Three students in UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE) have been selected for major scholarships to pursue studies in cybersecurity-related fields under UMBC’s participation in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scholarship for Service (SFS) Federal CyberCorps program. As SFS Scholars, students receive full tuition, fees, annual reimbursement of professional development expenses ($3,000), a nine-month stipend ($20,000 for undergraduates, $25,000 for MS/MPS students, and $30,000 for PhD students) for up to two years (three years for PhD or BS/MS), and assistance with federal cybersecurity internships and career placement. To be eligible for SFS funding, applicants must be full-time students at UMBC committed to cybersecurity-related research and education activities, have an excellent academic record, and not have any significant outside employment obligations.

The first-round awardees for AY14-15 are:

• Anastasia Raffucci, BS (CMPE)
• Jackson Schmandt, Ph.D. (CMPE)
• Brooke Young, BS (CMSC)

These new awardees will join existing UMBC SFS Scholars Oliver Kubik (BS, CMSC), Mary Mathews (PhD, CMSC), Nathan Price, MS (CMPE). Punlada Muangrat BS (IS), Alex Cooke BS (IS), and Denis Danilin MS (IS).

ADDITIONAL SLOTS AVAILABLE! Applications for SFS support for AY14-15 will be accepted through 12PM (noon) on Friday, May 2, 2014 with notice of awards made by May 23, 2014. All levels of study are welcome to apply — however, students must be admitted to (or already enrolled at) UMBC first before applying for SFS. For information about SFS (including application information and instructions) and other US government-related cybersecurity scholarships available, please visit the CISA website.

The CyberCorps program produces highly-qualified professionals to meet the United States government’s increasing need to protect American’s cyber infrastructure. While in the program at UMBC, SFS CyberCorps Scholars participate in special SFS program activities, have opportunities to engage in mentored research opportunities both at UMBC and its partners from industry and government, and must complete a paid summer internship for the federal government. Upon graduation, each student must work for the government (for pay) for one year for each year of scholarship received. CSEE Drs. Alan Sherman and Richard Forno direct the program under a five-year $2.5 million NSF grant received in 2012.

Join us for the 18th Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Meet alumni Corey Fleischer, winner of Discovery Channel’s “Big Brain Theory” competition. Over 200 student presentations from all disciplines!

Visit the URCAD website for more information.

A lot of mobile-minded talented folks across the globe produce great work, but yet sometimes you still hear many of them complain about their relationships with their clients. They often mention feeling isolated and not truly understanding what the client really needed.

This lack of personal interaction often leads to misunderstanding, as well as less awareness of and appreciation for all your hard work. While involving clients in your mobile workflow can be challenging, really working together will make a big difference. In this article, I’ll share some important things I’ve learned about involving clients in my mobile workflow. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks that I use every day.

Work Out Your Manifesto

Projects don’t happen overnight. It usually takes a few meetings to get to know the client and to discuss collaboration. Your company’s business strategists and account managers invest a lot of time and energy in this process. While they will often seem to distance themselves from your daily work, speaking with them is a real window of opportunity. These “suits” are the first ones to meet potential clients, and they convey your company’s vision, portfolio and creative approach. They can be a great help in nurturing a more involved relationship.

A great way to approach this internal conversation is to work out a manifesto, a summary of your creative vision and beliefs. Get together with your team and discuss your existing workflow and how it could further support what you really stand for as a team. Ask the team lead to help you work it out and make the message tangible. Do this simply by making a presentation to your colleagues. But why stop there? You could design posters, flyers, even stickers for your team so that they can help you spread the word.

“Design is not an afterthought,” from Little Miss Robot’s manifesto. (Large version)

We were getting really frustrated with clients asking us to define or optimize their mobile experience, when in fact they just wanted us to make things “prettier.” The slide above helps our client service directors to detect how potential clients really think about design. If we see that they don’t value our vision or approach, then we respectfully decline to work with them. Involvement starts with finding clients who want you to work with them, instead of for them.

