PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation is pleased to invite you to attend and participate in the 2016 University System of Maryland PROMISE AGEP Research Symposium and Professional Development Conference. This conference replaces the former PROMISE Research Symposium, and adds a professional development component that will prepare graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for faculty positions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM, which includes social sciences) disciplines. This conference seeks to provide a venue that will allow students to present their work at any stage, receive feedback in preparation for presenting at larger venues, and provide training that will prepare participants for faculty careers.

This page will serve as the official webpage for the event. Please stay tuned for updates.

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Date: Friday, February 12, 2016

Time: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Location: Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center (http://www.riggs.umd.edu/) at the University of Maryland College Park (Parking, Directions,  Additional Driving Directions to College Park)

Registration: Free (includes meals)

Attire: Business Casual

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This conference will feature STEM-based oral presentations, posters, and professional development seminars. Participants are invited to submit abstracts to participate in three oral categories, and one poster category.

Oral Category 1: Traditional Research Presentations

[7 minutes presentation, 3 minutes critique, 2 minutes of questions, traditional PowerPoint presentation]

Oral Category 2: TED-Styled Talks

[5 minute talks + 5 minutes for critique/questions, PowerPoint presentation with images only – no text]

Oral Category 3: Lightning Round Talks

[2 minute talks with timer on the screen, no PowerPoints, no critique.]

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AGENDA

 PROMISE AGEP Research Symposium

& Professional Development Conference

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8:00 AM – 9:00 AM – Arrival, Breakfast Refreshments, Registration, Poster Set-Up

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM – Opening Remarks  Traditional Oral Research Presentations

Welcome:

1. College Park Welcome and Remarks: Dr. Charles Caramello, UMD
   Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Graduate School, Co-Principal Investigator PROMISE AGEP
2. USM PROMISE AGEP Welcome: Dr. Renetta Tull, UMBC Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development and Postdoctoral Affairs, and PROMISE AGEP Director for the University System of Maryland

Traditional Oral Research Presentations

Chair: Kelly Brooke Yancey, Ph.D. – Postdoc, Department of
Mathematics, UMD

Presenters:

1. Felix Buabeng, UMES, Food and Agricultural Sciences
2. Christopher Mullen, UMBC, Mechanical Engineering
3. Marwa El-Sayed, UMBC, Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
4. Ikenna Okafor, UMBC, Biological Sciences
5. Erica Dasi, UMBC, Biological Sciences

Judges:
1. Alexis Williams, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate in
Program Coordination – TLTC
2. Mohan Tulapurkar, Research Associate in the Division of
Pulmonary and Critical Care
3. Elizaveta Katorcha, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for
Biomedical Engineering and Technology University of Maryland
Baltimore
4. Douglas Julin, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, CMNS-Chemistry
and Biochemistry

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM – Networking Break

10:45 AM – 11:15 AM – “TED-Styled” Talks

Chair: Alexis Williams, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate in Program Coordination – TLTC

Presenters:

1. Isaac Mativo, UMBC, Computer Science
2. Antoinette Emefa Attipoe, Bowie, Computer Science
3. William Rivera, UMBC, Mechanical Engineering

Judges:
1. Linda Macri, Ph.D. – Director, GS Writing Initiatives, UMD
2. Rohan Tikekar, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, AGNR-Nutrition
and Food Science, UMD
3. Jasjeet Bhullar, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of
Maryland School of Medicine

11:15 AM – 12:00 Noon – Lightning Round Talks

Presenters:

1. Timothy Brown, UMBC, Mathematics and Statistics
2. Kevin Chang, UMBC, Mechanical Engineering
3. Oliver Ortiz, UMD, Aerospace Engineering
4. Abdullah Ali, UMBC, Human Centered Computing

12:00 PM – Buffet Lunch Mentoring Discussions

(Postdoctoral fellows and faculty are invited to engage in mentoring conversations with the students.)

12:45 – 1:30  PM – Poster Session and Dessert Reception

Presenters: 

1. Tia Dolet, UMD, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
2. Felix Buabeng, UMES, Food and Agricultural Sciences
3. Laina Locket, Towson, Environmental Science

Judges:
1. Kasso Okoudjou, Ph.D. – Professor, CMNS-Mathematics, UMD
2. Tara LeGates, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow Thompson Lab,
University of Maryland School of Medicine
3. Sheryl Ehrman, Ph.D., P.E. – Keystone Professor and Chair,
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UMD
4. Birthe Veno Kjellerup, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, ENGR-Civil
and Environmental Engineering

1:30 – 3:30 PM  – Professional Development Workshop: Faculty Diversity and You. 

