On Saturday, Sept. 22, singer-songwriter Rachel Joy Pletts played an acoustic set at Brasserie Brightwell, a French bistro in Easton, Maryland. Pletts performed a quick sound check around 8 p.m. while tuning her guitar and jokingly asking the audience if she sounded shrill, the first of the many interactions from the artist throughout the show.

Pletts played her set on the patio outside, and while the setting was more than fitting frequent traffic often would drown out the music. Luckily her amplifier remedied this problem preventing the entire show from being lost to ambient noise.

Pletts started with a set on the piano, playing an original song titled, “Every Little Place I Go.” Frequent interaction with the crowd was well received and created a friendly atmosphere that made the audience feel right at home. Pletts proudly noted that she is a folk musician, and that this was her second time playing this venue.

Although Pletts proclaims herself to be a folk musician, her arrangements and talkative nature gave her performance a more singer/songwriter feel. After playing another original composition, “With You When You Leave,” she plugged that she was raising money for her new album. To date she has released only one album, but announced that her new second album is to be titled “Mercy Was a Hard Hard Year.”

She shared that people who were affected by Hurricane Harvey and Irma directly influenced the new album, and shared her perceived connection with their heartbreak. In fact, those who live in Florida or Houston can get a download of the album for free. Pletts made it abundantly clear how much she values her fans.

Afterwards, she played a cover of the song “Cover Me Up” by Jason Isbell, followed by two original compositions, “Burn Me Down” and “Good Faith.” Once she finished performing these two songs, she picked up an acoustic guitar and told the audience about a Kickstarter fund (with a goal of $15,000) for the release of her new album.

Following the plug of her album, she debuted a song “Catarina,” from her new album. Her interactions with the audience felt both natural and intimate. One such interaction included sharing a story about how her friend from Texas told her that they learned how to dance in gym class there. She humorously commented that she “was born in the wrong state.”

This information led into two more original compositions, “Take Me Dancing” and “Buy the Sea,” which tells a story about a little girl who wants to buy the sea for two pennies. “The Good Son,” another original tune, contained heavy Simon and Garfunkel influence.

Following this set, she returned to the piano with an almost unrecognizable cover of “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World. “I love it when songs are performed in an entirely different genre than which they originated,” she stated to the audience. After performing another original song, “Monster” and a show stopping cover of “Say Something” by A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera, she took a break.

The musical subjects that Pletts uses as focal points for her art are both personal and universal, making her relatable to others. While Pletts occasionally has a backing band, they did not accompany her during this performance. The highlights of the night were “The Good Son” and her refreshing cover of “The Middle,” both of which capture the zenith of her vocal range and playing abilities.

Originally from New York state, Pletts moved to New York City in hopes of becoming a singer/songwriter musician. After releasing her first EP, she moved to Annapolis. Earlier this year, she recorded her first album. She currently resides in a five hundred square-foot house in Preston, Maryland.

She cited her influences as Adele, Janis Joplin, Grace Potter, Pink and Nora Jones. Her guitar songs as a whole were more memorable than her piano songs and an acoustic performance from Pletts is a pleasant reminder of how intimate and personal concerts can be at a smaller venue. With a down to earth personality and strong vocals, Pletts definitely has the potential to make it big.

The UMBC 2017-2018 Homecoming Comedy Show featuring Trevor Noah and sponsored by the Student Events Board was the largest homecoming comedy show put on in recent memory, a show of magnitude to rival Quadmania, which is held each year in the spring and is the largest recurring student life event held on our campus.

Tickets for the show, held in the RAC, sold out a little more than a week before the Oct. 13 show and were on sale for more than a month before the show. However planning for, preparing and organizing the event took countless more hours on the part of SEB, The Office of Student Life and many others throughout campus.

By 8 p.m., the line to get into the RAC stretched down Academic Row, doubled back and continued to snake in order to make room for the sold out crowd, but a few hours beforehand, when the line was only a few dedicated fans long, I spoke to Kaitlyn Smith, the Graduate Assistant for Student Events, about the intense planning and preparation that went into making the show a success.

Smith, a media and communications alumna from the class of 2017 and past president of seb, says that she and her team had been confident from the beginning about bringing Trevor Noah to campus for the 2017-18 Homecoming. What made the decision and the entire process easy was the early planning that was involved, with talk of getting Trevor Noah to UMBC starting as early as the fall of the 2016-17 academic year.  Plans were made so far in advance that both her and the organization did not even consider having a back-up act.

Smith was also able to say with confidence that they knew the show would be a success and were able to (correctly) predict that the show would sell out. For Smith, the goal of SEB is to do what the students want, a mission that is accomplished by keeping all students in mind when putting together both large and small events on and around campus.

With the event being as large as it was, it was no surprise that safety was a major consideration. Ten campus police officers — the largest number of officers at any student event on campus other than Quadmania —  worked at the event, in addition to campus security and event staff, to keep everyone safe and the event running smoothly.

While a sold-out crowd may give the impression that the show sold itself, speaking with Nada Ibrahim, a sophomore Health and Administration and Information Systems double major, suggests that seb’s marketing strategies reach as many students as possible.

It is not surprising that some of the most powerful tools SEB has at their disposal are social media platforms, of which Ibrahim states Facebook and Instagram are the most useful in advertising events put on by SEB, as an overwhelming majority of students are linked to these sites.  However, Ibrahim shared that seb still takes advantage of more traditional means of advertising such as flyers and other forms of multimedia that can be posted around campus in academic buildings, residence halls and The Commons.

Even though doors to the event opened at 8 p.m., the show did not start until after 9 p.m. due simply to the massive crowd lined up outside the RAC. While the sheer size of the crowd could be to blame, one must also wonder if other factors may have come into play, such as only having a handful of event staff at the doors to manually scan tickets or a single open entry point to the venue, and if a newer, larger space provided by the soon-due Activities Center will provide a better environment for future shows such as this.

Despite this minor setback, the show went off almost perfectly with Noah delivering a fantastic set covering everything that one familiar with the comedian might have expected, including trap music, use and reaction to racial slurs, a near spot-on Trump impression, how much time one should give themselves before running to a toilet after eating a taco and much more.

While Noah’s set will most likely be in the minds of students, alumni, faculty and anyone else that attended, we must not be quick to forget or appreciate the countless man-hours that went into putting on such an event, the likes of which we can hope to see again in months, semesters and years to come.

Fashion is an art. It is a form of self-expression and a wearable insight into one’s personality. This art, specifically women’s fashion, is known to be restricted and tamed in workplaces. It is outrageously difficult for a modern woman to dress appropriately for work whilst effectively expressing themselves, but Marie Lilly assures there is a happy medium.

Marie Lilly, associate director for Foundation Relations & Community Partnerships, was invited to UMBC’s Women’s Center on Oct. 17 to speak about the Power Dress Code. The Power Dress Code isn’t a typical dress code, Marie Lilly insists: “Dress codes don’t help us [women]. They are insulting and often unspoken.”

Lilly endorses the Power Dress Code, a loose set of rules a woman can regard when shopping for office-appropriate clothing. Fashion should be empowering across all work hours. Individualism is essential to style, and fashion should be a way to portray one’s distinguished personality whilst presenting pride in said personality.

Every person deserves to love his or her body. Clothing is the paint on the canvas. Lilly explained how most dress codes are generalized and biased toward body types that don’t fit the American ideal. For example, an office space may encourage female employees to wear a blazer and professional pants, but this standard outfit may not suit every body type.

Women with heavier busts are more likely to be penalized for wearing the same exact outfit as women with smaller breast sizes simply because it doesn’t fit “appropriately.” Because of this, Lilly suggests women wear what their body needs. Hem pants with legs too long. Sew in some darts in blazers that fit too loosely. Individualize clothes to match the wearer’s individuality.

