Postdocs from all disciplines are encouraged to attend a workshop on “Developing a Teaching Portfolio.”

Teaching portfolios are increasingly expected of candidates who are applying for faculty positions. During this workshop, we will discuss what goes into your portfolio, how to construct your teaching philosophy, how to highlight your accomplishments and future contribution, and what kind of supporting documents you will need.

Dr. Linda C. Hodges, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs & Director of the Faculty Development Center will be leading this workshop.

Dr. Linda Hodges teaches graduate students at UMBC about inspiring disciplinary thinking, August 2015.

Every graduate student needs to know the guidelines for responsible conduct of research.  Depending on the discipline, students need to have additional training regarding rules and regulations for conducting research using animals or humans (including surveys) and details related to ownership of work. All doctoral students and all master’s students should be prepared to learn about “Responsible Conduct of Research” training.

Photo credit: https://www.citiprogram.org/

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FOR THE SESSION ON OCTOBER 21, 2015

Registration:

Attendees from UMBC: Please register at http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/36089

Attendees from other universities: Please register by indicating your interest in coming to the event in the comments below.

Understanding professors’ expectations shouldn’t be a mystery. However, sometimes, there are disconnects between what a faculty member wants a student to produce for a project, and how the student interprets the instructions. In many cases, the expectations of faculty are clearly articulated, either in written or oral format. However, in other cases, there are situations where a faculty member’s feedback or outcomes from discussions regarding progress may not be as clear because they involve aspects of non-verbal communication such as eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and eye contact.

Addressing the Needs of Graduate Students

We draw particular attention to the needs of graduate students for our “When Faculty Say X” success seminar series. Graduate students have several forms of faculty interaction that have their own sets of nuances. For graduate students, the faculty member is a teacher, a mentor, an advisor, and a future colleague. There are several phases through which one must pass to navigate the transitions. During coursework, there is the phase where one follows the syllabus, turns in the homework, and takes the exam. During the qualifying exam and proposal stages, it can be difficult for a student to determine what they are supposed to know on the journey toward building expertise in a discipline or particular area of research. In addition to becoming a contributor to the field, a professor may have a methodology that must be employed by all in her lab, or a set of theories which need to be used set the foundation for all work that comes out of the research group. There may be bibliographies that one must reference, techniques that must be mastered, and simple “unwritten rules” that must be followed. Some of the rules may include attending every group meeting and each departmental colloquium. Other rules may extend to writing, i.e., explicit use of a citation style, paragraph structure, or drafting process.  In the past, we have had in-person seminars and panels where students have a chance to post questions online, and faculty answer them in-person during a dinner seminar.

Launching #WhenFacultySayX 2015

In order to accommodate schedules of faculty guests who will join our seminar this year, and in an attempt involve all of the students in our PROMISE AGEP network and beyond, we are launching an interactive, online version of the seminar in conjunction with Twitter that will allow all to participate.

Here’s how it will work.

Between Wednesday, October 7, and Thursday, October 15, 2015, we invite graduate students to post questions to faculty below in the comment section (you do not need a wordpress account to participate, we encourage anonymous posts.) Simultaneously, we will launch #WhenFacultySayX on Twitter, and will encourage questions from graduate students broadly, and answers from faculty colleagues from any school. On Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, PROMISE Director, Dr. Renetta Tull (@Renetta_Tull) will answer questions on Twitter.  Our faculty experts, Dr. Ralph Pollack, Dr. Joel Morris, and Dr. John Jeffries,

Faculty: Faculty colleagues from around the world are welcome to share things that they want students to clearly understand, using the hashtag #WhenFacultySayX. You are also welcome to join the conversation below and reply through the comments. 

Students: This program was developed for you. It was developed to remove the barriers and fear regarding asking any and all questions related to your success. You may post anonymously.  Do you have a question that you want a faculty member to answer? Post it in the comment section of this post at the bottom of this page. You may post anonymously.

Our featured faculty panel of experts will answer questions that are posted on this website, below. 

Featured faculty:

1. Dr. Ralph Pollack – representing natural and mathematical sciences. Dr. Pollack was a faculty member in the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department at UMBC from 1970 – 2007 and Associate Vice President for Research from 2007. Dr. Pollack has extensive experience in both writing and reviewing proposals. He was funded continuously from his arrival at UMBC to his retirement from active research in 2007, and he has obtained funding for research, teaching, graduate student training, symposia, major equipment and travel from state, national, international and private agencies. 
2. Dr. Joel Morris – representing engineering and IT. Dr. Morris’ research focuses on topics including stochastic and deterministic system theory with applications to communications and statistical signal processing, joint-time frequency/time-scale analysis and applications, robust signal processing, fading channel communications, and adaptive signal processing and applications. Professor Morris’ received training from Howard University, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Morris was a faculty panelist for the in-person version of “When Faculty Say X” a few years ago when PROMISE placed a strategic focus on scholarly writing. 
3. Dr. John Jeffries – representing education and humanities. Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (Ph.D. Yale University). Dean Jeffries specializes in twentieth-century America and American political and policy history. His distinguished teaching has earned him designation as a UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor and gained him a University of Maryland Regents Award for Teaching Excellence.
4. Dr. Renetta Tull – Online Moderator.  Dr. RenettaTull will moderate the discussion and will add commentary based on her experience as a former faculty member at University of Wisconsin-Madison, adjunct at College Park (http://hesp.umd.edu/facultyprofile/Tull/Renetta), and member of the program faculty groups for MSRP at MIT, and QoLT at Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh. Tull is Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development and Postdoctoral Affairs and writes on issues of graduate student professional development and degree completion. 

___________________

Historical Perspective

____________________

The “When Faculty Say X” seminar began as a PROMISE seminar in 2003, initially titled, “Understanding Faculty Expectations” as part of the PROMISE SUCCESS 2003, a pre-cursor to the PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI). During an orientation session for new graduate students at UMBC circa 2004, UMBC Psychology Professor Dr. Susan Sonnenschein posted a chart with two columns. The left column noted “What Faculty Say,” and the right column noted “What They Mean.” PROMISE adopted this method and started the “Faculty X|Y – When Faculty Say X, They Really Mean Y” seminar to allow students to anonymously ask questions, and have a faculty panel answer the questions (grouped by topic area) in person. This seminar has drawn crowds of more than 100 graduate students. The “they really mean y” portion of the title was dropped over time.  This 2015 #WhenFacultySayX virtual seminar is the online evolution of those early panels and workshops.

Some of the programs and questions from past years can be found in these links:

When Faculty say “X” … Understanding Faculty Expectations, Unwritten Rules. Dinner Seminar, Fri. Oct. 10, 2014

“When Faculty Say ‘X’ …” Do you understand what faculty say and mean? Dinner seminar, Friday, Oct. 11, 2013

Last year, we were unable to answer all of the questions during the seminar, so we added some videos to the library with answers to some of the questions. Here is an example:

(Other videos that answer questions from past years can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_uKXMv-Mty_sRI31EzJm0E0cJTX20mve)

——

Added 10/9/15, 11:29 AM: Thank you to several of our PROMISE mentors and PhD alumni from around the country who are also assisting with answering questions.

Information Session at UMBC  – Weds. October 14, 2015

Meet with the Campus Director and the Academic Director:

• Wednesday, October 14, 2015 ( Note date change from 10/13 to 10/14.)
• 2:00 PM
• Administration Building, Room 218
• UMBC
• UMBC Directions & Parking: http://about.umbc.edu/visitors-guide/directions/. Closest parking lot: Administration Drive. Note that there is construction on campus. The Administration Drive parking lot is metered.

Registration

• Please register at the myUMBC website (http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/36039)

Attendees who are not affiliated with UMBC:

• Please comment below to indicate your interest in coming.

Light refreshments will be served. 

UPDATES: Posted Oct. 12, 2015, 11:26 AM EST

More on the dual-language process: 

BILINGUAL (REF: http://www.suagm.edu/maryland_3/en_por_que_suagm.asp)
The bilingual model has several purposes. The first and principal purpose is to meet the current need to develop bilingual professionals in different areas where students can develop the skills necessary to compete in a global society.

Second, it seeks to develop social and academic language. This is to provide students with the opportunity to learn through both languages, while developing skills and understanding different cultures.

Third, by offering the same amount of instruction in both languages ​​(50/50), our model will provide the labor market with fully bilingual and competent individuals who can meet the needs of their employers and the growing global market economy.

Fourth, the bilingual model is the first of its kind, which is the first program at the university where the students learns through immersion in both languages. Finally, our model produces bilingual professionals, confident in their field of study in both English and Spanish.

Courses 

AGMUS in Wheaton works in a way that similar to regional centers in Maryland (e.g., Shady Grove) where courses are part of the curricula from other universities within the system, but students can take them at a location that works for them. In this case, students can receive a degree from AGMUS system in Puerto Rico, through a degree program that offers courses here in Maryland. Focusing on adult learners (23 years old+) and a bilingual model allow AGMUS to provide the market with professionals who have experience and strong skills.  The degree programs that are listed include coursework in areas where graduate students and postdocs have experience, e.g., chemistry, biology, mathematics, information systems. Click here to see all of the offerings: http://www.suagm.edu/maryland_3/en_ofrecimientos_academicos.asp.

