Michelle Seu, one of the candidates running for the SGA presidential seat, highlights several points of her platform. Some of her goals focus on student-run emergency medical services and opening up new avenues of communication with the student body.

UMBC is in the midst of another election season. On April 20 through 22, students will be able to vote for the candidate they hope to see in the SGA presidential office. Michelle Seu, a junior biology and interdisciplinary studies double major, is currently the director for the department of academic affairs within SGA.

What will you do to open communication between students and SGA?

There’s no cohesive, centralized unit for all the SGA departments. This could be solved by having maybe more technical personnel on board for SGA. I want there to be one place, just one place for access for all kinds of SGA departmental information. It, ideally, would also define a social media presence in addition to the myUMBC presence. If there is something that you believe could be helped or prevented via SGA legislation, I would like people to feel comfortable enough to just tell us their concerns about that. Additionally, I just want small organizations to feel as if they can just come in and talk to us at any time. 

What is SGA doing specifically that you want the student body to know?

We’re working on implementing a plus and minus grading initiative, for example. With plus and minus grading, it would be a little different, with an A plus being more than a 4.0 whereas a regular A would be lower. You wouldn’t have a 4.0 if you earned a 93 in the class. It’s a sticky situation, but there are a lot of faculty – mainly I know Toboleski in mechanical engineering – who are for it. SGA has plenty of connections with various organizations on campus. I just think it goes under the radar a lot. (Editor’s note: Seu followed up on this point, clarifying her position: “I worked on the +/- grading initiative as Director of Academic Affairs and it has absolutely nothing to do with my potential presidency. I personally do not support +/- grading and neither does most of the undergraduate student population, according to a survey the department put out about 2 years ago. Not much has been done on the initiative as of late because the faculty senate that is for +/- grading hasn’t been particularly responsive.”)

In terms of the 24-hour student run emergency health service, what type of training will be put into place for those involved in the program?

Dealing with anxiety attacks that are brought on by drug overdose, drug usage — I know those are issues that happen and, a lot of the time, I think people end up contacting the hospital or police. Or they don’t, even though they’re in danger, because they’re anxious about it. Verbalizing issues is incredibly difficult for a lot of people. We want people who are personable and have a professional work ethic, and people who express an interest in pre-professional fields in medicine.

How large will the program be? How many will be allowed to participate?

I’m not sure how large our program could become, potentially. It shouldn’t be too small that it would be inconvenient. Let’s say someone on campus calls for help, and we only have 10, 15 people on the team. If you have a small pocket of people, it’s just going to be harder to reach people in need. But, you also don’t want to be too big, because it can be too chaotic. For example, let’s say someone calls for help, a bunch of people say “I can do it.” How can you narrow it down from there? There are tiny technical issues we need to handle.

What other strategies would you employ to encourage students to stay on campus?

Part of my second initiative was improving the campus environment. There’s a lack of aesthetic taste across campus. A lot of what I would like to do in my administration, if I could, would be to make small changes — or whatever changes we could within SGA — to make student spaces more bright and inviting to make people feel more happy and comfortable with staying on campus.

What are your plans for reaching out to other populations within the student body outside of the STEM community?

There aren’t many resources for students entering guidance counseling. The internships that they offer are mostly for graduate students. To better serve the undergraduate population, I think that I would add, if you would could call in for anxiety attacks, people who are interested in guidance counseling. This would be part of the EMT program, supplementing it to include psychology majors. But, unfortunately at this time, we haven’t developed any initiatives specifically geared towards humanities and arts.

Photo Credit: Michelle Seu

Read more stories from: The Retriever Weekly

Bentley Corbett-Wilson, a candidate running for SGA president, elaborates on his platform and other points relevant to his campaign. His goals include providing rewards for tailgating and tackling sexual assault issues on campus.

On April 20 through 22, students will decide who will serve as their next SGA president. This election season, Bentley Corbett-Wilson, a junior music education major, is a candidate in the race. He is currently serving as the Director of Leadership Development for SGA.

What tactics will you use to change the attitude of the students regarding SGA?

I think, over the past couple of years, certain campaigning strategies of some of the candidates have tarnished the image of the SGA. Kelly and I have really established ourselves as people who students can trust and have faith in. With SGA and (seb), I’ve done a few different initiatives, including helping out with schedules for dining options. The image that the two of us created for ourselves is really positive, and it’s something that we really want to bring into SGA.

How will you change or expand the existing First Year Ambassador Program?

