Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to meet Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Volkow is coming to UMBC as the Spring 2015 Distinguished Speaker for the ADVANCE program at UMBC. UMBC ADVANCE reached out to PROMISE and worked with Dr. Volkow to create a special session specifically geared to connect with graduate students. Dr. Volkow’s research is on addiction and the brain, but she is also interested in sharing about her role as a woman leader in STEM. Dr. Volkow grew up in Mexico and has been studying addiction since she was a teenager. She has published more than 580 articles, and 90 book chapters and other papers!

Come and meet this phenomenal leader!

• Monday, April 13, 2015
• Special Session for graduate students and postdocs: 1:00 – 2:00 PM, UMBC Campus, University Center, Room 310 (Light refreshments will be served.)
  • UMBC RSVP here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31746
  • Grad students who have participated in PROMISE, but are not at UMBC, RSVP with your name and school in the comment section below.
• Afternoon Research Lecture: 4:30-5:30 PM, AOK Library Gallery (All invited, reception to follow), http://my.umbc.edu/groups/advance/news/50784

NIDA’s website describes Dr. Volkow’s work as follows:

Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs. Her studies have documented changes in the dopamine system affecting, among others, the functions of frontal brain regions involved with motivation, drive, and pleasure in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging. (REF: http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page)

See Dr. Volkow’s talk from TEDMED:

_______________________

The PROMISE AGEP would like to express gratitude to UMBC ADVANCE for specifically developing a session with Dr. Volkow for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. We express sincere thanks to Dr. Autumn Reed (Program Coordinator for Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Provost, UMBC)  for strengthening the ADVANCE-AGEP connection through this structured and coordinated event with Dr. Volkow. 

• ABOUT ADVANCE: National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE)
• ABOUT ADVANCE at UMBC: http://advance.umbc.edu/
• ABOUT the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM Project with UMBC & Puerto Rico: https://hispanicstemwomen.wordpress.com/

_______________________

Dr. Volkow’s image and biographical information are reprinted with permission from the National Institute on Drug Abuse Press Office. 

The 2015 PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI) will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2015, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. This conference (business attire) provides professional development for new/incoming graduate students, continuing graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early-career professors, and professionals in the region. This is an annual event that has been in existence since 2003. All PROMISE alumni are welcome to return! Professionals in the area are welcome to attend to be part of this networking, professional development, and community building event. The 2015 SSI will be held at The Hotel at Arundel Preserve, in Hanover, MD. See more about our SSI History: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/promise/the-promise-summer-success-institute-ssi/

Stay tuned to this website. It will be regularly updated with information. 

Warmer weather is arriving and we’d like for you to mark your calendars now for two PROMISE AGEP events that are open to graduate students and postdocs within the University System of Maryland, and our friends and colleagues from other universities. We build community as part of our professional development efforts, so we’ll look forward to having you join us on those dates.

Stay tuned to this website for more information. Both events will utilize the Eventbrite registration system. Here are some details that you can add to your plans.

1. The Cookout and Celebration of Graduates will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2015, 1:00 – 4:00 PM. This event acknowledges all master’s and doctoral graduates from any school within the University System of Maryland. This year, we will also acknowledge postdocs who are moving on to other positions. Please send us your good news so that we can acknowledge you: promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject: “May 2 Cookout Celebration.” This event will be held at the High Ridge Park Pavilion in Laurel, MD.

2. The PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI) will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2015, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. This conference (business attire) provides professional development for new/incoming graduate students, continuing graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early-career professors, and professionals in the region. This is an annual event that has been in existence since 2003. All PROMISE alumni are welcome to return! Professionals in the area are welcome to attend to be part of this networking, professional development, and community building event. The 2015 SSI will be held at The Hotel at Arundel Preserve, in Hanover, MD.

Details for the 2015 SSI on August 15th will be posted here: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/promise-summer-success-institute-ssi-august-15-2015/

• See more about our SSI History: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/promise/the-promise-summer-success-institute-ssi/

Please save the dates!

These events are sponsored by the National Science Foundation, 
    PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (AGEP-T) project. 

Dear Graduate Students,

You are invited to apply for a summer internship at IBM. Our friends from IBM note that these opportunities can be in Africa if you have a request, or in the US. To broaden participation, IBM extends a special invitation to underrepresented groups (Black, Hispanic and Native American students in Computer Science, Math, Statistics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Material Science and Chemistry.)

• Positions are available for Summer 2015 and Full-time, starting 2015.
• Ph.D students are preferred
• IBM is also looking for Masters students who will complete their education by Spring 2015 and are looking for full-time Research or Development opportunities.
• The internship opportunity is open to continuing students who are looking for Summer 2015 IBM Research or Development opportunities.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Send your resume/cv to Terry Davis at davistb@us.ibm.com, and cc Renetta Tull at rtull@umbc.edu
2) Please advise Mr. Davis if you are completing your education by Spring 2015, and looking for full time opportunities, or if you are a continuing student in the Fall of 2015 therefore, looking for a summer internship opportunities in Summer 2015.
3) Specify the Research or Development area of your education that is a match for your interests, http://www.research.ibm.com/. Also specify if you are interested in the special internship opportunities that are available Africa (Nairobi, Kenya).

4) Post your resume/cv to the IBM Applicant portal: http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/.

Please note that you must follow all four steps.

All students are considered for IBM opportunities, this is an outreach for an underrepresented group in the Science and Engineering field. IBM Research and Development groups sponsors Foreign Nationals.

Thank you to Jaye Clark-Nias, Computer Science doctoral candidate at Bowie State University who re-connected PROMISE to representatives at IBM following the 2015 Tapia Conference. Jaye participated in this IBM internships in the past and had a great experience. More about Jaye: http://www.cs.bowiestate.edu/~cturner/Students/Jay_Clark.html

Dr. Tracy Johnson, new HHMI Professor from UCLA, and a special guest of UMBC’s Dr. Michael Summers (Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), will be speaking at UMBC on Thursday, March 26 at 1:00 PM in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building, Conference Room 120. All are invited to attend. If you have a UMBC account, please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/31197. Guests from other schools may RSVP by sharing name and school in the comment section of this post.

Photo courtesy of http://newsroom.ucla.edu/

More about Dr. Johnson: 

https://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/faculty/tljohnson

http://www.hhmi.org/research/ucla-hhmi-pathways-success-program

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/two-ucla-faculty-members-named-howard-hughes-medical-institute-professors

About the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program:

http://meyerhoffgrad.umbc.edu/

In 2003, the first year of programming for the PROMISE AGEP, a UMBC Public Policy graduate student named Robert Alexander asked if PROMISE could sponsor a “town hall” type of seminar with UMBC’s President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. That conversation birthed the concept of an annual seminar for graduate students that would feature the university’s president. Dr. Robert Alexander is now part of the Health & Analytics Business Unit at Battelle, after spending nearly 10 years in his first dream job in Health Communications at the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Similarly, after more than 10 years, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski is the Chair of the U.S. President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, and has received numerous recognition from media outlets such as TIME, US News & World Report, PBS (“Charlie Rose,” “Tavis Smiley”), and CBS (“60 Minutes.”). The president continues to make time in his schedule to address graduate students. Dr. Hrabowski has been having his spring semester conversation with graduate students at UMBC since 2004. The 2015 talk will be held on Wednesday.

Pathways to Leadership

A Discussion with President Freeman Hrabowski

UMBC President, Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

1:00 – 2:15 PM

Lunch will be served at 1:00

Talk will begin at 1:30 PM. Everyone needs to be seated by 1:25 PM.

Library Gallery (first floor), AOK Library, UMBC Campus, Directions & Parking

REGISTER/RSVP

UMBC Community, Please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/29312

Guests, please RSVP by providing your name and school/organization in the comment section below.

This event is free, but you will need to register.

As part of our PROMISE AGEP-T alliance with the University System of Maryland, graduate students from any school within the USM may attend. Guests from other schools are also invited as part of our commitment to provide graduate students with professional development. Faculty and staff are also invited to attend.

