Hope you all had a great holiday and took a little time to relax.

For those enrolled in the winter session, welcome back and good luck.

Farewell...for now

So I am excited and a little sad to say that my time at UMBC, as an undergraduate student, has come to an end. It has been a great experience and I can’t begin to thank everyone who has helped to make it so. entreSpace has become second homes on campus for me. Gib Mason and Vivian Armor have been like family to me and I can't begin to say 'Thank You' enough. But, most of all, the relationships I have built with many of you (student entrepreneurs) has been fantastic and I am so excited to see the businesses, products, services, you create and the social issues you solve. I live in Baltimore, will still be on campus occasionally (working on Banana Bones), and am more than happy to go grab coffee with any of you to chat business.

Moving Forward

It is now my honor to introduce you all to Amanda Mancuso, the newest Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship marketing intern. Amanda is working on her degree in human centered computing and will be transitioning into her Master’s Program in the summer. She is a very active member of Delta Phi Epsilon and has been working as a social media marketing guru for a local energy company for over a year.

I have no doubt that she is going to do amazing things with this role and take it to levels I wasn’t able to.

Good luck with the upcoming semester and thanks for all the great memories. Many more to come!

Feel free to throw some comments in our my.UMBC group to welcome Amanda!

~josh massey

twitter / linkedin

Knab, JR; Lu, X; Vallejo, F; Kumar, G; Murphy, T; and Hayden, LM; "Ultrafast carrier dynamics and optical properties of nanoporous Si at terahertz frequencies," Opt. Mater. Express  4, 300-307 (2013).

The UMBC Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department seeks to fill two tenure-track faculty positions for its Computer Science program and is especially interested in candidates whose research areas include security and data analytics and related fields. Apply by January 15, 2015 for full consideration.

UMBC has a large and vibrant computing community with nearly 100 faculty and more than 3100 students enrolled in computing programs that include computer science, cybersecurity, computer engineering, electrical engineering, information systems, human-centered computing, intermedia and digital arts, and bioinformatics.

Our location in the Baltimore-DC corridor puts us in the center of one of the largest concentrations of federal agencies and research and development centers and many industrial research labs, including the new Cybersecurity Federally Funded R&D Center. We benefit from an excellent computing infrastructure that includes several high-performance computing clusters and participation in the National LambdaRail network.

The CSEE Department also has three new positions for full-time lecturers. The College of Engineering and Information Technology has a position for a full-time lecturer or Professor of the Practice to focus on the needs of incoming computing majors through teaching, advising, and helping develop programs in computing. This person will work closely with faculty in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department and Information Systems Department. UMBC’s Information Systems department is accepting applications for three tenure track faculty positions in data science, software engineering and human-centered computing.

The UMBC Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department seeks to fill two tenure-track faculty positions for its Computer Science program and is especially interested in candidates whose research areas include security and data analytics and related fields. Apply by January 15, 2015 for full consideration.

UMBC has a large and vibrant computing community with nearly 100 faculty and more than 3100 students enrolled in computing programs that include computer science, cybersecurity, computer engineering, electrical engineering, information systems, human-centered computing, intermedia and digital arts, and bioinformatics.

Our location in the Baltimore-DC corridor puts us in the center of one of the largest concentrations of federal agencies and research and development centers and many industrial research labs, including the new Cybersecurity Federally Funded R&D Center. We benefit from an excellent computing infrastructure that includes several high-performance computing clusters and participation in the National LambdaRail network.

The CSEE Department also has three new positions for full-time lecturers. The College of Engineering and Information Technology has a position for a full-time lecturer or Professor of the Practice to focus on the needs of incoming computing majors through teaching, advising, and helping develop programs in computing. This person will work closely with faculty in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department and Information Systems Department. UMBC’s Information Systems department is accepting applications for three tenure track faculty positions in data science, software engineering and human-centered computing.

Mark Liberman pointed out a nice use of pmi to explore the difference in meaning of geek vs. nerd done last year by Burr Settles using Twitter data.

Settles’s original post, On “Geek” Versus “Nerd”, has a brief, but good, explanation of the method and data.

We are seeking a results-oriented, highly motivated professional with public relations and social media experience and a commitment to the highest levels of excellence.

JOB SUMMARY

I can't properly articulate my job description as a UMBC France-Merrick Foundation intern. The position certainly has sustainability and environmental consciousness at its core, but the responsibilities and privileges that come with it are so varied that its difficult to place them into boxes. I've been able to spearhead initiatives that are transforming the way UMBC students commute. I've been part of diverse teams that are evolving the way UMBC handles its waste. I've seen students transform ground-breaking ideas into projects that have earned funding and are going to become realities in the upcoming semester. The common denominator of the experience thus far, however, has been working with a community.

Working with the Sustainability Matters initiative has allowed me to become part of a community that seeks to make UMBC beautiful. We've been able to divert more waste from landfills to compost. We've created a new community for cyclists at UMBC by introducing new public facilities and more opportunities for students to get access to bikes through the Retriever Fleet. The Green Office Program has established a fantastic way for entire departments on campus to commit to energy conservation. We've organized festivals, classes and student groups committed to sustainability at UMBC. Fall 2014 was certainly a successful semester. 

I'm grateful to be a part of such an amazing program. I'm grateful to be able to lead and create. I'm grateful to be able to work with an amazing student body to create and crush innovative goals. 2015 is going to introduce new opportunities for commuters to have better parking access. The already upgraded cycling program is going to grow and evolve to suit the needs of more students. Healthier food options are going to continue to be introduced on campus and waste reduction programs are going to continue to grow until we've all but eliminated our landfill contributions. Simply put: we won't stop crushing it because we had a good year. 

Halfway through my inaugural year interning I'm reminded of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Albert Camus:

I'd like to invite you to make UMBC a privileged place. Join the Garden to grow and share organic, healthy produce right here on campus. Work with the Eco-Ambassadors to spread the word about sustainability and provide outreach for student orgs large and small. Sign up for projects led by Students for Environmental Awareness to get outside and keep our environment clean. Join the growing Sustainability community in 2015 if you haven't already, and become a part of a beautiful community. 

Happy New Year to you and other people around you,

DeVaughn Jerome Jones, France Merrick Sustainability Intern