The UMBC economics department has received a $1.3 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to increase the number of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who complete highly competitive doctoral programs in economics. This five-year program will support students through scholarships, mentoring, research experiences, and, finally, entry into post-graduation programs specializing in doctoral preparation.

“This grant will help increase the diversity of the profession. The students in the program will go on to become academic economists who will, in turn, inspire future generations of underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities,” explains David Mitch, director of the new program and economics department chair, who said he was thrilled by the news.

Through this grant, UMBC will become a partner in a larger effort by the Sloan Foundation to provide resources to diversify the field of economics by creating interventions from the undergraduate level through the post-baccalaureate level. The UMBC program prepares students to apply for and participate in a two-year post-graduation paid fellowship in Sloan-supported programs at New York University, Harvard University, or other highly selective institutions. UMBC will become an integral part of establishing a national pipeline for underrepresented students to understand, get excited about, and pursue careers in economics.

Top tier economics graduate programs require rigorous academic preparation often well beyond the traditional economics major, including coursework in high-level math courses. This coursework, which students are often unaware of until their junior year, is a major barrier to many students, including those from underrepresented groups. UMBC’s program will help students overcome this and other challenges by focusing on recruitment efforts, educating students about opportunities in economics, intensive personalized mentoring, and placement in high-quality and prestigious research experiences at academic and other partner institutions. The most involved students will also have the chance to receive scholarships during their senior year and help to apply and pay for post-baccalaureate programs. This program helps UMBC provide financial support but also the infrastructure needed for underrepresented minority students to succeed in managing the social and academic demands of a rigorous Ph.D. program.

Across the nation, a host of academic fields including economics lack ethnic and racial diversity. Surveys by the American Economic Association indicate that fewer than ten percent of newly minted Ph.D.s in economics or related areas are earned by underrepresented minorities. For 2015, the American Economics Association reported that only two percent of new Ph.D.s that year were awarded to African American students and six percent to Hispanic/Latino students. If the percentage of African Americans completing Ph.D. degrees in economics were to increase by just one percentage point, the number of African Americans entering the job market would more than double.

UMBC, with its national reputation for inclusive excellence and the academic success of diverse students, is the ideal university to join the larger Sloan initiative. UMBC’s economics department has already begun creating a more supportive institutional culture by providing undergraduates with rigorous coursework and high-level internship and research opportunities. They also work closely with the math department to evaluate how to design or adapt courses to make the process easier for students to navigate. The department also has a history of success helping underrepresented students gain admittance to post-baccalaureate and doctoral programs in economics at NYU, Duke University, MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago, some of whom have already indicated an interest in being a resource or mentor for new students in the Sloan-supported program.

Brandon Enriquez ’17, economics and mathematics, is among them. A current student in the Ph.D. program at MIT, he didn’t know anyone with a Ph.D. before coming to UMBC. He agrees, “UMBC is an ideal place to cultivate new diverse scholars in economics because of its strength in math.”

He acknowledges that there weren’t other students of color going on to competitive economics Ph.D. programs and he found it extremely valuable to work with Isaiah Andrews, a professor of color in the economics department at MIT. “It helps to have a role model who is a person of color in economics that knows what kinds of challenges there can be and how to adjust,” explains Enriquez. “UMBC is very strong in the STEM fields and has a proven record with Dr. Hrabowski and the Meyerhoff Program of cultivating minority Ph.D.s.”

M’Balou Camara ’15, political science, is currently a student at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy Ph.D. program, with a concentration in economics. For Camara, the Ph.D. Excellence Initiative (PHDEI) at NYU was a bridge between where she was and where she wanted to be. “I wanted to get more hands-on research experience and hone my mathematical skills,” she said. Working with NYU professor Peter Blair Henry “made me a more competitive candidate and able to manage the rigor and course load of my first year of graduate school.”

Camara is clear, though, that success is not only skills dependent. Having the support of mentors of color at UMBC, NYU, and Duke has been crucial to her success. “It is really important to me to have people of color that I can look up to, come to, and connect with me on that level. It can be hard to understand what you are capable of doing if you don’t see a lot of people in this higher level of academia that look like you being successful,” she said,

Camara hopes mentor future women of color economists in a way similar to the mentorship she received from Jacqueline Hrabrowski as a Jacqueline C. Hrabowski Endowment recipient. She says, “I can inspire people like me to go through with a dream in academia.”

Banner image: UMBC Winter Commencement 2016. Photo by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

Greetings LSAMP Community!

The College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin welcomes applications for their summer undergraduate research program (SURE). 

Program Dates:  May 29-August 4, 2018

Compensation:  $5000 stipend, transportation to and from the program, lodging for the program, and food allowance. 

Deadline:  Placements begin January 15, 2018, with an absolute deadline of February 15, 2018.

For more information including eligibility restrictions, please visit the website here. 

For additional information you can contact:

Kelly Burton

SURE Program Director

College of Engineering

University of Wisconsin Madison

kelly.burton@wisc.edu or (608­)263­-4583

GRADUATE STUDENTS & BEYOND
Complex Systems Summer School (CSSS)

June 10 – July 6, 2018
Applications Accepted: Now through January 29, 2018

The SFI Complex Systems Summer School (CSSS) offers an intensive 4-week introduction to complex behavior in mathematical, physical, living, and social systems. Lectures are taught by the faculty of the Santa Fe Institute (SFI). The school is for students and professionals seeking to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and ask big questions about real-world complex systems.

The program consists of an intensive series of lectures, labs, and discussion sessions focusing on foundational concepts, tools, and current topics in complexity science. Participants collaborate in developing novel research projects throughout the 4 weeks of the program that culminate in final presentations and papers.

Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professionals are eligible to apply. Women and members of underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

More Information and to Apply: santafe.edu/CSSS

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Graduate Workshop in Computational Social Science (GWCSS) 

June 17 – June 29, 2018
Applications Accepted: Now through February 13, 2018

The workshop brings together a group of advanced graduate students and a small faculty for an intensive two-week study of computational social science. The workshop will consist of lectures by faculty, seminars by members of the Santa Fe Institute, and presentations of work in progress by graduate student participants.

The primary goal of the summer workshop is to assist graduate students pursuing research agendas which include a computational modeling component. A significant portion of the workshop will be devoted to analyzing and improving research being conducted by the graduate student participants.

Current graduate students are eligible to apply. Women and members of underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

More Information and to Apply: santafe.edu/GWCSS

• WAVE Fellows Program Webinar, November 15, 11:00 am PST, Register
• Amgen Scholars Program Webinar, November 16, 11:00 am PST, Register

WAVE FELLOWS PROGRAM

The WAVE Fellows program provides support for talented undergraduates intent on pursuing a Ph.D. to conduct a 10-week summer research project at Caltech.

AMGEN SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Caltech’s Amgen Scholars Program is geared towards students in biology, chemistry, and biotechnology fields. Some of these fields include biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, medical engineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and chemistry.

APPLY here-
https://troweprice.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/TRowePrice/job/Baltimore-MD/PhD-Intern_31615
Our mission as a leading investment management firm is to help our clients achieve their long-term financial goals. We believe our associates are the key to this mission and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our commitment to our client’s success.

If you’re looking for challenging work experiences and the ability to learn in a collaborative culture, we invite you to explore the opportunities available at T. Rowe Price.

PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE POSITION
The summer intern will support the Multi-Asset Research Team by conducting financial and quantitative/statistical analysis usually at the asset class level, covering the areas of strategic and tactical asset allocation, financial planning research, data/infrastructure, and product design projects as needed.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Independently, or in collaboration with other quantitative or technical analysts, under the guidance of the Director of Research, execute research projects that have been identified to meet the investment needs of the broader Multi-Asset Division:
Identify the core issue and shape/design the project
Identify and absorb existing research on the subject (internal or external)
Identify (and procure) the most appropriate method/tool/dataset to address the issue

Execute operational duties, such as ongoing generation and maintenance of asset allocation related investment reports, data sets, or analytical infrastructure.

Perform data analysis and information gathering in response to ad hoc inquiries.

QUALIFICATIONS
Required
Must be a Ph.D. candidate expected to graduate in May ’19 majoring in a quantitative discipline
Strong academic credentials and evidence of ability to independently deliver results
Experience programming in Matlab, Splus/R, Python, and SQL
Experience conducting empirical research working with large datasets
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; willingness to learn new approaches to problem-solving
Ability to work independently as well as a part of a team
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Ability to multi-task and to simultaneously push forward several projects

Preferred
Interest in financial markets
Knowledge of investments, portfolios, and quantitative analysis

Graduate Program in Life Sciences and

Office of Postdoctoral Scholars

Career and Professional Development

presents

“Tools for Industry Careers” Series

Featuring Brad Fackler, Senior Director of the Office of BioHealth and Life Science at the State of Maryland Department of Commerce

Brad Fackler joined the State of Maryland Commerce in Spring 2016 with over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.  He was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to further the growth of the biotechnology sector in the state of Maryland.  Previously, Mr. Fackler served as CEO of Cellona Therapeutics, a technology transfer company focused on the oncology sector.  He was also co-founder and principal of Kinect Point, which provides consulting to biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Please register for sessions in this series to learn about the necessary tools to succeed in Industry!  Click the links below to register via Eventbrite.

“Tools for Industry Careers” Series

Sessions in Howard Hall 450 from 1:30-3:30 pm

December 4th: Negotiating Offers and Making the Transition

December 18th: The Organization of Business

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Public Health Student Intern Program (PHSIP) is looking for an intern from your program.

HRSA’s Office of Human Resources (OHR) is the hiring entity looking for an intern.  OHR  provides a variety of in-house services to all of the HRSA, including but not limited to: selection, recruitment, benefits, ethics, training, etc.  The internship focus would vary depending on placement within OHR but would be focused on developing the intern to accomplish special assignments during their internship.

HRSA’s mission is to “improve health care access and quality, promote best practices and eliminate health disparities.  HRSA programs serve everyone from infants to the elderly, to assure that people in the U.S. have access to a broad range of essential personal and public health services. With more than 90 programs supported and 3,000 grantees, HRSA supports hands-on health care, clinician training, research and more.”  HRSA is located in Rockville, MD less than a mile away from Twinbrook Metro station (Red Line).  Click here to learn more about HRSA.

HRSA’s PHSIP is an unpaid internship opportunity that serves to provide career exploration in the federal government, shadowing, valuable experience, and academic credit as approved by the academic institution to students across a variety of disciplines.  Internship terms are flexible and can vary depending on the needs of the academic institution and the intern.  The PHSIP operates on a rolling and continuous basis, and internships can start/end throughout the year.  Each intern will be assigned to a preceptor for supervision and mentoring purposes.  Interns must be currently enrolled, students.  Internships are limited to 6 month periods.   Please visit this site for more information about HRSA’s Public Health Student Internship Program (PHSIP): https://www.hrsa.gov/about/jobs/internprogram.html .  Applicants with Industrial/Organizational Psychology or other related education are preferred.

Please share with any applicable students, your coordinators, career services, anyone else you see fit.  Interested students should apply by completing the attached application form, which can also be found on online here.  Please submit applications with the subject line: HRSA OHR Internship.