————

More about Dr. Hrabowski’s White House Appointment: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/26/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts

Hrabowski Photos courtesy of baltimore.cbslocal.com, blog.ted.com, amazon.com, and umbc.edu

————

More about Dr. Robert Alexander’s work on the U.S.’ first federally funded anti-smoking campaign: Journal article in The Lancet. Dr. Alexander returned to be a Mentor-in-Residence for the PROMISE AGEP during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI), August 2013.   Dr. Alexander was a member of the first cohort of the PROMISE AGEP Peer Mentors for UMBC, 2004. We thank Dr. Alexander, whose request as a PhD candidate, launched the plans for our annual present-day Presidential “Pathways to Leadership” seminar for graduate students.

The PROMISE AGEP will be represented at the annual conference for the National Postdoctoral Association on Friday, March 13. The conference will run from March 13-15, and will be held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), downtown, in the Southern Management Corporation’s Campus Center, (SMC CC) https://www.umaryland.edu/campuscenter/. This is the same location that hosted our PROMISE Summer Success Institute and anniversary celebration in 2013.

PROMISE AGEP will be discussed in a panel session, Institutional Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowships: Growing Your Own Faculty Pipeline, on Friday, March 13, 1:45 PM, SMC CC, Room 351. PROMISE Director, Dr. Renetta Tull will be one of the speakers. Discussions will include the PROMISE Postdoctoral Program, and UMBC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity.

Websites:

Listed on MinorityPostdoc.org: http://www.minoritypostdoc.org/view/event-2015-NPA.html

NPA Website: http://www.npacommunity.org/?2015AMFriWorkshops

NPA Agenda site: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/AnnualMeetings/2015AnnualMeeting/NPA-2015-Annual-Meeting-Agenda-at-a-Glance-for-Web-02-20-2015.pdf

Postdocs from the University System of Maryland can register to attend the conference at a discount. Some postdoctoral affairs offices are also sponsoring waivers to attend.  Please email Dr. Renetta Tull, rtull@umbc.edu, with the subject “NPA Conference” if you are interested in attending. The deadline for registering online is Feb. 27, 2015; please email Dr. Tull by 12 noon on Feb. 27th to be included in the list of postdocs from Maryland.

The new Career-Life Balance Initiative at UMBC is sponsoring a February 2015 workshop on preparing career paths that will include a healthy integration of work and those things that are important to life, e.g., health and wellness, family. This workshop is sponsored by UMBC’s initiative new project, “On Ramps” to Full Professor: Institutional Support for Post-Family Leave Faculty Research Reintegration, National Science Foundation Grant #1446406.” The series of workshops and seminars will be open to the campus community at UMBC, and guests from the University System of Maryland. The sessions will cover topics that support development of a better integration of career and activities that shape everyday life.

The precursor event will be a Career-Life Balance “Writing Corner” breakfast session for graduate students on Monday, Feb. 23. During this session, graduate students will be able to have some dedicated time to work on grant submissions, CV updates, dissertations, applications, etc. The Career-Life Balance “Writing Corner” is a new initiative that is taking the best practices from the PROMISE Dissertation House, PROMISE Writing for Publication, and PROMISE Postdoctoral Writing Suite activities, and combining them with needs that graduate students expressed in a CLB poll launched at UMBC during the Fall semester 2014. The “Writing Corner” concept was developed by the CLB GA, Amanda Lo, who worked with graduate students to gauge interest. Amanda describes the space as follows: “This room will serve to help others achieve career-life balance by providing a comfortable environment where graduate students, post-doctorate fellows, faculty, and staff can allocate time to work at ease on their writing. All participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops and any materials that they might need to assist them with their writing.” Students may RSVP for the Monday, February 23rd “CLB Writing Corner” here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/careerlifebalance/events/30310.

The key CLB event for the month will be a Wednesday, February 25, 2015 workshop on planning your career portfolio. This workshop will be led by Dr. Laura Koppes Bryan, Dean of the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, at the University of Baltimore (UB). Dean Bryan is an advocate for effective strategies on managing both work and life responsibilities. She worked as an independent consultant for LK Associates, where she consulted with organizations on various areas, including work-life effectiveness. She also served as Director of Work-Life at the University of Kentucky where she analyzed data surveying the work-life culture for both faculty and staff members. She developed and implemented the UK Work-Life vision and strategy; through her advocacy and presentation to the University Board of Trustees, she was approved of a budget of 11 million dollars for the work-life initiatives. Dr. Bryan is a member of the PROMISE AGEP STEM Deans Council, and is partnering with The Career-Life Balance Initiative at UMBC, The PROMISE AGEP for the University System of Maryland, UMBC’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and The Graduate School at UMBC, to provide this seminar for all graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, in all disciplines. All members of the campus community are invited to attend.

• Event: Developing A Career Portfolio
• Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2015
• Speaker: Dr.LauraKoppes Bryan,
  • Dean Laura Bryan from UB will discuss developing a career portfolio with a focus on managing both career and life responsibilities. At this event, attendees will be able to walk away with ideas or an outline for developing their career portfolio.  All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Dean Bryan’s latest book, Shaping Work-Life Culture in Higher Education: A Guide for Academic Leaders.
  • About Dr. Bryan: http://www.ubalt.edu/cas/faculty/alphabetical-directory/laura-k-bryan.cfm
• Location: UMBC, The Commons, Room 329 (Directions to events co-sponsored by the PROMISE AGEP.)
• Time: 1:00 – 2:15 PM
• Lunch will be served
• This event is free, and is sponsored by NSF #1446406.
  • REGISTRATION: The event is open to all graduate students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and alumni. The event will be applicable to all academic disciplines. Visitors from other USM institutions are invited, as part of our PROMISE AGEP alliance.
  • Members of the UMBC community can register here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/29579
  • Visitors from other campuses can reply in the comment section of this email so that we will know that you are coming.

The Career-Life Balance project at UMBC is part of a special initiative that is being sponsored by the National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/career-life-balance/, in concert with objectives on the topic that are being put forth by the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/02/15/career-life-balance-fair-continues-promote-flexible-workplaces-america-s-scientists-. Read more from the press release by the White House here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/26/white-house-and-national-science-foundation-announce-new-workplace-flexi

Dear Graduate Students,

The PROMISE AGEP co-sponsors monthly professional development seminars for graduate students, and one of the increasingly popular workshops is called, “When Faculty Say ‘X’ … Understanding Faculty Expectations, Unwritten Rules.” This seminar, held annually at UMBC, features a panel of faculty members who answer questions that students post (often anonymously) on the PROMISE website. Sometimes, faculty do not have a chance to answer all of the questions since the seminar has time limits. In addition, if students ask individual or small group questions following the seminar, the general audience does not have the benefit of hearing the answer. To address these additional questions, graduate students in PROMISE asked if I would take some time to provide some answers. The result is a short video series called “Moments To Mentor” which answers all of the questions that were not addressed in the seminar.

These “Moments to Mentor” will be posted throughout the rest of the Spring 2015 semester. We invite you to visit the PROMISE YouTube Channel for other videos that showcase seminars on topics such as financial education, and advanced statistics.

Best wishes as you pursue your degree and career goals.

Kind regards,

Renetta G. Tull, Ph.D.

Director, PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP

The PROMISE AGEP, The Graduate School at UMBC, and The UMBC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs are co-sponsoring the “Advanced Statistics” seminar series with Dr. Christopher Rakes. Dr. Rakes is presenting series on structural equation modeling and meta-analysis. The next lunch seminar is on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. A live webcast will be available on our PROMISE YouTube channel for those who aren’t available to have lunch with us, to learn in person.

Session 4: Feb. 11, 2015
Structural Equation Modeling
Testing the Validity of a Causal Structure

Lunch and learn: 

Lunch will be served at the beginning of the seminar. You may eat during the session.

Live Webcast