Don’t Miss The Kick-Off

A kick-off meeting is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of and appreciation for your mobile workflow. Learn as much as possible about the client, and find out how they would like you to help their business. Do this simply by asking about their vision, strategy and goals. Also great is to ask what inspires them and to get insight into their competitive research and analysis. From the minute you show true interest in their business, you are changing the way they look at you. By immediately working with them, you become their partner, instead of just someone who designs and codes.

A kick-off meeting is also a great time to double-check that you are on the same page. Sometimes we forget that our creative jargon might confuse clients. Big Spaceship points this out in its inspiring manual (PDF):

“We act like humans, we talk like humans, and we think like humans. And we call out anyone who does the opposite.”

In the last two years, I’ve learned that clients find it very hip to focus on responsive design, even if they don’t clearly understand it. Too often, it leads to a discussion on size and dimensions, when the conversation should be conceptual and strategic. Reserve some time in your kick-off meeting to explain what “responsive” means and why you believe in its value. Educate the client and steer the conversation towards what is really needed to make the project better. And if you notice that a certain topic needs more time and attention, host a mini-workshop to talk it through.

Dealing With Isolation

I don’t understand why some account and project managers try to keep their team away from the client as much as possible. Granted, it makes perfect sense that they manage the client, oversee the scope, deadlines and budget, and handle the communication and next steps. But when the work is in progress, keeping the team isolated doesn’t add any value. If this happens to you, explain to the manager that getting direct feedback from the client will help you fine-tune the product better and more quickly — a win-win for everyone.

At Little Miss Robot, we try to hold half of our meetings in our studio. Clients find it inspiring to be in this creative environment — especially because it is where their own product is being developed. In long-term projects, we also ask the client to designate a space at their office for our team to work on the project. When developing Radio+, we worked at the client’s headquarters twice a week. Anyone could hop in and out of the space and have informal conversations about the work. Not only did it create a great atmosphere, but we also received the most valuable feedback during these times. Highly recommended!

The Radio+ room, a shared workspace. (Large version)

Seeing Things

A typical project starts by the team exploring or defining what they will create. A lot of teams rely on textual aids, such as functional requirements. While these documents contain a lot of detail, I always end up having to address misinterpretations. The worst part is that these “minor” misunderstandings always pop up during the production stage, resulting in increased time and expenses. Have you noticed on these occasions that the client says they “saw” things a bit differently? This is why I recommend using text documents to scope features and using visual resources to describe them. Mind maps, wireframes, storyboards and paper prototypes are my personal favorites.

The wireframe for the Radio+ mobile website. (Large version)

I always encourage clients to get involved in generating these visual resources. Having them by your side during a brainstorm or a UX workshop is really helpful. While they wouldn’t consider themselves designers, I’m always challenged and inspired by their thinking and how they see things.

Feeling The Progress

Throughout the mobile development process, you will probably invite the client to several meetings to discuss the status of the project and to demo the product. Make sure you have something tangible to talk about. If a meeting is just about process, time or budget, then let the project manager handle it. Build momentum when meeting in person, and show your work in progress on real devices! Of course, you could print out the design or demo the application on a big screen, but the client should be able to feel the progress in their hands, too. Feeling a product grow in your hands is a much more powerful and engaging experience!

Some great tools exist to share designs across devices. We use AppTaster to share mockups, Dropbox to share designs and TestFlight to distribute apps to clients. If we are building a mobile website, then we just host it on the client’s servers internally, which allows them to view the latest version whenever they want.

Over-the-air beta testing for TestFlight. (Large version)

Happy Ending

Involving clients in your mobile workflow is the key to better understanding their problems, goals and strategies. You’ll also raise more awareness of and appreciation for your work, thus reducing negative energy and making discussions more positive and constructive. However big or small your team or client, it all starts with a desire to be involved. These take-aways can help you with that:

1. Create a manifesto that explains what your team stands for.
2. Hold a kick-off meeting to ask the client about their vision, strategy and goals.
3. Use both your and their offices to meet.
4. Scope features in text documents, and describe them in visual documents.
5. Take advantage of third-party tools to share your work in progress on real devices.