But, above all, Lilly recommends to dress comfortably. She says, “when you dress comfortably, you feel calm, composed. You have better work ethic.” If a woman is not physically comfortable in what she is wearing, it is likely to show in her effort. It is important for a woman to cater to her own fashion needs before even considering fitting a work dress code.

As for work dress codes, Lilly says it is easiest to learn from fellow employees. Neatness is a necessary component for work wear. However, it is also important to observe workplace culture to form an understanding of what is expected of the employees in terms of dress. Lastly, employees are encouraged to dress for the jobs they want, not the jobs they have. This is a safe way to conform to the culture of desired profession whilst yielding to the dress code. A woman should be able to look in the mirror and see who she wants to be.

Fashion is outstandingly powerful. It can determine how employers and peers see each other. It can show the world a person’s interests and values. It can even just be viewed as an art to be appreciated. Art has a place in the workplace. It’s just important to find a way to fit self-expression in a conformist culture. Luckily, this is perfectly plausible.

CHMPR Distinguished Lecture Series

Energy Exascale Earth System Model

Dr. Mark Taylor, E3SM Chief Computational Scientist, Sandia National Laboratories

2:30pm Tuesday, 31 October 2017, ITE 325, UMBC

Dr. Taylor will present an overview of the DOE Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), including Sandia’s role in numerical algorithms, parallel scalability, and computational performance. E3SM is designed to run on upcoming next-generation DOE supercomputers. Adapting simulation codes to these new architectures is expected to be more disruptive than the previous transition from vector to massively parallel supercomputers. E3SM development is driven by several grand challenge science questions focused Earth’s cryosphere, biogeochemical and water cycle systems. E3SM has a new land and atmosphere component models branched from the CESM v1.2, coupled to new MPAS ocean, sea ice, and land ice models.

The current performance and throughput challenges of the E3SM high-resolution coupled configuration on several DOE computers will be discussed. Our current focus is on the NERSC Cori system with Intel Xeon Phi architecture, in the longer term we hope to make effective use of the upcoming NVIDIA GPU based system at ORNL. An analysis is presented of the E3SM spectral element atmosphere dycore following the NGGPS dycore computational evaluation protocol, but with an emphasis on the throughput rates needed for climate simulations. For even higher resolution simulations, we will rely on E3SM’s ability to use unstructured grids in all component models. This will allow us to achieve cloud-resolving resolution in select regions of interest seamlessly within the global modeling system.

Mark Taylor is a mathematician who specializes in numerical methods for parallel computing and geophysical flows. He currently serves as Chief Computational Scientist for the DOE’s Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME) project. Mark developed the mimetic/conservative formulation of the spectral element method, one of the atmospheric dynamical cores used in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and the ACME project. Mark received his Ph.D. from New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1992 and has worked at Sandia National Laboratories since 2004. In 2014 he was awarded The Secretary of Energy Achievement Award for his work unifying the DOE climate modeling research community and enabling the development of high-resolution fully-coupled climate-system simulations.

The post talk: DOE Energy Exascale Earth System Model, 2:30 Tue 10/31, ITE325 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Halloween is just around the corner, meaning lots of trick-or-treating, partying, and haunted houses. If you’re someone who celebrates by binging on tacky movies here’s a special list of ghoulishly good films to watch this season.

Easily one of the most iconic horror movies, John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) starts us off. This movie is a perfect way to slip into the holiday mood. Expect to be spooked by Michael Meyers, the masked killer following a young Jamie Lee Curtis. The crisp fall setting and abundance of fake blood will leave you feeling oddly satisfied.

The natural follow-up to Halloween is the cult classic, Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Wes Craven is the mastermind behind this movie that has inspired a generation of horror films. Even if you’ve never seen it, you might recognize the name of Freddy Krueger, the twisted killer that slips into his victim’s dreams and kills them in a nightmarish fashion.

For the squeamish and the kids at heart, it would be criminal to omit The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Despite the mass of Jack and Sally costumes you’ll see on the streets, Tim Burton’s iconic mix of Christmas and Halloween has not grown old. Delve into a cozy town where creatures eat, sleep, and breathe Halloween. Nightmare? More like fairytale!

