You don’t know until you try.

This is what the leaders behind Computing Education for the 21^st Century (CE21-Maryland) have figured out. Drs. Marie desJardins, Penny Rheingans, and Susan Martin say that removing the mystery and misconceptions surrounding Computer Science is the key to getting more women and minorities to purse careers in the field.  

Historically, Computer Science has been dominated by white males. Just take a look at the numbers. In 2010-11 only 12.7% of computing degrees went to women. A mere 4.6% of Computer Science graduates were African Americans and 6.5% were Hispanics.

It’s not that women and minorities are no good at Computer Science.  It’s that they often think they’re no good. When you walk into a classroom and no one looks like you, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong.

Dr. Marie desJardins, a CSEE professor, gives one part of the explanation for this trend. “Youth gaming culture is really dominating Computer Science majors,” she says. Boys who love video games naturally gravitate to Computer Science in college. Women aren’t typically avid gamers. Instead, they tend to gravitate towards social careers–not something they associate with the field of Computer Science.

Herein lies the problem: most of us don’t know what computer scientists actually do. “There are some iconic careers that we understand,” says CSEE Professor Penny Rheingans. “We know what doctors do. We know what lawyers do. But, nobody knows what Computer Scientists do.”

Only by experiencing the discipline firsthand will kids understand if the field is for them. Take Dr. Rheingans, who was headed down the path to becoming a lawyer when she took a Computer Science class: “And I fell in love,” she says. It was hard and sometimes frustrating, but that challenge got her hooked. “Not enough students have the opportunity to experience that.”

Even if women and minorities want to take Computer Science, they don’t always have the opportunity in high school. Throughout Maryland, inconsistent curriculum and spotty availability has made it hard for students to be introduced to the subject.  

Computer Science is not a graduation requirement, nor is it even offered at every Maryland high school. Most schools offer it as an elective like ceramics or woodshop. Since the class doesn’t count for credit, those students– who aren’t otherwise encouraged by parents, or a longstanding love of computers–don’t have much incentive to take it.

Computers are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous part of our lives. As such, Dr. desJardins thinks that Computer Science should be a requirement for high school students. “We make them take Government, Math, Science, and English. But, we don’t make them take Computer Science—but it’s the fastest growing job market of any discipline,” she says. “I think it’s morally wrong that we’re not teaching children how to master this technology.”

In March 2012, Drs. desJardins, Rheingans, and Martin formed CE21-Maryland to get a deeper understanding of the shortcomings of Computer Science education in Maryland, and to help solve this problem. The group is supported by NSF’s Computing Education for the 21^st Century (CE21) program.

Last August, CE21-Maryland held its first mini-summit to raise awareness of these issues among Computer Science high school teachers across the state. The summit successfully helped establish connections among teachers who share this passion for change. “Having a community is absolutely important to helping empower people,” says Dr. Rheingans, who has proven the importance of community first-hand as the director of UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT).

On May 17, CE21-Maryland will hold its second Summit for Computing Education. Teachers, administrators, legislators, and industry leaders will gather at UMBC to explore these issues, network, and discuss plans for increasing the number and diversity of students studying Computer Science in our state.

The summit will include a college student panel, where current computing majors will share their journey to becoming Computer Science majors. One session will take a look at the AP CS Principles course, a proposed AP course being developed by the College Board and National Science Foundation, with pilots offered around the country.

Dr. desJardins realizes that recognizing the Computer Science curriculum problem is a lot easier than fixing it.  “It’s a chicken or the egg problem,” she says. Regulating Computer Science classes across the state can’t happen until teachers are trained to teach it. Training is not likely to happen unless enrollment increases. CE21-Maryland envisions a two-pronged approach to train teachers and make connections with legislators who can make a difference.

The women behind CE21-Maryland are working hard to change the compostion of Computer Science majors. But, why?

“First of all it’s a numbers problem. Second of all it’s a diversity problem,” explains Dr. Rheingans. By 2018, nearly 40,000 new computing-related jobs will be available in Maryland each year. But, only about 2,000 bachelor’s degrees in computing and information systems are awarded by Maryland institutions annually. Recruiting more women and minorities to the major will help satisfy the huge need for computing majors in the future.   

But, perhaps more importantt is the chance to add diversity to the next generation of technological problem-solvers. “Different perspectives leads you to stronger, more robust solutions,” she says.

Name:  Jillian Goles

Internship, Co-op or Research Site:  Johns Hopkins Hospital

Location of the Organization (City, State):  Baltimore, MD

Title of Your Position:  Clinical Customer Service Representative (CCSR)/Adolescent Psychiatric Assistant

Major(s)/Minor(s):  INDS, Pediatric Health

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal

Convexification/Deconvexification for Training Neural

Networks and Recurrent Deep Learning Machines

Yichuan Gui

9:30am Thursday, 16 May 2013, ITE 325b, UMBC

The development of artificial neural networks (ANNs) has been impeded by the local minimum problem for decades. One principle goal of this proposal focuses on devel- oping a methodology to alleviate the local minimum problem in training ANNs. A new training criterion called the normalized risk-averting error (NRAE) criterion is proposed to avoid nonglobal local minima in training multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) and deep learning machines (DLMs). Training methods based on the NRAE crite- rion are developed to achieve global or near-global minima with satisfactory learning errors and generalization capabilities.

