At the door of opportunity. PROMISE Students from UMBC at the Student Services Center at UMES.

Students also had a chance to talk with Dr. T. Sean Vasaitis, an assistant professor at UMES, and former PROMISE Peer Mentor from UMB. We extend thanks to Dr. Jennifer Keane-Dawes, Dean of the Graduate School at UMES for her invitation and hospitality, and we thank Dr. Lakeisha L. Harris, for her logistics leadership. Congratulations to all of the poster and oral presentation winners, and to the faculty who won special awards.

Luncheon Photo with President Bell. Pictured, L-R (graduate students from UMBC unless otherwise noted): Eric Corbett (Human-Centered Computing), Miguel Nino (Instructional Systems Design), DeLauren McCauley (Chemistry), Nanda Cortes (Biology), Dr. Jennifer Keane-Dawes (Dean of the Graduate School, UMES), DR. JULIETTE BELL (PRESIDENT, UMES), Dr. Renetta Tull (Assoc. Vice Provost/PROMISE Dir.), Lois Oviawe (Economic Policy Analysis), Nebechi Osia (Environmental Engineering), and Kyle Edwards (Applied Sociology). 

Related articles

• Happy 10th Birthday PROMISE! From April 1, 2003 to Today: A Message from the Director (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• Save these Spring/Summer 2013 dates! May 4: Cookout; July 9-12: Dissertation House; August 16-17: SSI (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• Dr. Portia Taylor (CMU, QoLT, PROMISE DH Alum) talks @UMBC about motion sensors & rehabilitation: April 10, 2013 (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)

All are invited to attend Dr. Taylor’s lecture. Dr. Taylor is an IT Fellow at the Social Security Administration, and is a new Adjunct Assistant Professor in Information Systems at UMBC.

Related Articles:

• Are you in Pittsburgh? Come to our Dissertation House Seminars @CarnegieMellon 3/27 & 3/28
• Next full-scale Dissertation House at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, March 26-28, 2012

Today, I celebrate 10 years as the Director of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. For those of you who remember my first day at UMBC, I started out in an office on the 5th floor of the Administration Building. I am so happy that so many of you who were students then, have gone on to finish your master’s and doctoral degrees. You are leaders, professors, directors of programs, you have built families, garnered hosts of friends, and you have your own mentees. As I move into the 10th year as your director, I hope to be able to continue to serve you well and help you to reach your dreams.

Please mark Saturday, August 17, 2013 on your calendars. We will be celebrating our PROMISE growth at the 2013 Summer Success Institute (SSI) on UMB’s campus. We invite all students, alumni, and friends to join us for the celebration! Please plan to join us! I would love to see you there!

The pictures below from that first year include two former peer mentors who are no longer with us, the late Jessica Soto Perez (pink sweater), and in the second picture, the late Dr. Angela Grant (center). Jessica was a Peer Mentor (Chemical Engineering) at UMBC, and Angela was a Peer Mentor (Math)  at UMCP. Current students: remember that you are here and alive, so you can finish, you can continue toward that goal! It remains my honor to serve you.

Very sincerely,

Renetta Tull

First PROMISE Peer Mentors at UMBC

First PROMISE website, 2003

Please save the following dates for Spring and Summer 2013:

• SATURDAY, May 4, 2013: Annual PROMISE Friends and Family & Celebration of Graduates Cookout 

Location:
High Ridge Park
10100 Superior Ave
Laurel, MD 20723

1:00 – 4:00 PM

All PROMISE participants who are graduating with masters or doctoral degrees from any school within the University System of Maryland will be celebrated. If you are graduating this May or August, please send your name, school, department, and degree to promisestaff@gmail.com. (Graduates will be recognized at 3PM.) Family and friends are invited to celebrate with you. This cookout is for graduate students from all disciplines, part-time/full-time, and at all levels (1st year graduate student to PhD candidate.) Faculty, postdocs, alumni, staff, plus your family and friends are invited. This event is free, but please register so that we can have an accurate count and can use our funds wisely.

Please register for the cookout here: http://promisecookout2013.eventbrite.com/

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SAVE THE DATES! More information on the events below will be posted soon!

