Dear UMBC Community,

As we shared yesterday, over the past 48 hours UMBC's main campus has experienced a number of burst pipes which resulted in water damage in multiple buildings. Over that time, the facilities management team has worked continuously to stop leaks, check for additional impacts, and assess damage. We have now gotten this situation under control. Currently, we have identified damage in ten buildings, including four residence halls. 

Professional remediation efforts, including cleaning and drying, are already underway in affected buildings and we are working with any researchers and students currently on campus. If you are needed on campus, you will be contacted by your supervisor, building manager, or residential life. 

We will share more with the community before the end of break, so that you know what to expect when you return. We are deeply grateful for our facilities management team, residential life staff, and our partners at ABM for their tireless work over the holiday to respond to this situation. 

I hope that all of you stay safe and warm throughout the rest of the break.

Kathy L. Dettloff, Vice President for Administration and Finance

Let's be honest, talking about suicide isn't always an easy conversation for some people to have. Often times, people can become visibly uncomfortable just at the mention of the word "suicide." There are lots of people who don't feel comfortable telling others that they feel distressed or are experiencing a crisis. 

Breaking the stigma

When we don't discuss topics like suicide and emotional crisis, people might not reach out for help when they need it the most. For persons who have had suicidal thoughts, they might feel shame or stigma. For people who are experiencing emotional crises, they might feel like they are alone.

It's time we start shifting our conversations and saying, "It's okay to talk about suicide" and to say, "I need help." It's not just okay to talk to about suicide and say you need help, it's also okay to reach out and get help. Research has shown that talking about suicide and emotional crisis can actually help save lives. 

When we talk about suicide or experiencing emotional distress, we make these conversations less taboo. Talking about it is a way to empower yourself and others to feel comfortable getting help.

What you should know

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the United States (US) among persons 15-24 years old. As a community, we can all do something to help lower this statistic. One of the simple things we can do is to know the factors that can increase risk for suicide and the protective factors that lower risk.

 Risk factors can include: 

• Depression

• Ongoing physical health issues, such as chronic pain

• Access to lethal means, such as drugs or firearms

• Childhood abuse or trauma

Protective factors can include: 

• Community and family support

• Healthy problem-solving and coping skills

• Access to timely mental health care and services

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides 24/7, confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress. "988" is the three-digit, nationwide phone number to connect persons directly to trained crisis counselors.

These trained counselors will listen, understand how the caller's problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources as necessary.  

You can call or text 988, or chat 988lifeline.org/chat  to receive support from one of their trained counselors.

When people call, text, or chat 988, they can receive support for mental health related distress. That could be:

• Thoughts of suicide

• Mental health or substance use crisis, or

• Any other kind of emotional distress. 

If you have more questions about 988, please visit their website. 

When should you call 988?

If Retriever Integrated Health (RIH) is closed or you just need to talk to a trained mental health counselor for a suicide, mental health, or substance use crisis, call, text, or chat 988.

Retriever Integrated Health

For more help regarding suicide or emotional distress, visit Retriever Integrated Health at health.umbc.edu for information on:

• Individual and group counseling support

• Online tools to support your well-being journey 

Office of Health Promotion

The Office of Health Promotion (OHP) offers events and trainings related to suicide prevention and helping our community members get help. Visit the OHP myUMBC page for up-to-date offerings. Contact OHP at ohp@umbc.edu to invite Health Promotion staff to your office or group meeting.

Name: Alex Lloyd

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site:  General Dynamics Mission Systems

Position Title: Software Engineering Intern  

Major or Program: Computer Science, B.S.  

Current Class Level: Senior

Work Term: Summer 2022

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities. 

 Researching & beginning the search for network vulnerabilities in Hue Bridge smart lightbulb devices. First month centered around researching known vulnerabilities, functionality, & reproducing a hardware hack so that we could analyze the file system. Included analyzing its binaries in Ghidra.

Second month centered around scanning vulnerable ports & using our knowledge of the file system, remote control of the device, & online resources to identify which process operated on each port. Identifying a given process on a vulnerable port, we then focused our analysis of that particular binary & identified where it decrypts information. I was the first to capture packets destined for that port & the first to extract decrypted data from memory using a cross-compiled server on the device itself.

I then split the internship team in half to pursue two potentially viable methods of fuzzing - AFL++'s Unicorn mode & QEMU mode - with myself leading the QEMU team & another UMBC student intern leading the Unicorn team. My team was again the first to begin fuzzing properly, using my captured packets as an input corpus. Fuzzing is important as it spams certain binaries with variations of data until a crash occurs & a vulnerability can be found & exploited.

I then helped my fellow interns to compile & deliver a presentation of our findings & next steps for this project.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application? 

 I applied via LinkedIn in Fall 2021, had an interview in Spring 2022, & landed the internship to start at the beginning of June 2022. I found the position via LinkedIn's weekly notifications for jobs fitting my specifications.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?  

Working in an Ubuntu VM, which introduced me to Linux & the use of apt package management, & inspired me to install Linux on my T2 security chip'd MacBook, using a modified kernel I found online to work with the unsupported hardware. I now have Windows, macOS, & Zorin OS triple boot on my MacBook & am using Linux more regularly as a casual operating system.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I am dead certain I made an impact, because I was asked to stay on & extend my internship into the Fall semester, where I am building on the work my team created during the summer semester. Currently, we are working on increasing the speed of the fuzzing process.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

Quantity is king. Obviously, if you are fortunate enough to have an "in" for a given organization (insider knowledge), then certainly exploit that advantage as much as you are able, but in my case &, I imagine, for most folks early in their careers, you won't have that. You have to go through the application & interview process. Therefore, you are going to be one among many applying for each opportunity, so the way you get ahead is by trying everything. Spam as many applications as possible to opportunities that fit your skillset, taking care to cater your résumé &/or cover letter to the most promising opportunities, & simply keep at it. My approach was to apply to three different opportunities every week for the entirety of the Fall semester in 2021, & it's from this approach that I landed my internship. Of countless applications, I landed only three interviews, & only succeeded at the final one with General Dynamics.

In addition, take advantage of avenues that I did not, such as career fairs & the advice of the career center, & if all else fails, pursue projects or research opportunities within academia. If you prioritize quantity, & get your résumé out to every single one of these areas, & persist, then you cannot fail.

My final piece of advice: know your core classes. For student internships, perhaps the best places to apply, in every interview they will ask about simple, fundamental concepts in your major. If you have succeeded in your classes, you will be able to answer these questions & land your internship.

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.

I get paid to hack lightbulbs. Believe-you-me, there is a job for everyone.

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