Identity-Based Discussion Groups

All groups meet beginning the week of September 11th. Groups are closed for the privacy and confidentiality of the attendees and take place inside the Women’s Center lounge. Check out a detailed description of all of our discussion groups down below!

Between Women: Biweekly, Mondays at 4 pm

Women of Color Coalition: Biweekly, Tuesdays at 4 pm

We Believe You: Weekly, Thursdays at 5:30 pm

Women in STEM: Monthly, Third Fridays at noon

Returning Women Students Scholars + Affiliates Program

This program is designed to support undergraduate women over the age of 25 returning to college later in life. Students receiving a returning women student scholarship are required to participate in this program designed to support their personal, academic, and career goals of adult learners at UMBC. ALL returning women students at UMBC are invited to attend the monthly meetings and workshops designed specifically to meet the needs of adult students. You can also request an invite to join the Returning Women Students Forum on Facebook for news, resources, and community building. The scholarship deadline for 2018–19 was Friday, March 30, 2018 – next year’s application will be available beginning January 2019.

Between Women

Between Women is a discussion-based program that centers the experiences of women students who identify on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. This structured, topic-based program discusses sexuality and sexual orientation with a focus on intersectionality and provides a safe space for women and feminine-identified students to share their feelings and experiences with other women. This program follows the Women’s Center Brave Space model in order to create a community environment that fosters learning and critical discussion. For safety and confidentiality reasons, this is a closed meeting for those in the LGBTQAI+ community and it is not appropriate for students to use the space for class research or interviews. Fall 2018: Between Women meets biweekly on Mondays at 4pm in the Women’s Center.

We Believe You

Hosted in collaboration with the Women’s Center and the student organization We Believe You, this discussion group creates space to center the experiences of survivors of sexual violence. This discussion-based program follows the Women’s Center Brave Space model to provide a welcoming environment and thoughtful community to engage in conversations focused on support and healing for survivors of sexual violence. For safety and confidentiality reasons, this is a closed meeting for those who identify as survivors and their allies. It is not appropriate for students to use the space for class research or interviews. Fall 2018: We Believe You discussion group meets weekly on Thursdays at 5:30pm in the Women’s Center. For more details, join the We Believe You myUMBC page (where you can also learn more about their general body meetings and activism efforts) or connect with a Women’s Center staff member.

Women of Color Coalition

All self-identified women of color students, staff, and faculty are welcome to share their stories and learn about others’ experiences at Women of Color Coalition. This discussion-based program follows the Women’s Center Brave Space model to provide a welcoming environment and thoughtful community to engage in conversations focused on the intersections of gender and race. For safety and confidentiality reasons, this is a closed meeting for those who identify as women of color and it is not appropriate for students to use the space for class research or interviews. Fall 2018: Women of Color Coalition meets biweekly on Tuesdays at 4pm in the Women’s Center. Subscribe to the WoC Coalition email list to learn more!

Women in STEM

A discussion group for UMBC’s women in STEM. Each discussion will take place monthly and will be hosted by a different woman faculty member from the STEM disciplines focusing on a different topic related to Women in STEM. This discussion-based program follows the Women’s Center Brave Space model to provide a welcoming environment and thoughtful community to engage in conversations focused on the experiences of women students studying in the STEM fields. Fall 2018: Women in STEM discussion group will take place on Friday, September 21st at noon and Friday, October 19th at noon. The November date is TBD.

Spectrum: Trans Programming and Resources Hub

Spectrum is a programming and resource hub for UMBC community members who identify as trans, genderqueer, gender fluid, outside of the gender binary, and/or those who are questioning their gender identity. Supported by the Women’s Center and the Mosaic Center, Spectrum has evolved from a discussion-based program to an umbrella of resources, discussions, and events. Currently, the Spectrum discussion group is not being offered so we can ensure support of groups like Trans Tuesdays hosted by the LGBTQ Student Union and the Trans Support group run through the Counseling Center. The Women’s Center and Mosaic Center offers trans-related events each month. For details, connect with a staff member or check out our events page. Additional resources can be shared through our offices and we encourage community members to connect with us.

For more information about each of these groups and their intentions, please visit womenscenter.umbc.edu/groups

Another school year, and another group of fantastic, creative, passionate UMBC students lending their talents, strengths, and energy to the Women’s Center! Please take a minute or two to read through some short bios below, and hopefully, you’ll be able to meet and make friends with each one of these lovely folks working with us over the school year.

Alexia Petasis (she/her), Interdisciplinary Studies intern

Hey! My name is Alexia Petasis and I am a senior at UMBC. I’m pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Dance.

