UMBC will play an exciting role in strengthening our nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure through a new Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) announced this week. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded a contract to operate the center to the MITRE Corporation, which will partner with the University System of Maryland (USM) to carry out the center’s goals. UMBC and the University of Maryland, College Park are collaborators with MITRE and Anupam Joshi, director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity, will serve in a leadership role for UMBC.

The government sponsors fewer than 50 FFRDCs across the country, and all are designed to tackle complex, long-term problems of significant national interest. According to NIST, this is the first center that is “solely dedicated to enhancing the security of the nation’s information systems.” The contract to operate the FFRDC has a maximum amount of $5 billion over 25 years.

“Securing our cyber infrastructure requires government, industry, and higher education to work closely together, and this center makes that powerful collaboration possible,” says UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. “Further, it solidifies Maryland’s role as the hub of cybersecurity in our nation.”

Maryland hosts a large number of federal agencies and companies on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, and the USM is nationally recognized for its research and education programs in the field. This vital combination means that the State of Maryland is uniquely positioned to successfully nurture this research and development center.

U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski congratulated the USM and MITRE on this opportunity, saying, “This new center unites the knowledge of the government with the know-how of the private sector to develop cyber technology solutions needed to protect dot-com entities and make our cyber infrastructure more resilient.”

UMBC’s Anupam Joshi says, “While national security interests are usually central to the security conversation, this center will also work to meet the cybersecurity needs of individuals and businesses in a variety of sectors, such as healthcare and energy. Individuals and small and medium-size businesses constitute a major part of the nation’s cyberinfrastructure, but can lack the resources and technical expertise to respond effectively to cyber threats.”

This new FFRDC will support the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), which NIST, the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Md., established in 2012 to help businesses secure their data and digital infrastructure by bringing together information security experts from industry, government, and academia. It will further the NCCoE’s goal to foster public-private collaborations to identify and solve today’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges.

“This new FFRDC supporting NIST’s NCCoE will be a major addition to Maryland’s existing strengths in cybersecurity,” says Karl Steiner, Vice President for Research at UMBC. “I am delighted about this new strategic collaboration with our colleagues at College Park and at MITRE, and about the opportunities to further expand and apply our scientific capabilities in an area of such critical importance.”

To learn more about this new collaboration, see the announcement from NIST and the joint announcement from MITRE and the USM.

“Towards a Queered Understanding of Critical Social Justice“

A trans* woman of color, hearing Reina Gossett’s lived experience is enough to captivate. Add to this her years of meaningful experience in activism and community organization, in film-making and research, in writing and social justice work, and Gossett’s growing recognition begins to make sense.

Reina offers a unique perspective on the experiences of LGBTQ/GNC (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gender non-conforming) people, especially those who are also people of color and those of low-income backgrounds.

Sharing this perspective, and with such varied and interdisciplinary experiences, Reina brings new light to social justice activism and challenges even the most critical of us to examine our practices and beliefs, pushing all to embody the change that so many feel our world so desperately needs.

Presented by Student Life’s Mosaic: Cultural & Diversity Center and The Women’s Center.

Check out the myUMBC event page or the Facebook event page, as well!

“Towards a Queered Understanding of Critical Social Justice“

A trans* woman of color, hearing Reina Gossett’s lived experience is enough to captivate. Add to this her years of meaningful experience in activism and community organization, in film-making and research, in writing and social justice work, and Gossett’s growing recognition begins to make sense.

Reina offers a unique perspective on the experiences of LGBTQ/GNC (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gender non-conforming) people, especially those who are also people of color and those of low-income backgrounds.

Sharing this perspective, and with such varied and interdisciplinary experiences, Reina brings new light to social justice activism and challenges even the most critical of us to examine our practices and beliefs, pushing all to embody the change that so many feel our world so desperately needs.

Presented by Student Life’s Mosaic: Cultural & Diversity Center and The Women’s Center.

Check out the myUMBC event page or the Facebook event page, as well!

Kacie Glenn

Role at the UMBC Career Center: I help arts, humanities, and social science students make themselves competitive candidates for jobs and internships.

Q: Where have you earned your college degrees?

A: I hold an M.Ed. from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a B.A. from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Q: What program(s) did you study? How did you chose your major?

A: I majored in English Literature as an undergraduate. As a kid, I was constantly reading-- under my desk at school, during recess, under the covers with a flashlight. For a long time I wanted to be a writer, then an editor. English was the natural choice for me. Later on, I decided that editing wasn't as fulfilling for me as I'd expected, so I decided to get a master's degree in school counseling. Now, of course, I'm using those counseling skills as a career advisor at the college level.