Welcoming Remarks: Dr. Nancy Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University System of Maryland, Chair of the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation.

Part I: Special Guest Speaker, Dr. Talithia Williams, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, ACE Fellow: You are the Solution to Faculty Diversity: Real Talk About Preparation and Readiness.

Read the PROMISE post about Dr. Williams:

Part II: Round Tables with USM Faculty: Faculty Diversity: Preparing for Faculty Positions in the USM and Beyond. 

Moderator: Dr. Autumn Reed, Director of STRIDE, and Program Coordinator for Faculty Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Provost, UMBC

Faculty will lead round tables. Several of the faculty will be providing advice for submitting strong applications for current or upcoming faculty searches: 

• Dr. Anita Komlodi, Department of Information Systems
• Dr. Jane Turner, Department of Physics
• Dr. Kevin Omland, Department of Biological Sciences, UMBC STRIDE Professor
• Dr. Ronald Metoyer, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Assistant Dean of Diversity and Special Initiatives
• Dr. Mark Lewis, School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, Cornell University, Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Development
• Dr. Tyson King-Meadows (invited), Co-Chair of the Executive Committee on the Recruitment Retention and Advancement of Underrepresented Minority Faculty Associate Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Faculty in the departments of Public Policy and Africana Studies, the Honors College and the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research.
• Dr. Chris Murphy (invited), Chair, Department of Psychology, UMBC STRIDE Professor

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM – Closing Reception & Awards Ceremony

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Registration includes all program components and meals.

Click below; registration is free.

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Call for Presentations

If you are interested in presenting, please follow the schedule below:

December 31, 2016: “Letter of Intent” to present. This very short email should include  name, school, department, choice of oral category (1, 2, 3) or poster, and potential title of your presentation. Email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the title, “2016 PROMISE Research Symposium – Intent to Present.”

“TED-Styled” and “Lightning Round” titles must be tailored to appeal to a general audience.

January 22, 2016,  Deadline for “Intent to Present” emails for Lightening Round and Poster Presentations only. Everyone who expressed an “Intent to Present” as of Dec. 31, 2015, will be in line for the presentation style of their choice. Those who did not specify a category will be given a space for a poster. All of the slots in the “Traditional Presentation” Category #1, and the “TED-Styled Talk” Category #2, are taken, and we will not accept any more requests for those categories. We have some slots remaining in the “Lightning Round” Category #3, and we have slots remaining for posters.

January 31, 2016: Abstracts and the information below are required for all presentations types. Email all materials from all four categories below to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject: “2016 PROMISE Research Symposium Presenter Information.”

1. Formal Abstract (250 words or less). Biographical Sketch (250 words or less)
   • Font: 12 Point, Times New Roman
   • Heading, Left-justified:
     • Title (Bold)
     • Name (Italicized)
     • Department (No abbreviations)
     • University (No abbreviations)
2. General Summary of Graduate Research (250 words or less)
3. High Quality Photograph
4. Numbered List of up to 5 publications and or/presentations. Please give precedence to publications and conference proceedings as applicable.

All presenters must register. Click and register by clicking the orange button below.

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Dr. Talithia Williams, tenured Mathematics Professor at Harvey Mudd College in California, and former AGEP scholar at Rice University is now an ACE Fellow at UMBC. The ACE Fellowship program trains faculty for future higher education leadership at the level of dean, provost, and president. When Dr. Williams was a graduate student, she was a guest of PROMISE and taught a statistics seminar for the PROMISE SSI in the early 2000’s. Dr. Williams will be involved with some of our PROMISE events. Keep an eye out for her upcoming sessions. In the meanwhile, click on the video below – take a look at her TED Talk here, which has more than 1 million hits:

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Update: Dec. 10, 2016

Dr. Williams will be the keynote speaker for the 2016 PROMISE Research Symposium at the University of Maryland College Park, Feb. 12, 2016.

More about Dr. Williams: 

• Harvey Mudd Mathematics Department of Mathematics:  https://www.math.hmc.edu/~twilliams/
• TED: https://www.ted.com/speakers/talithia_williams
• Rice Alumna Profile, George R. Brown School of Engineering:   http://engineering.rice.edu/SpotlightContent.aspx?id=8589936342
• In Forbes – Article by Dr. Maria Klawe, feature: Dr. Talithia Williams: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mariaklawe/2015/10/07/increasing-education-opportunities-for-minorities-in-stem/

Today marks a milestone in PROMISE. All of the participants who were featured in the production of the “What is PROMISE” video from the 2007 Summer Success Institute (SSI) have successfully defended their doctoral dissertations! Robert Holder, UMBC PROMISE Peer Mentor, Computer Science, has been working full-time while pursuing his PhD, and today, he defended, rounding out our group of featured students.

