Tuesday, September 12, 2017 · Noon – 1:30 PM

UMBC Campus – Engineering 102

Create writing assignments to deepen understanding

The Faculty Development Center at UMBC extends an invitation to all UMBC AGEP and PROF-it students to participate.

Join FDC and Writing Center staff to learn how to create writing assignments that scaffold students’ writing skills, deepen their understanding and connection to the subject at hand, and prepare them to adapt these skills to other situations. We’ll explore ways to help students focus on the writing process with special attention to guiding students towards effective use of the Writing Center.  Lunch is provided.

* Part of Provost’s New Faculty Lunch series – all faculty are welcome to attend
√ Counts toward ALIT Certificate
§ Counts towards INNOVATE Certificate
Ͼ CIRTL graduate students are invited to attend

We’re so pleased that the PROMISE Dissertation House sessions are so popular, and we are especially thankful to all of the people who have been involved and who have finished their dissertations as part of the DH! Since space is limited, and since we know that everyone has busy schedules, we maintain a Dissertation House online for those who can’t join us in person. All participants in the DH who are with us in person must blog daily while they are in the session, but we invite all and all who desire to join us to come into the “DH Online.” We’ll see you there! https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2016-challenge/

We’re spending part of our holiday answering messages, and we’re looking forward to assisting you as you jump in to meet your writing goals!

The Dissertation House – Summer 2016 Challenge is open! Post! Let us know what you’re doing. Are you working on… https://t.co/y1F02ZIl1z

— PROMISE: MD’s AGEP (@PROMISE_AGEP) July 2, 2016

Working on dissertations? Join coach @drwcarter & me for our @PROMISE_AGEP Dissertation House #SummerChallenge https://t.co/Xj73eaZCsP

— Renetta G. Tull (@Renetta_Tull) July 2, 2016

Coaches: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, Dr. Renetta G. Tull

The White House has listed the National Science Foundation’s PROMISE AGEP for Maryland, along with the University System of Maryland’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program (USM LSAMP), among organizations in the U.S. that have a commitment to the new MBK STEM + Entrepreneurship track for the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. This new MBK STEM + Entrepreneurship track includes commitments that will contribute to expanding STEM opportunities to populations that are underrepresented in these fields. PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation, is an NSF AGEP-T program, led by founding partners: The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), the University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Maryland Baltimore. In 2013, the alliance expanded to include all of the institutions within the University System of Maryland. The alliance also includes partnerships with the Community Colleges of Baltimore County (CCBC), Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), and the Ana G. Mendez University Capital Campus. The USM LSAMP program for undergraduate students is led by UMBC as part of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, and has as partners LSAMP programs at the University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The PROMISE AGEP is working with the University System of Maryland to further develop pipeline initiatives that will increase the functionality of professional development services for undergraduates and post-graduate students within the system.

50+ Articles and Tools

The PROMISE AGEP for the University System of Maryland has been noted for its dissemination of materials related to STEM equity and inclusion opportunities in higher education. The PROMISE AGEP has contributed to more than 50 publications and tools, including the PROMISE journal article published by Academic Medicine, and the PROMISE booklet highlighting 10 years of professional development workshops. These resources and others, such as PROMISE articles that have been published by the American Society for Engineering Education and an extension to the conversation on minority doctoral attrition by Council of Graduate Schools, have been used to guide other STEM diversity programs for graduate students at  schools such as Purdue and Cornell. The PROMISE AGEP also serves in advisory capacities for other AGEPs around the U.S.

The PROMISE MBK STEM+ Commitment

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/22/fact-sheet-my-brothers-keeper-%E2%80%93-two-years-expanding-opportunity-creating

100+ Presentations, and 500,000+ annual reach on social media

The PROMISE AGEP, along with the USM LSAMP, continue to commit to disseminating best practices to increase the pipeline and chart new pathways for underrepresented populations to have access to STEM careers. To date, promising practices from USM efforts to increase diversity in STEM have been shared in more than 100 presentations, both in the U.S. and abroad. Further, through social media avenues such as the PROMISE website, online access to the 2015 USM LSAMP Impact Report, PROMISE on Google+, and the PROMISE Director’s Twitter site, there have been more than 500,000 hits, views, and impressions. Additional social media sites that participate in significant dissemination include (but are not limited to) the general PROMISE Facebook page, the Facebook page for PROMISE at the University of Maryland College Park, the website for PROMISE at the University of Maryland Baltimore, the PROMISE Dissertation House page, the PROMISE Tumblr page, and PROMISE on YouTube.

The NSF USM PROMISE AGEP, along with the NSF USM LSAMP, will honor the commitment to contribute to the broadening participation efforts of the White House’s MBK STEM+ Entrepreneurship initiative with development and dissemination of best practices for inclusive STEM career access, preparation, retention, and advancement.

All images of and related to The White House are the property of https://www.whitehouse.gov/

The PROMISE AGEP appreciates working in partnership with programs such as the NIH Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program at UMBC and UMB, the Office of Graduate Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Maryland College Park, McNair programs, the Southern Regional Education Board’s Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, and other programs at NSF such as ADVANCE, CREST, and Engineering Research Centers.

Graduate students and Postdocs are invited to come to UMBC on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 at 2 PM for a seminar on developing a syllabus.  This seminar is part of the PROF-it (Professors-in-Training) series. Participants will learn how to develop a syllabus, manage time in the classroom, and plan content for the semester. Guest Facilitator: Dr. Linda Hodges, Director, UMBC Faculty Development Center.

• If you have a UMBC account, please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/35133
• If you don’t have a UMBC account, please post to the comment section below with your name, school, and department so that we’ll know that you are coming.

Dr. Linda Hodges teaches graduate students at UMBC about inspiring disciplinary thinking, August 2015.

• Understanding Graduate School – Panel of Graduate Students
  • Nopondo Esemoto (Chemistry)
  • Joshua Brown (Biochemistry – MD/PhD)
  • DeLauren McCauley (Chemistry)
  • Antione Taylor (Psychology)
  • Janae Baptiste (Chemistry)
  • Alex Vega (Chemistry, incoming 1^st Year)

11:30 a.m.

• Introduction: Dr. Janet C. Rutledge, Vice Provost of Graduate Education & Dean of the Graduate School
• Motivational Talk by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President, UMBC

Related articles

• President Obama Appoints UMBC President as Chair of National Education Commission (baltimore.cbslocal.com)

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/

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

The Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program at UMBC, and PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP (the National Science Foundation’s PROMISE AGEP – Maryland Transformation, AGEP-T) for the State of Maryland, proudly present Dr. Hélène Hodak, Scientific Editor, Journal of Molecular Biology, Elsevier Inc. on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015.

Dr. Hodak will be talking about writing for high impact journals. We’ve often heard the term “publish or perish.” Many people are afraid of that term, and many are nervous about the idea of needing to publish in order to have their work deemed worthy. The Elsevier journals are known for being high-impact, and they have a global reputation for showcasing the best work in science. They have offices in NY, Amsterdam, and London. People from all disciplines are invited to come to the workshop and use the content of this talk to learn more about how to think about publishing, and how to dismiss fear of the process. Dr. Hodak’s background and training hail from the following institutions: Yale University, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Regional Hospital Center of Lille, France, Université Lille 2 – Droit et Santé; France. You can read more about Dr. Hodak’s scientific contributions on ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Helene_Hodak2/citations

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Details for the talk:

• Friday, February 6, 2015
• 4:30 – 6:00 PM
• UMBC Campus, Public Policy Building, Room 206
• Afternoon refreshments will be served.

To RSVP/Register:  

• UMBC students/postdocs/faculty/staff: Login to your MyUMBC account. Click the green “I can attend” button at the bottom of the MyUMBC website for this event: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/29770. If you have logged into MyUMBC, and you don’t see the green “I can attend button,” then please be sure that “join” the PROMISE group.
• Visitors (Visitors from any school within the University System of Maryland and the region are welcome to attend.): Use the comment section below to let us know that you are coming. Please add your name, school/organization, and discipline, as applicable.

Photo Credit: http://www.chimit09.org/images/PUP01.jpg

Public Policy Building, UMBC, atrium hallway. Photo credit: http://www.appam.org/assets/1/7/publicPolicy.jpg

Directions, parking, and other information will be posted in the comments below.