When you click on the degree programs (each colored rectangle in the each of the three columns), you will see a full list of courses, e.g., calculus, economics, psychology. There are 29 degree programs, and each has a list of associated courses. Each of the courses listed here will be taught in Maryland at the AGMUS campus in Wheaton, MD.

Examples:

Courses – A.B. Engineering Technology: 

http://www.suagm.edu/maryland_3/Programas_de_Estudio_Maryland/UNE_Program_Outlines/UNE_AS_CienciasElectronics.pdf

Courses – BBA – Information Systems: 

http://www.suagm.edu/maryland_3/Programas_de_Estudio_Maryland/UT_Program_Outlines/BBA_Information_Systems.pdf

Location for the AGMUS Campus

(Note: the information session on 10/14 is at UMBC. These directions below are provided for future reference. The directions below can assist with determining distance from a current location, planning, and scheduling.)

ADDRESS:
11006 Veirs Mill Road
Wheaton, MD 20902
Tel: 301-949-2224
1-800-854-8181

Campus Map: http://www.suagm.edu/maryland_3/imagenes/AGMUS_capital_center_area_campus_map.jpg

The AGMUS campus in Wheaton, MD is accessible via public transportation.

It is across the street from the Wheaton Metro Stop, and is a 5 minute walk due to the traffic pattern. The location is in a mall area.

Metro Map: http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm

UMBC: Take the MARC Penn Line to Union Station, take the Red Line Metro toward Glenmont. Exit at Wheaton.

College Park: Take the College Park Metro to Fort Totten. Switch to the Red Line toward Glenmont. Exit at Wheaton.

Walking Map from the Metro to the AGMUS Building

The 2015 PROMISE Fall Harvest Dinner for graduate students and postdocs at schools within the University System of Maryland will be held Friday, November 20, 2015, at  5:00 PM.

Location:

University of Maryland College Park

Stamp Student Union

2203 Stamp – Colony Ballroom

This dinner will allow you to connect with graduate students and postdocs who are in your field, allowing you to build collaborative relationships, connections, and expand your network. You may bring a guest to this event. PROMISE wants you to include your support network in events. 

This event is free.

REGISTER:

Stay tuned to this page for any additional information.

October brings dissertation writing opportunities for all! UMBC has a Dissertation House, and UM College Park has a Dissertation Writing Retreat! If you aren’t at either of those schools, you can blog your progress and join the conversation online: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summerdh2015/

For the event at UMBC

If you are an employee of UMBC (50% time or more) or a “Non-Traditional” student, and if you are working on your graduate school courses, proposal, or dissertation, then this event is for you!

Eligibility:

• You can be in a graduate program at any school, and are currently a working, career professional at UMBC.
• You are a career professional at one of the other schools within the USM, and are a current graduate student at UMBC

We’ve worked with our UMBC employees who are also graduate students at UMBC, College Park, Northeastern, and other institutions.  This session will have support, coaching, and food will be provided for you on both days.

You work hard every day to serve others on our campus! You may be supporting your family members, or you have decided to take some time for yourself to reach your goals.  Now, let us work with you to finish your graduate degree. This version of the “Dissertation House” was created just for you!

Dissertation House for UMBC Employees and Non-Traditional Students
Friday, 10/16/15,   9:00 – 5:00 PM (Part I),
Saturday, 10/17/15, 10:00 – 3:00 PM(Part II). 

(NOTE: Time may change to 10-5 each day. Plan for this possibility.)

RSVP by clicking “I can attend” on MyUMBC: 

http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/35509

and apply via the Dissertation House’s website:

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com

Apply by October 7, 2015

For the Dissertation Writing Retreat at College Park

Students are invited to attend the Modern Math Workshop at the upcoming SACNAS Conference at the Gaylord Hotel National Harbor at the end of October. Funding has been allocated for those who are accepted to attend this workshop.

Description from http://www.msri.org/workshops/789:

As part of the Mathematical Sciences Collaborative Diversity Initiatives, nine mathematics institutes are pleased to host their annual SACNAS pre-conference event, the 2015 Modern Math Workshop (MMW). The Modern Math Workshop is intended to encourage minority undergraduates to pursue careers in the mathematical sciences and to assist undergraduates, graduate students and recent PhD’s in building their research networks.

The Modern Math Workshop is part of the SACNAS National Conference and the MMW begins with registration at noon on Wednesday, October 28 and ends at noon on Thursday, October 29.

The Modern Math Workshop presents 2 mini-courses for undergraduates and talks related to the research programs at the math institutes that would be of interest to graduate students and early career researchers. The workshop culminates on Thursday, Oct. 29 with a plenary lecture by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County).

Plenary Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 29:

“Rethinking the Culture of STEM Education in America: Promoting Student Success and Minority Achievement”

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President, UMBC

11 AM, National Harbor 2 – Level 3, Gaylord Hotel

• Download the General Schedule: For SACNAS _ 150814_MMW_General Schedule_Oct_28-29, 2015 (1)
• Download the list of mini-courses: For SACNAS _ 150805_MMW_2-Mini-courses_for Undergraduates_Wed-Oct-28_Abstract_Bios

TO REGISTER:

Step 1: Email:  MMW-info@msri.org, and CC promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject line: “Modern Math Workshop via PROMISE website.” Give your name, school, department, contact email address and phone, undergraduate or graduate status. If you are an undergraduate student, discuss which course you would like to attend, and whether or not you intend to attend Thursday’s segment and President Hrabowski’s talk.

Step 2: See the comment section at the bottom of this page, and post a) name, b) school, c) department. We will cross-check with the PROMISE email for other details.

You will receive additional instructions from the MMW team. They have a limited amount of funding, but will fund as many undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, and early-career faculty as possible.

SESSIONS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS, POSTDOCS,  & EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS, Weds. & Thurs. 

http://www.msri.org/ckeditor_assets/attachments/310/150903_mmw_schedule_for_grad_students-early_career_researchers_oct_28-29_2015.pdf

SESSIONS FOR UNDERGRADUATES

http://www.msri.org/ckeditor_assets/attachments/296/150805_mmw_2-mini-courses_for_undergraduates_wed-oct-28_abstract_bios.pdf

Mini-courses for Undergrads:

1) Harshad Numbers and Sage Programming 

A Harshad number is a positive integer that is divisible by the sum of its digits. The word “Harshad” comes from the Sanskrit harsa (joy) + da (give), meaning joy-giver, which was defined by the Indian mathematician D.R. Kaprekar. All one digit numbers are Harshad numbers and it is fairly simple to determine which two digit numbers are Harshad. In 1994, H. Grundman generalized the concept to b-Harshad (or b-Niven) numbers. Simply put, for b > 1, a b-Harshad number is a positive integer that is divisible by the sum of the digits of its base b expansion. The mini-course will provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to learn about Harshad numbers and how to compute some of their properties using the freely available mathematical program Sage. No prior programing experience is required. Prerequisite: An undergraduate algebra or number theory course. 

2) An Introduction to the Theory of Sandpiles

The sandpile model developed by Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld in 1987 is a mathematical model first used to exemplify the concept of self-organized criticality (SOC). SOC is a property of certain dynamical systems that naturally evolve toward critical states and it is considered to be one of the mechanisms by which complexity arises in nature. The abelian sandpile model 8.5.15 introduced by Dhar in 1990 is a special class of sandpile model defined on a combinatorial graph whose dynamic structure is encoded in a finite abelian group known as the sandpile group. This algebraic structure has played a central role in the study of diverse properties of the abelian sandpile model. Moreover, the sandpile group has also been an important object of study in several distinct areas of mathematics, including algebraic combinatorics, algebraic, tropical and arithmetic geometry, the theory of computation, and the study of pattern formation. In this mini-course, we will give an introduction to the theory of sandpiles. In particular, we will study the interactions between the combinatorics of the graph, the algebraic information of the sandpile group and the dynamics of the abelian sandpile model. Prerequisite: One undergraduate course in linear algebra.

AFTER THE MATH INSTITUTE – ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES AT SACNAS

If you plan to attend activities after President Hrabowski’s talk, at the SACNAS Conference – which begins on Thurs., Oct. 29 – you will need to register for the SACNAS Conference and pay the SACNAS registration fee, which is $275 for one day and goes up to $440 (see http://www.2015sacnas.org/events/2015-sacnas-national-conference/custom-36-6170a953907b4808ab42c5ec7ec147b6.aspx). Note: Acceptance to the Modern Math Workshop provides funding for you to attend the workshop on Wednesday and Thursday. If you want to attend other activities at SACNAS, you will have to register for SACNAS directly and secure another source of funding. The MMW pays accepted applicants’ registration for the Wednesday and Thursday Modern Math Institute only. 

Update: 10/14/15, sent from MSRI:

To recap, the Modern Math Workshop (MMW) will be held on Oct. 28-29 (Wed.-Thursday) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in the Washington, DC area.  For a map and Gaylord National parking details, go to http://tinyurl.com/GaylordMap-Parking.

When you arrive on Wednesday, please register in-person between 12-1 pm on Wed., Oct. 28 at the Registration Table in front of National Harbor Rm. 3 (on level 3, see the attached layout) and sign-in to confirm your presence and pick-up your nametag (you will have one waiting for you if you register online).  Wearing your nametag will act as your “ticket” for access to the MMW activities on both days of the Workshop.

For more information about the Workshop, see www.msri.org/e/MMW2015.  To see the activities at the SACNAS National Conference, go to http://tinyurl.com/2015SACNAS.

Graduate students and Postdocs are invited to come to UMBC on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 at 2 PM for a seminar on developing a syllabus.  This seminar is part of the PROF-it (Professors-in-Training) series. Participants will learn how to develop a syllabus, manage time in the classroom, and plan content for the semester. Guest Facilitator: Dr. Linda Hodges, Director, UMBC Faculty Development Center.

• If you have a UMBC account, please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/35133
• If you don’t have a UMBC account, please post to the comment section below with your name, school, and department so that we’ll know that you are coming.

Dr. Linda Hodges teaches graduate students at UMBC about inspiring disciplinary thinking, August 2015.

This page will serve as a chronicle and track record for some of our students in Maryland, including our LSAMP NSF BD Fellows, to review what they are learning about the 2016 NSF GRFP process, discuss questions, and receive support. Deadlines: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/important_dates

Please add your answers as comments on this page. Page down to the bottom of the page and post your entry. 

Assignment #1 – Due: 9/19/15

• Introduce yourself: Name, department, research focus, school.
• What did you learn from the NSF GRFP Training seminar from PROMISE AGEP Alumni, Dr. Frances Carter-Johnson and Dr. Patti Ordóñez? REF:  https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/nsfgrfp/
• What is your timeline and how does it fit into your study schedule for classes for Fall 2015 (name the classes).
• Who are the research mentors (name, department, website) who will be writing your letters? Post after they have confirmed that they will write a strong recommendation. Discuss reasons why they will be supporting your application.

Assignment #2 – Due: 9/25/15

Write one paragraph that describes your research. Name three members of the faculty within your department (name, website, research specialty) who have research that has a connection to your work. Explain how their work is connected.

Assignment #3 – Due: 10/2/15

From the NSF GRFP website.

a. BACKGROUND QUESTIONS: Important questions to ask yourself before writing the statement:

1. Why are you fascinated by your research area?
2. What examples of leadership skills and unique characteristics do you bring to your chosen field?
3. What personal and individual strengths do you have that make you a qualified applicant?
4. How will receiving the fellowship contribute to your career goals?
5. What are all of your applicable experiences?
6. For each experience, what were the key questions, methodology, findings, and conclusions?
7. Did you work in a team and/or independently?
8. How did you assist in the analysis of results?
9. How did your activities address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?

b. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS: Important questions to ask yourself before writing the statement:

1. What issues in the scientific community are you most passionate about?
2. Do you possess the technical knowledge and skills necessary for conducting this work, or will you have sufficient mentoring and training to complete the study?
3. Is this plan feasible for the allotted time and institutional resources?
4. How will your research contribute to the “big picture” outside the academic context?
5. How can you draft a plan using the guidelines presented in the essay instructions?
6. How does your proposed research address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?

Answer #1 from part a, and #2 from part b (both italicized above) below. Do not answer “yes” or “no” for #2 in part b. Please be specific and provide a detailed, comprehensive answer. 

Assignment #4 – Due 10/9/15

Discuss where you are in the process. List the application components that you’ve completed, and when you will complete any remaining items.

PROMISE at UMB invites all to a special Fall Kick-off & Social Hour.

Friday, September 4, 2015, 3 pm

University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB)

Bressler Building, Hostick Lecture Hall

Featuring Dr. Nirmal Joshi, MC Chief Medical Officer for Pinnacle Health System

Transportation

Driving:

Google Directions

(Additional information will be placed in the comment section of this post.)

By bus:

A shuttle leaves at 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM from UMBC  and arriving at UMB 1:50 PM and 2:50 PM

More about PROMISE at UMB:

http://www.graduate.umaryland.edu/Current-Students/PROMISE-Program/

https://umbconnect.umaryland.edu/organization/promise