The Center for Hybrid Multicore Productivity Research is a collaborative research center sponsored by the National Science Foundation with two university partners (UMBC and University of California San Diego), six government, and seven industry members. The Center's research is focused on addressing productivity, performance, and scalability issues in meeting the insatiable computational demands of its members' applications through the continuous evolution of multicore architectures and open source tools.

As part of its annual industrial advisory board meeting next week, the center will hold an afternoon of public tutorials from 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Monday, 17 December 2012 in room 456 of the ITE building at UMBC. The tutorials will be presented by students doing research sponsored by the Center and feature some of the underlying technologies being used and some of their applications. The tutorials are:

• GPGPUs – Tim Blattner and Fahad Zafa
• Cloud Policies – Karuna Joshi
• Human Sensors Networks – Oleg Aulov
• Machine Learning Disaster Warnings – Han Dong
• Graph 500 – Tyler Simon
• HBase – Phuong Nyguen

The tutorial talks are free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by email to Dr. Valerie L. Thomas, valeriet@umbc.edu.

The Center for Hybrid Multicore Productivity Research is a collaborative research center sponsored by the National Science Foundation with two university partners (UMBC and University of California San Diego), six government, and seven industry members. The Center's research is focused on addressing productivity, performance, and scalability issues in meeting the insatiable computational demands of its members' applications through the continuous evolution of multicore architectures and open source tools.

As part of its annual industrial advisory board meeting next week, the center will hold an afternoon of public tutorials from 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Monday, 17 December 2012 in room 456 of the ITE building at UMBC. The tutorials will be presented by students doing research sponsored by the Center and feature some of the underlying technologies being used and some of their applications. The tutorials are:

• GPGPUs – Tim Blattner and Fahad Zafa
• Cloud Policies – Karuna Joshi
• Human Sensors Networks – Oleg Aulov
• Machine Learning Disaster Warnings – Han Dong
• Graph 500 – Tyler Simon
• HBase – Phuong Nyguen

The tutorial talks are free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by email to Dr. Valerie L. Thomas, Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address.

During the 2013 Winter Break, we are launching writing events for master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral scholars.

The Dissertation House: January 22-25, 2013

(Deadline: 12/14/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/winter-dissertation-house-coming-january-22-25-2013/

Head Coach: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale

________________________________________

Writing for Publication: January 22 – 23, 2013

(Deadline 12/19/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/new-initiative-writing-for-publication-january-22-23-2013-umbc/

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Patricia Young

__________________________________________

Postdoctoral Writing Suite: January 25, 2013

http://my.umbc.edu/groups/postdocs/events/15297

(Postdocs from other campuses may RSVP by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Postdoctoral Writing Suite.”

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Judith Pollack

Graduate students and postdocs from UMBC will receive primary consideration for the slots.  Students from all PROMISE campuses may apply to participate, and will be considered if there are slots available.  UMBC graduate students and postdocs, and UMBC alumni (at any level, e.g, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) will be chosen first. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests that faculty make on behalf of their students.

Related articles

• Winter Dissertation House – Coming January 22-25, 2013 (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)
• New Initiative: Writing For Publication – January 22-23, 2013 @ UMBC (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)

During the 2013 Winter Break, we are launching writing events for master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral scholars.

The Dissertation House: January 22-25, 2013

(Deadline: 12/14/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/winter-dissertation-house-coming-january-22-25-2013/

Head Coach: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale

________________________________________

Writing for Publication: January 22 – 23, 2013

(Deadline 12/19/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/new-initiative-writing-for-publication-january-22-23-2013-umbc/

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Patricia Young

__________________________________________

Postdoctoral Writing Suite: January 25, 2013

http://my.umbc.edu/groups/postdocs/events/15297

(Postdocs from other campuses may RSVP by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Postdoctoral Writing Suite.”

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Judith Pollack

Graduate students and postdocs from UMBC will receive primary consideration for the slots.  Students from all PROMISE campuses may apply to participate, and will be considered if there are slots available.  UMBC graduate students and postdocs, and UMBC alumni (at any level, e.g, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) will be chosen first. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests that faculty make on behalf of their students.

Related articles

• Winter Dissertation House – Coming January 22-25, 2013 (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)
• New Initiative: Writing For Publication – January 22-23, 2013 @ UMBC (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)

On Tuesday, Peter Franchot announced he will seek re-election as state comptroller rather than run for governor in 2014. Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, joined WBAL TV to discuss the impact of this news on  Maryland’s political landscape. According to Norris, Franchot’s decision “certainly makes a difference in the race.” Norris predicts potential candidates in the 2014 race include Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (D), Attorney General Doug Ganzler (D), and Harford County Executive David Craig (R).

Norris also appeared on Maryland Public Television’s “State Circle,” where he offered an outlook on current Governor Martin O’Malley’s potential presidential campaign in 2016. “Looking at it from today’s perspective one would have to say that a small state governor in a deep blue state probably doesn’t have a great chance of getting the nomination. On the other hand, people said the same that about Jimmy Carter and they said that about Bill Clinton,” Norris remarked.

