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Living on a used planet The Anthropocene, “the Age of Man,” has been presented as a story of new and accelerating human impact on Earth’s ecology — a threat to both humanity and the planet — due to industrial civilization. But is this the true story of humankind and the biosphere? Erle Ellis, a UMBC researcher, and his colleagues say, “not really,” in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), “Used Planet: A Global History.” Ellis, a professor of geography and environmental systems, and his colleagues say that the Anthropocene wasn’t born yesterday.… Continue Reading UMBC: Living on a used planet

Back from the Edge Could our global ecosystem be careening towards a cliff? That’s what some scientists think. Erle Ellis, an associate professor of geography and environmental systems at UMBC, and a group of scientists from Australia and the United Kingdom are trying to talk their colleagues back from the edge in a new paper published this week in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. There is growing agreement among scientists that we now live in an epoch called the Anthropocene – an age where humanity has transformed the world’s ecosystems, atmosphere and even its rocks. The question is whether humans are… Continue Reading Back from the Edge

For All the World to Hear brings the Civil Rights Movement to our ears. In the 1950’s, Woodrow “Woody” B. Grant, Jr. sat in his Virginia Union University classroom mesmerized by the guest speaker. The magnetic young minister tapped into the deep longings of the African-American college students in the audience, showing how passive resistance could be used to change their plight. The young leader who spoke that day was, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and hearing him changed Grant’s life. Following the speech, Grant immediately became a “foot soldier” for freedom and dedicated his life to fighting… Continue Reading UMBC: A Living History Experience

A True Inter-Arts Experience Known throughout Maryland as a beacon for innovation, avant-garde collaboration and local outreach, Baltimore Dance Project provokes and enraptures new and loyal audiences each season. Founded in 1982 and originally known as the Phoenix Repertory Dance Company, the ensemble now celebrates its 30th anniversary on the stage of UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building Theatre. Co-directed by UMBC’s Carol Hess and Doug Hamby (associate professors, Dance), Baltimore Dance Project features interdisciplinary collaborative works with other faculty at UMBC, as well as with a broad range of artists throughout the greater Baltimore/Washington region. As its name… Continue Reading UMBC: A True Inter-Arts Experience

Black and Gold? Try Green and Gold Spend a few minutes in Patapsco Hall’s recently-completed addition, and you won’t have to be told it received one of the world’s top certifications for environmentally-friendly design. The large windows reduce the need for artificial light, the heating and cooling system automatically adjusts to your presence and you won’t have to look far to recycle your soda can. But while all of those features helped the building earn a LEED Gold certification, perhaps the most innovative part of the building’s design is how it is helping shape the future. That’s because residential life… Continue Reading Black and Gold? Try Green and Gold

Is Ray Lewis A Classic Raven? Ray Lewis is the perfect Raven. So says Kevin Omland, a professor of biology at UMBC who’s spent his career studying the feathered version. Lewis is a classic: Smart – How else did he get to be one of the most successful linebackers of all time? Loyal – He started his career with Baltimore in 1996, and he’ll end it there this year. Tough – He’s leading the Ravens through the playoffs, wearing a bulky brace for a triceps tear that’s still healing. Wait a minute, you say, what football player isn’t tough?  Fair… Continue Reading Is Ray Lewis A Classic Raven?

Finding Meaning in Math Michele Osherow admits it: she was a math-phobe. As a professor of English and the dramaturge for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Osherow had managed to avoid the subject— until the Folger chose to stage the play Arcadia, which is based on the lives of mathematicians. “I was stuck,” she said, “because I did not understand the sophistications of mathematics at all.” Osherow turned to her UMBC colleague Manil Suri, a professor of mathematics and novelist, for help. She enjoyed their discussions so much that she invited him to talk to the actors; the actors found him… Continue Reading Finding Meaning in Math

Reprogramming Education In high school, Blossom Metevier stuck to meat-and-potato science courses – physics, biology, chemistry and mathematics. She didn’t even consider computer science. “It seemed to be just for the smelly gamers and geeks,” she says. “I took pottery instead.” Now a sophomore at UMBC – majoring in computer science – Metevier captivated the crowd at a recent briefing on Capitol Hill as she talked about how she ultimately fell into the field. The Congressional Briefing, “Fueling the Future: Celebrating Computer Science Education Week and Computer Science in K-12 Classrooms and Policy,” was sponsored by Computing in the Core,… Continue Reading Reprogramming Education

Old Stories, New Media It’s something grade school teachers know intuitively: kids like reading about other kids. So when a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History program brought together Anne Arundel County Public School teachers, Historic London Town and Gardens and UMBC’s Center for History Education, the group came up with an idea: what if the teachers researched and wrote about children who actually lived at the historic site? The rest, literally, was history. The result: Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families, a digital storybook and interactive website that is… Continue Reading Old Stories, New Media