Mr. Mamadou Diallo, an ME S-STEM scholar, spent the past summer working as an engineering design and applications intern in Regal’s Power Transmission Division. As an intern in the coupling selections team, he was tasked with reviewing customer requests and selecting couplings that best met these applications. This required ensuring that selections are neither overemphasized or undersized, and that they meet regulations. His duty also included making engineering modifications of standard couplings as needed in order to meet specifications.

The experience has provided Mr. Diallo with opportunities to witness the value that power transmission provides in industries and to get familiar with regulations. Mr. Diallo feels that this was a very memorable, educational, and worthwhile internship to say the least. The great connections and friendships that were built with other interns and professional engineers throughout have made and will continue to make a positive lasting impact on his future career.

Are Students of Color Being Over- or Under-identified as Having Disabilities as they Attend U.S. Schools?

Paul Morgan, Penn State University

September 20th, 4-5pm, Commons 329

Federal special education legislation and regulations require U.S. schools to monitor for significant disproportionality in the extent to which students of color are identified as having disabilities.  Yet evidence for the directionality of these disparities using student-level data has, until recently, been lacking.  I survey new empirical findings from a series of analyses of student-level, nationally representative datasets designed to evaluate whether the over-representation of students of color in special education is explained by over-identification based on race or ethnicity.  Collectively, and contrary to federal legislation and policy, this new evidence suggests that students of color are less likely to be identified as having disabilities while attending U.S. schools than similarly situated white or English-speaking students.  Implications of these findings are discussed.

Thank you to the Office of the Dean of CAHSS, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Center for Social Science Scholarship for their support of the seminar series.  

Upcoming talks:

Mispredicting Behaviors of Racial and Ethnic Minority Group Members: Evidence from Signal Detection Theory in Three Social Policy Domains

Jeryl Mumpower, Texas A&M University

September 27th, 12-1pm, Public Policy 451

Misallocation and Intersectoral Linkages

Sophie Osotimehin, University of Quebec, Montreal

October 11th, 12-1pm, Public Policy 451

The Ideological Politics of Charter Schools

Richard Blissett, Seton Hall University

October 15th, 4-5pm, Public Policy 367

Lessons from NYC's Small Schools of Choice about High School Features that Promote Graduation for Disadvantaged Students

Howard Bloom, MDRC

October 22^nd, 12-1pm, Public Policy 367

Exposure to International Trade and Mortality

Alexander F. McQuoid, U.S. Naval Academy

November 1^st, 12-1pm, Public Policy 451

HIV Treatment as Economic Stimulus: Community Spillover Effects of Mass ART Provision in Rural South Africa 
Zoe McLaren, UMBC School of Public Policy

November 5^th, 12-1pm, Public Policy 451

Using the National Intimate and Sexual Violence Survey to Explore Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Individuals

Lynn Addington, American University

November 29^th, 12-1pm, Public Policy 451

Cameron Walkup will earn his B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies, with a Legal Policy Minor, in May, 2020. He just returned from spending eight weeks in the Grand Canyon National Park as a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar.

List any Scholars/Honors programs you are a part of: Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, Honors College

Title of your research project: Applying Lessons from Canyon de Chelly and Bears Ears National Monuments to Equitable Co-management of Grand Canyon National Park

Describe your project: Drawing from management policies at Canyon de Chelly and Bears Ears National Monuments, I proposed methods for the National Park Service and the Grand Canyon’s 11 historically associated tribal nations to co-manage Grand Canyon National Park.

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? Why did you choose them? My mentor was Dr. Melissa Mark, Director of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (DDCSP) at Northern Arizona University. I connected with Dr. Mark after being accepted into the DDCSP, a two-year environmental leadership program which began this summer with an eight-week immersion program in the Southwest. I also worked closely with Dr. Ed Grumbine, Mr. Deon Ben, and Ms. Maria Archibald, staff members at the Grand Canyon Trust.

How did you become interested in this project? This summer I had the opportunity to interact with a variety of experts and stakeholders, including land managers and indigenous people. Learning about the history of public lands and native dispossession (every National Park/Forest/Monument, and indeed all land in the United States, was the land of indigenous people until it was taken by force or farce), led me to investigate current efforts to involve Native Americans in the management of their historic lands. I visited both Canyon De Chelly and Bears Ears National Monument during the DDCSP and learned that they are pioneering examples of federal-tribal co-management. After hearing that the Grand Canyon has similar if not more extensive connections to Native American nations, I decided to examine how Canyon de Chelly and Bears Ears could inform more equitable management of the Grand Canyon.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?  The hardest part of this research project was synthesizing the information and conducting additional research within a condensed timeframe. After gathering information and meeting with stakeholders for the first seven weeks of the program, the research project had to be completed within just the last week. Despite the time restrictions, I was happy with how quickly it came together and its clarity.

What has been the most rewarding part? The most rewarding part was being able to tie together distinct ideas and propose solutions to a critical issue. Federal-tribal co-management has only been enacted at a few public land units, so it was exciting to look into a new school of thought and suggest how it could be implemented at arguably the most well-known park in the United States.

How will you disseminate your research (URCAD presentation, conference, publication, etc?) At the end of my program I participated in a poster presentation session with the other members of my cohort. I am currently exploring opportunities to refine my research for further dissemination.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?  Take any opportunity you can to do research. Apply for as many programs as you can and reach out to professors on campus for opportunities here at UMBC. Even if a program or internship is not explicitly focused on research, if you take the initiative you can create a research project out of it.

What are your career goals?After graduation, I plan to pursue a dual degree in law and environmental studies. Then I hope to take on a career in environmental law, focusing on equitable public lands management. 

If you are interested in being recognized as a Researcher of the Week, please contact Dr. April Householder: aprilh@umbc.edu

Assistant Professor Position in Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering at UMBC