What good would this list be without a Disney Channel Original Movie? With arguably the best special effects of any Disney movie, Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999) is all about a teenage girl who, with the help of her brother’s imaginary friend, fights the Boogeyman terrorizing her town. Thrills! Chills! Spooks! This movie truly has it all.

Clowns, whether horrid or happy, are often associated with Halloween. If you’re looking for a good clown movie, you might want to opt for the 1990 TV adaptation of Stephen King’s It. For those looking for more clowns, more antics, and more disturbing costumes, try the Chiodo Brothers’ Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988).

If you’re looking to get spooked in theaters this holiday season, you’ll find more than a handful of films. On Oct. 27, the eighth (and hopefully final) installment of the Saw franchise, Jigsaw hits theaters. A decade after his death, killer Jason Kramer is back to the grindstone, creating sadistic puzzles that his victims must solve in order to escape gruesome deaths.

For the honors student, on Friday, Oct. 13, Happy Death Day will hit the box offices. Although this movie sadly lacks Halloween spirit, its youthful cast may appeal to millennials. In this nightmarish flick, a college student must live her birthday over and over. Even worse than being stuck on campus for her birthday, she must relive her murder at the end of each day until she uncovers the identity of her killer.

Whether you’re looking to spend this holiday season cozied up with your laptop or at the movies with friends, you’re bound to find something tasteful on screen. For more spooky films, consider The Exorcist, Monster House, VHS, and Pet Semetary.

“What does immigration mean to you?”

That question was posed to four panelists on Thursday night in a packed Lower Flat Tuesdays as part of the ongoing SGA “Between Elections: Coffee & Conversation” series.

The panel focused on immigration, posing thought-provoking and sometimes controversial questions to the panelists: Meghan Lynch, Zaid Ali, Felipe Filomeno and Michael Russell. The “Between Elections” series is put on with the support of several different campus political organizations such as the College Democrats, College Republicans, The Humble Rumble and UMBC Progressives.

As the panel begins, the moderator encourages the participants and the audience to create a space for open discussion. The purpose of this event is have respectful conversations, not arguments.

But with any hot button issue, tension is unavoidable. As the conversation turned to whether or not additional scrutiny would be needed for middle eastern immigrants, the panelists engaged in a heated back-and-forth discussion. The audience was also actively participating, clapping and interacting with panelists after the initial discussion.

According to Collin Sullivan, a junior information systems and economics major, the purpose of the series is to create spaces where students have “the ability to work and listen to people that don’t perfectly agree on a topic at hand, but can find some common ground. We believe that participating in civil discourse and engaging in real issues (among many other ways) are just some of the things we can do now, between the general election and the midterm election.”

Over 40 minutes, the discussion ranged from personal experiences with immigration, DACA, President Trump’s proposed wall and how the UMBC community should respond to the changing political atmosphere. Although the panelists did not always agree, each echoed the need to treat their fellow students with respect and cited the truly American nature of a free discussion.

“Our goal is to increase participation in midterm elections by engaging all members of our UMBC community, students, faculty, and staff, in a broader political process. Democratic engagement isn’t a checkbox that gets crossed off on election day because you voted — it’s an evolving process every day,” says Sullivan.

Meghan Lynch, a senior political science major, vice president of College Democrats and vice president of student oganizations in SGA, encourages students to take advantage of the many events put on by campus political groups, such as canvassing and guest lectures. She also encourages students to come out to the upcoming panels on education and gun control.

“Pick up the newspaper. We get free newspapers at UMBC: the New York Times, the Washington Post, you name it. Read the news, be informed. That’s the main issue. There’s so much going on on campus, you just have to be tuned in,” says Lynch.

Lynch, however, also provided some critiques of the representation on the panel.

“If you could see the panel tonight, I’m the only woman and that’s what really makes my part on the panel so important for me. We’re talking about immigration and half of the population [is] women and their voices aren’t being heard. One out of four [panelists] doesn’t seem enough to me,” says Lynch.