The original video from 2007 is here, Robert is #8:

The participants, in order are:

1. Patti Ordóñez
2. Alexis Williams
3. Sylvester Mosley
4. Adrienne Starks
5. Angela McRae
6. Janet Awokoya
7. Tommie Piggee
8. Robert Holder
9. Trudy Smith
10. Frances Carter-Johnson

Where are they now?

Dr. Patti Ordóñez (UMBC, Computer Science) is now a professor and computer scientist at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. She now has her own students, grants, and research program. Dr. Alexis Y. Williams (UMCP, Human Development) teaches in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a postdoctoral researcher in College Park’s Teaching and Learning Transformation Center (her TLTC profile page can be found here: http://www.tltc.umd.edu/staff/alexis-y-williams.) Dr. Sylvester Mosley (UMBC, Chemistry and Biochemistry) is a Consumer Safety Officer at the FDA. After Dr. Adrienne Starks (UMBC, Biological Sciences) finished a postdoc at the NIH, she continued working with a non-Profit, Equity Matters, which focuses on promoting health equity in policies. Dr. Angela McRae (UMCP, Educational Psychology) is now a professor at Catholic University of America where she is the STEM Education Coordinator. Dr. Janet Awokoya (UMCP, Curriculum and Instruction) went for the dream and moved to Ghana to be a technical consultant for a non-profit after being a Sr. Researcher at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute at the United Negro College Fund. Her work has been published by the Harvard Educational Review; read about the research here. Following a postdoc at Quillen College of Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology Center, East Tennessee State University, Dr. Tommie Piggee (UMBC, Gerontology) is now a gerontologist and health & wellness consultant in Little Rock.

Credit: Robert Holder’s LinkedIn page.

Robert Holder (UMBC, Computer Science), who hails from the same department as Patti (above) worked at Johns Hopkins Physics Lab for many years before working at ClearEdge IT Solutions. Dr. Trudy (Smith) Amin (UMB, Pharmaceutical Sciences) is a chemist employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Frances Carter-Johnson finished a postdoc at MIT and became an American Association for the Advancement of Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH. Her AAAS blog post can be found here. Frances and Patti also return to UMBC annually to give seminars on the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. To date their mentees have won more than $10 Million in fellowship money.

PROMISE has students within and outside of STEM fields who are making contributions to STEM (see the ASEE published paper here.) Many of the people who were on the conceptual design team for this initial video, while students back in 2007, have since finished their PhDs as well. Dr. Jocelyn Reader (UMB, Human Genetics) is now a Research Associate at the University of Maryland Baltimore in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Calvin Williams (UMB, MD/PhD Immunology) finished a residency with the Jefferson Medical College/Christiana Care Medical System and is a fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Charles Glover (UMCP, Math) is Associate Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Dr. Shanna Smith (UMCP, English) is a Frederick Douglass Teaching Scholar at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Victor Ayala finished a postdoc at the National Cancer Institute and is now a scientist at Advanced BioScience Laboratories. Dr. Tina Ligon (UMCP, History) is an Archivist at the National Archives and teaches at Howard Community College. Dr. Stacey Williams finished a postdoc with the FDA and is now a professor at Notre Dame University of Maryland. Some of the people here, and others in the first video are also featured in the “PROMISE in One Word” video below, also filmed during the 2007 SSI at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, MD.

Congratulations to all of our PROMISE students and alumni. We look forward to continuing to celebrate with you. Save the date for SSI 2016, August 20, 2016 at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve! Congratulations also to all of the faculty, family members, and kudos to the PROMISE Dissertation House Coach, Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, who worked with nearly everyone listed in this post.

So pleased to be at the successful PhD dissertation defense of Robert Holder @UMBC CompSci #ThinkBigDiversity pic.twitter.com/ovblMKWhUI

— Renetta G. Tull (@Renetta_Tull) December 9, 2015

PROMISE is pleased to announce a new cycle of the PROMISE AGEP – USM STEM Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Please read all of the guidelines on

https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/about/postdocs/

prior to submitting an application.

Download the PDF: USM STEM Postdoctoral Fellowship Announcement 2016-2017

Deadline, Friday, Nov. 20, 2015

Complete applications must be submitted by January 20, 2016.

