Congratulations to graduating seniorsThomas Christovich andTimothy Burke, who were awarded Student Leadership Awards by the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department. The pair was recognized for this honor at yesterday's Pre-commencement Breakfast & Awards Reception.

A Computer Engineering graduate, Thomas Christovich (pictured left) has been part of UMBC's Amateur Radio Club for four years, first as president (2009-2011), and more recently as treasurer (2011-2012).  "Amateur Radio is a good opportunity to play with electronics and understand a little more about how radio works," says Christovich, who especially enjoyed competing in "good-natured" contests like the School Club Round Up, where the goal is to communicate with as many schools across the country as possible. Christovich was also active in athletics, playing intramural flag football every semester.

After graduation, Christovich is embarking on an across-country road trip with some friends–his "last hurrah" before he starts working full-time in Columbia.They plan to visit landmarks like Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Yosemite as they make their way to the West Coast for a stop in San Francisco.

As he says goodbye to UMBC, Christovich's advice to other Computer Engineering graduates is to not be afraid to ask for help. "The Computer Engineering department has some of the most approachable professors I have ever known and they are always willing to help people that ask," he says. His second bit of advice is to get to know your classmates. There's nothing more helpful, he explains, than having a friend help you work through a problem from a different perspective.

A Computer Science graduate, Timothy Burke (pictured right) is a Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) Scholars in Information Technology and Engineering (SITE) Scholar, a tutor in the Computer Science Help Center, and a peer mentor.

"Being involved with the CWIT community was an immeasurable benefit to me during my time at UMBC," says Burke, who transferred to UMBC from CCBC Catonsville and found a network of support within the CWIT community. Through CWIT, Burke volunteered with First Lego League and the USA Science and Engineering Festival. Thanks to relationships fostered by CWIT, Burke  was part of the CSEE Department Promotion and Tenure Committee for the 2010-2011 academic year and participated in interviews for new faculty.

Burke also finds his time as a tutor especially valuable. "I greatly enjoyed my time tutoring other students in the Computer Science Help Center–it was great fun helping others learn and understand what they are studying," he explains. "That experience left a strong impression on me and has given me a desire to teach in the future."

After graduation, Burke will begin a full-time position as a software engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. In the Fall, he will begin pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer Science at UMBC. Studying under Dr. Penny Rheingans, Burke's research will focus on Data Visualization and Human Computer Interaction.

Burke's advice to current Computer Science undergraduates includes the old standbys–like start your assignments sooner and ask for help when you need it–paired with a few specific pearls of wisdom: "Go sit by a lake when faced with obscure error codes," "If a job offer comes and you are told you will be working on 'legacy applications,' do not simply walk away, RUN", "Take a class that is way, way out of the major for a change of pace" (in his case HIST 387: Medicine and Healthcare in China), and "Find a slightly smarter friend to take Algorithms with."

Meet Yu Wang, a graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in Computer Science. Originally from China, Yu came to UMBC in 2009 to study for her Master's in Computer Science. She's part of UMBC's VANGOGH research lab and the UMBC High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF). Once she graduates, Yu hopes to one day work in a research position at the R&D group of the Weta Digital visual effects studio in Wellington, New Zealand.

Click here to learn more about Yu and to hear what she has to say about UMBC.

Computer Science PhD Dissertation Proposal

Online Unsupervised Coreference Resolution for
Semi-Structured, Heterogeneous Data

Jennifer Alexander Sleeman

1:00pm Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 325b ITE, UMBC

Coreference resolution, determining when an instance represents a real world entity, has been widely researched in multiple domains. Online coreference resolution that supports heterogeneous data is not as well researched though these aspects of coreference resolution are incredibly important. With the complexities of computing environments today, a more flexible coreference resolution algorithm is required to support data that is processed over time rather than all at once. We present an online unsupervised coreference resolution framework for heterogeneous semi-structured data. We describe a two phase clustering model that is both flexible and distributable. We also describe a multi-dimensional attribute model that will support robust schema mappings. As part of this framework we propose a way to perform instance consolidation that will improve recall measures by addressing data spareness. We also outline how our framework will support ’cold start' knowledge base population.

Committee: Professors Tim Finin (chair), Anupam Joshi, Charles Nicholas, Tim Oates, Yun Peng, and Dr. Rafael Alonso (SAIC)

Forbes ranked metropolitan areas on increased tech-related jobs based on their employment growth in the sectors most identified with the high-tech economy and STEM. Among the top five are DC at #2 and Baltimore at #5.

• No. 2: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
  Amid a surge in government spending, the capital area has enjoyed 20.6% growth in tech employment since 2001 and 20.8% growth in STEM jobs. Over the past two years, employment in both categories expanded about 4%. The Washington area boasts the second-highest proportion of tech and STEM jobs among the cities we surveyed, at 2.9 and 2.2 times the national average, respectively. There is a broadness to the tech economy in the greater D.C. area; as the Valley has become dominated by trends in web fashion, the Washington tech complex include substantial employment in such fields as computer systems design, custom programming, and private-sector research and development.




• No. 5: Baltimore-Towson, MD
  The Baltimore metro area has benefited from the expansion in federal spending, logging 38.8% growth in tech jobs over the past 10 years and 17.2% growth in STEM.

Forbes ranked metropolitan areas on increased tech-related jobs based on their employment growth in the sectors most identified with the high-tech economy and STEM. Among the top five are DC at #2 and Baltimore at #5.

• No. 2: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
  Amid a surge in government spending, the capital area has enjoyed 20.6% growth in tech employment since 2001 and 20.8% growth in STEM jobs. Over the past two years, employment in both categories expanded about 4%. The Washington area boasts the second-highest proportion of tech and STEM jobs among the cities we surveyed, at 2.9 and 2.2 times the national average, respectively. There is a broadness to the tech economy in the greater D.C. area; as the Valley has become dominated by trends in web fashion, the Washington tech complex include substantial employment in such fields as computer systems design, custom programming, and private-sector research and development.




• No. 5: Baltimore-Towson, MD
  The Baltimore metro area has benefited from the expansion in federal spending, logging 38.8% growth in tech jobs over the past 10 years and 17.2% growth in STEM.

Raytheon, a defense contractor and electronics company specializing in defense, homeland security, and mission systems integration and support services, is looking for a Software Engineering Intern to work on a NASA program involving the maintenance and evolution of the EOSDIS ECS System. Currently operational at three NASA Data Centers, the ECS system ingests, distributes, and stores on-line earth science data.

Proficiency in JAVA in a Linux or UNIX development environment is required, along with good communication skills and the ability to work in a structured team environment with other software engineers. Experience with shell scripting, Perl, C++, and some experience with database applications is desired, but not required.

The paid position is only open to rising Seniors majoring in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Mathematics who have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher. The intern will need to obtain a government security clearance.

For more information, click here.

To apply for the internship, click here.

Raytheon, a defense contractor and electronics company specializing in defense, homeland security, and mission systems integration and support services, is looking for a Software Engineering Intern to work on a NASA program involving the maintenance and evolution of the EOSDIS ECS System. Currently operational at three NASA Data Centers, the ECS system ingests, distributes, and stores on-line earth science data.

Proficiency in JAVA in a Linux or UNIX development environment is required, along with good communication skills and the ability to work in a structured team environment with other software engineers. Experience with shell scripting, Perl, C++, and some experience with database applications is desired, but not required.

The paid position is only open to rising Seniors majoring in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Mathematics who have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher. The intern will need to obtain a government security clearance.

For more information, click here.

To apply for the internship, click here.

TechGuard Security, a very local (so local, in fact, that it's on campus) company dedicated to addressing National Cyber Defense initiatives and U.S. Critical Infrastructure Security is seeking a Web Developer Intern and Cyber Security-Malware Intern for the summer or fall. Both positions are paid.

The Web Developer Intern will be part of a project team that will design, develop, and test dynamic web pages for cyber security related web applications. Knowledge of HTML, Flex, JavaScript, JQuery, and Java is expected. The position will provide the intern with experience with AJAX, JSON, Google GSON, and XML, while exposing him/her to cyber security fundamentals like TCP/IP networking, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.

The Cyber Security-Malware Intern will research, investigate, analyze, validate, and determine the effects of discovered malware. Some knowledge in computer programming, Information Security, and Network Security is expected.

Visit UMBCworks to apply for the positions. For more information, click here.

TechGuard Security, a very local (so local, in fact, that it's on campus) company dedicated to addressing National Cyber Defense initiatives and U.S. Critical Infrastructure Security is seeking a Web Developer Intern and Cyber Security-Malware Intern for the summer or fall. Both positions are paid.

The Web Developer Intern will be part of a project team that will design, develop, and test dynamic web pages for cyber security related web applications. Knowledge of HTML, Flex, JavaScript, JQuery, and Java is expected. The position will provide the intern with experience with AJAX, JSON, Google GSON, and XML, while exposing him/her to cyber security fundamentals like TCP/IP networking, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.

The Cyber Security-Malware Intern will research, investigate, analyze, validate, and determine the effects of discovered malware. Some knowledge in computer programming, Information Security, and Network Security is expected.

Visit UMBCworks to apply for the positions. For more information, click here.

It will be a busy summer for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering professor Hillol Kargupta, who has been invited to speak at three international conferences on his research in data mining.

The first, from June 4-6, is the 3^rd International Conference on Sensor Systems and Software to be held in Lisbon, Portugal. Dubbed S-CUBE 2012 for short, the conference aspires to be a venue to “address the research challenges facing system development and software support for wireless sensor network-based systems that have the potential to impact society in many ways,” says the website.

As the keynote speaker, Dr. Kargupta will discuss the possibilities of wirelessly harnessing data from vehicles. Features of the talk include an overview of the market, emerging product-types, core technical challenges, and a description of how advanced data analysis has helped create new and innovative, commercially successful products.The talk reflects the work he’s been doing at Agnik, a Columbia-based data analytics company for distributed, mobile, and embedded environments that Dr. Kargupta co-founded.

From August 1-3, Dr. Kargupta will speak at the 36^th Annual Conference of the German Classification Society in Hildesheim, Germany. This year, Dr. Kargupta joins nine other confirmed speakers from around the world, who will speak on topics ranging from Data Analysis to Machine Learning to Knowledge Discovery. His talk will explore distributed data stream mining from sensor networks and discuss algorithms and data mining applications in embedded machine-to-machine wireless networks.

Dr. Kargupta closes his international tour with a stop at the Sixth International Workshop on Knowledge Discovery from Sensor Data (Sensor-KDD ’12) in Beijing, China. One of four invited speakers, Dr. Kargupta joins Dr. Ashok N. Srivastava of the NASA Ames Research Center, Dr. Ian Davidson, a professor of Computer Science at UC: Davis, and Dr. Dr. Ralf Birken, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University.