Winter Storm 2017: Science, Community and Action
February 10, 2017
With the paint barely dry in LSC’s new home in HJ Patterson Hall, Winter Storm 2017 showed what is possible when an engaged grassroots community is combined with a space that is designed for collaboration.
With the paint barely dry in LSC’s new home in HJ Patterson Hall, Winter Storm 2017 showed what is possible when an engaged grassroots community is combined with a space that is designed for collaboration. Now in its 9th year, Winter Storm is an intensive two-week workshop that focuses on building skills, intellectual community, and collaborative research. It is always a team effort to organize Winter Storm, but this year more people contributed than ever before. 60 students, faculty and staff from 16 units across the university contributed as organizers or event leaders, and over a hundred participated in some capacity. Students from multiple programs worked together to design and implement a broad menu of activities. Many events featured students teaching skills to each other. Highlights included a career development workshop series, and a Language Science Day of Action that coincided with Inauguration Day, preparing students and faculty alike to communicate to broad audiences and to key decision makers.
Winter Storm 2017
Welcome!
Winter Storm is the UMD Language Science community's yearly two-week smorgasbord of workshops designed to foster research skills, stimulate new interdisciplinary research projects, and boost career growth and job readiness. These workshops are FREE and open to all language scientists, encompassing undergraduates, research assistants, grad students, postdocs, faculty members, and researchers at affiliated research institutes.
This year, Winter Storm runs from January 9-19 (except January 16, a federal holiday -- Martin Luther King Day). We're capping off this year's events with our first-ever Day of Action on January 20. During this policy-focused event, participants will develop materials to bring their research closer to decision-makers at a local and national level, as well as the general public.
Click here to register. You can find workshop materials on the new Language Science wiki.
Location: 2130 H.J. Patterson (the shiny new home of the Language Science Center!)
Highlights
Building Interdisciplinary Research:
Gather with researchers from beyond your office suite to develop projects you all care about.
Career Development:
Take control of your career path with hands-on workshops to assess your interests and skills, consider diverse career options, and build a roadmap to gain skills to set you up for professional success.
Outreach and Research Communication:
Yearning to explore the world outside of the ivory tower? We’ll show you how to reach audiences from kids to Congress.
Research Skills Sessions:
Improve your research pipeline by learning about ways to streamline your data analysis.
Research Spotlight Lunches:
Learn about exciting ongoing research from faculty presenters from around campus.
Community Social Activities:
Let loose with fellow Language Scientists in an array of fun social activities.
Thriving in Academia:
Find out about ways to practice self-care through our mindfulness-focused sessions.
Language Science Day of Action (January 20)
Learn about ways our research and activism can shape policy in local communities and at the national level. Work on materials to influence policymakers and communicate with the general public about your research. Full program and registration here!
Informal Science Writing
Write to entertain as well as educate! In this workshop, you'll produce a short, social-media-worthy piece showcasing cool facts about language science, for a general audience.
Lunch Panel: Linguistic Diversity in Education
Leading researchers from the University of Maryland discuss key issues surrounding linguistic diversity in education.
Talking to Decision-makers
Develop talking points to convince decision-makers (e.g. members of congress, city councils, and school boards) of the importance of language science in social, education and health policy.