Photo Courtesy robotonomous.com

It’s time to start thinking about summer research opportunities. And, If Robotics is what you love, then you’re in luck. In June, the University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) Laboratory is offering a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site called “Perception, Planning, Mobility, and Interaction for Next Generation Robotics.”

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the program will support eight undergraduate students studying engineering or computer science who are interested in pursuing research in the field of robotics. The paid ten-week program will immerse students in ongoing research projects in the GRASP Lab by pairing them with a GRASP faculty member and student mentor to work on a research project that matches their interests.

In addition to offering students a $5,000 stipend, the research program provides travel reimbursement, free housing on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, and partial support for meals. Students will also be eligible for a $250 prize awarded to the best REU research project of the summer.

All undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens are encouraged to apply. The program is especially interested in applicants who are generally underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, and engineering, including: women, racial minorities, low-income, and first generation college students.

Priority Deadline: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

To apply for the program, click here.

For more information, click here.

Lindsey Loeper ’04, American studies, acknowledges the futility of trying to keep pace with the hands of the watch and the rapidly turning pages of the calendar. No matter how quickly she and other members of the Special Collections team archive the stacks of UMBC documents they receive every day, there are always more coming. History never stops happening at a university that’s still building its story.

“We’re often asked when we’ll have everything digitized and we never will,” smiles Loeper, who earned her master’s of library sciences at College Park. “Instead, we try to create an online record that can lead you back [to the library], into the stacks.”

Already, the cool, darkened aisles contain 250 shelves stacked with nearly 750 linear feet of physical records, all neatly arranged in gray boxes. Add to that the online digital archives – launched in 2008 to make UMBC’s earliest documents, including many issues of The Retriever Weekly, easily available to the public – and you’re talking years and years of history waiting to be explored…

Read the full story, including features on other “Cool Jobs You Didn’t Know Existed at UMBC” in the Winter 2012 of UMBC Magazine.

Web Extra: Lindsey Loeper

grrlpower:

jasonp1:

<3 Everyone

Oh, UMBC.

Image courtesy of the Huffington Post.

President Obama managed to spark a firestorm of criticism with a recent “open mike” moment.

The Prez was quietly sharing an aside with outgoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev when his words were picked up by the microphones of reporters without his knowledge.

The comments, during a visit to a nuclear summit in South Korea, pertained to the delicate issue of a European based US missile shield… a particularly objectionable program to the Russians.

The Guardian reports Obama stated,

” On all these issues, but particularly missile defence, this, this can be solved – but it’s important for him (incoming Russian President Putin) to give me space.’

Medvedev replied:

‘Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you.’

Obama then elaborated:

‘This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.’

Medvedev responded:

‘I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir (Putin).’ ”

Although the comments may read like a bad break up speech (”I’m sorry I just…need my space.” *cue tears*) Republican pundits argue that the comments are an alarming indication of Obama’s future plans.

Mitt Romney criticized the comment in a tweet reading, “Fill in the blank. @BarackObama: I’ll have more flexibility to _______ after the election. #ObamaFlexibility.” Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a terse memo demanding immediate explanation of the comments, stating,

“Congress has made exquisitely clear to your Administration and to other nations that it will block all attempts to weaken U.S. missile defenses.”

(Ouch. Read the rest of the written take down here.)

The White House, initially mute on the topic later released a statement defending the realities of election year limitations. Deputy National Security advisor Ben Rhodes said,

“Since 2012 is an election year in both countries, with an election and leadership transition in Russia and an election in the United States, it is clearly not a year in which we are going to achieve a breakthrough.”

Good thing we went to law school! Now we know how to beat the system!

More and more law students are graduating and passing the bar in the U.S.

But over the last few years there have been too many law graduates for the number of open positions at law firms.

Meanwhile, some law schools are actually increasing admittance rates.

So when a group of disappointed, legally knowledgeable lawyers have no jobs,what do they do?  Sue the law school they attended, of course!

Unfortunately for the unemployed alums, the New York courts dismissed these mangy kids.

Still, considering the hefty sums paid out in tuition for graduate schools, is it unreasonable for unemployed graduates to be peeved??

We here at USDemocrazy recently discussed the questionable investment of a college education.

Since tuition costs are only increasing, are we entitled to know the outcomes (average entry level salariesfor graduates) before we make our first school payment? Is this a deal we need to shake on first… or do these crybabies need to knock it off?

Of course if unemployed law school graduates are frustrated with the system, they can always take another tack: