The Fall 2013 edition of the Center for Women in Technology’s newsletter, CWIT Update, describes CWIT’s recent events and initiatives, highlighting accomplishments of the CWIT students, updates from CWIT alumni, and information on two scholar programs that CWIT helps to manage: Transfer Scholars in Information Technology and Engineering and Cyber Scholars.

Professor Charles Laberge, director of UMBC’s undergraduate Computer Engineering program, was recently recognized by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RCTA) for more than thirty years of service helping to develop technical standards critical to aviation safety. RTCA is a private, not-for-profit association founded in 1935 to provide a public-private partnership venue for developing consensus among diverse, competing interests on critical aviation modernization issues in an increasingly global enterprise.

Dr. Laberge’s work was cited in an article the December issue of the RTCA digest, Spotlight on Volunteers: Communications Expert Advances Aviation Safety, for his leadership and contributions to standards for aviation communication. “Chuck has been invaluable to RTCA’s work for many years – we could not have accomplished what we have without his expertise and the long hours he has spent advancing aviation safety,” said RTCA President Margaret Jenny.

“Chuck LaBerge serves as Chair of RTCA’s SC-222, Inmarsat AMS(R)S, which has been working since October 2008 to produce several guidance documents focused on satellite systems capability. Chuck is known industry-wide for his expertise in radio signal processes and interference and brings a wealth of knowledge to the Committee’s work. Chuck has a long and active history of contributing to RTCA products and first became involved with RTCA in the late 70s, helping to produce DO-177, a MOPS document focusing on Microwave Landing System (MLS) Airborne Receiving Equipment. He has made substantial contributions to 20 RTCA documents, not including document updates.”

Dr. LaBerge describes the the work of the RTCA Special Committee 222 as defining the standards for satellite communication services that allow aircraft passengers to place telephone calls and access the Internet while in flight, especially in oceanic airspace. His previous RTCA work had focused on the special constraints that support pilot and controller communications related to the safety and regularity of flight along national and international air routes.

Professor LaBerge began working on RTCA standards at the Honeywell Aerospace Research & Technology Center, where he worked from from 1975 to 2008, achieving the position of Senior Fellow. While there, he completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at UMBC in 2003. In 2008, he joined UMBC as Professor of the Practice, where he currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in computer engineering, helps teach the popular Introduction to Engineering class (ENES 101) and directs the undergraduate computer engineering program.

This week it was revealed that Target suffered a data breach that involved more than 40 million credit and debit card accounts. Target reports that “The unauthorized access may impact guests who made credit or debit card purchases in our U.S. stores from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15, 2013.”

Director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and CSEE Professor Anupam Joshi discussed the possible consequences of the breach in video reports by local affiliates for both ABC and NBC. Dr. Joshi outlined some of the possible ways that the data breach might have happened and pointed out that while the lost data could be used to make illegal charges to the accounts, it was unlikely to lead to larger identity theft problems.

UMBC Training Centers received a $5,000 grant financed by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) that will be used to defer tuition costs for students in the Cyber Operations Program. According to Tom Sadowski, President and CEO of EAGB:

“This contribution reflects EAGB’s commitment to growing the cybersecurity industry and talent base within the Greater Baltimore region. There are thousands of cybersecurity jobs available for highly motivated and trained individuals. The students that complete the Certificate in Cyber Operations program at UMBC Training Centers Cybersecurity Academy are ready to analyze complex network architectures, determine threat exposure and implement appropriate defenses.”

The Certificate in Cyber Operations, starting on January 21, 2014, is an intensive 9-month, part-time program. Cyber Operations features a rigorous curriculum that delivers a focused set of skills reinforced by multiple industry certifications, including CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Certified Ethical Hacker. This program is closely aligned with the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology release of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework.

UMBC Training Centers received a $5,000 grant financed by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) that will be used to defer tuition costs for students in the Cyber Operations Program. According to Tom Sadowski, President and CEO of EAGB:

“This contribution reflects EAGB’s commitment to growing the cybersecurity industry and talent base within the Greater Baltimore region. There are thousands of cybersecurity jobs available for highly motivated and trained individuals. The students that complete the Certificate in Cyber Operations program at UMBC Training Centers Cybersecurity Academy are ready to analyze complex network architectures, determine threat exposure and implement appropriate defenses.”

The Certificate in Cyber Operations, starting on January 21, 2014, is an intensive 9-month, part-time program. Cyber Operations features a rigorous curriculum that delivers a focused set of skills reinforced by multiple industry certifications, including CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Certified Ethical Hacker. This program is closely aligned with the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology release of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework.

UMBC Training Centers received a $5,000 grant financed by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) that will be used to defer tuition costs for students in the Cyber Operations Program. According to Tom Sadowski, President and CEO of EAGB:

“This contribution reflects EAGB’s commitment to growing the cybersecurity industry and talent base within the Greater Baltimore region. There are thousands of cybersecurity jobs available for highly motivated and trained individuals. The students that complete the Certificate in Cyber Operations program at UMBC Training Centers Cybersecurity Academy are ready to analyze complex network architectures, determine threat exposure and implement appropriate defenses.”

