So what do the Secret Service staff do during their free time?

Well…we’re not really sure if we should answer that.

A few days ago, 11 Secret Service agents and officers were accused of bringing back at least one prositute to their hotel.

The alleged scandal took place before Obama arrived for a Summit of Americas conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

The president is demanding an investigation, stating that

We’re representing the people of the United States and when we travel to another county I expect us to observe the highest standards,” said Obama. “Obviously what’s been reported doesn’t match up with those standards.”

Although nothing has been confirmed yet, Americans are outraged by the behavior of their government employees.

If the allegations are true, what should the consequences be for the Secret Service agents? And, how will it reflect on the American government?

To vote for next year’s officers, please visit http://colacadstink.getmyip.com:800/voting.php.  If you have any issues voting please contact me (phone number at top of server).  Voting closes Wednesday at 12:01AM.

There were some concerns about vote anonymity.  Due to wanting to be able to perform a recount and confirm vote accuracy, I will be storing the server’s internal user ID with the votes in the database.  The only way to access the voting information is by logging into the server as root, which only I have the password for.  Also, looking at the votes as they appear in the database, it is not at all apparent who voted for who, since these IDs are only used inside the server.  In theory I could determine who this person is by looking them up, but that would require me to actually want to do this.  As an elected official I promise to not abuse my power for things like that, and frankly, I don’t give a damn who voted for who – it’s a free country, vote for who you want.  If I want to know who you voted for I’ll ask, promise.

Ben Harris

The system of indentured labor from India, which the British devised in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery to replace the demand for labor world-wide, has often been referred to as a “new system of slavery.” When, how and why did this once lucrative system eventually come to an end? What was the significance of this second abolition?

Mrinalini Sinha, associate professor of history and women’s studies at Penn State, will address these questions in a Social Sciences Forum lecture on April 18, 4:00 p.m. in the UMBC library, 7th floor. The talk is co-sponsored by UMBC’s Asian Studies Program, Gender and Women’s Studies Program, and the Departments of History, English and Political Science.

Sinha will focus on the contributions of abolitionist Totaram Sanadhya, an ex-indentured laborer and author of one of the earliest first-hand accounts of indenture.

Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, offered insight to both the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun this week on what the media are calling Maryland’s “budget meltdown.”

Although state lawmakers passed a budget, the Senate failed to vote on a package of tax increases that would fund it. If the problem isn’t corrected by July 1, it will trigger a “Doomsday” budget that cuts hundreds of millions of dollars from public safety and education.

“If the Doomsday budget stands, everybody gets hurt,” Norris argues, including both interests in Maryland that now lack funding and the lawmakers themselves, who appear dysfunctional. Norris says, “It shows that they can’t function. That they can’t govern.”

Some of the QM2012 giveaways from today! Sunglasses and the screenprinted t-shirts! (Photo from Willie Archer’s Facebook)

In 2007, Willie Merrell, a theoretical particle physics student from PROMISE at College Park, shared the following information following his doctoral defense. Willie was part of the first group of PROMISE Peer Mentors. We reprise this article which has been used as a handout for the Dissertation House, and hope that it will assist a wide range of students.

—————————————————————————

In my experience from watching dissertation defenses and from defending my own dissertation, I have observed that there are three important components to any successful defense. These components are:

1. The Presentation

2. The Original Work

3. Your Work in Context

Here are some tips I’ve learned for performing well on each component.

1)      The Presentation

This area is sometimes overlooked because it is viewed as superficial, especially when compared to the actual work that is being judged. However, just as in dating, presentation matters. In a defense, one can’t get by just on a great looking presentation, but it can help in getting the relevant information across and in eliminating unwanted questions arising from simple misunderstandings.

