As part of a continuing collaboration with the Division of Professional Studies (DPS) to advance digital learning at UMBC, DoIT is pleased to announce that Instructional Systems Specialist Collin Sullivan will be "on loan" to DPS as Coordinator of Digital Credentialing. 

Specifically, Collin will be be working with UMBC@USG, applied master's programs, Shriver Center, and other academic affairs units to coordinate three major efforts:

1. Create a comprehensive catalog of microcredentials aligned with national best-practices;
2. Coordinate our efforts related to building a large-scale micro-credentialing operation. On this effort, he will continue to collaborate with his DoIT colleagues advancing work we have already begun; and
3. Coordinate our efforts related to creating and deploying UMBC's comprehensive learner record (CLR).

"As Vice Provost for DPS Chris Steele and I discussed these opportunities we both felt it was essential that DPS take the lead in moving these programs forward," says VP of IT and CIO Jack Suess. "For me personally, I am very excited for Collin, and this collaboration with DPS that fully aligns with the larger vision we had when we started this effort. This represents an opportunity to take the work that the Instructional Technology team has done to get us to this point and expand our impact on campus."

Since joining DoIT as a student intern supporting faculty use of clickers in 2015, Collin has shown a remarkable ability to quickly and effectively explore, refine, support and scale a variety of innovative student assessment technologies. In addition to his growing digital credentials portfolio and research, Collin has led or supported DoIT's explorations and use of Akindi for "bubble sheet" test scoring and exam question banks in Blackboard, and our pilot of Poll Everywhere. He also created UMBC's first TechFest, and helped make a compelling case for why and how UMBC might consider establishing a campus testing center. All of this while graduating with two bachelor's degrees in 2019 (Information Systems and Economics) -- and serving as SGA president his senior year -- earning his master's in public policy in 2021, and starting his Ph.D. in Technology, Learning and Leadership at the University of Maryland College Park this Fall.

Please join us in congratulating Collin on his new role. We wish him the very best and thank him for all he's done for DoIT and UMBC -- so far! ;-)

What is the focus of your research/internship?

U.S. Department of State IN PERSON Information Session Come Learn About Current and Future OpportunitiesOn Campus : COMM 331 You are cordially invited to get to know employers who want to get to know you!  Come join us for an in person presentation by the US Department of the State followed by Q&A. US Department of the State is America's leading foreign affairs agency that works to shape and sustain a peaceful, prosperous, just, and democratic world and fosters conditions for stability and progress for the benefit of the American people and people everywhere. Our employees contribute to strengthening American diplomacy and use their knowledge and experience in everything from architecture to engineering and technology to medicine to achieve success as they serve with integrity and professionalism. Contribute your different perspectives, life experiences, and innovative thinking to support and advance U.S. interests worldwide. Visit careers.state.gov to learn more.  U.S. citizenship is required. An equal opportunity employer. Please see current opportunities in Handshake as follows: Student Trainee at U.S. Department of State Government Information Specialist, GS 07-09 at U.S. Department of State Haven't claimed your account in Handshake yet? Update your profile so employers can find you.  Get started HERE!

Benchmarking Probabilistic Machine Learning Models for Arctic Sea Ice.

Authored by:

Sahara Ali, Seraj al Mahmud Mostafa, Xingyan Li, Sara Khanjani, Jianwu Wang, James Foulds, Vandana Janeja.

iHARP members, and others, recently had their paper accepted by IEEE as a part of the 2022 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). Their work explores the use of AI in tackling climate change by utilizing machine learning. The paper will become publicly available on July 1, 2023.

A sneak preview of the paper can be found by following this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oXotdE8TDDAu0jzs0VrEb6R5pr4xE8yt/view

Join us in congratulating the authors on their hard work and getting their paper accepted by IGARSS.