Delegate Vanessa E. Atterbeary who represents the 13th legislative district which
    includes Columbia, Clarksville, Dayton, Fulton, North Laurel, River Hill, and
    Savage, is looking for interns for the 2017 Legislative Session. Our relatively
    small staff requires team members that are willing to do administrative work while
    taking on more critical responsibilities to support daily operations. To apply, send
    your resume to Michelle García, Chief of Staff, at
    vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us<mailto:vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us>.
    
    Responsibilities may include but are not limited to:
    
    - Administrative duties (phones, emails, scheduling, etc.)
    - Attend committee hearings
    - Legislative research
    - Draft official communications
    - Providing support to delegation staff
    
    Requirements:
    
    - Available January through April at a minimum of 16 hours per week
    - Currently enrolled in a college or university
    - Must possess strong command of English language (bilingual applicants encouraged)
    - Proficient writing ability
    - Excellent communication skills
    - Ability to work and function in a creative and flexible environment
    - Reliable transportation

The Maryland Section of the American Chemical Society has selected Katherine Seley-Radtke, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the 2016-2018 UMBC Presidential Research Professor, as the 2016 Maryland Chemist of the Year.

“It’s quite an honor,” Seley-Radtke says. “It’s important for UMBC and the chemistry department to have recognition on this level.” The top chemist prize is particularly competitive in Maryland, where a large number of chemists work at universities, government agencies, and the many science and technology companies in the region.

Seley-Radtke’s groundbreaking research focuses on drug development using nucleosides, molecules with a similar structure to the building blocks of DNA. In the last year, her research group published the first evidence of a nucleoside that inhibits activity of the MERS and SARS viruses. Her team has also made progress toward developing novel drugs to combat Ebola and Zika viruses.

Beyond her research at UMBC, Seley-Radtke is currently an elected board member of the International Society for Antiviral Research. She also served as the eighth, and first female, president of the International Society on Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Nucleic Acids (IS3NA) in 2015 – 2016, after previously serving as vice president and secretary for the organization.

Seley-Radtke’s major accomplishment as president, she says, was to set up a scholarship program for young female scientists. The Chu Family Scholarships for Women in Science support activities that help young women build their skill sets and their confidence, such as traveling to work with collaborators or attending training workshops.

Seley-Radtke’s passion for supporting women and other underrepresented groups in the sciences extends to all areas of her work and service, as an educator, organizational leader, mentor, and researcher. “You have a duty to engage and help train the upcoming generation,” she says.

“It is also important to look out for students who come from non-traditional pathways,” Seley-Radtke emphasizes, sharing, as someone who took a non-traditional career path herself, “I wouldn’t be here without all of my mentors.” She offers support by taking time to develop close mentoring relationships with her students and writing hundreds of recommendation letters each year.

Seley-Radtke also recognizes the need for interdisciplinary training for today’s students. She is the current director of UMBC’s Chemistry/Biology Interface Graduate Training Program. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, UMBC, and University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), the program supports graduate students in pharmaceutical sciences (at UMB), chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. Students in the program have a Ph.D. mentor in their home department and pursue an aspect of their dissertation research in one of the other disciplines, which can help them develop the necessary interdisciplinary expertise to tackle complex challenges in the field.

Seley-Radtke received the Maryland Chemist of the Year award at a celebration in December. Paul Smith, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and president of the Maryland Section of the American Chemical Society, nominated her “based on both her outstanding accomplishments and leadership in the area of medicinal chemistry,” he shared, “and her tireless promotion of women and minority students in chemistry.”

Previous recipients from UMBC include Michael Summers, a Howard Hughes Investigator, the Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring, and University Distinguished Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Joel Liebman, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Reflecting on the number of UMBC scientists to reach this level of recognition, Seley-Radtke says, “It’s a good example for students to realize that hard work pays off, and that they could do this, too.”

Banner image: Katherine Seley-Radtke; photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Psalm 42:8 (NLT) - “But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.”

When the chaotic waves of life threaten to overwhelm us and we want to remain in despair, we must remember that God pours his unfailing love upon us. We can know God’s love for us even more intensely as our longing for God intensifies through the dark times. God’s fierce love is there, pursuing our hearts through the dark times.

Do we know that we can sing to God with great passion in the midst of darkness? We sing not because everything is going perfectly in our lives. We sing even when we don’t have all the answers and when we don’t know how things will turn out because one thing is certain - His love never fails and His love endures forever and forever through every season of our lives.

The psalmist says he sings his song to the God who gives me life! Do you know personally, the God who gives us life the midst of difficulty and pain? We can sing songs in the night even when we can’t see through the dark. Actually, this is when we can learn to sing songs of faith trusting that He is the one who gives us life. Today, let’s sing songs of faith to God who alone satisfies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXPgVL-5LG0

-DP

January 10, 2017

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) launched the USGIF Career Center as a way to help individuals in the GEOINT Community find job and internship opportunities and also for organizations to reach qualified candidates. The center launched just after USGIF’s annual job fair held Monday, Jan. 9, at the Hyatt Regency Dulles.

“The goal of the USGIF Career Center is to create a pipeline of prospective students, interns, and professionals to fill both internships and open positions within geospatial organizations,” said Bill Allder III, USGIF’s senior membership development manager. “Sitting at the crux of academia, industry, and government, USGIF is uniquely qualified to connect the geospatial workforce with geospatial employers.”

Last year, USGIF surveyed its Organizational and Individual Members to determine whether they would find value in a USGIF-hosted career center for the GEOINT Community and received overwhelmingly positive results. The career center allows individuals to browse available job and internship openings and upload their résumés for employers to proactively search. Hiring organizations are able to post internship and job opportunities as well as search through prospective applicant résumés.