An article published March 4 in Capital News Service examines the Common Core State Standards and how college students studying education and soon entering the world of teaching are preparing for it.

Education Professor and Chair Eugene Schaffer is quoted in the article describing UMBC’s curriculum and the department’s understanding of the need to prepare students for the Common Core:  “We know that the people that graduate this coming spring will be entering the classrooms and will be teaching Common Core,” Schaffer said. “This is a great concern of ours.”

Schaffer also commented on internships that are completed in the classroom by students who work closely with mentors: “When they’re [interning] for a full semester, they’re teaching the skills they have developed, and a lot of that is related to Common Core,” he added.

Associate Professor of Education Jonathan Singer is also quoted in the article when describing education courses at UMBC: “Methods courses have specific lessons geared toward explaining what Common Core is,” Singer said. “They have three or four lesson plans they have to develop in connection to Common Core.”

You can read the full article in Capital News Service by clicking here.

UMBC Training Centers’ Center for Leadership & Innovation has introduced Lead to Innovate, a program offering noncredit Certificate Programs in Leadership and Innovation. The program is designed to help improve organizations by allowing leaders to effectively change their organization in a positive way. The Certificate in Leadership, a 10-day program, emphasizes individual and organizational leadership, while the Certificate in Innovation, also a 10-day program, focuses on adopting an innovative framework and building an innovative environment.

UMBC employees are eligible for 50% discount, and tuition reimbursement (with the approval of your manager) for this program. All courses for the program are offered at UMBC Training Centers’ state of the art facility in Columbia, MD. Classes for the program will begin April 21. Click here for more information.

Brian Cullum, chemistry and biochemistry, has been elected as an SPIE fellow for his achievements as an innovator in photonics and sensors. SPIE’s announcement of the honor recognizes Cullum specifically for “pioneering research on intracellular SERS nanosensors and optical sensing techniques for both environmental and biological monitoring.”

As the head of the Center for Translational Nanobioscience, Cullum focuses on developing nanotechnology for biomedical and defense related applications. He also founded and chairs Smart Medical and Physiological Sensor Technology, an annual international conference.

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics and Fellows are honored for their technical achievements and service to the general optics community.

Congratulations to Brian Cullum on this achievement!

In an op-ed published March 4 in The Baltimore Sun, Political Science Professor Thomas Schaller comments on public attitudes of gay rights and efforts to allow discrimination against gays being struck down in recent years.

“Public attitudes about gay rights have changed dramatically in recent decades. Solid majorities, especially among younger Americans, now support marriage equality and other standards of equal treatment,” he writes.

In his column, Schaller cites the recent news of a bill passed by the Arizona legislature and later vetoed that would have permitted those with religious objections to deny services to gay customers:  “Consider the fact that anyone could start a new religion tomorrow and declare that their so-called moral objections allow them to deny service to groups they find repellent, including conservative evangelicals. Citing religion to justify hate sets a very dangerous precedent,” Schaller writes.

You can read the full op-ed titled “Hate if you must, just don’t act on it” in The Baltimore Sun by clicking here.

(courtesy of npr.org)

You could call Sarah Palin many things. Eccentric hockey mom, charismatic TV pundit, bizarre chapter in the history of vice-presidential candidates—just to name a few.

How about eastern European political guru?

Inconceivable as it sounds, Palin seems now to have been justified in predicting a Russian invasion into Ukraine back in 2008.

And if you thought she might let us forget about it, think again.

Indeed, Russia’s parliament has given the green light for President Vladimir Putin to deploy ground forces into Crimea, a region of particular interest due to its strong Russian affiliations.

So, is outright war the next inevitable step? Will the US and the EU be further drawn in? Are greater foreign policy aspirations dancing in Ms. Palin’s head even as we speak?

Let us know your thoughts.

We encourage graduate students to take many opportunities to present their work and to become comfortable with presenting STEM content.