In my free time I like to go on hikes, watch French movies, or choreograph. I’m looking forward to an exciting year at The Women’s Center!

Briscoe Turner (she/her)

Hello Everyone! My name is Briscoe Turner, and I am a sophomore here at UMBC. I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in Writing. I am passionate about promoting social justice and hope to use Community Psychology to address the needs of underrepresented populations in the future. I am also a Sondheim Scholar and a member of the Black Lives Matter club, so service and impacting social change through policy and other means of political action are also very important to me.

This is my first semester working at the Women’s Center, and I’m excited to build community and have good discussions. I love that the Women’s center allows me to explore my identity through an intersectional lens, and I looking forward to exploring it further this year!

Dua Raja (she/her)

Hi! My name is Dua Raja. I was born in Pakistan, and moved to the US at a young age. Now a transfer student from CCBC at UMBC, I am on track to achieve my Bachelor’s in Business Technology Administration (BTA), all while working at the Women’s Center surrounded by wonderful people. I plan to use my degree to become an entrepreneur looking to start her own business and work on a technical management program.

I love to hike, dance and travel. Most importantly, I love dogs. Especially German Shepherds.

This is my first year as a Women’s Center staff member. I look forward to meeting new people.

My personal mantra: Inhale confidence, exhale doubt.

My favorite quote: The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.

Hannah Wilcove (she/her), Honors College & Gender + Women’s Studies intern

Hi! My name is Hannah Wilcove and I’m a senior with a major in Gender & Women’s Studies and a double minor in Sociology and Statistics. I’m super excited to be returning to the Women’s Center this year. While I love studying any and all issues pertaining to feminism and social justice, I’m most passionate about reproductive justice, representation, and increasing political participation.

When I’m not at the Women’s Center, you can probably find me doing work for various student theater groups on campus, be it in rehearsal or as an executive board member of AF Theatre Company. If that’s not the case, then I’m probably in my bed watching Parks and Recreation and wondering how I can become Leslie Knope.

Harini Narayan (she/her)

My name is Harini Narayan and I’m a sophomore here at UMBC.It’s my second semester working at the Women’s Center and I couldn’t be happier to return! This year, I’ll be co-facilitating our discussion group for LGBTQ+ women, Between Women. When I’m not at the Women’s Center, you can find me running around campus because I love staying busy! I’m an MLLI major and am very passionate about learning new languages, which I hope to continue doing professionally.

I’m looking forward to seeing both new and familiar faces around the Women’s Center this year!

Marie Pessagno (she/her), Returning Women Students leader

Hi everyone!  My name is Marie and I am a recent graduate from UMBC!  I am super fortunate to be returning to work (super part-time) at the Women’s Center with the Returning Women’s Students of which I am also an extremely proud alumni! While at UMBC, I was a Social Work and Gender + Women’s Studies double major, and am now beginning my first, and last year, as an advanced standing student at the UMB School of Social Work.

I am a proud single mother of two girls, Lily and Lyla, who are my main inspiration on my journey towards furthering my education.  I am continuing to pursue and expand my knowledge of social work, particular in the field of child welfare, while completing my internship with child protective services at the Department of Human Services this upcoming year.

Morgan Mullings (she/her), Media and Communication Studies intern

Hi! My name is Morgan and I’m a senior here at UMBC pursuing a BA in Media and Communications major with minors in English and Cinematic Arts. I am a poet, photographer, and aspiring filmmaker and most of my work stems from my own identity and experiences as a woman of color. If I’m not working at the Women’s Center you can find me watching Ghost Shark (2013) with my friends. I am also a huge stationary nerd and I work at commonvision so ask me any question about a piece of paper.

If I could be any mythical creature it would be a unicorn that only speaks in quotes about intersectional feminism.

Samiksha Manjani (she/her)

Hi! My name is Samiksha Manjani and I am a senior here at UMBC. I’m excited to return for another year as a part of the Women’s Center team! I’m a double-major in Political Science  and Sociology, and am currently on the pre-law track. I hope to one day use my law degree to legally combat violence against women and children. During my time at the Women’s Center, I hope to create a diverse, empowering and safe environment for everyone.

On a side note, I love learning about people’s backgrounds, cultures, histories, and politics. I love fitness, soccer, and yoga. I’m all about self-care (i.e. art, journaling, meditation) and being positive! I love baking and cooking. I’m a crime show nut (i.e. Law & Order, Criminal Minds), and I try to keep up with the news. Feel free to stop by for a chat or to say “Hi!” to me if you see me around campus!

Shrijana Khanal (she/her)

Hi friends! My name is Shrijana and I am a sophomore at UMBC. I am an Economics major and minoring in Computer Science and International Relations. When I am not at work, I am reading a thrilling book or watching the sunset.

