UMBC Boasts Three Gates Cambridge Scholars

Students come to UMBC to achieve ambitious goals, knowing they will receive the education and support  they need to be successful and compete with the best. Recently, UMBC alumni won three of 100 prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarships, for a total of four such Scholarships in the past two years.

Considered one of the world’s most selective academic awards, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship fully funds one to four years of graduate study in any field at Cambridge University. Other U.S. winners for 2008 included students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton and other prestigious universities. The award was established in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Simon Stacey, associate director of UMBC’s Honors College, said, “UMBC starts with two advantages in the hunt for prestigious scholarships: we produce students of the caliber of Philip, Simon and Ian, with the potential to win these very competitive awards; and we have faculty genuinely committed to student success and prepared to do everything necessary to support their efforts.

“At the Honors College, we oversee the application process from start to finish. We identify promising students and work with them to ensure that their applications and letters of recommendation and nomination show them in their best light. If they become finalists, we arrange mock interviews to help them prepare for the interview process,” Stacey said.

UMBC’s 2008 Gates Cambridge recipients:

Ian Ralby ’02 has received his second Gates Cambridge Scholarship in as many years. He graduated with both a B.A. in Modern Languages and Linguistics and a M.S. in Intercultural Communication from UMBC and was Class of 2002 valedictorian. Ralby’s first Gates Cambridge award funded his M.A. in International Relations; he will now pursue a Ph.D. in International Relations. While completing his J.D. at the College of William and Mary in 2005, he was part of a legal team that worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to provide legal research and support for the Iraqi High Tribunal as it prepared its legal case against Saddam Hussein.

Philip Graff ’08, physics and mathematics, will enter Cambridge’s Ph.D. in Physics program. As an undergraduate at UMBC, Graff created a computer model of quasar radiation and worked with one of the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), during a National Science Foundation fellowship at Caltech. His quasar work is the topic of a research paper currently under refereeing with the Astrophysical Journal.

Simon Gray ’08, chemical engineering, will pursue a M. Phil. in Advanced Chemical Engineering. Gray finished high school early and then came to UMBC, where he finished his bachelor’s degree in three years and was named Class of 2008 valedictorian. As an undergraduate, Gray was involved in numerous research projects, including an National Science Foundation-funded program in China. After completing his studies at Cambridge, Gray plans to attend medical school and earn a M.D./Ph.D.

Learn more about the Class of 2008.

Learn more about UMBC achievements.

(7/16/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

A Commitment to Community Service

Providing undergraduate and graduate students with community service experiences is a vital part of UMBC’s culture. The University has recently been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, which “recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs.” The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and is sponsored by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, the USA Freedom Corps and the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development. The only other Maryland institution to receive this designation award is Loyola College.

The honor recognizes UMBC’s commitment to community service and service-learning, as expressed in the University’s mission and vision. According to Michele Wolff, director of the Shriver Center, “We sought this recognition as a means to bring national attention to the extraordinary work and real, positive changes that result from the sustained and effective collaborations UMBC faculty, staff and students engage in with our non-profit, community and school-based partners locally, throughout our region and across the nation. These partnerships address issues identified by community members in issues areas such as illiteracy, juvenile delinquency, access to health-related resources and achievement gaps among underserved K-12 students in science and mathematics.

“It’s not only the external community that benefits from these efforts,” adds Wolff. “Preliminary assessment suggests that UMBC students who engage in these types of outreach initiatives succeed in college at higher rates than students who did not participate in similar applied experiences.”

Examples of UMBC community service programs include:

K-16 Partnerships: UMBC was one of six University System of Maryland institutions that were part of an inquiry-based science NSF-funded program in Montgomery County high schools. Faculty and students worked with teachers in and out of the classroom on a variety of projects. For example, Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, assisted by his students, worked with a teacher to develop a lesson plan about chaos theory. Other students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs worked with teachers in the classroom, bringing ideas for lessons and helping with labs. As a result of their experiences, several UMBC students decided to become teachers.

Field Trips: K-12 students, many of whom have never been on a college campus before, are regularly invited to come to UMBC to learn more about the college environment and that it is feasible that they can attend college. Students participate in hands-on labs, attend lectures and panel discussions, tour the campus and eat in the Dining Hall and The Commons.

Baltimore City STEM Partnerships: UMBC students assist National Academy Foundation-Baltimore High School students in preparing for assessment tests in algebra and English. The program is funded by Citi. At Federal Hill Preparatory, UMBC students assist teachers in incorporating more science content instruction and science enrollment programs into the school. The program at Federal Hill Preparatory receives funding from NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Spring Break Trips: UMBC students travel to a variety of cities to help residents in need. Students spent a week in New Orleans, helping to build homes, removing debris, participating in outreach programs in elementary schools and volunteering at an animal shelter in the ongoing relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Service trips such as this one are supported by UMBCServes, a campus-wide service organization coordinated through UMBC’s Office of Student Life, the Office of Residential Life, The Shriver Center, various student organizations, Athletics and Off-Campus Student Services.

