Happy First Day of Classes new and returning Retrievers! The Academic Success Center is excited to see our wonderful campus bustling again with the excitement of a new year!

To kick this school year off right, here are some exciting events and information to keep in mind:

Wednesday, August 26th @12 PM: Please join us and the Library for our partnered event, Escape! AOK Library on Wednesday, August 26th, from 12 PM - 2 PM in the AOK Library. Solve the puzzles and riddles in our service areas to find the clues to the weird happenings in the Library. 

Thursday, August 27th @4:00 PM: New Undergraduate Students are invited to drop by the Academic Success Center, Library first floor, and learn about the services and resources available from the Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Drop by, have some ice cream, and learn about services and resources provided by our division

Monday, August 31st @11 AM: Academic Skills Meetings and Academic Peer Advocacy Meetings will start for the Fall semester. Book online via our Academic Success Center website, through Traccloud.

Friday, September 4th: The last day to make changes to your schedule, last day to change your grading method (Regular, Audit,Pass/Fail), and the last day to drop a course without a W grade recorded on your transcript.

Monday, September 6th All Day : CAMPUS IS CLOSED FOR A HOLIDAY

Tuesday, September 8th @11 AM: All Academic Success Center peer support services (tutoring, writing center, SI PASS, etc..) will be open and available for scheduling and support. Please visit our website and book via Traccloud

Women in Economics (WiE) is a UMBC club dedicated to sustaining and growing women's representation within UMBC's economics department while fostering an inclusive, supportive community of peers.
WiE is also proud to announce an official collaboration with the Women in Economics Initiative, an international women's association, marking their first-ever partnership in the United States. Through this relationship, our members gain access to valuable professional resources and a built-in mentorship program. 
Come visit us at Involvement Fest, and follow our Instagram to receive updates about meeting dates and events!

Hi everyone,

I am a male master’s student looking to fill an open room. If you have an available room you can email me at kd17574@umbc.edu, or comment here and I can get in contact with you.

• I prefer a clean environment, I vaccume weekly and do dishes right after using them, but am okay really with whatever.
• I am looking at range $650-$750 a month but can be a little more flexible
• I don't mind whether its quiet or noisy, I tend to be quiter and get earlier nights around 11:30-12:00

Best,
Connor

Welcome back to campus!

We hope you had a wonderful summer!!

Happy Fall Semester! The campus is buzzing again, and The George and Betsy Sherman Center is so excited to see everyone back on campus.

Whether you're stepping into your very first college lecture, grabbing a bite at the Commons, or heading into your final year, a fresh semester brings brand-new energy, big goals, and endless possibilities.

Take a breath, support your fellow Retrievers, and make time to enjoy the journey this fall. We're cheering you on every step of the way!

The Microcredential Review Board (MRB) will hold five review cycles in Fall 2026. If you are developing a new microcredential proposal or preparing one for review, please plan around the submission deadlines below.

The proposal submission dates are the key dates to remember. Each proposal submitted by a deadline will enter the corresponding MRB review cycle.

Fall 2026 Review Schedule

• FA2026-1
  • Proposal submission deadline: August 28
  • MRB review: August 31–September 18
  • Decision deadline: September 23
• FA2026-2
  • Proposal submission deadline: September 18
  • MRB review: September 21–October 9
  • Decision deadline: October 14
• FA2026-3
  • Proposal submission deadline: October 9
  • MRB review: October 14–November 6
  • Decision deadline: November 11
• FA2026-4
  • Proposal submission deadline: November 6
  • MRB review: November 9–December 4
  • Decision deadline: December 9
• FA2026-5
  • Proposal submission deadline: December 4
  • MRB review: December 7–December 23
  • Decision deadline: January 6, 2027

What does the MRB review?

The MRB is UMBC’s primary governance body for microcredential quality assurance. It reviews formal microcredential proposals to ensure alignment with institutional standards, UMBC’s microcredential taxonomy, and the UMBC Microcredential Evaluation Rubric.

The rubric comprises 12 criteria across six standards: About the Microcredential, Learning Context, Alignment, External Relevance, Stackability, and Rationale. Reviewers provide written feedback and evaluate each applicable criterion as “meets,” “meets with minor revisions,” “does not meet,” or “not applicable.”

A proposal must meet at least 85% of applicable criteria, or be recommended with minor revisions, to be added to the microcredentials portfolio and issued to eligible earners.

Add the MRB Calendar

Want the review dates on your calendar? You can add the MRB calendar to Google Calendar.

More Information

Do you have other questions about the MRB or microcredentials at UMBC? Check us out on the web, review our FAQs, or submit a ticket to contact the DCI team directly.

Md Badrul Hasan, Ph.D. ’26, mechanical engineering, has been selected to receive the prestigious Urmila and Karman Ghia Graduate Student Scholar Award. Hasan presented his work at the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) Fluid Engineering Division’s Summer Conference held July 26-29, 2026, in Bellevue, Washington. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ASME Fluid Engineering Division. 
Photo: Badrul (at the center) receives the FED 2026 Urmila and Karman Ghia Graduate Student Scholar Award at the ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting in Bellevue, Washington, July 2026. He is joined by Ning Zhang, Chair of the ASME Fluids Engineering Division, and Kevin Anderson, Vice Chair. (Photo courtesy of Badrul)

Hasan was recognized for his recent paper, "A Baseline Aposteriori Evaluation of Machine Learning Predicted Eddy Viscosity Fields in Mesoscale Hurricane Boundary Layer Simulations," co-authored with his faculty mentors, Meilin Yu, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Tim Oates, professor of computer science and electrical engineering. This work addresses the long-standing challenge of hurricane modeling: standard weather models cannot resolve the small turbulent swirls inside a storm, and instead relies on simplified formulas that apply one fixed setting across the entire hurricane. This approach can smooth out critical energy-containing structures within the storm, and lead to prediction uncertainty.

Hasan trained a physics-constrained machine learning model to adapt local model parameters to the flow conditions at each location within the storm. While purely data-driven machine learning models often become unstable in real-world simulations, Hasan’s configurations remained numerically stable throughout the demanding tests. This achievement is a crucial first step toward making these advanced models useful for atmospheric forecasting, Hasan says. 

The work was supported by a 2025-26 College of Engineering and Information Technology Interdisciplinary Proposal award. Hasan presented this research at COEIT Research Day from 2024 through 2026, most recently receiving the 2026 Doctoral Student Award in the Foundations and Applications of Artificial Intelligence category.

“As Badrul's Ph.D. advisor, it has been incredibly rewarding to watch him grow from a new graduate student into an independent researcher in the field of physics-informed machine learning,” says Yu. “I look forward to seeing Badrul continue to advance the field and make lasting contributions to physics-informed machine learning and computational fluid dynamics.”

As part of the award, Hasan will serve on the Computational Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee for the coming year. Following his graduation from UMBC, he will join the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University as a postdoctoral researcher. He will work on an Office of Naval Research-funded project focused on predicting real-time changes to shorelines during storms.

If you are interested in applying your writing and legal analysis skills to a campus-led initiative, look no further than the Associate Editor position for the Pre-Law Review.

Your duties will include:

• Conducting first-round edits
• Working hands-on with writers
• Performing primary cite-checking
• Committing approximately 2-8 hours a week
• You MUST be a sophomore/junior/senior to apply!

If this sounds like the job for you, please fill out the following form no later than August 28th at 11:59 pm: http://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevW2HsvYYlSKSFZZhQga7rRAPm7-b1egBQ-JrdXJC_gPCgxA/viewform 

Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram: @umbc.prelawreview to stay updated on events, opportunities, and to read our Spring 2026 issue!

Happy first day of classes!

The first week of classes marks the start of a new semester filled with opportunities for learning, growth, and success. As students settle into their courses, the Office of Disability Access and Resources encourages students with approved accommodations to plan ahead and take the necessary steps to ensure their accommodations are ready for the semester.

Taking action early helps create a smoother semester and allows students, faculty, and DAAR staff to work together collaboratively to support an accessible and inclusive learning environment. Students should remember to:

• Submit semester accommodation requests through the DAAR student portal (Accommodate) to have their letters sent out
• Review your approved accommodations and request a meeting with staff if your support needs have changed
• Schedule accommodated testing with DAAR in advance
• Stay informed about important deadlines, timelines, and accommodation requirements

For detailed instructions, resources, and support, visit our website. Planning and staying connected with DAAR helps students start the semester prepared and make the most of their academic experience.

Wishing all UMBC Retrievers a successful and accessible semester!

#UMBC #UMBCRetrievers #FirstWeekOfClasses #NewSemester #UMBCStudents #Accessibility #DisabilityResources #StudentSuccess #UMBCDAAR

The Fall semester has begun and we are excited to serve you! Please see attached our Fall Hours of Operations - for more information, visit our Dine on Campus website. 

Dine on Campus