tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/umbcnews//23 2012-02-09T17:54:01Z Movable Type 3.34 tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15543 2012-02-08T22:04:05Z 2012-02-09T17:54:01Z

Dinah Winnick Campus Community Service Challenge. The Relay for Life student group is partnering with the American Cancer Society to educate the UMBC community about cancer prevention and intervention, including the importance of cancer screenings and healthy lifestyle choices. Through this competition, selected nonprofits, nominated by and paired with student organizations from each of the America East Conference’s nine member universities, compete for grants of up to $25,000. Grants are awarded based on the level of each student group’s involvement with its nonprofit partner and the potential impact of the grant on fulfilling the nonprofit’s mission. “The nine finalists are phenomenal student groups and nonprofits that truly highlight the best of the America East Conference,” said America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen. “The conference is bound together by athletics, but this group of nine institutions represents so much more, and we are thrilled that Newman’s Own Foundation continues to recognize the impact these students have in their communities.” The winners of the Campus Community Service Challenge will be announced March 1-4, 2012, during the America East basketball championships. This year’s Relay for Life at UMBC will take place on April 27 and is open to the entire UMBC community (see The Retriever for details). For more information on the Relay for Life at UMBC contact Relay President Erin Butler at erinb1@umbc.edu.]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15480 2012-01-19T21:07:07Z 2012-01-19T21:12:59Z

Nicole Ruediger Contact: Nicole Ruediger, Communications Manager email: nruedige@umbc.edu phone: 410-455-5791 Star systems seem like the stuff of Star Trek. But, although we can’t yet travel to them, we can find them. And that’s just what Robin Corbet of UMBC and his colleagues have done -- discovered a rare gamma-ray binary star system. Gamma-ray binary systems consist of a star and a neutron star or a star and a black hole orbiting each other. A neutron star is more massive than the sun but has been compressed by gravity to matter so dense that its diameter is the size of Washington, D.C. Corbet and his fellow scientists used the large area telescope, or LAT, on the Fermi satellite to make the discovery. Since it’s launch in 2008 Fermi has been building up a collection of gamma-ray sources in the sky. Researchers have classified a lot of these sources as pulsars or galaxies containing massive black holes. To prove the existence of this new gamma-ray binary the scientists collected two years of data using the LAT. In gamma-ray binaries, the stars revolve around each other in an orbit that is typically eccentric and the intensity of the gamma-rays will vary as the stars comes closer and then move farther away. The scientists exploited this variability in gamma-ray intensity to look for new binary systems. Once the data was collected they used a mathematical technique called a Fourier transform to look for variations in gamma-ray levels. “This technique has been around since the 1800’s however this is the first time it’s been used to identify a gamma-ray binary star system,” says Corbet. The data showed regular brightening of gamma-rays about every 17 days, suggesting a highly elliptical orbit. To confirm their findings, the team brought in experts studying radio waves, X-rays and optical light. They then used optical telescopes in South Africa and Chile, a radio telescope in Australia and a NASA X-ray satellite called Swift. All observations confirmed the presence of the gamma-ray binary. Because the new system, published in the January 13 issue of Science, can't readily be explained by the current models it will help scientists better understand how these systems work. The more systems that are discovered, says Corbet, the better they can be understood because the models are tested and adjusted with each new discovery. The more systems that a given model fits, the more accurate it is. Gamma-ray binaries, Corbet says, tell us about the origin of neutron stars and the death of the hot large stars in supernova explosions that lead to the birth of a neutron star or a black hole. Gamma-ray binaries are rare and only a handful have been discovered so far. However scientific models suggest that there should be more. This new system is the one of the brightest sources known to date. Its discovery suggests there may be more systems out there waiting to be found. “We’re really hoping that this is the tip of the iceberg,” says Corbet, “we’ve got our fingers crossed that as Fermi continues its mission for more years and our measurements get more and more sensitive, we’ll find even more binaries.” tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15454 2012-01-03T14:57:59Z 2012-01-03T15:28:38Z

Elyse Ashburn Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the 100 best values in public higher education. The list ranks four-year colleges and universities that “combine outstanding education with economic value.” This marks the third year in a row UMBC has appeared among Kiplinger’s best values. On the 2012 list released today, UMBC ranks 84 for in-state students and 63 for out-of-state. Four other Maryland universities made the list, highlighting the state’s commitment to both affordability and excellence in public higher education. Kiplinger’s assesses quality and affordability based on a number of factors, including retention and graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratios, sticker prices and average debt at graduation. The full methodology is available here. The complete rankings are online here or in the February 2012 edition of Kiplinger’s magazine. To learn more about UMBC’s innovative approach to undergraduate education, visit www.umbc.edu/innovate.]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15453 2011-12-30T20:33:07Z 2011-12-30T20:38:12Z

Nicole Ruediger Contact: Nicole Ruediger 410-455-5791 nruedige@umbc.edu The UMBC chess team came in second place today in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, advancing to the 2012 President’s Cup, known as the “Final Four” of chess. The UMBC chess team headed into the 2011 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship with a record nine titles to its name. The competition known informally as the Pan-Am, was held December 27 to 30 in Fort Worth, Texas. Since the tournament began in 1946, dozens of universities throughout the Americas have participated. The Retrievers won their first Pan-Am title in 1996, and then embarked on a five-year title streak from 1998 to 2002. This year, the University of Texas at Dallas came in first with six points, UMBC came in second with 5 points, and Texas Tech and New York University tied for third with 4.5 points each. “It was an exciting finish, because we could have won right up until the last match,” says Alan Sherman, Chess Director. The University of Texas at Brownsville surprisingly did not make the cut for the Final Four even though they were the highest ranking team going into the tournament. The UMBC team, all on chess scholarships, is composed of students not only with exceptional chess skills but also with strong academic records, Sherman says. UMBC requires students to maintain a 3.0 GPA to maintain chess scholarships. The Retrievers last won the Pan-Am title in 2009, and took second last year. This year’s team will compete in the 2012 President’s Cup, the "Final Four of College Chess," to be held March 31–April 1 in Herndon, Va. About the UMBC players Leonid Kritz, an International Grandmaster from Germany Giorgi Margvelashvili, an International Grandmaster from the Republic of Georgia Sasha Kaplan, an International Master from Israel Sabina Foisor, International Woman Grandmaster from Romania Average rating: 2521 About the 2011 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships When: December 27-30, 2011 Where: Dallas Fort Worth Airport Marriott South, 4151 Centreport Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 76155 For more information on the UMBC team, contact Alan T. Sherman, director, UMBC Chess Program at 410-963-4779 or sherman@umbc.edu. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15439 2011-12-22T18:55:30Z 2011-12-22T19:02:03Z

Nicole Ruediger Contact: Nicole Ruediger 410-455-5791 nruedige@umbc.edu The UMBC chess team heads into the 2011 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship with a record nine titles to its name. The competition known informally as the Pan-Am, will be held December 27-30, 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas. Since the tournament began in 1946, dozens of universities throughout the Americas have participated. The Retrievers won their first Pan-Am title in 1996, and then embarked on a five-year title streak from 1998-2002. The team, all on chess scholarships at UMBC, is composed of students not only with exceptional chess skills but also with strong academic records, says Alan Sherman, chess director. UMBC requires students to maintain a 3.0 GPA to maintain chess scholarships. In 2009 the Retrievers won the title, but lost to the University of Texas, Dallas in 2010, coming in second place. In just under a week the Retrievers will play to retrieve their title. With three strong teams from Texas, Texas Tech University and the Universities of Texas at Dallas and Brownsville Sherman says this year’s competition will be tough. The team takes the challenge seriously, says International Woman Grandmaster Sabina Foisor from Romania, who plays fourth board this year. Foisor, a senior majoring in modern languages and linguistics, has been playing chess since she was four and competing in tournaments since she was six. She practices her game an hour or two every day. But practice alone, she says, isn’t enough. “In a chess team,” she says, “like in other sports, it’s important to have a good relationship with your other team members.” However unlike other sports, chess players can’t speak to team members during a competition. “You can check your team members positions to see how they are doing,” says Foisor. And, “If they’re not doing well then that puts you under more pressure.” One of those pressures is time: In the Pan-Am each player is allotted 90 minutes. But, Foisor says, how you play the game is more important. The Retrievers only have to wait a few more days to find out how they stack up. The UMBC players Leonid Kritz, an International Grandmaster from Germany Giorgi Margvelashvili, an International Grandmaster from the Republic of Georgia Sasha Kaplan, an International Master from Israel Sabina Foisor, International Woman Grandmaster from Romania Average rating: 2521 2011 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships When: December 27-30, 2011 Where: Dallas Fort Worth Airport Marriott South, 4151 Centreport Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 76155 For move-by-move progress of Pan-Am matches, go to www.monroi.com For more information on the UMBC team: Alan T. Sherman, director, UMBC Chess Program 410-963-4779 or sherman@umbc.edu tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15405 2011-11-22T18:49:54Z 2011-11-22T19:04:09Z

Chelsea Haddaway On Saturday, November 19, UMBC’s Ethics Bowl team earned third place in the Mid-Atlantic regional Ethics Bowl tournament, hosted by the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics under the auspices of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. UMBC’s team went undefeated in the preliminary rounds before losing in semi-finals. This third-place finish qualifies UMBC to compete in the national championships for a second consecutive year. The Sixteenth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl will be March 1, 2012 in Cincinnati, OH, as a part of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics' annual meeting. UMBC’s ethics bowl team consists of Michael Iafolla ’12, English and philosophy; Danielle Albrecht ’13, political science and philosophy; Gini Bailey ’13, statistics and mathematics and philosophy; Kayla Smith ’13, biological sciences and philosophy; and Kwadwo Owusu-Boaitey ’14 biological sciences and philosophy. The ethics bowl tournament, which is similar to a debate, requires students to work through the ethical considerations in a series of dilemmas. At the regional tournament, the team considered questions such as whether discrimination in hiring on the grounds of physical appearance might be justified in the appearance was indirectly related to job performance and how to balance the rights of students to participate in local government against the rights of the permanent residents. Teams are judged on their factual grasp of the nuances of difficult cases, the clarity of their moral reasoning and their ability to express their judgments clearly. The regional tournament was attended by sixteen teams and won by Clemson, who defeated Georgetown in the final round. Other competing schools included the University of Maryland, College Park, the United States Naval Academy, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of Richmond. The students met weekly throughout the semester to prepare for the competition by engaging in group discussion, presenting their conclusions, scrimmaging, and being cross-examined by faculty and alumni. The students will continue their practice schedule leading up to the national tournament in March. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15398 2011-11-18T18:02:17Z 2011-11-18T18:03:42Z

Nicole Ruediger Tyler Campbell, Nick Ducq, Ryan King, Andrew Nguyen and Tim Spillman walked out of the Baltimore Convention Center elated. Their team, the Sherwood Cyber Warriors, had just won the high school division of the inaugural Maryland Cyber Challenge. Their success netted them each a $5,000 scholarship from the National Security Agency. The entire experience was rewarding for both the students and their parents, says Steve Weiss, one of the team’s advisers. “Winning first place was the icing on the cake.” In a conference with over 800 attendees, the excitement over the cyber competition was palpable. With scoreboards changing in real time, onlookers crowded around to see who was in the lead. Following the competition, held October 21 and 22, eight teams from each division -- professional, college and high school -- walked away with scholarships and cash prizes. The scholarships for students, put up by the National Security Agency (NSA), totaled more than $84,000. Members of first place high school and college teams took home $5,000 scholarships each. Members of second place high school and college teams took home $2,000 scholarships. Each member of the first place professional teams won $2,000 and each second place member won $1,000. First place winners in the college and high school categories were from, respectively, the University of Maryland, College Park and Sherwood High School. Second place winners were Towson University and Poolesville High School. In the professional category Team ICF came in first, with Team Pr3tty coming in second. The Sherwood Cyber Warriors, four seniors and a junior, are mostly undecided in their future careers, although one does plan to work cybersecurity. Jim Kirk, the team’s senior advisor, says that regardless of the their ultimate career choices, the students learned valuable skills from the competition -- such as how to communicate effectively and work as a team. The Cyber Warriors began practicing for the competition in May, often meeting twice a week. The team developed strategies to pick the low hanging fruit -- what hackers go for first. That, says Kirk, includes developing strong passwords and removing unnecessary software from servers. The challenge for the high school teams, says Rick Forno, Director of UMBC's Graduate Cybersecurity Program and an organizer of the Cyber Challenge, was purely defensive. “They were being attacked and their job was to keep services open.” The challenge was run using CyberNEXS, a software system developed by SAIC for cybersecurity training and exercises.The system is self-contained and runs both Windows and UNIX systems. But, more than just the chance to compete, the event gave college and high school students a taste of what cybersecurity work is like. And that, involves more than technical skills say professionals in the field. “The cyber challenge is especially interesting to me, since all the students participating are passionate about cyber security and the teams will only excel if every member is doing their job,” says Neil Furukawa, vice president of CyberPoint International. “We’re looking for people who can lead, but who can also roll up their sleeves and get the work done.” Phyllis Villani, Director of Talent acquisition at Northrop Grumman says that to get a job, “networking is key.” Besides honing “soft skills” like communication, Furukawa says, people should never stop their education because cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field. Fittingly, education is what the Maryland Cyber Challenge is all about. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15392 2011-11-11T18:41:50Z 2011-11-11T18:55:33Z

Chelsea Haddaway Equality Maryland, the state’s largest LGBT civil rights group. “This is an organization that is like a dear friend to me … and the stakes are high, marriage is on the table, as well as the gender identity bill. We have a whole new board of tremendously accomplished people and I can hit the ground running — it’s full speed ahead,” Evans told the Washington Blade in a November 9 story. Evans teaches an annual gender and women’s studies course on women and the law, which is cross listed with political science. In the course, she covers issues such as how to define “male” and “female,” the unique position of Native American women under the law and reproductive rights. Evans said that teaching the class is especially exciting because the laws in these areas are constantly changing. “My students always say that they love that I’m so passionate in my teaching,” Evans said. “Because of the work I’ve done in Washington, DC and Annapolis, I can provide real world examples.” This spring, students will get to witness the legislative process through Evans as Equality Maryland works to pass two high-profile bills through the Maryland General Assembly: the legalization of same-sex marriage, and a law to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression. “The stars are aligned this year,” Evans told the Blade. “We have the votes in the Senate … and in the House the governor, along with a coalition of supporters, will work the House like it wasn’t worked last year.” However, Evans is quick to point out that although she is working on behalf of a specific agenda, she welcomes dissenting opinions in her class. “The discussions we have are fascinating, because I encourage people who don’t agree with me to come forward,” she said. “People feel comfortable having these conversations in a safe place.” She points out that students with different perspectives on these issues—such as international students and those in the military—offer insightful contributions to class discussions. Evans’s affiliation with Equality Maryland has also been beneficial to UMBC, as she has brought members of the organization to the university’s Mosaic Culture and Diversity Center to discuss LGBT issues with students. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15368 2011-11-03T17:01:00Z 2011-11-03T17:22:33Z

Elyse Ashburn Carnegie Corporation Honors Freeman A. Hrabowski III and Eduardo J. Padrón with 2011 Academic Leadership Award New York, New York, November 3, 2011— Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced that Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College (MDC), have been awarded the foundation’s Centennial Academic Leadership Award. The honorees will be recognized on November 10 at a dinner celebrating the foundation’s centennial, to be held at Carnegie Hall. The award recognizes individuals who, in addition to fulfilling their administrative and managerial roles with dedication and creativity, have demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to excellence and equity in undergraduate education, curricular innovation, the liberal arts, reform of K-12 education, and the promotion of strong links between their institution and their local communities. Carnegie Corporation honors awardees with grants of $500,000 each to be used at their discretion in support of their academic initiatives. Hrabowski’s award recognizes his development of a culture of excellence and success in preparing students of all backgrounds to become Ph.D. scientists and engineers. Beginning with dynamic initiatives in science, technology, engineering, and math, Hrabowski has infused principles of excellence and teaching innovation throughout the university. (Read more about innovation at UMBC here.) Padrón was selected for innovations that have contributed to a culture of success that has produced impressive results in student access, retention and graduation rates, and overall achievement at a school with a predominantly low-income and minority student population. “Presidents Hrabowski and Padrón have been powerful voices advocating for a robust undergraduate education that strives for excellence and creates an environment for students—especially low-income, minority and immigrant students—in which success is the norm,” said Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York. “They have each committed their institution to serving its community and have demonstrated that excellence in leadership is far more than effective management alone. Presidents Hrabowski and Padrón have proved that presidential leadership, faculty quality and most importantly, a dedication to placing the needs of the students above all else, are the critical elements that distinguish one university from another." Hrabowski plans to use his $500,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation to start the Freeman A. Hrabowski Fund for Academic Innovation, which will support investments by the President's Office in faculty, staff, and student initiatives that promote a culture of innovation, entrepreneurship, and student success. These initiatives might include course design and redesign; development of unique classroom environments that support active learning and team-based learning; lab- and project-based capstone courses; faculty fellowships; peer-learning initiatives and more. The Hrabowski Fund will grow from the initial grant into a larger endowed fund generating annual income for program and faculty support. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III Since becoming President of the UMBC in 1992, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, a mathematician by training, has worked with faculty and staff members, trustees, and others to build a mid-sized public research university that is engaged with the larger community, emphasizes teaching at the undergraduate level, and offers model programs to improve access to and success in higher education. Among Hrabowski’s many innovations is the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which he co-founded with philanthropist Robert Meyerhoff in 1988 to increase diversity among future leaders in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The program has become a national model for preparing undergraduate minority students to go on to earn Ph.D.’s in STEM-related fields. From their first semester in the program, Meyerhoff Scholars are engaged in research, often in the labs of eminent scientists, and begin to develop a deeper appreciation of what studying science entails. Program staff members and the students draw on a network of contacts to design summer research internships at UMBC and other institutions nationwide, including such federal agencies as the National Institutes of Health, major corporations, other academic institutions, and research centers like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Today, more African-American bachelor’s degree recipients go on from UMBC to complete Ph.D.’s in STEM fields than from any other predominantly white university in the country. Moreover, UMBC is among the top 10 universities in public policy research productivity; is one of the top two Ph.D. granting universities in the production of information technology degrees at the undergraduate, master’s, and graduate levels; ranks third in research citations in the geosciences; and has scholars in the arts and humanities who are published by such prestigious academic presses as Oxford, Princeton, and Harvard. Lessons from the Meyerhoff program have informed important innovative changes throughout the curriculum, including course redesigns in chemistry, psychology, and other disciplines, as well as successful efforts to address the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. A number of universities across the county have also replicated the principles of the Meyerhoff program. Through effective partnerships with faculty and staff, Hrabowski has infused the ethos of inclusive excellence found in the Meyerhoff program throughout the campus. UMBC sets high expectations for all students, and helps to ensure their success by offering a nurturing and supportive environment with opportunities for mentoring and training, as well as ample academic and career guidance. Past Winners Previous recipients of the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award are Henry S. Bienen, president of Northwestern University (2005); Jared Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University (2005); Don Randel, president of the University of Chicago (2005); Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of The City University of New York (2007); Robert J. Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (2008); Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University (2008); Leon Botstein, president of Bard College (2009); Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University (2009); Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania (2009); and William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland (2009). About the Centennial Academic Leadership Award Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Centennial Academic Leadership Award is more than an award. It is an investment in leadership, building on the foundation's long tradition of developing and recognizing dedication, excellence, innovation, and impact in higher education. In the Carnegie Quarterly of April 1959, published during the presidency of John Gardner, the strength of the Corporation's grants program was described as seeking to be “as responsive as possible to the expressed concerns of college and university leaders” and to “lend itself to the kinds of giving which will strengthen the institution in terms which the president considers necessary.” The award continues a Carnegie Corporation higher education tradition. Nominations are solicited from previous winners, as well as from the leaders of national higher education organizations. Nominations are carefully reviewed, with particular scrutiny given to candidates' sustained records of innovation and accomplishment. Carnegie Corporation does not accept unsolicited nominations or recommendations.]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15355 2011-10-27T19:57:17Z 2011-10-27T19:58:50Z

Nicole Ruediger Contacts: Nicole Ruediger, Communications Manager Phone: 410-455-5791 Email: nruedige@umbc.edu Think of sugar and you no doubt think of sweets. But sugar does more than just leave you with a sweet taste. Certain complex sugars, known as polysaccharides, are attached to the outside of bacteria and play a role in vaccine development. “These complex sugars play an important role in talking to the outside world,” says Allen Bush, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “They interact with antibodies, creating immunity in the patient when used in a vaccine.” Now, Bush and his colleagues have discovered the chemical structures of five key polysaccharides attached to the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, the team reports this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The discovery could be especially promising for children’s health. Pneumonia vaccines commonly used for adults are composed only of polysaccharides, but those don’t work in children. Vaccines that combine a polysaccharide and a protein are more effective in children -- but to create them, drug companies need a more detailed understanding of the structure of the polysaccharides involved. To determine the structure of the polysaccharides, Bush and his colleagues dissolved a small sample in a liquid known as heavy water that, because of its molecular properties, is heavier than regular water. The researchers then put a tiny fraction of the dissolved sample in a small tube and placed it in an instrument the size of a small subcompact car, known as an NMR, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, machine. Performing NMR is like doing an MRI on a molecule. “The resulting structures were surprising,” says Bush. “We just didn’t understand a lot about polysaccharide assembly. The current technology for identifying the bacterial types relies on genetic and antigenic methods that give rise to a lot of mistakes and misleading information about their structure.” At present there are at least ninety recognized distinct pneumococcal types, referred to as serotypes, says Bush, and the detailed chemical structures of many of them are not accurately known. With NMR, Bush says scientists can better understand these polysaccharides -- and that, he says, could make a real contribution to children’s vaccine development. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15354 2011-10-27T19:50:50Z 2011-11-01T13:01:25Z

Nicole Ruediger High Performance Computing Center]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15349 2011-10-25T20:59:00Z 2011-10-27T20:01:07Z

Nicole Ruediger Contacts: Nicole Ruediger, Communications Manager Phone: 410-455-5791 Email: nruedige@umbc.edu Today, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County announced a corporate partnership with BAE Systems, which has committed an investment of $150,000 to support teaching, research and technology development in the cybersecurity field. "UMBC is committed to building a strong and lasting partnership with BAE Systems,” said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. “This is a model university-industry partnership that will engage our students and faculty, address workforce challenges, and help strengthen our national security infrastructure." UMBC is a national leader in educating the next generation of technology workers. More than 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students, 20 percent of the student body, are enrolled in programs critical to the cybersecurity industry, including computer science, information systems, computer engineering, systems engineering, cybersecurity, electrical engineering and mathematics. Paul Falkler, BAE Systems’ Vice President and General Manager of Information Technology & Cybersecurity Solutions (ITCS) said, “While working with UMBC over the last eight years, I have continuously been impressed by the high level of professionalism of its employees, its strong academic programs and the caliber of its students. This past summer, we needed interns to support our cybersecurity business on short notice, and UMBC delivered talented ones that helped shaped the solutions we offer our customers. That’s very impressive.”  As part of the new partnership, BAE Systems will join UMBC’s Career Services Employer Partnership Program, which offers specialized support to help employers meet their campus recruiting goals. In addition, the company will provide seed money for faculty research; sponsor UMBC’s cyberdefense team, the Cyberdawgs; and support the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). The partnership will also enable UMBC's Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering to develop an active learning computer science classroom that meets the unique goals and challenges of the department’s introductory courses. This laboratory will allow faculty to provide appropriate problem sets to students, to engage them as individuals and in teams, and to develop and track outcomes that ensure students build fundamental skills. All of those activities are central to students’ success in the increasingly rigorous upper level classes at UMBC -- and in their futures beyond campus. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15344 2011-10-18T18:29:33Z 2011-10-18T18:31:53Z

Nicole Ruediger Contacts: Nicole Ruediger, Communications Manager Phone: 410-455-5791 Email: nruedige@umbc.edu Understanding how HIV reproduces is one of the keys to combating AIDS. Michael Summers, an investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and his colleagues have developed a new technique that will allow scientists to better understand an important early step in the HIV reproduction cycle - a development that could eventually lead to new treatments for AIDS. "The HIV virus is one of the simplest things in nature that can reproduce," says Summers. "The virus' genetic material, RNA, must be packaged into newly formed viruses in order for those viruses to be infectious and reproduce." Summers and his colleagues have now figured out what a key part of the HIV RNA looks like, and how the RNA "changes its shape" in order to promote reproduction. Until now, scientists have not had good tools for studying the HIV RNA. Some laboratories, including Dr. Summers' lab, previously focused on tiny pieces of the HIV RNA that, by themselves, don't explain how the RNA works. Larger portions of the HIV RNA have also been studied, but the methods used provided incomplete pictures and led to controversial and often incompatible conclusions among different research teams. The Summers lab has developed a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique for studying the entire region of the HIV RNA that is responsible for incorporating it into new viruses. "It's like performing MRI, except we take pictures of the RNA molecules instead of large objects like the human body," says Summers. One exciting finding, Summers says, is that the RNA molecule actually changes its shape, which enables the RNA to perform multiple functions inside the infected cell and promotes its incorporation into new viruses. Summers says the development of this new method will allow scientists to find out how the HIV proteins interact with the RNA - research that has implications for drug discovery and the development of new therapies for patients with HIV. tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15339 2011-10-13T20:21:51Z 2011-10-13T20:52:04Z

Dinah Winnick Claudia Galindo, Sergio Prada, Judith Shinogle and Adele Kirk of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) [see full pdf]. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Salud America! has published preliminary results from the study, which tracked 2,100 Latino children from kindergarten to fifth grade. The research considers country/region of origin and socioeconomic (SES) status in exploring obesity risk factors among the participants. The researchers found that children of Central American, Puerto Rican and Mexican descent have higher rates of obesity than those of Cuban and South American origin. Children in the former group also experience higher rates of obesity over time, with the proportion of Central American children described as obese increasing from 21 percent in kindergarten to 32 percent by fifth grade. The researchers note that differences in the prevalence of obesity across Latino sub-groups are “masked if Latino children are considered one pan-ethnic group, which is a common practice in research.” In the broader Latino group, rates of obesity among children decrease as their SES increases, although all SES groups experience an increase in obesity over time. Obesity is most frequent among Latino children experiencing high poverty levels. Future research will further examine how sex, country of origin, SES, generational status, parental behaviors and school factors influence weight among Latino children. The researchers’ ultimate goal it to “help develop policies and interventions targeted at specific Latino sub-groups during early school years.” The Salud America! pilot project “Young Latino Children’s Weight Changes: Examination of Individual, Family and School Factors” is led by Claudia Galindo, assistant professor of language, literacy and culture at UMBC. The research team also includes Sergio Prada, UMBC Ph.D. alumnus in public policy, now with IMPAQ International; Judith Shinogle, senior research scientist with UMBC's Maryland Institute for Policy Research and Analysis; and Adele Kirk, assistant professor of public policy at UMBC. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/umbcnews//23.15336 2011-10-13T17:12:12Z 2011-10-13T17:18:45Z

Chelsea Haddaway Maryland Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at their annual conference. The award recognizes his “substantial and exemplary contributions to the field of ESL in the state of Maryland.” Nelson the is co-coordinator of the MA program in ESL/bilingual education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). “When you’ve been doing this for a long time, the number of people you’ve influenced starts adding up,” Nelson said. Nelson has taught TESOL at UMBC for 25 years, and has helped to educate many of the state’s current TESOL teachers. “There were 300 people attending the conference [where I received the award]. The person who introduced me asked how many people in the room had been to my classes, and more than half of them raised their hands,” Nelson said. Nelson began his career in TESOL in the mid-1960s as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. Since then he has taught ESL to elementary and secondary school, university and adult English language learners. He has been a teacher trainer, program administrator and consultant in more than 10 countries on four continents. Nelson is currently working on a book entitled “Making English Grammar Meaningful and Useful,” which is modeled after a class he teaches at UMBC. In the book, he attempts to demystify the teaching of English grammar. Teachers, Nelson said, often encounter difficulties in teaching grammar because “they can model the language, but they can’t describe the language.” At UMBC, Nelson has helped to develop the TESOL program into one of the most respected such programs in the state. Today, UMBC’s program comprises over 100 students and awards about 40 master’s degrees each year. “Being in what’s sort of a new discipline at a new university, and growing as the university is growing, that’s really exciting,” Nelson said. ]]>