There are many changes happening to student research as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and campus closure. The URA selection committee has some advice to encourage you to apply for a URA and start to plan your research, even if there are some unknowns for the summer and fall semesters.

1. We have moved the application deadline back to May 15, 2020 in order to give students some extra time to prepare their research proposals.
2. Some research that was scheduled to start this summer may be delayed until the fall or spring semester- that’s ok! The URA is good for the entire year, June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2121. You can complete the research at any point during that time frame.
3. Our expectations for a final product are fluid and relaxed. If the research plan doesn’t work out exactly as you proposed, that’s ok- it’s the nature of doing research.
4. Be creative in the ways you think about your project. You may have to focus instead on doing a thorough literature review, using a pre-formed data set to analyze, or looking at case studies, rather than collecting in-person data, or conducting research in a lab.
5. Methods such as lab benchwork, participant observations, focus groups, travel-related, in-person interviews, or other real-time collection methods may need some re-thinking. How can you collect data via online interviews, the internet, or other technological interventions?
6. Creative arts projects may incorporate some kind of online delivery method. We are hoping to be back on campus for URCAD 2021, but consider how VoiceThread might be used to display your creative work.

Remember:
URAs provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research, scholarship, or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor on an original project. UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work.

Deadline: May 15, 2020

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy (SAHAP) is excited to announce their name has officially been changed to THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND PUBLIC HEALTH (SAPH). The new name reflects the evolving nature of our department faculty composition and academic program emphases in the social dimension of health (we now have an undergraduate certificate across our three majors as well as a post-baccalaureate certificate in the Social Dimensions of Health).

Public Health is a recognized discipline that has been targeted for workforce capacity building by the U.S. Department of health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020 notes the need for public health infrastructure and the workforce demands in this area recommends that 4-year colleges and universities increase offerings in public health or related majors and/or minors. Our department has responded to this recommendation by weaving public health concern throughout each of our majors and scholarship/research. The Public Health track of the Department's Health Administration and Policy Program consistently is the most popular area of focus among our majors. The current pandemic we now face makes clear the importance of public health to population health globally.