Q: Tell me about the job and internship process when you were in college. Were you able to find job/internship positions that were related to your major or your career interests?

A: During college I had two positions that related to my career goals. First, I was a tutor at the campus writing center. This was actually an internship and involved a lot of training and study of pedagogical techniques. I really loved helping students flesh out and express their ideas-- something I still get to do during resume/cover letter appointments.

My second job was with a small, local book publisher. The company was so tiny that I found myself editing full manuscripts, writing jacket copy and press releases, and formatting layouts in InDesign.

Q: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

A: "It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act." -the Dalai Lama

Q: Why should students visit the Career Center?

A: One of the most important things you can gain by visiting us is confidence. We can help you name your strengths and tell your story in words that make you feel good about what you have to offer-- AND attract employers' attention.

Q: What is your favorite aspect about UMBC?

A: I like the diversity. Everyone seems to fit in at UMBC. There are no outsiders or insiders.

Q: What is one item on your bucket list?

A: I want to write and publish a book someday. Don't ask me what about!

Q: What is one aspect of the DC/Baltimore area that you often explore?

A: My favorite Smithsonian museum is the National Portrait Gallery, so I've been there several times. I also love hiking and running in all the beautiful local parks, particularly around Columbia.

Want to connect with Kacie or any of our great Career Center team? Call our office at 410-455-2216 or check out our contact us page here: http://careers.umbc.edu/aboutus/

The Class of 2015 Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program Application launchedWednesday, October 1, 2014 at 12:01 AM Eastern Time.

Please access the application via USAJobs at (https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/381692100).We recommend reviewing the PMF Assessment Preparation Guide (http://www.pmf.gov/become-a-pmf/assessment-process.aspx)before you begin the on-line assessment portion of the application.

The application closes promptly on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

If you created an application account since the Class of 2013 PMF application period, please sign in using that account information. Creating duplicate accounts will cause issues and delays during the process.

Please send an emailto pmfapplication@opm.gov with any questions or concerns.

The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program seeks eligible individuals for selection as Finalists to obtain appointments as PMFs in the Federal Government. Presidential Management Fellows are assigned to work in a broad range of areas including public policy and administration, domestic and international issues, information technology, acquisition, human resources, engineering, health and medical sciences, financial management, and many other fields in support of public service programs.  This year, the PMF Program continues the STEM track pilot for those Finalists having specific advanced degrees in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM). After the application closes, Semi-Finalists will be determined and invited to participate in an in-person assessment, which will be factored into selecting Finalists. Complete information about the PMF Program, PMF STEM track, eligibility and how to apply can be found under the "Become a PMF" section on the PMF website at http://www.pmf.gov/

President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will host the eighth annual CGI U meeting from March 6-8, 2015 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The meeting will bring together more than 1,000 innovative student leaders to make Commitments to Action that address some of the world's most pressing challenges. Funding will be available to select CGI U 2015 students to help them turn their ideas into action. 57 colleges and universities have already joined the CGI University Network, pledging to provide over $725,000 total to student attendees from member universities.

Students must be 18 years of age or older and enrolled in an institution of higher education at the time of the CGI U meeting in order to apply. To be considered for admission, all applicants are required to make a Commitment to Action in one of CGI U's five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health. The early decision and travel assistance deadline is October 17, 2014, and the final application deadline is December 1, 2014.

Before beginning your application, review the CGI U application tips and application checklist. If you have any questions about the application process, please call 212.710.4492 or email cgiu.applicant@clintonglobalinitiative.org.

Embodied Interaction: Systems, Experiments, Models

Rob St. Amant
North Carolina State University

1:00pm Friday, 10 October 2015, ITE 325b

Over the past several years, engineering models for human-computer interaction — models that predict and explain performance in quantitative terms–have received increasing attention. In this talk, I’ll give an overview of experimentation and modeling work in my lab, in the areas of mobile interaction, augmented reality, and accessibility. Our research attempts to provide insight into emerging areas of HCI, where interaction goes beyond conventional desktop user interfaces to encompass the influences of physical body movement and cognitive strategies on performance.

Robert St. Amant is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at North Carolina State University; his degrees are from Johns Hopkins and the University of Massachusetts. He is on the editorial board of the Oxford Series on Cognitive Models and Architectures, and he is a former member of the steering committee for the ACM Intelligent User Interfaces conference. His current research is on human-computer interaction and cognitive modeling; past topics have included intelligent user interfaces, exploratory data analysis, and animal tool use. In 2012 his popular science book, Computing for Ordinary Mortals, was published by Oxford University Press.

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