March is Women's History Month!

This year’s national theme is Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  This theme is meant to honor generations of women who throughout American history have used their intelligence, imagination, sense of wonder, and tenacity to make extraordinary contributions to the STEM fields.

As part of our Women’s History Month celebrations, the Women's Center and CWIT are partnering to showcase six talented women in engineering and IT fields at UMBC. The future of women’s history is being created as we speak and there is importance in sharing our lived stories now. We invite you to join us throughout the month of March to learn more about these women, their experiences, and their dreams.

Tabitha Haverkamp, CWIT Affiliate
Junior Information Systems major & ISCOM President

Describe what sparked your interest STEM and the journey to choosing your major.
My interest in technology spurred from encouragement from my parents, who are heavily involved in technical careers. As a teenager, stories about their projects and experiences generated my technical curiosity and inspired me to pursue a field that is forever changing.

Tell us about an internship, research experience or project that you are proud of.
In my work experience as a network technician on campus, I have the opportunity to directly impact my surroundings at UMBC as part of a great team who works to support the daily operations and long-term network infrastructure on campus. This position allows me to explore many aspects of UMBC that would be unknown as a regular student - but more importantly, I am able to give back to the University through my technical skills and experience.

Who are your role models in the engineering or IT field?
I admire women who actively strive to encourage girls to become involved in STEM fields. Some of these role models include Padmasree Warrior (CTO at Cisco Systems), Susan Crawford (Law professor and telecommunications advisor), Sheryl Sandberg (COO at Facebook), and Marissa Mayer (CEO at Yahoo Inc.). These women have faced countless challenges throughout their careers and continue to inspire the next generation of females in technology.

Explain your experience as a woman in a STEM major, including the challenges as well as the rewards.
Being a woman in a STEM major can be very challenging at times; but the existence of support systems such as CWIT and the Women’s Center provide resources to ensure success. There are many classes and labs where I am the only female in the room, which can often make me doubt my knowledge and skills, and feel as if I must prove my belonging in the course. While these times can be difficult, the environment at UMBC is generally very welcoming. When any doubt surfaces, I know how to find the people and resources I need to succeed.

The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) is dedicated to increasing the representation of women in the creation of technology in the engineering and information technology fields. CWIT efforts begin with nurturing a strong group of Scholars, grow to building community resources for other women in these majors, extend to fostering a healthy gender climate and ITE pedagogy in College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) departments, and finally expand into outreach efforts to increase interest in technical careers. A successful program for female-friendly engineering and information technology education at UMBC will help make UMBC a destination for women (and men) interested in technical careers and serve as a national model for other universities.

Learn more about our community athttp://www.cwit.umbc.edu/

For more information about Women’s History events and happenings, visit: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/womenscenter/news/24724

The MDCCC AmeriCorps VISTA for Cherry Hill Projects at Towson University supports academic and health programs for students and residents of Cherry Hill, an underserved community in Baltimore City. The MDCCC AmeriCorps VISTA member will work with university and community members to coordinate and support programs for K-8 students and a community gardening initiative, facilitate communication between TU and Cherry Hill, and develop program evaluation and sustainability models.

Duties:

·        Coordinate academic support programs for K-12 students in Cherry Hill

·        Recruit, screen, select, and supervise volunteer

·        Design and conduct volunteer training

·        Assist in the expansion of education, health, and other programs in Cherry Hill

·        Work with TU faculty and students to implement a marketing plan to increase Cherry Hill residents’ access to community gardens’ vegetable crop

·        Organize a trip for Cherry Hill students to Towson University’s campus

·        Facilitate communication about Cherry Hill projects

·        Maintain the university’s Cherry Hill webpage

·        Evaluate program impact and produce and end-of-year report

Qualifications:

·        College graduate

·        Eligible for AmeriCorps VISTA service

·        Experience in relevant fields/areas such as community outreach, community service, education, health and wellness, community gardening and food justice, working with at-risk youth, etc.

·        Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication and an ability to relate to a variety of populations including community residents of all ages, college students, faculty and stuff

·        Self-starter, ability to work independently and with a team

Benefits:

·        Stipend

·        Education award upon completion of term

Start and End Dates: 6/24/2013 – 6/23/2014

To apply: Submit an online application through MyAmeriCorps (https://my.americorps.gov/mp/login.do). Search for 'Towson University's Cherry Hill Learning Zone' and click 'Apply'.

Contact: Katelyn Victor, Coordinator of Community Outreach Programs, Towson University, 410-704-2806, kvictor@towson.edu

"Shafi Goldwasser of MIT and the Weizmann Institute of Science and Silvio Micali of MIT were names as the winners of the 2012 ACM A.M. Turing Award. Working together, they pioneered the field of provable security, which laid the mathematical foundations that made modern cryptography possible. By formalizing the concept that cryptographic security had to be computational rather than absolute, they created mathematical structures that turned cryptography from an art into a science.

Their work addresses important practical problems such as the protection of data from being viewed or modified, providing a secure means of communications and transactions over the Internet. Their advances led to the notion of interactive and probabilistic proofs and had a profound impact on computational complexity, an area that focuses on classifying computational problems according to their inherent difficulty.

The ACM Turing Award, widely considered the "Nobel Prize in Computing," carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation and Google Inc."

…more…

On-Campus Interviews offer students a chance to conveniently interview for professional positions on campus.  Employers travel to our campus for the specific purpose of interviewing preselected students for currently open positions.  This is a great opportunity to interview with employers specifically interested in UMBC students and offers the advantage of a smaller applicant pool.  Interviews take place during the fall and spring. The logistics (viewing positions, applying, signing up for interview time slots, etc.) are all handled via UMBCworks.

Don't miss out on employers coming to UMBC to recruit YOU this fall! The following is a list of employers coming to conduct on-campus interviews with application deadlines in the next month.

** Stanley Black & Decker
Position:  SLP Operations Associate (9256265)
Resume Submission End:  March 13

** CGI Federal Consultant
Position:  Entry Level IT Consultant (9255641)
Resume Submission End:  April 7

** Enterprise Holdings
Position:  Management Trainee (9255896)
Resume Submission End:  April 5

** Target
Position:  Executive Team Leader (9255878)
Resume Submission End:  April 4

A full list of On-Campus Interviews scheduled is available on our website calendar and on UMBCworks, please check regularly for any updates or changes that may occur.

Each semester UMBC sets aside several days for partnering organizations to be showcased on campus. Through our Corporate Visibility Days program, organizations are given the opportunity to highlight themselves to the UMBC student body.  Traditional schedules include information sessions, career-related workshops,networking opportunities and lunch.

Held from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm, you do not need to attend the entire event, please stop by when you are able and stay for as long as you can!

** Next Century Corporation
March 27 ~ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
University Center 312

** Kennedy Krieger Institute
April 4 ~ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Commons 331

** Mitre Corporation
April 10 ~ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
University Center 312

The following full-time positions have been posted within the past week to UMBCworks. Login to your account (via the link in the Jobs & Internships topic in myUMBC) and find details and application instructions as well as hundreds of other job postings!

9256991 - Decision Support Analyst, Clinical Economics - Mercy Medical Center
9257075 - IS Analyst - GP Strategies Corporation
9256976 - Assistant to the Executive Director - Teach for America
9256965 - Asset Management Project (Manager-in-Training) - EMG Corporation
9256918 - Healthcare Auditor - TMDG, LLC

The following part-time positions have been posted within the past week to UMBCworks. Login to your account (via the link in the Jobs & Internships topic in myUMBC) and find details and application instructions as well as hundreds of other job postings!

9256863 - Design Associate - WTS International
9255543 - Donor Services Coordinator - Anatomy Gifts Registry
9256880 - Hospitality Host - Observation Baltimore
9256822 - Line Cook - The Rumor Mill Fusion Bar & Restaurant
9256973 - Rehabilitation Counselor ISS - Humanium