The Data Science Scholars Program (DSS) is partnering with the Center for Social Science Scholarship (CS3) and The Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) in Fall 2024.

Students admitted to the program will work as teaching fellows (TFs) and peer mentors. They will also network with UC Berkeley data science students, attend special events, and be mentored by faculty.

The DSS program welcomes undergraduate scholars from multiple disciplines, including the social sciences, looking at all aspects of data and its impact on society. This year scholars will have the opportunity to be teaching fellows or research fellows. Scholars will have an opportunity to work on research projects in Climate Science, Deep fake detection, data storytelling, learning analytics and other data science related projects. For some projects look at these websites,https://www.umces.edu/chesapeake-global-collaboratory, https://iharp.umbc.edu/, https://mdata.umbc.edu/deep-fake-detection/

• COIET Students please reference the CWIT flyer for additional details.
• Humanities students please reference the CS3 flyer for additional details. 

Interested students should complete the Google submission form,
https://forms.gle/gKLakVQMEbWPHUtt6 , by Sept 6, 2024.

If you have any questions, please email iHARP@UMBC.edu.

In summer of 2024, iHARP conducted its All Hands Meeting on June 20 through June 21, 2024 with the theme of “Convergence and Community Engagement”. The All Hands Meeting took place in Fairbanks, Alaska at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and included a virtual option. Over 50 attendees in multiple time zones attended this year’s presentation and discussion packed meeting. The meeting brought together iHARP researchers and collaborators who shared their knowledge, insights, current state of research and future research goals. The meeting also served as a launching pad for new connections through the Pan-HDR Ice-Melt Community Council (PHICC).

Day one of the meeting premiered with the state of the institute, twelve (12) research presentations, a multi-disciplinary panel featuring senior researchers, a convergence discussion where members discussed their vision for iHARP’s future activities at the intersection of multidisciplinary activities, and a poster session where additional research was shared. The selected research presentations and poster presentation only highlighted a small portion of the work that is being conducted through iHARP and its eight collaborating institutions. Day two of the event featured Dr. Vipin Kumar as keynote speaker, and guest speakers from the External Advisory Board and the newly formed PHICC. 

Image Note: In the left panel, Naomi Tack is defending her dissertation. In the right panel, Naomi stands with her iHARP mentors, (left to right: Dr. Becca Williams, Naomi Tack, and Dr. Don Engel).

Photo to the left: Pictured is Tolulope Ale defending his proposal.
Photo to the right: Pictured is Tolulope Ale standing with his committee. In the photo: Left of screen Left to Right: Dr. Vandana Janeja, Tolulope Ale
On Screen Top Right: Dr. Jianwu Wang, Bottom Left: Dr. Sudip Chakraborty, Bottom Right: Dr. Nicole-Jeanne Schegel
Right of Screen: Dr. Patti Ordóñez

Tolulope Ale, an iHARP Research Assistant, was a planning committee member for the 8th Annual Earth Day Symposium and UMBC's first-ever Earth Month. UMBC collaborated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to organize 18 events throughout April.

The Earth Month activities concluded with the 8th Annual Earth Day Symposium on April 29th. The symposium covered various topics, including measuring the Earth system, theoretical studies, model forecasts and predictions, educational outreach, and community engagement. It featured presentations from esteemed speakers and included a poster session where graduate and undergraduate students shared their environmental research. 

iHARP congratulates and thanks Tolulope for contributing to UMBC's Earth Day Symposium and Earth Month celebrations!

To learn more about UMBC Earth Day and Earth Month please visit: 
https://sustainability.umbc.edu/home/earth-month/

To read the UMBC article featuring UMBC Earth Month please visit:
https://umbc.edu/stories/8th-annual-earth-day-symposium/

To learn more about the research being conducted at iHARP research center, or if you are interested in Polar and Data research, please visit: 
https://iharp.umbc.edu/

Photo Credit: Planning committee members for the Earth Day Symposium and other Earth Day events with President Valerie Sheares Ashby. Left to right: Sharad Pandey, Adeleke Segun Ademakinwa, Kamal Aryal, Tony La Luna, Roshan Mishra, Rhonda Plofkin, Valerie Sheares Ashby, Tolulope Ale, Erin Hammer, and Maurice Roots. (Image by Zhibo Zhang)