CSEE faculty Anupam Joshi and Rick Forno were interviewed this week by several media outlets on the impact and cybersecurity aspects of the Ashley Madison data breach.

Ashley Madison is a popular website with “more than 33 million members in 46 countries” that provides services “for married men and women looking to have a discreet affair.”  Last month a group claimed to have obtained data about the site’s users and threatened to release it unless the site’s Toronto-based company, Avid Life Media Inc., shut down the service. Earlier in the spring, the company had announced plans for an IPO later in the year. The company called the hacker’s bluff and the group, the Impact Team, released more than 30G of customer data in several dumps this week. Avid Life has confirmed that some of the customer data posted is legitimate.

Professor Joshi, director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and also chair of the CSEE department, was interviewed by ABC2.  In the interview,  he cautioned that data breaches are increasingly becoming part of daily life. “Information is valuable,” he said. “People are after information. No security is perfect and once you marry these things, there is an incentive for someone to spend the right time and effort to steal some information.” He also spoke about users falling into a false sense of security. “Nothing is really secure on the Internet,” he warned. “If you don’t want the thing you’re doing to show up on ABC2 at some point then don’t do it.”

Dr. Forno, Center for Cybersecurity assistant director and head of UMBC Cybersecurity Graduate Program spoke to Beta Boston and TV Newsroom about public reactions as the data breach revealed several government officials as users of the website. “Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get two wildly different opinions on the issue,” he said. “Some people will say, `Well, they broke the law, they hacked into this private company’s computers and stole data.’ Yeah, that’s true. But from the other side, you have to say, were they doing this for a public service?”  He also discussed the incident with South Korea-based radio program “This Morning with Alex Jensen.”

Some material adapted from an Insights article by Achsah Callahan.

We had a wonderful time at the 2015 PROMISE SSI! Will you join us for some memories?

• Photos: http://www.ndemay.com/p865338520 (available for viewing and for purchase)
• Join us on Twitter! View the #ThinkBigDiversity feed and contribute thoughts about faculty diversity, applaud your faculty mentors, identity diverse faculty aspirants, etc.! #ThinkBigDiversity Tweets. The video tab on this feed will show participants’ video capture of Rosie (Dr. Williams’ humanoid robot) and her yoga moves!
• Dr. Andrew Williams’ summary of his 2015 PROMISE SSI keynote address: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/think-big-diversity-advice-for-aspiring-stem-ph-d-graduate-students-postdocs-and-junior-faculty/
• Hard copy of the program: SSI Booklet – Final Version – August 2015

• 

  Feedback: Now that some time has passed, please let us know what you have taken away from the conference. Please tweet your response, continuing to use #ThinkBigDiversity as your hashtag.

  

  To remain engaged: Please subscribe to the PROMISE website: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/

  Events: There are several events coming up. Please mark your calendars and check back with the PROMISE website for updates:

  • September 11, 2015: PROMISE Opening Meeting at UMBC
  • September 12, 2015: PROMISE “How to Fund Your Graduate Education” seminar at UMBC
  • September 14, 2015: Deadline for applying for the October SREB conference
  • September 19, 2015: GEM GRAD Lab at UMBC (inviting all undergraduates to learn more about graduate school)
  • November 20, 2015: PROMISE Fall Harvest Dinner at College Park
  • February 12, 2016: PROMISE Research Symposium & Professional Development Workshop at College Park
  • May 7, 2016: PROMISE Cookout in Columbia, MD
  • August 20, 2016: PROMISE SSI 2016

  This is a small subset of events. There will be several other events throughout the year. Other ways to engage:

  Events at UMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise; Contact promisestaff@gmail.com

  Events at UMCP: http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/admissions/choose-maryland/diverse-campus-community/graduate-diversity-initiatives; Contact Christopher Perez: cperez6@umd.edu

  Events at UMB: https://umbconnect.umaryland.edu/organization/promise; Contact LaNette Parson, lparson@umaryland.edu

  As we post event pages, some of the events above will be updated and hyperlinked to the appropriate registration pages. Thank you for joining us!

  

It’s that time again! SREB! Participants in PROMISE attend the Southern Regional Education Board’s Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute for Teaching and Mentoring every year. We’ve traveled together to Atlanta and Tampa, and this year, we’re going to be in Virginia. The website for “The Compact” is here: http://www.instituteonteachingandmentoring.org/.  We repeat what we said last year, “If you went to the PROMISE SSI this year, think of The Compact as  quadrupled!” You will join nearly 1000 early career faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from around the U.S. at the conference.  In order to go, you need to be nominated by the PROMISE AGEP. Read some of our former posts for the SREB conference from 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 here.

YOU have a chance to go with us to Virginia, all-expenses paid – includes lodging. The invitation is for early career faculty (for the Faculty Diversity Research Mentoring Institute), and graduate students, but PROMISE must nominate you. You cannot nominate yourself. We will take as many people as we can, depending on funding. One year, we had so many great responses that we received additional funding and we took 30 people!

Here are some facts about the conference:

1.  This is the 22nd Institute on TEACHING AND MENTORING/Compact for Faculty Diversity, October 29-November 1, 2015, Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington, VA. We tend to refer to this conference as “SREB.”

1. GRADUATE STUDENTS: Scholars nominated to attend the Institute should ONLY be individuals who have an expressed interest in pursuing a career as faculty in a college or university (any postsecondary institution.) All of the sessions at the Institute will focus on topics and issues related to teaching at the postsecondary level. Consequently, scholars who are not interested in becoming a member of the faculty at the postsecondary level will not benefit from attending this Institute.
2. POSTDOCS and EARLY CAREER FACULTY: The PROMISE AGEP is a partner with SREB in the activities for the National Research Mentoring Network https://nrmnet.net/2015-award-announcement/. Faculty and postdocs should be in the biomedical sciences. We have the opportunity to nominate participants from all over the country, including our alumni and colleagues from other schools outside of Maryland.
3. Nominated graduate student and additional postdoctoral scholars must be minority or underserved STEM majors enrolled in Ph.D. program. SREB will not accept nominations from students. (We will consider select masters students who are on track for Ph.D. programs. Note that Social Sciences are part of the “Science” in STEM.)

1. The conference will be in Virginia. Hotel rooms will be available at no cost to you. Single rooms will not be available for scholars. Students will be placed in double rooms. 
2. We will be nominating graduate students who participate in the PROMISE: AGEP-T. This means that you must be a graduate student at one of the institutions within the University System of Maryland. If you are interested, you must show evidence of participation in a PROMISE AGEP event prior to September 14, 2015.

TO APPLY: 

Write a comment to this post (below) with the following information (do not send  this information via email. If this information is received via email, without being posted below, your application will not count.) You may use last year’s page entries as a reference: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/promise-is-going-to-atlanta-in-october-2014-sreb-compact-for-faculty-diversityinstitute-for-teaching-mentoring-do-you-want-to-go/

Please follow this order:

a) YOUR NAME

b) INSTITUTION & DEPARTMENT: Please state your university & department (no abbreviations). You must be a graduate, postdoc, or early career faculty member in a STEM field from one of the universities listed here: http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/. Include the link for your department and your laboratory.

c) WEBSITE: Provide at least one link for your professional website. If you have more than one, you may provide up to three links, e.g., LinkedIn, department website. If you don’t have a professional website, please create one.

d) MILESTONE DATES: Students: Planned year of graduation for your PhD. Postdocs: Planned year for starting a faculty position. Faculty: Planned year of 3rd year review.

e) ASPIRATIONS: Students and postdocs: One paragraph that describes the reason why you want to be a professor; include your research interests and how you will contribute to research in your field. Faculty: One paragraph that describes your research program.

f) PROMISE PARTICIPATION: Which PROMISE events have you attended, and what have you learned?

g) SREB HISTORY: If you’ve been “The Compact” in the past, what did you learn?

h) TWITTER: If you have a Twitter account, please write a 140 character tweet with the name of one of your STEM faculty aspirants or mentors. Please include @PROMISE_AGEP, @SREBDocSch, and the hashtag #ThinkBigDiversity. If you don’t have a Twitter account, we encourage you to create one to participate in professional social media conversations.  You will be contributing to this feed.

Once you apply using this format, send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “SREB 2015 application, now online” so that we will have your email logged in our database for this event.

This is the AGEP group photo of scholars from around the country, at the 2014 conference in Atlanta. Approximately 20 are from PROMISE.

——————–

As Ashley Madison experienced a widespread data breach this week, Anupam Joshi and Richard Forno, cybersecurity, spoke to the media about Internet security and how the leak will affect high profile users in Washington, D.C.

In an interview with ABC2, Joshi cautioned that data breaches are increasingly becoming part of daily life. “Information is valuable,” he said. “People are after information. No security is perfect and once you marry these things, there is an incentive for someone to spend the right time and effort to steal some information.” He also spoke about users falling into a false sense of security. “Nothing is really secure on the Internet,” he warned. “If you don’t want the thing you’re doing to show up on ABC2 at some point then don’t do it.”

Forno spoke to Beta Boston and TV Newsroom about public reactions as the data breach revealed several government officials as users of the website. “Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get two wildly different opinions on the issue,” he said. “Some people will say, `Well, they broke the law, they hacked into this private company’s computers and stole data.’ Yeah, that’s true. But from the other side, you have to say, were they doing this for a public service?”

Name: Danielle Haskin

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: McNair Scholars Fellowship

Position Title: Primary Investigator/ Researcher

Major(s)/Minor(s): Emergency Health Services/ Sociology 

Expected Graduation Year: May 2016

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

Since this is the first research project I have done, I am learning everything from scratch. Being the primary investigator, I am in charge of the entire study with the support of my mentor, Dr. Rick Bissell. I was required to secure an avenue to disperse my surveys, maintain contact with people to find events to meet patients, write an extensive research report, and present my findings at multiple research conferences among other tasks that were required to ensure a well executed study. 

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I was walking through the halls and noticed a signup sheet for the McNair Scholars program.  I had decided to attend UMBC because of its highlight on undergraduate research but was not sure on how to begin the process, so when I read up on the program, I thought McNair may be a good starting point. I was later contacted to complete the application process by the graduate research assistant and statistician for the McNair program. The program requires for you to develop a research proposal and submit it for a competitive position in the summer research institute.   

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

Being a first generation college student there were academic questions I had and no ideas where to get answers. The McNair Scholars program has allowed me to develop a research proposal, conduct the research, and write a publishable paper all with the support of those who have previously gone through the same process. I was awarded a Fellowship through the Summer Research Institute, SRI, that mimicked a graduate fellowship process. This SRI provided room and board along with a stipend to conduct my research over the summer. I also received graduate school preparation and incentives such as a GRE prep course, GRE exam waivers, and application fee waivers when I apply to graduate schools. Having preparation for the next step in my education has been wonderful!

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I am conducting research in order to gauge the receptiveness of an adult diabetic population to a community paramedicine, or similar community based healthcare service. The information I gather should support the research that has been ongoing by various community based health care personnel. I am filling gaps that are currently in the literature since this is still an emerging topic. This program aims to help populations that are underserved by traditional health care programs. I have worked in conjunction with the American Diabetes Association throughout this project and hope to continue to help the community through education and support. 

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

Get involved early! If you have the slightest idea you may want to work on a project talk with your adviser or a professor that may be able to help you find a project. You don’t have to begin by developing your own research either. There are constantly projects that professors or graduate students are working on that may need your help. If you determine that you like it, joining a program such as McNair Scholars really is the best route because they allow you to fully develop, plan and conduct your research. Also looking into the Undergraduate Research Award or presenting at URCAD is something you should keep in your mind. The experience really is priceless!

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.

This research project has required that I get out of my comfort zone and move onto the next step in both my education and career. I am involved in projects that I didn't previously think I had the experience for all because of the connections I have made through my research. 

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• James Smalls, visual arts, discusses why students responded to his class on race, gender, and sexuality in the Star Trek universes
• Thomas Scaller, political science, comments on the challenges Kristin Beck will face in her run to become the Democratic nominee for Maryland’s 5th District’s congressional seat
• UMBC’s Kinetic Sculpture Race team displayed the Kraken and upcycled percussion at Artscape
• John Rennie Short, School of Public Policy, says cities are the ideal stage for developing policies and practices of sustainability
• Sunil Dasgupta, political science, says World powers are established through norms and institutions instead of superior capabilities over others
• UMBC’s Bits and Bytes program is mentioned in an article about the decreasing number of women in computing majors UMBC hosts Project Lead the Way, which shows K-12 educators how to better teach STEM subjects
• UMBC is participating in the Urban Water Innovation Network
• Dennis Coates, economics, writes about the impact of sports stadiums on local economics
• LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow joined Secretary Arne Duncan and a panel of educators at UMBC to discuss the future of higher education
• Dr. Hrabowski remembers civil rights activist Julian Bond as “a symbol of hope.”

Read more at UMBC Insights!