A short reflection by Shira Devorah, Women’s Center student staff.

I bought my own copy of Dirty River (even though the Women’s Center has a copy you can loan now thanks to the UMBC’s LGBTQ Faculty & Staff Association recent donation), and I’m really glad that I did. I got to underline the poetry and the words that really resonated with me. I carefully applied sticky notes to the parts I loved, the difficult areas I wanted to come back to, the short mix of music I have to check out.

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home

Dirty River, A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, is a memoir, but it is also so much more. It is a story of escape, of survival, of scraping by and fighting to exist. This book is more poetry than prose. It is incredibly difficult, dealing with (trigger warning!) incest, abuse and intimate partner violence. It is also difficult because there is so so much. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha feels everything so much. She discovers herself and pulls you in through all the twists and turns. 

This book explores her complicated and celebrated  identity as a queer disabled femme Sri Lankan woman of color. Each facet of herself is carefully explored, every insecurity, every  moment of triumph bursts onto the page. She will not apologize for existing, for running away, for her commitment to activism and celebrating the voices and authorship of queer people of color. She introduces us to the many complex people who hurt her, abused her, raped her and to the people who cared for her and called her family, who stuck in her life. She withers away on one page and blossoms on the next.

Her narrative is fluid, skipping from one point in time to the next. Each chapter is something a little different, a new window to peek through. You have to work through this book – you have to earn Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s story. This book is daunting and incredibly rewarding. I ask you to stick with it, because reading this book makes you feel full inside. It took me longer to read Dirty River than I had anticipated. Though there are only 232 pages, they are filled to the brim with poetry and difficulties and survival.  It is overwhelming, and it is beautiful.

Need more Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha in your life? Good news, she has a bunch of poetry books and  spoken word on Youtube! Even better news? She’s slated to be the keynote speaker for the 4th annual Critical Social Justice: Home coming to UMBC this October!

Her performance of Sins Invalid from 2009. Part 1  Part 2 Part 3 

This is an amazing interview she did last year on the Laura Flanders Show

Leah also has books of poetry available! Love Cake, Consensual Genocide, and Bodymap

Pick up our new copy of Dirty River, A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home at the Women’s Center’s lending library. And, save the date for October 25th to see her in person at UMBC at Critical Social Justice 2016! 

This short blurb is part of our Summer Reading Challenge. Check it out and happy reading!

Chesapeake Arts Center is a community arts center operating year round in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Located just south of Baltimore, the Center has free and ample parking for both crew and patrons.

The Center employs positions in stage and event management, lighting, sound and general crew labor, house management and box office attendants.

All employees must submit to a background check (paid for by the Center).

All of our shifts are based on 4 hour minimums, with $15 per hour.

Think back to the science classes you took as a child. What do you remember about them? Did you watch a caterpillar spin a cocoon and emerge a butterfly, or a tadpole grow into a frog? Did you turn baking soda and vinegar into a fuming volcano, or set off a homemade hot air balloon from the school parking lot? Did you feel a sense of wonder as you watched the world work its unique magic?

That’s the sense of wonder the late Homer W. Schamp, Jr., UMBC’s first dean of the faculty, professor emeritus of education, and trained physicist, pursued science with, and one he sought to instill in both his students and his own children. His wife Juliana Reese Schamp, who worked on important sociological research for the state of Maryland, treated life the same way, until her passing in 2009.

With the Juliana and Homer Schamp Memorial Scholarship, their sons, Brough and David Schamp, hope to keep their parents’ legacy of intellectual curiosity alive in the next generation of K-12 science educators.

Throughout his life, Dr. Schamp, a former College Park physics professor who joined UMBC in 1965, emphasized early education as a crucial part of a child’s intellectual development. His own introduction to science began during his childhood in rural Ohio, when, according to his son David, he became fascinated with the engineering of farm equipment. It’s a curiosity he emphasized to the education classes he taught here, and something he brought up his own children with as well.

“He exposed us to all kinds of different things as we were growing up,” says Brough. “Mushroom hunting, […] botany, the stars, everything. […] His main field was physics, which is really pretty abstract, but what he really was interested in was the phenomenal, real world that we live in.” After his retirement, Brough says, Dr. Schamp built several kinetic sculptures and interactive physics-based artworks, including a large kaleidoscope on display at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

Brough shares his father’s belief that science “should be a hands-on subject,” and says that computers and technology can create a distance between students and the physical world around them.

“The kids should be inspired by something they saw, heard, felt, experienced,” he says. “[That] inspiration is something that is often lost if you’re just looking at something on a computer and answering questions.”

In keeping with his philosophy on education, Dr. Schamp made sure to hire only the highest-quality professors, and it’s doubtful that UMBC would be the hub for innovative teaching and experiential learning it is today without the Schamps’ early influence.

“UMBC was my father’s life’s work and both of my parents conceived of it as a first rank teaching institution,” David says. While his mother, Juliana, was never a faculty member, she was “instrumental in [UMBC’s first faculty] being hired, as recruitment usually began as an evening in our home where my parents could converse [with candidates] on almost any topic.”