Last but not least, read Jeremy Girard’s article on how to wrap up a project and follow up afterwards. This is critical to building and maintaining a long-term relationship. Most importantly, it will lead to future business because the client will already know and value your work.

Please feel free to share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below. I’m already looking forward to reading them.

(al, ml)

© Thomas Joos for Smashing Magazine, 2014.

Good design has strong ties to emotion: this is something designers do know and understand. Unfortunately, in a world driven by SEO and the never-ending evolution of web tech, it’s a very easy thing to forget.

Emotion is at the core of a solid business identity. The best logos and brands, the best printed and digital experiences, capture and express very specific feelings with very specific intent. Banks focus on optimism, confidence, and many are now exploring friendliness and approachability. Sports sites exude the excitement, the drama and the no-compromise determination we love about playing or watching. At as many levels as possible, we are seeking to create the connections that will help us sell, promote or enlighten. Emotion is the bridge, an essential messenger and touchpoint.

Our emotional response to design, from its visual aesthetics to the experience it creates, is part physiology, part math and part mystery. That’s also true for our approach to design, and again: it informs more than the aesthetic aspects. Emotion is also present in the best of its structure and strategy.

People ignore design that ignores people. – Frank Chimero

How do you do emotion?

You can come at emotion in design from a number of different directions:

1. The company

Identify and express the emotional qualities of the business you’re representing.

2. The market

Appeal to the driving emotions of your target customer, both those emotions around their needs (negatives, like frustration or fear, and positives, like anticipation or curiosity) and the emotions they’ll feel when their purchase satisfies those needs (research shows both approaches can work, but you should test).

The iPod was not the first mp3 player, but it was the first to be delightful. – Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO

3. You

Make it personal. Rock star designers talk about working only with clients they like. Not-yet-rock-star designers often feel they haven’t arrived at a place where they can pick and choose, but it’s still possible to draw inspiration from the spark and connection between ourselves and our clients. Besides those with whom we especially click, we can seek out and focus on the qualities we admire in the person (or company) we’re designing for.

All three of these directions are effective, because all three, when approached authentically, are intertwined. If one of these is missing, you are in danger of slipping from connection to manipulation.

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people. – Victor Papanek

Sex (or sentimentality) sells?

Emotional manipulation may seem successful, but it is a short term success if your product or service can’t keep its promise. Gripped by fear that the opposite sex will spurn them, even if fashion or fragrance buyers don’t quickly discover the item they bought was a dud, they will still move on to the next superficial fix.

Designing a product is designing a relationship. – Steve Rogers

It’s no different an experience from those you’ve had with manipulative people in your life. Sure, you can be fooled once, but over time you’ll discover who was just messing with your head. It may take a week or a couple of years, but in the end, you’ll leave. You’ll also warn your friends.

Is emotion really so intangible?

Let’s think about that…

Do your homework

Have you identified your target customer? (Yes, you even need to do this for your freelance portfolio site.) Not only do your customers and potential customers have feelings, but they have feelings which can’t be captured in a single word.

Design is the search for a magical balance between business and art; art and craft; intuition and reason; concept and detail; playfulness and formality; client and designer; designer and printer; and printer and public. – Valerie Pettis

For that reason, don’t stop at afraid, confident, loving, outraged, etc. You’ve got to dig deeper. If this were theater, we’d be going from the stage, where large and simple expressions must shout to the back of the hall, to film, where lingering close-ups reveal not just love (for, say, a dating site), but tenderness, protectiveness and the disorienting thrill of a brand new romance. The more detailed and specific you can get, the more profound and effective will be your communication, and the deeper the connection will be.

If you’re interested in learning more about identifying target customers, research buyer personas and profiles. This indepth article from the marketing folks at Buyerology will help you dodge the imposters.

The other E word

It’s really difficult, maybe even impossible, to be both empathetic and cynical. When you’re developing ideas, send your inner cynic out for drinks. While they’re away, let yourself be moved by the concepts you’re exploring. Be as excited as your client about the potential of their new business (or new business phase).

