Introducing new updates to the GradSense Website

As part of the “Enhancing Student Financial Education” Best Practice project, CGS project staff have been working to enhance the GradSense website by responding to suggestions made by graduate students on site visits to 15 research partner universities. We want to draw your attention to the newly created Budget Calculator in the new Cost of Living section. This tool is designed with students in mind and allows them to view possible budgeting scenarios. Students enter their available funds, monthly and one-time expenses, and then receive an output of where they stand financially along with helpful budgeting advice. The addition of this tool will help graduate and undergraduate students make wise financial decisions that will support their long term academic and professional career goals.

Financial Literacy Seminar – Wed, April 22, 2015

This week, we also have a Financial Literacy Seminar coming up. The seminar would be advice for graduate students on “Managing student debt & building resources for your future“. Don’t forget to RSVP! Here are the event details: Date: April 22, 2015 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Venue: UMBC Commons 331 Speakers: Shanna Smith AVP Branch Manager, Catonsville Branch, PNC Leslie McSweeney Campus Relations Manager, PNC.

RSVP HERE on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/events/29319

If you do not have a UMBC ID, you may RSVP in the comment section below, with your name, school, and department, and we will add you to the list.

If you are unable to attend in person, we have set up a live webcast.

Here are the links: YouTube: http://youtu.be/k3cyjUbLBcY GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/events/c4p0jfeu4ufjkuh4bolvg3g879o

Feel free to return to this site and watch from here.

— Piyush Waradpande Graduate Assistant, PROMISE AGEP

YOU ARE INVITED! Communicating Climate 2015

April 20, 2015, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University Center Ballroom

Celebrating 20 Years of JCET Climate Research

Climate affects all residents of the Earth but we all have different perspectives and ways of talking about it.

The UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology and the UMBC Sustainability Working Group invite the campus community to a symposium focused on communicating the results of scientific climate investigations.  A panel of noted climate researchers will contribute their knowledge of Earth’s climate a discussion prompted by questions from the broader UMBC audience.  This Communicating Climate symposium also celebrates the integration of art and science with renowned musician and composer Kenji Williams who will perform the multi-media presentation,  “Beautiful Earth.”

Agenda

12:30 PM Registration & Poster Setup

1:00 PM UMBC Speaker Welcoming Remarks

1:30 PM Climate Panel: Moderator: Joe Witte, NASA/GSFC Climate Communicator

Panelists:

• Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller (Howard Univ.)
• Dr. Antonia Gambacorta (STC)
• Dr. Thorsten Markus (NASA GSFC)
• Dr. Steve Platnick (NASA GSFC)

3:00 PM UMBC Sustainability Working Group

3:30 PM Kenji Williams:    “Beautiful Earth”

He will perform LIVE! See his TEDx talk here:

5:00 PM Posters & Reception

6:00 PM Dr. Belay Demoz, JCET Director Closing Remarks

UMBC

A N   H O N O R S   U N I V E R S I T Y   I N  M A R Y L A N D

You can now purchase a copy on Amazon. The book features PROMISE SSI programs from 2003-2013!

Purchase here: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-AGEP-Professional-Development-Workshops/dp/1503321770/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428803526&sr=1-1

Please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31161

Students who are not from UMBC, and are coming from other schools within the University System of Maryland, may RSVP by placing your name, school, and department into the comment section below.

UMBC participates in the national effort to connect graduate students with options for careers through the Council of Graduate Schools’ effort, Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. 

REF:  Council of Graduate Schools and Educational Testing Service. (2012). Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. Report from the Commission on Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

WEBSITE with the report and additional resources: http://www.pathwaysreport.org/

Confirmed organizations as of 4/4/15

• National Security Agency
• The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratories
• District of Columbia Public Schools
• Aflac
• SABREE, Inc.
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Senaissance software
• The Hilltop Institute
• Creative Staffing International
• Social Security Administration
• City of Baltimore – Bureau of Budget and Management Research (BBMR)
• Basis, Inc.
• US NAVY
• US Secret Service
• Northrop Grumman
• National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to meet Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Volkow is coming to UMBC as the Spring 2015 Distinguished Speaker for the ADVANCE program at UMBC. UMBC ADVANCE reached out to PROMISE and worked with Dr. Volkow to create a special session specifically geared to connect with graduate students. Dr. Volkow’s research is on addiction and the brain, but she is also interested in sharing about her role as a woman leader in STEM. Dr. Volkow grew up in Mexico and has been studying addiction since she was a teenager. She has published more than 580 articles, and 90 book chapters and other papers!

Come and meet this phenomenal leader!

• Monday, April 13, 2015
• Special Session for graduate students and postdocs: 1:00 – 2:00 PM, UMBC Campus, University Center, Room 310 (Light refreshments will be served.)
  • UMBC RSVP here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31746
  • Grad students who have participated in PROMISE, but are not at UMBC, RSVP with your name and school in the comment section below.
• Afternoon Research Lecture: 4:30-5:30 PM, AOK Library Gallery (All invited, reception to follow), http://my.umbc.edu/groups/advance/news/50784

NIDA’s website describes Dr. Volkow’s work as follows:

Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs. Her studies have documented changes in the dopamine system affecting, among others, the functions of frontal brain regions involved with motivation, drive, and pleasure in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging. (REF: http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page)

See Dr. Volkow’s talk from TEDMED:

_______________________

The PROMISE AGEP would like to express gratitude to UMBC ADVANCE for specifically developing a session with Dr. Volkow for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. We express sincere thanks to Dr. Autumn Reed (Program Coordinator for Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Provost, UMBC)  for strengthening the ADVANCE-AGEP connection through this structured and coordinated event with Dr. Volkow. 

• ABOUT ADVANCE: National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE)
• ABOUT ADVANCE at UMBC: http://advance.umbc.edu/
• ABOUT the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM Project with UMBC & Puerto Rico: https://hispanicstemwomen.wordpress.com/

_______________________

Dr. Volkow’s image and biographical information are reprinted with permission from the National Institute on Drug Abuse Press Office. 

The 2015 PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI) will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2015, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. This conference (business attire) provides professional development for new/incoming graduate students, continuing graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early-career professors, and professionals in the region. This is an annual event that has been in existence since 2003. All PROMISE alumni are welcome to return! Professionals in the area are welcome to attend to be part of this networking, professional development, and community building event. The 2015 SSI will be held at The Hotel at Arundel Preserve, in Hanover, MD. See more about our SSI History: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/promise/the-promise-summer-success-institute-ssi/

Stay tuned to this website. It will be regularly updated with information. 

Warmer weather is arriving and we’d like for you to mark your calendars now for two PROMISE AGEP events that are open to graduate students and postdocs within the University System of Maryland, and our friends and colleagues from other universities. We build community as part of our professional development efforts, so we’ll look forward to having you join us on those dates.

Stay tuned to this website for more information. Both events will utilize the Eventbrite registration system. Here are some details that you can add to your plans.

1. The Cookout and Celebration of Graduates will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2015, 1:00 – 4:00 PM. This event acknowledges all master’s and doctoral graduates from any school within the University System of Maryland. This year, we will also acknowledge postdocs who are moving on to other positions. Please send us your good news so that we can acknowledge you: promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject: “May 2 Cookout Celebration.” This event will be held at the High Ridge Park Pavilion in Laurel, MD.

2. The PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI) will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2015, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. This conference (business attire) provides professional development for new/incoming graduate students, continuing graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early-career professors, and professionals in the region. This is an annual event that has been in existence since 2003. All PROMISE alumni are welcome to return! Professionals in the area are welcome to attend to be part of this networking, professional development, and community building event. The 2015 SSI will be held at The Hotel at Arundel Preserve, in Hanover, MD.

Details for the 2015 SSI on August 15th will be posted here: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/promise-summer-success-institute-ssi-august-15-2015/

• See more about our SSI History: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/promise/the-promise-summer-success-institute-ssi/

Please save the dates!

These events are sponsored by the National Science Foundation, 
    PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (AGEP-T) project. 

Dear Graduate Students,

You are invited to apply for a summer internship at IBM. Our friends from IBM note that these opportunities can be in Africa if you have a request, or in the US. To broaden participation, IBM extends a special invitation to underrepresented groups (Black, Hispanic and Native American students in Computer Science, Math, Statistics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Material Science and Chemistry.)

• Positions are available for Summer 2015 and Full-time, starting 2015.
• Ph.D students are preferred
• IBM is also looking for Masters students who will complete their education by Spring 2015 and are looking for full-time Research or Development opportunities.
• The internship opportunity is open to continuing students who are looking for Summer 2015 IBM Research or Development opportunities.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Send your resume/cv to Terry Davis at davistb@us.ibm.com, and cc Renetta Tull at rtull@umbc.edu
2) Please advise Mr. Davis if you are completing your education by Spring 2015, and looking for full time opportunities, or if you are a continuing student in the Fall of 2015 therefore, looking for a summer internship opportunities in Summer 2015.
3) Specify the Research or Development area of your education that is a match for your interests, http://www.research.ibm.com/. Also specify if you are interested in the special internship opportunities that are available Africa (Nairobi, Kenya).

4) Post your resume/cv to the IBM Applicant portal: http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/.

Please note that you must follow all four steps.

All students are considered for IBM opportunities, this is an outreach for an underrepresented group in the Science and Engineering field. IBM Research and Development groups sponsors Foreign Nationals.

Thank you to Jaye Clark-Nias, Computer Science doctoral candidate at Bowie State University who re-connected PROMISE to representatives at IBM following the 2015 Tapia Conference. Jaye participated in this IBM internships in the past and had a great experience. More about Jaye: http://www.cs.bowiestate.edu/~cturner/Students/Jay_Clark.html

Dr. Tracy Johnson, new HHMI Professor from UCLA, and a special guest of UMBC’s Dr. Michael Summers (Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), will be speaking at UMBC on Thursday, March 26 at 1:00 PM in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building, Conference Room 120. All are invited to attend. If you have a UMBC account, please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31197. Guests from other schools may RSVP by sharing name and school in the comment section of this post.

Photo courtesy of http://newsroom.ucla.edu/

More about Dr. Johnson: 

https://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/faculty/tljohnson

http://www.hhmi.org/research/ucla-hhmi-pathways-success-program

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/two-ucla-faculty-members-named-howard-hughes-medical-institute-professors

About the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program:

http://meyerhoffgrad.umbc.edu/

In 2003, the first year of programming for the PROMISE AGEP, a UMBC Public Policy graduate student named Robert Alexander asked if PROMISE could sponsor a “town hall” type of seminar with UMBC’s President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. That conversation birthed the concept of an annual seminar for graduate students that would feature the university’s president. Dr. Robert Alexander is now part of the Health & Analytics Business Unit at Battelle, after spending nearly 10 years in his first dream job in Health Communications at the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Similarly, after more than 10 years, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski is the Chair of the U.S. President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, and has received numerous recognition from media outlets such as TIME, US News & World Report, PBS (“Charlie Rose,” “Tavis Smiley”), and CBS (“60 Minutes.”). The president continues to make time in his schedule to address graduate students. Dr. Hrabowski has been having his spring semester conversation with graduate students at UMBC since 2004. The 2015 talk will be held on Wednesday.

Pathways to Leadership

A Discussion with President Freeman Hrabowski

UMBC President, Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

1:00 – 2:15 PM

Lunch will be served at 1:00

Talk will begin at 1:30 PM. Everyone needs to be seated by 1:25 PM.

Library Gallery (first floor), AOK Library, UMBC Campus, Directions & Parking

REGISTER/RSVP

UMBC Community, Please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/29312

Guests, please RSVP by providing your name and school/organization in the comment section below.

This event is free, but you will need to register.

As part of our PROMISE AGEP-T alliance with the University System of Maryland, graduate students from any school within the USM may attend. Guests from other schools are also invited as part of our commitment to provide graduate students with professional development. Faculty and staff are also invited to attend.

————

More about Dr. Hrabowski’s White House Appointment: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/26/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts

Hrabowski Photos courtesy of baltimore.cbslocal.com, blog.ted.com, amazon.com, and umbc.edu

————

More about Dr. Robert Alexander’s work on the U.S.’ first federally funded anti-smoking campaign: Journal article in The Lancet. Dr. Alexander returned to be a Mentor-in-Residence for the PROMISE AGEP during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI), August 2013.   Dr. Alexander was a member of the first cohort of the PROMISE AGEP Peer Mentors for UMBC, 2004. We thank Dr. Alexander, whose request as a PhD candidate, launched the plans for our annual present-day Presidential “Pathways to Leadership” seminar for graduate students.