1) For students experiencing loneliness, grief/loss, challenges adjusting to online learning, and other forms of pandemic-related stress, we are offering a Connecting While Apart support group.  There are two sections of this group, one for undergraduates and one for graduate students.     

2) For students who like to read and are looking to work on improving self-confidence or working towards personal growth, we are offering a UMBC Self-Help Book Club

Reposted on behalf of The Center for Democracy and Civic Life (CDCL)

CDCL in partnership with the Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Association, is coordinating UMBC’s campaign to encourage every member of our campus community to “cast your whole vote” in Election 2020. “Casting your whole vote” means committing fully to building strong, inclusive, just communities in which everyone can thrive, before, during, and after the election. 

We hope you will participate in this campaign, which launches today, Tuesday, September 22nd (National Voter Registration Day), by doing the following:

• register or check your registration and make a voting plan using the tools at ALL In to Vote;

• take the ALL In to Vote pledge (and help put UMBC atop the national leaderboard), and share that you did (this is open to students, faculty, and staff);

• plan to attend the programs featured on thisElection 2020 Events flyer(and RSVP where required); 

• spread the word to your UMBC networks using the resources in the UMBC Cast Your Whole Vote Toolkit; and

• reshare the Toolkit with people at UMBC who may want to support the Cast Your Whole Vote campaign.

Spreading the word is especially important. Please use and share the Toolkit to help and encourage them to cast their whole votes.

Name: Ann Jeanette Santos

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: UMBC Department of Psychology - Behavior Analysis

Position Title: Research Assistant

Major(s)/Minor(s): Psychology

Current Class Level: Junior

Work Term: Summer 2020

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

This research opportunity allows me to work closely with one of the assistant professors at UMBC, Dr. Mirela Cengher, BCBA-D. In Dr. Cengher's lab, the goal is to research procedures that will enhance the learning of individuals with developmental disabilities, most notably, Autism-spectrum disorder. My current duties include reading up on current literature to become familiar to what is known about procedures already in place for behavior analysis, creating experimental materials, such as Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents and Qualtrics surveys, and taking interobserver agreement (IOA) data. Because Dr. Cengher has a special interest in learning about language development and skill acquisition, I have been reading about how individuals learn foreign languages and how individuals best learn new information. Most of my work during quarantine is in preparation for when we are able to return to engaging with participants face-to-face, or for finding online substitutes for projects. I was also graced with the opportunity to learn how to program online experiments using experimental software. Every week I meet virtually with my mentor/supervisor, Dr. Cengher, and we review what I have accomplished for the week and what my goals should be for the upcoming week. Since I work in a team of research assistants, I also meet with the other research assistants every week to two weeks to discuss what we have accomplished individually and as a team.

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

At the end of the Spring semester, my PSYC 210 (Psychology of Learning) professor posted an announcement about a research opportunity happening during the summertime. Since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of my initial internship opportunity, I was excited to hear that this research opportunity would be held remotely in the comfort of my own home! To express my interest in joining Dr. Cengher's research team, I emailed Dr. Cengher in May and she sent me an Interview Form to complete. After I sent back my interview form, we scheduled a virtual interview a week later and she asked me questions to see if I would work fittingly in her lab. A week later, I was informed of her interest in working with me as her research assistant.

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

Working as a research assistant this summer has sparked an interest for pursuing behavior analysis as a career in the future and further ignited my passion for working with children with developmental disabilities in the future. In addition, I have been able to push myself out of my comfort zone to learn things I never thought I would learn how to do. For example, I have had zero experience in programming/coding, and although it was not an easy process, I am proud to say that I have learned a little bit about coding through putting together online research material. Dr. Cengher has also grown to be one of my greatest mentors as she talks me through applying for graduate school, learning more about Applied Behavior Analysis and allowing me to explore my own interests as her research assistant. Although there is work that I have to complete, I have full freedom to let my research mentor know what my areas of interests to study are, as well.

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

Through my work, I am helping to improve teaching procedures that will enhance learning for children with developmental disabilities, like Autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are procedures currently in place to treat children with ASD in Applied Behavior Analysis, much research needs to be done to continue to strengthen ways to teach children using empirical data. Some areas of research are the number of stimuli and order of stimuli concurrently taught within a session.

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

It takes just a few seconds of courage to discover your full capabilities by stepping out of your comfort zone and being open to new learning opportunities. That is what is ultimately going to prepare you for the professional field.

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday!

Noor Shaikh is a junior Biological Sciences major and a URA Scholar. 

Title of your research project: A mechanistic understanding of planarian shape regulation during growth and degrowth behaviors

Describe your project: Planarian worms have the extraordinary ability to grow when fed and degrow when starved over more than one order of magnitude in lengths, during which they maintain their body and organ proportions. The goal of this project is to characterize the genes controlling the maintenance of worm proportions and shape during these growth and degrowth behaviors. The specific aims include the recording and analysis of body proportions and shapes during growth and degrowth and the acquisition of gene expression patterns during these processes with in situ hybridization assays. 

Who is your mentor(s) for your project?  My mentor is Dr. Daniel Lobo in the department of biological sciences at UMBC. I am working under Dr. Lobo's supervision and have been given leadership role to maintain the lab colony of planarian worms and to independently carry out previous pilot-studies of growth and degrowth experiments. I will work together with my mentor’s guidance towards obtaining the final product for my project.   

How did you become interested in this project? I had come across my mentor's lab website and was interested in learning more about the planarian worms ability to regenerate. I am excited to use this project as a way to work with and identify the genes responsible for body shape maintenance in this model organism. Also, this project can shed light into how biological growth and shape is regulated and pave the way for novel biomedical applications to human developmental diseases and cancer.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?  Planarians can reproduce asexually by fissioning transversally, resulting in each fragment regenerating a new complete worm. One challenge we encountered in the growth and degrowth pilot studies on the planarian worms were that they fissioned after being isolated in the well plates, so this resulted in an error in our calculations of the body proportions. To solve this problem we placed more than one worm in the well plate because population density modulates fission behavior.     

What has been the most rewarding part? The most rewarding part has been the knowledge I have gained and the opportunities to present my research. I was able to present in the 22nd annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) and now with the URA award I will present my further findings at URCAD, in April. 

How will you disseminate your research? I plan on sharing the results of my work through an URCAD presentation, professional conferences, and a journal paper. 

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?  My advice to anyone interested in research, is to reach out early to various professors on campus whose work they find interesting. There is always a way to get involved in research that interests you.    

What are your career goals? After graduating from UMBC, I plan to earn a PharmD and masters to further pursue a career in research. 

Join UMBC and the Greater Washington Partnership for the Capital CoLAB Virtual Career Fair. This career fair will give students exclusive access to employers from across the Capital Region and offer opportunities to secure  SUMMER INTERNSHIPS FOR 2021. 

WHEN: Monday, September 21, 2020  

TIME: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM  Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 

WHERE: ONLINE 

REGISTER HERE 

About the Event 

This online chat will connect you directly with organizations from the comfort of your home, office, smartphone or tablet. Our online, cloud-based platform makes it easy and fun for you to participate. After signing in, you'll be able to explore the available information and opportunities and participate in 1-on-1 text-based chats with representatives from participating organizations. Share your background and experience and get all your questions answered. This career fair is open to current undergraduate students.  Tune into our live content during the career fair to hear from peers about virtual internship experiences, the impact of COVID-19 on student life, as well as about the Capital CoLAB Digital Tech Credential Program. 

About the Capital CoLAB and Digital Tech Credential Program 

Capital CoLAB is a program launched by the Greater Washington Partnership and its mission to create a more connected and inclusive capital region. 

The Capital CoLAB Digital Tech Credential program is focused on developing talent by connecting students at participating colleges and universities with top businesses across the region to provide them with opportunities and real-world experience. Employers across all industries—from government and healthcare to the arts and energy—hire workers who can couple their diverse educational backgrounds with the top tech skills to succeed in today’s increasingly digital economy.  

You can learn more about the CoLAB Digital Tech Credential on our website. Be sure to opt into the CoLAB Community when you register for this event to receive more information about this program!   

Live Career Fair Content 

Tune into our live content during the career fair to hear from peers about virtual internship experiences, the impact of COVID-19 on our region and student life, as well as about the Capital CoLAB Digital Tech Credential Program. 

REGISTER HERE 

 
Social Channels  

FOLLOW GREATER WASHINGTON PARTNERSHIP 

Hashtag: #CapitalCoLAB 

Twitter: @GW_Partnership 

Facebook: facebook.com/GreaterWashingtonPartnership/ 

LinkedIn: Greater Washington Partnership 

Instagram: instagram.com/gw_partnership

9/18/20

Two years ago, our campus community came together and demanded to be heard.  Faculty, staff, and students sat down with President Hrabowski and campus leadership to voice urgent concerns over how UMBC prevents and responds to reports of sexual misconduct.  That group of activists became known as the “Sunday Group.” Through protests, conversations, and listening sessions, the Retriever Courage initiative was created to address our community’s experiences and to make UMBC a safer, more caring, living, learning, and working environment for all.

Change requires the courage to speak out, listen, learn, and take action.  Our community showed tremendous courage two years ago when we began the mission of Retriever Courage and it has continued to show courage as campus-wide changes were made. Thanks to our community’s continued commitment to this work, we have been able to complete many of the recommendations made for our campus, including making an online Title IX reporting form that permits anonymous reporting, a new campus card with resources listed on the back, creating and staffing the Office of Equity and Inclusion, and establishing the Inclusion Council. 

We have been able to accomplish a great deal in the last two years, but there is more to do and we are committed to doing it in collaboration with the ongoing anti-racism work happening in our country, and on our campus, right now. The Inclusion Council, which was formed to advise the Office of Equity and Inclusion and whose members serve as ambassadors for the office across campus, has launched working groups, one of which is focused on sexual misconduct and harassment to help with this work. There are also other campus partners working with the Office of Equity and Inclusion in an advisory capacity. This work remains important to our campus community.  

While COVID-19 has disrupted our world and changed how our community comes together, it has not changed our commitment to the values of Retriever Courage.  Our community faces new challenges now and we must adapt to address the barriers created by an online world.  We are still listening and we are still working. 

Nadia BenAissa ‘20

Member, UMBC Inclusion Council 

Co-Founder, We Believe You