UMBC Computer Science Alumni Donald Miner ’06, Ph.D. ’10, and Adam Shook ’09 (M.S. expected ’13) have written a book on the popular MapReduce paradigm that has revolutionized the way collections of computers are used to process large amounts of data in parallel. Their book, MapReduce Design Patterns Building Effective Algorithms and Analytics for Hadoop and Other Systems, was published by O’Reilly Media in December.

“Adam and I were teaching Hadoop classes and we saw a gap: students would pick up on how hadoop worked mechanically, but struggled to understand how to solve problems with it,” explains Donald, who now works as a Solutions Architect at EMC Greenplum. “This book is intended for people who have a basic understanding of Hadoop, but want to start solving their problems effectively.”

Adam and Donald met in fall 2008 during an Artificial Intelligence class at UMBC. Donald, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Marie desJardins on machine learning and multiagent systems research, was teaching the class. Adam, an undergraduate Computer Science student, was taking the class. Later, the pair ended up working together at ClearEdge IT Solutions.

“We worked well together and our skills and interests complemented each other well, so when I had the opportunity to write this book I knew it would be a much better book doing it with him than doing it alone,” says Donald.

Now Adam works with big data technologies like Hadoop, Accumulo, Pig, and ZooKeeper as a Software Engineer at ClearEdge IT Solutions. He is working towards his Master’s in Computer Science at UMBC under Dr. Tim Finin. His research deals with developing an efficient in-memory distributed database for Semantic Web applications.

“I don’t know how I do it,” says Adam about working full time, being in graduate school, and writing a book. “Caffeine helps.” He plans on finishing up his degree in 2013.

In the meantime, Adam and Donald have started working on Mapreducepatterns.com. Still in its infancy, the website is meant to be a Wikipedia style site where the Hadoop community can rally around a well-defined set of standard MapReduce design patters.

– by Anissa Elmerraji ’11

This story originally appeared on the CSEE website.

Hi everyone!

Many of you across campus may remember me, others may have recently heard from me, and still more may just be hearing from me for the first time now!  I am honored and thrilled to take on this new role devoted to sustainability on campus.

I have the pleasure of working for the Vice President of Administration and Finance, Lynne Schafer. She chairs the Climate Change Task Force, a group of faculty, staff, and students improving our campus and reducing our environmental impact. From transportation to energy, from waste to outreach, and even from research to education, they have been transforming the campus for the past 5 years. Returning to campus for the first time in a couple years last month, I have been overjoyed to discover all the new successes implemented, from composting to carpooling, topped off by green roofs.

You can find me on the 9th floor of the Administration Building in room 930. Feel free to contact me by email at tanvig1@umbc.edu and to call me at my extension, x53896.  My door is open to anyone with concerns, questions, ideas, and hopes for the sustainability on campus. 

There is already a growing movement on campus, with many amazing groups working on all aspects of environmental concern. I am here to help, and I would be happy to connect you with opportunities to turn your ideas into realities on campus, just like I had the chance to do as a student here only a few years ago. Or, if you already have something in the works, I would love to hear about it- I'm always excited to learn about the great ideas flourishing across campus.

Whether you are a student, staff, or faculty member, I hope that we can collaborate towards the common goal of making UMBC a clean, green, healthy, and innovative home for all of us to thrive!

Thank you all for the overwhelmingly warm welcome and I am so grateful to be working with the kind and caring community of UMBC. Below you will find Lynne's gracious introduction for me. 

Thanks,

Tanvi

I am very pleased to share that we have appointed Ms. Tanvi Gadhia as Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, a new position created to support the work of the Climate Change Task Force and its workgroups, and to further our efforts to reduce the impact of the UMBC campus on our environment.Effective November 19, Tanvi is on board and beginning to reach out to campus leaders. In the meantime, she will be contacting workgroup leaders, sustainability interns, and others to get acquainted and to discuss your priorities for the year and ideas for energizing our efforts.

Ms. Gadhia is a 2009 graduate of UMBC, with a BA in Environmental Studies.She is currently working on a MS degree in Environmental Science and Policy at Johns Hopkins University.Ms. Gadhia was very active while a UMBC undergraduate student, in leadership roles in the Students for Environmental Awareness, the Maryland Student Climate Coalition, and as president of the Geography and Environmental Studies Council of Majors.She played an active role in initiating and executing many campus sustainability advances including the environmental alternative service break and the community garden initiative. Her passion for environmental issues has continued since graduation, with positions in policy and education at the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the Center for Food Safety, the Pickering Creek Audubon Center, the Oregon Ridge Nature Center, and the Union of Concerned Scientists food and environment program.

Please join me in welcoming Tanvi Gadhia back to UMBC in this new role.She can be reached at tanvig1@umbc.edu.

Lynne Schaefer, Vice President of Administration & Finance