We have 2 rooms available in a shared house near UMBC, Catonsville, and are looking for respectful, clean, and responsible female roommates.

If you are interested, please contact me on WhatsApp at +14122900211 for pictures or additional details, with a brief introduction about yourself, including your student or employment status and your desired move-in date. The available rooms are:

• Room 1 for $675/month each (utilities included in basement)
• Room  2 for $700/month (utilities included)-Occupied
• Room  3 for $800/month (utilities included, main floor)

Move-in requires the first month's rent plus a security deposit (equal to one month's rent): Lease starting in August.

• Room 1: $675; room: $1,350 due at move-in (Basement)
• Room 3: $800; room: $1,600 due at move-in (Main floor)

This includes:

• A spacious shared bathroom and a half bathroom!
• Common storage
• Shared kitchen includes a dishwasher (on the main floor).
• Extra fridge and microwave!
• Shared laundry facilities (Big washer and dryer)!
• All utilities included, free parking! Notes: Personal storage will not be provided by the owner.

The home is conveniently located approximately 7/8 minutes from UMBC by car and about a 9/10-minute walk to the UMBC Transit Route 40 shuttle stop, with easy access to campus, shopping centers, and nearby businesses.

A family (a couple with a child) lives upstairs, so we are looking for tenants who appreciate a quiet and family-friendly environment. Also, there will be other female students already occupying 2 rooms in the basement.

We welcome any female students and working professionals who are respectful, responsible, and considerate of shared spaces. Preference will be given to individuals with halal-friendly/Muslim or vegetarian/vegan habits (pork not allowed in the house).

House rules include:

• Female tenants only
• No smoking, alcohol, or any substance use
• No pets
• No parties and loud music
• Maintaining cleanliness in shared areas

Additional Information

• Short-term leases may be considered (4–6 months minimum). The security deposit must be paid during the lease signing, and tenants must provide at least 30 days' notice before moving out.
• Since this is a female shared living environment, overnight guests and visits from male guests are not allowed. Details can be discussed before moving in to ensure everyone is comfortable with the house rules.
• To help maintain a safe living environment for all tenants, applicants may be asked to provide references, ID, proof of employment, student status, and consent to a background check.

Thank you.

We are a friendly family looking to share our space with students and graduates within the area.

The house 🏠 is located about 20 feet from the UMBC Shuttle Stop (CATONSVILLE ROUTE).

You will be renting a clean and safe fully furnished basement room with a shared bathroom.

Rent includes washer/dryer, internet 🛜 , alarm system and shared kitchen/living room.

Separate keyless entry is also available. I also have a friendly dog 🐕 (golden doodle).

Smoking and Drug Free home 🏠 .

The UMBC Shuttle stop is 20 feet from the front door🚪. We look forward to hosting a safe place for you while you continue your education to succeed.

DETAILS

Rental Term: 12 month Lease

Rental Amount: $675 monthly (All Utilities Included)

Availability: 8/25/2026

Security Deposit: $675

Fully Furnished: YES

If Interested, contact at - (757) 636-8271 or (774) 437-0654

Shruti Dharmani, an MS in Cybersecurity major, was selected as UMBC's Intern of the Week. In Fall 2025, she interned at Technuf in Rockville, Maryland, working on cybersecurity analysis and threat monitoring and supporting internal research and development for the company's product.

All,

I know that this is late in the game, but with all of the changes instituted by the general council, I needed the dust to settle somewhat before I put instructions together for high school volunteers or summer students to work in research labs. 

What emerged was a five step process, the first four which only need to be completed once for the PI, with the 5th part needing signatures from the minor in question, their parent or guardian, the PI and then the chair person or director of the unit. 

The detailed directions with links to all the forms needing to be completed can be found on the ILSB website under research: https://ilsb.umbc.edu/procedures-for-admitting-minors-into-research-laboratories/

Hopefully this clarifies a number of questions which have come up this summer.

Slide decks get built fast. A lecture the night before, a workshop the morning of -- we’ve all done it. Accessibility is often the first thing to slip when you're racing a deadline. But a few intentional choices, made as you build rather than after the fact, can mean the difference between a deck that works for everyone in the room and one that quietly leaves some behind.

Whether you're building in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Canva, here are ten strategies to help your next presentation reach everyone who opens it.

1. Start with a Built-In Template

A blank canvas gives you no structural head start: no heading tags, no consistent color palette, nothing for a screen reader to key off of. Starting from a real layout means accessibility is baked in before you type a word.

• PowerPoint: Choose File > New from Template rather than starting from a blank presentation.

• Google Slides: Use File > New > From template gallery, including UMBC's branded templates.

• Canva: Search "presentation" in Canva's template library and start from a pre-built design rather than a blank frame.

Don't forget: if you're editing an existing deck that started as a blank canvas, it's worth rebuilding on a template rather than patching structure after the fact.

2. Keep Each Slide to One Idea

A crowded slide is hard to follow for every viewer, but especially for someone using magnification or a screen reader, working through it piece by piece. One idea per slide keeps the pace manageable.

• PowerPoint: Use the Outline view to check whether your slide titles actually summarize one clear point each.

• Google Slides: Break dense slides into two using Duplicate slide, rather than shrinking text to fit everything on one.

• Canva: Use Canva's multi-page presentation flow to spread a complex idea across two slides instead of one packed layout.

Don't forget: if you find yourself shrinking text to make it fit, that's usually a sign the slide needs to be split, not shrunk.

3. Choose Fonts and Styles That Are Easy to Read

Decorative fonts and heavy styling might look sharp, but they slow down every reader, not just the ones using assistive technology. Simple, consistent typography benefits everyone in the room.

• PowerPoint: Stick to sans serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Calibri, and avoid ALL CAPS or excessive underlining.

• Google Slides: Use the built-in theme fonts rather than importing custom or script-style fonts.

• Canva: Filter Canva's font library to sans serif options, and limit each slide to one or two font pairings.

Don't forget: italics and underlining both signal "link" to many users. Save them for actual links, not emphasis.

4. Confirm Your Slides Read in the Right Order

Elements dragged and repositioned during editing don't always stay in a logical reading order, so what looks correct visually can come out scrambled for a screen reader.

• PowerPoint: Open the Reading Order pane (under Review > Check Accessibility) to see and adjust the sequence.

• Google Slides: Use Tab key navigation to click through elements in the order they'll be read aloud.

• Canva: Use the Objects panel to check the stacking/layer order of elements, since Canva reads top-to-bottom by layer.

Don't forget: this check only matters if you do it last — reordering elements during design is exactly when reading order breaks.

5. Write Alt Text That Explains Purpose

An image with no alt text is simply invisible to a screen reader, and alt text that just describes what something looks like ("a graph") skips the part that actually matters: what the audience is supposed to take away from it.

• PowerPoint: Right-click an image and select Edit Alt Text, or mark it decorative if it adds nothing instructional.

• Google Slides: Right-click an image, choose Alt Text, and write one to two sentences describing its purpose.

• Canva: Select an image, open Accessibility in the side panel, and add alt text there. Canva does not auto-generate this for you.

Don't forget: decorative doesn't mean "skip the alt text because you don't feel like writing it" -- it means the image truly adds nothing a viewer needs to know.

6. Give Complex Visuals a Text Companion

Dense charts, infographics, or diagrams often carry more meaning than a sentence or two of alt text can capture. A nearby caption or a linked summary fills that gap.

• PowerPoint: Add a one- to two-sentence summary in the speaker notes for any complex chart or diagram.

• Google Slides: Include a caption text box beneath complex visuals summarizing the key takeaway.

• Canva: Pair infographic elements with a short adjacent text block rather than relying on the visual alone.

Don't forget: if you can't summarize what a visual is teaching in a sentence, that's a sign the visual needs more support, not less.

7. Use Descriptive Hyperlink Text

"Click here" tells a screen reader nothing about where a link goes. They have to click through to find out. A descriptive link tells them upfront.

• PowerPoint: Replace generic link text with the destination's actual name (e.g., "View the syllabus" instead of "here").

• Google Slides: Use Insert > Link and edit the display text to be descriptive before publishing.

• Canva: When adding a link to text or a button, rename the linked text itself rather than leaving a raw URL visible.

Don't forget: a good test is reading just the link text out of context. If it doesn't make sense on its own, it needs a rewrite.

8. Check Your Color Contrast

Text that blends into its background is a barrier for anyone with low vision or color blindness, and it's an easy thing to miss when you're focused on branding colors, not readability.

• PowerPoint: Run the Accessibility Checker (Review tab) to flag any hard-to-read text contrast automatically.

• Google Slides: Google Slides has no built-in checker. Export as PowerPoint or PDF and run a checker there.

• Canva: Use Canva's built-in Accessibility view or an external tool like the WebAIM Contrast Checker before finalizing colors.

Don't forget: contrast that looks fine on your laptop screen can fail in a bright classroom or lecture hall. Check it under real presentation conditions when you can.

9. Don't Let Color Alone Carry the Meaning

If red means "wrong" and green means "right," a colorblind viewer has no way to tell the two apart. Pairing color with text, icons, or patterns keeps the meaning intact for everyone.

• PowerPoint: Add a label or icon next to any color-coded element instead of relying on color alone.

• Google Slides: Use shape or icon differences (not just fill color) to distinguish categories in charts or diagrams.

• Canva: Choose Canva chart templates that include data labels, not just color-coded legends.

Don't forget: a quick way to test this is to view your slide in grayscale. If the meaning disappears, so will it for some of your audience.

10. Caption and Describe Any Embedded Media

A video or audio clip embedded mid-presentation needs the same accessibility treatment as everything else in the deck: an uncaptioned clip is a gap, not a break from reading.

• PowerPoint: Use the built-in Subtitles & Captions feature under the Insert tab when recording narration.

• Google Slides: Link out to a captioned version hosted in YuJa or YouTube rather than embedding raw, uncaptioned video.

• Canva: Enable auto-captions on any video element added through Canva's video tools, and review them for accuracy.

Don't forget: auto-captions are a starting point, not a finish line. Always skim them for accuracy before sharing.

None of these strategies requires starting over or mastering a new tool. Most take a few extra minutes woven into work you're already doing: Picking a template instead of a blank slide, writing one real sentence of alt text instead of skipping it, checking contrast before you hit export. Start with just one or two on your next deck. Once they become a habit, the rest tend to follow.

Art Instructor (as needed, in various disciplines)

Independent contractor to teach art classes at Miller’s Grant retirement community (https://millersgrant.org/) in Ellicott City.

Summary of Responsibilities:

The purpose of this position is to plan engaging and creative art classes for residents in a senior living community. The ideal candidate is patient, enthusiastic, creative, and enjoys working with older adults of varying abilities. Seeking multiple candidates with varying skill sets in drawing, painting, mixed media, crafts, and other disciplines.

Hourly rate: $35+

Hours – Flexible: Instructors can teach one-time workshops that run approximately 2 hours or teach a class that runs weekly, typically 1 ½ hour sessions that meet once a week for 4-6 weeks.

Application instructions: Submit a resume, paragraph of interest, and portfolio/work samples to Lynn Glaeser (lglaeser@millersgrant.org), Director of Resident Life. Use subject line: Art Class Instructor Application_FirstName LastName

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

1.     Plan, organize, and lead group and individual art classes for residents.

2.     Develop projects that accommodate varying skill levels, physical abilities, and cognitive abilities.

3.     Create a welcoming, encouraging, and inclusive classroom environment.

4.     Prepare class materials and maintain inventory of art supplies.

5.     Ensure work areas remain clean, organized, and safe before and after each class.

6.     Encourage resident participation while fostering creativity, confidence, and social engagement.

7.     Follow all community safety policies and procedures

8.      Maintain positive and respectful relationships with residents, families, staff, and volunteers.

Qualifications:

1.     Experience teaching art classes or facilitating creative programs.

2.     Knowledge of one or multiple art techniques and mediums.

3.     Experience working with older adults is preferred.

4.     Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

5.     Ability to adapt instruction to meet varying abilities.

6.     Strong organizational and time management skills.

7.     Ability to lift and transport art supplies and equipment as needed.

Education and Experience:

1.     High school diploma or equivalent required.

2.     Coursework or experience in Fine Arts, Art Education, Recreation Therapy, or a related field preferred.

3.     Previous experience in senior living, healthcare, community recreation, or education is a plus.

Physical Requirements:

1.     Ability to stand, walk, bend, and demonstrate art techniques during classes.

2.     Ability to lift up to 25 pounds.

3.     Manual dexterity to handle art materials and tools safely

Preferred Skills:

1.     Creativity and enthusiasm for teaching.

2.     Compassion and patience when working with older adults.

3.     Strong problem-solving skills.

4.     Ability to motivate and inspire participants.

5.     Flexible, dependable, and team oriented.

Benefits:

1.     Opportunity to positively impact the lives of older adults through creativity and self-expression.

2.     Collaborative and supportive work environment.

3.     Flexible scheduling (based on community needs).

This is an abbreviated version of this article, featuring only the absolute essentials - the full text (including full examples!) is available at Sites@UMBC!

Help! What should we do about jargon?

Jargon and academia often go hand-in-hand, and it's important to understand the nuance of what jargon is and when to address it before diving in to any jargon remediations.

What is jargon?

jargon (jar·​gon)

• the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group - “sports jargon”
• obscure and often pretentious language marked by circumlocutions (the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea) and long words - “an academic essay filled with jargon”

How to have this discussion

How can we communicate the importance of this to faculty and staff who are publishing content about their research or the department online?

• Start by asking questions: Who do you know reads your content? Who do you imagine or hope reads your content? Who is it possible is reading your content?
• Start small: Some change is always better than no change. Instead of requiring all jargon to be remediated right off the bat, can we compromise on anything being emailed? Content living on the home page?
• Where possible/needed, go to the source: Some faculty can be very particular, and it may be putting staff in a difficult position to ask them to remediate jargon in or about faculty’s work. Instead, involve the faculty member directly in the conversation - or offer to do a workshop for the whole department on the topic.

What does this look like in practice?

Options for remediation:

• Remove jargon and rewrite to a lower reading level
• Offer definitions or explanations for specific words or phrases
• Offer a “lay” version of the original text

These can all be used together, there is no “pick one” requirement.

Should I Remediate All Jargon?

Jargon is everywhere in academia! First, it's important to prioritize what to address based on the following criteria:

1. Is this a primary page of my website (the home page, an "about" page, a top-level navigation page)?
2. Is this a page that has important information for prospective or current students?
3. How many people will view or access this page? Is this a page that receives a high volume of my website's traffic? (Site admins for a Sites@UMBC website can view Google analytics to check their site traffic!)

We recommend creating a plan to handle jargon one page at a time, prioritizing primary, high-traffic pages first. At this point in UMBC's remediation process, we recommend de-prioritizing pages are not also primary, student-facing or high traffic pages that:

• are about individual faculty members or their research history
• are small news updates about upcoming or newly released research (large feature articles or very important research breakthroughs should be considered for jargon!)
• contain research abstracts or book summaries submitted for a specific purpose (e.g., for conferences, panel talks, lectures, etc)
  • we recommend updating submission requirements to include a required lay abstract/summary in addition to the standard abstract/summary

Google has relabeled its NotebookLM system as Gemini Notebook. It is intended as a personalized AI research assistant that syncs with your uploaded documents, lecture slides, and research papers to generate instant summaries and synthesize them into custom study guides, code-driven data charts, or interactive audio overviews. UMBC faculty, staff, and students continue to have some free access, but the specific version and privacy protections depend on which account you use to log in. You can read more here and on Wikipedia.

We're happy to share the following publications from recent months that are authored and/or co-authored by GESTAR II researchers.

Stacey Huang (61A/UMBC) is lead author of the 2026 paper, "Estimating Tropospheric Delay in Spotlight Mode InSAR Data Using Multi-Squint Processing," in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Dr. Huang summarized that “We studied the technical feasibility of a multi-satellite multisquint satellite architecture under consideration by NASA for the Surface Deformation and Change (SDC) mission study. We found that a multisquint configuration can concurrently solve for tropospheric delay and deformation from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and we developed a method to enable these retrievals even in suboptimal conditions. We show there is great promise for new science with this architecture, enabling the simultaneous observation of atmosphere and deformation signals: these capabilities could be instrumental in characterizing difficult-to-observe slowly deforming phenomena, … thus improving our understanding of how subtle Earth signals evolve over time and influence other terrestrial processes.”

Stacey Huang (61A/UMBC) and co-authors, including MinJeong Jo (618/UMBC) and Jeanne Sauber (61A/UMBC), published the 2026 paper “Emergent capabilities for remote coastline and flood mapping with ultra-high-resolution SAR: A case study in American Samoa” in Environmental Research Communications. Dr. Huang: “This paper showcases new capabilities for coastline and flood mapping of ultra-high-resolution SAR data through NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program. These new capabilities augment existing optical-based remote sensing methods that struggle in inclement weather and heavily cloud-covered regions. We demonstrate these new capabilities with a case study in American Samoa, a traditionally challenging region for remote sensing, capturing changes in shorelines with tidal cycles and high-tide flooding.” 

Lionel Arteaga (610.1/UMBC) led the 2026 paper with Ivona Cetinić (616/MSU) as one of the co-authors titled “Extreme 2016 El Niño heatwave weakened carbon export and respiration in the Equatorial Pacific” published in Nature journal Communications Earth and Environment.

Arif Albayrak (618/UMBC) led the 2026 paper “Converting Raw Data Into Actionable Information: A topical review of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins in disaster management” in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine.

Hiren Jethva (614/MSU) is first author of the 2026 paper "Global retrieval dataset of UV-VIS extinction and absorption of above-cloud aerosols from synergy of A-train active-passive measurements: part I — Above-cloud aerosol optical depth from CALIOP depolarization ratio method" in Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Hiren Jethva (614/MSU) along with co-authors including Thomas Eck (618/UMBC) and Sergey Korkin (613/UMBC) published the 2026 paper "Ground-based MFRSR UV-Vis spectral retrievals of Saharan dust absorption at Izaña Observatory" in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

Sergey Korkin (613/UMBC) and co-authors including Andrew Sayer (616/UMBC) published “A Practical Guide to Simulating Continuum Absorption in Earth’s Atmosphere” in Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer.

Michael Himes (614/MSU) led the 2026 paper "Continuing the MLS water vapor record with OMPS LP using neural networks" published in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. 

Natalie Thomas (610.1/UMBC) is first author on the 2026 paper “Variability and trends in dates of the last spring freeze and first fall freeze over the United States” published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

Nikki Privé (610.1/MSU) and co-authors including Erica McGrath-Spangler (610.1/MSU) published the 2026 paper "Analysis and forecast error correlations explored in an observing system simulation experiment framework" in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Welcome to the Fall 2026 Future Faculty Series! 

The Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Development (GSPD) Unit of the Graduate School is offering a Future Faculty Series this summer. This four-part workshop series is designed to guide PhD students and postdocs through every stage of the academic job search.

Across four sessions, participants will explore what faculty life looks like at different types of institutions and how to identify the right fit; learn the essential steps and timeline of the academic hiring process; build polished application materials, including CVs, research and teaching statements, and cover letters; and develop the skills to navigate faculty interviews with confidence, from Zoom screenings to multi-day campus visits. Whether you're just beginning to consider a career in academia or actively preparing to go on the market, this series will equip you with the knowledge, tools, and materials to compete successfully for faculty positions.

Join us Fridays 1:30-2:30pm, in-person in the Administration Building Room 218 on July 24, July 31, August 7 and August 14th.

Sign up for each session below and add to your calendar!

Jul 24, 1:30 PM: Future Faculty Session 1: Faculty Jobs at Different Types of Institutions

Jul 31, 1:30 PM: Future Faculty Session 2: Getting a Faculty Job: Process and Materials Overview

Aug 7, 1:30 PM: Future Faculty Session 3: Application Materials Workshop

Aug 14, 1:30 PM: Future Faculty Session 4 : Interviewing for Faculty Positions