The Certificate in Cyber Operations, starting on January 21, 2014, is an intensive 9-month, part-time program. Cyber Operations features a rigorous curriculum that delivers a focused set of skills reinforced by multiple industry certifications, including CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Certified Ethical Hacker. This program is closely aligned with the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology release of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework.

Professor Marie desJardins received a research award from the National Science Foundation focused on increasing the expertise of Maryland high school teachers for teaching computer science, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of computer science classes offered in Maryland and the number and diversity of students taking them.

The project, CS10K: Collaborative Research: A Structured CS Principles Approach to Professional Development for Maryland High School Teachers, is led by Dr. desJardins and will involve collaborators from the Computer Science department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and high school teachers from Charles County and Baltimore County. The NSF award will provide $845,000 in funding over a three year period and is part of the Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21) program, which aims to build a robust computing research community, a computationally competent 21st century workforce, and a computationally empowered citizenry.

The project is also part of the CS 10K community, which works to make computer science accessible in high schools. The nationwide effort has a goal of getting rigorous academic computer science courses into 10,000 schools taught by 10,000 well-prepared teachers. The project pays careful attention to the inclusion of women and minorities–groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in computing.

The project will develop and evaluate professional development activities focused on increasing the expertise of Maryland high school teachers for teaching computer science. Experienced higher education faculty and highly effective high school teachers will collaborate to train other high school teachers to develop and offer a college preparatory CS curriculum. In the first year, an initial cohort of 12 master teachers will collaborate with the project leadership team to develop standardized classroom materials based on the CS Principles curriculum and then offer the CS Principles course in their home schools. In the second year, the project staff will train less experienced teachers in the CS Principles curriculum, and in the third year, the leadership team will demonstrate scalability by supporting the delivery of multiple independently funded regional workshops. The project’s ultimate goal is to achieve significantly increased interest of Maryland students in studying and pursuing careers in computer science.

UMBC is once again hosting the Global Gam Jam this January. It will run from 5pm Friday, January 24th to 5pm Sunday, January 26th, just before classes start. Once again, thanks to a generous donation by NextCentury, registration is free. Space is limited, so sign up now! 

For anyone who hasn’t participated, the global game jam is a 48 hour game development event with hundreds of host sites around the world. At 5pm local time, introduce the jam and announce this year’s theme. Previous year’s themes have ranged from a phrase (“as long as we’re together there will always be problems”) to a word (“extinction”) to an image (ouroboros: a snake eating its tail), to a sound (the recording of a heartbeat). Participants brainstorm game ideas around the theme, form into teams, and spend the weekend building games that are designed to be both fun and express the theme.

The UMBC site is not restricted to just students. In previous years, we have had a mix of UMBC students, faculty, alumni, students from other schools, game development professionals, and just people with an interest in game development. More details at gaim.umbc.edu/global-game-jam. However, we are limited to just 40 participants, so sign up early if you want to come. If the UMBC site fills, other local(ish) sites include the Unviersity of Baltimore, American University, and George Mason University.

Professor Gymama Slaughter received a research award from the National Science Foundation to support her work on a self-powered biosensing microsystem that simultaneously generates bioelectricity and monitors glucose.

The four-year award in the amount of $400,000 is from NSF’s prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, which supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.

With the support from NSF, Professor Slaughter and the students in her Bioelectronics Laboratory will fabricate and characterize a self-powered biosensing microsystem that simultaneously generates bioelectricity and monitors glucose. This will be accomplished using an inertial power scavenging design by converting interstitial glucose into energy through the coupling of enzymes and three-dimensional nanowire arrays to power implantable glucose monitors.

The self-powered biosensing microsystem will monitor sugar levels and embodies two key technical contributions: it eliminates the need for a potentiostat circuit and an external power source or batteries, leading to dramatic improvements in both speed and energy efficiency, and it demonstrates an autonomous, self-powered, low-power biosensing microsystem that can be adapted for other uses. For people suffering from diabetes, continuous, self-powered monitoring of glucose will improve their quality of life and can save lives.

Professor Slaughter notes that the educational component of the project enriches and complements other programs at UMBC designed to increase minority and female participation in STEM fields. The exposure of these students to a real-world problem and its solution will enable them to better appreciate the contribution of scientific research.

UMBC is once again hosting the Global Gam Jam this January. It will run from 5pm Friday, January 24th to 5pm Sunday, January 26th, just before classes start. Once again, thanks to a generous donation by NextCentury, registration is free. Space is limited, so sign up now! 

For anyone who hasn't participated, the global game jam is a 48 hour game development event with hundreds of host sites around the world. At 5pm local time, introduce the jam and announce this year's theme. Previous year's themes have ranged from a phrase ("as long as we're together there will always be problems") to a word ("extinction") to an image (ouroboros: a snake eating its tail), to a sound (the recording of a heartbeat). Participants brainstorm game ideas around the theme, form into teams, and spend the weekend building games that are designed to be both fun and express the theme.

The UMBC site is not restricted to just students. In previous years, we have had a mix of UMBC students, faculty, alumni, students from other schools, game development professionals, and just people with an interest in game development. More details at gaim.umbc.edu/global-game-jam. However, we are limited to just 40 participants, so sign up early if you want to come. If the UMBC site fills, other local(ish) sites include the Unviersity of Baltimore, American University, and George Mason University.