Editor’s note: Here at UMBC, our students are the heartbeat of campus, and we are committed to providing them the best possible education. So, for the month of March, we will be highlighting our amazing academic departments, some of their recent achievements, and ways that you can help fund their continued excellence.

Your gift is extremely important and many of our students are depending on you. Please show your support and make an impact today. With you we can make a difference.

The Emergency Health Services department is proud to share that since 1980, it has provided an exceptional educational experience for future EMS leaders and professionals. The department has also been involved with the development of the EMS profession worldwide through their participation in national and international organizations, conference presentations, and cutting-edge research.

With your help, the Emergency Health Services department can continue awarding scholarships, providing an active learning environment, and supplying state-of-the-art equipment.

Click here to donate.

The Health Administration and Policy Program is thrilled to announce that Regine Charlot ’14, health administration and policy program, has accepted a one-year position with Haiti’s Minister of Public Health. In her new role, she will evaluate and write recommendations to help alleviate Haiti’s health concerns and improve access to remote areas where little to no medical attention is provided. The department is also proud to announce that five of its graduating students last spring were nominees for valedictorian, and in winter, they graduated a record number of 45 students.

With your help, the Health Administration and Policy department can continue funding the Health Administration and Policy Program Council of Majors, and providing opportunities for the International Field Research (IFR) program.

Click here to donate.

The Psychology department is pleased to share that last year, it awarded scholarships, supported undergraduate and graduate student research, and funded student trips to national conferences.

With your help, the Psychology department can continue supporting these worthwhile initiatives and continue providing students a top-rate education.

Click here to donate.

InstantLabs releases DNA test for Atlantic salmon, coho

March 2015

TEDCO Invests in 3 Maryland Cybersecurity Startups

 Protenus, Ridgeback and Strajillion received funding from the Cybersecurity Investment Fund

COLUMBIA, Md. (March 19, 2015) – The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced today that three Maryland companies received funding from its Cybersecurity Investment Fund (CIF). Strajillion, Protenus, and Ridgeback are the first three companies, each receiving $100,000, through CIF. The Fund supports Maryland companies develop and commercialize new cybersecurity products or services by providing investments of up to $100,000.

“CIF is the first dedicated cybersecurity fund created in the State to help establish Maryland as the innovation hub of information security,” said Rob Rosenbaum, president and executive director of TEDCO. “We are extremely pleased to have funded these companies and believe they have created very unique products and with the financial support from CIF, are confident they can accelerate their development and commercial launch.”

Strajillion, located in Johns Hopkins Fast Forward incubator, empowers and supports parents raising kids in the mobile + social world with its modern parenting tool RAKKOON. The cloud-based management tool enables parents to see where their children are, what apps they are using, who they are communicating with, and what they are saying. It is Mobile Device Management (MDM) for parents, but with family-specific features and enhancements, such as social media intelligence.

Protenus Inc., co-located with Sage Growth Partners in Baltimore, helps hospitals protect patient data in the electronic medical record using analytical tools that detect privacy breaches in real-time. The company’s solution takes a new approach to HIPAA compliance that empowers hospitals with the ability to detect, thwart, and remediate patient privacy breaches as they occur in electronic health records.

Ridgeback Network Defense, located in bwtech@UMBC incubator, offers a security appliance is a low-maintenance cyber security device that attaches to an organization’s networks. Ridgeback actively defends an organization’s assets by analyzing network activity in real time, modeling the flow of information and evaluating the appropriateness of all activity occurring on the network. Ridgeback provides an in-memory automated response to information security intrusions and, through alerting and mitigation techniques effectively neutralizes these threats.

“We are thrilled to receive investment from TEDCO’s CIF program,” said Robert Lord, co-founder of Protenus. “This investment will help us build and test our product to deliver dependable data on the internal use and management of patient information and to scale to multiple hospitals.”

Funding from TEDCO’s CIF program help companies achieve early technical milestones that are critical to advancing their cybersecurity technologies toward commercialization. Qualifying cybersecurity technologies include all of the processes and mechanisms by which any devices or software that are part of, or connected to, any digital network are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, attacks, use, change or destruction. Additionally, computer and critical infrastructure security includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters.

General guidelines and an application for the CIF can be found on the TEDCO website. The applications are accepted monthly by the 15th. Entrepreneurs interested in applying for the fund may contact Ron Kaese, Program Manager, by phone at 410-715-4170 or by email at rkaese@tedco.md.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is the go-to source for entrepreneurial support and guidance for start-ups and early-stage companies engaged in bringing innovative ideas to market. For more than a decade, the organization has provided funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to support Maryland’s innovation ecosystem. While founded by the Maryland General Assembly, TEDCO is an independent entity that makes seed/early-stage investments and manages private capital for angel and venture capital funds. It is frequently ranked as one of the most active seed/early-stage investors in the nation. The organization plays a key role in bringing research created in Maryland’s educational institutions and federal laboratories into the commercial marketplace. For more information on TEDCO and its programs and resources, visit www.TEDCO.md.

Media Contact:
Fulya Gursel
(410) 715-4178
fgursel@tedco.md

March is Women’s History Month!

Two  years ago Women’s History Month’s national theme was “Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” The theme honored generations of women who throughout American history have used their intelligence, imagination, sense of wonder, and tenacity to make extraordinary contributions to the STEM fields. At UMBC we honored this theme by partnering with the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) to feature some of their amazing students participating in technology in the engineering and information technology fields. Three years later, we still find it meaningful and important to continue spotlighting the stories of UMBC’s CWIT women and with the 2015 theme of “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives” there’s no better time than now to continue weaving the stories of our campus ITE women into the fabric of women’s history and current day lived experiences. So with that, we are honored to bring you the 3rd Annual CWIT Showcase in honor of Women’s History Month.

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Travis Ward 
Computer Engineering
T-Site Scholar

Meet Travis… a T-Site Scholar in the CWIT Community

Tell us about your experience in the CWIT community.

By being a member of the CWIT community, I have felt a connection to other students in class and socially that I wouldn’t otherwise have. In almost every class I have, there’s someone there that I recognize and can have a rapport with. Almost every group I have hung out or worked with from class has built up from a fellow CWIT member. Recently I have had the honor to be a part of several committees to encourage young women to enter the STEM fields or work beside new members to CWIT. These events have been some of the most satisfying experiences I have had at UMBC.

Based on your experiences, what do you want other men to know about the gender gap in engineering and IT?

Personally I think that most men are already aware of the gender gap in the STEM fields. I know my own major of computer engineering is particularly lacking in gender diversity. This is a frustrating issue as one of the hardest parts of working in this field is coming up with solutions to very difficult problems. Trying to solve these in a vacuum is a near impossibility. I know I can’t do it. The women that I work with have valuable insights and perspective that has helped me through a project more then once. They make just as strong of an addition as any man would. Everybody attacks design problems from a different angle depending on how they learned to problem solve. These unique perspectives are invaluable to a project and should never be overlooked.

How do you feel you are a role model for other men majoring in engineering and IT?

I have had a lot of support from women in my life help me get to where I am today. I think it is only right that I try to be there to offer support to anybody who may struggle here at UMBC. By being a mentor to other member’s of CWIT I hope any of our community members may feel more comfortable working in STEM. By being a member of the CWIT retreat committee, I was given the opportunity to mold many student’s first impression of UMBC. As a part of the Bits and Bytes group, we helped young women better understand how to get into the STEM fields, what kind of challenges they might find, and the kinds of support that are out there. I have tried to make my workplaces and classrooms more tolerant and accepting places. I encourage others to be accepting and nonjudgmental as well. I think this is important not just for encouraging women to participate in STEM, but for anybody.

How has being a man advocating for women in engineering or IT helped you better understand how important the stories of women’s experiences are?

By being in a community dedicated to diversity in the STEM fields I have learned a lot. Everybody has their own story, and with it comes their own take on a host of issues. While many of these are different and unique, I know I have been most struck by how many of them I can relate to. I think it is important to realize that there is far more that connects me with everybody in this community. Not just the men, and not just the computer engineers. All of us have found an interest our area and an aptitude for it. For many of us it was a surprise and wasn’t even something we were looking for. I know that we are all together exploring what these interests mean to us and its important that we have the support improves that journey.

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The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) is dedicated to increasing the representation of women in the creation of technology in the engineering and information technology fields. CWIT efforts begin with nurturing a strong group of Scholars, grow to building community resources for other women in these majors, extend to fostering a healthy gender climate and ITE pedagogy in College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) departments, and finally expand into outreach efforts to increase interest in technical careers. A successful program for female-friendly engineering and information technology education at UMBC will help make UMBC a destination for women (and men) interested in technical careers and serve as a national model for other universities.

For more information about Women’s History events and happenings, visit the Women’s Center myUMBC group page.

The UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology invites the campus community to a symposium focused on communicating the results of scientific climate investigations. A panel of noted climate researchers will contribute their knowledge of Earth’s climate a discussion prompted by questions from the broader UMBC audience.

This Communicating Climate symposium also celebrates the integration of art and science with renowned musician and composer Kenji Williams who will perform the multi-media presentation, “Beautiful Earth,” at 3:30 pm.

The event will be held in the University Center Ballroom, April 20, 2015 from 12:30 PM – 6:00 PM.

What is Transit Alerts?

Alerts provide a way for UMBC Transit to communicate with you - the rider in a way that is more reliable, more personal, and more secure than standard email.

• Alerts are Important
  When you receive an alert about a detour, inclement weather etc; it usually means that there is something you need to do or know. In some cases, failure to take action on a transit alert may prevent or hinder your transit experience/commute.
• Alerts are Personal
  You will not receive alerts that do not apply specifically to you. In contrast to email, you can be sure that an alert holds some relevance to you.

Who to Contact

If you have a question about an Transit alert, while reading an alert, click the From to contact the sender.  You can also contact UMBC Transit office at 410.455.2454

Emergency Alerts

UMBC has partnered with e2campus to create an emergency alert system using your text messaging or email. 

CPR for the Healthcare Provider will be sponsored by the Department of Emergency Health Services on the following date:

Thursday, May 28, 2015 – 5:30-10:00 pm
Sherman Hall – A-Wing – Room 305

This class is open to the public. Registration fee is $85 for the full provider course including the manual; $70 for the renewal course without the manual.

For further information, contact Danette McCoy at 410-455-3584 or email danette@umbc.edu.

With several hundred scientists, educators and biotechnology business leaders in attendance, A Look Ahead XVIII will be a unique opportunity to connect with Maryland’s scientific research community. The event will be held on April 15, 2015 from 3:30 – 7:30 p.m. in UMBC’s University Center Ballroom.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Louis M. Weiner, M.D.
Director, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Chair, Department of
Oncology,Georgetown University Medical Center

Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, UMBC and
Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Chair of Biochemistry, UMBC

Poster Session on UMBC Faculty Research begins at 3:30 p.m. and continues at 6:15 p.m.