He is an American Studies and Political Science major as well as a McNair scholar. His career goal is to become an academic and an editorial writer. Prior to his research, he was more interested in policy than discourse analysis. Now, he would like to eventually write books on different types of discourse within America, particularly of a political nature or relating to African-American issues.

Richard's research will explore the cultural and linguistic approach that was used to analyze the effect that speeches by members of the right-wing Tea Party Caucus have had on conservative political discourse. The rhetoric of these politicians after their ascendance in the 2010 congressional elections was compared to the rhetoric used by John McCain, the Republican nominee in 2008, and Donald Drumpf, the Republican nominee in 2016 and current POTUS. This analysis could explain the mind set of the oval office.

Read more about his research here…

At a time when just 12 percent of information security analysts are black, Hispanic or Asian, and only 20 percent of information security analysts are women, successful student support programs like UMBC’s Cyber Scholars are poised to make a major impact on the field, suggests a new article in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. The article focuses on this UMBC program as a model for increasing diversity in cyber-related fields through supporting the success of women and underrepresented minority students in cybersecurity, including providing them with opportunities to expand their professional networks.

The UMBC Cyber Scholars program currently includes 40 scholars and 10 associates, and over 97 percent of the scholars and associates in the program have graduated in their intended major, or are pursuing degrees in computer science, computer engineering or information systems, said Cindy Greenwood, assistant director of the program. Of those participating students, 53 percent are women and 40 percent are underrepresented minorities, in stark contrast to national averages for information security professions.

The Cyber Scholars program stands out in higher education because of the variety of elements offered to students, explained Anupam Joshi, professor and chair of computer science and electrical engineering, and director of the Center for Cybersecurity at UMBC. “Many other programs only focus on imparting technology training in cybersecurity,” he said. “Our program is part of formal degree requirements in computer science, computer engineering and information systems” and students can take a broad range of elective courses, which, Joshi noted, “mix instruction in the theory with hands-on projects.”

Each week, Joshi explained, the students in the Cyber Scholars program hear from industry leaders and government officials on topics such as professional development and technical aspects of the field. “They also conduct peer-led workshops in cybersecurity and work with faculty in research labs,” he added. “They are encouraged to do internships in the industry multiple times and get security clearances in the process.”

Alejandra Diaz ‘17, computer science, has been involved with the Cyber Scholars program since she was a freshman at UMBC, and described how the program has helped her grow and access new opportunities. After she met with UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski and Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman, Diaz interviewed for an internship with Northrop Grumman. Diaz has now interned twice with Northrop Grumman and plans to return to the company before pursuing her master’s degree.

Alejandra Diaz, left, with fellow Cyber Scholars. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Read “Programs Aim to Open Doors to Diversity in Cybersecurity” in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

Adapted from UMBC News; Header Image: The ITE building at UMBC. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The post UMBC’s Cyber Scholars program stands out as a national model in “Diverse” appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

View story at Medium.com

A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria

In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue to slay!

Things you should know:

February is Black History Month! Join us in celebrating the lives, activism and labor of African-American and Black activists, scholars and thinkers this month. Need some resources to expand your knowledge of black feminism? Check out Melissa Harris-Perry’s Black Feminism Syllabus and stop by the Women’s Center’s lending library to check out all of our awesome books!

Article of the Week:

Upworthy came out with an amazing guide for new activists. Be sure to check out 5 invaluable tips on how to resist from a first-time activist.

Continue to make time for taking care of yourself. I know that is easier said than done. If you’re struggling with balancing being an activist and the feeling overwhelmed, check out Mashable’s article on what to do when you’re so overwhelmed, you can’t move.

UMBC Happenings:

The Women’s Center is continually dedicated to support throughout this semester and beyond. February is full of events and programs, all of which are geared towards expanding our knowledge and understanding of feminism and social justice. Join us for our first Roundtable discussion, What Now? UMBC Police Meet & Greet and Money 201: Basic Investing Program.

Woman of the Week: 

During Black History Month, Slaying on the Weekly will be featuring inspiring, innovative or groundbreaking black women. This week’s Woman of the Week is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, aka Michelle Obama. As a lawyer, activist, mother and the coolest First Lady ever, we thought it would be best to have Michelle as our first Woman of the Week. Thanks for being so cool, Mrs. Obama!!

The Women’s Center staff members at staff training over winter break. We’re ready for a great semester!

Call for SWENextEd Workgroup Volunteers

SWENextEd is a Work Group on SWE’s Outreach Committee.  It is focused on providing information and resources to SWE’s K-12 Educator Members.  

We know that educators play an important role in helping us promote engineering to their students.

The SWENextEd Work Group is excited to announce some great volunteer opportunities for four new sub-workgroup volunteers to help lead our key newsletter sustainability needs. 

The sub-workgroup committees will be dedicated to the generation of critical newsletter content subsections. See the attached file for details about each volunteer position.

As sub-workgroup members you will be responsible for building society media and resources in multiple avenues, allowing us to plan ahead and coordinate innovative ideas deep into the threads of the society. 

With the help of our sub-workgroup members, the newsletter editor would be able to generate regular and consistent newsletters.

The amount of time required for each role is estimated in the attached.  As we ramp up the pull list, more work may be required in the first few months and then level out as we build the backlog. 

The only requirement is that you must be a SWE member in good standing (i.e. dues paid).

If interested in any of the attached positions, please send an email to SWENextEd@swe.org  by February 10th, stating which position you are interested and why (just a brief sentence or two is all that is needed).  We will be reviewing the information from all of the interested members and looking for the best fit for the positions.  We will let you know as soon as we've made our selections.

The SWENextEd Workgroup leads are Sadaf Qazi and Debra K and can be reached at SWENextEd@swe.org if you have any questions.

Don't miss your chance to apply for a scholarship

Reminder — Apply now for Society of Women Engineers' scholarships for the 2017-2018 academic year. Collegiates who will be sophomores through Ph.D. candidates can apply online now through February 15, 2017.

The SWE Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to women studying baccalaureate or graduate programs, in preparation for careers in engineering, engineering technology and computer science. In 2016, SWE disbursed more than 230 new and renewed scholarships valued at over $750,000.

Students complete one application and are considered for all scholarships for which they are eligible. The online application is entirely electronic - including submittal of reference recommendations and transcripts.

Learn more about SWE Scholarships in our latest SWE Diverse Podcast with SWE FY17 President Jessica Rannow and Mary Beth Biddle, SWE's Scholarship Coordinator.