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Maryland Moments, April 2009
The University
- Maryland Day Draws Record-Setting Crowd
Gazette Newspapers: "The University of Maryland, College Park, held its 11th annual Maryland Day celebration Saturday, drawing a record 77,500 visitors. The event, held on a sunny, 85-degree day, offered a bit of everything for visitors, from a carnival atmosphere with food and games on McKeldin Mall to robotics demonstrations at the aerospace engineering department's Manufacturing Building. David Ottalini, the university's senior media relations associate, said last year's event attracted nearly 75,000, and the first Maryland Day in 1999 welcomed 20,000 visitors. The event is designed to showcase what the university has to offer while rewarding taxpayers and donors whose money keeps the school running, officials said." Maryland's open house was instituted by President C.D. Mote Jr.
- UM Top Public University from U.S. at Battle of the Brains in Stockholm
UM captured 20th place at the 33rd annual World Finals of the Association for Computer Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. The IBM-sponsored event -- better known as the 'Battle of the Brains' -- was held April 18-22 at KTH, The Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, Sweden. Russia's St. Petersburg State University was the verall winner. Three U.S. private universities were in the top 20: MIT (7th), Carnegie Mellon University (12) and Stanford University (20). U.C. Berkley came in 34th. Duke and the University of Virginia got honorable mentions. The faculty coach of the Maryland team is Computer Science Professor Amol Deshpande. The three student contestants were Alan Jackoway, Mitchell Katz, and Richard Matthew McCutchen.
- iSchool Rises to No. 10 in Nation, Boasts Five Top 10 Subject Categories
UM's iSchool, the College of Information Studies, assumed a Top 10 ranking in the latest U.S. News & World Report Graduate School Rankings, with Counseling/Personnel, in the College of Education, and Criminology, in the College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, maintaining their perennial No. 1 national rankings. Information Studies' subject specialties earned a raft of Top 10 notices: Archive/Preservation, No. 5; Digital Librarianship, No. 9; Information Systems, No. 10; School Library Media, No. 6; and Services for Children/Youth, No. 6. UM's College of Education was ranked No. 24 and the Clark School of Engineering No. 17. Maryland now has 29 Top 10 programs as ranked by U.S. News & World Report and 78 Top 25 placements.
- Clandestine Defense Hub Prepares to Open at UM 28
Baltimore Sun: "The projects to be launched at a top-secret University of Maryland research center would make 'Q' -- James Bond's owlish gadget-meister - blink with tears of envy. In the coming months, teams of the nation's top theoretical mathematicians, behavioral scientists, software engineers and futurists will assemble to figure out how to make U.S. intelligence better, faster and more efficient. ... The idea of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, under construction at the university's M-Square research park near the main campus, is to investigate new ideas for intelligence agencies that are too preposterous for government bureaucrats or private contractors to consider. ... IARPA, a collaboration among intelligence officials and experts from academia and business, was formed in 2007 and patterned after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA investigates futuristic military projects such as armed unmanned aerial vehicles, common in the skies over Afghanistan and Pakistan, which its engineers dreamed of in the 1980s. The initiative until now has had no permanent home. When its nondescript, highly secure building opens this fall, it will nestle in the M-Square campus along with new offices for the University's Center for the Advanced Study of Language, the National Foreign Language Center, the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, and the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. IARPA will have easy access to the nearby National Security Agency, the Office of Naval Intelligence in Suitland and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Bethesda."
- Universities Get $5 Million To Tap IBM-Google Cloud
Information Week: "The National Science Foundation ... said it has awarded nearly $5 million in grants to 14 universities so they can participate in theIBM Google cloud computing initiative for research projects. Through the NSF's Cluster Exploratory, or CLuE, program, the universities will use software and services running on the IBM-Google data center. The companies launched the joint university initiative in 2007 to help teach computer science students. ... 'We are pleased to provide the awards to these 14 universities, enabling researchers to engage with and explore this emerging and pervasive model of computing,' (NSF's Jeannete) Wing said in a statement. The university projects that will tap IBM-Google computers over the Internet will be exploring a variety of areas, including image processing, large-scale data analysis, improving the Internet, and human genome sequencing. For example, grant recipient University of Maryland, College Park, is working on a more effective translation system for converting text from one language into another. The University of Virginia is working on image processing software for zooming in on digital images to reveal distortion-free details not seen on the original."
- International Climate Change Researchers Meet, Review Latest Findings
First Science: "Top international climate scientists met the University of Maryland to lay the groundwork for improving regionalized climate change forecasts and for developing the advanced computing models needed to make these projections, says the chair and host, UM's Antonio Busalacchi. The Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme -- sponsored by the United Nations and other international organizations -- is chaired by UM's Busalacchi. It's the first time in a decade that a U.S. scientist has headed the group. They're meeting at M-Square, UM's research park. It's also the first time the group has met in Maryland. The World Climate Research Programme has two overarching objectives: to determine the predictability of climate as well as the effect of human activities on climate, Busalacchi adds. Its Joint Scientific Committee meets annually to develop a research agenda for the coming decade."
- Keep Me Maryland: UM Asks Alumni for Help With Emergency Scholarship Funds
WRC-TV, Washington: Vice President for University Relations Brodie Remington and Financial Aid Director Sarah Bauder underline the importance of "Keep Me Maryland," the development program created in March to help students stay in school: Every little bit helps -- it does not take a lot of money to make a big difference for a student struggling with finances. Also interviewed are students Zuliat Alabi and Alain Bernadotte, who have tapped into the UM pool of financial aid resources to stay in school.
- UM's Public Health School Growing to Meet Student Demand
Gazette Newspapers: "The University of Maryland, College Park's School of Public Health's building is undergoing a facelift that will allow the building to hold the growing numbers of students and faculty in the School of Public Health. Renovations began in March and are expected to be complete by March 2010. The improvements will add about 18,700 usable square feet of office space and about 5,200 square feet of research space. The space will hold six new research labs and the offices of the Department of Family Sciences, which are currently housed at Marie Mount Hall. The Center for Healthy Families, which provides family counseling, will be located at the newly renovated facility. 'We're very cramped in this building. We have no place to grow; we needed to find alternatives,' said Robert Gold, dean of the School of Public Health. Design for the project began last year."
- Va-Md Vet College Expands Class to Meet Shortage
Associated Press: "The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is expanding enrollment in its doctor of veterinary program for the first time since 1995. The college said ... that the program's class size will grow from 90 to 95 students effective this fall. The college's dean, Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, attributed the expansion to several factors, including a national shortage of veterinarians. Schurig says the college's executive board also expanded enrollment to help offset state budget cuts and keep tuition increases below the national average. Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland (College of Agriculture & Natural Resources) operate the school, which has campuses in Blacksburg, Leesburg and College Park, Md."
- USM-Hagerstown to Offer Doctorate
Hagerstown Herald-Mail: "Hagerstown's university campus will start its first doctorate degree program in January. To start, the University of Maryland, College Park will run the doctorate in education program. Later, Frostburg State University will take over. C. David Warner III, executive director of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown, said the educational doctorate, in leadership and policy studies, will appeal to teachers and principals pursuing administrative positions. USM-H has a list of 30 people interested in applying for the three-year program, spokeswoman Erin Harman said last week. The number of students who will be in the first class hasn't been determined."
- College Park City Council Hails UM Stars
Gazette Newspapers: "A group of University of Maryland, College Park, students was honored Tuesday for its work with local elementary school students. The College Park City Council honored the participants in Lakeland STARS, a program that tutors students at Paint Branch Elementary School, during Tuesday's council meeting. The tutors in attendance posed for pictures with Mayor Stephen Brayman and were given certificates of recognition. Jay Teston, principal at Paint Branch Elementary, said the program has helped students improve their grades and become more interested in pursuing a college education. 'It's become embedded in the culture of the school,' he said. Lakeland STARS was established in 1996 as a partnership between the elementary school and university. The program provides weekly, two-and-a-half-hour tutoring sessions for 50 students in grades 1- 6. The young tutees are referred to as 'STARS' -- Students Taking Active Responsibility. 'This really is a great program. I can't stress that enough,' said Gary Hersey, a senior tutor in the program. 'I've had a lot of fun with it and it's really rewarding at the same time.' The sessions are held most weeks on the College Park campus. Fifty college students participate and each is paired with a single student over the course of a semester."
- UM Hopes to Make Campus More Bike-Friendly
Gazette Newspapers: "There could be more bikes and fewer cars on the University of Maryland, College Park, campus in coming years if school transportation officials have their way. During the College Park work session Tuesday, representatives from the university and Hyattsville-based Toole Design Group outlined their plan to boost on-campus bike ridership. The preliminary plan, the result of an eight-month study, calls for a three-year campaign of advertising and renovations to encourage bike riders. A university survey found that 5 percent of respondents rode their bikes on campus. J. David Allen, director of the university's Department of Transportation Services, said he'd like to get that number up to 9 percent. The campaign would address the many obstacles -- too few curb ramps and marked bike lanes, narrow trails and a lack of parking -- that hinder on-campus riders."
- Study: Cutting Lender Subsidies Would Increase Pell Grant Recipients
Maryland Daily Record: "If President Barack Obama's budget proposals are passed by Congress, more than 3,300 additional Maryland college students will get financial aid, according to a study released by the Campaign for America's Future. ... Currently, students have to renew Pell Grants each year and risk losing them. The proposal would factor Pell Grants into the federal budget, making them automatically renew each year. As the amount and availability of financial aid is going down, tuition is going up. Between 2000 and 2007, tuition at public colleges and universities in Maryland has risen 19 percent. At the University of Maryland, College Park, the number of students receiving financial aid has remained stagnant, said Sarah Bauder, director of financial aid, but that doesn't mean the number of applications has remained the same. 'Forgetting the 2008-2009 school year that we're in now, I started noticing a difference last year,' said Bauder. 'This year I've definitely noticed a significant increase in students applying for financial aid.' "
- UM To Introduce 'Video 911'
Washington Post: "A University of Maryland computer science professor is getting to roll out what he hopes will catch on one day as the next version of 911. Soon, on the University of Maryland campus, students or faculty members will be able to hold up their cell phones and instantly relay video to emergency responders if they see an emergency or a crime in the works. Dr. Ashok Agrawala (Computer, Mathematical & Physcial Sciences) said that he believes that the service, which he calls v911, is the first of its kind. Agrawala believes that when it becomes widely-known that the University of Maryland has this service on this campus, it will discourage crime. 'The biggest impact is the deterrent effect,' he said. While Agrawala said he'd like to see this service catch on beyond the UM campus, one inhibiting factor on that front could be the speed of the average wireless network. V911 is made possible in part because the college has a high-speed wireless Internet connection across its campus. And while the service will be available on popular devices from cell phone makers like Nokia, it won't be available for the popular iPhone just yet."
- UM President Keeps Commencement Prayer
Baltimore Sun: "The University of Maryland, College Park will retain its tradition of offering a prayer before its commencement exercises, university President C.D. Mote Jr. said Thursday. His decision to maintain the two-minute prayer and moment of silence runs counter to a recommendation this week from the University Senate, which voted 32-14 to stop it. The Senate is composed of students, faculty and staff, and advises Mote on major issues. Senators had said the prayer was noninclusive and not appropriate for a public institution. But in a statement, Mote said, 'For many people, a prayer of gratitude and a moment of reflection are an important part of our commencement tradition.' A prayer has been a long-standing part of the university's graduation; a moment of silence was added in 2007."
- Regents Meeting: Regents Agree to Set Porn Policy for State Universities
Baltimore Sun: "The University System of Maryland Board of Regents on Friday morning directed Chancellor William E. Kirwan to come up with policy recommendations regarding sexually explicit material on state university campuses. The matter wasn't on the agenda for the regents' regularly scheduled meeting, which came just days after the controversial screening of a portion of Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge at the University of Maryland, College Park, an event that generated outrage in the General Assembly. The university canceled a planned Saturday night screening in the student union after lawmakers, led by Sen. Andy Harris, threatened to cut their funding if the film was shown. But students showed part of it on their own in a campus lecture hall Monday night. In a compromise, lawmakers agreed to drop the funding threat if the state's universities develop a policy for showing such material. The plan is to be presented to the regents this summer, before the Sept. 1 deadline set by the legislature."
- Regents Meeting: Room, Board at Md. Universities to Rise Next Year
Baltimore Sun: "Room and board charges at state universities will go up between 1 percent and 7 percent next year under plans approved by the state Board of Regents Friday. The regents also said they expect to hold in-state undergraduate tuition steady for the coming academic year, but will hold a special meeting in the next two weeks to address tuition. Dormitory charges will rise from 1 percent at Frostburg State University to 5 percent at Bowie State and Coppin State universities. Charges for meal plans will also go up moderately, from 1.5 percent at Salisbury University to 7 percent at Frostburg State. Regents are waiting to set tuition until the Maryland legislature approves the state budget for the next fiscal year. The system is anticipating a cut of about $5.8 million in its operating budget of approximately $1 billion. ... Annual tuition and fees at state universities range from a low of $5,140 at Coppin State to a high of $8,780 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The University of Maryland, College Park, charges $8,005 in tuition and fees."
- How Well Trained Are D.C.'s Paramedics?
WTOP Radio: "How well trained are D.C. paramedics? And how safe are you if you call 911 for help? Video never seen before raises some serious questions about how well prepared paramedics are to handle life and death matters, according to reports in The Washington Times and on Channel 4. Simulations done by the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland evaluate how well the paramedics perform."
- Smith School: MBA Interns Going Unpaid
BusinessWeek: "Internship salaries may be up this year, but that doesn't mean everyone's going to get paid more -- or at all. Even MBAs. Unpaid internships, long associated with arts and social sciences, have crept into the monied grounds of the business school campus. With the financial crisis forcing internship hiring down 21% for this coming summer, a rise in unpaid positions isn't exactly surprising. But until now, unpaid work for MBAs was largely unheard of. ... The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business hasn't received an outpouring of postings for unpaid internships this summer either. But many more Smith students have expressed an interest in working for free. Career-services directors stress the internship choice is a 'personal decision.' And if the only way to get MBA-level experience at a prestigious company is by working unpaid, it's probably a good idea, they add."
- Maryland Technology Development Corp. Awards Grants to BioMarker, LeukoSight
Baltimore Business Journal: "The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) has awarded $225,000 to two startup biotechnology firms. TEDCO granted Baltimore's BioMarker Strategies LLC $75,000 and $150,000 to LeukoSight Inc. of College Park. The grants are part of TEDCO's Maryland Technology Transfer Fund, an investment program granted in collaboration with the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Office of Science & Technology. The fund awards money to startup technology firms that are developing products working with universities or federal laboratories. Johnson & Johnson provided an initial $250,000 for the program in 2006, which was matched by TEDCO. Since then, the program has funded eight projects. BioMarker is working with Johns Hopkins University to develop a diagnostic test to detect breast, pancreatic and lung cancers. LeukoSight (Chemical & Life Sciences; Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program, MTech, Clark School) is working with the University of Maryland, College Park to develop therapies to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases."
- UM Cleaning Up in National Recycling Competition
Gazette Newspapers: "UM may have lost in the national college basketball tournaments, but university officials are hoping to win an altogether different competition that will have a lasting effect on the campus and the planet -- recycling. UM participated in Recyclemania, a national 10-week recycling contest that measured the pounds of waste and recycled materials the campus collects. The competition began Jan. 18. Reyclemania began in 2001 when coordinators at Ohio University and Miami University in Ohio started a waste reduction movement. Taking advantage of the sporting rivalries between the two schools, the officials held a competition, which Miami University won. The program has grown to more than 510 institutions across the country. Along with the University of Maryland, Bowie State University, Howard Community College, Montgomery Community College, Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University represented Maryland in the tournament. 'It has been a wonderful experience," said the program's sponsor at the school, Maria Lonsbury, a projects specialist in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. 'We have learned a lot about our waste reduction in our community from year to year and how we compete with other institutions.' "
- Earth Day: UM No. 13 Among U.S. Universities in 'Power Down the Planet' Rankings
Climate Savers Computing: UM earns another merit badge for its environmental efforts, this one provided by Climate Savers Computing. "Climate Savers Computing, an international nonprofit organization committed to reducing IT-related energy waste, collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR program to present the pledge challenge called Power Down for the Planet."
- UM's Massive Energy Project
Maryland Daily Record: "The University of Maryland, College Park, said it will replace failing equipment in nine campus buildings with eco-friendly technology that will save nearly $30 million in energy costs and eliminate over 50,000 tons of carbon emissions over the next 15 years. The Board of Public Works ... approved a $20 million contract to purchase and install efficient electrical, mechanical and plumbing equipment in some of the campus's oldest buildings. Johnson Controls Inc., which is performing the work for the university, is one of five companies pre-approved by the state to provide energy services."
- The Guarneri, Bowing Out With Distinction
Washington Post: "As the venerable and venerated Guarneri Quartet (School of Music, College of Arts & Humanities) completes its farewell season, giving its last Washington area concert tonight at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the passing is being marked by a batch of rereleases of its vintage recordings. ArkivMusic.com, a CD and download provider, has licensed a trove of the quartet's legendary RCA recordings from its youthful heyday in the 1960s and '70s, when it was the greatest string quartet in the world. ... The group has always been one of the highest distinction and has continued recording throughout its existence, but certainly the virtuosity and intensity of its last two decades were on a different level than that heard in the first three. An entire generation has thus grown up being only dimly aware of the volcanic musical force the Guarneri once represented. The ArkivMusic releases are the first appearance of these iconic recordings since the LP era."
- Getting Cozy with Political Animals
Bay Weekly: "If you had told me last year that I'd be working for a bunch of politicians, I'd have laughed you out of the room. Yet here I am waiting for the shuttle from Navy Marine Corps Stadium to take me to my job at the Maryland State House. Huddled with me in the chilly shelter are bleary-eyed college interns, legislative aides and lobbyists. I am none of them. I am one of 22 senior interns working for free for a bunch of politicians. I'm retired after 35 years as a senior lead engineer for Northrop Grumman. A couple more were also engineers. We're lawyers, professors, business owners -- and maybe also empty-nesters. One started a $25-million company out of his trunk. We're men and women, black and white, and one of us hails from Nigeria. Four are from Anne Arundel County. We're a cross section of people over 50, looking to make the second half of our lives even more exciting than the first. We've all found purpose in the University of Maryland Legacy Leadership Institute on Public Policy. Now, we're insiders. 'We're getting to see how policy is ground into shape,' said intern and retired sociology professor Jon Darling, of Shady Side. 'Sort of like putting meat into a grinder.' "
Students
- UM Junior Awarded Udall Scholarship for Environmental Leadership
Joanna Calabrese, a junior at UM, has been named a 2009 Udall Scholar by the Morris K. Udall Foundation. Udall Scholars are selected on the basis of commitment to careers in the environment, leadership potential, and academic achievement. Calabrese is one of 80 Udall Scholars selected from more than 500 candidates from across the nation. The Udall Scholarship provides up to $5,000 for tuition, room and board, or other educational expenses. Calabrese is majoring in environmental science and policy, an interdisciplinary program co-sponsored by the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Behavioral and Social Sciences; Chemical and Life Sciences; and Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences. She serves as senior vice president of the Student Government Association, is the student representative for the Climate Action Plan Workgroup, and the student sustainability advisor for UM's Office of Sustainability. Additionally, Calabrese served as a president and treasurer of Clean Energy for Maryland, and was a research intern with the House of Representatives Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.
- Miss College Park Is Ready to Give Back
Gazette Newspapers: "In May, Elise Pittman will don a cap and gown when she receives her master's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She wore a tiara and gown of a different sort Sunday afternoon when she was crowned Miss College Park. Pittman, 22, was chosen from eight contestants at the 18th annual pageant, held at the American Legion Auxiliary in College Park. For her victory, she received a $2,000 scholarship. 'Besides the scholarship, it's a great way that I can give back to the community,' Pittman said. Pittman, originally from Sykesville, is scheduled to receive her master's degree in geospatial information sciences in May. She also earned her bachelor's at UM."
- UM Psychology Students 'Put YouTube to Good Use'
iReport: "College students studying the psychology of social influence are putting the research to good use. Groups of students in Maryland's popular Psychology of Communication & Persuasion (Behavioral & Social Sciences) got to choose a social cause they thought they could make a needed difference on. Their video messages get posted on YouTube and the students have to apply what they know to effectively market their message. The project culminates in formal presentations in which the students discuss the research underlying their approach and answer questions from a board of Social Psychologists and University administrators. ... This project is part of a greater initiative within the Department of Psychology to advance its undergraduate teaching and the University of Maryland's call for service learning projects."
- Md. Opera Studio: Strong Class Leads to Two Operas in Repertory
Gazette Newspapers: "Nick Olcott knows what you're thinking: Baroque-period opera is solemn, reverential and inaccessible. He wants you to know that couldn't be further from the truth about Xerxes, a Handel opera the University of Maryland School of Music's Maryland Opera Studio is staging starting Saturday, in repertory with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which opens Friday. 'Xerxes is really far from being a somber piece about a historical figure, said Olcott, who is directing Xerxes. 'It's one big sexy pot-boiler.' The Maryland Opera Studio is both a two-year master's degree program and a performance ensemble within the School of Music's voice/opera division. Olcott said the studio performs two operas in repertory only with particularly strong classes. 'Only when we have such a talented group of singers can we support two complete casts, and that's the case this year,' Olcott said."
- Maryland Opera Studio's 'Eugene Onegin' Provided New Local Benchmark for College Productions
Baltimore Sun: "I didn't get to catch up with Maryland Opera Studio's (School of Music) production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin until the last performance Saturday night at the Clarice Smith Center (Arts & Humanities), but it was definitely a case of better-late-than-never for me. Onegin, of course, is a story about young people in and out of love (and luck), so a student performance can offer a certain built-in verisimilitude factor. Such was the case here. But the opera still requires considerable talents from all involved to yield a satisfying performance. This venture, easily the finest college-level opera production I've encountered yet in this area, met the challenge admirably. OK, so the orchestra was a weak link, prone to smushy entrances and iffy intonation. But those musicians really played, putting a lot of fire into Tchaikovsky's wonderful score as they responded to the exceptionally sensitive conducting of James Ross. Just the way Ross shaped the Letter Scene was worth the trip, with subtle, telling rhythmic nuance. Of course, it helped that he had in Jennifer Forni a remarkable soprano to sing that scene."
Faculty
- Weeks: UM Professor Among Scientists Newly Elected to U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Distinguished University Professor John D. Weeks was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) -- one of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates recognized for their distinguished, continuing achievement in original research. Weeks is a professor in the university's Institute for Physical Science and Technology and the department of chemistry and biochemistry. Membership in the NAS is generally considered one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States. Professor Weeks will be inducted into the Academy next April during its 147th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
- Regents Meeting: Eckstein Receives USM Regents' Faculty Award
University System of Maryland: "The University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents at its meeting today announced the 17 recipients of the 2009 USM Regents' Faculty Awards. The board met at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The awards are the highest honor presented by the board to exemplary faculty members. Presented in five categories, the awards honor excellence in teaching; scholarship, research, or creative activities; public service; mentoring; and collaboration. UM's awardee:
MENTORING -- Arthur Eckstein, professor in the Department of History at University of Maryland, College Park, and director of the department's honors program. He has invigorated that program by actively recruiting students, with a strong commitment to increasing diversity. He serves as personal adviser to each student in the program."
- Gates: Obama Taps Google Boss for Science Panel
Business Journal: Physicist James Gates (Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciences) is appointed to Barack Obama's council on science and technology.
"President Barack Obama created a new council on science and technology to advise him, and he put Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt on it. Schmidt was a strong supporter of -- and donor to -- Obama's campaign for president. He'll join Microsoft Corp.'s chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, on the board. Three men will lead the council: John Holdren, who directs White House policy on science and technology; Eric Lander, who runs the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University; and Harold Varmus, the president and chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
- Groves: Transportation and Education Depts. Get Key Nominees
Washington Post: Robert M. Groves, Nominee for Director of the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce (Groves is a research professor, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, Behavioral & Social Sciences).
"Robert M. Groves is Director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, Research Professor at its Institute for Social Research, and Research Professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology (Behavioral & Social Sciences), at the University of Maryland. From 1990-1992 Groves was an Associate Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, on loan from University of Michigan. From 1992-2001 he was the associate director, then director of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, a graduate program sponsored by the US Federal statistical system."
- Porcari Chosen as Deputy U.S. Transportation Secretary
Baltimore Sun: Although not a graduate of UM or a faculty member, John Porcari continues the strong linkage between the Obama administration and appointments connected to UM. Porcari was named vice president for administration at UM in December of 2002, and left to go back to public office in 2007 when Martin O'Malley became governor. "President Barack Obama turned to Maryland for another high-level appointment Friday as the White House announced that he intends to name Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari to the No. 2 position in the U.S. Department of Transportation. In choosing Porcari, Obama has selected one of the few state transportation secretaries whose portfolio includes all the major modes of travel -- highways, aviation, mass transit, maritime commerce and rail freight. If he clears the required background checks and is confirmed by the Senate, Porcari would serve as deputy to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman and a Republican.
- Alum Arnold in Space: A Journey That's Out of This World
Gazette Newspapers: "Two weeks at NASA's International Space Station was Richard 'Ricky' Arnold II's dream come true. Chosen as a mission specialist by NASA in 2004, he's spent the last five years training for those two weeks through candidate instruction and a 10-day undersea mission in Aquarius, the world's only undersea laboratory where lunar simulation activities and experiments are conducted. But nothing could quite compare to his experience during liftoff or the three space walks that he conducted to help attach solar panel arrays to the outside of the International Space Station. 'We lifted off into night and after eight and a half minutes we were up and moving around but it was dark and you couldn't see anything,' said Arnold, a Bowie native who now lives in Houston, Texas, of the initial liftoff in March. But one of his first duties was to maneuver the window shades on the space shuttle Discovery and he caught his first glimpse of the Earth from space. 'By that point the sun had come up and it was pretty spectacular,' Arnold said. The crew returned from space on March 29. ... Richard Arnold, 45, is a scientist by training, holding a bachelor's degree in science and a master's degree in marine, estuarine and environmental science from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also completed a teacher certification program at Frostburg State University and spent much of his career as a science and math teacher working overseas in Indonesia, Romania, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Arnold had dreamed of flying on a space shuttle since he was a child and had traveled to Cape Canaveral, Fla., but never mentioned his dreams of traveling in space to his parents until he applied for the program. 'It's got to be an experience I never expected him to be involved in,' Dick Arnold said. 'We were kind of amazed when he applied and tickled when he was accepted.' "
- Input at USNA: Military Redefines Leadership
Baltimore Sun: As war changes, more responsibility falls on leaders of small units ... "Old timers say that not long ago, when the military threats were more simple, the academy taught leadership by having the mids read about such masters as Adm. Chester Nimitz, then throwing them out into the fleet to see how well they had learned. Now, leadership is recognized as having a basis in science. In a recent class, (Capt. Ted) Greeley discussed parasympathetic backlash, the physical and emotional weariness after a firefight, and he offered this warning about decision-making in combat: 'Under severe stress, 70 percent of your blood goes to your extremities. What does that do to your ability to think? How will you prepare for that?' The academy's answer is, in part through required academic courses in individual and organizational behavior, theories of motivation and group dynamics, science that is linked to the study of such moral philosophers as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and Aristotle. This shift in curriculum was overseen by (Navy Cmdr. Stephen) Trainor, who holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Maryland, where he studied with David Segal, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Research on Military Organization (Behavioral & Social Sciences). Segal said the Naval Academy 'for years resisted the notion' that leadership has a basis in science and can be learned from a book. Now, the officers selected by the academy to directly supervise midshipmen are first sent to the University of Maryland for a master's degree in leadership."
- New for GOP: Resurgent Republic
Politico: Government and politics' James Gimpel is named to select group hoping to mold future of GOP.
"Ed Gillespie, the former GOP chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush, and top pollster Whit Ayres on Tuesday are launching Resurgent Republic, a group aimed at shaping the debate as the party regenerates itself for the upcoming elections. Resurgent Republic plans to offer itself as a resource for policymakers and congressional leaders and will conduct focus groups and polling, and plans to hold at least one forum this year. Think of it as a Republican version of Democracy Corps.
- Nelligan Makes Happy Landing into Retirement
Baltimore Sun: Although their numbers decline as commercialism spreads, there are Mr. Chips-type coaches remaining on campus. "As a Maryland freshman, Brandi George brought lots of baggage to College Park. Her parents had just died six months apart, and George, a star gymnast, struggled to cope with the loss. Her college coach vowed to see her through it. When George arrived on campus, Bob 'Duke' Nelligan presented her with a hand-hewn basswood memory box in which to store family keepsakes. On the lid, he had carved the Chinese symbol for courage. Moved to tears, George let her emotions spill out in just the kind of catharsis she needed. 'It takes a lot for me to open up and talk about my parents, but Duke is good about that,' said George, now a junior and the Terps' top performer. 'I needed a family away from home, and he has been that.' ... After 31 years, 490 victories and thousands of handsprings and straddle splits, Nelligan is retiring from Maryland. He has served six athletic directors and outlasted five football coaches. At 59, Nelligan ranks sixth all time in coaching tenure at College Park, where he took over in 1979. That year, Gary Williams was sweating through suits at American and Ralph Friedgen was drawing X's and O's at The Citadel. But Nelligan's legacy will be measured by more than longevity, those who know him said. He is a coach with a heart, the one you can call at 3 a.m. if your car breaks down or if a spat with a boyfriend makes you just want to talk. It's a role he doesn't take lightly."
