Mobile Touch and Gesture Interaction for Children

This study seeks to determine what differences lie in adults and children’s touch interactions with mobile devices. The overall goal is to provide research findings that will help application developers create better touch user interfaces for children.

• Hourly paid position
• Begins fairly soon (this Fall) with potential to be extended for the Spring semester
• Time commitments would vary, but an average of 10 hours a week is expected

Are you looking to launch your Information Technology career? If so, then UPS is the place for you! Once known as a trucking company. UPS is now recognized as a technology company with trucks and is poised for success. UPS Information Services, a leader in information technology, is currently seeking career-minded individuals to join our team. If you are highly motivated with a degree in Computer Science or related discipline, then UPS is a great place for you to start your career. See attached flyer for details.

Join the CWIT Scholars and Affiliates to learn more about the internships and research projects of nine members of our CWIT Community. Dinner will be served following the conclusion of the presentations.

Presetations:

Jessica Izumi (Chemical Engineering) Investigating the relationship between microstructure and charge transport in P3HT films. Research. During the summer of 2011, I participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the Georgia Institute of Technology where I investigated how changing the crystallinity of poly3hexylthiophene films affected their mobility. To examine the various structures of each film, the film processing method was changed as well as the semiconductor dielectric interface. In addition, regioregularity and the testing material was also changed.

Lilian Johnson (Chemical Engineering). Nanofluidics of Polymer Chains Under Confinement. Research. Nanofluidic devices can be used to manipulate and transport individual biomolecules, typically, single strands of DNA.  A device under study at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a nanofluidic staircase which consists of an array of nanoslits arranged in steps.  Experimental observations show that a DNA molecule will diffuse down the staircase in an effectively one-dimensional path.  The molecular dynamics simulator LAMMPS was used to simulate the behavior of a DNA molecule in the staircase.  The model will be evaluated for its ability to correspond to experimental data and to elucidate the behavior of the polymer in various levels of confinement.

Sam Celmer (Chemical Engineering). Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center Internship An introduction of the work I performed at Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center for two years.  Will contain brief descriptions of what I worked on, what I learned and my favorite part of working with the government.  It will also contain a brief description of the organization itself, what I did after I stopped working there and hopefully my plans to continue to work there.
   
Rachel Sweeton (Computer Science) Hacking the Network Internship. During my internship at SAIC in the summer of 2011, I worked with a group to research different ways to hack 2G mobile phones and then looked into intercepting phone calls using a modified femtocell. My presentation will briefly discuss this project and our findings.

Amy Ciavolino (Computer Science). Getting a cool Job: A How-To Guide Professional Development. Awesome jobs are hard to find, and applying to them can be a little intimidating, but once you know where to start, it gets a lot easier. Since I just looked for and found exactly the job I wanted, I'll share the tips and tricks I picked up along the way.

Morgan Madeira (Computer Science). The Perks of Being a Google Intern. Internship. I will talk about my internship at Google in Kirkland, WA during the summer of 2011. My talk will include details about applying for the position, the BOLD program, my project, and life as a Googler.
   
Alec Pulianas (Computer Engineering). Access MT: A Multi-touch Tabletop Built with Accessibility in Mind. Research AccessMT is a an accessible multi-touch table designed with accessibility in mind. AccessMT is a self-contained hardware prototype consisting of a projector, computer, infrared lights, and a modified camera. Users can interact with AccessMT using simple touches, gestures, and tagged objects. Using the open source software packages Community Core Vision and BSQSimulator, we are able to track a user’s fingers and translate each of them into touch events. AccessMT builds upon prior multi-touch tables, but was designed to enable it to be easily adapted for use by people with disabilities. This presentation describes the challenges we’ve encountered and overcome in developing this new prototype. Research is being conducted in UMBC’s Department of Information Systems with Dr. Shaun Kane.

Emily Scheerer (Computer Science). Booz Allen Hamilton Internship Report InternshipThis presentation reports my learning experience during the course of a summer internship at Booz Allen Hamilton, during which I worked as part of the team building an automated testing capability for the E-Space project enabling repeatable, autonomous testing with a deep regression suite. In addition, I obtained Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) certifications, and will be discussing the benefits of obtaining these certifications.

Shreya Mohan (Information Systems) Mobile Touch and Gesture Interactions for Children. Research With the popularity of mobile devices increasing, their respective audiences are expanding as well. Many of today's mobile devices require touch input and are designed primarily for adults. However, recently, it's been seen that children are starting to use these devices more- be it cell phones, tablets, or etc. Children have a variety of limitations that can affect their user experience with touchscreens. This study seeks to determine what differences lie in adults and children's touch interactions with mobile devices. The overall goal is to provide research findings that will help application developers create better touch user interfaces for children. Research is being conducted in UMBC’s Department of Information Systems with Dr. Lisa Anthony.

CWIT is looking for one or two undergraduate students to work on a grant funded project called Computing Education for the 21st Century-Maryland. We would like someone to begin immediately and continue through the summer and beyond if interested. The position will assist with implementing a survey of high school computer science teachers in May and June and working on data analysis. The RA will also assist with planning two events for high school computer science teachers, faculty, and administrators.

We are looking for applicants who can work independently and as part of a team; good problem solvers; willing to learn about survey research. Website design skills and online survey experience a plus!

Contactand send your resume to Dr. Susan Martin, susan@umbc.edu,  by Wednesday April 18th if you are interested.

Volunteer to help staff the UMBC booth with interactive ITE activities at the U.S. Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC on Sunday, April 29th! This is the first year UMBC will have our own booth there, so COEIT student organizations will be working together to staff the booth on Sunday, April 29th from 10am-4pm. Volunteers will do hands-on-activities with hundreds of children who are at the festival! http://www.usasciencefestival.org/

Round trip van transportation will be provided from UMBC and lunch will be provided. You have the option of volunteering the entire time, or working at the booth for half the time and spending the other half perusing the hundreds of booths at the fair. Many large and small ITE companies, schools, and organizations will be present, so it would be a great networking opportunity. Invite your ITE friends & CWIT Affiliates as well!

More details are forthcoming. If you are interested in volunteering, email me, Susan Martin  susan@umbc.edu,  so that I can add you to the list of volunteers for Sunday from 10 am-4 pm, and get more details out to you after the planning meeting next week.

Curious what all the buzz is about doing undergraduate research?

Interested in learning more about the process?

Stop by URCAD and see what other students have been doing in their undergraduate research projects. More nutrituous than pizza!

All CWIT Affiliates are invited to the annual end of year picnic sponsored by the CWIT Affiliates Program and the CWIT Parents organization (PWIT). This year's picnic will feature food from QDoba, games, and a chance to meet up with other Affiliates, Scholars, and CWIT alumni. FREE, all Affiliates are welcome! Just RSVP by hitting the green "I can attend" button on the event page below.