James Sanders, who is pursuing a PhD in Environmental Engineering, placed 2^nd at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Trainee poster competition at the 50^th Anniversary Celebration of the NIEHS

He accepted the award in Durham, North Carolina, at the NIEHS trainee reception on Monday, Dec 5th, 2106. 

UMBC’s Mobile Pervasive and Sensor Systems Laboratory is collaborating with researchers at the Army Research Laboratory as part of their Center For Adaptive Soldier Technologies (CAST) laboratory. The UMBC group, led by Prof. Nilanjan Banerjee, is funded to work on the Human Variablility Project. The ARL described and motivates the project as follows.

“While it is understood that significant behavioral and performance variability within Soldiers exists, there is a clear knowledge gap with respect to quantifying and predicting the degree and dynamics of this variability. We posit that this critical scientific gap that has led to inflexible systems designed to mitigate against human variability by simplifying system operations and interfaces to be usable by operators performing at below-average levels. Alternatively, by understanding and predicting human variability across multiple time scales, we will enable adaptive system designs that are dynamic and capable of eliciting the full potential of the humans with which they interact.”

As part of this project, UMBC researchers are developing novel sensors and virtual reality environments to collect human behavioral and physiology data to study the variability of human states in immersive environments.

The post UMBC researchers collaborate with Army Research Laboratory to understand human variability appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Name: Awa Bakayoko

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: University of Georgia, College of Engineering

Position Title: Independent Biomedical Researcher

Major(s)/Minor(s): Biology

Expected Graduation: May 2017

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

During my research experience, I had the opportunity to conduct groundbreaking biomedical research on breast cancer metastasis at the University of Georgia. I was fortunate to work in two labs, with two different mentors. In Dr. Davis' Genetics lab, I learned about racial disparities within different breast cancer sub-types. African American women affected with Triple Negative Breast Cancer have a higher mortality rate than Caucasian women affected with the same type of breast cancer. We hypothesized that this racial disparity could be due to altered expression of a receptor called Atypical Chemokine Receptor 1 (ACKR1). The ACKR1 receptor normally binds to inflammatory chemokines in the blood stream and sequesters these chemokines. Populations in sub-Saharan Africa have high amounts of a Duffy-null mutation, which means that they do not express the ACKR1 gene on their red blood cells. This means that they have high amounts of inflammatory chemokines within the blood stream which could explain why African American women with triple-negative breast cancer are harder to treat.

I was tasked with researching the effects of pro-inflammatory chemokines on breast cancer metastasis. In this lab, I cultured cells, performed wound healing assay's, and used software to measure breast carcinoma cell invasiveness with and without the pro-inflammatory chemokine CCL2. In Dr. Gomillion's tissue engineering lab, I developed a three-dimensional bio-material scaffold in order to simulate breast cancer metastasis. In this lab, I engineered the scaffold using bio-materials, observed cell motility through the engineered scaffold, and I fixed and stained the cells with a nuclear stain (DAPI). The results from the research I conducted could shed some light on the process of breast cancer metastasis and help us to better understand and characterize the disease.

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I found out about the research program through Undergraduate Research group at UMBC. I obtained help from Mrs. Janet McGlynn, who gave me tips on how to make my resume stronger and helped me through the process of applying to research programs overall.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

What I enjoyed most about my summer research experience was working independently on my research project, and working full time. I also learned a great deal of lab techniques during my time in the lab. In my classes at UMBC, I learned many techniques that scientists used to learn more about how our body works, and being able to actually do these tests and techniques myself was very enjoyable.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I believe I have aided in helping to understand breast cancer.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

Some advice would be to start your applications early, to get help especially on personal statements and resumes, and to search the UMBC Undergraduate Research group in order to find great opportunities and sites to conduct research.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

UMBC CSEE Professor Marie desJardins was elected as a as Member-at-Large of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor desJardins will serve a four-year term as one of four AAAS members representing the field of Information, Computing, and Communication. AAAS members-at large are charged with assessing the performance and role of their section in the Association and working to involve its members in AAAS activities and professional interactions.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people. Established in 1848, the AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, with more than 120,000 members.

The post Prof. Marie desJardins elected a Member-at-large of the American Association for the Advancement of Science appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

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:

The Bell Foundry, a queer/POC dominated art space, was condemned on Monday December 5th, displacing dozens of artists and performers in the process. There are efforts to find temporary homes and long term spaces for those people, including a benefit relief fund event.

Article of the Week:

Time Magazine has a pretty good list of tips for exam week. Take care of yourself, get some sleep, you’ll do fine.

The holidays are coming up, meaning family. We understand family can be difficult to navigate and be around. Check out Feministing’s guide for navigating the holidays.

UMBC Happenings:

Self-Care Day is December 12th from 12pm to 1pm. Join us during free hour for arts/crafts, tea/coffee and a stress-free zone.

During Exam week and Winter break, the Women’s Center will be reducing the hours of operation.

Song of the Week:

I’ve been listening to really great music recently, and I want to share that with all of you! This week’s song is a youtube playlist for studying. Enjoy some jazzy goodness and get some work done!

You are great! You can pass all of your exams! Enjoy winter break!

The panelists and facilitators (from left to right: Shira Devorah, Dr. Kate Drabinski, Dr. Mejdulene Shomali, Dan Wiley, and me, Mike Jalloh-Jamboria) from the Fatness in Focus Roundtable. Keep an eye out for the roundup! 

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 on-line from December 1, 2016 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.

MS Thesis Defense

Attacking and Defending the Automotive CAN Bus

Jackson Schmandt

12:30pm Thursday, 8 December, 2016, ITE 325b, UMBC

The scope and complexity of Automotive Computer Networks have grown drastically in the last decade. Once present only in high end vehicles, multi-use infotainment systems are now included in base models of some economy vehicles. Frequently connected to drivetrain components, these systems bring out multiple network access points, many of which are wireless. This unprecedented access has led to several high-profile exploits from both white-hat hackers and criminals. Although industry members are working toward long-term solutions, current systems suffer from inadequate protocol security and a lack of common-sense design practices. To address the security problem in the short term, this thesis describes a flexible Message Authentication Code that can be retrofitted with software only, as well as implementations on microcontrollers, an FPGA and an ASIC design. This work shows that on current embedded controllers, message authentication tags can be generated or verified in under 400 microseconds and in under 10 microseconds on a special-purpose ASIC.

Committee Members: Drs. Nilanjan Banerjee (chair), Alan Sherman (co-chair) and Anupam Joshi

The post Attacking and Defending the Automotive CAN Bus appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.