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Outreach at Maryland

Engaging with non-academic audiences reflects a core value of the Language Science Center. All students and faculty affiliated with LSC take part in outreach activities. 

Outreach activities are central to our programs, and we have found that they bring a range of benefits:

  • Raising awareness of language science beyond the university.
  • Improving communication with other researchers and across disciplines as well as with the broader community.
  • Building collaboration between researchers.

Our Language Science outreach program was spearheaded by graduate students and has now grown to include faculty and undergraduates. Some of our regular outreach activities include:

  • Hosting high school visits to the UMD campus (we host approximately 200 high school students each year from Northwood High School and Paint Branch High School);
  • Partnership with a student-led linguistics club at Montgomery-Blair High School;
  • Hosting early rounds of the NACLO competition;
  • Research internships for high school students; 
  • Science fairs at local elementary schools;
  • Maryland Day, UMD’s annual campus-wide celebration of innovation, creativity and academic excellence;
  • Regional and national science and engineering festivals;

We are also involved in national efforts to expand language outreach, which you can learn more about on our Language Science for Everyone page.