• June 12, 2013: “Introduction to the PMP (Project Management Professional – Leadership Training): Credentials and Certification”
  • Special guest facilitator: Dr. Don Engel, UMBC’s Assistant Vice President for Research
  • RSVP: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/17433

• July 9-12, 2013: Dissertation House at UMBC with Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale
  • Also during this week on the 3rd floor of the Commons at UMBC:
    • Writing for Publication
    • Postdoctoral Writing Suite (with Dr. Judith Pollack)
    • Practice for the PMP Exam (with Dr. Don Engel)
  • Dissertation House at UMCP TBA

More information about applying for the 2013 Dissertation House at UMBC can be found here: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/save-the-date-summer-dissertation-house-july-9-12-2013-umbc/

• July 2013: SUMMER HORIZONS (Preparation for Graduate School Workshops) – TBA

Hosted by PROMISE, The Graduate School at UMBC, and the Graduate Meyerhoff Fellows Program

• August 16-17: PROMISE SUMMER SUCCESS INSTITUTE (SSI)

Hosted by UMB (University of Maryland, Baltimore – The Founding Campus)
SMC Campus Center
621 W. Lombard St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

Graduate students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Professionals from any school within the USM are invited to attend.  An Eventbrite RSVP invitation page will be posted soon. Remembering SSI from past years:

SSI 2012

SSI 2011 (includes links to SSI events from 2003 to 2011.) 

Related articles

• April 2013 Seminars: 1) April 3: “Career Paths for Graduate Students” @ UMBC, 2) April 26: “Dissertation Proposals” @ College Park (promisesuccessseminars.wordpress.com)

Deadline Apr. 15, 2013

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The following message comes from Dr. Jessie DeAro, national Program Director at the National Science Foundation for all of the AGEPs in the US.  (PROMISE is Maryland’s AGEP, one of more than 20 AGEPs nation-wide.)

______________________________________________________

Calling Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Graduate Students:

Have you ever thought of ways to improve STEM graduate education? Do you have a creative idea regarding graduate training? If so, NSF wants to hear from you!

The National Science Foundation Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge is calling for entries from currently enrolled STEM graduate students and teams. They are invited to submit innovative ideas to prepare today’s graduate students for tomorrow’s opportunities and challenges. Entries are solicited for ideas with the potential to improve graduate education and professional development. Ideas can be directed toward students, faculty, departments, institutions, professional societies, and/or federal agencies. Winning ideas will be shared widely and winners will receive prizes between $1000 and $3000.

FROM THE WEBSITE:

Be sure to include the following elements in your submission:

1. The title of your submission (150 characters or less)
2. The issue in graduate education you wish to address
3. Your solution or idea
4. How your idea will change graduate education

 DETAILS:

• Who: Currently enrolled STEM graduate students (see additional eligibility criteria) [PROMISE note: YES, Social Sciences and STEM Education research areas are eligible. Students must be U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents. See pages 6-11 in the guide for eligible disciplines.]
• What: A 1000 to 1500 word submission responding to this challenge
• Where: Submission made to https://production.skild.com/skild2/NSF-EdChallenge/loginPage.action
• When: Entries must be submitted by 11:59PM Pacific Time on April 15, 2013

• For more information and to enter the challenge, go to www.nsf.gov/gradchallenge/
• Entry deadline is April 15^th! Make your voice heard on STEM graduate education!
• Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter  @GradEdChallenge
• Send questions to GradChallenge@NSF.gov

Symposium: March 7, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 am)

LOCATION: Southern Management Corporation Campus Center and University of Maryland School of Nursing

621 W. Lombard St. Baltimore, MD 21201

Directions: http://www.umaryland.edu/smccampuscenter/building/index.html

The main speaker for this event wrote the book: “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman from Baltimore. Her cells were used, without her knowledge, for cloning, gene mapping, and vaccines. Her story was brought to the forefront by Rebecca Skloot in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” 

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Journalist Sheryl McCarthy talks with Author and Bioethicist Harriet Washington in this video:

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Author Rebecca Skloot talks about Henrietta Lacks’ cells and science in this video:

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Former PROMISE Peer Mentor, Dr. Jocelyn Reader, postdoctoral fellow at the Greenbaum Cancer Center, will meet us for breakfast at 7:30 AM at UMB prior to the seminar. Our office and representatives from PROMISE at UMB will post any additional information on this thread. Please register for your free ticket, and write a short post below to let us know that you plan to attend.

