Two students in the College of Engineering and Information Technology were recognized at HackAE, a 24-hour hackathon, earlier this month for developing an innovative app to help teens struggling with opioid issues. Agatha Turyahikayo ’21, computer science, and Gabrielle Watson ’21, information systems, won the “Opioid Epidemic Challenge Award.”

Now in its second year, the HackAE event brings America East conference students together to build software and hardware projects that address the real-world challenges facing our neighborhoods, cities, states, and country, with a specific emphasis on issues pertaining to cybersecurity, education, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. This was the first time UMBC participated.

“Agatha and Gabrielle have applied the capabilities of crowdsourcing and social media with their app-development prowess to create a proof-of-concept app that can not only help teens at risk of opioid problems take confidence-building steps to try and help themselves but also help reduce the flow of new entrants to the nation’s opioid crisis and thus help society at large,” explains Rick Forno, assistant director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and director of the Cybersecurity Graduate Program at UMBC, who is a faculty advisor of HackUMBC. “Empowering teens in this way, and especially in trying to overcome this devastating national problem, can help build and strengthen community ties and foster resilience within their generation, which among other things can reduce medical costs, law enforcement incidents, incarceration rates, and help create a healthier society for all.”

Watson and Turyahikayo were asked to create an opioid prevention platform specifically for teens. The app they developed pairs teens in need with teens who wish to help others facing opioid challenges.

The opioid epidemic facing the country affects every community and demographic; however, Turyahikayo said that she was surprised to learn how widely teenagers are affected by the crisis. “Unfortunately, many of the resources we found for opioid abuse didn’t target teens very well and were not reaching those who needed help,” she explained, which led her and Watson to create an app that teens could access on their mobile phones.

While Turyahikayo and Watson were recognized for the app they created, they faced some challenges during the hackathon. They did not have prior experience developing Android apps, but used trial and error to figure out how the Android Studio program would allow them to develop an app during the hackathon. Turyahikayo is planning to continue to develop the app over winter break.

Not only does the app connect teens in need of help, it also offers a range of helpful resources. “It can help loved ones to recognize the signs of opioid abuse and help those who don’t realize they have a problem,” Turyahikayo explains.

Banner image: Gabrielle Watson, right, and Agatha Turyahikayo at HackAE. Photo courtesy of Agatha Turyahikayo.

"With August's Perseids obscured by bright moonlight, the Geminids will be the best shower this year," said Bill Cooke with NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "The thin, waning crescent Moon won't spoil the show."

The shower will peak overnight Dec. 13-14 with rates around one per minute under good conditions, according to Cooke. Geminids can be seen on nights before and after the Dec. 14 peak, although they will appear less frequently.

"Geminid activity is broad," said Cooke. "Good rates will be seen between 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 and dawn local time the morning of Dec. 14, with the most meteors visible from midnight to 4 a.m. on Dec. 14, when the radiant is highest in the sky."

As another semester comes to an end, the flurry of final exams and lengthy term papers bring in floods of students looking to catch up on their work anywhere they can. In theory, UMBC is well-equipped for the end-of-year studious throngs. With a seven-floor library, the 24-hour Retriever Learning Center, study spaces in academic buildings and The Commons, the possibilities seem endless. The reality, however, is quite different.

Every semester, students desperate for a quiet, clean place to study are faced with several issues. Lack of availability, substandard conditions and the improper use of available spaces make finding a study spot especially difficult.

“Sometimes there are people sleeping in the [library] study rooms, and you can’t go in there. So what do you do, where do you go?” asked Pooja Chan, a junior biology major, “In the RLC, there is always a bunch of people just watching TV, basketball games …”

Alyssa Lagasca, another junior biology major, agreed. “Especially with the ‘group study rooms’,” Lagasca said, “There is usually only one person there, and a lot of the time they are not even doing work, they are playing games, sleeping … sometimes it can get awkward. I’m desperate to find a study space and I’ll knock and come in like ‘can I study here?’”

The conditions and maintenance of study spaces, particularly in the library study rooms and the RLC, are also a deterrent for many students. There are limited or unavailable materials, such as markers and chalk. Many tables, computers and locks are broken in private rooms. Even the cleanliness of certain spaces is a sore spot for students with limited options.

“The RLC is a mess, like half the tables are broken … . It is always super dirty, and there are whiteboards there, but never any markers or erasers or anything like that. You have to bring your own,” said Chan.

Chan recalled a personal account of a particular room “where the lock was broken, so [she] told the lady and she just said to ‘jiggle it a little bit.’ [Chan] went in and there was just the worst smell ever … . The ceiling had holes up top, the tile was broken … . [She didn’t] think it was safe in general.”

“The smell of the study rooms and in the RLC, and the sanitation … . I don’t think they’re sanitized all that much, and I have never seen anyone actually clean the RLC – I know it’s 24-hours, but come on,” added Lagasca.

Even The Commons, a building where many students gather to study, now has limited space because of construction. “We used to go to the third-floor conference rooms in The Commons because they were always empty – but those are locked now, you have to reserve it in advance to get there,” said Chan and Lagasca.

For years, the UMBC community has debated opening the library for 24 hours as a way to lessen the overcrowding of the RLC, particularly during exam weeks. While the idea has merit, as there are several universities with 24-hour libraries, there is no actual demand at UMBC that would justify the cost of staffing the entire library 24/7.

There are some planned study spaces in new campus construction projects, such as the Event Center, which will feature an Academic Achievement Center. Nevertheless, it is not clear if that space will be open to all students, or what its operating hours will be.

Another way to remedy this issue would be to open new study spaces around campus, specifically late-night or other 24-hour study spaces. Many students already walk into buildings before closing time to stay the night; others make use of empty classrooms. Perhaps designated study spaces that remain open beyond normal operating hours could be opened in academic buildings. Additionally, it would be much cheaper to maintain and operate study spaces in existing areas than building a “new” RLC or opening one or more floors of the library.

Creating newly designated study spaces is not a complicated, nor an expensive, endeavor. There are a few things students at “An Honors University in Maryland” should not have to worry about – adequate locations for study are one of them.

In today’s world, computers play a large role in daily life. Computers which once filled an entire room can now fit inside a pocket. Eighty-four percent of people in the United States currently own a computer. Since so many people need computers, a global movement called “Hour of Code” has been created to teach people computer science.

Hadi and Ali Partovi of the website code.org launched this program in December of 2013 to teach students computer programming. According to their website, code.org is a “non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities.”

The Hour of Code is available to students in over 180 countries to people of all ages. It is also available in over 45 different languages. As of 2017, 200,000 educators across the globe have partnered with Hour of Code.

The Hour of Code boasts a diverse group of participants. Though only 20 percent of computer science graduates nationwide are women, 48 percent of participants in the hour of code are women.

For Computer Science Education Week, students led the second annual UMBC Hour of Code, which had events two days in a row. Last year, an article about this event was published in The Baltimore Sun.

The first meeting was on Monday Dec. 4, when students gathered on Main Street from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. On the subsequent day, students from Lakeland Elementary/Middle School met in the Sports Zone from 11 a.m. to noon for a fun “Minecraft” sandbox video game coding activity. From noon to 2 p.m.,  UMBC students joined the Hour of Code while Lakeland students participated in breakout activities with volunteers. President Freeman Hrabowski joined the Lakeland Elementary/Middle students in coding.

The Computer Science Education student group organized the event along with Marie desJardins, College of Engineering and Information Technology Associate Dean, Megean Garvin, Computer Science Matters Research Associate, Acacia Asbell, Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program project director, and Ramna Dowdell, Peaceworker Fellow with the Shriver Center.

According to freshman computer engineering major and member of Honors College Benjamin R. Padgette, “The goal of this event is to use student ability in computer science to lead fun coding exercises to get local youth of all backgrounds excited and inspired about the possibilities of studying and working in computer science in the future, a field that currently suffers from major gender and ethnic disparity,” says Padgette.

President of the Computer Science Education organization and senior computer science and psychology major Stephanie Milani believes that, despite the discrepancy in demographics of those who code, it does not always have to be this way. “We hope that this even will help people feel like they are able to learn computer science and that computer science is for them,” Miliani says.

Hour of Code is one of multiple reasources that code.org offers parents, teachers and students. Those interested in bringing computer science to their communities, can use materials on the code.org website to host an Hour of Code or encourage local educators to teach computer science.

Two students in the College of Engineering and Information Technology were recognized at HackAE, a 24-hour hackathon, earlier this month for developing an innovative app to help teens struggling with opioid issues. Agatha Turyahikayo ’21, computer science, and Gabrielle Watson ’21, information systems, won the “Opioid Epidemic Challenge Award.”

Now in its second year, the HackAE event brings America East conference students together to build software and hardware projects that address the real-world challenges facing our neighborhoods, cities, states, and country, with a specific emphasis on issues pertaining to cybersecurity, education, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. This was the first time UMBC participated.

“Agatha and Gabrielle have applied the capabilities of crowdsourcing and social media with their app-development prowess to create a proof-of-concept app that can not only help teens at risk of opioid problems take confidence-building steps to try and help themselves but also help reduce the flow of new entrants to the nation’s opioid crisis and thus help society at large,” explains Rick Forno, assistant director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and director of the Cybersecurity Graduate Program at UMBC, who is a faculty advisor of HackUMBC. “Empowering teens in this way, and especially in trying to overcome this devastating national problem, can help build and strengthen community ties and foster resilience within their generation, which among other things can reduce medical costs, law enforcement incidents, incarceration rates, and help create a healthier society for all.”

Watson and Turyahikayo were asked to create an opioid prevention platform specifically for teens. The app they developed pairs teens in need with teens who wish to help others facing opioid challenges.

The opioid epidemic facing the country affects every community and demographic; however, Turyahikayo said that she was surprised to learn how widely teenagers are affected by the crisis. “Unfortunately, many of the resources we found for opioid abuse didn’t target teens very well and were not reaching those who needed help,” she explained, which led her and Watson to create an app that teens could access on their mobile phones.

While Turyahikayo and Watson were recognized for the app they created, they faced some challenges during the hackathon. They did not have prior experience developing Android apps, but used trial and error to figure out how the Android Studio program would allow them to develop an app during the hackathon. Turyahikayo is planning to continue to develop the app over winter break.

Not only does the app connect teens in need of help, it also offers a range of helpful resources. “It can help loved ones to recognize the signs of opioid abuse and help those who don’t realize they have a problem,” Turyahikayo explains.

Banner image: Gabrielle Watson, right, and Agatha Turyahikayo at HackAE. Photo courtesy of Agatha Turyahikayo.

The season long Community Relations Internship is designed to gain experience and insight into overseeing and executing programs and events for a Major League Baseball team. All duties are performed under the direction of the Internship Mentor and are designed to be an extension of the interns education. The individuals who participate in this program are paid and may earn credit, but are not eligible for benefits.

Find out more information about the internship and how to apply by searching Job ID 9295603 in UMBCworks