To return to the dating site example, forgive your ex long enough to remember your first amazing fling. For an even more challenging example, explore the emotional possibilities of that slightly-less-than-thrilling new time management app. My guess is, when you read that, you hit a brief “huh?” hitch, and then made the leap without any help from me. Still, your mobile device-wielding, busy and confident professional and/or harried, baby-wielding new parent could use at least five more defining qualities. Are they so busy they feel fractured? Do they have wild-eyed dreams of squeezing in a family road trip (or a ten minute shower)?

Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. – Steve Jobs

Conclusion

While design is aesthetics with a plan and an intent, when the plan and intent eclipse the whole human picture, we lose sight of our role as designers and fail to make the connections we aimed for.

In the face of the other demands that come with design and digital design work, we’ve got to carve out a large place for its emotional demands. Your personal investments in technical, marketing and business intelligence should definitely be part of your skillset, but to get to craftsmanship, your emotional intelligence will be indispensable.

People think that design is styling. Design is not style. It’s not about giving shape to the shell and not giving a damn about the guts. Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing. – Paola Antonelli

What can you do to make sure you are consciously and effectively factoring in emotions at key stages of your design process? For many of us, it’s unconscious, and a number of designers prefer to keep it that way. It certainly seems counter to its spirit to make it a checklist item.

Still, if it’s not a natural part of your process, you’ll need to make the conscious choice to include it, and to give yourself reminders. Research the topics of emotional intelligence and emotion in design. Redefine it for yourself, and if it’s not already there, add it to your personal design “manifesto” (whatever form that takes).

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On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, we will welcome new PROMISE Mentor, Dr. Michael Penn, Vice President of Strategy at Gladstone Institutes (and author of “Finding Your North,” a book that we featured at a past SSI), and Dr. Jaime Bonilla, Dean of the School of Engineering at  Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.

Dr. Penn (in-person) and Dr. Bonilla (via Skype) are among leaders from 15 organizations who are coming to talk to graduate students about job opportunities. Dr. Penn is interested in finding talented biomedical researchers who are ready for postdoctoral positions. He is coming to Maryland so that he can go beyond just having people apply for positions on a website. He is coming from California to meet you in person! You never know what opportunities might transpire, so if you do research in any of the areas that Gladstone covers, e.g., HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, virology and immunology, bioinformatics, cardiovascular disease, and more. Read more about the research at Gladstone Institutes, a partner of the University of California, San Francisco: http://gladstoneinstitutes.org/

After connecting with Dr. Jaime Bonilla at the International conference of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in Atlanta in 2013, and again at the 2013 World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) in Cartagena, Colombia, we learned that Dr. Bonilla had developed a unique “Visiting Professors” program that is available to engineering Ph.D.s around the world. In an effort to expose his students at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico with a global perspective, he wants to bring in new faculty from around the world, to teach technical courses in English. These short assignments would give you, participants in PROMISE, an opportunity to have an international short-term visiting professorship. An example of the kinds of  positions that are on the table can be found here: http://www.higheredjobs.com/m/details.cfm?JobCode=175866267&Title=Visiting%20Professor%20-%20Engineering. Come and talk to Dr. Bonilla, a member of the Global Engineering Deans Council, to find out more about this opportunity, including opportunities that have not been discussed here.

The event is the Career Pathways for Graduate Students Dinner Seminar, which includes a concurrent panel discussion on global careers. Both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to this event.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

UMBC’s Campus

A.O.K. Library, 7th Floor

RSVP:

• UMBC’s graduate students and postdocs: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/19713
• Graduate students and postdocs from other schools within the University System of Maryland: Please RSVP by writing a message in the comment section below with your name and department. Alternatively, you may send email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Career Pathways 2014.”

