Now celebrating its 25th year, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program boasts more than 800 graduates, many of whom have gone on to pursue careers as scientists, researchers, engineers and doctors. In a story entitled  “Where Are They Now?” in the August issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, the magazine highlights the successes of six Meyerhoff alumni.

“The true strength of the Meyerhoff program is that we identify students who have a fire in the belly for sicence, who can’t see themselves doing anything else, who have a passion for inquiry and discovery,” the program’s director, Keith Harmon, told Diverse.

Among the alumni noted in the story:

• Isaac Kinde ’05 (M13), a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was the lead author of research on a new version of the Pap smear;
• Gerald Lopez ’01 (M9), who earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and who now is in charge of support for a computer company with clients as diverse as Intel, government and university labs;
• Crystal Watkins ’95 (M3), an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her master’s and Ph.D.;
• Rabiah Mayas ’00 (M8), director of science and integrated strategies in the Center for the Advancement  of Science Education at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago;
• Kyla McMullen ’05 (M13), the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan, and who now is an assistant professor at Clemson University, and;
• Nwokedi C. Idika ’05 (M13), the first African-American male to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from Purdue, who now works on the staff of MIT Lincoln Labs.

As Lopez told Diverse magazine: “Meyerhoff meant a lot to me. It’s support for a lifetime. I use it as a resource even now. We help each other out a lot.”

Many of UMBC’s older trees are being strangled by English ivy (hedera helix), a non-native invasive vine (NNI). A one-credit course will explore the the problem of non-native invasive specieis and challenge participants to protect UMBC trees.

Participants may seek information, form teams, develop work-plans, and document their activities.

Shared leadership and collaboration will characterize the course.

•  Tools, hats, gloves will be provided
•  Online resources
•  Hands-on outdoors work to protect trees 
•  Understand the issue, gain knowledge and implement solutions to NNIs (Non Native Invasives)

"English ivy is an aggressive invader that threatens all vegetation levels of forested and open areas, growing along the ground as well into the forest canopy……" - Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, p. 105.

Instructors:

Dr. Mary Rivkin, Faculty, Education Department

Donna Anderson- Manager of Recycling and Grounds, Certfied arborist and trained horticulture expert, UMBC Facilities Management

With Phil Cho, Landscape Architect, UMBC Facilities Management

Contact 

Dr. Mary Rivkin: rivkin@umbc.edu

Thanks to UMBC BreakingGround for their support.

A group of UMBC theatre alumni have something to say about life in the arts, and they’re saying it with a new Baltimore-based web series, B.F.A.

On the group’s Indiegogo fundraising page, they explain the series:

B.F.A. is a new web series about young theatre artists in Baltimore. B.F.A. stands for Bachelor of Fine Arts, but also many other things, including Baltimore, Friends, and Artists. In B.F.A., four recent college graduates are trying to find their niche in the Baltimore theatre scene when Ryan, a friendly nemesis from school, returns home after a successful stint in “the biz.” As Ryan tries to make himself at home in a place he is unwelcome, his new habits learned while on the road follow, shaking up the lives of his begrudging roommates and old friends. A web of romances, friendships, and business partnerships intertwine as these 20-something artists attempt to navigate through post-college life in Charm City.

The series is being written, acted, directed and produced by a cast of alumni including Katie Kopajtic ’11, acting; Sean McComas ’11, acting; Kiirstn Pagan ’11, theatre; Katie Hileman ’12, acting; David Brasington ’12, acting; Anderson Wells ’13, acting; and Jessica Poole ’13, acting. 

They’ve already produced the first episode of B.F.A. and held a screening party at the Creative Alliance in June. They are currently working to raise money for the production of the remainder of the the first season. As they explain on Indiegogo, they believe that the series will “change the way people view Baltimore. B.F.A. will not only give jobs to young creative professionals in the Baltimore area, it will promote the arts in Baltimore to a large population of people who are unaware of the exciting emerging independent theatre and art.”

Learn more about B.F.A. and the group of UMBC alumni behind it.

Think of the top five cloud services that you use every day. Now lets say that that company was shutting down, how would you get your data out? How would you move it elsewhere?

You only have to look back in history to see that titans can fall. The companies that we see today as being too big to fail, will one day be overshadowed by the new kid on the block. What happens then?

It has been increasingly popular for companies to create walled gardens around their products. Once you enter their ecosystem the door slams shut and your data is held hostage. The eBooks market is a great example of this. If you buy a book from Amazon you have to read it using a Kindle, or a Kindle app. The case is worse for Apple iBooks, where you can only read your book on devices made by Apple. You may have paid for the book but you don’t own it.

The discussion around the freedom of our data has been going on for some time now. In this blog post I want to introduce you to three principles of data freedom.

1. Easy and Free Access to All Your Data

You should be able to get access to all of your data quickly and easily. Just having an API isn’t good enough if you’re not providing a way for your non-technical users to export their data.

Exporting data should be free. Free from any financial cost, but also free from any other terms. You shouldn’t be forced to signup to a mailing list or explain why you’re leaving on your way out. Could you imagine if you tried to leave a high street shop and the sales assistant forced you to answer a bunch of questions before you could leave. It would make for an uncomfortable experience, but more importantly, you probably wouldn’t go back.

Google’s Data Liberation Front

Google has a group called the Data Liberation Front that launched Google Takeout, a way of exporting your data from a number of Google products at once.

Twitter also launched a feature that is a good example of executing on this principle. They added a simple button within the settings page on their website that allows any of their users to easily download a copy of all their tweets.

2. Use Open Formats

Highrise Data Export

When a customer wants to get their data out you should give it to them in an open format. It’s no good giving someone a file in a proprietary format that can only be read by your application.

When 37signals built Highrise (their CRM product) they added a feature that allows you to export all of your contacts in a variety of formats, including CSV. This not only allows customers to leave if they want to try out a different product, but also enables a way of transferring data to other complimentary products like MailChimp or CampaignMonitor.

3. It Should Be Easy To Get Data In

So all this freedom of data stuff is great but won’t it hurt my business? The advantage of locking a customer within your ecosystem is that they keep using your product; at least until they cut their loses and move their business elsewhere. Whilst I agree that this strategy often works, I think their is a better way of keeping customers loyal.

Giving your customers the freedom to move is one of the best ways to get them to stay.

If a customer wants to go and try out a competitors product, let them. Let them see how much better your product is than everything else out there on the market. Once they realise that fact, they will be back. Which leads me to the final principle. Make it easy for people to get data in.

Make sure that you have an easy way for your customers to get data into your product. Whether they are a returning customer or someone switching from a competitors product, the easier you can make the import process the better.

Final Thoughts

The web was built to be an open platform and yet we are seeing more and more of our data locked away in walled gardens. Companies that use these tactics are often just scared that their customers will leave because they know that they have a second-rate product.

Don’t just follow the crowd.
Build a product that stands out.
Let your customers own their data.

Give your customers the freedom to leave and they will be much more likely to stick around.

Useful Links

• The Case Against Data Lock-in by Brian Fitzpatrick (Google)
• The Data Liberation Front

The post Open Data: 3 Principles for Setting Data Free appeared first on Treehouse Blog.