07-28-2024 EDU - Flipbook - Page 8
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The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, July 28, 2024
Masters programs, from page 1
High-tech facilities, from page 4
University of Maryland engineering students meet with Professor Kevin Sivers.
like AI, virtual reality and quantum, as they intersect
with cybersecurity.”
Reality Ranking
The University of Maryland A. James Clark School
of Engineering continues to rank among US News &
World Report’s top 10 public universities in graduate engineering programs. The 2024-2025 rankings
placed the online master of engineering at number six,
including its cybersecurity specialization.
While the university is celebrating the 30th
anniversary of the Maryland Applied Graduate
Engineering (MAGE) program, the cybersecurity program has been in place for 12 years, according to
George Syrmos, Ph.D., assistant dean for continuing
education at the school. “The on-campus and online
[courses] are exactly the same,” he notes. “We offer the
program online so professionals can have flexibility.
They can complete their coursework from anywhere.”
Syrmos says the combination of theory and application makes the program successful. “The faculty is
a cross-section of professional engineers and trained
faculty. Our student body is diverse – international,
from different backgrounds – and this creates an
engaging environment in which to work. The online
program will enhance skills and provide up-to-date
knowledge for people who are already in the workforce.”
Syrmos says that MAGE collaborated with the
Maryland Cybersecurity Center as the curriculum
was developed. Jonathan Katz, Ph.D., professor of
computer science and faculty advisor, says the program is unique because of the engineering component.
“Many cybersecurity programs focus on softer aspects
of cybersecurity, such as policy or management. Our
program is targeted for students interested in core
technical work such as secure code development or
malware analysis.”
The school offers a master’s degree that consists
of 10 courses and a graduate certificate that requires
only four courses. These can be completed full-time or
part-time. Admission requirements include a Bachelor
of Science in engineering or computer science or a
closely related field. “It’s a well-rounded experience
and students can earn a certificate with a master’s
degree,” Katz notes.
Program alumnus Ryan Kropff found that the program was everything the school said it was, and more.
Kropff holds a job as a cyber incident responder, investigating potential computer intrusions and performing
containment activities and digital forensics. He says he
chose this particular graduate curriculum because he
thought it would provide a seamless online experience
and more useful hands-on skills. After completing
his courses, he acknowledges, “The program met my
expectations with the online learning modality and the
practical nature of the courses. It helped in securing a
promotion shortly after graduating.”
Actual Artificial Applications
The University of Baltimore recently became the
first and only business school in Maryland to offer a
Master of Science degree in artificial intelligence for
business. “What we talk about today in the application
of AI in business may be changed in four months. We
are training the next generation of business leaders to
be experts in AI,” says Raju Balakrishnan, dean of the
Merrick School of Business at the university.
Balakrishnan says that business curriculum needs
to address critical issues such as how to collect and
analyze data, how to use the data to generate good AI
models and then apply them to improve the bottom
line, and how to protect the data through cybersecurity. The new degree is meant to fill a void that
Balakrishnan sees in this model – effective application
of AI in business.
“On the hardware side, they are focused on developing faster processors. On the software side, they
are focused on developing better AI modules. We are
focused on how businesses actually go about using AI
in areas such as customer relations or R&D,” he says.
“People have all these AI tools available, and more are
becoming available each day, but they don’t always
know how to use them effectively to improve the bottom line.”
Balakrishnan proposed the new degree program
when he joined University of Baltimore in 2023. It
was immediately supported by the faculty members,
and they shared a sense of urgency for the introduction. The faculty worked to create the curriculum
from August 2023 to January 2024, and the program
received final approval in April. It will be available to
students in the fall of 2024. Qualifying students can
have any undergraduate degree but must possess some
basic knowledge of core business disciplines.
Balakrishnan says the curriculum also includes a
course on ethical and regulatory issues. “AI can also
be used to manipulate data,” he says. “People need to
understand how to not only use AI effectively but also
recognize when it is used improperly.”
The school estimates an initial class of 30 students,
with roughly a 20-30% increase in the next four years.
Balakrishnan notes, “We’ll be growing at first, but then
there will be increased competition as other schools
get similar programs. It is an emerging field that’s
here to stay.”
And that’s worth recognizing.
Ask Margit, from page 1
In the 1990s, when Stewart, self-described as
intellectually curious, was playing around with
computers, cybersecurity wasn’t a big deal. “I wondered how to use security in ways those who created the programs didn’t intend. After a while, I
became completely conversant with security issues,
which led to figuring out how internet technology
functioned. As I became more knowledgeable with
different aspects of technology, each one led me to
new areas I wanted to learn and understand.
“Eventually, I was hired and worked as a contractor for the State of Maryland. The chief information security officer (CISO) recommended me
to be his deputy. When he left, I took over.”
Another staunch supporter is Christopher M.
