Lutheran Social Services is Seeking Interns

Internship Position: Refugee Recertification Program Intern (Volunteer)

Location: Baltimore, MD

Commitment: 20 hours/week for 3 months (Minimum)

APPLY VIA UMBCworks or E-mail your resume and cover letter to: Deepti  Scharf, Outreach and Support Specialist, at ScharfD@lssnca.org

LSS/NCA clients represent a wide variety of work experiences and talents. Our amazing pool of international clients includes professional artists, musicians, doctors, lawyers, UN consultants and interpreters. Even during these difficult economic times, we have worked as a team to assist refugees and asylees with employment and have secured a wide variety of jobs ranging from TV news broadcasting to nursing assistance. This internship is an excellent opportunity to work intimately with a diverse group of people and to network with the greater Baltimore community. 

Many refugees and asylees arrive in the U.S. with decades of experience in fields such as accounting, IT, teaching, engineering, and nursing.   These individuals face significant challenges joining the workforce in a professional position because employers in the United States do not recognize their advanced degrees or licenses from their home countries. The Refugee Recertification Program works with these clients to help them navigate the complex credentialing and recertification process and to find a job in their field.  

Roles and Responsibilities

•    Outreach to recruit new clients

•    Advise clients throughout the re-credentialing process on subjects such as resumes, the job search, self-presentation and trainings

•    Arrange and conduct workshops and trainings for client benefit

•    Develop and assist with presentations on RRP to partners through print media, power points

•    Recruit potential partners and employers through social networking

•    Work toward furthering career development for RRP clients.

•    Coordinate with LSS/NCA employment workers to develop job leads and placements

•    Assist in developing new training materials

Required Qualifications

•    Excellent written and oral communication skills

•    Interest and experience educating, networking, and communicating

•    Passionate about helping people and working in a multi-cultural environment

•    Able to think creatively, develop strategies, and see them through to completion

•    Detail-oriented and

•    Able to work independently

•    Willingness to be patient, understanding and flexible

Information Systems Council of Majors Speaker Series

Technology, Diversity and Lifelong Learning

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski
President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

3:00-4:30pm Friday, 26 April 2013, ITE102

As an ongoing service to UMBC our student group, the Information Systems Council of Majors (ISCOM), has developed a speaker series to bring industry professionals, academic luminaries, and prominent regional figures to discuss topics relating to technology, education, or topics of the speakers choosing.

This month our very special guest is Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. He will meet with members of ISCOM and UMBC students who are interested in hearing him speak about diversity, lifelong learning and of course technology. There will be interactive sessions prior to his remarks and our President Tabitha Haverkamp will provide closing remarks.

1. one of the most popular organizations on campus has the motto "Survive as a human. Hunt as a zombie." 
2. a tradition of not scheduling any classes during three "free hours" each week to ensure that students have time to connect and student organizations to meet;
3. a heavily-used building has been left with no name, just a number, for more than 30 years (we're looking at you, Academic IV);
4. a 24/7 study space has been created because students insisted that they wanted to spend more time more comfortably immersed in academics;
5. a campus internet portal (MyUMBC) serves as both an information source and a meeting ground for students to share news, talk about issues and even initiate action for change;
6. the SGA is nationally recognized as "a model for governments at every level to learn from" because it serves so effectively as a catalyst for students' contributions to campus life;
7. so many examples of a deep and inclusive commitment to innovation in teaching and in contributing to our communities and democracy;
8. so many free t-shirts, and so many students so eager to get one;
9. a post about squirrels has become one of the most "pawpular" campus social media posts of all time;
10. the university President has been recognized as one of the planet's most influential leaders, yet you've probably seen him around campus, and if he has met you he remembers your name and where you went to high school.

1. A university President widely acknowledged as one of the world's best leaders who is also treasured by students

PhD Dissertation Defense

Analysis of brain network connectivity
using spatial information

Sai Ma

1:00pm Thursday, 18 April 2013, ITE 325b

In current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research, one of the most active areas involves exploring statistical dependencies among brain regions, known as functional connectivity analysis. Data-driven methods, especially independent component analysis (ICA), have been successfully applied to fMRI data to extract distributed brain networks and offer an opportunity to investigate functional connectivity on a network level, thus at a multivariate level. However, the independence assumption in ICA is neither necessarily nor typically satisfied in real applications and an extension is desirable. Furthermore, most current ICA-based studies focus on the use of temporal information and second-order statistics for functional connectivity analysis. Taking spatial information and higher-order statistics in fMRI data into account is expected to lead to better understanding of the overall brain network connectivity in healthy controls and also in patients with mental disorders, such as schizophrenia.

We develop a dependent component analysis (DCA) framework to generalize the ICA-based connectivity analysis methods by grouping components into maximally independent clusters. First, we define functional network connectivity as the statistical dependence among spatial components, instead of the typically used temporal correlation. Based on this definition, we use a hypothesis test to automatically generate functional connectivity structure for a large number of brain networks. After that, we separate dependent components within a given cluster using prior information, such as sparsity and experimental paradigm information, to achieve a better decomposition. We also combine this DCA-based clustering analysis with graph-theoretical analysis to discover significant group differences in topological properties of functional connectivity structure. To extend the methodologies currently available for functional connectivity, we propose an independent vector analysis (IVA) based scheme to extract and analyze dynamic functional connectivity.

The methods we develop offer advantages for effective and efficient examination of not only static, but also dynamic functional connectivity among different brain networks. We identify significant differences in functional connectivity structure between healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia, which may prove useful to serve as potential biomarkers for diagnosis. We also find task-induced modulations in functional connectivity when comparing different active states in the brain. Furthermore, we observe temporal variability in functional connectivity structure and physiologically meaningful group differences in dynamic connectivity among several brain networks. Our methods can provide insights to understanding of functional characteristics of the brain network organization in healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia.

Committee: Dr. Adali (Chair), Dr. Morris, Dr. Rutledge, Dr. LaBerge, Dr. Phlypo, Dr. Calhoun, and Dr. Westlake

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

Fasten your seatbelt ’cause your about to watch a Hyperlapse of Google Street View http://depot.ly/k0gtf

A brilliant project that illustrates endangered words http://depot.ly/k0g6P

#UI Design: An Intro to Flexible Box http://depot.ly/k0fpm  *Nice read

Don’t understand Bitcoin? This video explains it in a few minutes http://depot.ly/jXzvA

9 years of Gmail & an infographic http://depot.ly/jXzIy

Yahoo and Apple are reportedly in talks to get more cozy http://depot.ly/jXzBL

The sky’s the limit? Artist Thomas Lamadieu disagrees http://depot.ly/jXzpG

Ribbon’s in-stream Twitter payments shut down by Twitter 90 minutes after launching http://depot.ly/jXzXi  via @marketingland

The Apps That Don’t Work With PayPal, And What You Can Use Instead http://depot.ly/jVsc9  *Great article

Behind the scenes: how a Disney logo is created http://depot.ly/jVrS5  via @CreativeBloq

Might come in handy http://depot.ly/jVrBt  Scorched, a light-weight, generic web framework for Ruby

Awesome! URLs are for People, not Computers http://bit.ly/ZhJDBO

Beautiful typography by Joachim Vu http://depot.ly/jSXl8

Vengeance On Lorem Ipsum: Three Draft Filler Fonts http://depot.ly/jSSpb

So you want to learn hand lettering? http://bit.ly/ygKW67  #typography by @seanwes

Koken: a #free PHP CMS designed for creatives to showcase their work – http://koken.me/  /via @smashingmag

Cool scenario for responsive image processes and tools http://depot.ly/jSPKs

Welcome to the Internet party. Having any fun? http://depot.ly/jQpXP  A hilarious video by the folks at @cracked

Hard geometry by Justin Mezzell http://depot.ly/jQobX

What do Google Maps and Persian carpets have in common? See for yourself: http://depot.ly/jQozU

Want more? No problem! Keep track of all our tweets by following us @DesignerDepot

600+ Handcrafted Icons & Ribbon/Badges Set – only $10!

It's official. As of today, hanging on the CCAN office wall, is a pen from Governor Martin O'Malley's bill-signing ceremony for the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013. Thanks to you and a statewide coalition that was broader and bigger than anything I've seen in CCAN's ten years, we won! Let me say that again: We won!

This is the start of what can be a huge offshore wind industry from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras that will one day provide most of the East Coast's electricity, while playing a key role in solving climate change. Thank you for all your hard work!

Now our work goes on -- and there's lot's more to do. On the defensive front, we were less successful during the just-ended Maryland General Assembly. In fact, we lost two critical bills by just one vote -- on a fracking moratorium and something called "black liquor."

See the full note from Mike>>



Victory: We won on offshore wind!
On April 9th, CCAN staff were on hand as Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the offshore wind power bill into law, positioning Maryland to lead in harnessing our state's most abundant clean energy resource. This incredible victory belongs to all of you who took action over the past three years -- by packing multiple hearing rooms, flooding key legislators’ offices with emails and phone calls, writing dozens of letters to the editor, and even circling the State House. Governor O'Malley went to bat to make offshore wind power a reality, and he deserves our thanks, too. Click here to send a note thanking Gov. O’Malley for his leadership!

MD Activist Call: Get the inside scoop from Annapolis
Do you want the inside scoop on what happened in Annapolis on energy and climate issues during the 2013 legislative session? Are you wondering what you can do next to build on the momentum of our offshore wind victory? Join CCAN's Maryland organizers and Mike for a grassroots conference call on Tuesday, April 16th at 7:30 p.m. You’ll learn more about our triumphs and challenges on wind, fracking, black liquor and other keys issues this year, and get a chance to ask questions about what’s ahead for the next few months. Sign up here to get the call-in details and join us on April 16th at 7:30pm.



Help clean up D.C.'s top renewable energy law
A dirty form of energy -- the burning of a toxic paper making byproduct called "black liquor" -- has snuck its way into the most important clean energy law in D.C., our Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The RPS was intended to ensure that an increasing percentage of our energy comes from clean energy sources, like wind and solar power. Instead, a big loophole is allowing 79 percent of D.C's renewable energy dollars to support old, polluting plants burning black liquor and inefficient wood waste. Starting this month, we'll be asking the D.C. City Council to pass legislation to close the "black liquor loophole," and make sure our renewable energy dollars incentivize true clean energy sources. Sign our petition urging the City Council to end the black liquor rip-off.

One million comments to stop Keystone XL
As the moment of truth on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline approaches -- and the recent Exxon tar sands spill in Arkansas reminds us of the risks -- the movement to stop the pipeline keeps getting louder and bolder. On March 21st, CCAN leaders joined Interfaith Moral Action on Climate for another peaceful demonstration of civil disobedience at the White House. Tar Sands Blockade activists, including former CCAN-er Ethan Nuss, continue to challenge tar sands profiteers across the country. Wherever President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and influential senators like Mark Warner go -- including storefronts in Harrisonburg, Virginia -- #noKXL activists are there. On April 22nd, Earth Day, the clock runs out to submit public comments on the State Department's latest flawed environmental review of Keystone XL. Click here to submit yours and help us reach the ambitious national goal of one million #noKXL comments.



Introducing Project Planet
This Earth Month, CCAN is telling Dominion Power -- Virginia's top climate polluter -- to go beyond token “green” efforts like tree planting and to start making a plan to reduce its climate-disrupting emissions. The project, called Project Planet, launched on April Fools’ Day, when thousands of Virginians saw the spoof headline “Dominion to go carbon neutral!” in emails, on social media or in their local newspaper boxes. Check out the video here.

Throughout April, parents, faith communities, and other concerned Virginians across the commonwealth are working together to demand a new direction from Dominion for the sake of those with the most at stake: our children, grandchildren and future generations. By collecting petitions to Dominion, submitting letters to the editor of local newspapers, and working with kids and youth on creative projects, we are telling Dominion to take serious action to address climate change. Sign the petition, and then sign up to get more involved here.

Hybrid tax moves forward. Next step: Repeal
When Gov. Bob McDonnell signed Virginia’s transportation bill into law this month, an outrageous attack on climate solutions -- a new annual tax on hybrid car owners -- became state law. Bending to public outcry, the governor reduced the hybrid tax from $100 to $64 per year. But we've crunched the numbers and that's still an arbitrary and excessive amount that unfairly punishes Virginians trying to do their part for the climate. To protest the tax, CCAN supporters led a honking parade of hybrid and electric cars around the Capitol in Richmond and delivered more than one thousand petitions urging the governor to veto it. Next year, we’ll work with our allies in the General Assembly to push for legislation to repeal the hybrid tax.



Getting ready for Power Shift 2013
Have you heard? Power Shift 2013 has been officially announced! From October 18-21st, 10,000 students from across the country will converge in Pittsburgh, PA for a weekend of action, trainings, and unity as we combine our power to take on the fossil fuel industry and fight the climate crisis. Hundreds of Maryland, DC and Virginia students attended Power Shift 2011 in Washington, DC. We need hundreds more to come together this fall in Pittsburgh. Join fellow students from around the country to bring new power to our campaigns to fight fracking, divest from fossil fuels, and demand 100% clean energy on campus.

Click here to pre-register with CCAN today. Then, join the Power Shift 2013 Facebook page, and stay tuned for more information on registration and coordinating travel from your campus.

Virginia's campus climate leaders come together
Students from across Virginia came together in early April for a leadership summit in Richmond, where they developed a long-term vision for a unified campus climate movement. Students left the summit, hosted by the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment (VACE) and CCAN, re-energized and ready to keep building a strong statewide network. Read more about the summit and learn how to get involved here.

Heather McIlvaine from enterprise software giant SAP blogs about open data: “How are mobile apps, Big Data, and civic hacking changing the nature of open data in government? The Center for Technology in Government took a look at this topic and presents its findings”. See The Future Of Open Data.