Our thanks to Dr. Erin Golembewski, Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School at UMB, organizer of the PROMISE “meet-up” for this event.

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PROMISE teachable moments:

All researchers working with human or animal subjects should have CITI certification and be well versed in responsible conduct of research.  Know the rules, maintain ethics, and be a responsible researcher. Don’t ever be swayed by any lure of fame or fortune that will compromise your integrity.

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Breakfast Seminar: 

“Completing Your Master’s Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation”

Speaker: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale (PROMISE Dissertation Coach, The Dissertation House)

10AM -12 Noon

RSVP: UMBC’s graduate students are asked to RSVP on MyUMBC here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/16380

Students from other campuses are asked to RSVP as a comment for this post.

Join the blog for The Dissertation House today! http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/winter-2013-challenge/.  Any student from any school may join.

These are free activities.

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Lunch Seminar:

“Radio Research” with Barrett Whitener (Professional Voice-over artist, PROMISE Public Speaking Facilitator)
Barrett Whitener returns once again to work with graduate students on public peaking skills. In this seminar, you will learn how to give a synopsis of your work to an audience, WITHOUT a powerpoint presentation. You will be coached to present your work to an audience as if you were being interviewed on the radio.  This seminar debuted at one of the first PROMISE Summer Success Institutes at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia. It was very popular, and we are able to bring it back this year. Whitener conducted our “Confident Public Speaking” seminar in 2012. Graduate students from all disciplines are invited to attend this Feb. 23, 2013 Special Saturday Success Seminar.  UMBC’s graduate students are asked to RSVP on MyUMBC here:

http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/16381

We’re also co-sponsoring:

“Not Just the Tenure Track” with UMBC’s Graduate Student Chapter of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE-Grads), Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, 4:30 PM, UMBC AOK Library, 7th Floor.

The Dissertation House: January 22-25, 2013

(Deadline: 12/14/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/winter-dissertation-house-coming-january-22-25-2013/

Head Coach: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale

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Writing for Publication: January 22 – 23, 2013

(Deadline 12/19/12)

http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/new-initiative-writing-for-publication-january-22-23-2013-umbc/

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Patricia Young

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Postdoctoral Writing Suite: January 25, 2013

http://my.umbc.edu/groups/postdocs/events/15297

(Postdocs from other campuses may RSVP by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “Postdoctoral Writing Suite.”

Mentor-Coach: Dr. Judith Pollack

Graduate students and postdocs from UMBC will receive primary consideration for the slots.  Students from all PROMISE campuses may apply to participate, and will be considered if there are slots available.  UMBC graduate students and postdocs, and UMBC alumni (at any level, e.g, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) will be chosen first. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests that faculty make on behalf of their students.

Related articles

• Winter Dissertation House – Coming January 22-25, 2013 (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)
• New Initiative: Writing For Publication – January 22-23, 2013 @ UMBC (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)

This seminar is brought to you by popular demand. Students who came to the seminar last year reported feeling more relaxed after Dr. Deluty’s seminar. Our evaluations, and our research show that graduate students don’t fully utilize services on campus that assist with reducing stress, but that they enjoy coming to seminars and workshops that have a welcoming atmosphere to talk about topics of stress and anxiety. Dr. Deluty’s schedule is very busy, but he is taking time out of his week to spend time with our graduate students. Please take advantage of this special opportunity. Light refreshments will be served. This event is open to all graduate students and their guests.

UMBC students, please RSVP on MyUMBC: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/15090.

Directions: http://promisesuccessseminars.wordpress.com/directions-to-campuses/

Graduate students from other campuses may RSVP by writing in the comments below.

About Dr. Deluty: http://www.umbc.edu/psyc/personal/deluty/, http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2010/09/real-people-profiles-robert-h-deluty.html

RELATED ARTICLE FROM THE DISSERTATION HOUSE:

SLEEP! It’s like “my precious”

Inspired by PROMISE Alum Dr. Sophoria Westmoreland during her days in the PROMISE Dissertation House as a graduate student at UMCP. Dr. Westmoreland is now on the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy, serving as Research Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering.