The research projects of 119 undergraduate and high school students was featured at the 17^th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF), which was held on August 6, 2014 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The student-focused conference, which was hosted by the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS), featured a plenary session, two poster sessions, and a closing ceremony. Forty-three faculty mentors from UMBC and neighboring institutions supported the student investigations.

After the welcome by CNMS Dean William R. LaCourse, an interdisciplinary plenary session featured oral presentations on five projects by seven students. Two poster sessions followed the plenary session with each session featuring 56 posters presented and co-presented by student researchers. A traditional closing ceremony recognized the student researchers, their mentors, and their projects. A comprehensive list of the SURF oral and poster presenters, their faculty mentors, and their research project titles, is available on the SURF website.

The annual SURF serves as a culminating event for many undergraduate research programs at UMBC and provides a professional setting for students to present their research; some for the first time. A new offering this year was a SURF Workshop that was sponsored by STEM@UMBC to introduce the event and its requirements to future student researchers. More than 150 persons, including faculty, staff, lab group members and other guests, attended the event, which was made possible by the support of UMBC, CNMS and numerous sponsoring agencies and institutions, including:

• CSST/CRESST - Center for Space Science and Technology / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology
• DREU – Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates
• HHMI Scholars Program–Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• HPC REU – Interdisciplinary Program in High Performance Computing – A National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site

• JCET– Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
• MARC U*STAR (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) U*STAR (Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research) Program – NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
• The Summer Biomedical Research Training Program–The Leadership Alliance, CNMS and the UMBC Graduate School
• UBM –Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences – National Science Foundation
• UMBC – University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of Jacinta D. Kelly as Assistant Dean of Financial Management effective July 28, 2014. Kelly comes from the National Labor College (Silver Spring, MD), where she served as the Director of Finance. Previously, she held the positions of Senior Budget Analyst at The George Washington University and Associate Fiscal Officer at the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition to her financial management expertise and experience, Kelly has a Master of Public Administration (Southeastern University), Master of Forensic Sciences (The George Washington University), and a Bachelor of Arts, Biology (Hood College).

As an Assistant Dean in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Kelly will support the Dean in the financial management of the college, its departments, and affiliated units. Also, she will direct and oversee the formation and implementation of CNMS Business Central.