A Message from the Associate Dean

Dr. Jeffrey B. Halverson

Dr.Halverson

On behalf of myself and Dr. Janet Rutledge, Dean of the Graduate School, we are delighted to welcome all graduate students and members of the UMBC community to the 2020-2021GEARS: Graduate Experience, Achievements and Research Symposium. This is the time of year where graduate students and their faculty mentors come together to share, and showcase, their incredibly diverse research and creative works. Our Graduate Students have faced extraordinary challenges during COVID, yet they have persevered in the spirit of “True Great and Greatness”.  Graduate research and creative achievements are central to UMBC’s academic mission and are a powerful engine that continues to place our institution at the forefront of national and international universities.

Once again, we continue the tradition of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for Ph.D. students, who have perfected their talks with our professional communication consultant, Scott Morgan. First place winners from UMBC represent our University in the Southern Conference of Graduate Schools and also the Council of Graduate Schools Annual Meeting.  This year we continue with a special venue for all graduate students, titled “Gritty Talks”.  The idea for these talks was pioneered by our beloved, late GSA President Alex Rittle, and feature short GRIT-X style presentations on a special topic of interest.  The GSA also plans a presentation of student visuals, and art showcase, presentation of graduate achievements, and a social hour.  And you will not want to miss an extemporaneous, and likely quite humorous event, called “Powerpoint Roullette” (imagine having to suddenly present someone else’s research slides, none of which you have seen before!).

We invite everyone to attend GEARS and celebrate the incredibly talented, diverse and highly productive corpus of intellectual and artistic achievement of our Retriever graduate students!