Kate Brown, History, on Slate

Apr 19, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

A segment of associate professor of history Kate Brown’s recent book, “Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters,” was reprinted on April 18 in the online magazine “Slate” under the headline “Life in a Real Nuclear Wasteland.” “In pop culture, irradiated wastelands are fascinating… Part of the fantasy is surviving alone in an abandoned place no longer fit for the living, but the sad fact is that there are irradiated zones that are fully inhabited, and have been since the first years of the nuclear arms race,” Brown writes. “No one has lived longer… Continue Reading Kate Brown, History, on Slate

Center for Aging Studies Receives NIA Grant for Autonomy Research

Apr 18, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies has received a 17-month grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to expand the research project “Autonomy in Assisted Living: A Cultural Analysis.” This grant extends a four-year ethnographic study of autonomy to include dementia care units affiliated with three of the sites in the parent grant. The Principal Investigators of this research are Professor Robert L. Rubinstein and Associate Research Scientist Ann Christine Frankowski. The research team includes ethnographer Amanda D. Peeples and GRA Colleen R. Bennett.

Seth Messinger, Sociology and Anthropology, in the New York Times

Apr 18, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Seth D. Messinger, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, commented in today’s New York Times on the long-term process of recovering from limb loss, in the wake of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings. Messinger told Times reporter James Dao that training for athletics gives amputees a clear way of measuring recovery incrementally. “Rehab for traumatic limb loss is not a short thing, and patients want to know what they have to do next,” he said. “A sports model offers people a set of stages. You’ll walk between parallel bars, then walk with canes, then learn to run.” He… Continue Reading Seth Messinger, Sociology and Anthropology, in the New York Times

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun

Apr 16, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

In today’s Baltimore Sun, political science professor Thomas F. Schaller writes, Less than 24 hours ago, an apparent act of terrorism marred this year’s Boston Marathon. It’s too early to know many of the details about this tragic event. Late last night, officials were reporting three deaths and well over 100 injuries; soon we will have a clearer sense of how many were killed and wounded. […] But we don’t need to know every detail to draw a few sad, cautionary lessons about what happened Monday. Among those lessons is recognizing that “the primary purpose of terrorism is not to… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun

Constantine Vaporis, Asian Studies, on PBS Blog

Apr 15, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Constatine Vaporis, director of the Asian studies program and professor of history, was featured in a blog post on the PBS blog “The Rundown.” The post was entitled “For Hundreds of Years, Cherry Blossoms Are Matter of Life and Death.” Vaporis said that as seppuku (ritual suicide) became a key part of the samurai’s Bushido code, the samurai “identified with the cherry blossom particularly because it fell at the moment of its greatest beauty, an ideal death.”

Roy Meyers, Political Science, on WPR and in the Gazette

Apr 12, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

In today’s Gazette, Roy T. Meyers, professor of political science, explains his expectation that Gov. O’Malley’s final legislative session will focus on job creation — an issue that will continue to be relevant to any office O’Malley might pursue in the future. Meyers suggests that O’Malley’s decision to run for president in 2016 will likely depend on whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chooses to run, but that in the meantime he should work on building his national visibility on key issues. For now, the governor’s administration notes that in 2014 he is likely to focus on the economy.… Continue Reading Roy Meyers, Political Science, on WPR and in the Gazette

Manil Suri, Mathematics, on BBC’s “The Forum”

Apr 11, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, was recently a guest on the BBC World Service program “The Forum” to discuss “Obsessions, new and old, in literature and technology.” Joining Suri on the show, which was hosted by Bridget Kendall, were internet analyst and cyber-sceptic Evgeny Morozo and Spanish novelist and translator Javier Marias. Suri discussed his recent novel, “The City of Devi,” in which the main character is obsessed with bringing a pomegranate to her missing husband. “She feels that having this symbol almost will somehow lead her to her husband. And in a way it does tell her something about her marriage, but in… Continue Reading Manil Suri, Mathematics, on BBC’s “The Forum”

George La Noue, Public Policy/Political Science, in the Washington Times

Apr 9, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

A new Washington Times commentary critiquing government contracting programs for minority- and women-owned firms references testimony by UMBC professor George La Noue on why federal contacting preferences should be reexamined. La Noue is an expert on education policy, constitutional law and policy, and public procurement policy, and is a frequent witness in Congressional testimony.

Nicole Else-Quest, Psychology, in the Huffington Post

Apr 9, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

Nicole Else-Quest, assistant professor of psychology, is the author of an April 9 post in the “Huffington Post” blog entitled “Contextualizing the Conversation on Women and STEM.” Else-Quest is the lead author of a recent study that found that female students perform as well as males in STEM classrooms, but report less confidence about their abilities. It also found that Asian American students outperform other ethnic groups. In her piece for the Huffington Post, she argued that “the national conversation about women and STEM cannot progress until it considers gender within the context of other social identity variables, such as ethnicity,… Continue Reading Nicole Else-Quest, Psychology, in the Huffington Post

The Hilltop Institute in the Baltimore Business Journal

Apr 5, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

The Baltimore Business Journal reports that Maryland is pushing back the launch of its small business health exchange by at least three months to allow more time for leaders to prepare the complex IT system involved and to train brokers who will bring businesses to the exchange. The story cites analysis from The Hilltop Institute at UMBC that approximately 8,500 people are expected to get insurance through the small business exchange in its first year. This compares with the 138,764 people to buy health insurance through the individual exchange by 2014. By 2020, Hilltop expects the small business exchange to… Continue Reading The Hilltop Institute in the Baltimore Business Journal

Nicole Else-Quest, Psychology, in the News

Apr 5, 2013 / 2 minutes of reading

Nicole Else-Quest, assistant professor of psychology, is in the news for a forthcoming paper in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly. The study shows that male and female students earn similar grades in math and science, while Asian American students of both genders outperform all other races. The study also found that male students of all ethnicities reported a greater perception of their abilities in math, while female students associated greater value to science-related courses. The findings have been covered in an April 4 story in “Voices of America” entitled “Asian-American Students Outpace Other Groups in Math, Science,” a March… Continue Reading Nicole Else-Quest, Psychology, in the News

For All the World to See Highlight of Addison Gallery Exhibition Series

Apr 4, 2013 / 1 minute of reading

The traveling exhibition For All the World to See: Visual Culture the Struggle for Civil Rights curated by Maurice Berger, CADVC, and organized by the CADVC opens Saturday, April 13 in the Addison Gallery of American Art of Andover, Massachusetts, and continues through July 31. An opening reception for the exhibit, as well as two other spring exhibitions in the Addison Gallery, will take place Friday, April 26, 6 pm to 8 pm in the Addison. Additional programming inspired by the exhibition includes a panel discussion titled “Voices of a Generation: The View from Andover Hill,” featuring Phililips Academy faculty… Continue Reading For All the World to See Highlight of Addison Gallery Exhibition Series