In this week’s Ebiquity meeting (10am Wed Nov. 12), Jennifer Sleeman will talk about “Taming Wild Big Data”.

Wild Big Data is data that is hard to extract, understand, and use due to its heterogeneous nature and volume. It typically comes without a schema, is obtained from multiple sources and provides a challenge for information extraction and integration. We describe a way to subduing Wild Big Data that uses techniques and resources that are popular for processing natural language text. The approach is applicable to data that is presented as a graph of objects and relations between them and to tabular data that can be transformed into such a graph. We start by applying topic models to contextualize the data and then use the results to identify the potential types of the graph’s nodes by mapping them to known types found in large open ontologies such as Freebase, and DBpedia. The results allow us to assemble coarse clusters of objects that can then be used to interpret the link and perform entity disambiguation and record linking.

UMBC ACM techTalk

Increasing Base-Station Anonymity in
Wireless Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks

Profesor Mohamed Younis
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

1:15pm Wednesday, 12 November 2014, ITE 325b

In many applications of ad-hoc networks, the bulk of the traffic is targeted to few nodes. For example, in wireless sensor networks the base-station (BS) collects data from a large number of sensor nodes. Another example is a surveillance network in which the gathered intelligence data about criminal activities flow towards field commanders and/or an in-situ BS. Such a network operation model makes the BS a critical asset for these applications. An adversary can nullify the value of a network by simply disrupting or physically damaging the BS, without targeting individual data sources. The failure of the BS can also cause a loss of important data that may not have been processed and can cause a major negative impact if the BS represents a commanding authority for the network. Therefore, concealing the location and role of the BS is of utmost importance for maintaining a robust network operation.

Packet encryption does not achieve BS anonymity since an adversary can intercept the individual wireless transmissions and employ traffic analysis techniques to follow the data paths without knowing the content of intercepted traffic. Since all active routes end at the BS, the adversary may be able to determine the BS’s location and launch targeted attacks. Similarly, camouflaging or hiding the BS does not provide protection when its location is unveiled via traffic analysis. Employing spread spectrum signaling methods is not a sufficient BS anonymity countermeasure as adversaries are becoming more advanced and equipped with sophisticated intercept technologies. In addition, signal spreading reduces rather than eliminates the prospect of transmission detection. This talk will highlight the traffic analysis threat, present anonymity assessment metrics, provide an overview of effective cross-layer techniques developed in the ESNet Lab for increasing the BS anonymity, and outline open research problems.

Dr. Mohamed Younis is an associate professor in the department of computer science and electrical engineering at the university of Maryland, Baltimore County. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Before joining UMBC, he was with the Advanced Systems Technology Group, an Aerospace Electronic Systems R&D organization of Honeywell International Inc. While at Honeywell he led multiple projects for building integrated fault tolerant avionics and dependable computing infrastructure. He also participated in the development of the Redundancy Management System, which is a key component of the Vehicle and Mission Computer for NASA-s X-33 space launch vehicle. He has published over 150 technical papers in refereed conferences and journals. Dr. Younis has five granted and two pending patents. In addition, he serves/served on the editorial board of multiple journals and the organizing and technical program committees of numerous conferences. Dr. Younis is a senior member of the IEEE.

Renetta Tull, associate vice provost for graduate student development and postdoctoral affairs and director of PROMISE, will chair the “Women in Engineering, Partnerships and Professional Development” session at the 2014 World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF), which will host the International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning. She will also present her research on graduate student diversity and Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) at the conference.

Additionally, Tull has been invited to participate in meetings for the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies based on her work with women in STEM through the National Science Foundation ADVANCE project and Latin and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions.

Click here to read more about Tull’s work.

It’s time for Winter Commencement and we need your help!

Planning is underway for the upcoming 2014 Winter Commencement Ceremonies and we are looking for volunteers to help with different parts of the ceremony. Be sure to sign up as soon as possible so you have the best opportunity to select your choice job.

Please visit the online sign-up form to see what roles to see which roles are available and make your selection. You will receive a confirmation e-mail after you submit your selection. NOTE: fewer number of volunteers are needed for the graduate ceremony.

As a reminder, the dates for the ceremonies are:

Graduate Commencement
Wednesday, December 17 – 10 a.m.
Retriever Activities Center

Undergraduate Commencement
Thursday, December 18 – processional begins at 9:40 a.m.
Retriever Activities Center

Volunteer training for both ceremonies is scheduled for Tuesday, December 16 in the RAC. Undergraduate training will be at 1 p.m. followed by the Grad School training at 2 p.m.

If you have any questions, please contact Erin Johnson, ejohnso@umbc.edu.

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Role at the UMBC Career Center: Director

Q: Where have you earned your college degrees?

A: Graduate Degree

Harvard University- Cambridge, MA

Undergraduate Degree

Georgetown University- Washington, DC

Q: What program(s) did you study? How did you choose your major?

A: M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology

B.A. in Psychology

Personally, I struggled with deciding on a major flipping between biology (pre-med) and psychology. However, I always knew I wanted a career where I could personally make a difference. I decided on psychology as I was drawn to learning about human development and began to see myself in academia as a career.

Q: Tell me about the job and internship process when you were in college. Were you able to find job/internship positions that were related to your major or your career interests?

A: I worked throughout college- research, intern, volunteer, work study, part-time job- you name it and I did it. Each of these experiences developed my strong work ethic and passion for helping others. My favorite positions included interning at a Women's Shelter and conducting research in artificial intelligence and alien abduction (long story here).

Q: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

A: Your community does not define you.

You are in control of your destiny.

Q: Why should students visit the Career Center?

A:  While in college, it's important dream about the possibilities. However, the Career Center will help connect you to those possibilities via internships, networking functions, on campus interviews, trips to companies, etc.

Let us help you discover and achieve your dreams.

Q: What is your favorite aspect about UMBC?

A:  I greatly value my UMBC experience, which spans over 15 years. UMBC is not only a place that supports innovation but also is a community that cares about people.

Q: What is one item on your bucket list?

A:  Within the next five years, I would like to take my husband and boys to Poland. Both of my parents immigrated to the US in their 20s and remain very active in the Polish community. In fact, they still only speak to me in Polish. I want my kids to experience Polish culture and customs first hand. This would mean a lot to me.

Q: What is one aspect of the DC/Baltimore area that you often explore?

A:  My husband and I lived in Baltimore City (Federal Hill and Canton) for ten years. We love going into the city to meet up with friends- relive our younger years.

Want to connect with Christine or any of our great Career Center team? Call our office at 410-455-2216 or check out our contact us page here: http://careers.umbc.edu/aboutus/