"I applaud Loyola University Maryland and the 10 other institutions of higher education on their successful grant applications. It is only through our partnerships that Maryland will reap every benefit of BRAC," 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 plays an important role in reaching our ambitious goals."
BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure Act, is expected to spur the creation of 60,000 new jobs and the addition of 28,000 new families in Maryland by 2015. The MHEC program provides funding for programs at Maryland institutions of higher education tied directly to BRAC educational needs.
The three-week, full-time boot camp will take place during summer 2010. Limited to 20 students already holding bachelor's degrees, the course focuses on fundamental programming and computer science concepts aimed at preparing participants to pass the Sun Microsystems Java programming certification. The boot camp is very hands-on; a large percentage of time will be dedicated to one-on-one guidance from the academic staff as students complete programming projects. Though the language used is Java, the boot camp will offer students the generalized knowledge to learn other languages. The cost for the program is $500 per participant. Applications will be accepted in spring 2010.
"Loyola is eager to play a significant role in meeting the educational needs of the people and organizations in Maryland affected by BRAC," said Roberta Sabin, Ph.D., professor of computer science and co-principal investigator on the boot camp project. "We are thrilled that this award from MHEC will allow us to offer a program that creates new professional opportunities in an area so critical to the future of our state—computer science."
Those interested in learning more about the program are encouraged to contact Lewis Berman at 410-617-2587 or liberman@loyola.edu. Berman, director of program operations for Loyola's computer science department, serves as co-principal investigator on the project along with Sabin.
For more information or questions regarding this story, contact Media Relations Manager Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or 410-617-5025.