Research on Campus

Maryland Summer Scholars
1201 Marie Mount Hall
301-314-6786
ugresearch@umd.edu

Maryland Summer Scholars (MSS) provides funding support for undergraduate students to enhance their academic experience by spending the summer working closely with faculty mentors on scholarly research or artistic projects. For the summer of 2013, the program provided scholarships of $3,000 to approximately 30 students. Awardees are expected to participate in MSS activities over the summer, submit research reports at the end of the summer, and participate in Undergraduate Research Day the following Spring. Scholars may research anywhere in the U.S. or abroad as required by the nature of the project.

Students who will have earned a minimum of 60 credits following the completion of the Spring semester and who will be enrolled at Maryland in the Fall semester are eligible to apply.

College Park Scholars
1125 Cumberland Hall
301-314-2777
info@collegeparkscholars.com

College Park Scholars is an academic residential community for select freshmen and sophomores. Invited freshmen matriculate into one of 11 interdisciplinary programs, each housed in the Cambridge Community on North Campus. The curriculum and activities for each program -- and for Scholars overall -- provide the interpersonal benefits of a small college paired with the intellectual advantages of a major research university. Each Scholars program is directed by a faculty member appointed by the sponsoring college’s dean and supported by a small staff. Programs each admit about 75 first-year students annually. Admission is by invitation and is competitive. College Park Scholars bases its admission decisions on information in the student's university application file. Interested students should apply to the university by their priority deadline for special programs. Invited students will be notified of their invitation in the University's acceptance letter.

First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE)
1140 Lee Building
301-405-0057
pkillion@umd.edu

The UMD First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) provides inquiry-based experiences and broad mentorship for first-year students through membership in faculty-led innovation and research streams. Through FIRE, first-year students build community, earn general education degree credit and are immersed in authentic research to increase degree-relevance, academic success, retention and accelerate student opportunity. FIRE launched in the academic year 2014-15 and serves nearly 225 first-year freshmen through the operation of eight distinct research streams.

Gemstone Program
0100J Ellicott Hall
301-405-8047
vhill@umd.edu

The Gemstone Program at the University of Maryland is a unique multidisciplinary four-year research program for selected undergraduate honors students of all majors. Under guidance of faculty mentors and Gemstone staff, teams of students design, direct and conduct significant research, often but not exclusively exploring the interdependence of science and technology with society. Gemstone students are members of a living-learning community comprised of fellow students, faculty and staff who work together to enrich the undergraduate experience.

The Gemstone Academic Advisor coordinates Gemstone invitations by working with University Honors and the University Undergraduate Admissions office. Gemstone students who have been selected for University Honors and who are then invited to join the program through the University Undergraduate Admission process. Gemstone students invited for fall 2007 had an average weighted GPA of 4.5, and average SAT score of 1467. For best consideration, students are strongly encouraged to apply for admission to the University by December 1 for the following fall.

University Honors Program
Anne Arundel Hall
301-405-6771
honors@umd.edu

The University Honors Program is the long-established program for the most talented students on campus in their first two years. It offers students the opportunity to become part of a close-knit community of faculty and intellectually gifted undergraduates committed to acquiring a broad and balanced education. Honors students combine Honors coursework with regular electives and studies in their major to deepen their total educational experience.

First and second year undergraduates broaden their intellectual horizons by selected Honors seminars and Honors versions of regular courses in the arts and sciences, most of which fulfill CORE (general education) requirements in five semesters. Juniors and seniors may continue taking Honors seminars, teach in two one-credit colloquia for first-year students, and apply to more than 30 departmental or college Honors programs that provide opportunities to work closely with faculty mentors on independent research projects.

Honors Humanities Program
1103 Wicomico Hall
301-405-6992
honorshumanities@umd.edu

Honors Humanities is a two-year Living/Learning program for talented beginning undergraduates with an interest in the arts and humanities. The program is an exciting collaboration between the College of Arts and Humanities and the University Honors Program. The goals of Honors Humanities are to bring to campus academically gifted students and to provide them with a challenging, inter-disciplinary, research-based study of the humane disciplines that will prepare the students for advanced College and Departmental Honors works in their chosen majors.

Honors Humanities is open to all majors. Those students in non-humanities majors often find that the Honors Humanities program provides a beneficial background in the arts and humanities. Students who are admitted to the University Honors Program may receive an invitation to participate in Honors Humanities. Students who complete the 15-credit program receive a citation in Honors Humanities.

Participation in Honors Humanities is by invitation only. In order to be invited into the program, you must first be admitted to University Honors.

The BSOS Summer Scholars awards are offered in collaboration with the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Dean's Research Initiative. These awards are partially underwritten by the BSOS Be The Solution Fund which is supported by the BSOS Dean and donors to the College.

The BSOS Summer Scholars are awarded up to $3000 to support a specific undergraduate student research project in the summer that is completed under the supervision of a faculty member. BSOS faculty mentors will be asked by the BSOS Associate Dean for Research to nominate students as part of the annual BSOS Dean's Research Initiative. Applications are due the first week in February for summer research projects. Note: This is not the same program as the Maryland Summer Scholars program, which is administered by the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research.

Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
2211 Marie Mount Hall
301-405-4749
wsouther@umd.edu

Through AAP, the University of Maryland Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program is designed to prepare students who are primarily from low-income, first generation and traditionally underrepresented groups to pursue doctoral studies. Full-time University juniors and seniors who wish to pursue doctoral studies, enhance their skills to prepare for graduate study, participate in undergraduate research with faculty members, and meet overall program requirements are eligible to apply.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Student may apply as early as second semester of freshman year.

PULSAR Undergraduate Language Science Program
Maryland Language Science Center
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-7505
301-405-2975
pulsar@umd.edu
Website: ter.ps/pulsar

PULSAR (or the Program for Undergraduate Language Science Ambassadors in Research) is a 4-semester program for students interested in language science — a uniquely broad field that cuts across many  different areas of study, including social and biological sciences, computer science and engineering, as well as humanities, education, and clinical fields. PULSAR students select a diverse program of language science classes, engage in research and outreach projects, and become part of a strong interdisciplinary community of language researchers at Maryland. PULSAR is open to students in all majors who have taken one of several suggested prerequisite courses or have some comparable background in a language science field. Students earn a transcript notation for completing the program.

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
http://www.start.umd.edu/
escoll@start.umd.edu

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is a research center, based at the University of Maryland, committed to the scientific study of the causes and human consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world. START supports research efforts of leading social scientists at more than 50 academic and research institutions.

Internships
START is able to offer internships which can be taken for credit on several exciting projects. Subject/project areas include Global Terrorism Database, Unconventional Weapons and Technology, Strategic Military Assessment Research and Transition (SMART) Projects, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Analytical, Naval Research Laboratory Adversarial Modeling and Exploitation Office, Communications and Research Transition Support, Dataverse, Government Actions in Terror Environments (GATE), Risk Communications and Community Resilience, Risk Communications and Community Resilience App Development Internship, START/State Department Terrorist Organizations Project Internship, Terrorism Propaganda Analysis, and Cross-National Analysis of Values in the Middle East.

Students should have a good academic record; a demonstrated interest in the subject matter; submit a complete application by the deadline; agree to attend orientation and training. We are looking for interns with a wide array of skills and majors  (including but not limited to: Criminology, Communications, Government, International Relations, Public Policy, History, GIS, Geography, Economics, English, Mathematics, Psychology, Languages and Statistics). Students from any institution may apply and we will consider current and recently graduated undergraduates and graduates as well. Unpaid. Academic credit available.

Below is a short summary of the opportunities available. Please visit our website for more information and to access the application form: http://www.start.umd.edu/careers/internships.

Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
The GTD is an open source, unclassified database including information on terrorist attacks around the world since 1970 (currently updated through 2013). The database is maintained by researchers at START. The GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes over 113,000 cases. The GTD intern team is organized into the following themes:
·         GTD: Incident Location and Geographic Identification
·         GTD: Perpetrator Identification
·         GTD: Target Classification
·         GTD: Understanding the Patterns and Use of Weapons and Tactics
·         GTD: The Consequences of Terrorism – Casualties and Outcome
·         GTD: Coding Intern At Large (Generalist)

Unconventional Weapons and Technology
The Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division consists of a number of intensive, shorter-term research projects concentrated on research topics within the larger study of terrorism and politically violent non-state actors:

Intern positions are available in the following focus areas:

Unconventional Weapons Internship
Advanced Research
Organized Crime
Behavioral Indicators of Insider Threats
CBRN Terrorism Incident Research
Individual Radicalization of Bioscientists
Terrorist Ideology

Risk Communications and Community Resilience
Government, non-profits, and other organizations rely on public communication to deliver important messages to various audiences. Professional communicators today use social scientific research to improve this process, and START’s research teams have several current and upcoming communication projects that address current research questions. Risk communication is important for delivering messages about impending storms, terrorist attacks, public health crises, and more. Interns working on this team will support several ongoing research projects as well as new projects.

Dataverse
START is continuing to develop the Terrorism Data Archive Dataverse. Interns for this project will learn about terrorism-related data through archiving datasets and reading over documentation. Interns will serve as Assistant Editors and would be responsible for preparing data for archiving onto the START Dataverse. Depending upon the dataset, there will also be opportunities to create Codebooks and add labels and values to the data. Interns will receive training in the archiving process.

