UMBC Training Centers offers a series of half-day online workshops and sessions on AI topics, available to anyone through a paid yearly subscription. In partnership with DoIT, these workshops are being made available without cost to UMBC faculty and staff for the remainder of 2025.

 You can find more information on the available four-hour online workshops and their upcoming scheduled dates by clicking on the links below. Additional topics may be added in the future.

• AI Essentials
• AI for Leaders
• Prompt Engineering I
• Prompt Engineering II
• AI Governance & Responsible AI
• AI Adoption
• Data Science with AI
• Using AI for Increased Productivity
• Introduction to Agentic AI
• Cybersecurity in the Age of AI

 You can register for any of the upcoming sessions by sending an email message to Deshawn Delice (ddelice1@umbc.edu) with your name, role (i.e., faculty or staff), and the sessions and their dates that you would like to register for.

There is a bedroom available  for  fall semester   student(lease 9 months or longer)

price ：   $475  /month about（depend on room） + utilities (average $70/month/per person)

Location: Walking distance to UMBC  about 5 minutes.

If interesting, please contact me with your name and your umbc email address；

my e-mail is ：  lidimin@gmail.com (please write "Re room")  

Joseph Bennett, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Mona Layegh, Ph.D. ’25, chemistry, know how hard it can be to teach density functional theory (DFT) to undergraduates. DFT is a computational method for predicting a substances’ properties at the quantum level, such as how they conduct electricity or react with other compounds. Despite its complexity, DFT is a foundational technique that underpins research in fields like renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology, so it’s critical that students understand it and know how to apply it.

To address the challenge of teaching DFT well, Bennett and Layegh coauthored a tutorial on teaching the technique, which was published in the Journal of Chemical Education. Their paper was the first ever published in the journal’s brand new Tutorial section, which was inspired by their submission and a need to develop more training tools. 

The tutorial, refined over five years of training UMBC students in DFT, is paired with open-source resources on GitHub, including ready-to-use files and visualizations. These allow instructors at community colleges or in areas with limited internet to teach the concepts even without advanced computers.

“If you can erase some of the hurdles to make DFT a little bit more accessible, more students can get into it,” Bennett says.

In sharing these teaching tools, UMBC is leveling the playing field, making it possible for students in all kinds of learning environments to master this core technique. As a result, they’ll be better prepared for careers in growing industries like technology and healthcare, where they may go on to design better batteries, solar panels, life-saving drugs, and more. 

This summer UMBC is partnering with the Maryland Department of Disabilities to upgrade nine teaching labs in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building. The updates will allow students with mobility disabilities to fully participate in critical chemistry and biochemistry lab courses. 

Sinks, lab benches, cabinets, fume hoods, specialized equipment stations, and more will all be constructed that are accessible for wheelchair users. A research lab will be similarly modified to allow students with disabilities to gain research experience.

“These projects are a part of an ongoing campus-wide effort to remove barriers to access throughout our campus buildings,” Celso Guitian, UMBC’s campus planner, says. 

A lecture hall in the Engineering Building is also being renovated this summer. The changes are similar to those made in lecture halls in the Administration, Meyerhoff Chemistry, and Biological Sciences buildings in recent years to create multiple spaces for wheelchair-users with fold-down desk tablets, both at the front and rear of the lecture hall. TV monitors will help students with vision disabilities who may not be able to see the whiteboard or screen at the front of these lecture halls. And seating size variations, including standing-desk options, accommodate students of varied body types and disabilities, including supporting pregnant students and students with orthopedic challenges. Assisted listening technology and an area for sign language interpreters support students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Other projects under construction this summer include accessibility upgrades in four Biological Sciences Building restrooms and elevator upgrades in several academic buildings.

“The Office of Accessibility & Disability Services greatly values our longstanding partnership with Facilities Management to assist us in the mission of inclusive access and elimination of barriers for all UMBC community members,” says Tawny McManus, assistant vice president for accessibility. “Improving our teaching labs allows increased participation of our students with disabilities and shows them UMBC welcomes everyone here.”