Policy & Society

Lorraine Remer, Tianle Yuan JCET, Co-Authors Study on Foreign Aerosol Imports

Aug 3, 2012 / 2 minutes of reading

NASA and UMBC issued a joint press release August 2nd announcing the first measurement-based estimate of the amount and composition of tiny airborne particles that arrive in the air over North America each year. Co-authored by Lorraine Remer, senior research scientist and Tianle Yuan, research associate in the climate and radiation laboratory of UMBC’s Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), along with NASA and University of Maryland, College park scientists the study determined that it was dust and not pollution which constituted the main ingredient in small airborne particles which arrive in the air over North America every year. The results published… Continue Reading Lorraine Remer, Tianle Yuan JCET, Co-Authors Study on Foreign Aerosol Imports

Jeremy Yap ’08, Biological Sciences, Wins Predoctoral Fellowship

Aug 2, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Alumnus Jeremy “Jerry” Yap ’08, biological sciences, was recently honored as one of four national winners of a 2012-2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowship. Yap is currently attending the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, where his work “focuses on the design and synthesis of small-molecule inhibitors (drugs) of oncogenic protein–protein interactions,” according to University of Maryland here. The story also notes that the fellowship will allow Yap to pursue his research by providing a full, year-long stipend. “This is as an excellent example of how important collaboration is in any professional setting,” said Yap upon being… Continue Reading Jeremy Yap ’08, Biological Sciences, Wins Predoctoral Fellowship

Julie Rosenthal, Asian Studies, in Washington Jewish Week

Aug 2, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Julie Rosenthal of the Asian Studies Program was interviewed by Washington Jewish Week about her work fighting hunger in the community. In neighboring Howard County, Julie Rosenthal, founder of the program Food on the 15th, is working with county parents and student volunteers to fight senior hunger while operating without any overhead. To date, Julie’s teams have delivered nearly 14,000 free bags of nonperishable regular and diabetic groceries and toiletries to low-income seniors right around the 15th of the month, when social security checks often run out. “What people don’t realize is senior citizens don’t have transportation to food banks,”… Continue Reading Julie Rosenthal, Asian Studies, in Washington Jewish Week

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Political science professor Thomas Schaller’s latest Salon column asks, “Will Asian voters swing the election?” Nearly 6% of the U.S. population is Asian American — an estimated 18 million people — but when it comes to elections this diverse group often gets lets attention than African Americans and Latinos. Some are now calling these overlooked voters a “sleeping political giant,” but without a firm sense of how their votes might affect the 2012 presidential race.Schaller writes, “the Asian American vote remains fluid as a result of its ethnic, religious and national heterogeneity, and the often stark differences between immigrant and… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

President Hrabowski in US News and World Report

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

U.S. News & World Report’s “STEM Education” blog recently featured President Hrabowski’s thoughts on the future of science, technology, engineering and math in higher education, including ways to develop a more robust pipeline for students and workers in those fields. President Hrabowski, who was recently inducted into the magazine’s STEM Hall of Fame, was interviewed along with four other inductees. He spoke to U.S. News about the necessity for greater cooperation across spectrums. “Let’s knock down the boundaries between public and private sectors,” he said. Doing so, President Hrabowski said, would help businesses better communicate exactly what they need in… Continue Reading President Hrabowski in US News and World Report

Gul Seckin, Sociology and Anthropology, Publishes on Cyber Behavior

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Gul Seckin, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, has contributed a chapter to the Encyclopedia of Cyber Behavior, three new volumes that aim to synthesize the scientific knowledge of cyber behavior across a wide range of disciplines, from medicine and business to the social sciences. Seckin’s chapter is titled “Cyber Behaviors of Self Health-Care Management.” She writes: As the technologies for health management develop, it becomes more important to explore the health management behavior of computer-connected patients. This chapter aims to serve this purpose by discussing the background and current state of knowledge about how usage of the Internet technology affects… Continue Reading Gul Seckin, Sociology and Anthropology, Publishes on Cyber Behavior

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Gov. Martin O’Malley has called for a special legislative session on gambling next month in what the Baltimore Sun has dubbed “a high-stakes political bet that he can prevail in a struggle over one of the most contentious issues facing Maryland.” O’Malley would like to expand gambling in Maryland through a proposal that he says would add $100 million in revenue to next year’s state budget. A win could bolster his image as an effective leader both within the state and nationally. But what are his chances? Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, told… Continue Reading Donald Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun

Atmospheric Lidar Group’s Smog Blog on Maryland Morning

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Maryland Morning‘s Sheila Kast spoke with Tad Aburn of the Maryland Department of the Environment for a segment entitled “Heat and Air Quality” on July 20th. On the program’s web page is a link to UMBC’s U.S. Air Quality: The Smog Blog, run by the university’s Atmospheric Lidar Group and which serves as “a daily diary of air quality in the U.S. prepared using information from satellites, ground-based measurements, and models,” according to the website. That diary has been important in compiling data for Maryland to determine the effect of pollution and other atmospheric elements on Maryland not only from… Continue Reading Atmospheric Lidar Group’s Smog Blog on Maryland Morning

Don Engel, ITE, in Communications of the ACM

Aug 1, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

Don Engel, assistant vice president for research, was interviewed in the August issue of Communications of the ACM, the primary journal for the field of computer science. Engel spoke about his participation in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) “Shredder Challenge.” Engel was half of the two-person team “Schroddon,” which was earned second place.

The Hilltop Institute in Local Media

Jul 26, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

News outlets across the state are reporting on a compelling finding from The Hilltop Institute at UMBC: Maryland’s economy will get a notable boost from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A Baltimore Business Journal article on the announcement cites Hilltop’s finding that 26,000 new jobs will be created in Maryland by 2020 as a result of implementing the federal law’s provisions. The ACA will also bring in $237 million in tax revenues and generate savings of $672 million by transferring costs to federal programs. Additional coverage appeared in The Gazette, Maryland Reporter and Washington Examiner. These findings were generated through the… Continue Reading The Hilltop Institute in Local Media

Sarah Shin, Education, On WBAL

Jul 26, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

On July 24, WBAL-TV interviewed education professor Sarah Shin as part of a story on the Peyton family of Harford County, who are blending their American and Costa Rican heritage by raising their children bilingual. Reporter Sarah Caldwell spoke with Shin, who is the author of the book Bilingualism in Schools and Society: Language, Identity, and Policy, about raising bilingual children. Shin told Caldwell that it’s best to start early. “The fact that children are not able to really put together coherent sentences does not mean that they aren’t processing language,” she said. Shin also said the creation of opportunities for children… Continue Reading Sarah Shin, Education, On WBAL

Roy T. Meyers, Political Science, Receives Naschold Award

Jul 26, 2012 / 1 minute of reading

UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers has been named recipient of the Frieder Naschold Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Field of Public Management for his paper “The Remarkable Case of Disappearing Earmarks in the United States: The Limits of Transparency Reforms” (download full pdf).The Naschold Award recognizes the best paper presented at the conference of the International Public Management Network (IPMN) and is given once every other year. Meyers will formally receive the honor at the IPMN 2013 Conference in Siena, Italy.Meyers also recently participated in the Memos to National Leaders project, coauthoring four memoranda (full PDF)… Continue Reading Roy T. Meyers, Political Science, Receives Naschold Award