Here at UMBC our students and alumni understand the importance of education can have on not only our own lives but in the lives of the younger generations. Knowledge allows you to break through social, political, and economic barriers while producing self-pride and a motivation to share the resources we have been given.

Austin Murdock ’15, computer science, shares college advice with students from Bodkin Elementary and Chesapeake Bay Middle School. Murdock presented the students with a motivating and educational message about the lessons that he learned throughout his collegiate career and how the “path you take is not as important as what you get out of it.” He shared his story about how he was accepted to all eight ivy league schools but chose not to attend any of them.

To read the full article, click here.

Dr. Anthony K. Wutoh ‘87, biochemistry & molecular biology, was appointed the Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Howard University. Dr. Wutoh ascends to his new role after educating students since 1996, when he began his career at Howard University as an assistant professor. In his academic career, Dr. Wutoh’s passion for research has resulted in over $50 million dollars in grants from such reputable organizations such as National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read the full article here.

Have a story of your own to share? Tell us about it in a class note.

Students love instructor feedback and want to know how they are performing in their courses. With the start of the new academic year quickly approaching, why not try something new in your courses?

The Grade Center is the instructor’s central hub for keeping track of student assignments to grade, reviewing submitted assessments, and tracking student performance. Whenever a graded items, such as an assignment or assessments, is created in a Bb course, the system will automatically create a column in the Grade Center.

Instructors can customize many Grade Center features, such as grading schemas (points/percentages converted to letter grades), categories (labs, projects), color coding (e.g., red to indicate at risk) and other important column information. The Grade Center also works well with many other areas of Blackboard including the Retention Center.  

• please visit our Blackboard FAQ page

• open an RT ticket for any technical issues

• view the schedule of training workshops at the DoIT group page

• contact the Instructional Technology Team with any suggestions or concerns

I am looking for two female roommates (preferably non-smoking /non-drinking) to occupy a vacant room in my two bedroom townhouse at Westland Gardens, very close to UMBC. Rent would be $543 for single room. Room can be occupied by single person or shared by 2 people.

If interested, please contact me via email at ashws1@umbc.edu.

Petya Campbell (618 /UMBC) co-led the 3rd South Central and Eastern European Environmental Network (SCERIN) meeting in Brasov, Romania with Jana Albrechtova (SCERIN regional coordinator) and Garik Gutman (NASA/HQ). The goals fo SCERIN are to promote and coordinate the production of Earth System observations for the user communities in South Central Europe. Dr. Campbell gave the SCERIN Report, chaired a plenary programmatic session and lead a working session and discussions on the contribution of regional networks to data and collaborative overview publications.

The Engineering Deans Council of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) seized the opportunity to outline tangible steps to improve the inclusiveness of engineering education at the first White House Demo Day, hosted by President Barack Obama on Tuesday, August 4, in the White House East Room.

UMBC Dean Julie Ross, College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT), is one of more than 100 deans who signed on to the ASEE letter of commitment to diversitypresented at Demo Day, which was designed to highlight “why we need to give every American the opportunity to pursue their bold, game-changing ideas.”

The deans’ powerful statement outlines specific steps to increase the participation and success of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering and IT degree programs.

“The world’s most challenging technological problems demand creative solutions,” Ross shares. “Our best hope is to foster inclusive excellence in our engineering and IT schools and to bring to bear the diverse perspectives, ideas and talents of our nation’s youth.”

Her words echo the spirit of the ASEE letter, which emphasizes that innovation is core to engineering, and “diversity and inclusiveness are essential for the development of creative solutions to the world’s challenges.” The letter continues, “While gains have been made in the participation of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in engineering in recent decades, significant progress is still needed to reach a level where the engineering community fully embraces all segments of our increasingly diverse and vibrant society.”

UMBC and the other signing colleges and universities specifically commit to develop and implement: (1) a diversity plan for engineering programs, including priorities, goals, and assessment plans to ensure accountability; (2) activities partnering with K-12 schools and/or community college to increase the diversity of students in the engineering education pipeline; (3) strong partnerships between research-intensive engineering schools and non-PhD granting engineering schools serving populations underrepresented in engineering; and (4) proactive strategies to increase the representation of women and underrepresented minorities as engineering faculty.

UMBC’s numerous new and longstanding STEM collaborations with K-16 partners form a strong basis for this work. One example is the Transfer Scholars in Information Technology and Engineering (T-SITE), funded by NSF to support the success of students transferring from Maryland community colleges to UMBC to study computer science, computer engineering and information systems.

Ross has received a multi-million NSF grant for the project INSPIRES: Increasing Student Participation, Interest and Recruitment in Engineering and Science. Collaborating with education faculty Jon Singer and Chris Rakes, she is helping Baltimore County high school biology and technology teachers feel prepared to effectively integrate engineering into their teaching.

Ross’s motivation for engaging talented students from all backgrounds in the field of engineering is simple: “We must work to ensure equal opportunity and access to all who seek it if we are to find the creative solutions we need.”