Many advantages of DLMs have been analyzed in recent research works of ANNs, and effective architectures and training methods have been explored from those works. However, feedback structures are commonly ignored in previous research of DLMs. The next objective of this proposal is to develop recurrent deep learning machines (RDLMs) through adding feedback structures to deep architectures in DLMs. De- signing and testing works are expected to illustrate the efficiency and effectiveness of RDLMs with feedback structures comparing to feedforward DLMs.

Preliminary works presented in this proposal demonstrate the effectiveness of NRAE-based training methods in avoid nonglobal local minima for training MLPs. Methods based on the NRAE criterion will be tested in training DLMs, and the de- veloping and testing of RDLMs will be performed in subsequent works. Moreover, an approach that combining both the NRAE criterion and RDLMs will also be explored to minimize the training error and maximize the generalization capability. Contribu- tions of this proposed research are expected as (1) provide an effective way to avoid local minimum problem in training MLPs and DLMs with satisfactory performance; (2) develop a new type of RDLMs with feedback connections for training large-scale dataset efficiently; (3) apply the NRAE criterion to train RDLMs for minimizing training errors and maximizing generalization capabilities. Those contributions are expected to significantly boost research interests in ANNs' fields and stimulate new practical applications in the future.

Committee: James Lo (mentor), Yun Peng (mentor), Tim Finin, Tim Oates, Charles Nicholas

Your time as an undergraduate has passed. And like the flocks of other Millennials who have been out of college for a year or more, you find slim pickings when it comes to securing a full-time job related to your career aspirations.

Rather than whittle away at home or work 40 hours at a dead-end job, you contemplate an unpaid internship.

"Increasingly, it's become common practice for recent college graduates to take on internships, paid and unpaid. It's a reflection of a tight job market," says Ross Perlin, author of "Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy."

But before accepting any offers to labor away for free, here's what you should ask.

What are the expectations? On paper, the internship seems like a real get, even if it's unpaid. Still, it's wise to have a solid grasp of what you'll do and the amount of work. "It's important to know exactly what you're going to be graded on," says Rich DeMatteo, founder of the career blog Corn on the Job, adding, "If you go into it and you're not sure what's going on, then you could be given a ton more than you signed on for."

DeMatteo suggests researching the company, reaching out to its previous or current interns through sites like LinkedIn, and asking pointed questions about the position during the interview process.

Will you be overextended? Whether you're unemployed or have a part-time job, it's important not to let your unpaid internship consume all your time. "Set limits and within those limits, perform as capably as you can," Perlin recommends.

Balance your time with other employment pursuits by setting a cap on your weekly availability, detailing what tasks you're willing to perform, and restricting weekends. "You can't forget the fact that you're not getting paid. Nobody should be losing sight of that," he adds.

Does the internship have more promise than previous ones? This isn't your first go at the intern rodeo. Rather, it may be your fourth or fifth.

Perlin refers to this as the "internship trap," where one low- or no-paying position after another fails to produce permanent employment.

If the latest variation doesn't bare employment fruit or add skills that increase the likelihood of landing a job at the organization or elsewhere, it may not be worth it. "A certain kind of burnout can set in under those circumstances," Perlin says.

Could it settle a career path? Maybe you have a series of internships under your belt, but none left you clamoring to enter a particular field. Going through with another may give you some clarity. "If you're not sure if a career is right for you, completing an internship is one of the best ways to find out," writes Yair Riemer in an email. Riemer is the vice president of global marketing at CareerArc Group, the parent company of Internships.com.

Is it financially doable? Prior to becoming a full-fledged adult, you had bills that were nonexistent or sent to your parents to pay. But now, a car payment, rent (either to your parents or a landlord) and student loans are monthly obligations.

While an unpaid internship may boost your resume and help you gain work experience, it may not be compatible with your expenses. "I think graduation from college needs to be a transition into a different financial mode, and internships may be untenable within that," Perlin says.

Will your skill set sharpen or widen? An extended stay in the ranks of the unemployed may leave your skills, both hard and soft, rusty. Along with undergraduate and graduate students, the unemployed, Riemer writes, can "get trained in the skills required to make a successful transition to the permanent labor force."

Can you leverage your degree? While the internship doesn't pay, your status as a college graduate could be a useful bargaining chip for collecting compensation a few months in. "You have a qualification under your belt. I think employers, for the most part, still do understand that people can't be permanently working in internship situations after graduating from college," Perlin says.

While some employers will be closed off to any form of payment, Perlin notes: "If you're doing a good job, there is that chance, but only if you initiate the conversation."

Does the company have a track record of hiring interns? To get a better sense of what employment doors will open as a result of the internship, ask about how previous interns fared in getting hired. "During the interview and offer process, interested interns could ask about the potential full-time employment at the end of an internship program, as well as the structure of the program and recent historical or anecdotal company data about past interns," Riemer suggests.

MS Defense

Social Media Analytics: Digital Footprints

Sandhya Krishnan

9:00am Monday, 13 May 2013, ITE325b

In this work we describe an approach to distinguish real and impostor/ compromised accounts on social media. Compromising a user's social media account is not only a breach of security, but can also lead to dissemination of misinformation at a fast pace on social media. There have been several such high profile attacks recently, including on Twitter feeds of AP, CBS, and Delta Airlines. A fake account for the Prime Minister's Office in India was used to spread malicious rumors last year. Our approach builds a profile or footprint of users using both the content of their tweets and the structure of their network. We analyze the real time content of users (Tweets, Facebook posts, etc.) and compare them with information about the user from reliable sources on the Web (e.g., newspapers, news channels, etc.) in order to compute a similarity metric between content from the two sources. We also compute a metric based on the social network analysis of the users: who connects to them, who they are connected with, and how central they are in their network. We have shown how such an approach can easily detect fake accounts for not just well known people such as President Obama, but also for lesser known people and organizations. We also show promising initial results on how this approach can be used to detect an account which has been hacked.

Committee: Anupam Joshi (chair), Tim Finin, Tim Oates, Ponnurangam Kumaraguru (IIIT Delhi)

The Women's Center exists to assist all women in achieving their full potential in education, career and personal life through academic and intellectual growth, professional development and personal empowerment. One of the ways we work to achieve this mission is in our support services and programs for Returning Women (undergraduate students over the age of 25). The Women’s Center offers meeting space for these students in addition to scholarship opportunities.

Next year we are hoping to launch a mentorship program for Returning Women. To help raise awareness about this new pilot program, we’re highlighting some current Returning Women who are a part of the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation Scholarship program. If you’re interested in learning more about the Returning Women’s meetings or scholarships, contact us at womens.center@umbc.edu.

Who are you?

Nicole Shah, Social Work major, senior year, Mosaic Center DEI Fall 2012, Conversation Partner ELI Spring 2012, Married Mom of 4  

What benefits have you experienced as a Newcombe Scholar?

Formal connection to the Women's Center and all of the support the center offers. Monthly returning student's meetings and having a network of students similar to me in my age and life situation(s) to lean on for support.   

What do you wish traditional students knew about being a non-traditional student?

That age ain't nothing but a number. Younger students and mature students have a lot to offer one another, don't be hesitant to reach out in class and on campus.  The common denominator is that we are all students at UMBC so choose to focus on that.  Once we graduate, we will be working with diverse groups of people so take advantage of learning how to do that now while in college.  

What do you wish the University and Professors knew about being a non-traditional student?

That returning students do not want special treatment, if we choose to tell you some of our extra responsibilities outside of campus it is because we need your support not your pity. There is a difference.  No two people are alike therefore keep in mind no two students are alike; there is not a one-size-fits-all approach.  

What is one piece of advice you would offer to new non-traditional students at UMBC?

It is in your best interest to get involved on campus. With families and work responsibilities it does make it more challenging, but it is possible.  Campus involvement definitely made my time at UMBC more rich and enjoyable.

On May 7, 2013, Dr. Richard Forno, Assistant Director of UMBC's Center for Cybersecurity and Director of UMBC's Graduate Cybersecurity Program, conducted an invited talk on the proposed Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and moderated a discussion about general cybersecurity issues to UMBC's Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.  The evening event was the second in a series of invited guest speakers as part of the Sorority's May Week festivities.

CISPA is a proposed law that would allow and encourage the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies in order to help US government agencies investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyberattacks.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through established programs in local communities throughout the world. A sisterhood of more than 200,000 predominately Black college educated women, the Sorority currently has over 900 chapters located in the United States, England, Japan (Tokyo and Okinawa), Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Republic of Korea.

Professor Nilanjan Banerjee's Introduction to Mobile Computing class will hold a poster and demonstration session showcasing student class projects from 12:30 to 2:00 on Tuesday, May 14 in room 210 of the ITE building. The projects inlcude mobile apps, games, and systems that have built during the semester.  Pizza will be served.

The course was partially sponsored this year by Microsoft Research's Hawaii Initiative, which provided students with hardware and access to cloud services for storage, computing and data.

Anyone who is interested in mobile technology is welcome to attend and intereact with Professor Banerjee and the students, who include both upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. See the event flyer for more information.

Here are the systems that will be demonstrated:

• Food Life-cycle Manager: Reduce food waste, Save your money
• Home Guard: The easiest way to protect your home from anywhere without compromise
• JUMP: Keep Jumping up
• DIY Picture Dictionary: making learning Fun Multiple Places Near you Trackit: Anytime anywhere
• SpotOrNot: A crowdsourced parking app for UMBC
• Build-A-Bill: An easy to use bill splitting app (even after you've had a few drinks)
• Pocket Philosopher: What would YOU do?
• Golf score browser
• Math Path
• Community: Share whats on your mind 
• System Android Powered Telepresence: Accessible and Low-cost Telepresence with Android
• Beat Box: tap and mix your musical mind
• PillNote: Capturing user's interaction with medication
• YASLA (Yet Another Shopping List App): app that saves the day by saving your lists and suggesting stores.

For more information, contact Prof. Banerjee at nilanb at umbc.edu.