- Top Invention Is No Mere Band-Aid
Business Gazette: "A bandage produced from material found in crustacean shells was among the top entries in the University of Maryland's recent Invention of the Year reception in College Park. The Office of Technology Commercialization selected three inventions to represent three categories -- physical science, life science and information science -- among the 135 entries. The Nano-Velcro bandage, created from chitosan, is designed to prevent blood loss inside its boundaries and also be easily removed without damaging surface tissue. Matt Dowling, a chemical engineering graduate student, and his Remedium Technologies team took the life science honor with the invention. ... Although he originally planned to concentrate on chronic wound care, he realized the Nano-Velcro bandages had quicker commercialization opportunities. 'In this environment, people are more willing to invest in something that's going to market in two or three years rather than longer,' Dowling said, adding that the invention's value as a medical device also improves its chances. Remedium Technologies of Rockville, launched in 2007, is part of the university's Venture Accelerator incubator program (MTech) and is engaged in pre-clinical trials of the Nano-Velcro bandages."
- Alumna Tops in UM Business Contest
Gazette Newspapers: "College Media Group, the brainchild of University of Maryland, College Park, alumna Amanda Nachman, took home $17,500 as the top winner and People's Choice at a university business competition Saturday. The Cupid's Cup competition is held by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the university's Robert H. Smith School of Business and sponsored by alumnus Kevin Plank, now CEO and chairman of Under Armour, an athletic apparel company in Baltimore. Nachman's business produces College Magazine, which targets about 120,000 students at nine college and university campuses. Nachman, 23, of Rockville launched the magazine in 2007 and hopes to take it to 200 campuses within the next five years. She won $15,000 for first prize in the competition and $2,500 for the People's Choice Award."
- Md. Gay Rights Advocates Seek Spousal Benefits
Baltimore Examiner Online: "Maryland lawmakers show no signs of budging on gay marriage, but gay rights groups are working little by little to level the playing field between married heterosexual couples and gay couples in domestic partnerships. Last year, state legislators passed bills that allow same-sex partners who meet certain criteria to make medical and burial decisions for each other, and make domestic partners eligible for tax benefits that married people currently get when transferring property. This year, gay rights advocates, including the organization Equality Maryland, have their sights set on the inheritance tax: Activists want same-sex domestic partners who own homes together to be exempt from the hefty state taxes assessed on property when one person dies. ... Only Massachusetts and Connecticut allow same-sex couples to marry. Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and several other states allow civil unions, and, like Maryland, a few others -- including Hawaii -- have extended some spousal benefits to domestic partners. Marilee Lindemann, director of the University of Maryland's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies program, has been with her partner for 25 years and they've co-owned a home in Takoma Park since 1994. The 50-year-old Lindemann says she and her partner are 'on the leading edge of a generation of same-sex couples' that were 'in relatively safe positions' to 'function pretty much as married couples.' "
Science & Technology
- Ancient Ecosystem Found in Ice Pocket
Discovery Channel: UM Geologist Jay Kaufman comments on this discovery, carried in Science Magazine. Fellow UM geologist James Farquhar is a co-author of the Science paper, although he is not mentioned here.
"Beneath a glacier in Antarctica, scientists have discovered a community of microbes growing in frigid pools of salty water. It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no oxygen, and extremely cold temperatures. But the microbes appear to live -- and thrive -- off a combination of iron and sulfur, according to a new study. The result of that strange metabolism is a brilliant red streak of cascading ice called Blood Falls. 'I don't know of any other place like it on Earth,' said Jill Mikucki, a geomicrobiologist now at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. 'It's an attractive feature in a barren landscape of brown dirt, white ice and blue sky.' The new study, which appears this week in the journal Science, hints at how life might be able to exist in other inhospitable corners of the universe, such as Jupiter's moon Europa. Isolated for millions of years, the microbes under Blood Falls may also provide glimpses of previous glacial episodes in Earth's history. ... 'This lake that has been trapped beneath Antarctic ice represents one of those extreme environments where life has held on under the most adverse conditions,' said Jay Kaufman, a biogeochemist (geology, Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciences) at the University of Maryland in College Park. 'This is absolutely unique.'
- Study Shows Decline in Flow of Many Major Rivers, Which Scientists Blame on Climate Change
Associated Press: "The flow of water in the world's largest rivers has declined over the past half-century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 showed an overall decline in total discharge. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the new study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. ... 'This is an important paper with new findings that are relevant to the health of river ecosystems and the people who live near or rely upon rivers to meet water needs,' said Margaret Palmer (biology, Chemical & Life Sciences), director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. 'What is important from this study is these authors show that these decreases are due to a changing climate, not human activities like extractions or dam building, yet these changes will have impacts on humans and ecosystems because many of these regions have large populations and drought-stressed ecosystems,' said Palmer, who was not part of the research team."
- Avian Flu Research Unravels Why and How Swine Flu Outbreak Came About
Asian News International: "A lethal avian flu virus can cause human flu pandemic more easily than previously thought, according to a new study. University of Maryland researchers have explored the mechanisms of how combined avian-human viruses are transmitted and how virus outbreaks like that of the current swine flu came about. Daniel Perez, associate professor (veterinary medicine, Agriculture & Natural Resources) at UM, showed that after an avian and human-like virus combine, the virus requires relatively few mutations to spread rapidly between mammals by respiratory droplets. 'This is similar to the method by which the current swine influenza strain likely formed,' said Perez, 'The virus formed when avian, swine, and human-like viruses combined in a pig to make a new virus. After mutating to be able to spread by respiratory droplets and infect humans, it is now spreading between humans by sneezing and coughing.' Generally, avian flu viruses infect birds, and human viruses infect humans. Because their immune systems 'remember' what the viruses look like from previous exposures, humans and birds tend to have some level of immunity to their respective viruses. Though avian flu viruses do sometimes infect humans and cause severe illness, these viruses do not transmit easily from human to human so the spread is rare. A problem arises when an intermediary species that can host both avian and human-like viruses, such as a pig, is infected with both types of virus, said an UM release."
- Pigs in Flu's Past, Not Present
McClatchy Newspapers: "The new H1N1 influenza virus that continues to spread through the United States has ancestry in a swine flu outbreak that first struck a North Carolina hog farm more than 10 years ago, according to scientists studying the strain's genetic makeup. The current strain has not shown up in surveillance of U.S. pigs, and it cannot be caught by eating pork. But the finding about its genetic background illustrates how viruses mutate and in some cases jump among species. ... This week's discovery is, in part, just another piece of the scientific puzzle in trying to understand the new H1N1 flu's history. Scientists working around the world this week began tracing the virus's origins days after the CDC published its eight-chromosome genetic sequence. Steven Salzberg, a computational biologist (Chemical & Life Sciences; Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciences) at the University of Maryland, was among the scientists who found that the new H1N1 virus contains strains from past swine viruses, including the one that swept through pig farms in 1998. Salzberg said he doesn't blame factory farms for the current outbreak because swine flu is common among pigs. But he wants to know more about the new strain's ancestry. That would require that scientists have more genetic sequences of swine flu taken from sick pigs over the past decade. Salzberg hopes the CDC will ask animal labs to send their existing samples in for coding. 'We really need many more,' Salzberg said. 'This outbreak is going to induce us to do that.' He may not have to wait long. Nancy Cox, director of the influenza division at the CDC, said talks have already begun with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin collecting genetic sequences of swine flu found on farms in the future."
- Deng: Herring Aids
Deep Sea News: "Obviously, fish do not possess the big fleshy ears. Talk about swimmer's ear? Instead, sound transmits from the water into the fish body and to a set of internal ears. Keep in mind a fish's body is about the same density as water, so the sound passes easily. These 'ears' are divided into the pars superior, the upper bit, and utriculus, the lower bit. The pars superior contains three fluid-filled semicircular canals, each filled with sensory hairs, allowing a fish to determine yaw, pitch, and roll. The utriculus possesses the otoliths, little bony plate that are denser than water. The difference between the movement in the fish and otoliths stimulate the cilia on the sensory hair cells. Deep-sea fish may be better than their shallow water cousins at hearing. A graduate student at University of Maryland, Xiaohong Deng (Popper Lab, Chemical & Life Sciences), will present in May at the Acoustical Society of America Meeting will present evidence that some deep-sea fish specialized structures to heighten their hearing, herring aids if you will. These adaptations included:
*a connection between the ears and swim bladder, the latter acting like a resonating chamber,
*elaborately-oriented hair bundles in the inner ear,
*exceptionally rigid ears and stalks projecting from stones in the ear, not seen in shallow-water fish and still bewildering.
Deng states, 'We have already found many specializations and adaptations in the eyes and olfactory systems of deep-sea fishes; it is reasonable to think that their hearing should also be important in the dark.,"
- Biologist Karen Lips Investigates Amphibian Extinction Mystery
Frogs are mysteriously disappearing from the planet, and UM biologist Karen Lips is racing against time to save them. One-third of the world's amphibians have already gone extinct, and more are disappearing each day. It's a crisis that has required Lips and her colleagues to act as detectives at a crime scene, investigating sites where they find the bodies of thousands of dead frogs to unravel what went wrong. The mass extinction of amphibians and the struggle to save those that remain is the focus of a new NATURE documentary that premiered on April 5th on PBS, which features Dr. Lips' research expertise. While pollution and other environmental factors are taking their toll on frogs, Lips and colleagues discovered that it's an unusual fungus, called Chytridiomycosis (chytrid), that is causing massive frog die-offs in locations as disparate as Panama, Australia, and the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, these experts don't know where this fungus originated and don't know how to stop it. They do know that it likes cool, wet climates, where frogs also thrive, and that it spreads rapidly from one site to another.
- Driving for the Perfect Golf Ball (during Master's Week)
Reuters, UK: "U.S. scientists have teamed up with a Japanese manufacturer in a quest to identify and produce the perfect golf ball. In the video model, computer-generated air surrounding the ball is colored blue to show the way a golf ball in flight interacts with air surrounding it. The animation is the result of enormous computer-power equal to that of 1,000 personal computers all hooked up together for 300 hours. It's also the central plank of a scientific experiment with potentially enormous commercial value. Dr Elias Balarus, of the University of Maryland, is a lead physicist in the project funded by Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Corporation, which owns the Srixon golf ball brand, to create a ball that will travel further than any on the market. The key to success is in the dimples, which reduce drag on the ball as it flies toward its target. Golf rules are strict about size and weight of a ball, but not when it comes to dimple patterns. Manufacturers have relied on trial and error to produce dimple patterns and then identify the best prototype of a selection and mass produce it even though they don't know why it travels further than others. However, the new research uses mathematics to establish why a golf ball travels further."
- Looking into the Future of Maryland's Ecosystem
Maryland Commons: "What if we could see the future of Maryland's ecosystem? What if we could predict exactly how more paved roads, more driveways, more parking lots might create algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay? And where? When? What happens to the bay's oxygen levels if soybeans replace corn? Or if more wetlands are lost? Or if state forests are expanded? There's no crystal ball to answer these questions now, but it's coming soon. Scientists at the University of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center -- a joint center that includes the university's departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology, and Geography (Computer, Mathematical & Physical Sciences) and the Earth Sciences Directorate at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center -- are creating a computer simulation of the Chesapeake Bay that combines models from chemistry, biology, geography, stream flow, climate and land-use changes, and more, to show how various factors interact to influence the bay region."
- New Laser Technique Advances Nanofabrication Process
The ability to create tiny patterns is essential to the fabrication of computer chips and many other current and potential applications of nanotechnology. Yet, creating ever smaller features, through a widely-used process called photolithography, has required the use of ultraviolet light, which is difficult and expensive to work with. John Fourkas, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the UM College of Chemical and Life Sciences, and his research group have developed a new, table-top technique called RAPID (Resolution Augmentation through Photo-Induced Deactivation) lithography that makes it possible to create small features without the use of ultraviolet light. This research is to be published in Science magazine and released on Science Express. Photolithography uses light to deposit or remove material and create patterns on a surface. There is usually a direct relationship between the wavelength of light used and the feature size created. Therefore, nanofabrication has depended on short wavelength ultraviolet light to generate ever smaller features. 'The RAPID lithography technique we have developed enables us to create patterns twenty times smaller than the wavelength of light employed,' explains Dr. Fourkas, 'which means that it streamlines the nanofabrication process. We expect RAPID to find many applications in areas such as electronics, optics, and biomedical devices.' "
Society & Culture
How Researchers Classify Biracial Subjects Skews Study Results, Authors Say Chronicle of Higher Education: "For higher-education researchers, the choice of how to classify people who identify themselves as biracial is hardly as simple as black and white. In fact, a paper being presented here on Thursday at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association says that each of three commonly used approaches to classifying biracial or multiracial people has benefits and drawbacks, and the choice of which one to use can significantly influence a study's results. The authors of the study are Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, an associate professor [counseling and personnel services, Education] at the University of Maryland, College Park; Matthew Soldner, a doctoral student (counseling and personnel services, Education) at Maryland; and Katalin Szel�nyi, an assistant professor of education at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. They conducted their analysis using data on more than 22,000 undergraduate students at 49 colleges gathered as part of the 2007 National Study of Living-Learning Programs, for which Ms. Inkelas serves a principal investigator. The study provided an ideal source of data for them because it uses a survey instrument that lets students identify with as many races and ethnicities as they please."
- No Matter How You Say It, Acai Comes With Some Pronounced Doubts
Washington Post: "How bad can the economy be if people are buying acai? Surely you've heard of acai, even if you're not sure how to pronounce the name. (It's ah-sigh-EE.) The little purple berries have been touted for more healthful qualities than you'd think a simple berry could bear. Who'd have believed that this modest product of Brazil's Amazon rain forest could do everything from speed weight loss to correct sexual dysfunction -- while bolstering your immune system, too? A lot of people. ... Acai products have been spotlighted as super foods on Oprah Winfrey's and Rachael Ray's high-profile TV shows -- though not, Winfrey and Ray are quick to point out, endorsed by those celebrities, despite the fact that many ads for acai products bear their images. Mehmet Oz, in an "Oprah" appearance, listed acai berries at the top of his list of 10 most healthful foods before backing off and saying they belong on that list, but perhaps not on the top. Anybody with a Facebook or e-mail account has probably seen ads for this supposed miracle berry. ... Mark Kantor, an associate professor of nutrition and food science (Agriculture & Natural Resources) at the University of Maryland, says he's scanned the scientific literature and hasn't found reputable research to support any of the health claims acai's marketers are making. Unfortunately,' Kantor says, 'lots of Americans like to take the easy way out. They're looking for a miracle food. But they'll have to keep looking, because I don't think one exists.' Having said that, acai's not likely to do harm. Except to your credit card, that is. The questionable health benefits attributed to acai are only half the story. As CSPI warned at a press conference last week, consumers using credit cards to enroll in 'free' trials of acai products advertised via e-mail and on the Internet are being bilked big time."
- The Pulitzers & Investigative Reporting
PBS: News Hour with Jim Lehrer on the day Pulitzer Prizes for investigative reporting were revealed at a time when newspapers are closing. (Deborah Nelson, director, Carnegie Seminar at the Merrill College, came to UM as visiting professor in 2006, after five years as the Washington investigations editor for the Los Angeles Times, where she co-authored a series on U.S. war crimes and oversaw projects on 9-11, the economy, foreign policy and the federal government. Her national awards include a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.)
JEFFREY BROWN, NEWS HOUR: "Deborah Nelson, you went through something -- you went through this personally. Why is the investigative section or the coverage often one of the most vulnerable (to economics)?"
DEBORAH NELSON, University of Maryland: "Well, it`s one of the most vulnerable because it costs more. On a per-inch basis, if you`re counting costs per byline, the costs are high. And I would argue that if you`re, you know, judging it on poundage per inch, it`s a pretty good buy. But I think that if you look at the Pulitzer winners today, you`d wonder 'What crisis is there?' because it`s an outstanding list. I mean, a dozen investigative projects on it that saved lives, yes... "
- New Report Shows Student Journalists Aren't Being Taught To Cover Violence
Ten years after Columbine, almost 8 years after 9/11, and 6 years since the invasion of Iraq, the nation's top journalism schools are still not teaching their students how to cover violence and report on trauma. A new International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA) report co-authored by University of Maryland Associate Professor Susan Moeller (Merrill College of Journalism) -- who is the ICMPA director -- says pointedly, "In the aftermath of such events, you would think America's best journalism schools -- those that train students for careers in the nation's top print, broadcast and online newsrooms -- would have turned to teach their students how to responsibly cover violence and conflict. You'd be wrong." The ICMPA report -- released on the Columbine anniversary this week -- conducted what it says is the "largest study to date of 106 accredited journalism programs across the U.S., and found that 3/4 of schools do not offer stand-alone courses dedicated to teaching students how to cover violence and trauma."
- Foreign IT Pros Working In U.S. Earning More Than Americans
InformationWeek: "Researchers analyzed skills and pay data on more than 50,000 IT professionals who participated in InformationWeek salary surveys from 2000 to 2005. ... While opponents of H-1B and L-1 visas have long argued that the temporary work programs encourage employers to hire cheap foreign labor, a new study says noncitizen IT professionals earn pay that's on average 5% to 9% higher than American workers with similar education levels and IT experience. The report, 'Does High-Skill Immigration Make Everyone Better Off? United States' Visa Policies And Compensation Of Information Technology Professionals,' by two researchers at the University of Maryland, analyzed skills and pay data on more than 50,000 IT professionals who participated in InformationWeek salary surveys from 2000 to 2005. The researchers -- Sunil Mithas, an assistant professor, and Henry Lucas, chair of the department of decision, operations, and information technologies at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park -- found that foreign IT professionals, including those with H-1B visas, L-1 visas, or green cards, reported pay that ranged between 5% and 9% higher than pay received by U.S. citizens with similar attributes, including educational degrees and IT experience."
- Obama's First 100 Days -- What Historians Say
Washington Post: "We surveyed an assortment of presidential historians, who arrived at the same conclusion: President Obama, in both the scope of his legislative achievements and the groundwork he has set for future policy changes, has done more in his first 100 days in the White House than any commander in chief since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who entered office in 1933 amid the throes of the nation's last major economic upheaval. Here are selected quotations from historians and other observers."
'FAST START': "When you look at the Roosevelt administration, Roosevelt moved very quickly, too, to try to set the country back on economic footing. My sense is that Barack Obama has moved as quickly or more quickly as anybody in American history, given the crises he has confronted."
-- Ronald Walters, historian and director of the African American Leadership Center (Public Policy) at the University of Maryland
- Poll Says Most Americans Want New Policy on Cuba
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "A nationwide poll released today says that most Americans want to 'try a new approach to Cuba,' lift the ban on travel to the island and re-establish diplomatic relations with its government. Those surveyed were about evenly divided on whether the United States should continue its trade embargo of Cuba. The poll of 765 adults was conducted by Knowledge Networks, an independent polling firm in California, for The Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland (Public Policy). The results point to widespread impatience with a confrontational policy that denies Americans the right to travel to Cuba and for nearly half a century has failed for force political reforms. Public attitudes take on added importance now that the Obama administration is reviewing U.S.-Cuba policy and many in Congress are pushing to remove the travel ban. The administration on Monday lifted limits on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans to their families in Cuba. The big question is whether the president and Congress will take further steps to ease the embargo."
- Business Plans Don't Matter to Venture Capitalists
Wall Street Journal: "Small businesses seeking financing from venture-capital firms need not worry about writing up a solid business plan, since it doesn't sway funding decisions anyway, concludes a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. 'Our results are most supportive of the premise that planning documents play, at best, a minor ceremonial role and do not inform venture capitalists,' wrote researchers in next month's issue of Strategic Management Journal. 'Therefore, we conclude that planning documents do not play an important role in VC opportunity screening.' Time is better spent by entrepreneurs in any other business-building activity than spending hours refining how the plan looks on paper, says David Kirsch, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship. 'If you have an extra hour to invest, you're better off spending that marginal hour on your business, talking to customers and sharing the plan you have, rather than sitting at home copy editing the plan,' he says in a phone interview. One positive thing, though: A business plan may be useful in helping entrepreneurs organize their thoughts and details. Still, researchers found no evidence that either the content or presentation of the plan influences venture capital-funding decisions, since they're only likely to skim them to see what people are doing -- to get a sense of what entrepreneurial activity is happening, says Brent Goldfarb, co-author of the study and assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship, in a statement."
- Why Weak Funds May Bounce Higher
New York Times: "Past performance does not guarantee future results, as all mutual fund advertising cautions. In fact, when a bull market begins, you may fare best with funds that performed miserably in the bear market just before it. Consider the 100 domestic equity funds that performed the worst during 2002, the last year of a bear market. Their average loss that year was 53.3 percent, according to Morningstar -- more than double the 20.9 percent loss of the overall stock market, as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000. In 2003, the first year of the subsequent bull market, those funds were among the best performers. They gained an average of 60.3 percent, compared with 'just' 31.6 percent for the market as a whole. This reversal of fortunes between 2002 and 2003 could have been expected, according to Russ Wermers, a finance professor at the Smith School of Business as the University of Maryland. In an interview, he said that the funds that lost the most during market declines tended to be quite risky. Of course, this risk tends to work against them during declines -- but often bolsters their performance when the market rises. This is part of the reason that a new bull market causes fund rankings to be turned upside down."
- Bank Profits Are The The Choice America Has Made 14
Huffington Post: Peter Morici, professor of buisiness (Smith School) points out something which should be obvious: "Monday afternoon, Goldman Sachs reported much larger than expected first quarter profits, and this comes on the heels of Wells Fargo's strong earnings reported last week. No one should be surprised. The Federal Reserve has provided the banks with lots of cheap funds through its various emergency lending facilities and quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve has permitted the banks and financial houses to park vast sums of unmarketable paper on its books -- securities made nearly worthless by the misjudgment and avarice of bankers. In return, the Fed has provided these scions of finance with fresh funds, cheaply, that they may lend at healthy rates on credit cards, auto loans and even mortgages. While the Fed cuts the banks slack, the bankers are busy turning the screws on their debtors by raising credit card rates and fees, and harassing distressed borrowers with all the zeal of the Roman army sacking Palestine."
- State Addresses Teacher Shortage Trends
Capital News Service: "Maryland is prepared for the twin education trends of an aging teaching force and young teachers giving up the profession early, according to data from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. The organization held a briefing Tuesday to release a report showing that half the nation's teachers will reach retirement age in the next 10 years. Add that to the 50 percent of new teachers who change careers in five years or less and you have the makings of a teacher shortage, said commission President Tom Carroll. Maryland is a bit luckier. Teachers trained at the University of Maryland, College Park, stick with the profession more often, with retention rates closer to 70 percent, said Donna Wiseman, dean of the College of Education. And its teaching force sits about mid-range age-wise, at an average age of 44. Nearby West Virginia will see 68 percent of its teaching force retire in the next 10 years, a situation that may force the state to draw teachers away from Maryland. The poor economy could slow or stall the trend, Wiseman said, as fewer teachers retire and the stability of the teaching profession makes it a strong career choice. 'Part of the answer will be using Baby Boomers in a real creative way when they decide to retire,' Wiseman said. The commission's main recommendation, creating new options for retiring teachers, is already policy in Maryland."
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PIPA: China's Far Too Rosy Self Image
Washington Post: "For decades the rest of the world has derided Americans for being ignorant about lots of things. Not least on that list has been our ignorance of how we affect the world. We think the world loves us, our critics say, but it doesn't. But now, the United States seems to have found a rival in the race to be the most insensitive country on earth. China! A new poll by researchers at the University of Maryland (Program on International Policy Attitudes, Public Policy) and Globescan sums it up in the starkest terms. A whopping 92 percent of Chinese surveyed believe that China has a mainly positive influence on the world; whereas a mere 39 percent of people polled in 20 other major countries agree. This is the largest perception gap among the countries' polled. (And it's getting worse. Views about China have declined markedly over the last year.) Indeed, the survey makes us Americans look downright switched-on. According to the poll, some 60 percent of Americans surveyed thought the United States exerts a positive influence on the world; whereas 43 percent of people polled in the same 20 other major countries think it's mostly negative. A tiny gap when compared to China's. (Also China now ranks below the average the US in terms of positive influence for the first time since the poll was initiated five years ago.)"
- For Most, a Furlough Is No Day at the Beach
Chronicle of Higher Education: "A furlough is a cross between a vacation and getting fired. You have the day off, sure, but you aren't getting paid -- which tends to take the fun out of it. In these lousy economic times, a handful of colleges have already instituted furloughs and more are considering them. For furloughed employees, a smaller paycheck is the primary concern. But there's also the question of how to spend all that supposedly 'free' time. Some take furloughs more seriously than others. Daniel Childers, a professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, had to postpone an interview with The Chronicle because it would have fallen on a furlough day. Giving an interview, he thought, might be considered university business. ... C.D. Mote Jr., is taking six furlough days, but he doesn't know when they are. Nor does he care. Mr. Mote, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, had his assistant pick six days on the calendar, but he's treating those days like any other day. The exact dates are nothing but a formality. While university employees are not supposed to work on furlough days, Mr. Mote says, 'I don't interpret it that way for people like myself.' He often doesn't take his vacation days, because he lacks 'the time and the interest.' For a workaholic president of a big university, there's no such thing as downtime anyway. As he puts it: 'When you're off, you're on.' "
- Archiving Writers' Work in the Age of E-Mail
Chronicle of Higher Education: "Personal computers and external storage devices have been around for more than a quarter-century, but only now, as the famous literary figures of the 20th century begin to pass away, are these technologies showing up on archivists' doorsteps. According to [Harvard University's Houghton Library's Leslie Morris, the [John] Updike papers will be the first in the Houghton catalog to have a 'significant magnetic-media component,' and she realizes that old floppy disks are just the tip of the iceberg. The great American novelists of the digital era -- the ones who own BlackBerrys, use Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter, and compose only on computer screens -- will soon begin shipping their hard drives off to university libraries. What happens then is something much on the minds of Matthew Kirschenbaum and Douglas Reside. Both Mr. Kirschenbaum, associate director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland, and Mr. Reside, an assistant director at the institute, possess the collection of skills that may eventually be required of all 21st-century curators. In addition to holding doctorates in English, they are computer experts. The institute, located in an austere warren of offices in the basement of the university's McKeldin Library, houses a mix of sleek new machines and clunky old ones. An easy office-chair roll away from his newest computer sits Mr. Kirschenbaum's oldest one: a small, gray box known as the Apple II. Mr. Reside's office contains similar artifacts, including a Commodore 64 gaming console. Amid the institute's state-of-the-art machines, these ridiculous-looking antiques are stark reminders of how rapidly computer technology has evolved, producing one of the major challenges of preservation in the digital age: compatibility."
- Providing a Role to Model
Washington Post: UM Mentoring Program Has Reduced Bad Behavior, Improved Attitudes at Greenbelt Elementary ... "Nick Covington, 11, sat down with his mentor in a little library room at Greenbelt Elementary School. The conversation was soft, with long pauses and unexpected turns. 'What else is going on?' said Solomon Comissiong, Nick's mentor, a University of Maryland employee. 'How is your baby brother?' 'He's starting to grow,' said Nick, a sixth-grader. He rubbed his face. Then, apropos of nothing: 'If I can do something, I would like to spend a day with a scientist. Or a water biologist. And spend a day in the water.' Those expecting a mentor relationship in the Hollywood style, with breakdown, tears and catharsis, might be disappointed. Yet the results of these patient talks have been dramatic in this school of 630 students in Prince George's County: Principal Kimberly Seidel estimates the rate of disciplinary referrals and suspensions has been cut in half since the mentoring partnership with the University of Maryland began last year. ... Greenbelt Elementary reported 67 suspensions last school year, mostly for threats and fighting, according to state figures. Many were of repeat offenders -- "frequent fliers" to the principal's office, Seidel said. In meetings with parents and students, school officials found that "a lot of them were expressing the need for a role model," said Jacob Novick, the school's parent liaison. ... As it happened, staff and students at UM's Nyumburu Cultural Center in nearby College Park were also looking to get involved. The center's director, Ronald Zeigler, took on Max Onuoha, 10, who recalled getting sent to the principal's office more than 10 times last year. Max, a fifth-grader, has kept his mischievous grin and a desire to become a boxer but said he has changed in other ways. 'Last year, I was actually one of those people in the low-grade-level group. . . . I never turned in my work, and I was really disrespectful,' Max said. 'Now I'm in the group with all the smart people. . . . I don't get so mad and easily start fights. Now I don't fight unnecessarily.'"
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Information provided by the Office of University Communications
