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August 20, 2008 9:22 AM |
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H9N2 Avian Flu Strain Has Pandemic Potential Back To School Experts - 2008 Edition UM Wins International Robot Competition UM's Fall Semester to Focus on All Aspects Of War |
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Highlighted News Items, August 15
College Presidents Seek Debate on Drinking Age
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Maryland Moments, December 2007
UM's research park, M-Square, will have another major U.S. tenant: the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). The national security-related unit is expected to be in a newly constructed building by 2009. Modeled after the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, IARPA is charged with developing groundbreaking technologies for the U.S. Intelligence Community. "The University of Maryland is excited to play a role in the creation of IARPA,' says University of Maryland President C. Dan Mote, Jr. "IARPA opens a new chapter in the nation's capacity to address its security challenges, both those that are known today and those that are sure to come. The University's education and research programs will serve IARPA extremely well."
Space.com: "A spacecraft that sent a projectile slamming into a comet will swing by Earth on New Year's Eve before starting a 2 1/2 year journey to Comet Hartley 2. Deep Impact will first spend six months using the larger of its two telescopes to search for Earth-sized planets around five candidate stars. The second part of its extended mission involves a flyby of Hartley 2 that allows close observations of the comet's features. 'It's exciting that we can send the Deep Impact spacecraft on a new mission that combines two totally independent science investigations, both of which can help us better understand how solar systems form and evolve,' Michael A'Hearn, Deep Impact leader and University of Maryland astronomer," said in a statement about the spacecraft's new EPOXI mission (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation)."
UM received an extraordinary $10 million gift from a charitable trust established by Barry and Mary Gossett. The gift, to Great Expectations, The Campaign for Maryland includes $8 million designated for intercollegiate athletics, making it the largest private gift in athletics department history. "We are deeply appreciative of the Gossett gift," said President C.D. Mote, Jr. "Barry and Mary Gossett share a deep bond with the University of Maryland. This gift reflects their continued personal commitment to this university and to Maryland Athletics in particular."
Chronicle of Higher Education: "These days colleges' PR offices are creating more and more videos to promote campus events and get their institution�s name out. And some have tried to adopt the lighthearted or edgy tone that seems most popular on YouTube. The collegewebeditor blog has been tracking such efforts, and today they point out an unusual holiday video created by the University of Maryland, College Park. Connie Chung, an alumnus of the university, makes a cameo appearance, but the star is the college's mascot, Testudo, leading students and staff members from across campus to gather for a holiday photo. The overall feel seems something out of a Disney film, and somehow it seems long, even though it�s only two minutes. It's too soon to tell whether it will be the next big viral video -- so far the version on YouTube has only been viewed a couple hundred times."
Israel INN: "University of Maryland students responded to the call for setting a new record for the most dreidels to be spun at once, with university president Dan Mote participating in the event. The dreidel is a top and a traditional toy for Chanukah. Its four sides contain the initials for the Hebrew words 'A Great Miracle Happened Here.' Outside of Israel, the last word is replaced with 'there,' referring to the Jewish rebellion against Greek rulers in Israel and the discovery of holy olive oil to light the menorah in the Holy Temple. Mote said, 'I've never spun a dreidel before. I should be able to figure it out since I am a mechanics major. Whether I have the skill or not is another question.' "
A Web site created by UM students to help families with limited budgets get health tips was named the National Award Winner in Internet Education Technology by the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. The site, Eat Smart, Be Fit Maryland, began as a nutrition and fitness test project in Charles, Calvert, Dorchester, Allegany and Garrett counties and was funded by the Agriculture Department. Targeting residents throughout the state, the site offers searchable listings of weekly grocery store bargains and community activities in every county. The Web site was developed by the Public Health Informatics Laboratory (School of Public Health) and the Food Stamp Nutrition Education program (Maryland Cooperative Extension).
UM & Community
On one day during December, these stories ran in area newspapers:
Gazette Newspapers: "They might be older, and their hair might be grayer, but some Prince George's County baby boomers aren't ready to slow down. Through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park, older residents can use their passions and interests to improve neighborhoods and lives. 'What we've learned is that people 50 and older want to continue to learn and they want to be actively engaged in the community,' said Sharon Simson, associate director of the institute. 'People don't want to retire and sit on the couch. They've been active in their churches, schools or civic organizations. They've got time and money, so they want to do something meaningful.' "
Baltimore Examiner: "As a nonprofit new to Howard, Habitat for Humanity needs help crafting policies and recruiting new volunteers. Similarly, the nonprofit organization Conexiones is still getting established as a nonprofit providing support for Spanish-speaking students and needs to boost its fundraising. Enter the Legacy Leadership Institute, which taps into the experience and enthusiasm of baby boomer retirees to lend a hand to the county's nonprofits. 'I know there are people out there who would rather do policies and procedures than coming in and doing mailings,' said Faye Conley, volunteer coordinator for Habitat for Humanity of Howard County. The Legacy Leadership Institute, run by the University of Maryland Center on Aging, matches volunteers older than 50 with organizations in the community. The program, which also has a branch that pairs volunteers with senators and delegates in Annapolis, is launching a program in Howard with a focus on nonprofits."
Gazette Newspapers: "Neshae McQueen, 9, said she used to get nervous when she would have to take math tests, but now she feels much more confident thanks to her mentor, Jazmin Thompson. 'She takes the time to explain why you're wrong and she explains why you're right,' Neshae said. Thompson, 18, a University of Maryland, College Park student majoring in criminal justice, has been mentoring Neshae and Sadna Dockett, 10, since October as part of a UM partnership with Calverton Elementary School in Beltsville. The collaboration, known as America Counts, is a nationwide program aimed at improving math achievement among students from kindergarten through eighth grade. UM began the program in 2000 and partnered with nearby county schools that also have a high percentage of fourth-graders who could benefit from extra math help, said Katie Hershey, coordinator of community service learning for America Reads-America Counts."
Frederick News-Post:"As about 50 people circulated among design plans, Karen Lyons, the chairwoman of the design committee for Brunswick Main Street Inc., remembered a mural painted on a bridge in the city. She recalled the mural states: 'The key to Brunswick's future is in its past.' The future and the past met Tuesday night as 15 college students presented their ideas for the town's revitalization at the Brunswick Railroad Museum and Visitors Center on West Potomac Street. The exhibit, 'About Face,' featured architectural drawings done by University of Maryland students that show how selected buildings and streetscapes could be enhanced by design updates and facade improvements."
Science & Technology
Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency program in charge of the Chesapeake Bay has been overstating its progress, relying on formulas that exaggerated improvements in pollution, according to a new scientific review. That review found that a computer model of the Chesapeake, used by the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program to gauge improvements in the estuary's health, tended to inflate the impact of some cleanup measures. Tom Simpson, a University of Maryland professor who led the review requested by the bay program, said there was no evidence that the EPA had been purposefully deceitful. But the news is still not good for the program, which calls itself one of the country's premier environmental efforts. Facing a 2010 deadline, it might now be even further behind than previously thought."
NASA: "Imaging scientists on NASA's Cassini mission are telling a tale of how the small moons orbiting near the outer rings of Saturn came to be. The moons began as leftover shards from larger bodies that broke apart and filled out their 'figures' with the debris that made the rings. ... Now, several years' worth of cosmic images of Saturn's 14 known small moons have been used to derive the sizes and shapes of most of them, and in about half the cases, even masses and densities. This information, published in the Dec. 7 issue of the journal Science, has led to new insights into how some of these moons may have formed. ... Simple calculations and more complicated computer simulations have shown that ring particles will readily become bound to a larger seed having the density of water ice. By this process, a moon will grow even if it is relatively close to Saturn. The result is a ring-region moon about two to three times the size of its dense ice core, covered with a thick shell of porous, icy ring material. ... Where did such large cores come from? And when did this all take place? 'The core may in fact be one of the remnants from the original ring-forming event,' said co-author Derek Richardson, professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park, 'which might have been left intact all this time and protected from additional collisional breakup by the mantle of ring particles around it.' "
Nature: "A study of 39 African cultures has shown that their genetics are closely linked to the songs they sing. Music, it seems, could reveal deeper biological connections between people than characteristics, such as language, that change rapidly when one culture meets another, says Floyd Reed, a population geneticist (research associate, biology) at the University of Maryland, College Park, who led the study. 'Other aspects of these populations' cultures have undergone tremendous change, but the music seems to persist,' he says. 'In a way music is very resilient to cultural change.' "
Society & Culture
Asian News International: "A new study has revealed that 98 per cent of nations use torture in any political violence, and the Western democracies are no exception to it. 'Torture remains widespread,' says Christian Davenport, one of the researchers of the study, who has also written a new book titled State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace, and has extensively researched human rights violations. 'When at least one group commits at least one act of violence, countries with institutions that support liberal democracy are effectively just as likely to use torture as countries that do not have such institutions,' Davenport says, adding, 'Democracies have responded by innovating "clean" methods of torture that do not leave permanent marks or other evidence of pain or physical trauma.' ... Another researcher from the University of Maryland, says torture is rarely an isolated procedure. 'Torture becomes institutionalized,' Hilde maintains, adding, 'here must be trained interrogator or torturers and thus also trainers, a legal and administrative apparatus, a cadre of doctors and lawyers and data analysts, and others, all of whom would be required to suspend their moral decency.' "
Environmental News Network: "Despite reports to the contrary, urban sprawl has continued to grow significantly for the past several decades, new research suggests. A study of changing land use patterns in the state of Maryland found substantial and significant increases in sprawl between 1973 and 2000. The results are in contrast to a well-publicized study last year that concluded that the extent of sprawl remained roughly unchanged in the United States between 1976 and 1992. 'We found that the areas where sprawl increased the most were in the exurban areas -- out beyond even the suburbs,' said Elena Irwin, co-author of the study and associate professor of environmental economics at Ohio State University. ... The study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Irwin conducted the study with Nancy Bockstael of the University of Maryland."
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