He is a Biology major and an independent researcher. He is also a Teaching Assistant for both Biology 300 and 303, as well as a tutor for the Math Lab and Writing Center. He plans to attend medical school, become a doctor, and ultimately make a positive impact on the world. His advice on beginning in research, "Get started early!!! My biggest regret about research is that I didn’t get started as early as I should have. Working in a lab is a very rewarding experience that you learn a lot from. Getting involved early allows you to maximize what you gain and gives you enough time to pursue any long-term projects. Time is an invaluable resource and this is especially true with research."

Junaid's research will explore the efforts that will pave the way for the next-generation applications in human regenerative medicine. For more than a century, scientists have been captivated by the regenerative capabilities of the planarian flatworm, which can regenerate a full body from almost any type of amputation. To understand the mechanisms controlling this extraordinary ability, research approaches based on surgical, pharmacological, and genetic manipulations have been used extensively to produce a huge dataset of experimental results disseminated through the literature. The rise of sophisticated machine learning algorithms and computational power has brought upon a novel way of studying these fascinating creatures.

Read more about his research here…

Maybe you’ve heard of a feminist click moment, but do you remember what your queer click moment was? Kayla Smith, Women’s Center student staff member, collected queer click moment stories for the blog. Thanks to those who contributed!

That moment when the lightbulb went off in your head and a little (or loud) voice said “Holy crap! I’m not straight!”

Maybe you had a “girl crush” on a classmate? Or found yourself getting REALLY into L Word? The Women’s Center staff and community members share their queer click Moments!

Bi AND badass. Thanks Callie!

“When I was 19, I was completely infatuated with my Women’s Studies professor. She was
brilliant and beautiful, and I worked so hard in that class to try to impress her. I soon realized that it wasn’t a “girl crush” – it was an actual crush.” – Megan Tagle Adams, Women’s Center Assistant Director

First Shira, and then Willow. Everyone is gay

“I was in middle school, sitting next to this person who had identified as a lesbian at the time. I remember daydreaming in math, and suddenly an image of us married to each other, laying in bed and cuddling ( super scandalous for a 12 year- old, I know!). I quickly repressed that thought and never seriously revisited my queerness until college – though I still had a crush on this person all the way through High School.” – Shira Devora, Women’s Center student staff member

Shane putting the connections together!

“The moment is so vivid for me. At 24 years old, I was alone in my apartment watching L Word on DVD for the first time. I remember sitting on this green couch and feeling totally excited by what was happening on my tv (women hooking up with women – gasp!) followed by this realization that the stereotypes fed to me of what and who lesbians were was totally wrong. In that moment, my world opened up to the possibility there was another way of being for me… the rest, my friends, is history. This late bloomer, thanks you, L Word.” – Jess Myers, Women’s Center Director

“When I was a child, my favorite movie was The Sound of Music. My queer click moment, was when I saw Liesel (you know, ’16 going on 17′) do her musical number with Rolph (the bad guy who later ends up being a Nazi)! I wanted to be Rolph (but not a bad guy). Wow, this is embarrassing!” – Michael Jalloh-Jamboria, Women’s Center Student Staff member

Liesel seducing a young Michael.

Look at her cute gay overalls.

“I used to watch Power Rangers at my cousins house when I was little and I found myself really drawn to the Pink Ranger – Kimberly. I really liked Trini, the yellow ranger, and I knew I wanted to BE the yellow ranger….but something about the pink ranger and her little skirt? Yep. Definitely a queer.” – Kayla Smith, Women’s Center Student Staff member

“A friend of mine sent me a cool looking picture of a fantasy theme featuring a particularly attractive girl. We got into a conversation about female aesthetics which led to a rather non-PG13 discussion resulting in my friend telling me “you know that means you’re at least bi, right?”. My response was, “Wait what? Nooo…. wait. Hold on… huh. Aaaactually? THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!” Click.” – Anonymous