The key parts to having a good presentation are:

a)      Making the presentation readable. Make sure that relevant characters can be seen.

b)      Using a clear and consistent labeling scheme. Make sure that your variables, and names are used to mean only one thing. If there is community accepted double use for a label, make sure that you give a explanation of that convention.

c)       Having a clear organization. As much as possible you would like the ideas and results that you present to follow a logical and pedagogical progression of thought. A lot of questions come from this component for the simple fact that not everyone thinks alike. Sometimes, committee members will ask these types of questions just to see how well you have thought about the logic of your work. Examples are very helpful in explaining concepts. Wherever possible, use simple examples that capture the essence of the point you are trying to make.  Examples are nice in that, if you are running out of time they can be easily skipped.

d)      Eliminating distracting content. Since there are often many different and independent components of the work, multiple colors and animations are often used to help distinguish these pieces. However, one should not add something just because it looks nice. Such things tend to distract people and can introduce confusion when they expect the added fluff to be meaningful. It can be very embarrassing to have to admit that something you put in the presentation had no real value.

e)      Clearly point out your original contribution. This is not the time to be modest. Let everyone in the room know what you claim as your work with pride (But make sure you leave your arrogance at home.)

2)      The Original Work

This is your baby. You own this. You have done the research, the analysis, the implementation. You should have complete mastery over this part. That is the first reason for the defense. It is time to show others that you have mastered your work. Expect them to attack anything and everything just to see if there is a weakness in your understanding. This might seem like a daunting challenge but remember that the committee knows you are only human. There will be some things that you don’t know and that is o.k. Knowing the depths of the foundations of the principles used in your research is a lifelong challenge. For this component you want to keep two things in mind.

a)      What you want to do is make sure that you have a reasonable understanding of the principles that you have used in your work. You are expected to get the community standard concepts right. You get extra credit for understanding the strengths, the flaws, and the hidden assumptions used in your techniques and procedures and how they relate to other techniques and procedures that you didn’t use.

b)      There is a reason it is called a defense. Be prepared to defend your work and the choices made in your analysis, and procedures. It may sound like a lot but remember that you have already done most of this work when you were learning about the foundations of your research. This is where you want to go back and make sure you understand as many of those things as you can for which you said “I’ll figure it out later.”

3)       Your Work in Context

As a Ph.D.,  you are expected to have some idea of where your work fits in the broad view of your academic area and how your work relates to the work of others. Since this amount of work done by others is very large, focus on learning works directly related your work to a degree that is reasonable for your workload. Don’t be afraid of questions about works with which you are not familiar. There is a strategy for dealing with such questions. The point of the question is about how the other work relates to your work. Ask questions to find the perceived link between your work and other work referenced and comment about that link based the goals of your work and the constraints under which your work was performed. Try to be specific, but concise, about the reasons you have for the perspective you give. This will effectively demonstrate that you understand how to place your work in context as you encounter other works and expand your own work.

————————————–

About the author:

Willie Merrell completed his PhD in Physics at the University of Maryland College Park.  Following receipt of the doctorate, he joined the String Theory Group at the University of Kentucky as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow. His work in supersymmetry can be summarized as follows:  

Supersymmetry is a symmetry that relates bosonic and fermionic states of a theory. It is a great theoretical tool for performing calculations that are otherwise intractable. The use of supersymmetry is also a leading candidate for solving a major theoretical problems with the standard model of particle physics, the hierarchy problem, and is a necessary part of superstring theory. His research involves using the natural mathematical language for supersymmetry, i.e. Superspace, to aid in formulating supersymmetric theories and performing calculations in supersymmetric systems relevant to superstring theory and supersymmetric field theory.

Dr. Merrell is now a scientist at NASA.

Photos of nebulae courtesy of nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
National Space Science Data Center

_____________________________________________

This post may be copied, but please reference “The Dissertation House — http://www.thedissertationhouse.com, a program of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP.”

_____________________________________________

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

In 2007, Willie Merrell, a theoretical particle physics student from PROMISE at College Park, shared the following information following his doctoral defense. Willie was part of the first group of PROMISE Peer Mentors. We reprise this article which has been used as a handout for the Dissertation House, and hope that it will assist a wide range of students.

—————————————————————————

In my experience from watching dissertation defenses and from defending my own dissertation, I have observed that there are three important components to any successful defense. These components are:

1. The Presentation

2. The Original Work

3. Your Work in Context

Here are some tips I’ve learned for performing well on each component.

