Student Research Outreach Event

Goals of the event

• Engage with students who have limited or no research experience
• Explain what research is about
• Highlight research opportunities at IS department, UMBC and beyond
• Connect students with our faculty to discuss possible research opportunities
• Encourage students to conduct research and submit their work relevant events

Attendee Registration Form: Please fill out the form (before 4/16 if possible) for food accommodation and future communications. The short link for registration is https://forms.gle/QMKuVDuaphtJfV2PA.

Agenda

• 10:00-10:10 Welcome message, Dr. Zhiyuan Chen, IS Chair
• 10:10-10:30 Invited talk from UMBC Undergraduate Research & Prestigious Scholarships, Session Chair: Dr. Foad Hamidi
• 10:30-11:00 Faculty panel on why and how to do (interdisciplinary) research, Session Chair: Dr. Lujie Karen Chen
• 11:00-11:30 Undergraduate panel on research experiment sharing, Session Chair: Dr. Karuna P. Joshi
• 11:30-12:00 Undergraduate research opportunities at IS, UMBC & beyond (Data Science Scholars, CWIT, NSF REU, and Individual Faculty), Session Chair: Dr. Sanjay Purushotham
• 12:00-1:00 Lunch and discussion

Questions: Jianwu Wang, jianwu@umbc.edu, Professor and IS Liaison for Research Innovation

Novelty or innovation is the core of research work. Novelty/innovation can be shown in many aspects such as a new approach for an existing problem, a novel application of an existing technique to a new domain, and new findings from your research. Research done by IS faculty and students can be found at https://informationsystems.umbc.edu/home/research/.

The Department of Information Systems now has a central form for both undergraduate and graduate students to apply for research opportunities with IS faculty. College and university level undergraduate research opportunities can be found at https://coeit.umbc.edu/undergraduate-research/ and https://ur.umbc.edu/ respectively.

Expander contentDifferent faculty offer different ways to work with them. Possible ways include volunteer, research focused courses (e.g., IS 400, IS 469 and IS 700), undergraduate/MS thesis (e.g., IS 799), hourly paid position, and RA position. Paid hourly or RA positions are often combined with thesis or research course enrollment.

On November 28, 2023, the Department of Information Systems held its first-ever IS Student Research Outreach Event! Nearly 40 attendees packed the room, including faculty, campus partners, and undergraduate and graduate students. Interim Chair, Dr. Zhiyuan Chen delivered the opening remarks, followed by Dr. Ian Stockwell’s insights about why and how to do interdisciplinary research. Dr. Ida Ngambeki facilitated a panel discussion with current undergraduate students involved in research who shared their experiences, answered questions from the audience, and gave advice about how to get started with research.

Dr. Jianwu Wang, who led the organization of the event states, “Conducting research helps many capabilities including critical thinking, creativity, and writing, which are very useful for students’ current academic performance and their future career no matter whether they plan to work in academia, government, or industry.”

Also presenting at the event was Dr. April Householder, UMBC’s Director of Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Scholarships, who shared campus research opportunities including the upcoming Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). Additional research opportunities were discussed including the Data Science Scholars Program and IS faculty provided overviews of their own research. The event was a success and concluded with lunch and networking on the ITE 4th floor.