The Ecological Society of America is seeking your help to reach your graduate students particularly from underrepresented minority groups for a brief survey. Kindly forward the following information to them.

The Ecological Society of America’s SEEDS – Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability – program is planning to develop workshops for graduate students, with priority to ESA SEEDS alumni and alumni of other diversity programs for underrepresented minority communities. Our goal is to develop the support network during the first few years of their MS or PhD programs and to provide opportunities to deepen and enhance new professional and scientific skills. For the first workshop, we are looking to team up with the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). The mission of SESYNC is to bring together the science of the natural world with the science of human behavior and decision-making to find solutions to complex environmental problems.

We have created a short survey aimed at being able to gauge the interest on this type of activity and what kinds of future workshops we should be offering. The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete and your input is very valuable to help us serve you better. Please complete the survey by February 15, 2019. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact us.

Thank you for your help!

Take the Survey

About NREL

At NREL, we focus on creative answers to today’s energy challenges. From breakthroughs in fundamental science to new clean technologies to integrated energy systems that power our lives, NREL researchers are transforming the way the nation and the world use energy.

More on their link: https://www.nrel.gov

“Join us in building a clean energy future. At NREL, you’ll discover how you can make a difference in the world while also growing professionally. We combine our mission with our heart, making NREL a place where you can grow your passion inside and outside the lab.”

More information about opportunities at NREL: https://www.nrel.gov/careers/discover-nrel.html

Active job opportunities (last checked January/2019):

• Postdoctorate – Chemical/Mechanical Engineering for Thermal-Fluid Modeling
• Postdoctoral Researcher – Buildings Materials and Thermal Science
• Post Doctoral Position in Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue Analysis
• “Commercial Buildings Research Engineer – Energy Modeler” (Los Angeles)
• Graduate Intern Position in Solar Collector Optical Characterization using Image-Processing
• Geothermal-Modeling and Simulation Scientist
• Building Research Engineer – Electrical Power Systems
• Researcher – Control and Optimization
• Post-Doctoral Researcher –Development of system engineering tools for wave energy converter applications
• Post-Doctoral Researcher – Structural and Mechanical Engineer in the Water Power Program
• Postdoctoral Researcher – Design and Systems Engineer in the Water Power Program
• Postdoctoral – Integrated Transportation-Energy Systems Modeler

“Students Maya Hanna, MPH, and Juan-David Rueda, MD, received the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research’s (PHSR) Student Travel Scholarship to present their research at the 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research meeting in Europe. Other PHSR awards to graduate students included the Harris Zuckerman Scholarship to Yoon Hong, PharmD, the Donald O. Fedder Memorial Fellowship to Jacquelyn McRae, PharmD, and the Dr. Arthur Schwartz Memorial Scholarship to Chengchen Zhang, MPH.” (pages 8-9)

Please see page 16 regarding our STAR-PREP Fellows. This is outstanding news!

More about this message from the Presiden in the December 2018 edition at the following link: https://www.umaryland.edu/media/umb/president/the-presidents-message/2018-19/December-2018.pdf

The UMB Graduate School, Writing Center, and PROMISE Program Dissertation Boot Camp are returning to UMB the Dissertation House on January 15-17, 2019.  If you haven’t heard about this dynamic program or if you would like to learn more about how it works, visit this direct link to the following 2016 CBE Life Science Education article “The Dissertation House Model” by Carter-Veale, Tull, Rutledge, and Joseph.

Additional Required Application Materials                

The lead publisher of this article and director of Dissertation House, Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, will guide us through the program as our dissertation coach. As part of your application, she needs your responses to the following prompts. By January 5, 2019, submit your responses in an email to

·         Dr. Erin Golembewski, Senior Associate Dean, Graduate School: egole001@umaryland.edu

·         Dr. TaShara Bailey, PROMISE program: tbailey@umaryland.edu

·         Dr. Wendy Y. Carter-Veale, UM PhD Completion & PROMISE Coordinator: drcarter@umbc.edu,

·         James Wright, Acting Associate Director of the Writing Center:  james.wright@umaryland.edu.

Submit a brief description (maximum 2 pages, font size 11-12 point 1 inch margins) that describes your project and what you wish to accomplish during the Dissertation Houseprogram.

