MS Defense
UMBC Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Distance Adaptation of Diffuse Reflectance
and Subsurface Scattering

Elizabeth Baumel

1:30pm Friday, November 20, ITE 352, UMBC

Objects in the world around us are made of a myriad of materials, both metallic and non-metallic. Most non-metallic materials scatter light in varying amounts within their surfaces, giving softer, more saturated diffuse colors and softer-edged shadows. This effect, subsurface scattering, is important to make translucent objects look realistic. Non-metallic objects that are opaque also scatter light, just at a very small distance. These non-metallic materials may look somewhat translucent at very close viewing distances, but from farther away they exhibit a more opaque, but still soft diffuse appearance. To shade these objects realistically from all distances, a method is needed to model subsurface scattering effects at close ranges and to smoothly transition to a soft diffuse reflection at larger viewing distances. We present a method that takes advantage of graphics processor texture filtering hardware to linearly filter maps that encode diffuse reflection and translucency information and to interpolate between a close-range subsurface scattering effect and a long-range reflectance function.

Committee: Drs. Marc Olano (Advisor, Chair), Penny Rheingans, Jian Chen

UMBC’s Information Systems Security Association Chapter and Cyber Scholars & Affiliates Program will host a panel on Women and Leadership in IT followed by hors d’oeuvres and networking with the panelists and representatives from Northrop Grumman.  The event will take place from 5:00 to 6:30pm on Wednesday, 18 November 2015 in room 312 of the University Center at UMBC. Panelists include:

• Deborah Bonanni: Former Chief of Staff of NSA & VP of Intelligent Decisions, Inc.
• Diane Howard: VP of Cyber Operations of Northrop Grumman
• Belinda Coleman: President/CEO the Coleman Group Inc.
• Brenda Martineau : Organizational Leadership & Management Skill Community Director of NSA
• Jennifer R. Walker : President/CEO Resolute Technologies, LLC

Everyone is welcome. See the event announcement  for more information and to optionally RSVP.

Northrop Grumman Information Systems is seeking UMBC students to apply for their Summer 2016 internships in Baltimore working in Health IT.

Students should be freshmen, sophomores, and juniors interested in interviewing for a summer internship within our team of qualified, diverse individuals at our highly competitive, on site Internship Interview Day.  The Interview Day will take place on December 1 at Northrop Grumman's Baltimore, Maryland location.

If you are interested in being considered for participation in this event please review the below minimum qualifications and apply directly. The best qualified applicants will receive a formal invitation to an upcoming Intern Hire Draft event to interview with Hiring Managers representing the different programs in our Health IT division. Individuals who meet immediate business needs will be given the chance to compete amongst their peers for an offer to join our team for the summer.

Basic Qualifications:
To be considered for this event, you must minimally meet the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed below:
•    Enrolled as a full time student pursing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Information Technology or a related technical degree from an accredited institution.
•    Must be within a 60 mile radius of Baltimore, MD and/or be willing to commute to attend the event.
•    Must have a graduation date of December 2016 or beyond (those already graduated or graduating prior to that will not be considered for this event).
•    Interested in obtaining internship with Northrop Grumman for the summer of 2016 and attending the interview day in person at the Baltimore, MD NGC facility on December 1.
•    Willing to consider an internship opportunity in the Baltimore, MD area.
•    Must be able to obtain a security clearance (US Citizen or Permanent Resident)

Preferred Qualifications:
Candidates that meet these desired qualifications will be given preferential consideration:
•    Candidates with flexible work location preference
•    Candidates with 3.7 GPA or higher
•    Previous classroom or internship experience within discipline

To Apply:

Email your resume to Cheryl Batleman (cheryl.batleman@ngc.com) by November 20, 2015.  Subject Line: Health IT Intern Draft Application

Below are featured events and internship/employment opportunities that have recently been posted or have application deadline dates that are quickly approaching!  To see all that the UMBC Career Center has to offer YOU, please visit our myUMBC group page HERE or log into your UMBCworks account!

FEATURED EVENTS….

NEW! Inside Scoop: Entrepreneur PanelWednesday, November 18, 2015 Noon – 1pm

Information Sessions

NEW!Information Session: M&T Bank Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 5 pm – 7 pm

NEW! Information Session: Urban teachers Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 5 pm – 7 pm

NEW! Information Session: Tensley ConsultingThursday, November 19, 2015, 5 pm – 6:30 pm

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FEATURED FULL-TIME & PART-TIME JOBS, INTERNSHIPS, AND RESEARCH POSITIONS

The Bipartisan Policy Center Internship Program

R&D Internship in Biomaterials

Summer Internships for All Majors with the US Army

Keep an eye on the Career Center website (http://careers.umbc.edu/) for all upcoming events and programs!  Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors….this is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about career paths…whether you are exploring possibilities or searching for an internship or full-time opportunity!

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UMBC ACM Tech Talk

Giving Successful Technical Presentations
Prof. Cynthia Matuszek, UMBC

2:00pm Wednesday 18 November 2015, ITE325

Giving talks is one of the core tasks of a researcher. Technical presentations are how we accomplish some of our most important tasks: talks are the first step in getting other people excited about our work, getting suggestions and feedback, teaching, and applying for jobs and grants. Nonetheless, the art and science of giving a really good technical talk is one we are more likely to leave to chance than to deliberately train in. Not only does this mean we aren’t accomplishing everything we could with our presentations; we’re missing a chance to distinguish ourselves by improving a comparatively rare — but learnable — skill.

In this talk, I will describe the idea of the “culture of conveying information,” and give a number of specific suggestions for improving technical talks — including tools, rules of thumb, social conventions, and suggestions for making your talks engaging, informative, and memorable.

Cynthia Matuszek is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department where she heads the Interactive Robotics and Language lab. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 2014, where she was a member of both the Robotics and State Estimation lab and the Language, Interaction, and Learning group. She is published in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, ubiquitous computing, and human-robot interaction. Her research interests include human-robot interaction, natural language processing, and machine learning.

Celebrating Thanksgiving reminds us how grateful we are for nature and everything it gives us – but our modern food system can take a heavy toll on our environment. In fact, estimates suggest that one-fifth or more of climate-changing pollution comes from the food industry.

Between toxic pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, genetically modified foods and factory-farmed animals, making sustainable choices can seem overwhelming. But Interfaith Power & Light has the resources you need to have a sustainable, healthy holiday.

Click here for IPL’s guide to a Green Thanksgiving celebration.