I currently run the FYA program as the director for leadership development, and some of the first year ambassadors that we have had are running for senate and finance board positions. I think we really need to select these students from diverse populations, making it a more selective program but still something that everyone can participate in. I feel we don’t have enough commuters or out-of-state students or international students, even. That’s something me and Kelly will talk about if we ever do get elected. And, honestly, if we don’t get elected, I would still like to work on that.

What type of rewards did you want to implement with the red card system?

Something we really want to do is work with the bookstore and athletics so that, if you swipe in at any athletic event, you get points. Depending on how many points you get, you that percentage off at the bookstore. Say you get 2 points per game, you attend 5 games, you get 10 points total, which would be 10% off at the bookstore. We don’t want to make it too high, so we’d cap it off at maybe 20-25%. We’ve talked to athletics and the bookstore, and they are really gung ho about it. We have a lot of faith that this is actually an initiative that we might be able to finish, even before we actually get into office (if we get lucky).

Why are you targeting tailgating as a route to increase school spirit when it seems that so much of the campus already doesn’t have an interest in it?

I think that tailgating is a way to possibly spark that kind of interest. Organizations, even if they aren’t sports-related, could also use tailgating to get word out about themselves. And it seems to make sense that at least some of the students that do go to the tailgating would possibly go to the games. It’s something that we really want to try to change about campus. As a school, coming from the student fee advisory board, we don’t want to increase student funds for the athletic fee. (Editor’s note: The Student Fee Advisory Board reported that 69 percent of students rated their approval of an increased athletics fee at two or lower on a scale of one to five.) I don’t think that you have to increase fees to increase the spirit that students have for their athletic teams. If it doesn’t end up working, I think that’s ok. You get to learn from your mistakes and find a different way to move about things. It’s a process.

What do you and Kelly mean when you say that SGA rhetoric is “often undefined in scope and too idealistic?” Are there candidates in the race who you think this applies to?

It’s very important to us that we change the image of SGA, because a lot of students have lost faith in it. I hate the fact that students only hear about SGA during election times. I want that to be a year round thing. I think setting high expectations for next year’s SGA is going to be super important in making this happen. As far as things being too idealistic, I hate to badmouth other campaigns, but I do believe that Anthony and Daniel’s campaign seems a bit too idealistic. I don’t think that they’ve actually taken into consideration the logic and the financing between everything that actually needs to happen to make all of the things in their platform happen.

Can you explain what you mean by “a more structured and permanent Mental Health Committee,” as described in your AMA?

The different mental health related bodies on campus – including NAMI, UHS, psychology department – I believe they already have meetings that are open to the public, but there’s no actual structured committee that has them meeting at a certain time, or actually publicized the meeting info so people can attend. I really want to make that something that everyone is aware about. I feel there are a lot of students on this campus that have a lot of ideas about how to improve mental health and get awareness out about how to improve it, but they don’t really have the means to give their ideas. I think publicizing a mental health committee that includes all the people from the departments I listed would be really beneficial to actually making even more changes to improve mental health on campus. That committee needs to be more structured so they’re able to publicize things on MyUMBC and Facebook and recruit members, and get ideas about making polls and events. We’re meeting with some of the key stakeholders involved to see what actually is in place and how we can build off of that and improve the work that they’ve already done.

How exactly do you plan to rework the sexual assault policy at UMBC?

That’s something we are currently talking to some students about — how they feel about the policy and in what direction it needs to be steered, especially to include more lingo about LGBTQIA. There’s nothing specifically in the policy about that community, and I think it’s important to include all different communities when it comes to sexual assault, especially if things are happening that people may not know about. It’s a lot of stuff that we really need to research about and come up with more structured ideas about how to improve. It’s something we think that we really should stress SGA to work on, and we will be key stakeholders in helping to set that tone for students in SGA.

Photo Credit: Bentley Corbett-Wilson

Read more stories from: The Retriever Weekly

Smart Distribution Systems

Dr. Karen Butler-Purry
Texas A&M University

11:00-12:00 Wednesday, 22 April 2015, ITE 325b

Smart Grid refers to the computerizing of the grid via the addition of monitoring, analysis, control, and communication capabilities to improve its reliability, efficiency, and security. Smart meter devices, that include sensors to gather data and two-way digital communication between the smart meters in the field and the utility's grid operations center, are associated with the grid. The smart grid can take advantage of new technologies, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, various forms of renewable and conventional distributed generation, lighting management systems, automation technology that lets the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central location, and many more. This presentation will discuss some of the current research projects being investigated by Butler-Purry's group on smart distributions systems, in grid or island operation. One project investigates the impact of cyber attacks on the operation of smart distribution systems. The second project developed two new approaches to enhance the protection of smart distribution systems. One approach uses smart meters during distribution planning to improve selectivity of protection, and the other approach uses smart meters during operation to improve the sensitivity of protection.

Karen L. Butler-Purry, PhD, PE, is Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Studies and Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University where she has served on the faculty since 1994. She received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1985 from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was awarded a M.S. degree in 1987 from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1994 from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Her research interests are in the areas of protection and control of distribution systems and isolated power systems such as all electric power systems for ships, mobile grids, and microgrids; cybersecurity protection; and intelligent systems for equipment deterioration and fault diagnosis.

Host: Prof. Gymama Slaughter, Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address.

Karen Butler-Purry flyer

In his second published column since being named a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, mathematics professor Manil Suri wrote about the recent ban of beef in some parts of India. Suri’s column, titled “A Ban on Beef in India is Not the Answer,” examines the political and historical motivations for the ban and its implications on personal freedoms and the economy.

“The laws have affected more than just restaurants. Thousands of butchers and vendors, their livelihood abruptly suspended, have protested in Mumbai. The leather industry is in turmoil. Beef is consumed not only by Indian Muslims and Christians, but also by many low-caste Hindus, for whom it is an essential source of affordable protein,” Suri wrote.

Suri also analyzed the recent beef ban in the context of the larger debate on equality in India: “Indian civilization has evolved over the centuries to include multiple diverse communities with competing interests. Despite its secular Constitution, India remains strikingly unequal. The government must make every effort to balance majority sentiments with minority needs. This is what the previous rules that restricted cow, but not bull, slaughter did,” Suri wrote, adding, “Imposing ideals from a mythic past is not the answer. The true lesson to take away from history is how utilitarian goals can shape religious custom. Hinduism has always been a pragmatic religion; what today’s India needs is accommodation.”

To read the full New York Times column, click here.

Govind Rao, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST), received a $50,000 grant from the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation to automate and miniaturize a non-invasive respiration monitor for premature newborns. The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation is funded by the Food and Drug Administration and led by the Children’s National Health System’s Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering. Rao presented the non-invasive respiration monitor at an event hosted by the University of Maryland, College Park in February and was one for five finalists to win an award from 31 original applicants. “What we’re trying to do is completely change the paradigm,” Rao said about the monitor. “Now the problem is how can I get this scaled up and out there.”

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, and Donald Snyder, Media and Communication Studies, on The Marc Steiner Show
• Curtis Menyuk, CSEE, Wins Humboldt Research Award
• Rebecca Boehling, History, Returns to UMBC in 2016
• Yelena Yesha, CSEE, Discusses Northrop Grumman Partnership in The Washington Post
• Dennis Coates, Economics, Provides Perspective on Economic Impact of the Baltimore Orioles

Read more at UMBC Insights!

New Faculty Micro-Talks
Tuesday, April 21, 5:30-7 p.m. 
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery 

The Dresher Center for the Humanities, in partnership with The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, invites you to attend an afternoon of short talks by new faculty in the college. Please join us to meet tenure-stream faculty hired in the last two years and to learn about their research. A reception will follow.

Schedule of speakers:

Maleda Belilgne, Assistant Professor, Africana Studies and English
Steph Cesaro, Assistant Professor, English
Erin Hogan, Assistant Professor, Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communications
Michael Lane, Assistant Professor, Ancient Studies
Kathy Marmor, Associate Professor, Visual Arts
Gary Rozanc, Assistant Professor, Visual Arts
Dena Smith, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology
Colin Studds, Assistant Professor, Geography & Environmental Systems

With news coverage this week surrounding the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s death, the Baltimore Sun published a story examining Catonsville’s connection to Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. The article looked at Booth’s time as a student at St. Timothy’s Hall preparatory school in Catonsville.

Anne Rubin, an associate professor of history and author of Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory (UNC Press 2014) is quoted in the article and provided perspective on the environment that Booth studied in.

“The thing about Maryland was that it was very divided,” said Rubin. The article also states: “Throughout his adolescence, Rubin said, Booth was far from alone in his support for the Confederacy. There was a large contingent of people living in Maryland at the time Booth was growing up who sympathized with the Southern cause and who, during the war, operated various underground networks to smuggle supplies to the southern states.”

To read the full article titled “Catonsville’s connection to Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth,” click here.