A Global Action Plan for Women in IT

 

For the first time, technology leaders from 22 countries and six continents will gather to explore concrete ways in which access by girls and women to technology can be increased in order to effect economic, social and political change. The First International Symposium on Women and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will convene June 12-14 in downtown Baltimore. Participants from developing and developed countries will include leaders from business, government and non-government agencies and educational institutions.

The symposium was organized and is co-hosted by UMBC’s Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT), the World Trade Center Institute, the World Bank and Women in Global Science and Technology; it is held in cooperation with the ACM (Association of Computer Machinery)

Through the exchange of ideas and experiences, the symposium’s organizers expect to create an action agenda to significantly increase the international participation of girls and women in ICT–including leadership of women in technology business–in the next five years.

“This is an important time for women and technology,” said Claudia Morrell, CWIT’s executive director. “ICTs for girls and women will either become a new tool for increased access to education, economics, and social equity or it will create a new form of discrimination. In either case, the ramifications for all of us are vast. The symposium will address topics that we know need exploring, and we have sought out the world’s leading authorities to discuss current hurdles and possible solutions.”

Among the speakers will be authorities on ICT and the global economy, including widely published authors Jo Sanders, Sue Rosser and Sophia Huyer, as well as corporate leaders from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Maryland’s lieutenant governor, Michael Steele, will address participants at an opening reception. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission for Women, Ellen Sauerbrey, honorary chair, and UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski will be keynote speakers.

More information about the symposium is available online.

(6/6/05)

 

Edwards and Kelcey Moves Baltimore Office

bwtech@UMBC, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's on-campus research and technology park, announced today that two new corporate tenants have agreed to relocate to the park’s second building, 5523 Research Park Drive, recently completed by international property developer Grosvenor.

The new tenants are the healthcare communications and technology firm Physicians Practice, Inc., formerly of Glen Burnie, and the engineering/design firm Edwards and Kelcey, which moves its Baltimore office to UMBC from Caton Avenue.

Physicians Practice is publisher of Physicians Practice: The Business Journal for Physicians, the most widely circulated practice management journal for physicians in the country. The firm is also known for its award-winning Web site, www.PhysiciansPractice.com, and a weekly e-mail newsletter, Physicians Practice Pearls.

Physicians Practice comes to UMBC thanks in part to the close ties to the University by president, co-founder and UMBC alumnus Scott Weber, who graduated in 1985 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. Weber, a former president of the UMBC Alumni Association, continues to advise students in UMBC's Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship on starting up and running a successful business. The company, which will occupy most of the second floor, currently employs 45 people.

"UMBC offers an excellent strategic location for us to grow our business, with its thriving technology environment, wealth of intellectual capital, and convenient proximity to transportation," said Gerry Hartung, chief executive officer and co-founder of Physicians Practice. "We look forward to partnering with UMBC as our business continues to grow throughout the region and country."

Edwards and Kelcey is a nationally recognized engineering, design, planning and construction management firm which has been in business since 1946. Headquartered in Morristown, NJ, Edwards and Kelcey has 900 employees, 23 regional offices and is ranked 68th among the Top 500 U.S. Design Firms by Engineering News-Record (ENR). Edwards and Kelcey employs 25 transportation engineers and planners locally, and is currently providing services to the Maryland Aviation Administration, Maryland State Highway Administration, City of Baltimore, and other local DOTs.

K.R. Marshall, EK's Baltimore Office Manager said, "Our new location at UMBC will allow us to optimally service our transportation clients in the Baltimore region. With convenient access to BWI and downtown Baltimore, coupled with partnership opportunities with the UMBC engineering department, Edwards and Kelcey looks forward to continued success in the Maryland market."

"UMBC's thriving business community consists of nearly 40 companies in various industries," said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of UMBC Research Park Corporation. "We are delighted to welcome Physicians Practice and Edwards and Kelcey to our entrepreneurial, research intensive campus."

"UMBC's research and technology park demonstrates the impact of higher education and business coming together," said David S. Iannucci, executive director for the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development. "The mix of new tenants at bwtech@UMBC represents the range of entrepreneurial organizations that will benefit from this unique facility."

bwtech@UMBC's first two buildings were developed by Grosvenor, one of the largest private real estate companies in the world with a global property portfolio of $7 billion. The park's 62,000 square-foot first building has been leased by the information technology firm RWD Technologies since 2001.

