Welcome to the 2013 Academic Year. We have a lot to celebrate in our department. We welcome two new Assistant Professors: Nilanjan Banerjee and Jian Chen, and new Lecturer John Park. Dr. Banerjee directs UMBC’s new Mobile, Pervasive, and Sensor Systems Laboratory, which will carry out research that focuses on renewable energy driven devices. Dr. Chen specializes in visualization techniques that help scientists make better sense of their data. John Park has extensive indsutry experience in areas including operating systems, real-time control systems, artificial intelligence/machine learning, digital imaging and graphics, and bioinformatics. This Fall he will teach CMSC 104 and 201.

We will have a very busy recruiting season this year. We are searching for two lecturers in Computer Science and a third lecturer/Professor of Practice in Computer Science with expertise in CyberSecurity.

Our research efforts continue to remain strong and our expenditures were approximately at the $5 million level for last fiscal year. Our awards starting January 1, 2012 to date exceed $5.5 million! CSEE Professor Dr. Alan Sherman (PI) and Dr. Rick Forno (Co-PI), Graduate Program Director, Cybersecurity have received an NSF grant of $2.5 million over five years to fund 22 students studying Information Assurance (IA) and Cybersecurity. The scholarships are part of the Federal Cyber Scholarship for Service (SFS) program. UMBC CSEE Professor Penny Rheingans received an NSF research award, Transforming the Freshman Experience of Computing Majors, to develop and evaluate an innovative first-year seminar for computing majors aimed at increasing retention, completion, and success among students, especially women and those from underrepresented groups. Dr. Rheingans will serve as the principal investiga-tor for this three year project, which will also include Drs. Marie desJardins (CSEE), Carolyn Seaman (IS), and Susan Martin (CWIT).

Both the Computer Engineering and Computer Science undergraduate programs were successful in their ABET accreditation. Have a great Fall semester. Keep up to date by visiting www.csee.umbc.edu

-Gary

CWIT Director and CSEE professor Penny Rheingans was interviewed by Sheila Kast on today's Maryland Morning show on WYPR as part of a segment on Ada Lovelace Day (October 16). You can listen to the WYPR interview here.

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer in the mid nineteenth century. She is considered the "first computer programmer" because she was the first person to develop an algorithm intended to be executed by a machine. Ada Lovelace Day is about "sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM."

Kathy Boyle ’72, French, will display her original hand-carved bird sculptures for the 29th time at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, next month. Easton’s Star-Democrat newspaper profiled the carver over the weekend.

“I became interested in carving through collecting. After collecting carvings for several years, I decided to try carving as a hobby,” says Boyle. “When my son was born, I took a year off from my job. My son will be 34 this year and I never looked back.”

Read the full article in the Star-Democrat here.

Boyle prides herself, she explains on her website, on thoroughly researching the bird before carving in order to achieve realistic color and form. She worked for the federal government after graduating from UMBC, but became a full-time carver in 1978.

See Boyle’s work here.

Kathy Boyle ’72, French, will display her original hand-carved bird sculptures for the 29th time at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, next month. Easton’s Star-Democrat newspaper profiled the carver over the weekend.

“I became interested in carving through collecting. After collecting carvings for several years, I decided to try carving as a hobby,” says Boyle. “When my son was born, I took a year off from my job. My son will be 34 this year and I never looked back.”

Read the full article in the Star-Democrat here.

Boyle prides herself, she explains on her website, on thoroughly researching the bird before carving in order to achieve realistic color and form. She worked for the federal government after graduating from UMBC, but became a full-time carver in 1978.

See Boyle’s work here.

(by Amy Lacosse)

A CMPE Undergraduate Townhall Meeting will be held this Friday October, 19th from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM in ITE 459. Please let your instructor in any undergraduate class know if you will be attending by Tues October,16th. We will be discussing course scheduling, BS/MS program, faculty research areas, undergraduate student participation in research labs, highlight about past research students and will have a 45 minute open discussion/Q&A session.