A recent TIME article highlights UMBC as a university that should be on the radar for top companies and start-ups seeking diverse technology talent.

Tristan Walker, co-founder and chair of CODE2040 board, and founder and CEO of Walker & Company Brands, says that it is important to assist start-up companies in the Silicon Valley in connecting with talented students pursuing tech-related degrees. Walker notes that these companies might not have the resources to fly around the country seeking out upcoming leaders in tech at universities like UMBC, but that CODE2040 can help them make those connections.

CODE2040 is an organization that creates pathways for black and Latino/a computer science students to connect with small tech startups as well as leading Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Apple. In addition to providing highly competitive summer internships, speaker series, entrepreneurship workshops and mentorship for students, CODE2040 also works with companies that are committed to creating corporate cultures that support the success of people from all backgrounds. Walker says that CODE2040 helps “partner companies scale their recruiting efforts” to reach a broader range of talented computer scientists.

Several UMBC students have participated in the prestigious CODE2040 fellows program. Randi Williams ‘16, computer engineering, completed a CODE2040 fellowship in 2013, interning at the wearable tech company Jawbone and accessing CEO meetings and tours with companies including Google, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. After her return to UMBC, she was inspired to co-organize the first hackUMBC. In summer 2014, she conducted research in the robotics department of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena before joining UMBC’s ECLIPSE research cluster, focusing on wearable technologies to support people with limited mobility.   

Read the full article, “Meet the Silicon Valley CEO Opening Doors for People of Color” in TIME.

Image: UMBC’s Information Technology and Engineering building. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Organization Description:

Organization Description:

Young Audiences of Maryland, Inc. (YA) envisions a day when every student in Maryland has the opportunity to imagine, create, and realize their full potential through the arts. Our mission is to transform the lives and education of our youth through the arts by connecting educators, professional artists, and communities. Collectively, the network reaches more than five million youth, educators, and families each year. Across the state of Maryland, YA serves over 183,000 students at nearly 425 schools, libraries, and community centers annually.

For its 50th anniversary, the TESOL International Association has recognized 50 professionals who have made significant contributions to TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) within the past 50 years (“50 at 50”), and 30 up and coming professionals (“30 Up and Coming”) who are emerging as leaders in the field.

Jodi Crandall, founding director of the language, literacy, and culture program and professor emerita of education, was selected for the “50 at 50” list.

“TESOL International Association congratulates these outstanding TESOL professionals! Their leadership has helped build the association and develop English language teaching and learning into a profession that touches the lives of students and educators worldwide,” TESOL announced in a press release on its website.

Crandall’s lengthy list of career accomplishments include: professor emerita at UMBC and former chair, Department of Education; former co-director of UMBC’s MA TESOL program; past president of TESOL, Washington, D.C. Area Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Association (WATESOL), and American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL); and member of the board of trustees and former vice president of the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Last year, UMBC announced the four inaugural recipients of the Jodi Crandall Fellowship for Research in Language, Literacy & Culture. The awards are designed to promote collaborative interdisciplinary research by LLC doctoral students.

Joan Shin ’08, Ph.D., language, literacy and culture, and professor of practice in the education department, was named a “30 Up and Coming” TESOL professional.

Shin is an international leader in teaching English to young learners. Her work has taken her to Brazil, Turkey, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and ten other countries to train English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers to meet the needs of elementary-aged students. She has received praise and recognition for a National Geographic Learning book series that she co-edited with Crandall designed to give learners the skills and knowledge they need to learn English and understand the world around them. Read more about Shin’s accomplishments in UMBC Magazine.

“It is so exciting to be named one of the ’30 Up and Coming’ leaders in TESOL,” explains Shin. “To be honest, I feel humbled by this recognition. There are many dedicated and talented English teaching professionals who are providing excellent scholarship and leadership to our field locally and globally. With this honor, I feel inspired to work even harder to make a positive difference in the education of English learners through my work with teachers here in Maryland and worldwide.”

Images: Joan Shin and Jodi Crandall. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

At a moment when the increasing threat of the Zika virus has brought renewed attention to environmental health issues, UMBC researchers are working on an extensive study to determine whether a neighborhood having more mosquitoes translates to a greater risk of disease transmission.

The UMBC research team led by Dawn Biehler, associate professor of geography and environmental systems, has spent several months canvassing Baltimore neighborhoods to collect data on mosquito populations and residents’ contact with mosquitoes as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. They will use their research findings to draw up a set of evidence-based policy recommendations for better mosquito control to improve public health.

A March 18 article in The Washington Post highlighted this research and some of its findings.

“We see cases where there’s persistent trash and abandoned buildings, and it just creates this surface where there are lots of small bodies of water, which are just great for this mosquito,” Biehler told the Post.

She explained that she has found that many residents are concerned about the city picking up trash only once a week, but a lessening of the tax base due to population decline can lead to eroded city services. “It’s not just the city’s fault,” Biehler said. “There are bigger issues here.”

Project findings will be applied to improving mosquito control and awarding grants from the National Science Foundation to communities that have developed promising mosquito abatement strategies. The research project was also recently featured in The Baltimore Sun. Read both articles below.

Why diseases like Zika could unfairly target America’s poor (The Washington Post) 
Study shows poorer neighborhoods have more mosquitoes (The Baltimore Sun) 

Image: Asian Tiger Mosquito. Photo by frankieleon, CC by 2.0. 

Honors College Professor Ellen Handler Spitz recently presented a powerful talk on her work and research about the value of the arts for children across the world. Spitz was invited to present her work as part of The Brundibár Lecture Series sponsored by the Theatre Kavanah in Burlington, Vermont.

Spitz presented her talk “Children, Music, Art, and Hope” at the BCA Center in Burlington. The Brundibár Lecture Series aimed to provide context and historical analysis to honor the memory of those who first created and performed this children’s opera in the Terezin concentration camp near Prague, 1942-44. Spitz’s presentation helped to illuminate the profound impact of Brundibár, and she emphasized that it is important to remember that, of the 15,000 school-aged children who passed through the camp, only 100 survived; the others were murdered at Auschwitz.

“Today, with few exceptions, the presence and cultivation of the arts have diminished in schools nationwide, while cognitive subjects are taught and endlessly tested,” Spitz said during her talk. “Brundibár speaks to the value of the arts for children in extreme circumstances. All children need the arts, and the power of Brundibár testifies to that need, not just wish regard to children helplessly caught in dire situations, but to all the world’s children.”

During her talk, Spitz presented many detailed images and drawings that were made by children and artists who were confronted with desperate circumstances. She explained that through their artwork, they kept their happy memories alive through art and music. Emphasizing the importance of the arts, Spitz also drew parallels with current political situations.

“It is so important for all children to have opportunities to express themselves in the arts,” she said. “One very important element about the arts is communication.”

View the full presentation, which was broadcast on Vermont Public Television.

Image: Poster for performance of Brundibár, Theresienstadt, 1944. Author unknown, public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.