CSEE's Dr. Richard Forno, Cybersecurity GPD and Assistant Director of UMBC's Center for Cybersecurity, has received an $84K grant from the National Security Agency (NSA) to fund the prizes for student winners at the 2013 Maryland Cyber Challenge and Competition (MDC3) finals that will take place at the CyberMaryland 2013 conference in Baltimore on October 8 & 9.   

The Maryland Cyber Challenge aims to build excitement around pursuing education and careers in the cybersecurity field by bringing together teams of students and cyber practitioners to compete in a series of ever-more-complex cybersecurity challenges. To date, approximately 700 competitors across 115 teams have participated in the past two competitions. With the generous support of NSA, UMBC has provided more than $160,000 in monetary prizes to highly skilled and talented computer science students over the past two years. 

As in years past, first place team members each will receive $5K and runners-up receive $2K each to contribute toward their higher education and training in the cybersecurity and computer science fields. Identical prizes are awarded both in the high school and college divisions.

Dr. Forno and UMBC are co-founders of MDC3, which is a partnership with SAIC/Leidos, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), and the Technology Council of Maryland (TCM).

The Baltimore Chapter of IEEE Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits is co-hosting a free, one-day Colloquium on Sensor Devices from 10:00 to 5:00 on Wednesday, September 25. The event will be held in the Benjamin Banneker Room (2212) of the Stamp Union Building at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Invited speakers include Dr. Philip Perconti (Army Research Laboratory), Prof. M. Alam (Purdue University), Dr. Parvez Uppal (Army Research Laboratory), Prof. Mark Reed (Yale University), Dr. Herbert Bennett (NIST), Prof. Michael Shur (RPI), Dr. Anupama Kaul (National Science Foundation) and Prof. Agis Iliadis (UMCP).

Attendance is free. To register please contact: Dr. Naresh C. Das (naresh.c.das2.civ at mail.mil), Dr. Victor Veliadis (victor.veliadis at ngc.com).

Hi Tea is back with a bang! Registration is now open for the Fall 2013 CSEE Hi Tea Competition. Hi Tea is a student-run social event held (nearly) every Friday from 3:00 to 3:30 in the third floor hallway of the ITE building outside the CSEE Department suite (325 ITE). All students, staff, faculty and friends of the CSEE Department are welcome to attend. Each week, a group of students will plan and assemble simple refreshments for the event. This Fall we will repeat the popular competition used in the Spring (see some photos).

Let's come together to cheer and vote for the competitors, have some food, mingle with old friends and make new ones. Here are the rules:

• Form groups of one to four members. Teams do not have to have all members from the same lab. So feel free to form a group with any of your friends from the CSEE Department.
• Create a name for your team.
• The winning team will be chosen from a weighted combination of votes. One vote will result from attendees. Another vote will come from faculty judges. Ties will be resolved by faculty judges.
• Each team should limit their presentation to $15. Therefore, each team will be reimbursed up to $15. Each team must save their receipts and submit them to Jane Gethman to obtain their reimbursement.
• Teams will be judged on creativity, presentation, and budget planning. It is preferred that you list how you managed your expenses for the judges to verify limit-to-$15 rule.
• Each week, two teams will compete against each other (). The winner will proceed to the next round.

Hi Tea will proceed for eight weeks. After that, the winner, first runner-up, and second runner-up will receive a $100, $75, and $50 gift certificate, respectively.

The following dates are reserved for fun-filled special editions of Hi Tea. No teams will compete on these days. Stay tuned for more details!

• 25-Oct-2013: Halloween
• 1-Nov-2013: Diwali
• 22-Nov-2013: Thanksgiving

For questions, comments, and registration, email the following Hi Tea committee members:

• Raghavendra Shruti Rao ( Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. )
• Genaro Hernandez Jr (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. )
• Rukmini Ramakrishnan (Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address. )

The UMBC Linux Users Group (LUG) will meet during the Fall 2013 semester on Wednesdays starting on September 11 from Noon to 1:00pm in ITE 234. If you are interested in becoming a member, please come to a few meetings and check it out.

The UMBC LUG was established in 1997 as an organization of and for people interested in the Linux operating system.  This includes people who want to learn how to install and use it on their personal computers as well as those who use it regularly and want to expand and deepen their knowledge about it.

The LUG also helps members and non-members install, update and use Linux Operating System and software during its periodic Installfests.

UMBC-LUG members come from all walks of life and courses of study. You'll find among its ranks faculty, staff and students from Information Systems, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Math, Visual Arts, Sociology, Music, Social Work, and yes, even Computer Science, all bound together by a common love of Linux. Membership is not limited to UMBC students and attendance by non-members and prospective members is always welcome.

The first meeting of the UMBC Game Developers Club (GDC) will be held at Noon on Wednesday September 11 in Engineering 005a. Potential new members and people curious about the process behind video games are welcome. In the first meeting, club president Paul Tschirgi will review the club purpose, organization and activities and describe the guidelines for the game idea selection process. Information on last year's projects can be found on the GDC project page.

The GDC was originally formed in 2005 with the goal of giving students from varied backgrounds a chance to work together and make games. The GDC accepts members from any major or background, including computer science, digital art, computer modeling, information systems, and music. If you would like to know more about the organization, feel free to visit our forums or come to one of our meetings. Currently, the GDC meets every Wednesday from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in the the GAIM Lab (ENGR 005A). Dates for meeting, workshops and other GDC related events are posted on the GDC Google Calendar.

Sixty-six years ago today (on 1947-09-09) operators of the Mark II Aiken Relay Computer being tested at Harvard found a dead moth trapped between points of Relay #70 in Panel F. Dr. Grace Hopper made an entry in the Mark II log book and identified it as the "first actual case of bug being found". (source)

The log book is now at the National Museum of American History.

Sixty-six years ago today (on 1947-09-09) operators of the Mark II Aiken Relay Computer being tested at Harvard found a dead moth trapped between points of Relay #70 in Panel F. Dr. Grace Hopper made an entry in the Mark II log book and identified it as the "first actual case of bug being found". (source)

The log book is now at the National Museum of American History.

Sixty-six years ago today (on 1947-09-09) operators of the Mark II Aiken Relay Computer being tested at Harvard found a dead moth trapped between points of Relay #70 in Panel F. Dr. Grace Hopper made an entry in the Mark II log book and identified it as the "first actual case of bug being found". (source)

The log book is now at the National Museum of American History.

CSEE Professor Tim Finin was one of eight researchers elected this year as a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). His election citation reads

The new fellows were inducted at the annual AAAI fellows dinner at the 2103 AAAI conference in Seattle Washington in July.

Finin's research interests have ranged widely over a the field of Artificial Intelligence during his professional career and have included computer vision, natural language processing, knowledge representation and reasoning, expert systems and multiagent systems. His current research is focused on extracting useful information from text and semistructured data and using Semantic Web technologies to enable people and computers to effectively model, share and integrate both knowledge and data. He is working with UMBC faculty and students on applying these ideas to help solve problems in security, privacy, mobile computing and social computing environments.

AAAI was founded in 1979 as an international scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines. It's fellow program started in 1990 to recognize individuals who have made significant, sustained contributions, usually over at least a ten-year period, to the field of artificial intelligence.