 |
|
|||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
| |
||||||
|
Maryland Moments, November, 2010
President Loh Giving Thanks for WashingtonWashingtonian: Seven reasons to be glad we live in and around the nation's capital 1."Washington can be a city of grumblers and grim prognosticators. Disaster lurks in every election cycle. It's all too easy to compare ourselves unfavorably with rival cities such as New York and Los Angeles when it comes to fashion and food. But Thanksgiving's a great moment to remember why it's wonderful to be a Washingtonian. Here are some regional reasons to be grateful this holiday season.... 2. This month brought a new president, former University of Iowa provost Wallace Loh, to the University of Maryland. Loh hasn't been in office long, but he's pledged to work with College Park and other Prince George's County residents on housing, safety, and economic-development issues; to play a productive goal in the debate over the future of Metro's Purple Line; and to avoid more furloughs at the university. We wish him luck, and we're thankful for a successful transition process." UM's New President Hopes for a 'Symbiotic Relationship' Residents and community leaders welcomed Wallace D. Loh at a monthly meet and greet. College Park Patch: "Trays of steaming, hot pizza and cool beverages sated city residents and community movers and shakers as they welcomed the new kid on the block Thursday at Ledo's Restaurant. Have you heard? There's a new president in town. 'I look forward to working in an collaborative, open spirit,' said Wallace D. Loh, the University of Maryland's new president. 'The future of the university depends on the future of College Park.' Loh, former provost at the University of Iowa, said that he and his wife Barbara spent two years in Iowa -- the heartland -- where people were friendly and warm. He then noted that he had already received a warm welcome from city residents and the university community. 'We're thrilled to be welcomed by the city of College Park,' Loh said. The meet and greet was part of the Experience and Enjoy College Park tour, designed to encourage residents to patronize local businesses while getting to know one another. And all in attendance, including Councilmembers Bob Catlin, (Dist. 2), Stephanie Stullich, (Dist. 3), Denise Mitchell, (Dist. 4), and Marcus Afzali, (Dist. 4), and Mayor Andy Fellows seized upon the opportunity to welcome Loh. ... When asked what his first priority would be as the university's new president, Loh, smiled, and then said that only one priority would be a luxury. 'There are multiple balls in the air at all times,' he said. Loh noted there are a 'number of immediate, very important priorities,' which include a decision about the Purple Line, development on East Campus, and furloughs. Loh called the current forloughs 'demoralizing' and plans to fight against them in order to 'retain good employees.' The East Campus development plan will entail a 'close working relationship with the city and county,' Loh said. ... Loh said that he looks forward to meeting with all the city's council members -- that is hoping for a 'symbiotic relationship' with the city and its residents. According to Mayor Andrew Fellows, Loh expressed interest in the community prior to his appointment as president. 'There's s much common ground for us to work together on,' Fellows said. 'The city, university and the county -- as much as we've worked together in the past, we can work better in the future.' " Everything You Need to Know About Veterans Day in College Park A digest of ceremonies, city services, transportation, and everything in between. College Park Patch: "The University of Maryland will honor veterans associated with the university at 2 p.m. at the Memorial Chapel on campus. University President Wallace Loh will present opening remarks, and three speakers will share their experiences in the military. Two musical performances will follow, and the celebration will conclude with the dedication of the new Garden of Remembrance and Reflection and refurbished Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. Volunteers from the university's Air Force ROTC unit will hold a vigil outside the chapel from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Click here for a complete list of University of Maryland's Veteran's Day celebrations." Will UM's New President Get on Board the Purple Line? Washington Post: College Park City Councilman Marcus Afzali writes: "This month marked the beginning of a new era for the University of Maryland in College Park, as Wallace D. Loh officially took over as president, replacing C. Daniel Mote, who led the campus for over a decade. Considering the impact the president has on the mission and direction of the institution, and the longevity of presidential terms, everybody with a stake in the flagship campus of the University of Maryland system is interested in the course Loh will set during the early days of his administration. The residents of the city of College Park are certainly no exception. Loh has quickly impressed me and many others in the greater College Park community with his outreach efforts. He has said that improving town-gown relations is a priority and attended community events, and as a social scientist he seems to understand the importance of reaching out to the residents of the city that hosts the university. Notably, Loh has stated: 'The future of the university depends on the future of College Park.' And the city's future relies in part on the completion of the Purple Line - and, in particular, whether Loh will support running the light-rail transit line down Campus Drive, the state's preferred alignment. The city of College Park, Prince George's County, the University of Maryland Student Government Association and local transportation advocates have all strongly promoted the Campus Drive route for years. The university administration alone has stood against it." Monthly Event Fosters Communication, Promotes Business Gazette Newspapers: "Dinner was not the only thing on College Park resident Cindy Lollar's mind when she showed up to Ledo Restaurant in College Park on Nov. 11. She was there to meet new University of Maryland, College Park, President Wallace Loh, and discuss some of the issues in her neighborhood, including student drinking and absentee landlords. 'I was so impressed that he made this effort, not only to support local business but to really make himself available for residents of the city to meet with him,' Lollar said. 'The more the university is willing to meet with full-time residents, the better.' Lollar was one of about 60 residents and officials who packed the restaurant Nov. 11 for the Experience and Enjoy College Park Tour, a monthly get-together that attendees said has given them a chance to promote local restaurants while meeting many of the city's decision-makers. 'It highlights the wonderful businesses that we have here,' said Loh, a former University of Iowa provost who took over at UM on Nov. 1. 'The future growth, the well-being, the excellence of the university depends a lot upon the excellence and well-being of the community.' " On Campus NIST Awards $15 Million Grant to UM to Support Postdoc Nanotechnology ResearchUM release: "The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a five-year cooperative agreement totaling $15 million to the Maryland Nanocenter at the University of Maryland to develop and implement a Postdoctoral Researcher and Visiting Fellow Measurement Science and Engineering Program. The award extends and expands an existing cooperative agreement between the two institutions that was begun in 2006 with a $1.5 million competitively awarded grant. The program for postdoctoral researchers and visiting fellows is one of many collaborative efforts developed between the institutions since they signed a broad agreement in 2003 to expand research collaborations and professional linkages. According to NIST, this new award will provide as many as 100 researchers with one- to two-year appointments at the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST). Visiting researchers supported by the cooperative agreement will aid in the development of measurement and fabrication methods, standards and technology in a wide range of areas including future electronics; nanofabrication and nanomanufacturing; energy transport, storage, and conversion; and bionanotechnology. 'We are very pleased to have this latest NIST-CNST agreement. Nanoscience cooperation between the University of Maryland and NIST has never been stronger,' said Principal Investigator Daniel P. Lathrop." College-Level Foreign Language Study Slowly Changes Focus Washington Examiner: UM, Georgetown buck the trend of downgrading languages. "Once upon a time, French was the language of diplomacy. It was the language of philosophers and intellectuals, and high-achieving high school students were not-so-gently steered in the direction of signing up for French classes if they wanted to go to the 'best' colleges. But times are changing, and French is slowly dropping off the college map along with German, Latin, and Russian. According to the New York Times, universities across the country are looking closely at foreign language majors and eliminating a few options. ... Locally, George Washington's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences will no longer require any foreign language to graduate, although students may use language courses to help fulfill broader humanities requirements.In 2009, GW graduated 26 Spanish majors, 7 French majors, one each in Chinese, German and Japanese, and no majors in Russian or Italian. American graduated 3 French, 3 Spanish, and 2 German majors. UVa graduated 30 French majors, 1 German major, and 73 Spanish majors. And the College of William and Mary had 3 French, 5 German, and 12 Spanish majors. On the other hand, traditional language powerhouse Georgetown graduated 14 Arabic, 22 French, 9 Chinese, 6 German, 2 Japanese, 4 Russian, 20 Spanish, and 5 Italian majors. And the University of Maryland, College Park had 18 French, 13 Chinese, 11 German, 24 Japanese, 10 Russian, 66 Spanish, and 3 Italian majors. At other area schools, language majors were negligible or not to be found." New University of Maryland East Campus Developer Ready to Work with Community Baltimore firm meets with residents; UM says construction could start in fall 2012 Business Gazette: "New developers for the University of Maryland, College Park's proposed East Campus project said at a Tuesday public forum they are ready to work with residents to plan the mixed use development, but that it is likely too early to speculate on a construction timeline for the $900 million project. The East Campus development could bring as many as 38 acres of housing and retail to the eastern side of Route 1, across from the university's main entrance. Representatives from Baltimore-based developer The Cordish Company held their first public meeting since signing on as the project's main developer in July. The two-hour forum was designed to update residents on their progress and receive public input, said Blake Cordish, the company's vice president of development. 'It's a little premature to talk about time frames,' Cordish said. 'We wanted to quickly get out to the community and get feedback, and also start the process of communicating.' The project's former developer, Rockville-based Foulger-Pratt/Argo, dropped out in November 2009 due to concerns over the economy. Ann Wylie, UM's vice president of administrative affairs, estimated Tuesday that construction could begin as soon as fall 2012. The university has already begun moving its existing buildings from the property, which include a greenhouse and postal facility." Residents Offer Input at East Campus Development Forum Though planning remains at an early stage, developers are looking to the community for guidance. College Park Patch: "While it's too soon to tell what East Campus will look like in the coming years, developers gave residents a peek at some of their preliminary plans at an open forum Tuesday night, and made note of what residents would like to see, too. Representatives from Cordish Company, who entered into exclusive negotiations with the University of Maryland in July, emphasized that, at only 90 days into the job, Tuesday's presentation was far from a final product. Nevertheless, some key themes emerged. The land, which is situated between Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway, is slotted for mixed use development, meaning that housing (likely grad student and market rate), a hotel and a shopping center are certain to be included. Cordish reps emphasized the importance of small, walkable blocks, engaging ground level storefronts, and sightlines from Route 1 that would give the complex a more open, pedestrian friendly feel. The tentative plans also allow for some form of centralized urban space. Blake Cordish, the company's vice president of development, pointed at the gathering spots built into other universities, like Harvard Square at Harvard and Palmer Square at Princeton as precedents, but added that the goal is to provide a place where longtime College Park residents and students can feel equally at home. 'I think the fascinating thing about being in development is you're a symphony conductor,' Cordish said. 'You have to have a lot of different constituents play together harmoniously. Part of our job is to create that eclectic, rich mix.' " Maryland Chosen To Participate in National Project on General Education for a Global Century UM release: "The University of Maryland is one of 32 institutions of higher education in the United States chosen to participate in a new curriculum and faculty development project called General Education for a Global Century. The initiative -- funded by the Henry Luce Foundation -- is part of the Association of American Colleges and Universities Shared Futures initiative. 'The University of Maryland is thrilled to be part of the General Education for a Global University project,' says University Provost Nariman Farvardin. 'As the university moves forward with its Strategic Plan and new general education requirements, this program will help us ensure that our students have the international focus they need to become effective citizens in a global community.' " Campus Commits Additional Resources for Institutional Transformation to Support Professional Growth of All Women Faculty UM release: "Using the nervous system of the eel-like lamprey fish, Professor Avis Cohen (Department of Biology and Institute for Systems Research) is developing a prosthetic device that could enable people with spinal cord injuries to walk again. Professor Alison Flatau(Department of Aerospace Engineering) has developed actuator and sensor technologies for aerospace systems that have improved the experience of flight. Professor Eugenia Kalnay (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science) has pioneered both the fundamental science and the practical applications of numerical weather prediction and is leading research to predict climate change through atmospheric modeling." 'Keep Me Maryland' Emergency Fundraising Continues Washington Post: "University of Maryland officials launched a fundraising campaign last year that was totally different. They didn't ask for huge donations to build stadiums or academic buildings. They asked anyone would could afford it to give whatever they could to help a student stay in school. 