Peaceworker Program: The Shriver Peaceworker Program supports a select group of returning Peace Corps volunteers as they pursue graduate degrees at UMBC, engage in community service and participate in ongoing ethical reflection and development. The goal is to educate and train a new generation of citizen leaders who are able to critically, creatively and responsibly address the complex economic, social and cultural problems confronting the United States—and in particular its cities—today. While nearly 85 percent of  Peaceworkers Fellows originally come from outside the Baltimore region, 60 percent have settled and remain engaged in service careers in local communities.

(7/21/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

An Advocate for Students

On Friday, July 11, UMBC junior Joshua Michael was sworn in as the University System of Maryland’s (USM) student regent.

Michael, who is studying political science and secondary education, says he has a passion for public education and has already served as a student representative or intern at a variety of institutions. He was the UMBC representative to the USM Student Council, a student commissioner on the Maryland Higher Education Commission and a student member of the Maryland State Board of Education. Michael also spent two summers as an intern in the Maryland State Department of Education’s Office of Academic Policy.  

“We are extremely proud of Josh,” said President Freeman Hrabowski. “It is a tremendous honor to be named student regent, and Josh has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and dedication to academic issues. He will be a strong advocate for all USM students.”

As a member of the Board of Regents, Michael will be directly involved with a number of issues, including accessibility and affordability in the USM. He is excited about working with student leaders at campuses throughout the System. “It is important to ensure that all students have a voice and access to resources,” he said. “We need to present a unified student voice on System and statewide issues.”

Michael added that he was pleased with the student response to the letter writing campaign to legislators during last year’s Special Session. “Students realized they can make an impact. It will be important to continue to express the needs of students to our representatives.”

After graduation, Michael says he would like to teach social studies and mathematics at a Baltimore City middle school. A member of UMBC’s Honors College and Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, this summer he is working as an intern at UMBC’s Shriver Center and coaching lacrosse for an intramural team of 9th and 10th graders.

Michael was nominated to the Board of Regents by Governor Martin O’Malley and confirmed in March by the Maryland Senate. He will serve a one-year term. As USM’s governing body, the Board of Regents is responsible for the system’s academic, administrative, and financial operations. In addition, the board formulates policy and appoints the USM chancellor and the presidents of the system’s 13 institutions.

Michael can be reached at joshmichael@umbc.edu.

Learn more about how UMBC undergraduates get involved on campus and off at www.umbc.edu/undergraduate.

(7/11/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

The Workshop

UMBC faculty started the summer with a five-day workshop in using digital storytelling in their classes. Ten participants in the "Train the Trainers" experience received intensive training in the creative and technical aspects of teaching digital storytelling in a variety of contexts. Ten additional participants had an opportunity to create stories during a two-day mini workshop aided by their own "personal trainer." The Center for Digital Storytelling returned for the third year to conduct the workshop. Here are the stories produced during the week.

This short video tells the story of the workshop itself.

The project is organized by the New Media Studio with additional funding from OIT.

The Stories

Protecting Privacy, Preventing Terror

What do your credit history, medical records and Flickr photo streams have in common with the 9-11 Commission?

A new, six-campus research effort, led by UMBC and funded by a five-year, $7.5 million Department of Defense grant sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, hopes to turn the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations for better sharing of classified intelligence data into a workable, secure technology network.

What makes the project unusual is that the researchers hope their work will both help prevent future terror attacks and boost information security and privacy for average citizens.

Many pieces of the 9-11 plot puzzle weren’t recognized until after the attacks due to inability or reluctance by intelligence agencies to share information. The 9-11 Commission Report recommended that the traditional U.S. intelligence culture of “need to know” be shifted to “need to share.” The challenge is getting the right information shared with the right people or agencies, while making sure that classified intel doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, foreign or domestic, or be misused.

The project is led by principal investigator and UMBC computer science professor Tim Finin, whose ebiquity research group specializes in deep data mining, security, privacy and new research frontiers of the Web, blogs, Twitter, social media and other areas. According to Finin, the new project should prove useful beyond the DOD sphere.

“There are plenty of real-world problems that we can work on that are not classified, such as balancing patient privacy with making sure the right doctor in an emergency can quickly access their medical records,” Finin said.

“Many of the principles of this research can apply to everyday scenarios where information is shared with the right people and protected from the wrong people, such as your location as determined by your cell phone, pictures from the family photo albums on Flickr or the details of your credit history.”

The UMBC team is partnered with researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas at Dallas. The grant was awarded as part of the Department of Defense’s Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program.

“We want to create the science behind the idea of need to share,” said Anupam Joshi, a key member of the ebiquity group and frequent research partner of Finin. “We’ll be weighing what should be shared with whom and asking if we can balance the utility of sharing something with the risk of its getting disclosed,” said Joshi.

The project will develop new ways for organizations and individuals to express policies for sharing information that can be automatically understood and enforced by information systems.  Such policies will go beyond existing data access control mechanisms and ‘digital rights management’ schemes in their power to include a wider range of situational constraints and the ability to specify limitations on how the data can be used.

Several other UMBC computer science faculty members will lend their datamining and information security expertise to the effort, including Hillol Kargupta, Yelena Yesha and Alan Sherman. Earlier this year, the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security renewed UMBC’s designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research for its focus on IT security research.

(7/7/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