Giving back to UMBC seems to run in the family: Homer and Juliana Schamp established the Joseph D. Reese Memorial Prize, a biennial award given to history students, in memory of her father. “It seemed only natural to want to contribute to a place so dear to [our parents],” says David.

He agrees with his brother that their parents raised them to be thinkers, to ask questions.

“I often later felt I had learned my most important lessons at home — specifically how to learn — [and] that curiosity and thoroughness were rewarding and that it had to come from within. Knowing how to learn is the most crucial skill a teacher can pass on and my parents really encapsulated that skill. I would hope any future teachers would want to engender that in their pupils,” he says.

We don’t know exactly what science education will look like when the first Schamp scholar teaches their first class, but we do know that they’ll have the intellect, leadership, and natural curiosity to inspire a new generation of learners.

—Julia Celtnieks ’13

Make a gift to UMBC today, and help inspire a new generation.

The Mosaic and Career Center is currently seeking a Fall Paid Intern to work at least 10 hours per week.  The attachment below will connect you to the full position description.

The intern will create and help facilitate culturally-focused, interactive and fun activities targeted to the UMBC Latinx and Hispanic student community, serve as a peer advisor to student leaders, and assist with connecting Latinx and Hispanic students with staff, faculty, and alumni.  Events will be coordinated through Student Life’s Mosaic Center in collaboration with the Career Center.  The intern’s main role is to help and support Latinx and Hispanic students in building community and connections with campus leaders, accessing on/off-campus resources, and preparing for their life and career goals beyond UMBC.

This position is open to all majors and the selected intern will be paid $10 per hour or a stipend in the amount of $1200 pending satisfactory work evaluations.  The internship is for the Fall 2016 Semester with possible rehire offer for Spring 2017 pending a satisfactory final evaluation.  A minimum of 10 work hours per week are required. 

IF INTERESTED, PLEASE APPLY TO INTERN POSITION 9285287 on UMBCworks ASAP.  Position posted till filled. 

In early June, eight undergraduates arrived at UMBC for the first edition of SCIART. The unique summer fellowship program funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation seeks to “continue to develop the students’ science expertise while also developing their appreciation for the arts and humanities,” says Zeev Rosenzweig, UMBC chemistry and biochemistry chair, who spearheaded SCIART.

Interdisciplinary programs like SCIART prepare students for a widening range of possible career paths, helping to address the challenges and opportunities presented by an evolving career landscape that emphasizes teamwork and creative problem-solving.

SCIART students work on scientific research projects under the guidance of faculty from UMBC and Johns Hopkins University. Each project has a specific art conservation application at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and museum staff collaborate closely with UMBC to run the program. “I’m so thankful to my colleagues here at UMBC and our partners at Johns Hopkins and the Walters,” Rosenzweig says. “SCIART would not be possible without their commitment to the program, and more importantly, to the students.”

Students make frequent field trips to the Walters. The program also includes visits to the conservation science laboratories of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library in Delaware; and the Library of Congress. The trips give students the opportunity to interact with conservators, conservation scientists, curators, and other museum professionals whose careers blur the boundaries between art and science.

“One of the best parts has been getting to work with people in the conservation community who have so much experience,” says Marie Desrochers, an art history major with a chemistry minor at the University of Central Arkansas. Before arriving, Desrochers already planned to pursue graduate study in art conservation. “I really love art,” she says, and as a conservator, “You get to be the person that goes behind the scenes and gets the most intimate experience with the objects.”

Janaya Slaughter, a chemistry major at Stevenson University, was planning on pursuing a master’s degree in forensic science. This summer, however, opened her eyes to how much science is involved in art conservation. “Every time we go on a museum trip I get more excited,” she says.

Feddi Roth, a rising sophomore at Stanford University, is still undecided on her major, but she is interested in chemistry and loved her first art history class. She knew SCIART would be the perfect summer opportunity. Now she’s “definitely thinking of art conservation as more of a career option.”

Julie Lauffenburger, director of conservation and technical research at the Walters, discussed with the students how the path to a conservation science career is still not clear-cut. “That’s why this is such an important program,” she explains.

SCIART is also an opportunity to work in a team of peers with varied expertise. Slaughter, Roth, and Khalid Elawad, a materials science major at Johns Hopkins University, are investigating how vibrations from music during events at the museum may affect the structural integrity of art nearby. They needed an abundance of physics knowledge, learned new software programs, and even wrote their own code to analyze data. None of them had any programming experience before SCIART.

“The learning curve was the biggest challenge,” says Elawad, but the team rose to the occasion. In the end, “We all walked away with skills that we never thought we would have,” he adds.

Alex Taylor, a chemistry and archaeology double major at Johns Hopkins, and Sam Maina, who studies biology at UMBC, are working with Desrochers to analyze the effects of different cleaning methods on ancient objects. This team, too, faced its challenges, but the end goal is more than answering a scientific question. “It’s about bringing together people from different disciplines to problem solve,” Desrochers says.

Part of what makes SCIART unique is that the students get to work on real problems. Terry Weisser, Lauffenberger’s predecessor at the Walters, told the students, “What you’re doing here has potential to be really important in the field.” High expectations make the experience that much richer for students. “It’s easy to stay motivated when you know you’re really going to help somebody,” shares Elawad.

A few students may be offered extended fellowships to continue work with the Walters after the summer program concludes. All students, however, will come away with their eyes open to the possibilities for interdisciplinary careers and the team-building and problem-solving experience they need to succeed.

For more information about SCIART and how to apply, click here.

Header: Students tour the conservation labs at the Walters Art Museum; photo Jason Putsché. Top image: Sam Maina (l) and Marie Desrochers (r) work in the lab. Bottom image: Gold-plated “coupons” on which Maina, Desrochers, and Taylor will test cleaning techniques. Photos by Sarah Hansen.

This spring, more than 350 students joined in this year’s annual HackUMBC, a 24-hour “tech innovation marathon” where participants were challenged to come up with creative solutions to specific challenges. The slogan: “Dream big. Make it happen.”

Students worked individually and on teams to build projects, or “hacks,” which were judged on technical complexity, elegance, and creativity during an expo at the conclusion of the event.

Contrary to popular belief, not all hacks require computer coding. “We call it an idea marathon,” explains Michael Bishoff ’16, computer science, a founder of HackUMBC. “It doesn’t have to be an app or a computer program.” In the past, participants have built tangible things like pop-up showers and coffee makers. Next year, HackUMBC would even like to incorporate a social good component, challenging students to come up with solutions to societal challenges.

“I’m trying to see where tech could come into play for disadvantaged groups,” says current HackUMBC co-president Celestine Wong, a rising senior studying computer science and social work. “I find a lot of joy in doing good for someone else.”

Wong’s dual major in social work and computer science has fueled her interest in finding real-world intersections between the fields, and she’s not alone. Many hackathons focus on how hacks can make the world a better place. As both Bishoff and Wong point out, these events can be great resume builders, but they’re even better when they create an opportunity to help the community.

The event has drawn interest and sponsorship support from a variety of leading tech companies and government agencies. Dan Hood ’01, computer science, is the chief technology officer for one of those companies, ClearEdge IT Solutions, which provides provides software engineering and data solutions and services. Hood says that for ClearEdge, getting involved with UMBC and the hackathon makes sense — it gives their company a chance to see some of the brightest upcoming students, and they get to help those students by providing learning opportunities and exposure to the career options that await them.

“I think it’s important to support the next generation of the workforce,” says Hood.

The National Security Agency (NSA), a top employer for UMBC alumni, provided “technical talks, mentors, and recruitment opportunities” for students during the event, says Kathy Hutson, NSA’s associate director for human resources.

“NSA and UMBC work closely together to help build the leaders of today and tomorrow to ensure that the Agency can protect and defend the country,” Hutson explained. “UMBC graduates have contributed greatly to our mission and we are proud of all we have accomplished together.”

Tenable Network Security, a firm that provides comprehensive security technology solutions, supports the Hackathon because it values UMBC’s educational initiatives, its students, and its cyber-focused extracurricular activities.

“The platform UMBC provided, which allowed companies to help students with hacking-related questions, was very useful in creating an innovative and collaborative atmosphere,” said Tenable Network Security’s spokesperson.

That innovative atmosphere goes a long way to helping students gain the valuable real-world experience they’ll need to land a job. In fact, those extracurriculars can help students stand out amongst a crowd of applicants.

“While classroom experience is fantastic, we encourage students to engage in personal projects that help them apply the skills learned within the curriculum,” says Tenable Network Security’s spokesperson. “These are qualities of very successful employees at Tenable and something we feel is important for students to realize early on.”

Hands-on experience is one of the chief benefits of HackUMBC, says Bishoff. “It’s like a 24-hour recruiting event,” he explains. “The students who come to these events are passionate about programming. They’re the kinds of people who want to work on weekends.”

Hood adds that the Hackathon gives students the chance to work in a team environment, navigate the stress of a time crunch, and be innovative. “To see [participants] go from nothing to concept to prototype in a day is pretty remarkable,” he says.

See more news coverage: http://technical.ly/baltimore/2016/03/07/5-innovative-projects-hackumbc/ AND https://umbc.edu/students-turn-ideas-into-inventions-at-hackumbc-tech-innovation-marathon/

Learn about Hack UMBC: https://hackumbc.org/

HackUMBC was sponsored by Tenable Network Security, ClearEdge IT Solutions, the NSA, McCormick, TowerSEC, Northrop Grumman, PayPal, T. Rowe Price, VentureStorm, Namecheap, Soylent, Google, and Square.

— Meredith Purvis

Center Stage (LORT B) is accepting applicants for a seasonal Master Carpenter. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and Managing Director Michael Ross, Center Stage produces six mainstage shows and a mix of other Artistic programs on two stages. Center Stage is committed to building a diverse community of staff and interns. Individuals from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. Primary responsibilities include: