UMBC release

December 15, 2009
UMBC Receives $83,208 BRAC Higher Education Grant

Cybersecurity Program Will Help Develop BRAC Workforce

CONTACTS:

Deborah Shapiro, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Michael Raia, Office of the Lt. Governor
410-260-3888
mraia@gov.state.md.us

ANNAPOLIS, MD – December 15, 2009 – Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown announced earlier today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) received one of 12 BRAC Higher Education grants. The grant, made available through legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly (the Higher Education Investment Fund) in 2008, will help UMBC establish a Center for Cybersecurity Training focusing on developing regional workforce with qualifications and skills to support local cybersecurity needs, as well as national cybersecurity initiatives within the State.

Fifteen courses will be developed by UMBC Training Centers and will be targeted to employees of state and federal government agencies and contractors, active military, veterans and any others seeking job training or skill enhancement. Courses planned include Java Development for Secure Systems, Enterprise Linux Security Administration, and Securing .NET Applications and Web Services. The goal is to begin delivering pilot courses to small groups of students this spring, at either UMBC or a government or contractor location via a mobile computer lab. While it is projected that 75-150 students will be served during the pilot phase, ultimately the goal is to serve about 720 students per year.

“We want to thank Governor O’Malley and Lt. Governor Brown for their outstanding support of our efforts to build a strong education and training foundation for the BRAC workforce,” said Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of UMBC. “This grant from the Maryland Higher Education Investment Fund (HEIF) will enable us to establish a Center for Cybersecurity Training which is an essential component of BRAC.”

“I applaud UMBC and the ten other institutions of higher education on their successful grant application. It is only through our partnerships that Maryland will reap every benefit of BRAC,” Lt. Governor Brown said. “Governor O’Malley and I have set clear priorities that put an emphasis on job creation and we wholly understand that our strong network of public, independent and community colleges play an important role in reach our ambitious goals.”

The 2005 decisions by the Commission on Base Realignment and Closure will create as many as 60,000 new jobs across Maryland, including jobs in communications, intelligence and other high-skilled fields. To fully grasp the potential of this expanding economy, Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly created the BRAC Subcabinet, which Lt. Governor Brown chairs. In 2008, the General Assembly passed an administration bill that funds the BRAC Higher Education Grant program. This is the second year grants have been awarded to colleges and universities across the state.

Every Maryland institute of higher learning is eligible to apply for the BRAC Higher Education Fund grants, including two- and four-year public or independent colleges or universities, Maryland research institutions, Maryland Regional Higher Education centers, and Maryland private career schools.

WBAL.com

One of the federal agencies that is relocating to Fort Meade next year as a result of BRACC [sic] is holding a job fair Saturday for college students and recent graduates.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will hold the job fair at the Anne Arundel Community College’s Arundel Mills Center, on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The center is located at 7009 Arundel Mills Circle in Hanover.

[...]

Penkoskie says at least 100 jobs are expected to be filled at Saturday’s job fair.

The positions to be filled are Intern positions, which are entry level jobs for recent college graduates. Penkoskie says the starting salaries for some of these jobs is $40,000-$50,000 per year. He also notes there are CO-OP positions for students who are still in school

[...]

Penkoskie says that the agency is looking mainly for computer science, engineering and businesses majors.

Penkoskie says the agency will make offers for some jobs on Saturday. He adds applicants should bring resumes.

[...]

Starting in the fall of next year, 4,300 DISA employees will be moved from the Pentagon to Fort Meade, as a result of BRACC [sic].

More info at DISA’s website here.

Aberdeen officials have cleared the way for a 500,000-square-foot business park next to Ripken Stadium, but not everyone sees the planned development as a home run for the city.

Towson developer J. Joseph Credit wants to put up the complex of four buildings to cash in on a wave of military jobs being shifted to Aberdeen Proving Ground as part of the military’s base realignment.

City leaders say the new offices — approved by Aberdeen Mayor Michael Bennett and City Council Aug. 24 — should help make up for a lack of space to accommodate thousands of workers. But the business park likely will not come with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue promised by earlier plans for the property. Credit had planned to build a 16-screen multiplex movie theater and 130,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space within walking distance of the stadium.

[...]

Construction at the Commons at Fieldside Village is not slated to begin until after Credit has lined up enough tenants to lease space at the property, according to city documents.

Credit, formerly CEO of Nottingham Properties Inc. and now head of Sherwood Partners LLC, has been planning to develop the property since 2002 as a companion to the city’s Ripken Stadium baseball stadium. He could not be reached for comment. The project’s costs have not been disclosed.

As much as 3.1 million square feet of commercial space will need to be built surrounding the military base for defense contractors, space which isn’t available in the county now.

[...]

Fieldside Village is just one of several planned business parks in the city, Miller said, and he expects many of those developments will start to move forward in the coming months. Developers including Manekin LLC, Stewart Associates and Preston Partners are all planning projects tied to BRAC. That’s in addition to two large business parks under construction by Corporate Office Properties Trust and St. John Properties Inc.

WMAR

[...]

But a neighbor who claims he recruits people for the nearby Aberdeen Proving Ground claimed in a recent radio report that crime in the Winston Choice subdivision is already prompting transplants from the base realignment process to choose to live in Delaware.

[...]

“I was very surprised by this story,” said Harford County Economic Development Deputy Director Denise Carnaggio, “I feel very comfortable that the folks that have moved in from New Jersey and other who are moving from Virginia and Texas are very pleased with our quality of life, and they serve as our multipliers.”

The latest numbers show more than 75% of the early mover for BRAC have chosen to rent or buy homes in Harford County.

13% have opted for Cecil County, while just over 5% have located in Pennsylvania and less than 4% have headed for Delaware.

The resident sounding the alarm also claimed in a neighborhood of about 75 homes, criminals had broken into 15 cars.

But Aberdeen City Police have looked back at the crime numbers thus far this year, and they say crime in that area doesn’t merit this level of warning.

[...]

WBAL.com

He’s lived in his Aberdeen development for two years, and Anthony Seda said that he has had enough of crime in his Aberdeen development,.

[...]

Aberdeen Police Sgt. Fred Bundick told WBAL News that as of last Monday, there have been 41 police calls to the development. He notes that the department has assigned a community policing officer to the neighborhood to address residents’ concerns.

Seda, who works in personnel recruitment at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, this that news of the crime is going to keep the thousands of workers moving into the area as a result of the BRAC expansion.

“We find it difficult on the base to recruit people from New Jersey. In this recession, we’re finding the Fort Monmouth workers are coming to the Aberdeen, and their moving to Delaware, along the Maryland Delaware line.”