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Why is Elsevier so important? Here are some of the latest stats from 2014:

Journal Impact Factor Highlights

Amsterdam, 14 August, 2014

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the highlights of its journal Impact Factor performance in 2013. According to the 2013 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) published by Thomson Reuters, Elsevier saw 61% of its journal Impact Factors increase from 2012 to 2013, well ahead of the aggregate across all other journals at 55%. Furthermore, 21% of Elsevier journals are in the top 10% of their subject category.

In 2013 Elsevier journals occupied the top position by Impact Factor in 61 subject categories, up from 58 in 2012. In addition, 14 Elsevier journals have risen to the top of their subject category and 40 journals have received an impact factor for the first time. Among these is Nano Energy, which published its first issue in 2012 and received an impressive first impact factor of 10.211.

- See more at: http://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/elsevier-announces-2013-journal-impact-factor-highlights#sthash.NtkiXGPK.dpuf

More about Elsevier: Elsevier Inc., 600 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.  ElsevierConnect,  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00222836.  Contact Dr. Hodak: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-molecular-biology/editorial-board/helene-hodak/

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Acknowledgements:

This workshop comes to UMBC through Dr. Michael Summers, and Ms. Justine Johnson of the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program. http://my.umbc.edu/groups/meyerhoffgrad/events/28224. Additional sponsors include: PROMISE AGEP, The Graduate School at UMBC, and the UMBC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.

About the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program

Funded by an NIH-MBRS Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD) grant, the Meyerhoff Fellows Program focuses on promoting cultural diversity in the biomedical sciences at the graduate level. Now in its 18th year, the program attracts students from such institutions as Duke, Emory, Stanford and the University of Delaware.
Read more>

All graduate students attending institutions within the University System of Maryland are invited to attend a Special Saturday Success Breakfast Seminar on Public Speaking:

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Keys to Public Speaking: Prepare for Your Upcoming Presentation.

UMBC COMMONS, Room 331

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Speaker: Scott Morgan

Scott Morgan has been teaching communication skills for 20 years. His clients include the National Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic, Merck, NASA, EPA, City of Hope Cancer Center, and several universities: Harvard Medical School, UNC Chapel Hill, Cornell, Maryland, Ohio State, Minnesota, Duke, Nebraska and NC State University, and Texas A&M. He has 25 years of broadcast experience and teaches media and communication strategy to many think tanks in the Washington DC area. Specifically, as a Senior Associate with the Abshire Inamori Leadership Academy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (http://csis.org/expert/scott-morgan). Scott graduated with honors from the University of California, Davis and authored the book Speaking about Science published by Cambridge University Press.

The Morgan Group has been training graduate students and postdocs in Maryland for more than 10 years.

Please come in preparation for your presentations at upcoming local meetings such as the various graduate research conferences, and the PROMISE Research Symposium.

Breakfast refreshments will be served. Please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/28691 (UMBC graduate students, staff, postdocs, faculty). Participants from other universities may register as a comment to this post with your name and institution.

On Tuesday, January 20, 2015, Dr. Janet Rutledge, Dean of the Graduate School at UMBC, addressed the participants of the Winter 2015 Dissertation House. Dr. Rutledge, a national leader in graduate education, discussed the “process” of obtaining the PhD. She stated that the papers that were being written in high school or during undergraduate studies were generally “discovery papers,” or introductions to research. Graduate students are expected to learn the process of doing research in the discipline: gather background information, find out what others have done, learn what has worked well in the past and what didn’t work, and make strides toward possible solutions.

Dean Rutledge also discussed the need to develop skills for becoming an independent scholar, and the need to engage in scholarly activities outside of the classroom and the laboratory. She acknowledged that it can be difficult to develop a sense of scholarly independence, and said, “No one will lower your grade if you don’t submit to a conference.” Following this statement, the dean encouraged the graduate students to participate in their professional societies and begin to develop expert knowledge by connecting with others in the field. She noted that these activities may not necessarily be driven by others, and that students need plans of action to be sure that they are actively engaged in external academic activities that will be of benefit to their knowledge base, scholarly network, and future careers.

Dr. Rutledge’s research covered a mathematical model for speech using low bit-rate coding. In addition to being Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School, she is on the faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.