We are pleased to announce that the 2016 Public Policy Alumni Fellow is Gregory Fitzgerald. A part-time MPP student in the education policy track, Greg is the Chief of Staff and Title IX Coordinator at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, he worked at the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Maryland General Assembly.
Greg is a Maryland native and graduate of University of Maryland, College Park, where he received a BA in Political Science and Government. When deciding where to pursue the MPP degree, Greg said: “the School of Public Policy’s outstanding reputation and faculty made it an easy decision.” He chose education policy because: “a quality education can be the single most important influence on an individual’s future. Providing supportive policies can really make all the difference. The MPP will allow me to continue to advance in the field and make a meaningful difference on behalf of students.”
The Public Policy Alumni Fellowship is supported by contributions from Public Policy alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the School.
The Department of Biological Sciences at UMBC invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in microbial genetics and biochemistry, specializing in microbiome research that leverages functional meta-omic approaches. The successful applicant will set up an experimental laboratory and interact with faculty whose interests span the range from genomics and molecular genetics to cancer, evolution and behavior. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field, postdoctoral experience in microbiome-related research and a strong publication record. Applicants are expected to establish a vigorous, externally funded research program, supervise doctoral-level graduate students, and teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, a statement describing their research accomplishments and long-term research agenda, a statement of teaching interests and philosophy, and three letters of reference. Applicants are welcome to address in their application how their professional and lived experience, scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and/or service will build on UMBC's diversity and inclusion efforts. For full consideration, application materials and letters of reference should be submitted to apply.interfolio.com/36886 by November 15th, 2016.
UMBC is a medium-sized research university in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area. We are nationally known for the diversity of our student body and for our success in minority education in STEM fields. US News and World Report has recognized UMBC as the "#1 Up-and-Coming National University” five years running based on its excellence in research and teaching. For seven years in a row The Chronicle of Higher Education has recognized UMBC as a “Great College to Work For”. For information about the Department of Biological Sciences and its graduate programs, visit biology.umbc.edu.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action. UMBC values gender, ethnic, and racial diversity. Women, members of ethnic minority groups, veterans and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. UMBC is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award to increase the participation of women in academic careers.
]]>It is with great pleasure that we announce the opening of the USAID Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship Program 2017 application! The application can be found at www.paynefellows.org and will remain open until January 20, 2017.
The Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship seeks to prepare young people for careers in international development as Foreign Service Officers in USAID. USAID has expanded the program, which selected three fellows in 2013, and will offer up to ten fellowships in 2017. The best way for potential applicants to learn more about the programs is through the website at www.paynefellows.org. They can also feel free to contact USAID directly by e-mail (paynefellows.org) or phone (202-806-5952).
The Payne Fellowship Program provides benefits of up to $94,000 over two years toward a two-year master's degree, arranges internships in Washington D.C. and at USAID missions overseas, and provides professional development and support activities leading to employment in USAID. Fellows may use the fellowship to attend a two-year master's program in a U.S. institution to study an area of relevance to the USAID Foreign Service, including international relations, public policy, agriculture, environmental sciences, health, business administration, economics, or urban planning at a graduate or professional school approved by the Payne Program. At the end of the two-year fellowship, Fellows enter the USAID Foreign Service. The Payne Fellowship encourages the application of members of minority groups who have historically been underrepresented in international development careers and those with financial need. Applicants must be college seniors or graduates looking to start graduate school in the fall of the year they apply, have GPAs of at least 3.2 and be U.S. citizens. The program welcomes applications from those with any undergraduate major.
Attached you will find a flyer and newsletter providing you with more information about the fellowship, as well as some tips to help guide you through the application process!
]]>For a lot of us, taking UMBC’s language requirement is a pain. Learning a language is difficult, time- consuming, and a tedious task. I know people who chose not to major in Global Studies simply because they don’t want to take a language all the way up through the 300 level.
However, for others, learning different languages is rewarding, fun, and eye-opening. I’m bilingual, and while I may not have the most adept tongue in my second language, I know anytime that I have a successful, somewhat extensive conversation with my grandmother, I feel pretty proud of myself.
For those of you in the second group that find yourself interested in learning new languages, or even for those of you with cross-cultural or international career interests, the Language Career and Internship Fair is a great opportunity for you to see what types of jobs you can have post-graduation.
The Language Career and Internship Fair is an off-campus event that the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) has sponsored. UMCP has been so kind to invite UMBC students to attend (yes, on occasion they can be nice to us). It is on Wednesday, October 19, from 11 AM to 3 PM. The location is:
OFF CAMPUS
Colony Ballroom, Stamp Student Union
1133 Adele H. Stamp Student Union University of Maryland
College Park, 20742
If you’re concerned about transportation, check out UMBC’s transit schedule here. The MARC Camden line can take you straight into College Park. You do not have to pre-register for the fair, just come dressed professionally and with plenty of resumes in hand!
What are some steps you can take to prepare you for the fair? If any of you saw my previous post about UMBC’s Fall Career and Internship Fair, you’ll find that a lot of this information is similar, but that’s because it’s important!
Take the time to research potential careers, go to networking events like the Language Career and Internship Fair, and talk to a Career Specialist in the Career Center. We are here to help you make the most out of your college experience and extend your success into your future.
Math is cool. When you think about it, arithmetic is really just the language through which reality happens. Knowing everything that is, was, and ever could be is explained mathematically, one begins to notice a few interesting patterns. Seemingly massive, complex, unrelated concepts are governed by the same simple arithmetic principles. One of these concepts is recursion.
Recursion is really neat, because it’s an easy way to rationalize the notion of infinity. Put simply, a recursive function is one that continues indefinitely, because the function is partially defined by itself. For example, picture in front of you a set of Russian nesting dolls. You break one open and reach for the next one inside. Question: What is the smallest nesting doll you could find? The answer is that there is no minimum; it’s a mathematical function that goes on forever. The same is true for the opposite direction-- there is no maximum doll size, either. The important thing about recursion is that it often avoids creating paradoxes by propagating itself in more than one direction.
Nesting dolls are a good place to start, but as we stated above, seemingly unrelated concepts are often related by the same ideas. In fact, the whole idea of a natural number defined recursively as the intersection of all sets fulfilling the properties 1) Zero is a natural number and 2) Every natural number is succeeded by another natural number. “But wait,” you might ask, “how can zero be a natural number if no natural number comes before it? Does it not then only satisfy one of the premises?” The resolution is simple once you remember that negative numbers exist. Although most mathematicians don’t consider negative numbers to be natural numbers, it is very important that the guiding principle behind the terminology works in both directions, with zero as the logical midpoint. Recursion saves us once more!
Alright, let’s go all in for one more crazy-ass, purely theoretical example. Your brain makes a natural hallucinogenic drug called N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. The pineal gland releases a small amount of the drug during the R.E.M. sleep phase, which most psychologists believe is responsible for the act of dreaming. Perhaps you’ve noticed that dreams can have weird time dilation effects; that is, dreams that appear to last weeks or even months might actually last only a few hours. Well, as it turns out, an absurd amount of DMT is released from the pineal gland right as the brain senses that it’s about to die. It is not unreasonable to postulate that people who claim to have had near-death experiences were actually just under a heavy amount of DMT. So what does this have to do with recursion? Imagine if the DMT released into your brain just before death is sort of like a “last dream”. With such a high amount of DMT being released, it’s likely that the time dilation in this dream would be exponential-- this dream could appear to last many, many years. So what if the final dream you fall into is an entirely new existence-- an eighty-year dream that encompasses birth, life, and death. What’s more is that, at the end of this “second” life, more DMT would likely be released into your “second” brain, which would send that brain into an eighty-year dream, and the cycle repeats again. Therefore, recursion can be used to explain how it may be mathematically permissible for your consciousness to essentially live forever in an endless loop of birth, life and death.
Math is pretty neat.GOT IDEAS? LET’S HEAR THEM! Share them with us and you might win $750! Keep reading to learn how your brilliant idea can win you some cash!
The UMBC Idea competition is designed to challenge you to think about problems and opportunities all around us. If UMBC is one of the most innovative schools in the nation, then UMBC students are just the kind of innovators that can really change the world. This is your chance to make it happen.
Simply answer a handful of general questions regarding your idea on the entry form (video pitches are allowed, just link your video to your form). The top entries will be judged by a panel of professionals and alumni, along with a crowd of students on November 17, 2016, at the final competition in the Commons Sports Zone .
Cash prizes are:
1st prize $750
2nd Prize $500
3rd Prize $250
Best Pitch $250
How to Enter
To enter the competition, complete the UMBC Idea Competition Entry Form, which asks you to describe a problem or opportunity, and describe your idea for addressing it. Submission forms will be limited to one page, so you will need to articulate the problem you have identified and your idea succinctly. You will also be allowed to post a video to YouTube in which you can personally pitch your idea to the campus. The videos are not required, but they are encouraged as an effective way to communicate ideas to the review committee. YouTube videos are limited to 60 seconds and creativity is encouraged. Videos longer than 60 seconds will not be considered by the judges.
For a full list of the rules, visit http://entrepreneurship.umbc.edu/competitions/umbcs-idea-competition/
Best of luck!