Hello Future Retrievers! Today, I want to share with you all a phrase that a previous supervisor of mine used a great deal and will benefit you while completing your high school career. What’s this phrase you ask? It’s called, “Clean the Corners.” I never knew what it meant, until I asked for some enlightenment. When you are cleaning your house or your room, sometimes you are in a rush and only straighten up.  It doesn’t take long, but you make sure it looks good. Typically, one can tell if someone took the time to clean or just rushed through by checking the corners. If the corners are swept and clean, they put care into it; if not, the room is unfortunately still dirty.

This is the time of year where many high school students do just enough to get by, and start to relax just a little bit too much. This is known to many of you as SENIORITIS! Students begin to let their school work take a back end to their social lives because their applications are in to their prospective schools and they believe that they are on their way. Yes Future Retrievers, it is true, you and your fellow classmates are on your way to gaining slight independence, but you have to finish high school strong first!

When I danced in college, we had 10 minute half- time shows…that’s a really long time by the way. I would start out with so much energy because of the adrenaline of performing in front of thousands of people. After my team and I did our dance feature, my energy would plummet and I had to find the strength to finish the half-time show with a BANG or the entire performance would be a waste. With that being said, do not forget to “clean the corners!”  You have to give that one last kick, and finish your high school career with a BANG.

*Remember, the UMBC admissions office looks at your final transcript as the last part of the application process.*

YOU CAN DO IT!

Here at UMBC, we take pride in what our alums accomplish after graduation. Take a moment to see which Retrievers have been on the move and making news!

Clemson University President James Clements ’85 computer science and ’91 M.S. and ’93 Ph.D., operations analysis, recently reported on the state of Clemson University at the Florence Rotary Club. In particular, Clements said he is enthusiastic about the future of the school, eager to improve the Pee Dee Research and Education Center, and will look to motivate students and sport teams. Clements expressed a positive outlook of the future, fully supporting its students and faculty.  Read the full article.

Karen Wohlheiter ’11 Ph.D., psychology, recently took part in a panel of 48 experts from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia which discussed the Healthy Weight Program on ABC News. This program helps children between the ages of 2 through 18 to help the families make healthy changes in their lifestyles. These changes include healthy cooking alternatives and recipes, individual and group physical activities, and learning new skills. The main focus is to prevent and and treat childhood obesity. Read more.

Noah Weston ’05, computer science, is overseeing the development of the Modeling Simulation, Emulation and Tool for Analysis (MODESTA) at the U.S. Army RDECOM’s communications-electronics RD&E center. The goal of this is to reduce costs and improve collaboration efficiency. Learn more about Weston’s work.

Categorized as one of the Baltimore Sun’s 50 Women to Watch in 2014 is UMBC’s, Stephanie Hill ’86, computer science and economics. Hill is the VP and general manager of Lockheed Martin. In charge of more than 10,000 people across all 50 States and nine countries, Hill focuses on global solutions. Recently she has taken on a project working to enhance identifying suspects. Learn more about the 50 Women to Watch in 2014.

Have a story of your own to share? Submit a class note.

UMBC Professors Nilanjan Banerjee and Ryan Robucci were recently featured in a video developed by Microsoft Research. The video showcases Banerjee, Robucci, and UMB professor Sandra McCombe Waller, as they discuss the application of Microsoft’s Lab of Things to the team’s wearable sensing system project. (The Lab of Things is Microsoft’s home automation tool.)

In addition, the video features Arjmand Samuel, Senior Research Manager for Microsoft Research, and Buz Chmielewski, a partial quadriplegic who served as a patient and consultant for the project. UMBC Professor Chintan Patel, not featured in the video, was also involved with this project.

The team’s wearable sensing system project is an example of an inter-disciplinary collaboration between the medical school at UMB, and UMBC’s computer science and computer engineering departments.

Harry Shum, the Executive Vice President of Microsoft, mentioned this project as the next big thing in his keynote address at the 2014 Microsoft Research Faculty Summit.