“I slowly started realizing I was bisexual late freshman year. I had just gotten a tumblr, and one of the first blogs I followed was literally just selfies of “androgynous girls” (just gals admiring gals, right?) It finally hit me sophomore year when I got really into the band Halestorm. Their singer’s leather pants, her bright red lipstick… it was all too much for my baby bi heart.” – Anonymous

“I suspected I was rainbow-tinged from an early age. When I was 5, I kissed a girl in kindergarten and thought it was gross (because let’s face it, out of context, kissing is weird). But when I went into elementary school and then middle school, all of my best friends were girls and I thought they were the most beautiful people ever. I would seriously stare at them in disbelief that people so beautiful could ever exist. Ladies were like otherworldly goddesses to me, a small unworthy frog-girl. Meanwhile, I was also heavily interested in the idea of Jesse Bradford (specifically as Cliff in Bring it On) putting his smirk on my face. I didn’t really put all the pieces together of being queer, until I kissed a girl and I liked it. And then I kissed a boy and I liked that, too.” – Amelia Meman, Women’s Center Special Projects Coordinator

Do you remember what your queer click moment was? Join us at Between Women on Thursdays (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ bi-weekly in the Women’s Center lounge. Between Women is a discussion-based program that centers the experiences of women students who identify themselves on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

We can’t wait to see you in the center!

The National Geographic Society is hiring paid, part-time summer interns in various positions.  These internships were recently posted.  However, the deadlines to apply is approaching.  National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to change the world.

Do no delay- apply ASAP via this link: www.nationalgeographic.org/jobs.

Intern, Archives
Req ID 13581 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Marketing Content and Analytics
Req ID 13423 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Experiential Marketing
Req ID 13422 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Digital Content Production
Req ID 13501 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Information Security
Req ID 13382 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Educator Networks
Req ID 13421 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Impact Initiatives
Req ID 13461 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Measurement and Evaluation (M&E)
Req ID 13481 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Traveling Exhibits
Req ID 13521 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

Intern, Pristine Seas Media Team
Req ID 13442 - Washington, DC  -  Internship  -  Temporary

UMBC CSEE Seminar Series

Hacking, Security and Technology In Public Consciousness:
The Effects of Myth

Dr. Richard Forno

Assistant Director, UMBC Center for Cybersecurity
Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Graduate Program

1-2pm, Friday, 31 March 2017, ITE 231

Public portrayals of the digital landscape, particularly through the entertainment mass media and product marketing, can have a profound influence on how the general public perceives the strengths and limitations of technology. Over time, these images, stereotypes and dramatized capabilities are replicated across texts and repeated until, rightly or wrongly, they become the default paradigm for mass understanding of the complex and ever-changing modern technological environment.

For example, one only needs to observe legislative bodies or watch mainstream news media trying to come to understand issues such as encryption, cybersecurity, or even pluralistic applications of the term “to hack” to see just how deeply the stereotype of the god-like yet overweight and socially maladjusted (often male) ‘hacker’ have penetrated popular perceptions. Metaphors like this that act as a useful shorthand in fictional storytelling do not make a good reference basis for policy statements or national decision-making — however, when such sensationalized and/or fictional depictions overshadow more sophisticated or nuanced descriptions of those capabilities in actual practice, it is understandable why unrealistic expectations and unworkable proposals for technology – like “good-guys only” encryption backdoors – continue being proposed.

Drawing on examples from the media and politics, this presentation explores the connections between decades-old media tropes around technology/technologists and current technology debates, especially those related to cybersecurity and cyberwarfare. This interpretively analyzed presentation argues that perception is just as important as performance in terms of outcomes and acknowledges that the models used by mass society, including policy makers, to understand early digital innovations are part of a wider set of mass cultural messages have served a purpose — but now need to be either dispelled or updated. Addressing the assumptions and inaccuracies of these shared media-fueled perceptions of the emerging digital society is an important part of understanding and then working to overcome conflicts between technology and policy.