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PROMISE will be participating in the Regional Research Symposium at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on April 17, 2014. Please see the information below regarding the April conference at UMES:
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PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (An AGEP-T Project) invites graduate students from universities within the University System of Maryland (USM: http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/) to participate in the Fifth Annual Regional Research Symposium, sponsored by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

SYMPOSIUM 2014

UMES REGIONAL RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Student Services Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore

http://wwwcf.umes.edu/CampusMap/index.cfm?ID=Building&BuildingID=ssc

Directions: http://www.umes.edu/About/Default.aspx?id=245

Graduate students are invited to participate in one or both of the following ways:
1) Present research within the “Graduate Student” category
2) Serve as moderators within the “Undergraduate Student” category

Please visit UMES’ website for details: http://www.umes.edu/Symposium2014/Default.aspx?id=45811.

SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT:

Based on such great participation in the PROMISE Research Symposium at College Park on February 28, 2014, graduate students from the universities in Maryland have been given a short extension. 

Please submit your abstract by Friday, March 7, 2014. This is the final deadline. Here is the link: http://www.umes.edu/Symposium2014/Form.aspx?ekfrm=45816

All attendees must register online.

If you are interested in being a moderator as part of your professional development, please contact Dr. Andrea Johnson, akjohnson@umes.edu, with the subject “PROMISE AGEP: Moderator for UMES 2014 Symposium” and cc: promisestaff@gmail.com.

Transportation:

A bus will leave UMBC’s campus to travel to the Eastern Shore in the morning of April 17, 2014 and will return the same evening.

• DEPARTURE: Leave UMBC at 5:00 AM (arrive at UMES between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. The program begins at 8:00 AM)
• RETURN: Leave UMES by 5:00 PM (arrive at UMBC between 7:30 and 8:00 PM).

If you are interested in bus transportation, please send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Bus for UMES 2014.”

Last year at UMES:

Read the story of our PROMISE visit to UMES in 2013: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/promise-students-celebrate-new-umes-president-dr-juliette-bell-on-umes-campus/

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Participation in this event is part of the PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transportation (PROMISE AGEP-T) project.  Our PROMISE AGEP-T promotes connections between universities in Maryland, professional development, and preparation for the professoriate. 

You get a new notification from your smartphone… Is it a retweet? A text from a friend? News that a U.S. drone strike killed 2 in Yemen? Wait, what?

A new app created by Josh Begley, Metadata+, notifies downloaders every time the United States has a drone strike. For every attack, users receive a notification that state the date, location, and victims of the attack. How the app obtains the data is explained here.

Apple initially had problems with the app and denied it 5 times. It was finally approved when “drone” was removed from the title. 

Begley comments on his app:

“Do we want to be as connected to our foreign policy as we are to our smartphones?”

With the government reported that approximately 4,700 deaths from drone strikes, this app provides users with data that is often ignored in the news.

For those without an iPhone, you can follow the twitter stream here.

Plan to download the app? Let us know what you think.

We haven’t heard this news in a while…

According to a new federal survey, American kids are getting healthier.

Obesity has been rising across the board for decades, but the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents a 43% drop in obesity for children ages 2-5. 

“This is the first time we’ve seen any indication of any significant decrease in any group.” – CDC researcher and report author Cynthia L. Ogden

Why did this small group show a decrease when most groups remained the same? There are several theories….

1. Personal habits – parents are choosing less sugary drinks, mothers are breast-feeding, and overall there has been a decrease in caloric intake.

2. The WIC program – Women, Infants, and Children, otherwise known as WIC, increased the amount of benefits that can be spent on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Mothers will be getting more (about $2 per child) towards healthy and cultural options as the program revamps to promote healthy eating habits.

3. The First Lady – Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign has been popular. About 10,000 childcare centers agreed to meet certain standards in regards to healthy eating and exercise. She unveiled a new plan last week to change nutrition labels.

It will take decades of continued research to see if the drop in childhood obesity rates is significant. Many are skeptical, saying there needs to be more data over a longer time frame, but the gain is promising.

Children aged 2-5 that are overweight or obese are likely to be overweight or obese into adulthood. Could this new trend mean a healthier generation is on the way? 

It’s a thin hope.