COEIT

UMBC is among more than 120 U.S. engineering programs leading a transformative movement in engineering education announced at the White House today.In a letter presented to President Barack Obama, UMBC and peer institutions committed to establish special educational programs designed to prepare undergraduates to solve “Grand Challenges.” These challenges are complex yet achievable goals to improve national and international health, security (including cybersecurity), sustainability, and quality of life in the 21st century.Together, the schools plan to graduate more than 20,000 formally recognized “Grand Challenge Engineers” over the next decade.Dean Julia Ross, of UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (pictured below), will represent UMBC at a special meeting of… Continue Reading UMBC Participates in National Engineering Education Initiative Announced at White House

Richard Forno was interviewed by the Associated Press about cyber attacks on the rise in Utah. “Utah state officials have seen what they describe as a sharp uptick in attempts to hack into state computers in the last two years, and they think it related to the NSA data center south of Salt Lake City,” wrote the Associated Press. “Maybe these hackers are thinking: ‘If we can attack state systems, we can get info that NSA isn’t releasing,” said Richard Forno. Where does this leave Utah? Forno and Tim Junio, a cybersecurity researcher at Stanford University, say that the NSA data center may interest hackers… Continue Reading Richard Forno on Cyber Attacks on State Facilities

Richard Forno, assistant director for UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity, made an appearance on All Sides With Ann Fisher, a public radio program broadcast out of Columbus, Ohio to discuss cybersecurity and corporate accountability. Mandy Trimble was sitting in for Fisher. Guests along with Forno were: Joseph Marks, a cybersecurity reporter for Politico Pro, and Dakota Rudesill, an assistant professor of law at the Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University. Trimble posed the question to Forno, should we implement corporate accountability in the event of cybersecurity breaches. Forno said, there is the “practicality of accountability,” because “problems like this… Continue Reading Richard Forno on Cybersecurity and Government Accountability

UMBC hackers have been participating in hackathons for a year. Their latest victory was in Michigan. Michael Bishoff and Sekar Kulandaivel won third place at MHacks, a competitive 1000 student hackathon at the University of Michigan. Bishoff says, “We are proud to be representing UMBC at all of the hackathons that we attend and we are definitely giving our school a good reputation in the tech community.” Kulandaivel and Bishoff created a haptic feedback suit that makes virtual reality more immersive. To do this, they created 12 vibrating modules that are placed on the user’s arms, legs, chest, and head. When various events… Continue Reading UMBC Hackers to Go to Seoul

Michele Williams, human-centered computing PhD candidate, unveiled the Smart Scarf, at at the Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction at Stanford University and MIT’s Technology Review picked up on it. Williams had the opportunity to work on the scarf as part of her internship with Microsoft Research. The current prototype—which the researchers made after consulting with people with autism and hearing and visual disabilities—is a flexible laser-cut garment made of hexagons of industrial felt overlaid with conductive copper taffeta. Some of the modules can heat up, while others can vibrate. All the modules are controlled by one master module that is also responsible for… Continue Reading Michele Williams Unveils Smart Scarf

Think of the best online master’s in computer information technology and what comes to mind? Why UMBC of course. The program debuted at number 19 in 2014 on the Best Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs.  This year, the program was ranked number 11.  US News describes this list as “These are the best online master’s in computer information technology programs, based on factors such as admissions selectivity, faculty credentials and academic and career support services offered to students”. The department of Information Systems, prepares students to be successful in careers in Information Technology industry and academia. Examples of areas of… Continue Reading U.S. News Gives a Nod to the Department of Information Systems

CSEE’s Marie desJardins recently collaborated with a group of Howard County parents and teachers to create HowGirlsCode, an educational program that “educates and inspires young girls to pursue computer related activities, courses, and careers.” The program–originally called Computer Mania Club–is based out of Fulton Elementary School. Over the course of ten weeks, students meet for weekly two-hour sessions, working on projects such as Lego Mindstorm robots and 3D printing. Students also work with programming tools such as MIT’s Scratch program. The curriculum for the program is largely based off of materials from the Code.org website. UMBC alumna Katie Egan and her husband Kent Malwitz… Continue Reading Marie desJardins Collaborates with Howard County Parents and Teachers for HowGirlsCode

CSEE Professor Anupam Joshi has been named an IEEE Fellow, recognized for his for contributions to security, privacy and data management in mobile and pervasive systems. This designation is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors on individuals with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement. No more than 0.1% of the total IEEE voting membership can be selected in a year. Dr. Joshi joined UMBC’s faculty in 1998 and currently is the Oros Family Professor of Technology… Continue Reading Anupam Joshi named an IEEE Fellow