UMBC's research park and incubator have received public and private sector funding from the Maryland Economic Development Corporation, the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, Baltimore County, the U.S. Department of Commerce, The Abell Foundation, and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. In 2003, bwtech@UMBC became part of Baltimore County's Southwest Enterprise Zone, making companies moving to the park eligible for credits on real property and income taxes, as well as credits for creating new jobs.

Celebrating the Class of 2005

 

This year, UMBC will award degrees to 1200 undergraduates and more than 200 graduate students in the arts and sciences, engineering and social work.

UMBC’s Class of 2005 includes students headed to prestigious graduate programs at Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics, Stanford University, University of Arizona, University of Cambridge and the University of Westminster (England).

Other students have secured jobs with a wide spectrum of corporations, nonprofits, government agencies and universities, including AmeriCorps, the Department of Defense, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Microsoft, MIT, the PeaceCorps, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Proctor & Gamble and T. Rowe Price. Many will teach at public schools across Maryland.

Click here to read stories from the Class of 2005.

(5/25/05)

 

Creating Interactive Memories

 

Associate Professor of Visual Arts Lisa Moren was recently recognized for her new media art—including installations, videos, books and interactive multi-media forms—with a 2005-06 Fulbright Scholar award. Moren will lecture at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, one of the oldest film schools in Europe.

At FAMU, Moren will teach two classes based on DIMINUENTS, which is one project in her three-part series examining memory, place and narrative in former Soviet republics. One class of film students will use new technologies to make their own interactive films, while another will focus on metaphor to create a collaborative film based on their own memories and memories of families and friends.

Moren was previously an artist-in-residence in several former Soviet countries. She presents lectures and exhibits her works nationally and internationally, including an anticipated two-person exhibition at the Frants Gallery in SoHo, New York City. A multiple-year recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council award, Moren has published her work in Performance Research and a forthcoming issue of Visible Language.

In 2003, Moren curated and wrote the exhibition catalog for “Intermedia: the Dick Higgins Collection” at UMBC’s Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. She received a National Endowment for the Arts award for her research on Higgins and the fluxus art movement. Moren also founded concretestream.umbc.edu, an international netcast of artists’ works, discussions and experimental live exchanges on the Internet. The site has featured live and curated events in collaboration with artists and organizations from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia.

(5/17/05)

 

 

Shared Values Set in Stone

 

UMBC honors Walter Sondheim, Jr., a pivotal leader of school desegregation and economic revitalization in Baltimore, for his achievements in community service, social justice and diversity on May 11 with the dedication of the University’s first named academic building, Janet and Walter Sondheim Hall, and an accompanying sculpture.

The event caps off a successful $6 million campaign to endow the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program at UMBC and rename the former Social Sciences building in honor of Sondheim and his late wife, Janet.

Sondheim is perhaps best known for leading the desegregation of Baltimore City Public Schools as chair of the City School Board and for guiding the “Baltimore Renaissance” of downtown and the Inner Harbor in the 1970s and 1980s as chairman of Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Inc. (View an online documentary on Sondheim’s career.)

“Walter Sondheim embodies the values that the UMBC community treasures most,” said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III. “He is a visionary leader who cares deeply about children, families and education in Baltimore. The statue and building we dedicate in his honor will stand for a long time. But a more fitting and lasting tribute will be the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars who bear his name as they serve the public and make a difference to generations to come.”

Founded in 1999, UMBC’s Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, directed by Roy Meyers, professor of political science, supports talented undergraduate students who want to become effective leaders in government, non-profits , corporations and the community. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining service learning, internships and intensive advising/mentoring, over 40 Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars have graduated from the program or are currently receiving training for careers in law, social work, public administration, business, education, environmental policy, politics and other fields.

While Sondheim has received many honors over his career, the UMBC hall is the first entire structure named in his honor and the statue, sculpted from cast bronze by Maryland artist Antonio Tobias Mendez, is the first life-size rendition. Three granite benches for public seating anchoring the bluestone plaza outside the renamed building are inscribed with quotes from Sondheim reflecting his insights and values. Once unveiled, a life-sized likeness of Sondheim stands and invites the viewer to sit on a bench and take part in the community, symbolizing his civic spirit and humble generosity.

More information on the May 11 Sondheim Hall and statue dedication is available online.

(5/9/05)

 

UMBC's Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) will release on Thursday, May 12 "The State of the Inner Suburbs: An Examination of Suburban Baltimore, 1980 to 2000." Like so many American cities, many of Baltimore's older suburbs are mimicking the problems of the central city: household income is declining; the population is shrinking and aging; and the infrastructure is weakening - yet housing costs are skyrocketing. The prospects for stable neighborhoods and affordable housing are not encouraging, unless action is taken in certain key neighborhoods.

Metropolitan Baltimore is unique in that there is essentially one government - Baltimore County - rather than dozens or even hundreds of municipalities as surround other cities, such as Cleveland, Philadelphia and Chicago. Opportunities, already becoming recognized, include the possibilities for growth in the inner suburbs close to the Interstate and close to the water.

The report, available as a PDF file at www.umbc.edu/cuere/inner_ring, is co-authored by Bernadette Hanlon and Thomas Vicino, both of whom are Ph.D. candidates in UMBC's Department of Public Policy, is embargoed until Thursday, May 12. (NO exceptions.)

Hanlon and Vicino's research suggests that the state of Greater Baltimore's inner suburbs raises important and worrying public policy issues just as they also have the potential for easing housing strains and providing opportunities for growth.

UMBC's Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship hosts rare opportunities for startup companies and other high-tech firms to learn more about partnering with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency with direct insights from key DHS and NSA technology and procurement officials at two workshops this month.

The Center also invites the Greater Baltimore business community to be part of the National Business Incubation Association conference, to be held in Baltimore May 15-18.

Doing Business with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
May 11
8-10 am
Main Seminar Room
techcenter@UMBC

Learn more about business opportunities within the Department of Homeland Security's $11 billion budget and 22 government agencies directly from DHS Chief Procurement Officer Mui Erkun. Other speakers include: Gloria Berthold, National Government Marketing Expert, TargetGov; and Marty O'Neill, techcenter@UMBC Technology Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

For more information visit http://www.umbc.edu/techcenter/images/dhs.051105.pdf. Sponsored by Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. Free and open to the public.

Business Workshop featuring the National Security Agency
May 18
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
5523 Research Park Drive
bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park
UMBC Campus

NSA Director of Information Assurance Daniel Wolf will give Baltimore/Washington tech firms a rare, firsthand look at how business and academia can partner to meet the future technology and research needs of the NSA. UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski will discuss the importance of multi-level partnerships. Hosted by BWI Business Partnership, Inc. Sponsored by bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park.

For more information visit http://www.umbc.edu/techcenter/images/nsa.051805.2.pdf or call 410-859-1000.

National Business Incubation Association Conference
May 15-18 in Baltimore

Hosted by the Maryland Business Incubation Association, this year's NBIA national conference offers a wealth of opportunities to learn about proven best practices and explore the latest trends in angel investing, assisting women entrepreneurs, working with bioscience companies, funding incubator programs and creating cross-border partnerships.

Keynote speeches by Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) secretary Aris Melissaratos, co-founder of the Prairie Angels Capital Fund/entrepreneur Barry Moltz, UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski and bwtech@UMBC executive director Ellen Hemmerly. Highlights include tours of several regional incubators and the 2005 NBIA Incubator of the Year Awards.

For more information visit http://www.nbia.org/nbia_events/conf2005/index.php.

Writing a Biography of “No Place”

 

Assistant Professor of History Kate Brown recently received two significant awards for A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (Harvard University Press, 2004). The book received the American Historical Association’s prestigious George Louis Beer Prize, given for outstanding historical writing on any phase of European international history since 1895. She previously received the Heldt Prize awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies.

“Kate Brown is already an extraordinarily accomplished scholar, one of the rare historians to win one of the profession’s major prizes so early in a career,” said John Jeffries, professor and chair of the history department. “She also deserves recognition as an innovative teacher who is committed to enhancing student engagement and learning in her classes.”

A Biography of No Place is a travelogue, an unusual genre for a study of archival history. “I wrote this history as a travelogue because it is about marginalized people who did not leave a mark in archives, and so the historian must go in search of the traces they left behind,” said Brown.

In her book Brown describes her travels throughout the borderland between Russia and Poland, where people later identified as Poles, Germans, Jews, Ukrainians and Russians lived side by side in 1925. Over the next three decades, these cultures were homogenized out of existence, the result of Soviet and Nazi rule. By the 1950’s, this “no place” emerged as an ethnically pure Ukrainian heartland, because the diversity that defined the region was destroyed. Combined with ethnography and research in recently opened archives, her experiences and oral interviews provide a poignant story of the annihilation of a rich, culturally complex borderland.

“If we widen the scope of history to include people at the margins of society, we can see the destruction that lies in the wake of progress,” said Brown. “The deportees are some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met in my life. They are amazed that someone cared about their stories, but they’re not bitter; despite deportation and a life in exile, they carry on.”

(5/2/05)

 

Supporting Undergraduate Research

 

UMBC’s emphasis on undergraduate research is one of its most distinctive strengths. Opportunities to conduct independent research—both on and off campus—are supported with grant awards and faculty support, so that research can be a part of any undergraduate’s learning experience. Each year, the UMBC community celebrates the scholarly and creative accomplishments of its undergraduates at Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). On Wednesday, April 27, approximately 60 students will present their work to the campus community and the general public. (Events will be held on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library.)

Founded in 1997 by the Office of the Provost, URCAD features oral presentations and poster sessions, as well as artistic exhibits and performances. Students can also apply for Undergraduate Research Awards (URA) to fund their research; 28 such scholars received 2004-05 URA awards and are among this year’s URCAD participants. Four students will go on to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

“The importance of undergraduate research is re-enforced each year at this time,” said Provost Arthur Johnson, “as I hear about URCAD participants and Provost Undergraduate Research Award winners receiving their acceptances into graduate school or winning their first job, due in large part to their experiences and success with undergraduate research. This is another UMBC opportunity that offers students a learning experience with intrinsic as well as practical value.”

For most UMBC undergraduates, research experience—and support from both the Provost’s Office and their academic departments—is a central part of their education, and begins long before they apply to present at URCAD. What’s more, the depth of the experience prepares them for graduate school and professional careers.

Senior Aaron Ralby, English/modern languages and linguistics, whose research on a poem by W.B. Yeats initially began as a project for the English Honors Program, said, “My undergraduate thesis has not only taught me how to write a longer scholarly work, but has also prepared me to go into graduate school with confidence. Next year, when I work toward a master’s in philosophy at Cambridge University, I will have to submit a thesis of approximately the same length as the one I am writing now. I know that my research has given me the training to succeed in graduate school.”

URA recipient and visual arts major Cindy Claros, who will also present her research on contemporary Mexican art at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, said that receiving financial support from the Provost’s Office provided important travel resources. “The URA gave me the opportunity to visit Mexico last summer. Part of my research included interviews with Mexican artists, and during the ten days I was there, I was able to meet with six of them residing in Mexico City. The award helped me a great deal by taking away the major concern of finances and allowing me to focus on my research,” said Claros.

Undergraduates also appreciate the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom, and work with professors who are experts in their fields. History major Patrick Arnold, who will present his comparison of political cultures and elections in New Hampshire and Vermont at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, said, “My research experience has allowed me the opportunity to apply many of the skills and values taught in the classroom. It helped me to hone analytical and interpretive skills. In addition, my mentor, Professor and Chair of History John Jeffries, provided constructive criticism and endless encouragement.”

Kenneth Gibbs, biochemistry major, agrees. “My research experience has allowed me to apply what I learn in the classroom and develop my critical thinking skills. Professor of Biological Sciences Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg has been a great mentor during my project; she advised me about graduate schools and allowed me to travel to scientific conferences.” Gibbs, who will attend the Ph.D. in immunology program at Stanford in the fall, said his research helped him decide what area to focus on after graduating from UMBC.

Like Gibbs, Elena Spieker, a psychology major, and Stefanie Watson, a music major, said their experiences confirmed their research interests. “I had positive experiences with my research at UMBC, thanks in large part to my advisor, Professor of Psychology Zoe Warwick. Her knowledge in the areas of taste and satiety reinforces my desire to try to discover new connections between food and the effects on satiety.”

Watson, who is studying collaborative piano, said, “Being encouraged to conduct research as an undergraduate has been a very important part of my education, largely because this is an area I intend to pursue in the future. Discovering more about it now has helped me to be sure that I do want to continue.”

For many UMBC undergraduates, their research experiences lead to opportunities to present at professional conferences. On May 1, interdisciplinary studies major Laura Jones will travel to Prague to present her research on Czech and Slovak republics at an international conference on “Redefining Europe.” Jones said UMBC’s study abroad program played an important role in her research success. “My research made use of both Czech and Russian language skills I learned at UMBC and during study abroad—I would not have been able to do this project without them.”

URCAD will be held on Wednesday, April 27 on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library. The complete schedule is available online.

On Thursday, April 28, the Graduate Student Associations at UMBC and the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) will host the 2005 Graduate Research Conference at the UMB campus.

(4/21/05)