UMBC has earned an honorable mention on The Princeton Review’s recently released list: “Top Schools to Study Video Game Design for 2012.” The recognition places UMBC among schools like Georgia Institute of Technology, UC Santa Cruz, and Northeastern University.

Released annually, the list features 50 schools from around the country, including their “top ten” undergraduate and graduate schools in this category. This year, the University of Southern California secured first place for their undergraduate game design program. The rankings were based on a survey administered by The Princeton Review during the 2011-2012 academic year that consulted administrators at 150 schools and universities. The winning schools were judged on the quality of their curriculum, faculty, facilities, and infrastructure, as well as their scholarship, financial aid, and career opportunities.

“We salute the schools on our list this year for their commitment to this burgeoning field and the innovative programs they offer. For students aspiring to work in this more than $10.5 billion industry and for the companies that will need their creative talents and skills, we hope this project will serve as a catalyst for many rewarding connections,” says Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s Senior VP/Publisher in a press release.

Both UMBC’s Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department and its Visual Arts Department offer programs for students interested in pursuing a career in video game development. Artists can concentrate on “Animation and Interactive Media,” while computer programmers can pursue the “Game Development” track within the Computer Science major. In addition, UMBC has a Game Development club, and has been a host site of the International Development Association’s Global Game Jam for the past four years.

To see a comprehensive list of winners, visit The Princeton Review’s website.

The buzz about driverless cars erupted after Google received a patent for the technology in December of last year. Since then, the project has been steadily moving forward. A few days ago, Google started testing their vehicles on Nevada roads, following approval by the state’s Legislative Commission. With the inevitability of autonomous transportation creeping closer, measures to ensure its realization are being pursued by more companies than just Google.

Peter Stone, a professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, and his team are working on developing a “smart” intersection that would manage the flow of driverless cars, reports techworld.com.

According to Stone’s project, intersections would be equipped with a manager that would coordinate traffic in an efficient and mathematical way. Techworld reports:

‘"When a car gets close to the intersection, it calls ahead and says, 'I want to go through the intersection.' The intersection manager says either yes or no. It keeps track of the reservations it grants and makes sure it doesn't give permission to other cars that would conflict with them," Stone said.’

To learn more, check out the full article: “Scientists develop computer-controlled intersections for self-driving cars.”

Key Features for Students

Students have the ability to search and apply for all types of NASA internship, fellowship, scholarship opportunities in one system. A single internship or fellowship application places students in the applicant pool for consideration by mentors for all NASA internships or fellowships.

Students may search other opportunities at the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute here:  http://gphi.umbc.edu/

Meet Max, a Teaching Assistant who loves climbing mountains, swing dancing, and Artificial Intelligence.

“I’ve never been bored in my life,” says Maksym Morawski (call him Max), a Computer Science graduate student who spends most of his free time scaling mountains.

Originally from Silver Spring, Max moved to Baltimore in 2006 to study Computer Science as an undergraduate. In the 4th grade, while others kids were busy building volcanoes for their science projects, Max and his computer scientist dad were putting together a computer that compared different algorithms for computing prime numbers. So choosing his major in college, explains Max, was a no-brainer.

Now a second year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Computer Science, Max is working on a thesis that looks at predicting connections in social networks, like Facebook. A computer scientist with a sociological streak, Max’s project uses computers to understand how people interact with one another based on e-mail data sets taken from corporations.

Max’s foray into teaching began in 2010 when he became a Teaching Assistant for CMSC 202. He says his favorite part about being a TA are the discussions—where he actually gets to get up and teach and get his students excited about Computer Science. His dose of teacherly advice is as follows: “Program for fun.” If you don’t practice and enjoy programming, he explains, you will never be as good as someone who lives and breathes it.

Throughout his years at UMBC, Max’s on-campus involvement has extended past teaching. An avid dancer (he frequents Mobtown Ballroom in Baltimore City), he founded UMBC’s Swing Dancing club. He also helped conceive Project X, the club that sponsored a campus-wide scavenger hunt in 2008 and 2009 that included tasks like jumping into the Inner Harbor and high-fiving Freeman Hrabowski (which prompted a not-so-enthusiastic e-mail from the UMBC president). The prize for the hunt was an amalgamation of candy that was procured from the “Spot” using late-night meals over a series of weeks, explains Max.

But, Max’s favorite thing to do is the hobby he took up in high school: exploring mountains. A frequenter of Earth Treks—a climbing center in Columbia–Max had plans to climb frozen waterfalls in New York State this winter. His dream job, he says half-jokingly, is to be a mountaineering guide. Though, he may also consider a job in academia: “I would love to be a teacher,” he says.

• ICAT Logistics, Inc. -- Administrative Assistant -- ID# 9249809
• State Farm Agency -- State Farm Financial Services Specialist -- ID# 9249767
• Frog Tutoring -- Tutor -- ID# 9247469

• UMBC Division of Student Affairs -- Office Assistant -- ID# 9249688
• UMBC Training Centers -- Receptionist -- ID# 9249800

The Missile Defense Agency recently (Feb/Mar 2012) hired 40 entry level engineers into the Missile Defense Career Development Program (MDCDP).  We intend to hire an additional 29 entry level engineers to report to work in July 2012.  That brings our MDCDP to a total of 290 entry level individuals, working toward a career with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) or 10% of our workforce.  The MDCDP is a deliberate, strategic,  plan, implemented by MDA leadership, to “grow” the next generation of Missile Defense leaders.  With all sincerity, we are not offering jobs, we are offering careers!

The opportunity we offer is for graduating engineers (Bachelor, Master and PhD) in all engineering disciplines, to compete for a position within the MDCDP.  This is a two year, rotational, career development program (through three major engineering areas) culminating in the offer of a non-competitive placement within MDA upon an applicant’s successful completion of the program.  The two year program is full of coursework, real Missile Defense engineering on real Missile Defense issues and lots of on the job training.  You will have a supervisor and a mentor throughout the program who will assist you in planning your training and career progression.   The position is fully salaried and has an extensive benefits package.  Of the 29 positions, there will be many positions in Huntsville AL (www.asmartplace.com) and perhaps a very few in other locations.

The USA Jobs announcement for the 29 positions will be published on USA Jobs in March or April of 2012.  We will post it as soon as we are 100% assured of funding for the entire two year program for each selectee.  That means you need to set up a search on USA Jobs now, using the words “Entry Level Engineer”  and / or, “Defense Missile Defense Agency” as your key words.  We will also post a link to the announcement at www.MDACareers.com at the Entry Level/ Career Development tab.

MDA is offering video teleconferencing to colleges and universities who have over five interested and qualified students facilitated by at least one career services officer.  We will make current MDCDP engineers (volunteers) in the program, the program “Champion” (Project Manager) and Human Resource Specialists available to answer your questions during teleconferencing activities.  Simply ask your career services officer to get in touch with me to set up a date in the second week of March through the first or second week in April.

AARP Foundation Announces Sixth Annual Women's Scholarship Program Call for Applicants

The AARP Foundation has announced a call for entries for its sixth annual Women's Scholarship Program. The program provides funds to low-income women age 50 and older who are seeking new job.