Recent News & Accomplishments
2015
Elissa Redmiles, an accomplished PhD student here at the University of Maryland, is working on getting more women into Computer Science.
Elissa Redmiles may have started in Chemistry, but she found a home in the Computer Science Department. After taking CMSC131, she made the switch. Not long after, she became a TA for the class, which started her on her path to focusing on Computer Science Education. The following summer, she became an instructor at the Digital Media Academy, where she taught Java programming, web design, and mobile app development. Working with Dr. Jan Plane as she progressed through her major, she helped launch the Maryland Center for Women in Computing. Elissa and a team of undergraduate students (Allie... read more
Like many undergraduates who have successfully found an internship, Joan Zhang knows first-hand how stressful a technical interview, during which employers directly assess an applicant’s practical skills and knowledge, can be. The junior computer science major worked for a small company last summer and plans to work again this summer, but wants to help others snag similar opportunities. “I felt really lost going through the interview process and I figured there should be a more convenient way for students like me to get in touch with students who can help,” Zhang says. To remedy the problem,... read more
The Maryland Cybersecurity Center Hosts a Cybersecurity Awareness Workshop.
On Saturday, February 28th, the Maryland Cybersecurity Center hosted the 5th Cybersecurity Awareness Workshop. The event is an interactive learning and mentoring experience for middle school girls. This year, 70 girls learned about internet privacy, code breaking, and even lock picking, all to give them more confidence about the internet and technology in general. The girls were led through the various activities by undergrad volunteers, many of whom were female STEM majors. Some of the volunteers worked the event because they needed volunteer hours, while others, like freshman Computer... read more
For those of you keeping score at home, Matthew Bender prefers Vim over Emacs. As for his favorite flavor of Linux, Bender says he uses Ubuntu. And predictably, his shell of choice is Bash. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you might consider attending Bender’s weekly workshop “Don’t Let the Line Command You”, where the junior computer science major leads participants from basic shell commands to proficiency developing in a Linux environment. Bender’s idea for the command line workshop emerged midway through last semester. He had been working in a Linux environment for some time and... read more
Over Martin Luther King weekend, Terrapins of all ages and skill levels converged upon two of the biggest and most prestigious and high-profile hackathons in the country. These hackathons, namely the University of Pennsylvania's PennApps and the University of Michigan's MHacks, are two of the oldest and best known student-run hackathons. Each draws in over a thousand hackers from across the country (and world) for their biannual competitions, not to mention plenty of interest from preeminent tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. As a result, both have had to adopt increasingly... read more
Some freshmen spend their summers lounging around the pool or marathoning TV shows--not Andrew Liu. The ambitious UMD sophomore Computer Science major spent his previous summer at the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL), where he used data mining techniques to further research in the field of code stylometry. In spring 2014, Liu applied to ARL and was matched with Aylin Caliskan-Islam, a doctoral student at Drexel University studying computer science privacy issues. Under ARL’s Open Campus initiative, Caliskan-Islam had the opportunity to work in world class research facilities... read more
The University of Maryland’s seven-month-old Terrapin Cricket Club plans to compete in the American College Cricket National Tournament this March. After its success at the regional tournament in October, the team was selected to participate in the national tournament as a debutante team. The players have battled numerous obstacles since its formation, and they will have to overcome yet another as they begin to fundraise for the national tournament that will be held in Florida. The ACC divides its collegiate teams into five separate zones. The Terrapins competed in the Mid-Atlantic Region and... read more
The Computer Science department held an intro to VR programming seminar for students over winter break.
While most of us were home for winter, the Computer Science department hosted an intro to VR programming seminar. This seminar introduced students to the basics of the game engine Unity , as well as proper VR practices. Led by undergraduate Shariq Hashme, the students ranged in experience from CMSC132 to 400-level courses and most had little experience in VR. Hashme structured the seminar like a condensed, but open-ended, course. The first few days were all about the basics -- shaders, scripts, optimal VR practices. After that, he let the students loose to work on their own projects, giving... read more
Computer science seems to come just as easy to Alex as lacrosse does. Although she replaced multiple names on her high school’s track records and guided the soccer team to a county championship, she always felt lacrosse just clicked for her. Her feelings about lacrosse are similar towards the introductory computer programming class she took to fulfill her high school’s technology requirement. Alex was named a Rising Star in Computer Science for superior academic achievement, and her success was not contained to the classroom. She also led Marriotts Ridge High School lacrosse team to state and... read more
Sometimes, RSVPing for an event can be more of a harrowing process than it should be. There's the lurking fear of “what if something comes up?”, the constant worry of which friends or acquaintances may or may not be there; even, sometimes, the periodic thoughts of “am I even qualified to attend this?" In a place as big as Maryland, figuring out the unsaid rules of department-event-going can be more than a little stressful, especially when your major alone has twice as many students as your high school. The Computer Science Department's Hot Chocolate Social, held from 4 PM to 6 PM Wednesday,... read more