“Funding Your Graduate Education”

An Annual “Special Saturday Success Seminar”

Speakers:

Dr. Frances D. Carter-Johnson, AAAS S&T Fellow at the NIH Center for Scientific Review

Dr. Patricia Ordóñez, Department of Computer Science, University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras 

Our speakers, UMBC Alumni and former NSF GRFP winners, bring their award winner seminar back to UMBC! This seminar has been presented at the National Science Foundation’s HBCU-UP national conference, the American Association for the Advancement in Science’s  Emerging Researchers Network national Conference, Harvard, MIT, Spelman, Clemson, and at others universities in Puerto Rico, Texas, and DC. Our speakers have been part of MIT’s Tech TV series, and continue to be sought-after speakers on the topic of graduate funding. 

Dr. Carter-Johnson is a graduate of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy and formerly served as a STEM Policy Analyst at Westat.  Dr. Carter-Johnson has degrees in Public Policy, Applied Physics, Pure Physics, and Mechanical Engineering from UMBC, Georgia Tech, and Spelman College. She has received research support and fellowships from NASA, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), SREB, The Department of Education, GEM, the American Evaluation Association, NIH, and MIT. Dr. Carter-Johnson completed her postdoctoral training at the Teaching and Learning Laboratory at MIT, and is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She currently designs studies and analyzes data to develop policy solutions to enhance diversity in the biomedical workforce at the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Ordóñez  is a graduate of UMBC’s Department of Computer Science. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras. Dr. Ordóñez has degrees from Johns Hopkins University and UMBC in Hispanic and Italian Studies, and Computer Science respectively.  She has taught several classes at UMBC and was a Technical Trainer for UMBC’s Training Centers, focusing on JAVA Computer Programming Certifications and curriculum development. Dr. Ordóñez  was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and has received fellowships and/or recognition from Xerox, Verizon, Google, The Ford Foundation, The Hispanic Scholarship Fund and UMBC. Dr. Ordóñez is the Leader of Biomedical Informatics Function for the Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium, and her research is   focused on applying machine learning, data mining, and data visualization to big time series data for the purpose of improving medicine and on developing assistive technologies for programming. Dr. Ordóñez also presents this workshop on graduate research funding in Puerto Rico in Spanish.

Our speakers’ work on the topic of graduate funding was presented at the “Understanding Interventions” national conference in 2012, and was published in a paper by the American Association of Engineering Education in 2013. This year, in addition to their annual workshops in Boston, their seminar, “The $10 Million Dollar Plan: Increasing Graduate Funding and Diversity in Computing” was presented at the 2014 Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, in Seattle, WA. Their list of winners continues to grow, and participants who have taken their workshops have won the prestigious NSF GRFP Fellowship and other awards,  totaling more than $1 million of fellowship money! 

Learn how to apply for the NSF GRFP Fellowship, learn about the nuances of submitting a fellowship to NSF, have terms deciphered, and start your application on Fastlane – NSF’s computer system.

• Please feel free to take a look at information that was posted for seminars in the past.  Information from the 2012 seminar: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/how-to-fund-your-graduate-education-dr-ordonez-rozo-and-dr-carter-johnson-promise-alumni-present-their-award-winning-seminar-on-saturday-sept-15-2012/
• Information from 2013 seminar (take a look at the comments for some great tips on saving money, shared by graduate students): https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/jobs-fellowships-grad-school-funding-saturday-breakfast-lunch-seminar-sept-7-2013-umbc/

Funding Your Graduate Education – UMBC Workshop 2014

9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Saturday, September 6, 2014

UMBC Sherman Hall, Room 003

(First floor Lecture Hall. Sherman Hall is between the Administration Building and the University Center. It is across the walkway from the Sondheim Building.)

PLEASE RSVP (Breakfast refreshments and lunch will be served): 

• UMBC’s students: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/25027
• If you are not a student at UMBC, RSVP by posting in the comment section at the bottom of this message with your name, school, and discipline (academic department)/major.

Graduate students and undergraduates from all schools in the region are invited to attend this seminar. All current LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellows are required to attend the workshop, and are required to apply for the NSF GRFP.

Directions and Parking:

http://about.umbc.edu/visitors-guide/directions/

See the “Comments” section below for more details.

UMBC shuttle service now offers routes from UMBC campus to downtown Baltimore

UMBC's transit service has created two new shuttle routes designed to connect the UMBC community to several areas of downtown Baltimore, including the Inner Harbor, Lexington Market, Baltimore's sports stadiums, and the University of Baltimore (UMB) campus.

The new routes provide students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to connect UMBC projects, activities, and academic programs to Baltimore City. It also supports members of the UMBC community living in the Baltimore area with direct access to campus.

The shuttle service will operate two different routes to account for traffic and congestion in and around the city. Please visit our bus schedules and maps for more information on route stops and departure and arrival times. We also encourage you to check out the UMBC Transit Tracker for real-time location of our shuttle buses.

The new shuttle routes are a free service for the UMBC community, funded by the parking and transportation student fee. You will need to show a valid student ID to access this service.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Transit Office at 410-455-2454 or e-mail transit@umbc.edu.

Hi everyone!

Come to the IFC at 4:30 every Monday-Saturday to pray the rosary with your fellow Catholics! Every day and all semester long, our Blessed Mother is there to hear our intentions and intercede for us!

Every so often, we’ll chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. Today we’re talking with author Krista Wagner ‘99, English, about her career and newly published book, Intent.

Name: Krista Wagner (formerly Brooks)
Job Title: English Instructor
Focus Area: Composition and Literature
Grad year: May 1999

Q: What drew you to UMBC for your studies?
UMBC is a very reputable school and is interested in seeing their students excel. The English department is committed to ensuring that their students grow exponentially in critical reading, writing, and thought.

Q: Besides working on your latest novel, Intent, what have you done in your spare time?
I also wrote a screenplay for Intent. I received my M.F.A. in Creative Writing from National University in 2013. I have been an Adjunct English Instructor since 2008.

Q: Were there any particular influences in your life that contributed to your novel?
The idea for Intent seemed to come from nowhere. However, my love for thrillers and desire for truth both contributed to the movement of the plot. My three children and husband and my love for God carried me through the journey of writing the story.

Q: Can you recall any professors or advisors at UMBC who inspired you?
Professor Michael Fallon inspired my creativity through avenues of poetry. Professor Suzy Anger was especially enjoyable to work with as she helped me see how much further I could go with my writing.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement in your career as a writer? Your greatest challenge?
My greatest writing achievement is this novel–my first. The screenplay version of it was most challenging as it wasn’t easy to leave so much “white space” and be forced into thinking in blocks of pure action and dialogue.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your profession?
I love being able to help students realize their potential. The ways of writing are infinite, and I enjoy seeing my students harness their gifts and strengthen their ability to perceive what they are capable of.

Q: Is there any advice you’d like to give to students at UMBC?
Hold onto your integrity and never give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thursday night was the long-awaited official launch of EduPal; an innovative college tool designed to “simplify your semester.” At an unveiling at Federal Hill’s business incubator, Betamore, Markus Proctor, Founder of EduPal, demoed the tool to members of the Baltimore entrepreneurial community, budding CEOs, members of the prestigious Baltimore Angels, and Betamore owners, Greg Cangialosi and Mike Brenner. Proctor explained that “EduPal allows students to have homework, quizzes, exams, and just about everything from their courses’ syllabus transformed into a colorfully organized calendar for FREE.”

After coming in third place at the Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition in April 2014, the members of EduPal have been taking advantage of their membership at Betamore; they have been working there most days during the week to perfect the first iteration of the program. Proctor said, “Working at Betamore has been one of the best things that has happened to me.”

Proctor is supported by a handpicked team made up of Kimberly Hodges, the teams marketing guru, Harjit Singh, the Chief Technical Advisor, and Walter Pearson III, handling Business Development. Markus was through in trying to assemble the best team he could; he spent months scouring Co-Founder Lab, Freelancer, and Craigslist to extend his network.

You may be asking, “What is EduPal?” That’s a fair question. The name doesn’t embody what the program fully does. At the beginning of the semester, have you taken a cell phone photo of your class schedule? I know I have. EduPal, simply stated, it is a crowd-sourced calendar platform for all of your academic requirements; but honestly, it does much more. It’s a web-based application that is exceptionally mobile friendly which helps students stay organized and on-track throughout the semester. Proctor explained, “Professors and students can login to the system and collaborate on generating the semester’s milestones; items such as class times and location, homework due dates, quizzes, and exams all appear in one central location for each class you’re enrolled in.” You can include any miscellaneous events you’re planning to attend as well as personal or work schedules and see how they lineup next to your class requirements.

You’ll need a UMBC account to get started, but the clean interface makes it easy to enroll in classes that are available. Students simply need to browse by class, choose the appropriate section based on the brief description and a picture of the professor, and click enroll. If the professor has already uploaded the syllabus, student’s calendars will automatically and instantaneously be populated. If not, students have the ability to populate the information and get it approved by the professor. “If one member of your class does it, everyone benefits,” Proctor stated.

Currently, about 20 professors have taken the initiative to get started; the most embracing department to date has been the Chemistry department. They have posted all 16 sections of their CHEM 101 class that enroll nearly 900 students in the fall semester.

In addition to helping students stay organized, EduPal will be bringing user’s deals to make their college experience richer. The Bookstore has been gracious enough to be the first to step up to benefit the early adopters of the application. EduPal members currently receive a “Buy one get one 50% off” deal on items with the UMBC logo on it.

The team is expecting to roll out a collaboration feature in September to help students schedule meetings and study sessions with their classmates. They will also be involved with the upcoming hackathon and are expecting to be hiring some enthusiastic and entrepreneurial java programmers before the end of the semester.

Be the first member of your upcoming class to start using the EduPal application by visiting http://edupal.co