Dear Participants in PROMISE,

Our friends at MIT, have invited us to participate in a virtual event, that will be followed-up by an in-person opportunity! On August 28, at 11:00 A.M EST, MIT is conducting a virtual visit to the MIT Media Lab. The event will be hosted on the Unhangout platform, a new way of running unconferences online. During this event, you will have an opportunity to talk with current Media Lab students and learn more about their research. This is a RESEARCH EXPOSURE event, this is not an admissions event. To sign up and learn more about the event, visit here http://learn.media.mit.edu/events/medialab. To prepare for the event, look at the How-To-Unhangout instructions, https://unhangout.media.mit.edu/how-to-unhangout/ and make sure your computer fulfills the basic requirements. Feel free to share your thoughts and tweet us using the hashtag #mlunhangouts 

If you are interested in going to visit MIT to have an in-person tour, we are coordinating a trip from Maryland to Boston (by invitation only) on Monday, October 27, 2014. If you are interested in this trip to learn more about the Media Lab, please do the following, send email to promisestaff@gmail.com with:

1) Your CV

2) Link(s) to your professional website(s) (e.g., LinkedIn, university website, lab website)

3) One paragraph that explains why you want to attend, and with whom in the media lab you’d like to work/collaborate/meet, why you are inspired by that work (http://www.media.mit.edu/people/faculty), and what you can bring to the research. 

Use the subject line: “PROMISE & MIT Opportunity Oct. 27.” Please use this subject “word-for-word.” Emails without this subject line will not make it through our special filter for this opportunity, and will not be read for consideration. Emails without a CV, link(s), or the paragraph (described in #1-3 above) will not be considered. Email sent to addresses other than promisestaff@gmail.com will not be considered. The first deadline to be considered for the in-person opportunity is Monday, September 8, 2014. This will be a first-come, first-served opportunity.  We will provide a limited number of round-trip airline tickets for this trip.

Best regards,

Renetta G. Tull, Ph.D.

PROMISE AGEP Director

Dear Participants in PROMISE,

Our friends at MIT, have invited us to participate in a virtual event, that will be followed-up by an in-person opportunity! On August 28, at 11:00 A.M EST, MIT is conducting a virtual visit to the MIT Media Lab. The event will be hosted on the Unhangout platform, a new way of running unconferences online. During this event, you will have an opportunity to talk with current Media Lab students and learn more about their research. This is a RESEARCH EXPOSURE event, this is not an admissions event. To sign up and learn more about the event, visit here http://learn.media.mit.edu/events/medialab. To prepare for the event, look at the How-To-Unhangout instructions, https://unhangout.media.mit.edu/how-to-unhangout/ and make sure your computer fulfills the basic requirements. Feel free to share your thoughts and tweet us using the hashtag #mlunhangouts

If you are interested in going to visit MIT to have an in-person tour, we are coordinating a trip from Maryland to Boston (by invitation only) on Monday, October 27, 2014. If you are interested in this trip to learn more about the Media Lab, please do the following, send email to promisestaff@gmail.com with:

1) Your CV

2) Link(s) to your professional website(s) (e.g., LinkedIn, university website, lab website)

3) One paragraph that explains why you want to attend, and with whom in the media lab you’d like to work/collaborate/meet, why you are inspired by that work (http://www.media.mit.edu/people/faculty), and what you can bring to the research.

Use the subject line: “PROMISE & MIT Opportunity Oct. 27.” Please use this subject “word-for-word.” Emails without this subject line will not make it through our special filter for this opportunity, and will not be read for consideration. Emails without a CV, link(s), or the paragraph (described in #1-3 above) will not be considered. Email sent to addresses other than promisestaff@gmail.com will not be considered. The first deadline to be considered for the in-person opportunity is Monday, September 8, 2014. This will be a first-come, first-served opportunity.  We will provide a limited number of round-trip airline tickets for this trip.

Best regards,

Renetta G. Tull, Ph.D.

PROMISE AGEP Director

——————–UPDATE:  October 29, 2014 ——————-

PHOTOS from the MIT Media Lab event, October 27, 2014. We had a delegation of 12.  See the PROMISE Instagram page for additional photos: http://instagram.com/promiseagep. The “comments” section below has additional photos, and reflections from the participants.

Photo taken at the MIT Media Lab, October 27, 2014. The photo features students from UMBC: mechanical engineering, biological sciences, computer science and electrical engineering.

PROMISE AGEP: Current and future

StartUp Maryland! Pitch Across Maryland 3.0 - Get On the Bus™

Montgomery County Application Deadline: Monday, September 15, 2014 

Are you an entrepreneur ready to pitch your company? Register for your chance to film a 3-minute video pitch that will be seen online by VC, angel investors and voted on by fans around Maryland! 

Pitch Across Maryland celebrates entrepreneurship throughout Maryland. A Maryland-themed tour bus travels around the State from September 15 - October 3. At each stop, 3-minute pitches made by pre-selected startups will be filmed in the on board video studio. Qualified videos are posted online for "Fan Favorites" voting. A panel of venture capitalists and angel investors also select 8 companies with the strongest potential for growth. These companies will present at the Maryland Entrepreneur Expo on November 12, 2014 at the BWI Airport Marriott where the StartUp Maryland winner is chosen. 

The Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce have partnered to host this year's Pitch Across Maryland stops in Montgomery County on Wednesday, October 1. The morning tour will be at the NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) on the Universities of Shady Grove campus and the afternoon will be at UberOffices in Bethesda. 

Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pKIj8sh4stuQfCiUt48ZEHcrpaM8rVzodoLQNx3S7o8/viewform?usp=send_form if you think you have what it takes to Get On The Bus™ in Montgomery County! 

Questions? Contact: Stephanie Eyler Business Development Specialist I Montgomery County Department of Economic Development 240-777-2015 Stephanie.Eyler@montgomerycountymd.gov

UMBC and Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management are establishing Kiva U microfinance programs, made possible by grants from OneMain Financial, that will offer loans to local and global communities in need.

The $25,000 grants will make UMBC and Loyola’s Sellinger School the first two formally designated Kiva U chapters in Maryland. Kiva U seeks to engage students and educators in a global effort to expand financial inclusion, foster community, and have a tangible positive impact on issues that matter to them.

UMBC is quickly building a national reputation as a hub for scholars committed to making a difference as socially engaged community leaders and global citizens. Under the auspices of BreakingGround, UMBC’s civic engagement initiative, and UMBC’s Shriver Center, students will work with faculty and staff to develop a management team that will create marketing strategies and engage campus partners to support local, national and international communities. Planning began this summer, with the goal of awarding the first round of up to 10 loans in spring 2015.

David Hoffman, assistant director of student life for civic agency, says, “The Kiva project matches the spirit of BreakingGround, as well as the mission of UMBC, perfectly. It will put our students in a position to take real responsibility for nurturing entrepreneurial efforts that can help transform lives and communities.”

Click here to read more.

Tom Lagana, Music, was interviewed for a feature article in the Capital Gazette on his forthcoming third album, Volume 1. “It’s called Volume 1 because it’s the first record I’m playing all nylon string,” the guitarist told the Capital Gazette.

Also featured on the recording is electric bass play Tom Baldwin, an affiliate artist in the Department of Music.

Click here to read the full story, published on Monday, August 25.