The program is divided in two sections:

• STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Health

• HSS: Humanities and Social Sciences

ELIGIBILITY

• Candidates must be currently working on their Ph.D.
• Candidates do not have to be U.S. citizens, but they must be enrolled in an American university.
• Candidates must obtain a letter of recommendation from their advisor(s) in the U.S., as well as a letter of invitation from a professor affiliated with a French university or research institution. Please contact your supervisor in France as early as possible.

For more specific eligibility criteria please visit our websites.

BENEFITS

• A monthly stipend
• Health insurance for the entire duration of the fellowship
• A round-trip ticket to France

SELECTION CRITERIA

• Academic relevance of the research project
• Student’s command of the subject
• Benefits of a research trip to France for the future of the collaboration
• Background of the research collaboration
• Contribution of the project to France/U.S. academic exchange

CONTACTS

• STEM Chateaubriand Program: stem.coordinator@chateaubriand-fellowship.org
• HSS Chateaubriand Program : hss.coordinator@chateaubriand-fellowship.org

WEBSITE & APPLICATION

PROMISE Alumna, Dr. Mileidy Gonzalez-Delgado (Ph.D., UMBC) of NIH’s Statistical Computational Biology Group is inviting you to attend this seminar at The Gaylord Hotel, on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.  Dr. Gonzalez said in her invitation to the PROMISE audience, ” … the NIH office of Intramural training and Education (OITE) will be conducting a pre-event on management skills. Their seminars are some of the best I’ve heard.”  We thank Dr. Gonzalez for sharing this information.

Management Training for Scientists

(a pre-conference event at the SACNAS meeting)

Management of people and resources is a key component to being successful as you move forward in your career. Staff from the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE) have developed an introductory course to give PhD-level scientists and senior-level graduate students an overview of common management concepts that are not often taught in a research environment. The topics covered will be applicable to all sectors (academics, industry, non-profits, government, etc.).  While best to attend the whole day, participants can come for the morning or afternoon sessions as a stand-alone topic.

October 28, 2015 – National Harbor

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

 Please register to attend

REGISTRATION:

https://www.training.nih.gov/sas/_20/847/2015_SACNAS_Pre-event_Management_training?

Morning

Self-awareness: The Key to Professional Success

Conflict, Feedback and Difficult Conversations

Afternoon

Supervisory, Mentoring and Advocacy Relationships in Work Environments

Participants will also be invited to participate in a few follow-up webinars to increase their management skills.  These webinars will be scheduled in November and December and will discuss how to hire staff and also more on motivating your staff.

Dr. Renetta Garrison Tull is an educator, mentor, advocate, and scholar. She is trained as an Electrical Engineer, who received both her B.S. and M.S., from Howard University and Northwestern University, respectively. In addition, Dr. Tull received her Ph.D. in Speech Science from Northwestern, and completed a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, prior to joining the faculty at Wisconsin with speech technology research ties to the departments of Communicative Disorders and Industrial Engineering. She is a highly sought after speaker who travels both nationally and internationally in an attempt to increase the numbers of underrepresented students in STEM.

Dr. Tull has been nominated to receive the 2015 GEDC AIRBUS Diversity in Engineering Education Award, and she is one of the three finalists! This prestigious award was “launched to promote a more diverse engineering workforce globally and recognizes initiatives and people behind them who facilitate and encourage students from all backgrounds and profiles to pursue and finish a career in Engineering and to help them develop as successful engineers for the workforce through initiatives that have the potential to be replicated elsewhere.”

Dr. Tull exemplifies these characteristics, and during her 12-year tenure as the Director of the PROMISE Program, Maryland’s AGEP, a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, she has implemented a holistic approach for student development. PROMISE has created several modules of workshops and seminars that have been replicated in several institutions of higher education across the country.

Currently, in her role as Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and as Co-PI for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate, Dr. Tull proves that when you love what you do and are good at it, the possibility to positively impact and change lives is inevitable.

This particular award is extra special because it has brought candidates from 13 countries totalling 29 diverse candidates, and Dr. Tull has been listed amongst them! Similarly, not only did Dr. Tull make it to the semi-finals, she was selected as one of the top three finalist to receive the 2015 GEDC AIRBUS Diversity in Engineering Education Award! On November 30, 2015, Dr. Tull and the other two finalists will have the opportunity to present their ideas to a jury led by Charles Champion, Airbus’ Executive Vice President Engineering at the annual GEDC conference in Adelaide, Australia, where the final selection will be made!

Dr. Tull, we wish you all the best of luck!

PROMISE AGEP Team

For more information:

• Award page: http://diversityinengineering.com/
• Dr. Tull’s GEDC application video – https://youtu.be/A8xFZv9dPSw
• Dr. Tull’s professional blog: https://renettatull.wordpress.com/professional/