UMBC’s Neurodiversity Club is dedicated to increasing awareness, fostering inclusion, and improving experiences for neurodivergent individuals. While these events are not hosted by UMBC, they are highlighting opportunities from organizations that support neurodiversity. They are excited to foster a faculty and staff group dedicated to increasing understanding, true inclusion, and improving the experiences of neurodivergent members of the UMBC community.

Stay tuned for upcoming events, research discussions, and programming designed to support neurodiversity and inclusion.

Upcoming Events:

Neuro-inclusive Recruitment Q&A: Ask the Experts
January 29 | 12–1 PM (GMT)

Teach Access Student Academy (Virtual)
February 20 & 21

Presentation: Integrating Neuroinclusive Pedagogy into Practice (College Autism Network)
February 25 | 12 PM (EST)

VTAC Biennial Autism Conference (In Person)
March 24

Replay: January CAN Presentation

Thanks to Dr. Nicole Noble and Dr. Carlos Castañeda for discussing their compelling research on autistic college students' experiences in seeking and maintaining romantic relationships. 

Join us in building a more inclusive UMBC. ADS and SDS events are open to all members of the UMBC community. We especially encourage participation and connection of new students registered with SDS and allies and friends of our students and employees with disabilities. Stay connected for more updates, events, and ways to get involved!  

This event is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Recognize a UMBC Professor or Staff Member for Making an Impact on your Career Journey!

Has a professor or staff member gone above and beyond to support your career and job search journey, grad school dreams, or professional goals? Now’s your chance to show them some love and gratitude and recognize them as a UMBC Career Connector.

Did they:
✅ Inspire and help you explore potential career paths?
✅ Review your resume and make it shine?
✅ Connect you with alumni or employers?

✅ Write you an amazing letter of recommendation?
✅ Just make a positive impact in your life?

Say THANK YOU in a meaningful way! Each nominee will receive a small gift, a recognition certificate with your note, and a spotlight on our Instagram and LinkedIn during Career Month in April.

Extreme Heat Fellowship 

Deadline: February 24

There is no application fee.

The Crow’s Nest, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), will be providing up to three fully subsidized studio residencies from March-October 2024. The selected cohort of artists will work towards a group show themed around the public health and ecological challenge of extreme heat, particularly as it relates to urban heat and its impact on Baltimore communities. Each artist will receive $3,300 in honoraria to complete the work and dedicated studio space at the Crow’s Nest art incubator in downtown Baltimore. Artists will also benefit from the opportunity to interact with JHU researchers, sit in on relevant lectures, meet public health professionals, and will have the opportunity to propose additional programming. We are not seeking artists who are currently full-time students. If you will be a full time student for only the first half of the fellowship and graduating in Spring 2025, please be extremely mindful of your ability to participate in all programming.

Check Out Evan McRae's Experience from the GameSound Conference 2024: 

What happens a Gaming Sound Conference:
Sessions featured game audio professionals covering a range of beginner to advanced topics in game soundtrack design (unique compositional challenges for non-linear media, implementation details, dynamic mixing tools and techniques, impacts on gameplay experience, etc), including examples and demonstrations of the techniques in practice and how they are achieved.

What did you learn at the conference?

My particular focus was on Audiokinetic Wwise, a leading middleware solution in the game industry for integrating dynamic soundtracks into game engines, for which I watched the majority of my session replays. These conference resources have gone hand in hand with Audiokinetic’s online Wwise certification course series, which I have also individually pursued over the winter session. In addition, I have bookmarked sessions on other popular audio frameworks, such as Unreal Engine’s MetaSounds and FMod, which I intend to review on my own separate from my primary goals in Wwise.

My access to Game Sound Conference recordings has helped me achieve my learning objectives to become a more versatile and technically proficient soundtrack designer for video games.

How do you plan to use what you learned?
I intend to apply these skills towards my INDS Capstone Project, which will involve composing, producing, and implementing a dynamic soundtrack for a video game I have also helped develop in the UMBC Game Developers Club. In the future, I hope to attend Game Sound Conference events in person in order to take full advantage of the networking opportunities with industry professionals, but this was perfect timing for my current needs.

Thanks to INDS:
I am very grateful to the INDS department for funding my remote attendance of the 2024 Game Sound Conference. Though I did not have time to attend sessions live due to the conference dates overlapping with my busy Fall semester, I was fortunately able to watch through replays of several presentations during the winter session in order to gain an equivalent experience.

Thank Evan for you experience!