Do you identify as a first-generation student? Are you a sophomore, junior, or senior interested in supporting freshman first-generation students within your major of study or interest area? If you answered “yes” to either of those questions, this is an opportunity that you may be interested in.

In collaboration with the First-Generation Network, Off-Campus Student Services is incredibly excited to announce the First-Generation Peer Mentoring Program (FGPMP). FGPMP is designed to support the success of current first-time and full-time first-generation students at UMBC. Students that take part in this program can expect to meet other first-generation students and become a part of a large, supportive community that works to share resources, find lasting friendships and connections, and create an impactful college experience. We are looking for students from each of the different colleges at UMBC to support other first-generation students in acclimating to and thriving through the experience of being a Retriever.

Participants of the FGPMP will have the opportunity to take part in a series of activities and workshops designed to enrich students both personally and professionally. Some additional benefits of taking part in the FGPMP include:

• Developing transferable and marketable skills to enhance professional experience

• Cultivation of leadership, self-management, and organizational skills

• Improved communication and interpersonal skills

• Greater self-efficacy and self-awareness

• An increased network of support

• Expanding your resume

If you’re interested in serving as a mentor for the FGPMP, please click here to fill out the application. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. M. Antonio Silas at silas@umbc.edu. Thank you very much and we hope you’ll consider being a part of this incredibly important program.

[Shared from the CNMS Advising myUMBC group]

Did you know that every student at UMBC has an assigned academic advisor?

For most students, this will be a professor in your academic major department. Others will work with a professional (full-time) advisor, at least until they have reached their junior year or selected a major (in the case of our office who work with undecided/exploratory students).

Something a bit unique to UMBC is that all students are required to meet with their advisor at least once a semester, prior to registration.

But let’s back up a bit. What exactly is academic advising?

An academic advisor’s role is to assist you in planning your academic career at UMBC. You can talk to your advisor about:

• Your adjustment to college
• Major and career choices
• Course selection and long-term academic planning
• Academic difficulty
• Academic “extras” such as minors, internships, study abroad, etc.

Planning to attend the Career Center’s virtual fall Career and Internship Fair on Wednesday, September 23^rd?  If so, you will want to arrive well prepared! The Career Center is here to help!

The following micro-sessions are designed to prepare you on how to make a good first impression and pique the interest of the recruiters you meet and teach you about how to create an eye-catching resume!

 Micro Session: How to Write a Stand-out Resume
(PDF of presentation attached.)

Micro Session: Perfect Your Pitch (30-Second Commercial)
(PDF of presentation attached.)

Interested in having your resume reviewed before the Fall Virtual Career & Intern Fair? 
Feel free to make a virtual one-on-one appointment with a member of the Career Center via UMBCworks.

 Don’t forget to register for the UMBC Career Fair here!

You can find these as well as other Career Fair Tips & Best Practices  here.

 See you at the fair!

Today marks the first day of Involvement Fest, also known as I-Fest, and your best chance to become connected to one or more of the 230+ student organizations at UMBC! Student  organizations will be available to meet with you daily starting today, Tuesday, September 8, until Friday, September 11, from noon to 2 p.m. 

Student organizations are excited to share information with you and welcome new members! Each day, different categories of student organizations will be featured for you to connect with and potentially join. The organizations will be hosting live video rooms through Webex Teams. You can download Webex Teams at https://www.webex.com/downloads.html or you can use the web browser version. If you would like to learn more and participate, please visit the Involvement Fest website at https://welcomeweek.umbc.edu/involvement-fest/.

Alizay Rizvi is a senior Biological Sciences major, and a URA Scholar.

Title of your research project: Characterizing the gene regulatory networks controlling planarian fission. 

Describe your project: Planarians are worms that can reproduce asexually by undergoing fission, a poorly-understood process that results into two separate pieces each regenerating a complete new worm. The overall goal of my project is to characterize the genes that control planarian fission behavior. The specific aims include the design of a protocol to obtain planarian worms that are about to fission and experimentally analyze their gene expression patterns with in situ hybridization assays. These results will allow me to characterize the genes controlling planarian fission and validate a mechanistic model of this size-dependent behavior.

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? My mentor for this project is Dr. Daniel Lobo.

How did you become interested in this project?

I was reading about the research being conducted in Dr.Lobos lab on the biological sciences building, and the work really stood out to me. I was fascinated by the phenomenon being studied and was interested in getting involved,

taking part in the research, and getting a deeper understanding of planarian regeneration. 

 What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? My research has just begun, therefore, I have not hit any roadblocks yet. However, the hardest part about research in general is not getting the results you expected which forces you to come up with alternative explanations. 

What has been the most rewarding part? The most rewarding part has been the knowledge I have gained as a result of the literature review I have conducted as well as through wet lab experiments. 

How will you disseminate your research? I plan on disseminating my research through an URCAD presentation, professional conferences and potentially a journal paper. 

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? My advice to anyone looking to get involved in research would be to look for something that interests you, & you would like to learn more about. There’s something out there for everyone, you just have to explore your options! 

What are your career goals? My long term career goal is to work as a pediatric neurologist. I plan on attending medical school & further specializing in order to achieve my career goals. 

[Originally posted on the Undergraduate Research myUMBC group]