'Keep Me Maryland' has raised more than half a million dollars so far. Students experiencing financial problems can apply for small awards of $500 to $1,500 to help them make ends meet. Although the economy has improved since then, students are still in financial need and the campaign continues on. For the next month, Maryland students can donate extra dining credits to the fund. When students tried a similar fundraiser in March and raised more than $22,000. The fundraiser, which runs through Dec. 1, was organized by the Student Government Association, dining services, the Residence Hall Association and a campus service group called Jelly for the Belly." Going Clinical Inside Higher Ed: Teacher preparation programs are taking a page out of medical education's book. "In an effort to alter the debate about teacher preparation, a comprehensive report being issued today will demand significant changes of colleges, school districts and policy makers. The emphasis will be on the clinical preparation of teachers who are more equipped to instruct in the 21st century. While many colleges have taken steps of various sizes in that direction, this report aims to streamline them. To do that, the report panel says, will require nothing less than turning teacher training "upside down" by implementing a long-term, clinically based approach, similar to the model used in doctor education. 'The way in which we once prepared teachers, from primarily an academic classroom-based model, no longer suits the diversity of today's student body," said James G. Cibulka, president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, which commissioned the report prepared by a panel of various education stakeholders. 'We do know what needs to be done. It's a question of creating the political will to make the kinds of transformations that will really make a difference in the overall quality of the teaching force that we prepare for classrooms today.' ... It may sound daunting, but it's not a new concept, nor an unexplored one. 'I think a lot of it is in response to the criticism of teacher education, and especially the criticism which says that particularly programs in higher education are not changing, they're not responsive to the needs of the schools. That sort of chatter has been going on for a while,' said Donna Wiseman, a report panelist and chair-elect of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. 'This is an effort to really give us some guidelines on how to make changes and how to work together as a profession.' Eight states have already signed letters of intent to implement a clinical training agenda in teacher preparation, as sort of pilot programs to begin gathering data that will - in theory - prove that this agenda produces better teachers. As dean of the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, in a state that has committed to this project, Wiseman is all too familiar with the difficulties of aligning preparation processes across campuses. 'It's hard to maintain it across all the programs, even though we really try to do that,' she said." Measurement of 'Learning Outcomes' Comes to Graduate School "As the annual meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools got under way in Washington, three graduate deans led a workshop on assessing graduate students' learning and using such assessments to improve programs. Formal assessment for improvement, they said, is more useful and less painful than many faculty members believe. (And in any case, accreditors are insisting on it.) The three deans sat down for an interview after the workshop. Q. "In doctoral programs with intense mentor-apprentice relationships, the idea of establishing rubrics and other lists of learning outcomes might seem off-key. If I'm a senior professor of comparative literature and I've supervised 30 dissertations during my career, I probably know in my bones what successful learning in my program looks like. Why should I be asked to write out point-by-point lists of the skills and learning outcomes that my students should possess?" A: Charles Caramello, associate provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school at the University of Maryland: "If you write out lists of learning outcomes, you're making the invisible visible. That's really my answer. We've all internalized these standards. They're largely invisible to us. Assessment brings them out into visibility, and therefore gives them a history." Q. "What about graduate programs that are now being asked to do student-learning assessments for two accrediting bodies? An engineering program, for example, might now be expected to do student-learning evaluation both for the specialized engineering accreditor and for its university's regional accreditor." James Wimbush: "Yes, that happens. The school of education, the school of business -- they have very rigid accreditation standards from their associations. They tend to focus on meeting those particular criteria." Charles Caramello: "But those programs tend to come on board most quickly with student-learning assessment because for them this is familiar. One important thing that we try to do at Maryland is not ask these programs to do the same thing twice. If they're already using an assessment model for their specialized accreditor, we don't want to tell them that they have to create a second model. We'll find a way to work with them." Most Programs Don't Say Where Graduates Get Jobs Chronicle of Higher Education: "Now some institutions, including Ohio State University and the University of Maryland, College Park, are starting to push academic departments to track their Ph.D. graduates and publish the information online. 'The placement of students is the best outcome indicator I know of program quality,' says Patrick S. Osmer, vice provost and dean of the graduate school at Ohio State. But the question is: Will prospective students pay any attention? ... Cora Ann Johnston, a first-year doctoral student in biology at the University of Maryland, acknowledges that job-placement information 'wasn't at the top of my list' in deciding where to attend graduate school. One small department she applied to tried to attract students by capitalizing on how well its graduates did on the market. 'They were saying, "We have had students in the past get great positions -- look how well they are doing," ' relates Ms. Johnston. But the message didn't sway her. Instead, she chose Maryland because the biology department was large and 'vibrant,' and she fit well with other grad students there. 'Yes, I'm interested in my job afterward,' she says. 'But because a Ph.D. is such a long undertaking, I was more interested at that point in how many seminars they have, how cohesive the students are, and how much knowledge is swishing around in the department.' Maryland's biology department does not yet provide information to prospective students about where its Ph.D. graduates find jobs. But starting two years ago, administrators at the university directed all departments to collect employment information as part of an effort to "'right size' enrollment in graduate programs, says Cynthia Hale, assistant dean of Maryland's graduate school. The university is moving to make the data available online." Board of Regents Approves 10-Year Strategy for State Universities Plan calls for 45,000 more students, doubled research funding by 2020 Baltimore Sun: "The state university system will attempt to add 45,000 students, hand out 10,000 more degrees annually and double its research funding to more than $2 billion by 2020, according to a new strategic plan approved Friday by the Board of Regents. Under the 10-year plan, the system will also attempt to convert more of its research into industry, churn out 40 percent more graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, and redesign introductory courses so fewer students drop out. 'It's a very focused set of goals and initiatives bringing all of our assets to bear on the state's most pressing needs,' said Chancellor William E. Kirwan. Kirwan cast the plan as a response to growing problems in American higher education. The U.S. led the world in high school and college completion rates 30 years ago but now ranks 23rd in high school completion and 10th in college completion. 'I'm not an apocalyptic kind of guy,' Kirwan said. 'But I feel a sense of crisis developing in our country around the education gap. We're moving in the wrong direction. We're not educating people at the rate we were decades ago.' The regents and several university presidents raved about the plan, which has been under development since October 2009. ... Kirwan said much of that growth will happen at the Web-based University of Maryland, University College. But he said it's also important that the system change the composition of its graduates by emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math (known as STEM). Growth in those areas is more likely to happen at the University of Maryland, College Park and UMBC, the chancellor said." Enrollment at Maryland Schools Up, Growth Slows Business Journals: "Enrollment at the University System of Maryland's 12 campuses increased this fall from last year but overall growth slowed. Fall 2010 enrollment throughout the system reached 152,497 students, up 2.6 percent, or 3,821 students, from fall 2009. While total enrollment increased, the growth rate for overall enrollment was slower than the 3.6 percent in growth last year. Most USM campuses had little enrollment growth and three schools -- Coppin State University, Bowie State University and University of Maryland -- decreased in enrollment during fall 2010. University of Maryland University College accounted for more than half, or 56 percent, of total growth across all campuses. UMUC offers mainly online degrees." A Parent's Guide to the Freshman 15 Washington Post: "What should you say to your college kid when he or she comes home for Thanksgiving having all too clearly gained the notorious Freshman 15? Not. One. Word. So says Daphne Oz, author of 'The Dorm Room Diet' and daughter of famed cardiovascular surgeon Mehmet Oz. Daphne Oz knows what it's like to be an overweight adolescent in a health-conscious family. Because she lost weight when she went to college, Oz also knows how to navigate the stresses and temptations of campus life without packing on the pounds. Oz, 24, insists that silence in the face of the Freshman 15 is a parent's best strategy, no matter how stressed or uncomfortable it makes you. 'This is your child's first time at home since leaving. They want to come back to their comfort zone. You will end up in a massive family feud if you get on their case for packing on a few extra pounds,' Oz says. Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietician and nutritionist at the University of Maryland at College Park's health center, agrees. 'Have your child lead the conversation,' she suggests. 'She will probably bring it up.' Several studies have found that when first-year college students gain weight it's typically more like five pounds, not 15. But that's still enough to be noticeable, especially this time of year, Jacubczak notes, when everyone unpacks the jeans and sweaters they haven't worn since the last time the air was cool. That's when they finally realize they've gained weight, Jakubczak says. One way or another, by the time they go home for Thanksgiving, 'usually, the student knows,' she says." Rankings America's Greenest Colleges And UniversitiesForbes Magazine's Greenest: "In compiling our own list of greenest colleges, we've used the SEI's (Sustainable Endowments Institute) report card as a starting point, but we've also taken other factors into account. Does the Princeton Review also include a school on its elite Green Honor Roll? Does the Environmental Protection Agency recognize the institution as one of its top collegiate purchasers of green power? Is a school tracking its own efforts at environmental stewardship through a program run by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education? Has it signed on to the Presidents' Climate Commitment to achieve net neutrality in greenhouse gas emissions? Is environmentalism a theme of its academics? " UM is one of 52 schools honored and among 13 featured in a slide show (Dickinson, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Northeastern, Northland [Wisc.], Oberlin, Unity College {Me.}, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Santa Cruz, Georgia, Minnesota, Yale): http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/10/americas-greenest-colleges-business-beltway-green-colleges_slide_12.html University of Maryland College Park, Md. "In addition to signing on to the Presidents' Climate Commitment, Maryland has been highlighted by the Sustainable Endowments Institute and the Princeton Review for its green efforts. SEI gives the university an A- in part because of its water conservation efforts and its 9% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2005. The school also gives carpoolers a 50% discount on parking permits." Gear-Head Nirvana: UM Space Center Voted One of Nation's 'Most Awesome College Labs' Washington Post: "On a bright September day outside a barn at the University of Maryland in College Park, graduate student Andrew Ellsberry held what appeared to be a remote control for a battery-operated toy car. But as Ellsberry twisted and turned the knobs, he was taking a full-size moon rover for a test drive. The silver, three-wheeled RAVEN moon rover is the size of a golf cart, weighs 800 pounds, and is powered by two super-size car batteries. Its 'brain' is the same kind of computer processor found in a netbook. Students in the Department of Aerospace Engineering's Space Systems Laboratory built the rover, which won a NASA design competition. As a smart, mobile assistant for astronauts, the rover and its robotic arm theoretically could follow instructions to bore holes into the moon's surface, collect rock samples and even carry an astronaut to safety in an emergency. Space systems lab students also designed a companion spacesuit to allow an astronaut to give the rover voice and keypad commands remotely. 'Somewhere else, I'd barely be able to touch the controls, but here I'm working with robots and spacesuit simulators,' Ellsberry said, maneuvering the vehicle over a pile of sand.For gear-heads, childhood Lego fanatics and devoted 'Star Trek' fans turned college students, the University of Maryland's Space Systems Lab is nirvana. It was recently voted one of the top five most 'awesome college labs' by Popular Science magazine, and students often go on to work for NASA or companies that develop space exploration products. 'When I first toured the lab, it seemed like something between a candy store and Disneyland for me,' said Ellsberry, who is working toward a master's degree in aerospace engineering. 'My eyes were huge.' " University of Maryland MBA Ranks in Top 50 Business Journals: "The University of Maryland's full-time MBA program is among the top 50 in the country, according to new rankings by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The university's Robert H. Smith School of Business came in at No. 42 on the list. The school was No. 26 on BusinessWeek's last ranking in 2008. The rankings are based on a survey of new MBA graduates, a poll of corporate recruiters and an evaluation of faculty research output. The ranking report indicated that 81 percent of Maryland's full-time class of 2010 MBA students had secured a job within three months of graduation. That rate of employment success matched Duke University, which ranked sixth overall. No other Maryland MBA programs cracked the list of 57 schools. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business was No. 1 for its full-time MBA programs. Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Stanford University filled out the top five slots. Back in October, the University of Maryland's Smith School ranked No. 36 overall on a Financial Times ranking of the world's best executive MBA programs." Mexico, U.S., Puerto Rico, Singapore and Australia Nominate Most Students to Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Maryland is ranked 12th globally in this competition with 10 competitors. "In its biggest competition ever, more than 1550 'dorm room entrepreneurs' from 23 countries were nominated for the 2010 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), the premier recognition for high school, university and graduate school students taking a full course load of classes while running a revenue-generating business. 'The list reflects the most diverse group of international universities in the competition's history,' said Kevin Langley, chairman elect of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), which produces the GSEA. 'With the cooperation between EO members and these institutions, we're seeing a growing, global revolution of student business owners who are harnessing the power of entrepreneurship to create companies, jobs and innovation.' " Off Campus Our Bay, Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology -- Farm Research Center Celebrates Ten YearsAnnapolis Capital: "A few miles off of busy Route 50, down a long country road, the future of farming and its role in the Chesapeake Bay is being hashed out. For 10 years now, the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology has been supporting research aimed at figuring out how farming practices hurt -- or help -- the environment. The center's goal is to support science that can then help Marylanders make key policy and political decisions about farming and restoring the bay. Russell Brinsfield, director of the center since its founding, describes it this way: 'The nexus of good science and policy on the impact of working lands on the environment.' Brinsfield said the center's mission is unique in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Most other agricultural research centers are focused on improving crop yields, reducing plant diseases or testing new techniques. The Hughes Center aims to figure out which farming practices can reduce nutrient and sediment pollution, how zoning and land preservation affects farms, what type of crops might be good for bay-area farmers to grow. And it's all done with an eye toward the farmers' bottom lines, too. It makes no sense, Brinsfield says, to require pollution controls if they're prohibitively expensive. 'We don't support regulations in a vacuum,' Brinsfield said." Human-Computer Interaction Lab: Now Children Can Bring Story Book Classics to Life Business Wire: "Just in time for the holidays, the University of Maryland and the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) have unveiled StoryKit, a unique interactive app for the Apple iPad and iPhone that allows children to read, edit and share their favorite storybook classics. With touch screen devices such as the iPad and iPhone becoming nearly ubiquitous in homes and schools, the StoryKit electronic storybook app allows children and parents to take advantage of those little moments in life - maybe on that long trip to Grandma's for Thanksgiving -- to engage in a creative activity. After downloading the free StoryKit app, children can create their own versions of classic picture books. The app provides the ability for these budding authors to write text to change the storyline, illustrate the story with their own drawings, images or photos, add sound effects to bring the story to life and layout the entire book with easy-to-use, drag-and-drop features. ... StoryKit was designed by researchers at the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Lab as a basis for studying how mobile devices can be a conduit for children to work with their families by doing creative and educational activities. The idea is that by creating stories on the iPad and iPhone, as opposed to with paper and pens, children can find time to work on these activities anytime and anywhere. Once completed, users can carry it around, show it to friends and family or send it electronically to people who live further away." Staffing Cutbacks Make It Tougher to Talk Turkey Capital News Service: "Locally-sourced turkeys may be on the rise, but locally-sourced advice on how to cook the birds is not. A Maryland home cook used to be able to call a county extension office of the University of Maryland and talk with a home economist about how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. But these days, with budget woes triggering staff cuts in government offices across the nation, home economists have been economized almost out of business. Not too long ago, there was at least one food science educator on the staff of each county's University of Maryland Extension office, says Nick Place, associate director of the extension. 'But over the past few years, because of budget cuts, we no longer have the luxury' of staffing those positions, he says. Instead, the extension is 'moving toward the cluster program, so that educators have responsibilities across multiple regions,' Place says. That way, if someone calls into a county extension office looking to talk turkey but there's not a certified food specialist in the office, the caller is referred to a specialist in another county extension office who is certified. The University of Maryland Extension is a public education service run by the state's two land-grant universities (at College Park and Eastern Shore) to make their resources available to Maryland residents. With an extension office in each county and one in Baltimore City, Maryland's Extension Service has been serving Marylanders since the early 1900s, Place says. It's 'the front door to the university,' he adds." Williams Design Proposals Unveiled for $40 Million School in E. Baltimore Designers show off plans; facility expected to open in 2014 Baltimore Sun: Isaac Williams, a faculty member with the University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and Linda Lo Cascio, a local development consultant, coordinate this competition. "Classrooms that 'grow' in size as students get older. Vegetable gardens and wind turbines that help teach city children about farming and alternative energy sources. Diverse learning spaces under a single, sweeping roof, intended to foster a sense of community. These are just a few of the ideas presented by three teams competing to design the East Baltimore Community School, a $40 million, kindergarten-to-eighth-grade facility planned as an anchor for the East Baltimore Development Inc. renewal area. Expected to open by fall 2014, the 103,000-square-foot building will be a 'public contract school' -- it will be open to neighborhood students, but its design and construction will not be funded through the city school system's standard procurement process. Money to build the school will come from a variety of sources, including nonprofits such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, as well as from a previously approved tax-increment financing plan. More than $8.5 million has been raised so far." U of Maryland Professor Researches Lattimer Massacre Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice: "A University of Maryland anthropology professor interested in the Lattimer Massacre says he's found bullets fired from guns at the site. Where those bullets were found will further tell the story of how 19 unarmed immigrant coal miners died on Sept. 10, 1897, at the hands of a Luzerne County sheriff's posse. Dr. Paul Shackel, along with graduate students and other volunteers, spent last weekend near a monument on the site and believes they found bullets from the massacre. 'We did a survey of the area to see if we could find any evidence of the shooting,' Shackel said. 'We found the remains of several bullets close to the monument, across the street. We found some bullets that looked like a mushroom (meaning they had been fired and hit something) and some casings.' Shackel said he knew where to look based on a variety of sources. 'There were some written records, and oral histories, which indicated the bullets may be near the gum tree,' Shackel said. 'The gum tree does not exist anymore, so we searched in an area of several hundred feet near the monument. We were able to find a definitive pattern.' Shackel and the others found the bullets and casings in one place, off Lattimer Road near the monument. 'We found about a dozen bullets and fewer casings, all parallel to the road," Shackel said. 'The bullets and casings were found together, which looks like there was a firing line. I can't be 100 percent certain, but that's the way it looks.' Shackel said he's reasonably sure the bullets are from the massacre. 'The bullets look the approximate age of those bullets,' he said. 'They came from guns of the type and caliber used during that time. They were found approximately 6 inches underneath the surface. Considering the time that has passed, it would have taken this much time to cover them 6 inches. ... The Lattimer Massacre occurred Sept. 10, 1897, when Luzerne County Sheriff James Martin and a sheriff's posse were ordered by coal company operators to fire at between 300 and 400 unarmed immigrant miners who were marching -- to protest poor working conditions in the mines -- from Harwood to Lattimer. About 19 of the unarmed marchers were shot to death and about 47 more were wounded." Engaged Students Maryland Beats North Carolina, 3-2, in Double Overtime to Win NCAA Field Hockey Title Baltimore Sun: Frazer's goal with 2:10 left in second extra period gives Terps revenge for last year's title-game loss to Tar Heels "Maryland's field hockey team has never forgotten how North Carolina broke its heart by scoring the game-winning goal with 11.7 seconds left in last year's national championship game. The two teams met Sunday in this year's title game, and the Terrapins gained a measure of revenge. Megan Frazer helped break a few Tar Heels' hearts when she scored with 2:10 left in the second period of sudden-death overtime to give No. 1 Maryland a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over No. 2 North Carolina at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Maryland (23-1) has won seven national championships, including four in the past six years. But the Terrapins still were talking about the one they didn't get in 2009, and it was easy to see the way it drove them this year. 'They beat us with [11.7] seconds left,' Maryland's Katie O'Donnell said. 'To this day and forever, I will always remember that time. But this year, I know that we won with 2:10 left in overtime on an amazing shot.' Frazer got the winning shot in the 7-on-7 overtime format, but O'Donnell started the play in her final game as a Terrapin. She was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year an unprecedented four times, but the senior attacker stole a pass in the North Carolina end, flicked the ball to Frazer and watched as the sophomore midfielder from Ireland scored on a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle. 'After last year, I just have a picture in my mind of them winning,' Frazer said. 'I just wanted it to be us so much this year. We did it, so I'm happy.' The Terrapins lost seven starters from last year's national runner-up, but they developed into a solid team. Their offense was powerful all year, and with this victory, Maryland finished the season with 15 straight wins. In addition, Maryland handed North Carolina (22-3) all three of its losses." Sportswoman of the Year: Maryland Attacker Flashes Skill That Defies Her Size New York Times: "Seven years ago, the University of Maryland's field hockey coach, Missy Meharg, noticed a group of high school students shooting around during halftime of a Terrapins game. One of them was ripping shots at the cage with a power that defied her age and size. 'I was like, "Whoa, who is that?" Meharg said. 'I was immediately blown away by her stick skills.' This encounter, Meharg said, was the first step in the recruiting process. Katie O'Donnell is small, but she plays big. She is a 5-foot-2 senior attacker for No. 1 Maryland, and she leads all Division I scorers with 4.18 points per game. She had three assists in the Terrapins' most recent win, a 3-1 victory over Connecticut on Nov. 14 in the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament. O'Donnell's career points total is now 300, making her only the third player in N.C.A.A. history to reach the 300-point mark. At 16, O'Donnell became the youngest American field hockey player to earn a cap in international competition. Now 22, O'Donnell has 53 international caps and almost every award a field hockey player can win. Her next target is another N.C.A.A. title. The Terrapins host No. 7 Ohio State in the semifinal round on Friday in College Park, Md. ... O'Donnell's athletic role model is Mia Hamm; she said she admired the soccer player's work ethic, passion and character. O'Donnell may be following in Hamm's footsteps as a breakout star who transcends her sport. In October, she attended the annual Salute to Women in Sports Gala organized by the Women's Sports Foundation, the women's sports world equivalent of the Oscars. As a nominee for Sportswoman of the Year, O'Donnell walked the red carpet at the Waldorf-Astoria in Midtown Manhattan decked out in a sophisticated black dress. She said she was shocked when she won the award. Other nominees included the softball player Jennie Finch and the ice hockey gold medalist Megan Agosta." Honors College and Education Abroad Host Passport Day UM release: "The University of Maryland Honors College and Education Abroad will host Passport Day 2010 on Friday, December 3rd. The United States Department of State Washington Passport Agency will be present to process passport applications for more than 140 students, faculty, and staff from across campus who registered for the event. A photographer will also be present to take and print passport photos for a nominal fee. 'Our goal is for every Honors student to have the opportunity to study abroad before they graduate. So we came up with Passport Day, a one-stop-shop to facilitate this process,' said Traci Dula, assistant director of the Honors College and Passport Day event coordinator. 'We decided to extend the event beyond the Honors College because it proved to be a great opportunity that we wanted to share as a service to the entire campus community.' 'Right now, about 40 percent of Honors students study abroad before they graduate. We would like to see that number double,' said William Dorland, Honors College director." In 'Florencia,' Magical realism Meets Opera at Maryland Opera Studio Washington Post: "They call it the 'white opera.' For its stripped-down fall presentation, the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland uses a set of period costumes, made of natural muslin, to allow young singers to get used to working onstage in unfamiliar clothing. But this white, turn-of-the-century garb, slightly ghostly, slightly anodyne, could have been tailor-made for the otherworldly magical realism of 'Florencia en el Amazonas,' which opened at the Kay Theater of the Clarice Smith Center on Friday night. Daniel Catan's wrote this opera in 1996 as a commission for the Houston Grand Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, and the Seattle Opera -- the first Spanish-language opera written for a major company in the United States. It was immediately popular with audiences and has done well since, garnering several productions, a recording, and, ultimately, another big-league commission from the Los Angeles Opera: Catan's 'Il Postino,' starring Placido Domingo, had its premiere in September. ... Given the costs of producing opera at a professional company and the attendant risks of low box office receipts for an unfamiliar work, universities have become a natural haven for new opera. 'Florencia' has been done by at least two other student programs before Maryland, and it's Maryland's second contemporary work this calendar year, after the world premiere of 'Shadowboxer' in April. ... Leon Major, the stage director who leads the Maryland Opera Studio, guided a clear production that managed, in spite of its spare resources, not to feel at all makeshift (perhaps because the current financial crunch is forcing so many professional companies to try stripped-down productions as well that we're getting used to filling in the blanks). The journey was shown on a projected map at the back of the stage, while bits of foliage and clusters of origami birds and butterflies evoked the jungle. John Devlin led a modest instrumental ensemble of two pianos, harp, flute, clarinet, and percussion. It was an evening that spoke well for studio opera." City's First Bike Sharing Program Shows Success, Promise Rethink College Park: "Though a lack of funding recently prevented our city from riding on a local bike sharing program, there is a good news to celebrate elsewhere. Last month, a team of recent UM graduates presented their class project in a manner that would likely earn them an A: they launched their first revenue-generating service of weBike, a community bike program that operates the country's first station-less model of bike sharing. weBike was created three years ago while teammates Allie Armitage, Brad Eisenberg, Yasha Portnoy and Vlad Tchompalov were taking a course at the University of Maryland with Professor of the Practice Dr. Gerald Suarez. The class, 'Systems Thinking for Managerial Decision Making,' became a platform for the team to craft their class project into an ideal version of bike transportation in a college community. When class was over, the students felt their idea had enough value to pursue weBike's implementation on campus. Upon receiving encouragement from Dr. Suarez, they launched a prototype in College Park and now operate weBike as an incorporated company. weBike's model of bike sharing is based on an SMS text message platform, which enables riders to rent and return bikes through their cell phones. Riders can check out a bike out by sending weBike a text to receive a code to unlock it; the weBike fleet is uniform and easy-to-recognize. They can then ride wherever they need to go within a given period, and when they're finished, return the bike and text weBike to complete the transaction. Through this simple platform, users have access to a bike to get from A to B without the worry of theft, maintenance or the hassle of where to store a bike in a small apartment. Users also save time waiting for public transportation and avoid the hefty fees to park a car on campus. The first official system of weBike is currently being operated at the Mazza GrandMarc Apartments, a complex located on Route 1 just 1.5 miles north of the UM campus." Use Improv to Learn to Communicate with Impact Washington Post: "He's a Broadway actor, so my brother's day job is quite different from my role as executive director of the Office of Career Services at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and my work as a faculty member and coach with our executive MBA (EMBA) students. But there are striking similarities. 'Stage' presence is really important for success in business. If leaders were to treat every interview, elevator pitch, presentation and group meeting as if they were in the spotlight, their performance would really stand out. I took my brother's advice to one of my then-EMBA students, Kim Gifford, the deputy director at a Northern Virginia-based medical professional society. One of her biggest goals was to speak with more impact and confidence. I encouraged her to break out of her comfort zone and take an improv class -- what better way to really push her limits? With zero previous acting experience, Gifford reluctantly signed up for classes at a community theater in Northern Virginia. She quickly found herself really enjoying the exercises that had her communicating differently than she'd ever done, reacting to whatever was thrown her way (Quick! Say you're a Mexican Jumping Bean expert . . . communicate that on the fly!) and adjusting her style to flow with others." Students Counter Kansas Church's Veterans Day Protest Capital News Service: "Three University of Maryland freshmen traveled to Washington, D.C., before their 9:30 a.m. class Thursday to help counter Westboro Baptist Church's Veterans Day protest near The George Washington University in Foggy Bottom. The Kansas-based church, known for anti-gay protests at military funerals, picketed near the school at Washington Circle because 'the current generation of college students have been taught to disobey God and serve the lusts of their flesh,' according to the church's website. ... The College Park campus students joined GW students in Thursday's counter protest, planned by the student organization The GW Patriot. Sarah Honberg of Rockville, holding an orange 'No Room for Bigots in D.C.' sign, looked forward to attending the protest all week, even though she knows it won't stop church members' demonstrations. 'I don't think we'll change their minds,' said Honberg, an early childhood education major. 'Their opinions are pretty set.' The students' protest was more about showing opposition to the church's views, said Brittany Clarke, a women's studies major. 'I'm not saying they don't have a right to protest,' Clarke said, 'but it's important to exercise our right, too.' Clarke, carrying a bright green 'Love is Not a Sin' sign, has attended other protests in her native Philadelphia, but 'none that I've felt as passionate about,' she said." UM 'Battle of the Brains' Team To Compete In Finals UM release: "The University of Maryland will be competing in the finals of the 'Battle of the Brains' competion for the third year in a row. Headed by Computer Science faculty member Amol Deshpande, the team -- comprised of undergraduates Anirudh Bandi, Holman Gao, and Scott Zimmermann -- will take part in the 2011 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Intercollegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The team is one of 100 teams chosen from over 8700 teams that participated in regional contests worldwide. The international competition will be held from February 27 to March 4. The University of Maryland has taken teams to the past two 'Battle of the Brains' competitions. Last year, Maryland placed first among all U.S. public universities." Young Musicians Take Audience on a Tour of Chamber Music Washington Examiner: "Completing a performance degree in music from the University of Maryland means mandatory chamber ensemble time. It's a good thing for the students, and also for the audiences who enjoy professional quality music written for a small ensemble. Staff and students of the university's School of Music will present an Honors Chamber Music Concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at the campus' Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. 'Over a week and a half ago, we had three chamber music recitals [giving] everybody a chance to play,' David Salness, director of chamber music activities, said. 'There were six [chamber] groups that were selected from over 30 by the faculty as most outstanding.' In a program that will run about 90 minutes, one brass ensemble made up of four trombone players, another of saxophones, a woodwind and piano ensemble of four and, finally, three string ensembles each play alternately one piece written by Edvard Grieg, Guy Lacour, John-Michael Damase, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. Beethoven, it should be noted, composed some of the most challenging pieces for string quartets in the entire history of chamber works. The honors musicians, as well as all of the students in the chamber music studies department at the university, are well up to the task. 'We feel there's a little more academic rigor involved in being a well-rounded individual and being knowledgeable beyond your instrument,' Salness continued." People University of Maryland Gets Greener Thanks To Major Tree DonationUM release: "The grounds around the University of Maryland's Comcast Center are 100% greener thanks to the donation of 100 large Autumn Blaze maple trees by alumnus John Denison. The trees were donated, delivered and installed by Dennison's 38 year old Fort Washington Landscape Company this month. The company had already donated 50 oak trees to the university. Those trees - located next to Lot 1 - were planted by Maryland students last April. Total value of the gift is $61,350. We're proud to support the greening of the University of Maryland and its goals of sustainability, beauty and educational excellence, said Dennison. University of Maryland Assistant Director for Arboretum/Horticultural Services Karen Petroff said the trees -- which now become part of the University's Arboretum and Botanical Garden -- will be used for education and enjoyed for their shade and dramatic red-orange fall coloration." Citizen Scientists Scientists should speak out on the environmental effects of ventures such as tar-sands mining. "Canada's tar sands, like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, are a warning sign of things to come. Future sources of fossil fuels will only get dirtier and riskier. Many have predicted that the next big boom will be in shale gas, which suffers from methane gas leaks that could make it as 'dirty' a resource as coal. It is more important than ever for scientists to monitor environmental impacts and to speak up to raise legitimate concerns. The University of Maryland's Margaret Palmer helped to bring international attention to the environmental problems associated with mountain-top mining, for example, leading to more stringent enforcement of regulations in the United States. Scientists can make a difference, not, as some critics allege, by playing politics, but by applying their expertise as concerned citizens." Liz Lemon, UM Student: '30 Rock' Goes Back to College UVa grad Tina Fey's Liz Lemon is a Terp. The Atlantic: "Even Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy had horribly awkward, regret-filled college years that they now look back on fondly. Just like 25 years from now, current undergrads will reminisce about their vomit-filled nights of Four Loko binges, this week's 30 Rock was all about reliving the characters' college heydays. What lessons did they re-learn? ... Being the Cool Kid Has Its Price: For one whole 'fortnight,' Liz Lemon was on top of the world. When she arrived at the University of Maryland in 1988, rocking her Richard Marx haircut, the registrar accidentally gave her a handicap room, which ended up being the party room. Everyone loved her -- a blonde girl even gave her a high five! But in true Lemon fashion, the popularity was fleeting. That's why when she suddenly finds herself in good favor with the crew, after spending lottery winnings on a company bar tab, she allows them to run wild -- as long as it makes them like her. But keeping everyone happy becomes too hard to manage, so Liz does what she does best: lay down the rules." A Diagnostic Device that Gives You a Fluid Check Washington Post: "A patient experiencing chest pains is rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Right now, the process for an emergency room doctor to determine whether this is a heart attack, a stroke or some other ailment may involve laboratory tests that take more than an hour to process. But in a life-or-death race for time, a patient may not have that long. 'With our diagnostic device, a patient can be tested in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and in 10 minutes have conclusive results,' said Kenneth Gabriel, founder and chief executive of Prognosys LLC. Gabriel's solution is similar to a home pregnancy test, except his version offers the potential to diagnose ailments such as heart disease, cancer and cholera. The test checks bodily fluids for specific markers of trouble and produces the results as a bar code that can be sent by smart phone to a secure Web site so patients can track their results and share with a doctor. Gabriel is just months away from introducing in the marketplace his first diagnostic test for cardiovascular disease through his College Park-based high-technology company, incubated at the University of Maryland's Technology Advancement Program center. (Gabriel also teaches business courses at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.) " It's a Long Way to the Top Phil Wiser's dramatic and unlikely ascent has taken him from Hammerjacks to Silicon Valley. Baltimore Magazine: "Science increasingly fascinated Wiser, and he decided to pursue electrical engineering, 'although at the time, I didn't really know what that meant,' he says. But he knew enough to major in it at the University of Maryland College Park, which meant finally quitting the band. 'To this day, it was the most painful decision I ever had to make,' he says. Wiser worked the nightshift loading trucks at UPS and cobbled together a bunch of scholarships to cover tuition -- 'I got really proficient at begging for money,' he says -- and roomed in a basement apartment with Allan, who also enrolled at College Park. 'It was a culture shock going to college,' says Wiser, 'but having Mitch around gave me some continuity to my past life.' As Wiser got deeper into science and using math to manipulate audio signals, Allan watched his friend become 'a total nerd, and I mean that in a good way,' he says. 'I remember introducing Phil to this guy with a bulging ponytail, and he immediately said, 'Your hair looks just like an sp3 hybridized orbital,'" a reference to molecular theory, 'which is what he saw. It was the ultimate uber-geek joke.' The uber-geek graduated summa cum laude in 1990 with a 4.0 GPA and earned himself a free ride to grad school at Stanford. There, he got his first taste of Silicon Valley. A fellow grad student and his brother had a start-up company and asked Wiser to design a digital mixing console, which they, in turn, produced. 'I saw my product at a trade show,' recalls Wiser, 'and I'll never forget when a customer came in and bought it, because it was just what he needed for a recording studio. That changed my life -- I thought, "Wow, I can build something that people will buy, and it can have a positive impact on them. I can create products and solutions." 'At that point, it was clear I needed to be in the Silicon Valley startup culture, where people are creating amazing things on a regular basis.' " Vibrant State $5.1 Million Army-Md. Alliance Speeds University Research to MarketUM release: "Several of the most promising technological research projects at University System of Maryland-related labs are getting a strategic infusion of federal cash to help them through the most difficult phase of development, and move them toward the commercial market. With $5.1 million in federal funding, the Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance teams University System of Maryland research institutions and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), in support of a wide array of emerging technologies. The University of Maryland, College Park is administering the program. Eleven grants were announced today at the National Council for Entrepreneurial Technology Transfer conference in Washington, D.C. Among the technologies supported: a graphene replacement for silicon transistors, a new generation of powerful, ultra-thin batteries, laser devices that can sniff out dangerous gases over a distance, a new powerful class of antibiotics, and a commercial technique for producing biofuels from trash. ... University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh stresses the importance of programs like this, calling the collaboration between federal labs and state universities in Maryland an example of 'spending smarter.' "This alliance leverages the abundant federal research presence in our state," says University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. 