Strategic Military Assessment Research and Transition (SMART) Projects
SMART projects focus on the relationships of violent non-state actors (terrorist, pirates, etc) and state authorities to analyze their patterns of interaction and strategies of violence.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Analytical
Interns will contribute to the construction of a global, multimodal transportation network.  Tasks will include analysis and aggregation of large-scale datasets, database triangulation, manual vector editing, extensive open-source research into traditional and illicit transportation methods, digital cartography/mapmaking, and translation of START’s qualitative research into geospatial format.  Interest/experience in global security and/or terrorism is beneficial.

Naval Research Laboratory Adversarial Modeling and Exploitation Office
Two internships are available with AMX onsite at their offices in Washington DC. The AMX has a number of ongoing research projects related to counter-terrorism, behavior detection, law enforcement, crime analysis, and geospatial analysis. The use of information by law enforcement, often called data driven policing, is an ever evolving and expanding field.

·         JDLR SOUTHCOM
·         Extended Visual Search
·         System Engineering Analysis & Support
·         Statistical Analysis & Modeling Support
·         GIS Analytical

Communications
START communications team is seeking interns to assist with START’s communication activities and products. Interns’, responsibilities will vary but may include: Writing and editing press releases and featured stories, planning and attending events, creating media kits, developing and tracking media lists and monitoring social media.

TEVUS Handbook and Simulation Internship
The Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) Database integrates existing and new open-source data sets to facilitate more robust and sophisticated analyses of the behaviors, operations, and activities of violent extremists within the United States.

Understanding Domestic Radicalization
This internship is part of the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) project, a three-year project which seeks to establish an empirical basis to investigate the underlying mechanisms and processes for individual radicalization in the United States. Previous intern teams researched information on radicalized individuals and entered it into a dataset; wrote case studies on radicalized individuals; performed quality-control checks on the dataset; performed structured qualitative analysis; and assisted project staff in conducting analysis on the quantitative data.

Developing Technology in Explosive Detection Dogs
Interns for this project will assist in developing deployment strategies with explosive detection dogs while utilizing new technology in the field.  Interns will be working closely with four K9 dogs and their handlers while training and being deployed for Person Borne Improvised Explosive Device Detection.  Interns must have a flexible schedule and ability to be around dogs.  Interns will be required to pass a brief background check.

START/State Department Terrorist Organizations Project Internship
Students will gather and analyze statistics on terrorist organizations over time. Projects will include collecting the number and type of attacks over time, looking at trends, and possibly even modeling group capacity out into the future. Interns will also provide assistance in researching open source information on the leadership of some groups for possible future designations.

Interns will be co-supervised by researchers at the University of Maryland and by project leads at the State Department. The State Department leads will set and give feedback on tasks. Interns will be based at START’s offices on the University of Maryland campus.

Government Actions in Terror Environments (GATE)
Recent research suggests that governments have a vast set of policy tools at their disposal vis-à-vis terrorist groups, and that pure reliance on repressive policies can be counterproductive. While policymakers increasingly recognize the importance of non-military counterterrorism tools in addition to military ones, it is not yet known which type of government actions are effective; and when carrots might be more effective than sticks in defeating terrorist groups. This is a unique opportunity to better understand the terrorist conflict in the US and across specific regions of the world and to get a unique view of how governments deal with those conflicts.
Terrorism Propaganda Analysis
The nature of the project is analysis of several hundred transcripts of terrorist propaganda videos produced by Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda affiliate groups. One aspect of the project will be somewhat descriptive in that we hope to learn: 1) what the message of the video transcript is (e.g. to defend the prophet, to prevent future grievances, to promote jihad, etc.) as well as 2) how the message is conveyed including the type of persuasive attempt used (rational vs. emotional) and 3) who the target audience is. The coding manual taps into each of these contents. The next step of the project, which will occur after all of the transcripts are coded, will examine 4) if the target audience, the message, or the frequency of these tapes have a discernible pattern, and 5) if these patterns change over time. The final aspect of this project includes analyzing the rhetoric and persuasion techniques used in the transcripts and testing the same messages, both in the US and abroad.

Undergraduate Research Program

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) seeks to engage talented undergraduate students pursuing degrees in the social and behavioral sciences in research related to understanding origins and/or responses to terrorism. By involving undergraduates in ongoing research projects, START hopes to prepare today's students for future study and work in the areas of terrorism, counter-terrorism, and homeland security. Towards this goal, the Center invites 5 undergraduates to participate in START's research as part of its Undergraduate Research Program (URP) during each academic year. Those selected to participate in the program will participate actively in START research projects, conduct original research, attend a one-day orientation in College Park, Maryland, and attend the entire START Annual Meeting at the end of their terms, presenting their research findings in a poster session.

Students must be nominated by a START faculty member, and applications are due in May for the coming academic year. Students receive a $500 stipend towards their research plus travel costs for attending the ISA and START conferences.

Please direct questions about the program and/or the application process to education@start.umd.edu.