Veterans Day is observed each year on November 11 to honor the brave men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The date marks the armistice that ended World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Originally known as Armistice Day, it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all who have served, past and present. This day reminds us to reflect with gratitude on their courage, sacrifice, and love of country, and to continue striving for the peace and freedom they fought to protect.

At UMBC, the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) program offers dedicated support to student veterans. A partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, VITAL connects student veterans with VA mental health professionals and essential resources to help them thrive academically and personally.

VITAL can assist with:

• Enrollment in VA healthcare

• Navigating VA and non-VA resources

• Academic accommodations

• Advocacy for student veterans

• Clinical services for challenges such as stress, sleep problems, attention issues, anxiety, depression, and PTSD

The Student Disability Services (SDS) office proudly supports our student veterans by ensuring equitable access to education. Whether you are navigating service-connected disabilities or seeking classroom and testing accommodations, SDS is here to help. Our team is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every veteran can thrive, succeed, and feel supported throughout their time at UMBC.

In addition, UMBC's Retriever Integrated Health (RIH) is here to support all students' mental health needs, offering a range of counseling, wellness, and psychiatric services in a safe and inclusive environment.

Support is here. You are not alone.

To learn more or connect with VITAL, visit  veterans.umbc.edu. Resources – Veteran and Military Affiliated Services – UMBC

The User Experience Committee will be meeting next week, Tuesday November 18th 1330-1430 in room 401 of the Physics Building, to have its second meeting of the Fall semester. We encourage all users to attend, especially non-PI users (including but not limited to: undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral students, etc.)

What is the User Experience Committee?

The User Experience Committee is a new committee created by the Shared Infrastructure Governance group dedicated to addressing training, support, and accessibility of research computing infrastructure at UMBC. Beyond discussion of structured user support and experience questions, the SIG User Experience Committee will provide an open forum for users to share insights, identify areas for improvement, and help guide enhancements that best support the needs of the computational research community.

Steps to Address Feedback of Last Meeting

Based on feedback from our last meeting, we are improving communication and usability for Chip users. We have more clearly announced the new SIG User Experience committee and are refactoring relevant wiki pages for better clarity. We are planning an HPC Workshop Series for the Spring semester and will begin posting reminders before office hours. We've also improved the RT form by adding wiki links and are working with the RT team to streamline PI group selection. Posting AI tooling costs publicly is not permitted by DoIT.

If you have feedback you would like to give PLEASE join us at next week's SIG User Experience Meeting!