'Brit' Kirwan. 'The System's research institutions are producing significant advances, and we need to make the most of them. By energizing some of our most promising work, the state and the nation will be big winners in the globally competitive innovation economy.' " Make Way for Benefit Corporations Maryland Daily Record: Casey Willson, Retail Industry and Sustainability Programs Manager at the University of Maryland Small Business Development Center, writes an op/ed: "Maryland has taken a national lead in helping small businesses use the power of the marketplace to address social concerns, such as sustainability. Last month, the state became the first in the nation to create a new class of businesses called 'benefit corporations.' Now, Maryland has a chance to build on its pioneering action to become a national haven for these organizations, much as Delaware has become a banking center. Benefit corporations are for-profit entities with a mission of performing social good. Under the law, championed by state Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, they differ from regular corporations in that they have a double mission: to maximize shareholder wealth and create social benefit. Founders and directors are protected from lawsuits as they dedicate specified monies and resources to create social well-being. A benefit corporation must identify clearly what it will contribute, and to whom, and how it will improve the community or environment. Verification and transparency are vital to its success. At the Maryland Small Business Development Center, a collaboration between the University of Maryland and the federal Small Business Administration, we have helped entrepreneurs take advantage of this new business model. In fact, the first two benefit corporations in the nation are our clients." Saving Bay Makes Financial Sense Annapolis Capital: Restoration will be repaid with more tourism, jobs, higher property values "Restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay is a sound financial investment, according to a report released today by a nonprofit advocacy group. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's report, 'The Economic Argument for Cleaning Up the Bay and its Rivers,' concludes that spending money on restoration will be repaid many times over with a stronger seafood industry, higher property values, more 'green' jobs and more tourism. On the flip side, dirty water hurts those same industries. The report comes as the federal government is requiring the states that drain into the bay to come up with new plans to reduce pollution as part of the new bay 'pollution diet' -- officially, the 'Total Maximum Daily Load.' Those plans are due today, but some state and local government officials have complained about the high costs associated with cleaning up the bay. Upgrading sewage plants, fixing bad stormwater controls and helping farmers cut pollution come with a significant up-front price tag. But the bay foundation's report argues that clean water is worth that investment. ... 'The paper does a good job of demonstrating that there are large economic benefits to be gained from bay restoration, while at the same time showing that investing in restoration will create economic impacts and jobs in the region,' said Douglas W. Lipton, a resource economist at the University of Maryland, whose research is cited in the report." Rewarding Eco-Friendly Farmers Can Help Combat Climate Change Water World: "Financially rewarding farmers for using the best fertilizer management practices can simultaneously benefit water quality and help combat climate change, finds a new study by the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). The researchers conclude that setting up a 'trading market,' where farmers earn financial incentives for investing in eco-friendly techniques, would result in a double environmental benefit - reducing fertilizer run-off destined for the Chesapeake Bay, while at the same time capturing carbon dioxide headed for the atmosphere. The study, Multiple Ecosystem Markets in Maryland, advises the state's Department of the Environment how to set up a 'nutrient trading market,' as proposed in the 2008 state climate action plan. This nutrient trading would operate alongside markets that sell carbon dioxide credits. The CIER study examines the effects of operating both markets simultaneously. In these markets, farmers who reduce pollutants below a set level would earn credits. They would sell these credits to other operators, such as sewage and water treatment facilities or power plants that have difficulty meeting environmental targets. No direct government subsidies would be involved. In these markets, farmers who reduce pollutants below a set level would earn credits. They would sell these credits to other operators, such as sewage and water treatment facilities or power plants that have difficulty meeting environmental targets. No direct government subsidies would be involved. 'Everybody can and should win from these markets,' says principal investigator Matthias Ruth, who directs the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research. 'This could represent an extra revenue stream for farmers, as well as an incentive to use the best nutrient practices that can help clean up the Bay and fight climate change. Taking these conservation steps costs the farmers money, and at the very least a reimbursement for their investment is well-deserved.' Maryland is one of a handful of states considering whether to create these multiple markets. One key question for policy-makers is whether farmers who achieve reductions in watershed pollution while also capturing CO2 should be able to sell credits in both markets and, in effect, get dual payments for single action." UM Research Brings Next Generation Forecasting for the Chesapeake Bay UM release: "Research being conducted by ESSIC -- the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center at Maryland's M-Square Research Park --- could provide one part of the answer: a way to provide critical long-term environmental information. "The Chesapeake Bay is really a microcosm of the earth's system for a variety of reasons,' said ESSIC Director Tony Busalacchi. 'We have the influence of the bay itself, the atmosphere, the land, the terrestrial eco-system.' ESSIC's Chesapeake Bay Forecasting System (CBFS) is focused on research that looks at how all the earth's environmental systems fit together -- using data from NOAA, USGS, NASA and USDA as well as on-site sensors and satellite observations. Director Raghu Murtugudde said, 'The CBFS has the potential to provide 'Designer Forecasts' from days to decades as an interactive decision-support tool for everything from air and water quality to human health to smartgrowth.' Microbatteries Could Get Boost from Nanostructured Nickel Electrodes Small Times magazine: "A team of researchers at the University of Maryland is working to harness and exploiting the "self-renewing" and "self-assembling" properties of viruses for a higher purpose: to build a new generation of small, powerful and highly efficient batteries and fuel cells. The rigid, rod-shaped Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a well-known and widespread plant virus that devastates tobacco, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetation. But in the lab, engineers have discovered that they can harness the characteristics of TMV to build components for the lithium ion batteries of the future. Genetically modifying the virus to display multiple metal binding sites allows for electroless nickel deposition and self-assembly of these nanostructures onto gold surfaces. They can modify the TMV rods to bind perpendicularly to the metallic surface of a battery electrode and arrange the rods in intricate and orderly patterns on the electrode. Then, they coat the rods with a conductive thin film that acts as a current collector and finally the battery's active material that participates in the electrochemical reactions. As a result, the researchers, brought together by Professor Reza Ghodssi, can greatly increase the electrode surface area and its capacity to store energy and enable fast charge/discharge times. TMV becomes inert during the manufacturing process; the resulting batteries do not transmit the virus. The new batteries, however, have up to a 10-fold increase in energy capacity over a standard lithium ion battery. ... Funding for the research comes from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland. James Culver's work is conducted in collaboration with Purdue University professor Michael Harris." New Way Of Detecting Concealed Radioactive Material University of Maryland researchers propose method to sniff out dirty bombs via the electromagnetic breakdown of air Journal of Applied Physics: "Researchers at the University of Maryland have proposed a scheme for detecting a concealed source of radioactive material without searching containers one by one. Detection of radioactive material concealed in shipping containers is important in the early prevention of 'dirty' bomb construction. The concept, described in the Journal of Applied Physics, is based on the gamma-ray emission from the radioactive material that would pass through the shipping container walls and ionize the surrounding air. The facilitated breakdown of the air in a focused beam of high-power, coherent, terahertz or infrared radiation would then be an indicator of the presence of the radioactive material. The gamma rays coming through the container walls could be detected by a pulsed electromagnetic source of duration between 10 ns to microseconds. The team evaluated several candidate sources for this detection, including a 670-GHz gyrotron oscillator with 200-kW, 10-us output pulses and a TEA CO2 laser with 30-MW, 100-ns output pulses. A system based on the 670-GHz gyrotron would have enhanced sensitivity and a range exceeding 10 m. 'It is not yet clear whether this approach to detection of nuclear material is practical,' says first author professor Victor Granatstein, 'but it is worth pursuing since it might impact an important need related to National Security.' " Intersex Fish Found in Delmarva Lakes In lab studies, scientists also find fish affected by poultry waste in water Baltimore Sun: "Scientists have found more intersex fish in Maryland, this time on the Eastern Shore, and their research suggests one possible source of the gender-bending condition could be the poultry manure that is widely used there to fertilize croplands. Six lakes and ponds on the Delmarva Peninsula sampled over the past two years have yielded male largemouth bass carrying eggs, according to University of Maryland scientists. Those are the first intersex fish reported there, though researchers found the condition several years ago in smallmouth bass in the Potomac and its tributaries, and recently found it in smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna. Intersex fish are a concern, scientists say, because they could be indicators of contaminants in the water, affecting their growth and reproduction. The intersex condition in the Shore fish is not as severe as it is among fish from the Potomac or Susquehanna, the researchers said, but it appears to be widespread, at least in largemouth bass in the peninsula's lakes and ponds. 'We find it in every lake that we look,' said Daniel J. Fisher, senior research scientist at UM's Wye Research and Education Center in Queenstown. 'We found fish with intersex in all of the lakes, and the percentage [with the condition] ranged from 33 percent of fish we sampled to 100 percent.' The Maryland lakes checked were Tuckahoe in Queen Anne's County and Smithville and Williston in Caroline County. In Delaware, Hearns Pond in Sussex County and Moores Lake and McColley Pond in Kent County were sampled. The sampling was performed under a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In separate laboratory tests, the UM researchers said, they found the sex and development of certain juvenile fish were affected when exposed to water contaminated with poultry waste." Global Community Ex-USTR Not So Diplomatic About ChinaWall Street Journal: "Now that Susan Schwab, who was U.S. Trade Representative under President George W. Bush, has left public life, she's free to say what she really thinks about the state of trade relations with China. 'Foreign firms are in fact discriminated against in this market,' Ambassador Schwab, now a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, declared at a panel discussion Saturday hosted by the Italian Embassy in Beijing. Schwab referred to her own experience negotiating deals in China for Motorola in the early 1990s. At the time, 'the message we got from the government was that there was technology transfer for market share,' she said. Based on those signals, Motorola and other companies decided to invest for the long term in China, expecting treatment to improve over time. 'The outcome for major multinationals that took this approach has been very mixed,' Ms. Schwab said. She pointed to widely-publicized comments over the summer by Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, in which he worried whether China's government would in fact permit foreign companies to succeed in the country's domestic market. Ms. Schwab also noted the experience of makers of high-speed rail equipment, who transferred technology to China but gained little market share from it. 'They ended up creating a very serious competitor that's going to turn around and eat their lunch in their home markets,' she said. She did note that China's government recently launched a new drive to address one of foreign companies' main problems in China: the violation of intellectual-property rights in the form of things like pirated software and knockoff handbags. But she also pointed that similar government campaigns in past years have not resolved the problem." PIPA Poll: Americans Have Inflated View of Foreign Aid PBS News Hour: "When asked in a recent poll how much the U.S. government spends on foreign aid, Americans vastly overestimated the amount -- which might explain why politicians look to that area first when considering budget cuts, some analysts say. The survey, conducted by the WorldPublicOpinion.org project at the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, asked the question: 'What percentage of the federal budget goes to foreign aid?' The median answer was roughly 25 percent, according to the poll of 848 Americans. In reality, about 1 percent of the budget is allotted to foreign aid. 'The primary reason for this (disparity) is the sense of ongoing involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror, including in Pakistan. We also have been engaged in Haiti,' said Clay Ramsay, director of research at PIPA. 'The number of things Americans hear about regularly are manifold. They assume there is some really immense foreign assistance effort, which of course is not true.' Instead, it seems the line between foreign aid and foreign defense spending is being blurred. As David Kilcullen explains in his new book, 'The Accidental Gorilla', there is an asymmetry in what he calls "the mismatch between military and non-military elements of U.S. national power.' Ramsay agrees. 'People are looking at the whole footprint,' he said." Asia Home to Glacier Melt, Human Vulnerabilities Joint Global Change Research Institute: "A new report prepared by scientists from the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a collaboration of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland, provides recommendations on how to integrate scientific research and monitoring, as well as health, education, the environment and social organizations, to adequately mitigate the impacts of climate change. The report, Changing Glaciers and Hydrology in Asia: Addressing Vulnerability to Glacier Melt Impacts, was prepared in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The report was presented at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars meeting in Washington, D.C., in November. 'The extremely high altitudes and sheer mass of High Asian glaciers mean they couldn't possibly melt in the next few decades,' says Elizabeth Malone, a PNNL sociologist and the report's technical lead. 'But climate change is still happening and we do need to prepare for it. That's especially true in this part of the world, where poverty and other concerns make its residents very vulnerable to any change.' This report assessed multiple factors to consider how USAID programs could coordinate efforts to respond to the effects of climate change on remote and vulnerable populations in the Himalayas. Researchers gathered scientific data about the region's glaciers, geographic information system-assisted analysis of vulnerabilities, and a survey of existing programs related to glacier melt. Team members worked in consultation with USAID missions and other organizations in the area. Development agencies should begin now to help prepare for the eventual shrinkage of the massive glaciers in the greater Himalayan region. Programs and projects for this region need to span a wide array of activities, from improving water-use efficiency and cook stoves to promoting cooperative data-gathering and -sharing, to assisting in establishment of family-planning services and health, sanitation, and hygiene practices." Climate Change 'Causing Wildfires to Burn More Fiercely' Asian News International: "This is the first study to reveal that fires in the Alaskan interior-an area spanning 18.5 million hectares-have become more severe in the past 10 years, and have released much more carbon into the atmosphere than was stored by the region''s forests over the same period. 'These findings are worrisome because about half the world''s soil carbon is locked in northern permafrost and peatland soils. This is carbon that has accumulated in ecosystems a little bit at a time for thousands of years, but is being released very rapidly through increased burning,' said lead author Merritt Turetsky of the University of Guelph. ... This study is part of a growing body of evidence that northern systems are bearing the brunt of climate change, said co-author Jennifer Harden, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist. 'This includes longer snow-free seasons, changes in vegetation, loss of ice and permafrost, and now fire, which is shifting these systems from a global carbon sink toward a carbon source,' said Harden. The researchers visited almost 200 forest and peatland sites shortly after blazes were extinguished to measure how much biomass burnt. They also looked at fire records kept since the 1950s. 'Over the past 10 years, burned area has doubled in interior Alaska, mostly because of increased burning late in the fire season,' said co-author Eric Kasischke, a University of Maryland professor. 'This is the first study that has demonstrated that increases in burned area are clearly linked to increases in fire severity. This not only impacts carbon storage, but also will accelerate permafrost loss and changes in forest cover,' said Kasischke." Cholera in Haiti -- The Climate Connection Tropical storm has exacerbated Haiti's water and sanitation woes. Circle of Blue: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the strain of cholera that is spreading in Haiti originated in Southeastern Asia. That finding prompted news organizations to focus on humanitarian workers as the source of infection, an assertion that medical specialists quickly discounted. A handful of activists, in addition, blame the outbreak on Haiti's substandard housing since the quake. But a number of researchers say Haiti's cholera outbreak is related to climate patterns -- the infection erupted and is spreading during an especially wet La Nina year. 'They have been fortunate in Haiti that for 50 years the conditions have been such that they haven't had an intense increase in cholera bacterial populations,' said Rita Colwell, professor at the University of Maryland and former director of the National Science Foundation. 'But they've had an earthquake, they've had destruction, they've had a hurricane. So the conditions would lead to a very high probability of an outbreak.' She added: 'I think it's very unfortunate to look for a scapegoat. It is an environmental phenomenon that is involved. The reason we don't know [the catalyst] is because the medical community is not receptive to climactic causation or correlation.' " US Team Tours Africa to Boost Bioterror Safety Associated Press: "U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar peered over the 4-foot cement wall and thin strands of barbed wire that separated the deadly pathogens in Kenya's top research lab from the thousands of homes with rusted tin roofs that make up Nairobi's largest slum. Lugar and Pentagon officials on a three-nation biological weapons security tour of East Africa on Friday were worried that the dangerous pathogens are within fairly easy reach of terrorists. 'Unfortunately in this world there are a great number of terrorists who, whether individuals or organizations, have given a great deal of thought to how you use the very dangerous biological materials to harm others,' Lugar said. 'Our objective today is to negate the possibilities.' Lugar this week toured sites in Uganda, Burundi and Kenya where diseases like ebola, marburg and anthrax are stored -- pathogens that can be stolen and made into weapons. ... Milton Leitenber, a senior research scholar at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, noted that al-Qaida has been active in East Africa, in particular with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. But Leitenber, who was not on the tour, said African countries should not divert funds, personnel and effort to 'greatly exaggerated U.S. preoccupation with bioterrorism.' " New START: The World Is Watching Failure to ratify nuclear arms treaty would signal a failure of U.S. leadership Baltimore Sun: Nancy Gallagher, research director at the Center for International and Security Studies and senior research scholar in public policy, writes: "Foreign observers have followed the U.S. ratification process closely enough to know that the treaty provides valuable transparency and predictability without requiring changes to the U.S. nuclear posture beyond those recommended by a bipartisan congressional commission. They know that it does not constrain missile defense or conventional weapons and that the Obama administration has already increased funding to upgrade remaining nuclear weapons programs. They see several reasons why senators might not be ready to vote for approval after extensive hearings, and none of them make the United States look good. Senators may want to extract the highest possible price before endorsing a treaty that should have passed easily to dissuade the Obama administration from trying to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or negotiating greater changes to the U.S. nuclear posture. Endless delay could be a way to derail this treaty without acknowledging that one opposes any legal obligations or verification that constrains U.S. nuclear choices. The treatment of New START could also signify that Republicans care more about making the president look weak and improving their electoral prospects than they do about national security or international efforts to reduce shared nuclear risks." Experts at AAAS Event Imagine the Benefits -- and Risks -- of a World without Nuclear Weapons AAAS: "A world without nuclear weapons, widely considered a desirable if challenging goal over the long term, could pose new uncertainties and risks, experts from the United States and Japan said during a day-long symposium at AAAS (Advancing Science, Serving Society). The legal framework does not yet exist that would allow the pursuit of a nuclear-free world, they said. Nor has there been enough clear-headed analysis of the potentially de-stabilizing impact of a world with zero nuclear weapons where terrorists or rogue states might not play by the rules. ... The 8 November event, "Science and Nuclear Disarmament: Progress and Challenges," was co-sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the AAAS Center for Science Technology and Security Policy." ... "Thomas Schelling, a Nobel laureate in economics at the University of Maryland, said he has not seen any good analysis 'of why a world without nuclear weapons would be safer than a world with some nuclear weapons.' Even if a nuclear state were to give up its weapons, he said, it is 'bound to be able to re-create them' fairly quickly if needed. There will be at least eight nations with the ability to produce nuclear weapons quickly, Schelling said, and others for which it will take longer. That could be an unstable situation, requiring substantial investments in intelligence and monitoring to ensure that no nation is trying to get a jump on its non-nuclear neighbors. Governments could be much more nervous about the possibility of nuclear war than they were in an age of stable deterrence between superpowers, Schelling said. Although Schelling said he is not opposed to a world without nuclear weapons, the advantage 'has to be demonstrated by analysis,' he argued. 'It can't simply be assumed.' " Why World Leaders Smacked Down Obama at G20 Summit Christian Science Monitor: "How do you say 'shellacking' in Chinese? Or German? Or Korean? Fresh from his self-described shellacking in this month's midterm elections, President Obama has gotten pretty much the same treatment from foreign leaders as he has made his way through Asia this week. Leaders at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Seoul, South Korea -- China and Germany topping the list -- made it clear that they feel freer than ever to stand up to the United States on global economic issues. And South Korea refused to bow to Obama administration demands for reworking a US-Korea free-trade agreement dating from the Bush administration, putting off conclusion of the trade pact until at least next year. Mr. Obama's drubbing at the polls Nov. 2 is no doubt one factor in these countries' willingness to stand up to a US president who remains popular in many of their countries. 'It would be naive to say [the election results] don't have an impact, because it does hurt him,' says I.M. Destler, who specializes in international security and economic policy at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. ''m just not certain that if the election had been much more positive for Obama, he would have done much better' in winning global support for his economic views. ... This rejection of the US vision of the way forward for the world economy is not new and certainly does not date from Nov. 2, some experts point out. But it is nevertheless easier for world leaders to tell Obama they do not agree with him when they believe the American people have just done the same. Another explanation is that countries that early on in the global economic crisis rejected or mostly resisted Obama's call for hefty stimulus spending to get the economy moving again believe that time has proven them right. German Chancellor Angela Merkel could rebuff Obama's call for trade rebalancing measures in Seoul smug in the assurance that her nein to Obama's stimulus prescription last year paid off -- at least for Germany. 'Some of what we're seeing, particularly in the case of Germany, is this feeling that '"We were right," ' says University of Maryland's Destler." More Military Aid to Pakistan Huffington Post: V.S. Subrahmanian, director at the Laboratory for Computational Cultural Dynamics (LCCD) at UMIACS, and LCCD researchers Aaron Mannes (Public Policy) and Rennie Silva (Public Policy), write an op/ed: "The long-term development shortfalls of Pakistan's government have been exacerbated by a series of disasters including the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the 2008 economic crisis, and last summer's massive flooding. The latter, which caused nearly $10 billion in damage, has created millions of refugees and devastated an irrigation system that was strained to meet the demands of Pakistan's agricultural sector before the flooding. Today, its failure threatens to cripple a vital sector of the Pakistani economy for years to come. American development aid cannot counter decades of Pakistani neglect, but it can play a productive role in addressing critical needs. Providing Pakistan with more military capability -- capability that could contribute to regional instability if it is used on American allies -- is unlikely to achieve either." Science & Technology Dry Ice Fuels Comet JetsAstronomy: "Less than week after NASA's flyby of Comet Hartley 2 and scientific discoveries are already being announced, including the latest finding that dry ice is the fuel for the comet's jets seen bursting from its surface. During the flyby, which saw the recycled Deep Impact spacecraft pass within 700 kilometres of Hartley's 2 by 0.4 kilometre nucleus, spectacular jets were seen erupting from many spots on the surface. Spectral analysis finds that the primary constituent of these jets is carbon dioxide gas, accompanied by particles of dust and ice. Smaller amounts of organic materials are also present. 'Previously it was thought that water vapour from water ice was the propulsive force behind jets of material coming off of the body, or nucleus, of the comet,' say University of Maryland astronomy professor Jessica Sunshine, deputy principal investigator for the EPOXI mission. 'We now have unambiguous evidence that solar heating of subsurface frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice), directly to a gas, a process known as sublimation, is powering the many jets of material coming from the comet. This is a finding that only could have been made by traveling to a comet, because ground based telescopes can't detect CO2 and current space telescopes aren't tuned to look for this gas.' Although the presence of carbon dioxide is no surprise, the volume of gas escaping from the comet was much more than expected. 'The distribution of carbon dioxide and dust around the nucleus is much different than the water distribution, and that tells us that the carbon dioxide rather than water takes dust grains with it into the coma as it leaves the nucleus,' says Assistant Research Scientist Lori Feaga. "'The dry ice that is producing the CO2 jets on this comet has probably been frozen inside it since the formation of the Solar System.' " Comet Hartley 2 Emits Ice Balls, NASA Finds Analysis of images taken by the Deep Impact spacecraft shows the comet is spewing chunks of ice, some as large as basketballs, which comes as a surprise to scientists. Los Angeles Times: "A team of astronomers announced its first snow Thursday ' not due to the approaching winter, but from a spacecraft that observed a peanut-shaped comet spitting fluffy ice balls into space. The Deep Impact spacecraft flew within 435 miles of the comet known as Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, snapping images as it whizzed past about 27,000 mph. Images released that day revealed a nearly 1 1/2-mile-long body with a smooth middle and rough, bulbous edges that was spewing gas from its surface. In the two weeks since, scientists noticed the white specks circling the comet, as if it were inside an invisible snow globe. When they analyzed the images, they were in for another surprise - the smooth, middle portion, which they expected to be relatively inactive, was emitting water vapor; while the ends released chunks of ice, some as large as basketballs. The flurry of white specks surrounding the comet's body caused the astronomers' jaws to drop, Peter Schultz, a team scientist from Brown University, said in a news conference at NASA headquarters in Washington. Based on past experience, the scientists hadn't expected any such snowy showing, University of Maryland astronomer Michael A'Hearn added in an interview. Five years ago, Deep Impact shot an 820-pound copper slug into the much larger comet Tempel 1. That kicked up tiny grains of ice, not large, solid chunks. After that mission, NASA officials redirected the spacecraft -- still intact with a little fuel -- to Hartley 2. Based on the results from the flyby, A'Hearn said he figures that 40% to 50% of the comet's ice was made of frozen carbon dioxide, with the rest made of frozen water. That is probably the highest proportion of dry ice relative to water ice of any comet studied thus far, he said. The preponderance of dry ice in the comet's bulbous ends may be a sign that Hartley 2 was formed way out in the solar system, far from the sun's rays, he said. But the fact that the middle section appears to lack dry ice may mean this comet was the result of the mixing that occurred as the solar system was coalescing. If so, it could tell us something about how that early development happened. Though the flyby has come and gone, the spacecraft is still sending about 3,000 new images back to Earth each day, A'Hearn said. By Thanksgiving, the team expects to collect about 125,000 images in total. The mission appears to have whetted the researchers' appetite for comet exploration. 'I'd sure as heck like to get a little closer to [one of] these guys and land on them,' team scientist Jessica Sunshine of the University of Maryland said." Keeping the Buzz in the Beehive Voice of America: " 'Honeybee colony collapse disorder' has been reported by beekeepers around the world. There are several theories as to why worker bees suddenly leave the hive. But researchers at a U.S. military facility say they have identified at least part of the answer. VOA's Rebecca Ward has more: 'The Secret Life of Bees' may be the title of a popular book, but as it turns out, a bee's life is not so secret after all. The scientists at a military research facility just outside Washington, D.C., have figured out quite a bit about honeybees, and they have discovered clues into what may cause colony collapse disorder - where hives have few, if any, adult honey bees present, but the live queen remains. Alan Zulich, with the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical-Biological Center in Maryland, says, 'We have found in our samples that colonies that are collapsing have both the invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus associated with it.' Using some very sophisticated equipment, Zulich says the researchers at Edgewood have been able to identify the microorganisms in bee samples from all over the country. ... Alan Zulich says the research team was able to identify two organisms that were associated with every sample they received from collapsed colonies -- a virus coupled with a fungus. But he says it is difficult to determine if they are the cause of the colony collapse, or the effects of something else in the environment. That 'something else,' could be several things, says Galen Dively, of the University of Maryland. 'The working hypothesis is that we have several primary stresses, (one of which is) nutrition, because bees are being used on crops that have very low nutritional value. There's management stress because they're moved around. There's pesticide exposure, we're learning more about that. We have mites that came into this country in the mid-1980s. They are very stressful to bees. So you have all these primary stresses on the bee's immune system, which weakens the colony, and then there are the secondary stresses like viruses and other diseases.' And the news gets worse for the bees. Dively says there are other problems facing honeybees besides colony collapse disorder. 'If you survey beekeepers across the country and get their honest feedback, the number one cause of die-outs is still going to be starvation. So we just have to manage them better. And we're losing beekeepers too. That's one of the problems.' That's a big problem for agriculture, especially for the pollination of fruits and nuts. Marc Hoffman is a beekeeper for an apple orchard near Washington, D.C. 'Many crops depend on insect pollination,' he says, 'and with our intensive agriculture, it needs to be honeybees, because we can bring them to the crops.' " Even When Frozen, Soils Get Busy Emitting CO2 New York Times: "The findings add to a growing body of evidence that frozen soils, long known to store vast reserves of ancient carbon, could be more sensitive to warming than previously understood. While it is risky to extrapolate any one finding to the broader climate, especially in soil -- where all bacteria are local -- the studies indicate that frozen permafrosts could be well-adapted to release CO2 under a bit of warming, said Mats Oquist, a forest scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. 'It is likely that microbes in permafrost are quite viable and adapted to the frozen environment, as we saw in our study,' Oquist said. He is eager to apply his techniques, detailed in a paper earlier this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, to tundra and other permafrost, he said, 'since a lot of soil carbon is stored in these areas.' Oquist's study and other recent soil work raise important questions about how carbon models are constructed, added Ben Bond-Lamberty, a scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland. 'These microbes are doing a lot more than staying alive,' Bond-Lamberty said. 'And as we construct annual carbon budgets, this raises the possibility that there's a lot more wintertime CO2 coming out of these systems than we realized.' " Earth and Space Science Missions Have Fewer Risks If Conducted by a Single Government Agency Antonio J. Busalacchi Jr., Professor and Director, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, is among the members of the Committee on Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Cooperation on Space and Earth Science Missions, which released this report. National Academies of Science: "Earth and space science missions developed and implemented by federal agencies in collaboration typically result in additional complexity and cost and increased risks from divided responsibilities and accountability, says a new report from the National Research Council. Federal agencies should not partner in conducting space and earth science missions unless there is a compelling reason to do so and clear criteria are met in advance. 'A common misperception among policymakers and individual agencies is that collaboration on these missions will save money or somehow boost capabilities,' said D. James Baker, director of the global carbon measurement program at the William J. Clinton Foundation and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. 'However, multiagency partnerships generally have just the opposite effect and drive up overall mission costs because of schedule delays, added levels of management, and redundant administrative processes.' The committee examined case studies from previous domestic and international missions, received briefings from several agencies, and drew upon committee members' own experiences to reach its conclusions. While there are varying amounts of cooperation among agencies, the report says that generally the more interdependent agencies are for mission success, the higher the degree of complexity and risk associated with the project." 5 Ways the Food Safety Bill Would Affect You MSNBC: "Safer food and more accountability from food companies are the goals of the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act, which could be approved by the Senate as soon as this week. Its passage would lead to one of the biggest overhauls in food safety legislation since the 1930s, when the modern approach to food safety was established, said Robert L. Buchanan, professor and director of the Center for Food Safety and Security Systems at the University of Maryland. Most of the legislation, Buchanan told MyHealthNewsDaily, involves 'making the "machinery" of food safety work better behind the scenes. Hopefully it will prevent recalls, outbreaks and contamination, and provide the tools for the FDA to do a better job.' The aim of Senate Bill 510, sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), is to keep large-scale recalls -- such as the ones directed at peanut butter last year and eggs this year -- from happening again, said Craig Harris of the Food Safety Policy Center at Michigan State University. Those recalls were due to salmonella bacteria contamination, which sickened hundreds. 'As our food system in the U.S. has become more industrialized, and the companies have become much larger in scale, now a peanut outbreak -- a contaminated peanut situation -- can affect people in more than half the country,' Harris said." Repeat After Me -- Cell Phones Don't Cause Brain Cancer Discover News: "Humans have a seemingly infinite capacity to worry. The problem is, with a near-infinite supply of things to worry about, we wind up fretting over problems that don't exist. One of these non-issues that keeps popping up is the idea that cell phones cause brain cancer. Despite there being study after study of cell-phone radiation showing no link at all to brain damage, and despite there being no physical way a cell phone can cause brain damage, people still worry about it. If you run across someone who believes this, now you have a place to send them: a video of a talk at a National Capitol Area Skeptics meeting, where Professor Christopher Davis (from the University of Maryland's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) totally destroys these claims. It's a full-length talk, but it's all online." Society & Culture High-Caffeine Energy Drinks Linked to Alcohol Abuse: StudyAgence France-Presse: "Regularly consuming high-caffeine energy drinks significantly increases the risk of becoming alcohol-dependent and engaging in bouts of heavy drinking, a study published Tuesday found. The study of more than 1,000 students at a US university found that those who consumed caffeinated energy drinks on a weekly or daily basis drank alcohol more often and in greater quantities, and were more likely to become alcohol dependent than students who used energy drinks occasionally or not at all. High consumers of energy drinks also had greater risk for alcohol-related problems such as blackouts or missing class because they were hung over, and were more susceptible to self-injury than non- or light users of energy drinks, said the study, led by University of Maryland researcher Amelia Arria. The study, which was released online ahead of publication next year in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, adds to earlier research that found links between heavy energy drink consumption and substance abuse and high-risk behavior. It comes as debate heated up about the dangers of drinks marketed mainly to young people, which combine both alcohol and caffeine in the same can, which five US states and several universities have cracked down on or banned. Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington have taken steps to ban drinks that combine caffeine and alcohol, as have several US universities." Technological and Economic Shifts Have Only Made Libraries More Valuable Washington Post: "As businesses in the D.C. area know, increasingly employment and government information is online -- and sometimes online only. Libraries open doors for millions of Americans who may lack Internet access or the skills to survive and thrive online. Sixty-seven percent of libraries, in fact, report helping library patrons apply for jobs online last year. The 2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study conducted by the American Library Association and the Center for Library & Information Innovation at the University of Maryland found that in two-thirds of U.S. communities, public libraries offer the only free public access to computers and the Internet. Maryland and Virginia libraries report similar percentages statewide. Libraries in the region are complementing access with vital technology training. Virtually all Maryland and D.C. public libraries provide formal or informal training, as do 91 percent of Virginia libraries. Helping people with a variety of things from office software to online job searching, libraries are helping to create a more competitive workforce with the skills needed to navigate the 21st century workplace. ... Maryland, Virginia and D.C. public libraries top national averages in nearly every category -- including available computers and WiFi, Internet speeds and available Internet services. And a $1.5 million federal stimulus broadband grant will allow the D.C. Public Library to further improve its services by enhancing Internet speeds and increasing the number of computers. Here's a message to elected leaders as they balance budgets: Today's libraries are an essential service and provide resources to ensure a competitive workforce." Border Dispute Involves Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Google Maps A Nicaraguan general looks on Google Maps, sees that some nearby land is marked as belonging to his country but is currently flying a Costa Rican flag. So he marches in, has the flag taken down, and claims the land. If it was a movie, he'd be played by Steve Carrell. But the reality of the situation is more complex and thought-provoking. Marketplace, Public Radio: "As we reported earlier this month, an erroneous border marker on Google Maps has caused a major dust-up between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. A Nicaraguan general saw some nearby land on Google Maps marked as belonging to his country but currently flying a Costa Rican flag. So he marched in, had the flag taken down, and claimed the land. The Organization of American States, an international group with representatives from 35 North and South American countries, announced Thursday it will hold a December 7th debate on what has become a tense situation in Costa Rica. Nicaragua says that it won't honor whatever recommendations the OAS makes. Its troops are still occupying this very small sliver of land. Steffen Geens runs Ogle Earth, a blog about online mapping issues. He says this dispute can be traced back over a century but the situation has been relatively stable for the last century or so. Geens says that contrary to the notion that the troops were confused or stupid, the Google Maps thing was more of a taunt, a snarky arguing point. Not that Costa Rica could do much to fight back. They don't even have an army. We also talk to Peter Birch, product manager for Google Earth. He says that there isn't any one source for material for the service; it's gathered from what they feel is the best, most conclusive material they can get. In this case, the erroneous border information came from the U.S. State Department. And we talk to Jason Farman, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland. He says that with Google Maps being such a popular resource for people around the world, we enter into a situation where a company without borders is defining borders for nations who are very much used to having them." A Sensible Shale Gas Policy Baltimore Sun: The resource could be a great boon to Maryland, but only if it's exploited in a prudent manner Mark Olsthoorn, researcher at the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research, writes an op/ed: "The Wild West scene playing out in western Pennsylvania holds warnings for Maryland on the need to manage a precious, finite resource like shale gas with great care. If you haven't heard about this energy source yet, you will soon. Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and other Appalachian states all have a rich vein of Marcellus shale, buried thousands of feet underground. Locked in the shale is a huge quantity of natural gas. Combining two technologies -- hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling -- allows energy companies to free these valuable reserves. As Pennsylvania's experience shows, businesses are eager to do it. Some have applied for permits to drill test wells in Maryland to gauge the promise here. The questions for Maryland and other Marcellus shale states are under what conditions and how quickly to allow them to extract the gas. Pennsylvania is granting permits, although too slowly for the industry, which promises jobs, prosperity and clean energy. But their excitement prompts visions of an Old West mining town, roaring to life in a flash, deserted and denuded a couple years later." Cutting Science Funding Destroys Maryland Jobs Baltimore Sun: Andres De Los Reyes, assistant professor of psychology, writes an op/ed: "In its 'Pledge to America,' Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed to roll back discretionary federal spending to 2008 levels. In the wake of the recent midterm elections, the American Association for the Advancement of Science released a report indicating that if the Republican-led House followed through with this proposal, it would lead to nearly $3 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health and more than $1 billion in cuts to the National Science Foundation. These cuts would significantly reduce the number of research laboratories in the United States able to maintain their research facilities and pay their personnel. For example, relative to fiscal year 2010, these cuts would result in the National Science Foundation being able to fund in excess of 1,400 fewer funding requests from research laboratories all across the United States. Maryland, with its many research facilities, would be profoundly affected by such cuts. The state's research laboratories can be found not only in each University of Maryland System campus, but in the NIH headquarters in Bethesda, in publicly and privately funded hospitals across the state, and within private universities such as Johns Hopkins. Many thousands of Marylanders are employed in these labs." Job Swap to Test House Leaders Boehner and Pelosi face new realities -- and challenges Baltimore Sun: "John A. Boehner, soon to be speaker of the House, is a conservative Midwesterner who loves his cigarettes. Nancy Pelosi is a San Francisco liberal who, upon becoming speaker four years ago, banned smoking near the House chamber, where Boehner enjoyed puffing away between votes. She introduced organic food choices to the House cafeteria. He prefers 'food that I can pronounce.' She believes in active government. He believes in shrinking government. They are a political and personal odd couple, a pair of wary prize fighters who nonetheless have maintained a cordial relationship and respect for each other's political skills. When Republicans take control of the House in January, Boehner and Pelosi will swap jobs as minority leader and House speaker, and their interpersonal dynamics will be tested anew. ... [T]he leaders do talk often, aides to both say. Like their counterparts in the Senate, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Pelosi and Boehner are frequently on the phone or chatting on the chamber floor. Republicans have gone to lengths to show they can accept their rise to power humbly. They've complained of the way Pelosi treated them when they were the minority and promise to operate differently. Democrats, however, are doubtful and say Republicans took advantage of their power the last time they held the majority. Pelosi offered to hold regular meetings with Boehner after she became speaker in 2007, but he declined, according to sources. Boehner's office doesn't quite remember it that way, saying they do meet, though infrequently. But Boehner has not suggested regular meetings between the two in the new Congress. ... In the end, old routines may prove tough to break, especially when the political stakes in the new Congress are so high. 'Their caucuses are so unpredictably beyond their control that they'll need to focus mostly on how to stay in the saddle of a pair of bucking broncos,' said Don Kettl of the University of Maryland, College Park." What Does Bankruptcy Surge Across U.S. Mean for Recovery Chances? PBS News Hour: "The Burbs and the Boom Towns share a few common traits. They are both wealthier than the average county and better educated. And while it's never polite to play the blame game - to declare, "it's your fault" when you are suffering through, say, the worst economic downturn in the past half-century -- those statistics raise questions about debt and credit in the nation's wealthier enclaves. And three years into the current economic morass, the bankruptcy data offer clues into the larger economic forces behind it and suggest the way back may be long and difficult. ... First off, as Patchwork Nation has reported often, these places have been hit hard by foreclosures - in the first three quarters of 2010 they led in foreclosures, as reported by the firm RealtyTrac. The Metros had 19 foreclosures per 1,000 homes, the Boom Towns 17 per 1,000 homes and the Burbs 16 per 1,000 homes. 'Certainly the tie between foreclosures and personal bankruptcies is quite a close one,' says Jim Gimpel, a University of Maryland professor who is consultant to Patchwork Nation. 'We shouldn't be surprised to see bankruptcies soaring in areas where people have gone under on their mortgages. Expect more of this in the next year.' Second, there are signs that these communities are more willing that others to take on debt. As we wrote in the book, 'Our Patchwork Nation,' the Boom Towns and the Monied Burbs in particular carry a lot of credit card debt -- more than 80 percent of the people living in each were carrying some according to Pew data analyzed by Patchwork Nation." Incentives Needed to Retain Disabled Workers to Slow Social Security Costs, Report Says Washington Post: "The report contends that the pervasiveness of computers and other technology has made for fewer backbreaking jobs, and that there is no reason for disability and employability to be viewed as 'mutually exclusive states,' the report said. David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher who co-authored the study, acknowledged that the overall proposal would likely face huge hurdles in a political environment that is growing increasingly hostile to new government mandates. Still, he said, 'it would save money. This would be a cost-effective way of dealing with the growth' in the Social Security disability program. With the Obama administration and members of Congress talking about the need to rein in entitlement costs, researchers are hoping that reforming the disability program will become part of that discussion. 'People have not telescoped in on disability programs,' said Mark Duggan, a University of Maryland researcher and the report's other co-author. 'Past proposals to address problems with Social Security have tended not to touch SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance). But the program has been growing really rapidly, which has coincided with a deteriorating employment situation for individuals with disabilities.' " Telhami, WikiLeaks' Lesson: Deception Par for the Course in Mideast Diplomacy Time magazine: "The latest WikiLeaks diplomatic document dump carries its own disclaimer: It's in the title of cable 09DOHA728, sent from the U.S. embassy in Doha, the capital of Qatar, under the following header: QATAR'S PRIME MINISTER ON IRAN: 'THEY LIE TO US; WE LIE TO THEM.' Indeed. The art of concealing true intent and attitude while purporting to speak frankly is as old as diplomacy itself, and hardly confined to encounters between Iranians and Qataris. It would be naive to imagine that the same principle didn't apply in conversations between the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East. There's little of surprise in the documents released thus far, although they contain plenty to embarrass many key U.S. allies in the region simply by broadcasting things that are typically said discreetly. The initial headlines on the documents' impact on the Middle East focused on revelations that some key moderate Arab allies of the U.S. have exhorted Washington to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. That news will be gleefully seized upon by those in Israel and the U.S. who urge the same course of action, but it will severely embarrass the regimes thus implicated. After all, it's not as if the region's pro-U.S. monarchs reflect the views of their citizenry -- on the contrary, in this year's edition of the authoritative annual University of Maryland poll of Arab public opinion, 57% of respondents said that Iran acquiring nuclear weapons would have a positive effect on the region. So the revelation that their governments have urged the U.S. to launch a third war against a Muslim country will land them in hot water at home, and possibly in their neighborhoods." The poll was conducted by Shibley Telhami, Sadat Professor for Peace and Development. The Two Cultures New York Times:"Ethan Ilzetzki of the London School of Economics and Enrique G. Mendoza and Carlos A. Vegh of the University of Maryland examined stimulus efforts in 44 countries. In a recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper, they argued that fiscal stimulus can be quite effective in low-debt countries with fixed exchange rates and closed economies. Stimulus measures are generally not as effective, on the other hand, in countries like the U.S. with high debt and floating exchange rates. The authors of the paper pointed to a series of specific circumstances that complicate, to say the least, the effectiveness of increasing public spending: How much stimulus money ends up flowing abroad? What is the relationship between fiscal policy and monetary policy? How do investors respond to fear of future interest rate increases? One could go on. It's become harder to have confidence that legislators can successfully enact the brilliant policies that liberal technicians come up with. Far from entering the age of macroeconomic mastery and social science triumph, we seem to be entering an age in which statecraft is, once again, an art, not a science. When you look around the world at the countries that have come through the recession best, it's not the countries with the brilliant and aggressive stimulus models. It's the ones like Germany that had the best economic fundamentals beforehand." Some Very Creative Economic Fix-Its New York Times: "Green-energy initiatives like solar power, wind power and fuel cells are often described as jobs machines just waiting for ignition. True? 'I think the potential is there but the question is when and the question is how,' said Christian Menegatti of Roubini Global Economics. 'Investments like that are risky and they won't pay off for a number of years, and probably even longer. Those kind of projects will need public incentives.' Public incentives, he noted, aren't likely to emerge from a Republican-dominated House. How about a cheap technology that our mortal minds can't currently fathom? A decade ago, who could have imagined that more than a million people would pay $1 for a portable phone video game in which you slash watermelons with a Japanese sword? Who, in other words, could have envisioned the Fruit Ninja app? 'That's a pretty wispy hope,' said Gar Alperovitz, a professor at the University of Maryland. For hope that is a little more tangible, Professor Alperovitz pointed to local co-operatives that are sprouting up around the country. They tend to be employee owned, and get off the ground with private and foundation funding. Many of his favorite examples are found in Cleveland, of all places -- like the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, an employee-owned firm that provides laundry services to hospitals, which started in 2009. Professor Alperovitz tracks and catalogues enterprises like the cooperative laundry on a Web site, community-wealth.org. He says he sees in these companies the stirrings of a movement animated by the cold reality that neither the government nor private enterprise is on the verge of large-scale hiring. 'If the economy and the government don't have an answer to a problem,' he says, 'people are forced to try social enterprise.' " Shopping for Christmas, and for Economic Recovery Can cash registers at the mall ring up more than gifts? Baltimore Sun: "Back home, I called Jeff Werling, a University of Maryland, College Park economist, for help in sorting this out. He's the executive director of Inforum, short for Interindustry Forecasting Project, which develops models to analyze economic trends. Werling says the downturn has indeed wreaked havoc with how we shop and buy (in much more scientific terms). 'At the end of the day, people make decisions based on what their net worth is,' he said. 'You look at your assets and liabilities. One thing the financial crisis did, it really struck down real estate assets, what your house is worth, and your financial assets, if you have a 401(k) or investments. So net worth is way down. 'And then you get in a vicious cycle,' he said. People spend less, reducing demand, leading companies to lay off workers, leaving even more people with fewer dollars to spend -- and on and on. It would seem as if you should be able to reverse that cycle by shopping more. But alas, Werling says, it's not that simple. Even though consumer spending comprises about 65 percent of the economy, not all those dollars get spent at stores. Much of it goes toward housing, food and other necessities. Even if this turns out to be a good Christmas shopping season -- and early indications are that it will indeed be an improvement over the previous couple of years -- we can't just spend our way out of the economic downturn, according to Werling. Other issues, such as the foreclosure crisis and uncertainty about issues such as taxes or when companies are going to start hiring in greater numbers, have to be resolved before the economy can pull itself out of the dumps. Of course, Werling said, a good holiday shopping season is better than a bad one, giving at least one sector of the economy some momentum. 'Things are going to look better than last year,' he said. 'Anything is better than last year.' " |
 |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
 Information provided by the Office of University CommunicationsEmail University Communications at emailum@umd.edu |
|||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
