familar with the dorms, but its the side facing harbor hall with the horrible sounding elevator)

It's probably thrown out, but I had it since highschool and I hate being wasteful :( 

Manikanta Sirumalla is an MS student in the UMBC Data Science program who recently released RepTrack Pro, an AI-powered fitness and nutrition app for iPhones. He’s currently building it out through an award from the UMBC Launchpad Accelerator 10-week, cohort-based summer program that helps student founders validate their ideas and launch early-stage ventures. Hosted by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, it awards up to $8,000 in non-dilutive seed funding.

Read more here and watch his interview with Dennise Cardona.

Congratulations are in order for the following researchers!

Sean Foley (616/Morgan) attended the EarthCARE 2026 Science and Validation workshop, hosted by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ESA (European Space Agency) in early June 2026 in Oxford, UK. For his poster presentation, "PACE / EarthCARE Matchups (PEM): An intercomparison library in Python for the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) and EarthCARE missions,” Mr. Foley won the EarthCARE MAAP-PAL Challenge award, along with a scale model of the EarthCARE spacecraft. (EarthCARE refers to ESA's Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer satellite mission; MAAP-PAL refers the ESA's Multi-mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform - Product Algorithm Library.) 

James Irons (610/UMBC) and Eric Vermote (619/NASA) recently were selected as "winners of the 2025 William T. Pecora Award for their outstanding leadership and pioneering research that revolutionized the Landsat program and advanced global, land-change monitoring." According to the USGS site, "The prestigious award is sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA. The award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions toward understanding the Earth through remote sensing, which is the science of gathering information about Earth’s surface from satellites and aircraft. Remote sensing can be used to manage forests, monitor agriculture, track water quality and availability, support natural or human-induced disaster response, and more. This annual award has been presented since 1974, and honors the memory of William T. Pecora, former USGS director and Under Secretary of the Interior." The in-person awards presentation will be held in August at the 2026 IGARSS Symposium.

Cheng-Hsuan Lyu (617/Morgan) was recognized in early June with an Outstanding Teamwork Award from NOAA's NESDIS Office of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Observations to the Sounder for Microwave-Based Applications (SMBA) Team: "Given in recognition of their exceptional cohesion, resilience, and dedicated partnership in navigating programmatic challenges to perfect a revolutionary microwave instrument and successfully release the SMBA final RFP." The Office of LEO Observations includes two programs: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and the Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON). 

Happy summer everyone!

Asian Studies is pleased to release our 2nd newsletter for the program filled with student/faculty achievements, upcoming events, and more.

Big shout out to our Publicity and Student Program Coordinator, Michelle Yang, for helping us put this together!