Please use the following guidelines:

(1) Summary of the project, including research question(s), data or texts, and method

(2) Amount completed on the project to date

(3) Any obstacles that you are encountering that hinder completion of the dissertation.

(4) Include the following header information with the description:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone numbers (home, office, and fax)
• E-mail address
• Academic Program and Year in the program

Program Details

Where/Location: UMB Green Room, 1^st Floor, SMC Campus Center, Room 115

When: January 15, 16, and 17 from 9am-5pm

Food: Breakfast provided 8-8:45am each day

Lunch 12-1pm provided each day

Afternoon snack provided each day

Coffee piping hot and available all day!

Who/Participants: Focused instruction for PhD student currently writing dissertations

Parking: Visit the SMC Campus Center link here and scroll down to “Parking Options”

We will send a full schedule of the program to you after the January 5 deadline for additional application material. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. TaShara Bailey at tbailey@umaryland.edu and/or James Wright at james.wright@umaryland.edu.

We look forward to receiving your additional materials and seeing you at the Dissertation House!

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

Stoop Stories:

Telling Your Research Story

A Saturday Workshop

Presented by Laura Wexler of The Stoop Storytelling Series

Photo collage developed from individual images that are the property of the Stoop Stories Series website.

When: Saturday, January 26, 2019

Time: 09:00 AM – 02:00 PM

Location: University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Sherman Hall Building, 1st Floor – SHER 003.

Driving directions: UMBC 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 Administration Drive Garage.

Parking: Parking is FREE on the weekend, please use the visitor spaces on
upper Admin Drive Garage or Hilltop Circle parking spaces A & D.  Do not pay for the visitor spaces, no permit is required.

Walking from Administration Drive Garage directions: Sherman Building at UMBC.

Registration:

• Attendees who are part of the UMBC community: Please click the “Going” button on https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/66394.
• Attendees outside the UMBC community: Please email promisestaff@gmail.com with Subject line: “Stoop Stories – Registration” and the following details in the content of your email: Name, Department, University.

This workshop in a nutshell:

In this lively and informative workshop, you will learn how to harness the power of true, personal storytelling to create an engaging and accessible story about your research focus, project, or goals. Workshop includes lecture, discussion, and a chance for everyone to share a 3-5 minute story and receive feedback.

To prepare for the workshop, please listen to these Stoop stories:

• Sonia Sarkar. Listen here.
• Richard Huganir. Listen here.
• Janet Stephens. Listen here.

Please bring paper, pen, and a willingness to experiment, with you to the workshop.

Workshop Mission

Participants will learn to use the tools of true, personal storytelling to create and share an engaging and accessible story about their research focus, project, or goals.

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will:

• enhance their understanding of true, personal storytelling as a powerful tool of communication to engage and connect with a variety of audiences, and explain complex issues in an accessible and relatable way.
• improve their ability to identify and enact the principles of powerful true, personal storytelling.
• create a 3- to 5-minute engaging true, personal tale that illuminates their research focus and findings.
• share that personal research tale with a group of peers and receive feedback.

Workshop Structure

09:00 AM – 10:00 AM – Registration and breakfast

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM – Lecture

Break

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM – 3-5 people tell 3-5-minute stories and get feedback in front of entire group

12:15 PM – 01:30 PM – Breakout into groups of 20 people to share stories. Eat box lunch in rooms.

01:30 PM – 02:00 PM – Final reconvene and synthesize

Workshop Presenter

Laura Wexler is the co-founder and co-producer of The Stoop Storytelling Series, a popular cultural event and podcast in which “ordinary” people tell extraordinary true tales about their lives. Since 2006, Laura has presented workshops in true, personal storytelling for a range of organizations, businesses, and individuals. Her storytelling curriculum is based on 10 years of teaching memoir writing at the collegiate and graduate level, and her experience coaching nearly 2,000 people to tell the true, personal tales of their lives. In addition to her work with The Stoop, Laura is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America (Scribner), as well as nonfiction published in The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She has developed a TV pilot for Amazon Studios, and is currently writing a narrative feature. She and her writing partner wrote and produced a Virtual Reality film that world premiered at Sundance Festival 2018.

• Laurawexler.com
• Stoopstorytelling.com

Laura Wexler’s photo and biographical information are the property Stoop Stories, and Johns Hopkins University, where Wexler is a member of the adjunct faculty.

Key Co-Sponsors: The Graduate School at UMBC, PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP