Beta Kappa chapter invites ALL interested UMBC women to our Open Espresso of the semester TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH (7-9pm) Math/Psych 103, to learn more about joining our beautiful sisterhood. Lambda Theta Alpha is a family that lives by the principles Unity, Love, and Respect everyday through academic achievement, professionalism, philanthropy, community service, and cultural awareness. We strive to empower the Universal Woman by being a non-exclusive organization that embodies diversity of race, ethnicity, creed, sexual orientation, and financial status. We're the FIRST and LARGEST sorority of our kind, with our sisterhood spanning over 150 chapters nationwide. Create a new chapter in your life and join ours!

**Download the flyer below!**

Follow us on Instagram at @lta_bk, Facebook at fb.com/bk.chapter, and learn more about our organization nationally at lambda lady.org

The 2015-2016 Finance Board is currently seeking a qualified candidate to fulfill the position of Finance Board Representative.

The Finance Board is the branch of SGA that provides funds to support student organization activities: nearly $250,000 this year.  Most of the Finance Board's work is done at weekly meetings, where student organization leaders present requests and Finance Board members ask questions and make decisions.  These meetings, which take place Tuesdays starting at 5:30 p.m., can be both long and intense. But they have a lot of fun too, partly because it's so interactive and engaging.

There is a rolling application. This means that whenever an application is submitted, the Chair or Vice-Chair will get in contact ASAP for an interview. A candidate is likely to be chosen by the end of the month.

You can complete and submit the applicaiton at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nLzCpeQIcv9TmGD6udbV7JltvRMauArprAoVT2cG6cI/viewform?c=0&w=1&edit_requested=true 

If you have any questions, please contact:

Trent Bae, Chair of the Finance Board (tbae1@umbc.edu)

Meghna Bhatt, Vice Chair of the Finance Board (meghna2@umbc.edu)

This page will serve as a chronicle and track record for some of our students in Maryland, including our LSAMP NSF BD Fellows, to review what they are learning about the 2016 NSF GRFP process, discuss questions, and receive support. Deadlines: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/important_dates

Please add your answers as comments on this page. Page down to the bottom of the page and post your entry. 

Assignment #1 – Due: 9/19/15

• Introduce yourself: Name, department, research focus, school.
• What did you learn from the NSF GRFP Training seminar from PROMISE AGEP Alumni, Dr. Frances Carter-Johnson and Dr. Patti Ordóñez? REF:  https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/nsfgrfp/
• What is your timeline and how does it fit into your study schedule for classes for Fall 2015 (name the classes).
• Who are the research mentors (name, department, website) who will be writing your letters? Post after they have confirmed that they will write a strong recommendation. Discuss reasons why they will be supporting your application.

Assignment #2 – Due: 9/25/15

Write one paragraph that describes your research. Name three members of the faculty within your department (name, website, research specialty) who have research that has a connection to your work. Explain how their work is connected.

Assignment #3 – Due: 10/2/15

From the NSF GRFP website.

a. BACKGROUND QUESTIONS: Important questions to ask yourself before writing the statement:

1. Why are you fascinated by your research area?
2. What examples of leadership skills and unique characteristics do you bring to your chosen field?
3. What personal and individual strengths do you have that make you a qualified applicant?
4. How will receiving the fellowship contribute to your career goals?
5. What are all of your applicable experiences?
6. For each experience, what were the key questions, methodology, findings, and conclusions?
7. Did you work in a team and/or independently?
8. How did you assist in the analysis of results?
9. How did your activities address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?

b. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS: Important questions to ask yourself before writing the statement:

1. What issues in the scientific community are you most passionate about?
2. Do you possess the technical knowledge and skills necessary for conducting this work, or will you have sufficient mentoring and training to complete the study?
3. Is this plan feasible for the allotted time and institutional resources?
4. How will your research contribute to the “big picture” outside the academic context?
5. How can you draft a plan using the guidelines presented in the essay instructions?
6. How does your proposed research address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?

Answer #1 from part a, and #2 from part b (both italicized above) below. Do not answer “yes” or “no” for #2 in part b. Please be specific and provide a detailed, comprehensive answer. 

Assignment #4 – Due 10/9/15

Discuss where you are in the process. List the application components that you’ve completed, and when you will complete any remaining items.

In the 14-09-2015 ebiquity meeting, Ankur Padia will talk about his recent work aimed at providing access control for an RDF triple store.

Attribute-based Fine Grained Access Control for Triple Stores

Ankur Padia, UMBC

The maturation of semantic web standards and associated web-based data representations like schema.org have made RDF a popular model for representing graph data and semi-structured knowledge. However, most existing SPARQL endpoint supports simple access control mechanism preventing its use for many applications. To protect the data stored in RDF stores, we describe a framework to support attribute-based fine grained access control and explore its feasibility. We implemented a prototype of the system and used it to carry out an initial analysis on the relation between access control policies, query execution time, and size of the RDF dataset.

For more information, see: Ankur Padia Tim Finin and Anupam Joshi, Attribute-based Fine Grained Access Control for Triple Stores, 3rd Society, Privacy and the Semantic Web – Policy and Technology workshop (PrivOn 2015), 14th Int. Semantic Web Conf., Oct. 2015.