1)      The Presentation

This area is sometimes overlooked because it is viewed as superficial, especially when compared to the actual work that is being judged. However, just as in dating, presentation matters. In a defense, one can’t get by just on a great looking presentation, but it can help in getting the relevant information across and in eliminating unwanted questions arising from simple misunderstandings.

The key parts to having a good presentation are:

a)      Making the presentation readable. Make sure that relevant characters can be seen.

b)      Using a clear and consistent labeling scheme. Make sure that your variables, and names are used to mean only one thing. If there is community accepted double use for a label, make sure that you give a explanation of that convention.

c)       Having a clear organization. As much as possible you would like the ideas and results that you present to follow a logical and pedagogical progression of thought. A lot of questions come from this component for the simple fact that not everyone thinks alike. Sometimes, committee members will ask these types of questions just to see how well you have thought about the logic of your work. Examples are very helpful in explaining concepts. Wherever possible, use simple examples that capture the essence of the point you are trying to make.  Examples are nice in that, if you are running out of time they can be easily skipped.

d)      Eliminating distracting content. Since there are often many different and independent components of the work, multiple colors and animations are often used to help distinguish these pieces. However, one should not add something just because it looks nice. Such things tend to distract people and can introduce confusion when they expect the added fluff to be meaningful. It can be very embarrassing to have to admit that something you put in the presentation had no real value.

e)      Clearly point out your original contribution. This is not the time to be modest. Let everyone in the room know what you claim as your work with pride (But make sure you leave your arrogance at home.)

2)      The Original Work

This is your baby. You own this. You have done the research, the analysis, the implementation. You should have complete mastery over this part. That is the first reason for the defense. It is time to show others that you have mastered your work. Expect them to attack anything and everything just to see if there is a weakness in your understanding. This might seem like a daunting challenge but remember that the committee knows you are only human. There will be some things that you don’t know and that is o.k. Knowing the depths of the foundations of the principles used in your research is a lifelong challenge. For this component you want to keep two things in mind.

a)      What you want to do is make sure that you have a reasonable understanding of the principles that you have used in your work. You are expected to get the community standard concepts right. You get extra credit for understanding the strengths, the flaws, and the hidden assumptions used in your techniques and procedures and how they relate to other techniques and procedures that you didn’t use.

b)      There is a reason it is called a defense. Be prepared to defend your work and the choices made in your analysis, and procedures. It may sound like a lot but remember that you have already done most of this work when you were learning about the foundations of your research. This is where you want to go back and make sure you understand as many of those things as you can for which you said “I’ll figure it out later.”

3)       Your Work in Context

As a Ph.D.,  you are expected to have some idea of where your work fits in the broad view of your academic area and how your work relates to the work of others. Since this amount of work done by others is very large, focus on learning works directly related your work to a degree that is reasonable for your workload. Don’t be afraid of questions about works with which you are not familiar. There is a strategy for dealing with such questions. The point of the question is about how the other work relates to your work. Ask questions to find the perceived link between your work and other work referenced and comment about that link based the goals of your work and the constraints under which your work was performed. Try to be specific, but concise, about the reasons you have for the perspective you give. This will effectively demonstrate that you understand how to place your work in context as you encounter other works and expand your own work.

————————————–

About the author:

Willie Merrell completed his PhD in Physics at the University of Maryland College Park.  Following receipt of the doctorate, he joined the String Theory Group at the University of Kentucky as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow. His work in supersymmetry can be summarized as follows:  

Supersymmetry is a symmetry that relates bosonic and fermionic states of a theory. It is a great theoretical tool for performing calculations that are otherwise intractable. The use of supersymmetry is also a leading candidate for solving a major theoretical problems with the standard model of particle physics, the hierarchy problem, and is a necessary part of superstring theory. His research involves using the natural mathematical language for supersymmetry, i.e. Superspace, to aid in formulating supersymmetric theories and performing calculations in supersymmetric systems relevant to superstring theory and supersymmetric field theory.

Dr. Merrell is now a scientist at NASA.

Photos of nebulae courtesy of nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
National Space Science Data Center

_____________________________________________

This post may be copied, but please reference “The Dissertation House — http://www.thedissertationhouse.com, a program of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP.”

_____________________________________________

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.