Ask me about zodiac signs or the latest updates in soccer!

View on myUMBC »

It's Save A Swipe Time!

Save a Swipe is UMBC's unique meal sharing program! 

This year you have two meal-donation options:

1. Donate 5 meals between October 1- November 4

1. Donate 10 meals between October 1- December 9

You have until SEPTEMBER 21 to signup online to donate through your option of choice. More details on the donation process are found on the google form.

Jordan Troutman is a Computer Science and Mathematics major and just spent his summer conducting research at Rutgers University-  and he’s only a SOPHOMORE!

List any Scholars/Honors programs you are a part of: Meyerhoff Scholars, Honors College

Title of your research project: Understanding Machine Learning Bias without a Ground Truth

Describe your project: My project aimed to understand how predictive computer algorithms can impose biases across protected groups (e.g. race, gender, etc.) when it is not possible to use common measures of comparing an algorithm's predicted outcome with its intended outcome. 

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? How did you find your mentor? Why did you choose them? My mentor was Dr. Anand Sarwate, Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University.  It is ironic, actually, because he found me. I applied to the RiSE Research Experience at Rutgers through the Big Ten Academic Alliance Summer Research Opportunities application, and he reached out to me because my interest in data science and machine learning would be a perfect fit for this project.  I chose him because I was primarily interested in this field, but also because I was honored someone would want to take me under their wing to conduct research.

How did you become interested in this project? This project sparked my interest because it lies at the intersection of ethics and computer science.  I have always loved coding. But also, I think it is important to understand how individual actions contribute to the structure of our society.  We inherently give power to computers when we start to depend on them to make very complex human decisions, like choosing from a pool of resumes who the most qualified applicants are for a job.  For the computer scientists who create these machine learning algorithms, it is important that we understand the impact to what our programs--discriminatory or not--can affect the world we live in. Since the field of machine learning fairness stems from an analysis that saw black men to be twice as likely of being miscategorized of being high risk of committing a crime again compared to white criminals, I wanted to make sure that people who look like me are not going to be marginally discriminated against based upon a computer's decision.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? The hardest part about researching this summer was overcoming the jargon barrier used in this specific field of machine learning fairness.  Being fairly new to research, the  novel vocabulary made research feel very advanced and out of my scope of understanding.  Once I got over the language barrier, I remembered that research is simply asking questions and then seeing if those questions can be answered.  Reading papers and getting acclimated to the conventions of contemporary researchers took a lot of time and effort, but it was overall worthwhile because research is really fun!

What has been the most rewarding part? The most rewarding part about researching this summer is that I can talk about the importance of making fair predictive algorithms to anyone.  Making people aware that machine learning algorithms, like Google search results, learn from observations (data), and if the scope of their observations is biased, then the algorithms will inherit those biases as well.  Since this field is very interdisciplinary, I believe it is crucial for researchers to be able to express their ideas in ways that individuals of varying fields and expertise can easily understand why their work is important.  This allows for more collaboration from other academic areas as well as making the essence of research a more inclusive experience.  Bringing more viewpoints on an important topic like machine learning fairness will point us in the direction of the best solution.

How will you disseminate your research? I have presented my research at the RiSE at Rutgers Symposium and the UMBC Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF).  I plan on presenting at URCAD in April, and at an undergraduate research conference this year.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? For UMBC students wanting to get into research, there is no requirement to be in a scholars program or have honors achievement.  Research is a simple concept that anyone can do.  Anyone who has ever identified a problem and envisioned the problem being solved is a researcher at heart.  It may be really intimidating to be working with people who have high degrees and extensive amounts of experience, but those garnishes will never replace the foundation of a researcher.  When anyone enters the world of research, it is important for them to bring their own experiences, perspective, and culture.  Diversity of thought makes problem-solving progress faster.  Additionally, treat attending class as an opportunity to understand rather than to get good grades; this skill and knowledge-base will easily transfer into research.  Get in contact with a professor who has interesting research, talk with them about their research, then get started!  If research may be too much for the school year, applying to summer research opportunities is a great option!

What are your career goals? After going to graduate school and getting my Ph.D., I would love to work at a university as a professor, then maybe become the dean of a college.  I want everyone to feel that learning is an exciting, thriving, living aspect of our everyday lives.  I would also like to work with computer scientists, educators, and policymakers to ensure developing technologies are being developed for the overall social good of our world.

Want to know how you can find a summer research experience?

Want to be the next Researcher of the Week? 

Email: aprilh@umbc.edu or visit ur.umbc.edu

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