Davis, Ph.D., who serves as the University of
Maryland Global Campus’s vice president of academic services and quality. “In less than a year,
UMGC awarded transfer credit to 39,379 unique
undergraduate students, including:
• 878,857 transfer credits awarded from previous collegiate transcripts
• 499,529 transfer credits awarded from military education transcripts
• 69,553 transfer credits awarded from noncollegiate transcripts
• 16,010 transfer credits awarded from test
scores (e.g. AP, DANTES, CLEP, etc.)
“This is the equivalent of 12,200 bachelor’s
degrees and saved UMGC students over $465 million at the in-state tuition rate.”
UMGC’s history dates back to 1947 when it
started offering evening classes to GIs returning
from WWII. It has had different names, but its
mission has remained the same. “Beginning in
1949, it was the first college to offer courses overseas for members of the armed services, sending
its faculty to post-war Europe to do so. In 1959,
the school was renamed University College and, in
1970, it became a separately accredited institution.
UMGC was one of the founding institutions when
the University System of Maryland was created in
1988,” according to UMGC’s website.
“Too often schools look for excuses to deny
credit even from other accredited institutions. At
UMGC we look for reasons to say yes,” Davis says
proudly.
“UMGC has always been ahead of other schools
due to our engagement with military students,”
Davis explains. “In 2021, the Maryland Higher
Education Commission passed the Transfer with
Success Act which clarified ways ‘to fully support
transfer students and clarify statewide processes
and expectations.’ It helped to standardize credits
so we could do more for students.”
Davis observes that, too often, whether you
have a degree or not is a socio-economic differentiator and discriminator. “An expectation from
Gregory Fowler, Ph.D., our president, is to figure
out ways to increase opportunities based on what
students know and how to give them credit for
that knowledge. We love our students, but we love
them even more as graduates. We’ve partnered with
organizations who help us define how much credit
various learning experiences outside a formal university setting are worth. So many places provide
training; we want to be able to quantify the learning
to expedite completing a degree.
“Another focus is our work with the armed
services. Commissioned officers need a college
degree. It’s surprising how few enlisted personnel
have a goal of becoming an officer. We help noncommissioned officers, like sergeants, petty officers
and the like, reach that goal. With one sergeant
major, we were able to award him more than 60
credits for all his prior learning, over half-way to a
bachelor’s degree.
“Other colleges are doing some of this. From a
volume perspective, we are the biggest. Our goal,
though, is to be the most transfer friendly institution in the nation.”
When Stewart became the CISO for the state,
his position wasn’t fixed, so in March 2020 there
was a hearing to make it permanent. “My goal
was to codify the position’s description without a
degree requirement. The session ended with no
action. Knowing I would run into the ‘paper ceiling,’ the invisible barrier that comes at every turn
for workers without a bachelor’s degree, I enrolled
in Western Governors University and completed a
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in less than a year.
The CISO position does have a degree requirement
now, so I was covered. However, I also gained 10 or
12 additional certifications and I’ll continue down
the path of being a STAR.”
Change is happening to accept more STARs,
albeit slowly. Those coming up will have options
that weren’t available in the past. And it all depends
on what you want to do with your life. Students
now have more choices than ever before – and that’s
a good thing.
Students test and analyze materials in the Biomedical Engineering Lab in the Kahlert Foundation Makerspace at
Stevenson University.
when most people think of fermentation, they
immediately think of wine, beer or cheese.
“However, fermentation is much broader than
that … fermentation can also include fruits,
vegetables, yogurt, biofuel and biopharmaceuticals,” Coale notes.
Beginning this fall, students at the University
of Maryland can put their classroom knowledge
to work at the brand-new Fermentation Science
Lab on campus, allowing students to produce
cheese, beer, wine and other fermented products while gaining the necessary skills to enter
the fermentation industry in Maryland upon
graduation.
“We will be focusing on the use of local, raw
materials to encourage the production of local
products and the skills necessary to get these
products into the marketplace,” says Coale.
He adds that when the new Fermentation Lab
was being designed, UMD brought in leaders
from different fermentation industries located
throughout the state to gain insight on what
skills and experience they wanted graduating
students to have when entering the workforce.
“What we heard was they wanted students to
be utilizing equipment in our lab that is similar
to what they will find in the workplace, reducing the need for significant on-the-job training.
For example, we will have a small-scale brewing
system similar to what you would find at a local
craft brewery and a distillation unit similar to
what you would find at Sagamore Spirit,” says
Coale, who adds that internships also provide
hands-on experience for UMD students.
“Once students gain the knowledge of the
science of fermentation, they can put that
knowledge to work at the Fermentation Lab.
For example, they can study what microorganisms make Brie cheese taste like Brie cheese or
the numerous ways to alter the taste of yogurt.
We want students to experiment with all the different equipment at the lab to determine what
their career path will be and be exposed to all
the different facets of the fermentation industry,” Coale says.