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Mail Address:
CRESST@UMBC
Room 211
Physics Dept
UMBC
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore
MD 21250
U.S.A.

CRESST@UMBC

Opportunities & Employment Details

These pages are associated with UMBC's participation in the CRESST consortium. The University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) are our partners in the consortium.

Open Scientific Positions

Selection Starts	Position	Primary Location	[Posted]
2008 Feb 15	Postdoctoral Position in High-Energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics	NASA/GSFC Greenbelt, Md	[2007Dec13]

Note: All CRESST-related Administrative Positions (employed by UMBC) will be detailed on the CSST Jobs Page. Below we provide brief notes and links more suited to PhD scientists.

Page index: CRESST@UMBC ?!? | Links |

Notes on CRESST (UMBC or UMCP or USRA?)

Our goal is that there should be no difference between the 3 institutions. Certainly there will not be any difference from the point of view of your Civil Servant Sponsor. Your GSFC Sponsor will deal with "CRESST-central", be expected to put money into the relevant CRESST science-task, and can expect financial and scientific updates on how the money is being spent & what has been produced. CRESST-central will consolidate the reports from the 3 institutions and supply your sponsor with the information they require.

Similarily, once we have had time to renormalise (and actually we are pretty close already), from the point of view of salary, title, & cost to your GSFC Sponsor, it should not make any difference as to which CRESST-institution you happen to be employed by.

However, there are clearly subtle (& maybe some less-subtle) differences between the 3 institutions. This is a great plus since it provide you with choices..and perhaps new opportunities. Below are notes and links related to UMBC.

Notes on CRESST@UMBC

Just a few words (gene-sequence of acronyms) on the set-up at UMBC. For internal reasons, UMBC's part of the CRESST consortium is administered on campus by the Center for Space Science and Technology (CSST). From an accounting/reporting point of view, the CSST is the equivalent to a Department, reporting directly to the Dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS) However, if they wish, all CRESST@UMBC scientists can be affiliated to the Physics Department at UMBC via the department's Joint Center for Astrophysics (JCA). (Affiliation is required if you wish to teach - see below).

Job Titles, Promotion & Affiliation

As members of the University System on Maryland (USM), UMBC & UMCP share the same Job Titles, Rules, and so official Procedures/Practices. USRA has its own rules (determined by its charter), but there is a straightforward mapping of USRA's titles onto the USM scheme. Thus there not a big issue in terms of an individual's placement within the 4-space of salary, experience, responsibility, and title (& we are all pretty close already).

The research Titles in the USM system are (in order of increasing experience/expertise) are:

Research Associate

Assistant Research Scientist

Associate Research Scientist

Senior Research Scientist

If you are employed by UMBC (or UMCP), then you will actually be an employee of the State of Maryland, with all the associated advantages. At UMBC, we also provide CRESST@UMBC scientists the opportunity to teach a course once every 2 years (see below). If you choose to do this, and the Faculty of UMBC's Physics Department approve, then we will alter your title to be

Assistant Research Professor

Associate Research Professor

Senior Research Professor

as appropriate. (If you were a Research Associate, and we deem you qualified to teach, then we will usually deem your experience sufficient to promote you to the Assistant Research Professor level).

CRESST-central are developing a common Promotion criteria and procedures to be used for all CRESST scientists. More details on this coming later...

Salaries

Within the CRESST consortium, our intention is to make salaries institution-neutral as soon as possible. Hence from the point of view of the NASA Sponsor, it does not matter which of the CRESST consortium members actually cuts your check. All salaries will require the approval from CRESST-central, so (alas for you) there is no opportunity of a "bidding war" between CRESST consortium members...

For CRESST@UMBC scientists, the checks are actually cut by the State of Maryland every two weeks. Standard benefits such as Direct Deposit is available.

Annual Raises etc: These are usually determined in July. Any increase consists of a state-mandated Cost-Of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) determined as a percentage of salary (but where the actually %age may vary depending upon your salary, and can occasionally be 0%), plus the possibility of an additional Merit increase for an individual. Salary increases are also possible (but not guarenteed) on promotion, and/or the assumption of additional duties/responsibilities.

Health Plans

In the USM, there are a total of eight Health Insurance plans available:

2 Preferred Provide Organization (PPO) plans:
- CareFirst BCBS,
- MLH-Eagle.
3 Point of Service (POS) plans:
- Aetna US Healthcare,
- CareFirst BCBS,
- M.D. IPA Preferred.
3 Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs):
- Blue Choice,
- Kaiser,
- Optimum Choice.

A separate Prescription plan (administed by Caremark Prescription Card Service Inc) is also available. There is a Long-Term Care plan (by Prudential Long-Term Care) for active members and family members, a Long-Term Disability plan (by UNUM), and also a Flexible Spending Account for employees not otherwise covered by Health Care plansw (cost: $3,000 per year in pre-tax dollars)

There are three Dental Plans:

2 Dental HMOs:
- United Concordia
- Dental Benefits Providers
1 PPO:
- United Concordia

There are also two Life Insurance plans:

Standard Life Insurance
UNUM Term Life

Full details and heaps of links are available on UMBC/HR's Benefits page. and on the State of Maryland Health Benefits Information site

FYI: Current CRESST@UMBC scientists have various combinations of these plans based upon their personal circumstances.
[& I've never received a complain that the choice is too limited ..:)] .

...More Notes & Links coming soon

Retirement Plans

There are two Retirement plans:

TIAA-CREF: UMBC contributes 7.25% of annual salary. Vesting starts immediately on employment.
MSRPS: only after 5yrs of continuous service, mandatory 3% employee contribution

Employees are also able to contribute to any of four Supplemental Retirement Accounts (SRAs) up to a maximum of $15,000 per year (2006 value). See UMBC/HRs SRA page

FYI: All current CRESST@UMBC scientists use TIAA-CREF as their primary Retirement Account, and many have a TIAA-CREF SRA.

Payroll, Holidays & Leave Accural Details

UMBC's payroll and accounting system operates on a biweekly cycle. Thus after an initial "transient" period, you will get a check (or Direct Deposit) every other week (currently every other friday). New employees may experience a several-week delay in a actually getting funds transfered to you (via Check or Direct Deposit). However, if this occurs, you will get any "back-pay" owed (based on the date outlined in the Appointment Letter from the Provost of UMBC).

Leave Summary

Type Holidays Vacation Sick Personal

days/yr 16 22 15 3

Cal. Year
Carry Over ? none limited yes no

Termination
Pay Out ? no yes no no

Federal/University Holidays: 16 days per year (13 Federal Holidays, 3 University Holidays), with no accumulation from one calender year to the next. Due to their timing, and hence possible effect on the academic/teaching calendar, UMBC does not observe all the Federal Holidays on the same day as they are observed by Federal agencies (such as NASA/GSFC). For example several Federal Holidays are "saved" to be used (observed) during the week between the Christmas Day and New Year's Day allowing UMBC to be officially closed. However for CRESST@UMBC scientists working at GSFC we are planning to allow the scientists to conform to the NASA/GSFC Holiday calendar (rather than the UMBC schedule). Thus if GSFC is closed for a Federal holiday, you too can take the day off. (However obviously this means that you cannot also claim "saved" UMBC holidays!). All UMBC employees can take the 3 extra days (2 during Spring Break, 1 day adjacent to Independece Day) on that day.

Annual Leave (Vacation): 22 days of annual leave per year (25 days after 21 years of service!). Accumulation takes place on a biweekly basis (ie. ~0.84 days per pay period), and starts on the first day of employment. Note there are big limitations on the carry-over of annual leave at the end of the calendar year for grant (ie. CRESST) funded employees. Accumulated (unused) annual leave will be 'paid-out' on termination of employment at UMBC.

Sick Leave: 15 days of sick leave per year. Accumulation takes place on a biweekly basis (ie. ~0.56 days per pay period), and starts on the first day of employment. Unused sick leave can be carried over from one calendar year to the next, with unlimited accumulation. There is no compensation for unused sick leave at the time of termination of employment at UMBC.

Personal Leave: 3 days available on the date of hire, and at the beginning of every calendar year. The is no accumulation of personal leave. There is no compensation for unused personal leave at the time of termination of employment at UMBC.

Snow Days etc

CRESST@UMBC scientists working at GSFC will be compensated for any days (or part thereof) for which NASSA/GSFC is officially closed. Any "Liberal Leave" notifications issued by NASA/GSFC will also be respected. Given the closeness of geography, UMBC is also very likely to be closed if GSFC is closed....

Tuition Remission

Employees themselves are eligible for tuition remission of up to 8 credits per semester (graduate or undergraduate) at any UMS campus. (Mandatory Fees for the course are not covered).

Spouses & dependent children are eligible for full remission at UMBC and 50% remission at any other USM campus (if course not offered at UMBC) after 2 yrs of full employment of the staff member. (Mandatory Fees for the course are not covered).

For further details and links see the UMBC/HR Tuition Remission page.

Travel

Pre-Approval of all CRESST-related Travel is required. This is required for both UMBC-legal reasons (to legally protect you! via Worker's Compensation - see also "Travel Approval"), and for CRESST-central admin reasons. We (CRESST@UMBC) need to ensure

either we get an OK from your NASA/GSFC sponsor if you are traveling on "their dime"...
or that you have enough money available via (non-CRESST) grants to cover the trip

Assuming the finances are in order, CRESST@GSFC & CRESST@UMBC should be able to quickly

Construct the appropriate E-Travel Request for UMBC

Once approved, CRESST@UMBC will then be able to provide

On-line/Phone Register you for a conference using the CSST Credit Card
Access to the UMBC Travel Agents
Ability to book your Hotel stay
Confirm your Hotel/etc per diem

Upon your return, then clearly CRESST-central will help you getting your receipts etc into such order that UMBC Travel will be happy..

more info coming soon..

NOTE The CRESST Office at GSFC and the Campus Office at UMBC will help you prepare for Travel, and get reimbursement on your return.

PIship etc

Approval of the CRESST Associate Director at UMBC, UMBC's Dean of the CNMS and UMBC's OSPA is required. However beyond this, there are no restrictions on being a Principle Investigator on any suitable proposal. If you are physically located at NASA/GSFC, then UMBC may also require that your NASA sponsor also agrees to the proposed work taking place at GSFC.

Budget Guidelines: For budget proposals ran outside the CRESST coop (ie. through the UMBC Physics Department), GSFC-based scientists should budget as follows:

For Fringe Benefits (for PhD scientists): budget for 30% of salary
Actual cost to the grant may be higher or lower (based on Health-Care choices etc) but this is a fair average for most initial budget estimates...
For Travel: budget with reasonable estimates.
FYI: The CRESST-consortium (2006) average Cost/Trip are
- $1504 for a 5-day; 4-night domestic trip
- $3612 for a 7-day; 6-night international trip
For Equipment/Software: All items will require the approval of the UMBC Associate Director (& indeed the Dean's Office & UMBC OSP).
- for "obvious", easily-transportable items such as Laptops, software etc valued under 5K: budget with reasonable estimates and justifications.
- For other items, and for any items over 5K: a discussion & justification with UMBC Associate Director is required.
For Page Charges: budget with reasonable estimates
For Graduate Students: You should assume a salary of at least $24K/yr (pro-rated appropriately) fringe & tuition details to follow...

Sum the above items, and then

For Institutional Overhead: (GSFC-based scientists) Add 26% of the above sum to obtain grand total.

NOTE The CRESST Office at GSFC and the Campus Office at UMBC will help you construct realistic budgets.

Teaching/Mentoring Opportunities

CRESST@UMBC Scientists have the opportunity to take a part in the educational activities of UMBC. This is not mandatory. However if you wish to mentor a Graduate student, or teach a course at UMBC, let the CRESST Associate Director at UMBC know.

Generally GSFC-based scientists who choose to teach, teach one course every two years. Under CRESST, this activity will be over and above their programmatic activities. It is anticipated that there will be some (relatively small amount of) compensation for teaching. Generally scientists are asked to teach one of our 4 Undergraduate courses to a relatively small class (<20 students). Affiliation to the Physics Dept via the JCA is required if you wish to teach. In this case a you will be required to make a presentation to at least some of the tenure-track Faculty at UMBC. This usually consists of partly a "mini-lecture", and partly a discussion of your teaching philosophy (clearly we will explain the expectations in more detail should you be interested - the presentation is not as onerous as it might sound!). Following the presentation a positive Faculty vote is required.

Once obtained CRESST@UMBC will change your title from "Scientist" to "Professor" (eg. "Associate Research Scientist" to "Associate Research Professor"). Note this change of title is merely to recognize your contribution to the educational activities at UMBC - it does not imply a tenure-track position. Also note your title can be switched back to "Scientist" should you not be able to perform your teaching activities within the specified time-frame (eg due to a launch or similar important event). Such a switch is not a demotion, merely an acknowledge that you need to concentrate on programmatic work for the short- to medium-term future.