(This presentation, and its related paper, are part of ongoing research collaborations between Dr. Forno (security) at UMBC and Dr. Erika Pearson (media/comms) of Massey University in Wellington, NZ)

Dr. Richard Forno is a Senior Lecturer in the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, where he directs the UMBC Graduate Cybersecurity Program and serves as the Assistant Director of UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity. His twenty-year career spans the government, military, and private sector, including helping to build the first formal cybersecurity program for the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the first Chief Security Officer for Network Solutions (operator of the InterNIC), and co-founding the CyberMaryland conference. Dr. Forno was also one of the early thought leaders on the subject of “information warfare” and he remains a longtime commentator on the influence of Internet technology upon society.

Organizer: Tulay Adali, Host: Alan Sherman

About the CSEE Seminar Series: The UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering presents technical talks on current significant research projects of broad interest to the Department and the research community. Each talk is free and open to the public. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future talks.

The post talk: Hacking, Security, and Technology In Public Consciousness: The Effects of Myth, 1pm 3/31 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s latest leak is the most recent major hack exposing information that could possibly compromise national security. In The Conversation, Anupam Joshi and Rick Forno, explain that this hack is a reminder of how cyberdefense strategies must be continually improved to ensure sensitive information is protected.

Joshi is a professor and chair of the department of computer science and electrical engineering and director of UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity, and Forno is the assistant director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and director of UMBC’s graduate program in cybersecurity. Their latest article has been republished by media across the globe and has been read more than 20,000 times.

“This round of leaks, of documents dating from 2013 to 2016,…reinforces perhaps the most troubling piece of information we already know: Individuals and the government itself must step up cyberdefense efforts to protect sensitive information,” write Joshi and Forno.

They ask readers to consider the risk to security and privacy compared with the benefits and convenience of modern technologies. “As citizens, we must decide what level of risk we — as a nation, a society and as individuals — are willing to face when using internet-connected products.”

Any electronic device connected to the internet is susceptible to a cyber attack, Joshi and Forno go on to explain, noting, “It’s not necessarily a good idea to have always-on and network-enabled microphones or cameras in every room of the house.”

Joshi also spoke with CBS Baltimore about how hacks can impact technologies consumers use every day, such as cars that now feature high tech navigation and entertainment systems. “The more electronic gizmos you have in your car, the newer the car you have, the more you’re connected to the network with your car, the greater the probability something can be done to your car,” he explained. Still, he noted, a hacker would need to have advanced technical knowledge and, likely, close proximity to the car to carry out such an attack.

To ensure that sensitive information is protected, Joshi and Forno say that focusing on “the mundane tasks of cyberdefense” is essential to maintaining security for everyone, from government to individuals, although they emphasize that no internet-connected technologies are immune to cyber hacks. Ultimately, they write, “Keeping others out of key systems is crucial to American national security, and to the proper function of our government, military and civilian systems.”

Read the full article in The Conversation, and watch the complete interview on CBS Baltimore.  Adapted from an article in UMBC News.

The post Wikileaks hack highlights importance of cyberdefense basics, UMBC experts write appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Hello Everyone!

Interested in learning more about Google? Come hear it from two Googlers and UMBC alums!

On March 29th,Google will be hosting an informal information table on campus for you to learn more about Google and the opportunities we offer to students. We will have food, swag and many job opportunities for students. We hope to meet you there!

Check out the details below and register for the eventHERE. If you’re interested in Google opportunities make sure to include a soft copy of your resume.

THE DEETS:

What: Google @ UMBC

When/Where:

• Wednesday March 29th

• 10 AM - 2 PM: Information Table in the Engineering Atrium

• Drop by and chat with two Googlers! Feel free to bring all your questions!

Who: All Computer Science and Engineering students, but anyone with an interest in software development is welcome!

Why: Learn more about Google’s hiring process, culture, job and/ internship opportunities, and more! - directly from Googlers!

What to do next?: Register for the eventHERE! Make sure your resume and LinkedIn profiles are up to date (feel free to link both in the form above) and of course come with lots of good questions!

Hope to see you there!

Google University Programs