Managing Uncertainty of the Exponential Technology Age

AI Lunchbox, 12-1pm ET
Thursday December 19, 2024, online

This year, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting was held from December 9-13, 2024, in Washington, DC. AGU is a nonprofit organization that supports the Earth and space sciences, and its annual meeting brings together thousands of people from all over the world. For AGU24, the theme was “What’s Next for Science.”  Approximately 75 presentations, a mix of oral and poster, were given by GESTAR II scientists throughout the week. 

Dominique Footes (SURA) and ESRA Director Margo Young (UMBC) coordinated with the Maryland Department of Commerce for GESTAR II to share an “Earth Sciences in Maryland” booth along with others in earth science research. Ms. Footes was involved with setting up the booth, procuring GESTAR II items, organizing the extensive list of GESTAR II presentations (including scientists' names, poster/talk titles, locations, dates and times), and providing photos from the week-long event. GESTAR II researchers who volunteered to staff the booth included Ivona Cetinić (616/MSU), Daeho Jin (613/UMBC), Carl Malings (610.1/MSU), and Andy Sayer (616/UMBC). We hope this was a productive week that provided good discussions, shared ideas, and future collaboration opportunities. 

Be sure to check out our AGU24 Photo Gallery (all photos by Dom Footes/SURA)!

The CAHSS Dean’s Scholarship for Education Abroad is NOW OPEN!

Apply now if you’re planning to study abroad in 2025!

As the holidays approach, we want to remind employees about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as a resource for eligible employees (Regular and Contingent II) and members of the employee's household.

Turn the holidays into a happy, stress-free time by taking care of yourself, bringing balance to your work and home life, and letting yourself relax and enjoy the season. Please see the attached flyer for tips on how to take care of yourself this holiday season.

Highlights of the EAP program via ComPsych and Guidance Resources:

• The EAP is available 24/7
• Free Confidential Counseling, up to 5 sessions free!
• Work-Life Solutions
• Legal Support
• Discounts, i.e. Pet Insurance

There are two ways to access EAP services:

Call 1-855-410-7628 to speak to a counseling professional who will listen to your concerns and can guide you to the appropriate services you require.

OR 

Visit Guidance Resources Online at www.guidanceresources.com and enter our company ID: USMEAP

We wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday season!

Foad Hamidi, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems, has won funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support two new projects offering technology-rich informal learning opportunities to diverse populations in Baltimore and beyond. 

In the first project, called Space for All, Hamidi will collaborate with Digital Harbor Foundation, a Baltimore-based organization dedicated to creating pathways to opportunity through technology, and MN Associates, an education evaluation firm, to create accessible and engaging learning spaces and programs with and for youth and young adults with autism in three community spaces in Baltimore City. The second project—Introducing Synthetic Biology using Biomaker Activities—will work with youth and their families to co-design activities that support their STEM learning and engagement. That project is a collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso, Baltimore Underground Science Space (BUGSS), and MN Associates, and will engage participants in El Paso and Baltimore City.

“This work builds on long-term engagement with community partners and transdisciplinary collaboration with experts in participatory design, learning sciences, and special education,” says Hamidi. “The two projects collectively provide our multi-institutional teams with more than $3.3 million to investigate and implement technology-rich, inclusive learning spaces and programs for youth and young adults. The projects will prioritize centering young learners’ and their families’ perspectives and interests through a participatory, community-engaged approach.”

Past outreach success

The projects incorporate lessons from Hamidi’s previous successful community engagement efforts. In an earlier project with the Digital Harbor Foundation Hamidi helped develop technology-rich after school programs in Baltimore. 

“An innovation in these programs was that they were offered at city recreation centers, which already have a lot of community members coming to them and are located across the city,” says Hamidi. In the new Space for All project, Hamidi is again partnering with the Digital Harbor Foundation to extend the programs to include youth and young adults with autism.

In the Introducing Synthetic Biology using Biomaker Activities project, Hamidi and his colleagues aim to engage youth and their families in the new field of synthetic biology, which uses computation and design technology to modify biological cells for research and health applications. The field is an important area for community involvement because synthetic biology has complex ethical implications and health applications, Hamidi says. 

Hamidi and his partners will work with youth and their families to collaboratively design and construct engaging learning activities. Possible options include genetically modifying microbes to express color pigments that are then used to paint living art and constructing 3D objects from material containing living fungus.

Art meets science

Hamidi has experience using art as an outreach tool. In 2023, together with Linda Dusman, music, and with support from the Imaging Research Center, he initiated a transdisciplinary project at UMBC to create an art installation called Infinite Transformations. The installation’s center podium displayed a bottle of wine fermented using yeast whose DNA was modified to include an encoded version of a poem by the 14th-century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz. The bottle was surrounded by animation created from large-print microscopic images of the genetically modified yeast and ambient audio fusing the poetry of Hafiz, flute music, and a Morse code representation of the poem.  

“Art can help the public learn about and be exposed to cutting-edge scientific concepts and methods in synthetic biology,” Hamidi says. “We will use the knowledge from the Infinite Transformation project to create hands-on activities for a younger audience to learn about biodesign, bioart, and synthetic biology.”