Best Overall Selfie - Frank Gorelik, with Mentor, Dr. William LaCourse, Joshua Wilhide, laboratory manager of the Molecular Characterization and Analysis Complex at UMBC (and skeleton), “Development of a Method for Quantitating Caffeine in Tea” ($50 gift card to the UMBC bookstore!)
Best Selfie with Presentation - Trevor Pitts, Mai-Han Trinh, Kavita
Kumar, with Mentor, Dr. Simon Stacey, “A Behavioral Approach to Measuring Empathy” ($25)
Best Selfie with Mentor - Nida Yousfi, Zachary Pohuski, Hannah Paul, Zulkarnain Choudhury with Mentor, Galina Madjaroff, “Supporting
Caregivers and Car Recipients after the Inset of Cognitive Impairment with
Home-based Technology” ($25)
Best Selfie with Family Member - Matthew Kane and Mom, “Scratching the Surface of Bahama Oriole Pine Forest Nesting” ($25)
Get your selfie stick ready for next year- URCAD will be on Wednesday, April 24, 2019- See you there!
]]>Student Disability Services would like to remind students who are approved and utilizing the note-taking assistance accommodation this semester, that they need to download their notes from our Accommodate system. Notes will not be available in Accommodate after the last day of class, 05/15/18. If you have any questions or need assistance in downloading your notes, contact us at sdsnotetaking@umbc.edu or 410-455-2459.
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finals starting next week, we at Student Disability Services would like to
remind students who are approved for testing accommodations to schedule your
final exams with our office ASAP. Final exams start on Thursday, 5/17/18 and
end on Wednesday 5/23/18. There is no testing on Study Day 5/16/18.
Please schedule your exams through our online Accommodate system. If you need assistance in scheduling your exams, please contact us at disAbility@umbc.edu, 410-455-2459 or visit us in person at our office located in Math/Psychology, 2nd Fl. Room 212.
Shady Grove Students: To take a quiz/exam at Shady Grove, allow one week advance notice and please click on the link Taking a Quiz/Exam with SDS at Shady Grove. For any Shady Grove scheduling questions and concerns, please contact usg-testing@umd.edu.
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Where did the year go, guys? The sun is shining, but everyone is stressed with finals and projects and summer jobs and graduation … it’s a lot. I get it; I am right there with you. And if you’re graduating in a few weeks, that is a whole other level of stress! This can be a pretty crazy time of year, but we can all put our summertime to good use by taking the time to think about our own professional development and create goals for ourselves for the upcoming school year - or if you’re graduating, whatever your next step is!
If you already have a summer job, internship, or research experience - congratulations! If you want to take your summer experience to the next step, be sure to register for the Intern Success Practicum, a zero-credit pass/fail course that puts your experience on your transcript to give it more of an official, professional look. You can register on your UMBCworks account, or make an appointment at the Career Center to have a staff member help you register. It can only help you!
If you don’t have anything lined up for the summer yet, you are certainly not alone. You can still make an appointment to help with the job search, or just look through the 400+ summer job/internship postings that are on UMBCworks RIGHT NOW! There are plenty of opportunities; you just have to find them! Taking summer classes can also be a valuable use of time, and might even help you graduate early. Even volunteer positions at your local non-profit can be great skill-builders and resume boosters, so don’t despair if you’ve yet to find a summer position!
No matter what your situation or year in school, here is a Summer To-Do List:
Update your resume - make sure everything is up-to-date and spelled correctly. If you don’t want to come in for an appointment, our Resume Resource Page has plenty of information.
Critically think about your career path - even if you have decided your major and are confident in your career paths, there is a lot to be gained from continuously evaluating your goals and exploring all of your options. Who knows what you will find! Check out our resources for Discovering Your Options. You can also register for our Dependable Strengths Workshop on June 1st - a free full-day program that will build your confidence and help you take action toward career success.
Set some goals for yourself - are you bad at making decisions? Feel like you have some things you can improve on? Take some time to read about Decision Making and Goal Setting and think about what you want to get out of the next school year.
Graduating? We are still here! - If you are graduating soon, the Career Center’s resources are still available to you. See the attached flyer to learn more.
Even though the semester is closing up, we still have events! Stop by Commons Mainstreet on May 10th from 11:30-2pm to have your photo taken for #hearmebark and tell us what your next step is after graduation! Also, this year is the first year that UMBC is hosting the Maryland Career Consortium (MCC) Career Fair, with 100+ recruiters looking to hire students and alumni! And in case you didn’t know, the Career Center is still open during the summer session, so feel free to make an appointment! We are always here to help.
Abraar is a Biological Sciences major who will graduate in May 2018.
How did you find the research opportunity? I became extremely interested in the topic of regenerative medicine after having taken Molecular Biology and Genetics. I decided to check out the different research labs available on campus and found that Dr. Lobo’s lab very closely fit my interests. From there I decided to contact and meet with Dr. Lobo, to discuss any opportunities available to work in his lab, and luckily enough I was granted a position in the lab.
Do you get course credit for this work? Paid? How much time do you put into it? This semester, I am fortunate enough to be receiving credit for my work. That said, I currently put in about 10-12 hours a week in the lab.
What academic background did you have before you started? Honestly, not much. I began working in Dr. Lobo’s lab in the summer after Sophomore year, at which point the only upper level biology course I had under my belt was Genetics. Fortunately, I was still able to attain the position, and as a result have learned an extensive amount of knowledge in my area of interest.
How did you learn what you needed to know to be successful in this project? I would say the biggest thing was having the help of my PI, Dr. Lobo, as well as my fellow research colleagues. I had to learn a good bit of knowledge with how things worked with the software used in the lab, but I always knew that I could go to Dr. Lobo for whatever questions I had. One thing that I really like about my PI, Dr. Lobo, is he holds weekly one on one meetings, where I can ask him any questions or concerns with any of the research tasks. From my experience, Dr. Lobo certainly does an exceptional job of making sure that his researchers are comfortable with their respective projects.
What was the hardest part about your research? The hardest part about my research was most certainly the fact that the lab was a bioinformatics lab. I had little to no experience with coding, so I was limited in what I could do in the lab. That said, I had to learn a lot about the software, Planform, before being able to do any work in the lab. Fortunately, I was able to catch on quick and help out the best I could. Luckily enough, I am able to work on the current project with a fellow colleague of mine, Junaid, making the whole learning process that much easier. Currently, I am excited about working with a new type of software, called Plangex, that the lab is near finished in completing.
What was the most unexpected thing? The most unexpected thing was the level at which I was able to interact and work with my PI, Dr. Lobo. I had always heard from my friends, who worked in other labs, how they wouldn’t get to work with their PI’s directly, but rather work with graduate students. That fact that I could directly go to my mentor, Dr. Lobo, and get help or advice so easily, was certainly a blessing. I think its agreeable amongst all the researchers in the lab that Dr. Lobo is the best mentor that we could have ever asked for.
How does this research experience relate to your work in other classes? My research in the lab closely relates to the topics of regenerative medicine and stem cells, topics that constantly appears time after time in upper level biology classes. Having conducted research on the matter, I have been able to develop a firm grasp of the topics, making the subject matter a breeze in class. Additionally, my research has required me to read a vast amount of academic literature. This, in turn, has taught the very important skill of being detail oriented. A skill that has proven to be invaluable in all my classes.
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? Don’t be afraid to get out there and get involved early on!! I remember when I initially started looking for research in my field interest, I was afraid of being rejected. Looking back, I see how unwise it was to think that way. Just because a PI may not have a spot for you in their lab doesn’t mean you should stop searching. If you really want to get involved in a specific area of study, you should stay proactive. No doubt, working in the lab has taught me skills that I wouldn’t have learned elsewhere. I couldn’t be happier that I decided to contact Dr. Lobo and move forward with research in his lab.
What are your career goals? I aspire to go to medical school, and hopefully help out as many people as possible in the future. If given the chance to do so, I hope to continue researching regenerative medicine down the road after earning a medical degree.