Other guests include representatives from:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• Creative Staffing International
• Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  
• Kelly Government Solutions
• National Security Agency
• Soft Tech Consulting
• The Canton Group
• The Hilltop Institute, UMBC
• U. S. Census Bureau
• UMBC, Research Administration
• Urban Teacher Center
• Viggorr Innovative Systems and Solutions Company
• The Fulbright Program
• The U. S. Department of State

About Dr. Penn:

Dr. Michael L. Penn, Jr, is VP for Strategy at the Gladstone Institutes and Chief Executive Officer of the Gladstone Foundation. Dr. Penn oversees the Communications Department and the the core laboratories and provides leadership for the conception, analysis and implementation of Gladstone’s strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Gladstone in 2012 he worked for more than 8 years at Genentech Inc., where he helped advance innovations in drug development. In 2001, Dr. Penn co-founded Building Diversity in Science, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underrepresented minority students to pursue careers in science. From 2002 to 2004, he served as Commissioner for San Francisco’s Health Commission, the policy-making board of the Department of Public Health. Dr. Penn earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Morehouse College and an MD and PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Francisco.

About Dr. Bonilla:

On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, we will welcome new PROMISE Mentor, Dr. Michael Penn, Vice President of Strategy at Gladstone Institutes (and author of “Finding Your North,” a book that we featured at a past SSI), and Dr. Jaime Bonilla, Dean of the School of Engineering at  Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.

Dr. Penn (in-person) and Dr. Bonilla (via Skype) are among leaders from 15 organizations who are coming to talk to graduate students about job opportunities. Dr. Penn is interested in finding talented biomedical researchers who are ready for postdoctoral positions. He is coming to Maryland so that he can go beyond just having people apply for positions on a website. He is coming from California to meet you in person! You never know what opportunities might transpire, so if you do research in any of the areas that Gladstone covers, e.g., HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, virology and immunology, bioinformatics, cardiovascular disease, and more. Read more about the research at Gladstone Institutes, a partner of the University of California, San Francisco: http://gladstoneinstitutes.org/

After connecting with Dr. Jaime Bonilla at the International conference of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in Atlanta in 2013, and again at the 2013 World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) in Cartagena, Colombia, we learned that Dr. Bonilla had developed a unique “Visiting Professors” program that is available to engineering Ph.D.s around the world. In an effort to expose his students at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico with a global perspective, he wants to bring in new faculty from around the world, to teach technical courses in English. These short assignments would give you, participants in PROMISE, an opportunity to have an international short-term visiting professorship. An example of the kinds of  positions that are on the table can be found here: http://www.higheredjobs.com/m/details.cfm?JobCode=175866267&Title=Visiting%20Professor%20-%20Engineering. Come and talk to Dr. Bonilla, a member of the Global Engineering Deans Council, to find out more about this opportunity, including opportunities that have not been discussed here.

The event is the Career Pathways for Graduate Students Dinner Seminar, which includes a concurrent panel discussion on global careers. Both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to this event.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

UMBC’s Campus

A.O.K. Library, 7th Floor

RSVP:

• UMBC’s graduate students and postdocs: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/19713
• Graduate students and postdocs from other schools within the University System of Maryland: Please RSVP by writing a message in the comment section below with your name and department. Alternatively, you may send email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Career Pathways 2014.”

Other guests include representatives from:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• Creative Staffing International
• Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  
• Kelly Government Solutions
• National Security Agency
• Soft Tech Consulting
• The Canton Group
• The Hilltop Institute, UMBC
• U. S. Census Bureau
• UMBC, Research Administration
• Urban Teacher Center
• Viggorr Innovative Systems and Solutions Company
• The Fulbright Program
• The U. S. Department of State

About Dr. Penn:

Dr. Michael L. Penn, Jr, is VP for Strategy at the Gladstone Institutes and Chief Executive Officer of the Gladstone Foundation. Dr. Penn oversees the Communications Department and the the core laboratories and provides leadership for the conception, analysis and implementation of Gladstone’s strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Gladstone in 2012 he worked for more than 8 years at Genentech Inc., where he helped advance innovations in drug development. In 2001, Dr. Penn co-founded Building Diversity in Science, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underrepresented minority students to pursue careers in science. From 2002 to 2004, he served as Commissioner for San Francisco’s Health Commission, the policy-making board of the Department of Public Health. Dr. Penn earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Morehouse College and an MD and PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Francisco.

About Dr. Bonilla: