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Maryland Moments, March 2010 UM, Community Washington Post: "The legislation would save the federal government about $61 billion over 10 years, with more than half of the savings channeled into Pell Grants for needy students. More than 8 million students depend on those scholarships, a cornerstone of financial aid. For that reason, many higher education leaders support the overhaul. Key to the savings is a speedy transition. By July 1, universities that participate in federal lending must have their financial aid systems wired into the Education Department's direct lending program. In recent years, more than half of postsecondary schools opted for the private lenders over the government's 17-year-old program. But the landscape for a market that accounts for about $95 billion a year in loans is rapidly shifting. As of March 18, federal data show, 2,462 schools, or nearly 48 percent of the nationwide total, were "direct loan ready." About 2,094, or 40 percent, were in transition or had taken steps to prepare for it. About 600 had taken no steps toward a transition or were inactive. Among Washington area schools moving toward a switch, officials said, are the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia." Baltimore Sun: "The federal student loan program has gone through many changes in its 45-year history, and now it's time for the next big step: cutting out the middleman. That's what the Obama administration proposes to do starting in July. Students now get federal loans through a private lender or directly from the government. Obama wants all federal loans to come straight from Uncle Sam, which would create a net savings of $62 billion through 2020, according to figures last week from the Congressional Budget Office. That's money that could go back into financial aid. ... Not all financial aid officials are on board with the administration's proposal. 'They are moving too quickly,' says Sarah Bauder, director of financial aid at the University of Maryland, College Park. The school is sticking with private lenders for student loans, but it will test direct lending by getting its federal loans for the parents of students from the government later this year, Bauder says. But Bauder doubts the government will offer the same high level service of private lenders that work with individual students on debt management. And she doesn't buy the argument that direct lending will save money. 'The taxpayer will pay more in the long run because the Department of Education has to grow,' says Bauder. Direct lending, like health care reform, will take away competition, choice and innovation, she says." Computerworld: "For the second year in a row, computer science enrollments in the U.S. have increased, according to an annual study of enrollment trends, giving hope that the degree program is seeing a revival that's here to stay. The decline in technology-related enrollments that began with the dot-com bust has been worrisome to business and government leaders. President Obama, in particular, has pushed for programs to train more secondary school teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He has gone so far as to urge students to eschew finance degrees in favor of technology areas. The total number of undergraduate majors in computer science increased 5.5% in 2008-2009, the second consecutive year that the number of computer science majors has increased, according to the annual Taulbee Survey by the Computing Research Association. Over a two-year period, the number of such students increased to 14%. The survey looks only at a subset of computer science enrollments -- those students attending Ph.D.-granting institutions -- but it's typically the first data to identify enrollment trends in advance of government data. The figures represent a total of 32,706 computer science majors enrolled at these institutions, the survey said. But the multiyear decline in enrollments has reduced the number of graduates and competition for jobs. 'Employers cannot find enough people who are graduating to hire,' said Jeff Hollingsworth, a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland who also heads the undergraduate program. This past month, the university held a job fair specifically for computer science graduates in response to employer demand, he said. 'The demand exceeds the production,' he added. At Maryland, there were 141 first-year computer science enrollments in the 2008-2009 academic year. For the 2009-2010 academic year, it had 210 first-year students. Hollingsworth blamed some of the earlier enrollment decline on fears of offshoring, but he said most tech companies want their most interesting development work done in the U.S. 'There are some concerns about offshoring, but I think the concerns were much greater than reality,' he said." WBAL-TV: "More Maryland students are expected to head off to college over the next 10 years, but not nearly as many as the Board of Regents would like to see. For many students, college is still one of the best tickets for a job in the real world, but a shaky economy has forced the University System of Maryland, which oversees 13 campuses, to become moderate when it comes to predicting enrollment over the next decade. 'We have a very heavy demand. Students want to go to college, but at the same time, we are in one of the most resourced, constrained environments we've been in in two decades. It is going to be very challenging,' said USM spokesman Ben Passmore. Researchers predict the current enrollment of 148,676 will rise to at least 176,482 by the year 2019. Some members of the Board of Regents said there's a reason why they're being so conservative. 'We know that Maryland citizens need education. We know for their job future and for the state's competiveness, we've got to be there for these people, but on the other hand, there are fiscal constraints. The state can only do so much,' said Regents member Dr. Patricia Florestano." Associated Press: "A University of Maryland dean says state budget cuts are expected to affect a key program that works to keep pollutants from entering the Chesapeake Bay. Dr. Cheng-i Wei, the dean and director of the university's Agricultural Experiment Station and the University of Maryland Extension Service, sent a memo recently warning of cutbacks expected in the university's nutrient management program. The dean says the extent of the cuts is not known, but he expects them to lead to major changes. The program focuses on cutting Bay pollution from fertilizer, manure and other so-called nutrients through education and other services to farmers and agriculture professionals. The effort is funded by the state Department of Agriculture." Business Gazette: "Since going Lean several months ago, OmniPrint has boosted productivity 25 percent and slashed costs more than 15 percent. The Lanham company, which prints all of the inserts for Pepco's customer bills, is a 'student' of the University of Maryland's Manufacturing Assistance Program, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute in the A. James Clark School of Engineering in College Park. The fee-based program trains manufacturers and occasionally other companies in the practice of Lean, a systematic process that emphasizes eliminating nonvalue-added activities to improve productivity, quality and delivery, according to the university. ... The Manufacturing Assistance Program works to help Maryland companies become more profitable and more competitive through adopting the Lean method, said David Rizzardo, the program's Lean services manager." Urbanite Baltimore Q&A: "Three years ago, Ted Howard got a call from the Cleveland Foundation, a community foundation that pools the city's philanthropic resources and gives out grants for local projects. Like Baltimore, Cleveland had fallen a long way since its mid-century glory days. For the last several years, the Great Lakes burg has been dueling with Detroit and Buffalo for the title of poorest big city in America. The folks at the Cleveland Foundation had been following Howard's work at the Democracy Collaborative, a research and policy center at the University of Maryland, College Park, that fosters what Howard calls 'wealth-building opportunities' for the poor. And they wanted his help. Urban economic redevelopment strategies have generally used either corporate tax breaks or job training programs to lure industry, Howard says. Neither has been particularly effective long-term. 'There's a growing sense that the approaches we've been using have hit a dead end,' he says. 'We've got to get outside of this box we're in and [move] toward a new strategy.' Today, Howard splits his time between his office in College Park and Cleveland, where the foundation has named him a senior fellow for social justice. He and his team have set out to create jobs by tapping in to the vaunted knowledge economy inside once-prosperous cities -- institutions such as universities and hospitals that are what he calls economic 'anchors.' " Fox Business, press release: "U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker and other national experts will discuss solutions to the fiscal challenges facing the country at a forum Thursday, April 1, on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland. The Fiscal Solutions Forum will be from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Orem Hall, Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. The program, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and The Concord Coalition. The panel will speak and answer questions from the audience on possible solutions to large federal deficits, funding problems in the entitlement programs and the related risks to the American economy. The panel members: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who is in his 15th term representing Maryland's Fifth Congressional District. David M. Walker, who previously headed the U.S. Government Accountability Office and is now president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He is the author of Comeback America, a recently published book on how to restore fiscal responsibility. Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition since 1999. William D. Novelli, a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He previously served as CEO of AARP, a national organization that champions the interests of older Americans. Andrew G. Biggs, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He formerly served as the principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Donald F. Kettl (moderator), dean of the Maryland School of Public Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author or editor of a dozen books and monographs, including 'The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail Us and How to Fix Them.' " Washington Post: Are House Republicans rooting against the Terps? "That's one possible interpretation of Wednesday's vote on a resolution 'ongratulating the 2009-2010 University of Maryland Men's Basketball Team, Greivis Vasquez, and Coach Gary Williams on an outstanding season.'The measure passed, but 132 members -- all but two of them Republicans -- voted against, unusual for such a routine symbolic bill. The controversy started Tuesday evening, when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D), who represents Prince George's County, offered the seemingly innocuous resolution, just as the Maryland men prepare to play Houston in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night. But then California Rep. John Campbell (R) got up, and he was not happy. While emphasizing that he didn't want 'o cast any aspersions on [Maryland], nor on any Terp fans or anything like that,'Campbell complained that back in October, he had offered a resolution congratulating a school in his district -- the University of California, Irvine -- for winning a men's volleyball championship, but Hoyer had 'ulled that resolution from the floor.'. . . When the measure came up for a vote, 129 of Campbell's fellow Republicans stood with him against the bill. Two Democrats -- Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.) and Nick Rahall (W. Va.) -- also voted no, and six more voted present, for reasons that aren't clear. Perhaps they're Duke fans." BusinessWeek: No one makes more money from the annual NCAA tournament than big-time college basketball coaches. Are they worth their astronomical paychecks? ... "Before 1979 -- the momentous year in which Larry Bird and Magic Johnson faced off in the NCAA finals, ESPN was born, and the Big East Conference was formed -- college basketball was small-time. 'Coaches would get a one-page "letter of appointment" saying, "Here's your salary, you're here for this year, good luck," ' recalls Robert Ades, a lawyer who represents top coaches, including Syracuse University's Jim Boeheim and University of Maryland's Gary Williams. 'But after 1979, you had 10-page appointment agreements, 20-page endorsement agreements, and 10-page media agreements.' " Newswise: "As the much anticipated April 3 release date for the Apple iPad nears, the University of Maryland and the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) Foundation have unveiled a new children's reading and library application, ICDL for iPad. ICDL for iPad brings to Apple's iPad access to the world's largest freely available collection of multi-lingual, online children's books with titles in more than 54 languages representing 64 countries. Through the ICDL for iPad app, children, parents, teachers and librarians will be able to access the International Children's Digital Library on the iPad and use the ICDL's award-winning children's search engine developed by researchers at the University of Maryland's renowned Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL). 'The ICDL has always believed in making children's books available on the web to kids everywhere, starting in 2002 via online desktops and laptops, then via the iPhone and now through the iPad. Thanks to our donors from around the world, we have been able to keep pace as technological change has moved quickly forward,' said Ben Bederson, who is technology project director for the ICDL Foundation and a faculty member and former director in the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory." Capital News Service: "While a number of professors at area universities have banned laptops from their classrooms, officials at the University System of Maryland are staying outside the fray. 'We're more focused about the budget and the legislative session right now,' said Theresa Hollander, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. Yet some students are quietly lobbying -- electronically, of course -- to keep laptops on desktops. Two days after The Washington Post ran a story about units or professors at Georgetown University, George Washington University, American University and the University of Virginia banning laptops, a teaching assistant and students in an Information 3.0 course at the University of Maryland College Park created the Facebook group, 'Students For Laptops In Classrooms.' Professors 'should not punish all students because of the few who just sit in class and play Farmville,' sophomore Gabrielle Liverpool wrote in an e-mail about her support for the Facebook site. She added students learn better with laptops, because some professors rush through their material. Typing notes allows students to keep up, she said. The pro-laptop group appears to share sentiments with a key member of the administration. Mahlon Straszheim, associate provost for academic affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, said that although the right to enforce a laptop ban is left to each department and to individual faculty members, banning laptops from the classroom would run counter to innovations the University of Maryland has made." Washington Post: "University of Maryland Professor Sandy Mack knelt on the floor of a classroom in College Park, slowly rotating clockwise as, one by one, 28 high school students surrounding him read lines from William Shakespeare's play, 'Antony and Cleopatra.' As each student took a turn reading, Mack's method of encouragement and attentiveness involved staring intently at each student and mouthing every word of the 28-line passage without a copy of the script, which each student held. When 45 Advanced Placement Literature students from Northwood High School took their field trip to the university Friday to experience a real-life college course, they expected the lecture to expand their minds and empower them with a dose of higher education. 'It kept me awake, that's for sure,' Northwood senior Sarah Morgan said after the 90-minute class. 'It seemed like [the professor] really enjoyed Shakespeare. I don't know anyone who actually enjoys Shakespeare.' 'An enthusiastic teacher could make even calculus exciting,' said Mack, an English professor who has taught college courses since 1968." Washington Post: "Believe it or not, this is not an April Fools' Day story. In honor of National Alcohol Awareness Month, which starts today, students at more than 80 colleges across the country are urging their universities to allow them to use marijuana, rather than making them opt for the legal party substance, alcohol. Students plan to distribute fliers comparing the relative harms of alcohol and pot, and carry signs and banners that read: 'This is NOT a joke... Let us make the SAFER choice!' Georgetown University students plan to protest at the law school. At the University of Maryland, students plan to hold a press conference in front of the university president's office. 'It might be April Fools' Day, but this is not a joke,' said U-Md. student Zach Brown, president of the pro-pot group, NORML Terps, in a statement. 'It's time we stop driving students to drink and let them make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana when they party.' " Washington Post: "Two Cuban student leaders will make the rounds of local universities next week as speakers, the first such exchange permitted by the U.S. government since 2002, according to a news release. Representing the Federation of University Students will be Yenaivis Fuentes Ascencio, 23, born in Guantanamo, and finishing her undergraduate medical studies in Havana; and Anibal Ramos Socarras, 30, born in Manzanillo, a third-year graduate student in surgery at the University of Granma. They will speak April 5 at American University, April 6 at the Howard University Law School, April 7 at the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, and April 8 at the University of Maryland and Bowie State." Business Gazette: "College Park officials are concerned that without their involvement, an economic study commissioned by the University of Maryland, College Park, could inaccurately report the university's financial impact on the city. The university has hired Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore-based economic consulting firm, to research the monetary effect the university has on the city. The sides have long clashed over financial issues, such as the impact of university development on the city's tax base and how much the city spends on trash clean-up and other services for students like public safety and code enforcement. City officials bristled at helping to pay for such a study, but have said the city must have input to ensure accurate results. Ann Wylie, UM's vice president of administrative affairs, said UM is gathering data, but is still negotiating a possible co-sponsored study with the city. Wylie declined to comment on the study's cost. 'If the university goes through with this [study] by itself, the results are going to be disputed,' Councilman Marcus Afzali (Dist. 4) said at a March 16 council work session. 'I'm almost positive it's going to show that the university does all these great things for the city.' The city-university dispute intensified in January when UM announced its plan to purchase the former Washington Post printing plant, which it plans to use for maintenance facilities displaced by upcoming East Campus development. City officials complained the purchase would take as much as $250,000 in annual property tax revenue from the city, before agreeing in February not to oppose the plan after UM offered a payment in lieu of taxes. As a state organization, the university does not pay property tax." Wall Street Journal: "Credit-card companies are pulling the plug on some of the specialized, rewards-loaded plastic they pitched to consumers when credit was easy and wallets were wide open. Next week, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will drop the Starbucks Duetto Visa card after it failed to attract enough customers to make the credit card financially viable for the New York bank. J.P. Morgan recently terminated credit-card deals with beauty retailer Avon Products Inc., the University of Maryland, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, and the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., also among the giants of the U.S. credit-card industry, are reducing the number of niche-appeal cards. Bank of America, of Charlotte, N.C., now has about 4,400 affinity cards, typically pitched through college alumni associations, social groups and charities, down from 5,000. ... When times were good, card issuers made it easy for Americans to fill their pockets with plastic stamped with the label or logo of retailers, colleges and professional associations. Such cards typically lure customers with rewards programs, rebates and discounts. Most cards can be used anywhere, but the rewards-related goodies are tied to the brand that is emblazoned on the plastic." Smithsonian release: "The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History presents NanoDays 2010, a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering, March 27 to April 3. The Lemelson Center is one of more than 200 science museums, research centers and universities across the country presenting hands-on activities, experiments and lectures pertaining to nanotechnology -- the study of controlling matter on an atomic and molecular scale. On Saturday, March 27, the Lemelson Center hosts Michael Fuhrer as part of the center's Innovative Lives series, which inspires young people to explore the interdisciplinary world of invention. Fuhrer, a leading expert on nanoscale electronics and associate director of the University of Maryland's NanoCenter, discusses his research in the field and the role of nanoelectronics in past, present and future innovations. NanoDays activities in Spark!Lab April 3 will be led by science educators and nanotechnology experts from the Lemelson Center, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, the University of Maryland Material Research Science and Engineering Center, the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, the Association of Science--Technology Centers the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Northern Virginia Community College and Nanotec-USA." Washington Examiner: "The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland, College Park, campus may be one of the area's area finest destinations for enjoying inexpensive, professionally presented music, dance and theater in a state-of-the-art performance venue. In the Elsie & Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall (one of six major halls and theaters in the complex), the School of Music, under the direction of Robert Gibson, has vigorously jumped into spring with a diverse student and faculty concert calendar. 'There's energy from the young people that is really like no other experience because ... they are playing this great literature and also new works for the first time,' Gibson said. 'The level of [orchestral] excitement is palpable.' Gibson also noted this energy is infectious among the community it serves. From March's end into early May, concerts range from full orchestra presenting the classics to chamber music by the university's Wind Orchestra to the pops. The Hero's Life on March 26 features the music of Richard Strauss, while the Wind Orchestra explores the worlds of Beethoven, Mozart and Alban Berg on March 27. For its final concert of the 2009-10 season on April 30, the orchestra presents Titans, taking on the works of Beethoven and Berlioz. In Evening Prayer ... Bedtime Stories presented April 18, the 50-voice University Chorale performs Solemn Vespers. 'I think the theme we are trying to convey through the music -- Evening Prayer ... Bedtime Stories makes for an interesting and entertaining program,' said Nicole Aldrich, director of the University Chorale. 'The Mozart is exquisite, the Rutter is youthful and fun, and the Vaughan Williams is hauntingly beautiful.' At the Annual Pops Concert on May 1, faculty artists Carmen Balthrop (soprano) and Rita Sloan (piano) join the university's Wind Ensemble to pay tribute to the great American songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin." San Diego Union Tribune: UM's Legacy Corps: "The program, which is starting its sixth year next month, was developed by the University of Maryland Center on Aging and AmeriCorps, a federal program that encourages community service. Fifteen areas were targeted across the country for programs giving caregivers a respite, but San Diego County's is the only one that includes a teen or young adult as part of the team, said Pam Smith, director of the county Aging and Independence Services agency. 'It's very innovative,' Smith said. 'It touches a lot of lives.' Legacy Corps has provided more than 40,000 hours of respite care to 167 seniors and their caregivers since it began. In 2007, it was one of three programs working with seniors nationwide to win an award in excellence from the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the MetLife Foundation." Honors Agence France-Presse: "US public health expert Rita Colwell on Monday won the Stockholm Water Prize for her contributions to solving water-related public health problems like cholera, the jury said. Colwell, 76, received the award for her 'numerous seminal contributions towards solving the world's water and water-related public health problems,' the jury of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said. Her work, especially on preventing the spread of cholera, 'has established the basis for environmental and infectious disease risk assessment used around the world' and 'is of the utmost global importance,' it added in a statement. The 76-year-old professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health was also honoured for being one of the first to study 'the impact of climate change on the spread of disease,' SIWI scientific director Per-Arne Malmqvist told a gathering in Stockholm where the prize was announced." Cocorioko, Sierra Leone: Madieu Williams, National Football League Super Star with the Minnesota Vikings will receive this year's Special Distinguished Award at the Annual NOSLINA Awards Gala (National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America) and celebration of Sierra Leone's 49th Independence Celebrations on Saturday May 8, at 8 PM at the Best Western Lanham Hotel, Lanham, Maryland. Madieu Williams of Sierra Leone rose to National Acclaim with his phenomenal and unmatched performance in the NFL. He has used his football prowess to help empower at-risk youth and support improvement of health care in Sierra Leone. Oak Ridge National Laboratory: "Graduate students from the University of Arkansas and the University of Maryland received first place at the 2010 Global Venture Challenge that was hosted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory March 24-26. The challenge is a competition that brings together students developing new technology in the two tracks of energy and security and venture investors with expertise in the marketplace. Douglas Hutchings, Stephen Ritterbush and Seth Shumate, a doctoral student in microelectronics and photonics, from the University of Arkansas won first place in the energy division for their energy company Silicon Solar Solutions. 'Our method replaces the expensive top layer of solar cells with a thinner large-grain polysilicon at lower temperatures, which reduces cost and is appealing to manufacturers,' said Ritterbush, an M.B.A. student. Matthew Dowling, Peter Thomas and Oluwatosin Ogunsola of the University of Maryland won first place in the security division for their company Remedium Technologies, Inc, which produces a sprayable hemostat. Dowling and Thomas, doctoral students in bioengineering, said that, unlike hemostats that treat superficial wounds, their Kytoclot technology is a portable, pressurized foam that provides needed compression and protection to wounds within the body cavity. Traditionally, intracavitary wounds have almost always required surgery to prevent hemorrhage-related deaths." Dell Press Release: "Tseai Energy Unlimited (www.tseai.com), a company started by University of Maryland Hillman Entrepreneurs Program student Trevor Young developing bioprocessing plants to bring electricity to underdeveloped countries and boost their economies, has been named a semifinalist in the Dell Social Innovation Competition and the Elevator Competition at Wake Forest University, UM officials announce today. 'We are honored to be selected as semifinalists for these prestigious competitions,' says Young. 'We plan to leverage the credibility that comes from being selected for these competitions to accelerate our business and establish our first agricultural processing plant in Sierra Leone this year.' Tseai installs small-scale agricultural processing plants that use abundant local crops, employ local farmers and make commercial products in underdeveloped communities. The company adds biomass digesters to the plants, which convert leftover agricultural waste into biogas. This biogas is then used to produce electricity." A team from the University of Maryland ranked 7th overall, and 1st among U.S. public universities, in The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. Maryland's team included senior Mitchell Katz (computer science, mathematics), and juniors Matt McCutchen (computer science, mathematics) and Henry Scher(mathematics, economics, physics), with advisor Brian Hunt, a professor in the mathematics department and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology. Individually, McCutchen was recognized as an Honorable Mention for scoring in the Top 100. Katz and Scher both scored individually in the Top 200. This is the fourth time the University of Maryland has had a team finish in the Top 10. More than 35 UM students have ranked in the Top 100. 'Our team's ranking reflects the extraordinary talent and effort of the team members, who spent 6 intense hours competing on a Saturday late in the semester,' said Hunt, the team's advisor. 'Their achievement is a testament to the quality of our undergraduate program.' A total of 4,036 students from 546 colleges and universities in Canada and the United States participated in the competition, which consists of 12 problems designed to test originality, as well as technical competence. Students have six hours to complete the problems. Ernst & Young press release: "Ernst & Young LLP today announced the three winning teams for its 2010 Your World, Your Vision campus competition. The competition invites students to develop and submit proposals for programs designed to make a difference in their communities in one of three areas -- education, entrepreneurship, or the environment -- the same areas of focus for Ernst & Young LLP's corporate responsibility efforts. The three winning teams for this competition, which attracted entries from more than 60 colleges and universities, are from the University of Calgary, the University of Illinois, and the University of Maryland, College Park. Each team will receive $10,000 from Ernst & Young LLP to implement their program." Martha Connolly, director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) Maryland Industrial Partnerships program (www.mips.umd.edu) at the University of Maryland, was given the President's Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee's fifth annual Bioscience Awards ceremony, university officials announce today. Connolly accepted the award at a ceremony held in Baltimore on March 25. "The bioscience industry has made tremendous contributions to the Maryland economy and is critical to its growth in the future," says Connolly. "I am proud to have contributed to this vibrant and vital Maryland community." Connolly has served as a leader in the Maryland bioscience industry for 25 years. She was the first biotechnology advocate hired at the state level when she joined the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development in 1997 to foster the bioscience industry in Maryland. As head of the MIPS program for almost seven years, where nearly 40 percent of the funding for technology product research is awarded to projects led by bioscience companies, Connolly has supported the development of products for successful companies such as MedImmune, CSA Medical, PharmAthene, GenVec, Innovative Biosensors, 20/20 Gene Systems, Alba Therapeutics, A&G Pharmaceuticals and Gliknik." Students Baltimore Sun: "A shoutout to the communications office of the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for one of the most imaginative press packets I've seen yet, this one drawing attention to next month's Maryland Opera Studio premiere of 'Shadowboxer,' a work about the legendary Joe Louis by composer Frank Proto and librettist John Chenault. Inside an intriguing package that came in the mail was a miniature red boxing glove (alas, not quite big enough for me to threaten annoying editors with), as well as a pack of snazzy, square-shaped, well-illustrated sheets of thick paper, each devoted to an element of the project. That got my attention, and so did a dedicated Web site that provides a sterling example of how to promote an arts product. You'll find video, music clips, photos, behind-the-scenes info, background material on Louis (audio, video, print) -- a very with-it way to entice folks into a new operatic experience. Check it out." CNN "America's 300 million-plus people are declaring their identity in the 2010 Census this year. This piece is part of a special series on CNN.com in which people describe how they see their own identity. David Paul Strohecker is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park. "We are often asked to declare our identity for documents, applications, bank loans and even social networking sites. But how much of our identity is lost when we select 'female,' 'African-American' or 'Muslim?' I think much of my own identity is lost when I fill in those boxes. I am technically a white, male, heterosexual, Christian, upper-class Ph.D. student. But I am more than meets the eye. I'm covered in tattoos and piercings, and this often leads to assumptions about my character. 'Is he a drug addict? Is he a skinhead? Does he play music for a band?' I am none of these things. The lesson I hope to teach others through my life is that it's important to see past appearances." WUSA-TV: "A small one-room house with walls made from sandbags sits in a parking lot on Calvert Road. With reinforcements, this "earthbag" structure can withstand an earthquake or hurricane. A group of University of Maryland students built the mini-model in two days last weekend. And this Saturday, 25 of the college students will visit Haiti to teach others how to make the earthbag house during spring break, March 13 - 20, 2010. Desta Anyiwo is one of the students going over to Haiti for the first time. 'Doing this really makes me feel good,' says Anyiwo, the senior mechanical engineering major. The trip comes nearly two months after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the capital, Port-Au-Prince. '[After learning about earthbag structures,] I realized it is something that can really revolutionize developing countries where you have a lot of people who live in habitation that's not even fit for animals,' says Anyiwo. Paul Pumphrey is also going on the trip. He says he has visited Haiti numerous times with the nonprofit, Brothers and Sisters International." Maryland Morning, Public Radio: "It's been two-and-a-half months since an earthquake devastated Haiti, long enough that the big picture is starting to emerge. A new report criticizes the United Nations' leadership. One issue is whether local aid groups should be more involved, rather than large international groups. And after years of urbanization, people are leaving Port au Prince and taking refuge in the countryside. We talk to two Marylanders who recently returned from Haiti. Kevin Streete is a student in the University of Maryland's Executive M.B.A. program, and he's a medical doctor. Dr. Streete went to Haiti with Horizon International Medical Mission. Stephanie Lansing is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's Department of Environmental Science and Technology (Agriculture and Natural Resources). Dr. Lansing helped build a biodigestor for Partners in Health's Haiti campus. See Kevin's pictures and journal entries at this University of Maryland blog. You can also read more about Stephanie's project." Central Florida News 13: "A growing number of college students have traded in alcohol and sunscreen for shovels and paint rollers this Spring Break. University of Maryland freshman Ethan Goldspiel said he lent a helping hand to those in need. 'A lot of my friends are in Myrtle Beach,' Goldspiel said. 'We're all college kids, so we all party and we all do stuff, but there's kids here helping other people out instead of drinking or doing whatever, because they just clearly want to help other people out.' Goldspiel and about a dozen of his schoolmates spent their time off volunteering in Polk County with the National Relief Network. 'Everybody wants a chance to make a difference,' said volunteer coordinator Mary Skelonc. More than 250 students from six colleges spent their break working with the group in Florida and Louisiana. Tens of thousands of other college students also went on 'alternative' Spring Break trips with other nonprofit organizations. The University of Maryland group repaired ceiling and drywall in homes damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004. 'I put in my community service hours, helped a family out,' Goldspiel said. 'I feel great about it.' " Washington Post: "University of Maryland graduate student Anupama Kothari went into labor on a Friday afternoon two years ago. After a Caesarean section, she was a first-time mother, with a baby girl with huge brown eyes. But there wasn't much time to settle into motherhood, bond with her daughter or follow her doctor's orders to rest. Seven days later, Kothari was back at work on her doctorate in business and helping marketing professors with their research. Her body ached in protest. Such rapid returns from even difficult births are common at many universities, as the nation's 2.6 million graduate students often have fewer legal protections than most workers. Kothari's husband, an aerospace engineering doctoral student at UM, took even fewer days off. The couple's daughter spent most of her first three months with her grandmother, who flew in from India to care for her. ... At UM in College Park, students can request a leave of absence for one or two semesters to give birth, adopt a child or deal with family issues. If the absence is approved, the students' 'time-to-degree clock' is stopped for up to one academic year, but they lose their stipend pay and all student privileges. About two-thirds of the text in the university's policy handbook details the half-dozen potential risks in taking a leave." WJZ-TV: "It was a different kind of March Madness the night that the Terps upset Duke and campus celebrations turned ugly. Ron Matz reports police are attempting to single out student suspects on YouTube, and students are reacting. he night of those riots along Route 1, Prince George's County police made a lot of arrests, but now university police are using technology to help them track down the suspects they didn't catch. Lots of cell phone cameras were on when University of Maryland students celebrated in the streets following a March 3 basketball victory over Duke. Police riot control crews were called in, and more than two dozen arrests were made. Cell phone cameras were rolling. That video is now on the web where police are watching. 'We're not looking for people that were just there or maybe weren't moving along quickly enough. We're looking for the people who were trying to start fires or destroy property,"\' said Paul Dillon, university police spokesman." News Channel 8: "Banks have been hit hard by foreclosures and the recession, forcing them to look toward new customers as a way to build profits. If some University of Maryland students are any indication, going to the bank could be different for all of us. 'I own a Mac computer so I'm constantly on it checking my e-mail -- probably five times every hour!' admitted junior Alyssa Hammerley. University of Maryland business student Chris Corragio knows his generation would rather keep their banking virtual. 'I never go to the bank ever,' he said. 'I'm always online. I probably check it once a week -- pretty much regularly.' And because a new study shows Generation Y is the next growth market, many banks are saying they have to give them what they want. 'Because all the information we look for is online, we don't like making calls,' noted Corragio. 'I think on the Web site, they should be able to answer any question that I have.' The study by Cisco Systems shows 40 percent of Gen Y'rs are interested in talking to a financial advisor by video." Gazette Newspapers: "A 27-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, has filed to run for the congressional seat held by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Dist. 5) of Mechanicsville. Andrew Gall, a political science student who worked as an organizer for the Obama presidential campaign in 2008, filed to run for the Fifth District seat Feb. 21. He is one of two Democrats challenging Hoyer, 70, who has held the seat since 1981. Gall cited his youth as a bonus for his campaign, saying it will help him challenge older practices and advocate for the younger generation. 'I'm sick and tired of what's going on in Washington,' said Gall, citing the Iraq War, federal spying through telecommunications companies and the influence of special interest groups in Congress. 'I know I'm not alone in my frustration.' " Alumni Wall Street Journal: "Behind Google Inc.'s dramatic decision to shutter its China-based search engine this week was co-founder Sergey Brin's change of heart about the compromises required to do business in a land that was increasingly reminding him of his native Soviet Union. The beginning of that change came just after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mr. Brin says in an interview about the China decision. As the glow of the Olympics faded, he says, the Chinese government began ratcheting up its Web censoring and interfering more with Google's business. Around that time, he says, the murky rules of doing business in China grew even murkier. ... The 36-year-old co-founder says he was also moved by growing evidence in China of repressive behavior he remembered from the Soviet Union, which he and his parents fled when he was six years old. He says memories of that time -- having his home visited by Russian police; the anti-Semitic discrimination against his father -- emboldened his view that it was time to abandon Google's policy. ... Mr. Brin's doubts over Google's early agreement to censor in China hark back to his childhood in the Soviet Union, which he and his family left in 1979 to escape anti-Semitism. Mr. Brin was six, but he says he is reminded of the constant fear of surveillance through memories such as police visiting his family's apartment to question his parents after they made the decision to emigrate. To this day, Mr. Brin says, he and his family often reflect on the significance of the move. His father, he says, wanted to be an astrophysicist, but because of ethnic discrimination became a mathematician. He relished the freedom to pursue 'his own entrepreneurial dreams,' he says. His father became a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland." New York Times: "David Mills, a former journalist who explored race relations and racial tensions as an Emmy-winning television writer for dramas like 'NYPD Blue,' 'The Wire' and 'Homicide,' died on Tuesday in New Orleans on the set of a new show, 'Treme.' He was 48 and had homes in Los Angeles and Silver Spring, Md. The cause is thought to be a brain aneurysm, said David Simon, the creator of 'Treme' and a longtime friend of Mr. Mills's. The show, which is set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- the title is the name of a neighborhood, pronounced truh-MAY -- is to have its premiere on HBO on April 11. Mr. Simon said Mr. Mills was the supervising writer-producer for a scene being shot at Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter and was sitting in a director's chair when he suddenly slumped over. He was taken to Tulane Medical Center, where he died without regaining consciousness. 'He was talking to someone who turned away for a minute, and when he turned back, David was just, well, gone,' Mr. Simon said. ... David Eugene Mills was born in Washington and grew up in the northeast section of the city before a fire forced his family to move to Lanham, Md. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he met Mr. Simon while the two worked for The Diamondback, the campus daily newspaper." Baltimore Sun: "Following today's literary theme, the Los Angeles Times blog 24 Frames reports on the big box-office success of the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' movie, inspired by the book series by University of Maryland grad Jeff Kinney. The blogger says the movie earned $22 million at the box office last weekend, and shows that stories for preteens can turn into big-earning films -- despite several recent examples to the contrary. My kids love the graphic novels and are eager to see the movie." LA Times: "The surprise success of 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' at the box office this weekend -- it earned nearly $22 million, beating out the blazing originality of 'The Bounty Hunter' and 'Repo Men' -- shows much about the state of contemporary box office (and not just that a well-made movie can actually come out this time of year). For one thing, it demonstrates that audiences may finally be getting tired of Jennifer Aniston (we've heard that before, so fingers crossed). For another, it shows that a well-known title or brand -- the movie is based on Jeff Kinney's wildly bestselling children's graphic-novel series -- is these days increasingly likely to trump a well-known actor, as several pundits have noted. But maybe most strikingly, it proves that books aimed at pre-adolescents can be turned into successful movies." Boston Globe: "[W]hat kind of reality check is it when mom and dad are still picking up part of the tab? While many recent college graduates can't find jobs at all and have parents who are themselves unemployed, other grads, gainfully employed, continue to rely on their parents to help cover their costs, which can include the creature comforts they grew up with. Today, it's not just first month, last month, and security deposit; some well-off parents are also helping their adult children with cars, credit cards, health insurance, cellphones, airline tickets, even entertainment. ... Ben Sohl is 23 and a recent graduate of the University of Maryland. He grew up in Durham, N.H., where his parents both work at the University of New Hampshire; his mother as an academic counselor, his father as a business professor. Ben works in Tampa as a financial assistant and pays his own bills. 'We put him through college, but once he was out, he knew he was on his own,' says his mother, Chris. It's something she and her husband feel strongly about, even though Ben is an only child and they could afford to help him out. 'My parents didn't give me any money once I had a job,' says Sohl. 'I was on my own. I think that giving money to your children in a situation like that cripples them from growing up.' " Science & Technology Forbes: "If you think biotech companies shouldn't be able to patent DNA inside your body, you should read Monday's decision by federal Judge Robert Sweet to invalidate several patents on two breast cancer risk genes from Myriad Genetics. The company's patents on two breast cancer risk genes have long been among the most controversial in biotechnology. Thanks to them, the company has held a monopoly on medical testing for the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which dramatically increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The judge's logic is breathtakingly simple: You can't patent a product of nature, he says, and that is what Myriad did. It is what opponents of gene patents have been saying for years. Now the American legal system agrees. ... Meanwhile, the decision won't affect drug companies like Amgen and Pfizer seeking to develop biotech drugs; these are clearly patentable because they involve genetically engineered organisms that don't exist in nature. 'Genes evolved over millions of years by natural selection; it simply makes no sense to give anyone a patent on any naturally occurring gene,' says University of Maryland genomics researcher Steven Salzberg, a regular contributor to this blog and a strong opponent of gene patenting. 'Gene patents have done little or nothing to help research in genetics. Instead, they seem to be used to throw up barriers to anyone who wants to develop medical applications.' " Baltimore Sun: "Baltimore was still digging out from the first blizzard last month when the second one struck. A foot and a half of new snow clogged highways across the state. Scores of motorists were trapped by conditions that forced plow crews off the roads. For a time, not even wreckers or the State Highway Administration's rescue trucks could reach them. But while the travelers sat stranded, 53 disabled vehicles remained in view on dozens of highway traffic cameras, or as flashing icons on computer screens. The terminals were powered by RITIS, a computer network developed by the University of Maryland to give traffic managers and police in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia a real-time view of road conditions across state and district lines. 'The powerful thing is [the network's users] don't have to be sitting here,' said Jason Ellison, senior engineer at the UM engineering laboratory where the system was born. 'We bring together a lot of different data sources they don't necessarily have ... and we push it into our Web site.' Much of the information might soon be made available online to the public, he said. As solitary as they might feel in their cars, motorists on the region's arterials are never truly on their own. In Maryland alone, data from 300 traffic cameras, 187 speed and volume sensors, and 64 weather stations flow into RITIS (for Regional Integrated Transportation Information System). It arrives in a locked, computer-filled laboratory at UM's Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT). Updates on accidents, construction and highway incidents are fed into the system by police and highway crews through a mobile communications system called CapWIN, also developed by the College Park lab. With a few mouse clicks, state and district traffic managers can identify problems anywhere across jurisdictional boundaries, see which lanes are blocked, contact and coordinate first responders and select detours. RITIS provides better 'situational awareness' and 'enhanced coordination on a regional basis,' said Alvin Marquess, deputy director of operations at CHART, the State Highway Administration's highway incident response team. 'If something were to happen in anyone's region, we'd try to support each other with information devices -- overhead signs, travel advisory radio, media broadcasts.' " Network World: "Companies that chase the hottest information technologies gain several benefits, but better financial performance isn't one of them, according to a study published in this month's issue of the journal MIS Quarterly . Ping Wang, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park , studied a decade's worth of data about 109 Fortune 500 companies. He found that companies that got good press for investing in 'fashionable' IT 'did not have higher performance, but they had a better reputation and higher executive compensation.' " Scientific American: "Soils around the globe have increased their emissions of carbon dioxide over the past few decades, according to an analysis of 439 studies. The findings, published in the March 25 issue of Nature, match predictions that increasing temperatures will cause a net release of carbon dioxide from soils by triggering microbes to speed up their consumption of plant debris and other organic matter. Ben Bond-Lamberty and Allison Thomson, terrestrial carbon research scientists at the University of Maryland's Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, conducted the study by stitching together almost 50 years of soil-emissions data -- 1,434 data points -- from 439 studies around the world. To compare measurements, the researchers accounted for differences between the studies, such as mean annual temperatures and techniques used to gauge carbon dioxide levels. They totaled the data for each year to create a global estimate of soil respiration--the flux of carbon dioxide from the ground into the atmosphere. The researchers found that soil respiration had increased by about 0.1 percent per year between 1989 and 2008, the span when soil measurement techniques had become standardized. In 2008, the global total reached roughly 98 billion tons, about 10 times more carbon than humans are now putting into the atmosphere each year. The change within soils 'is a slow increase, but the absolute number is so large, even a small percentage increase is quite a bit,' says Bond-Lamberty." ABC News, Video: "Most Americans have used herbal drugs during the past year, even though in nearly all cases there is no clear scientific evidence that they work. Now, an international team of scientists has found a way to collect that evidence, and even determine which components of very complex compounds are doing the work, and which aren't. The effort is lead by Yuan Luo, an associate professor in the University of Maryland's department of pharmaceutical science, who grew up in China where many herbal remedies that are used today have been used for thousands of years. 'This provides the first step to find, from all of the hundreds of compounds in herbs, which ones have potential for medicinal purposes. And you can do this very quickly and efficiently,' said Laura Dosanjh, a graduate student and coauthor of a paper describing the research in the journal PLoS ONE." Supercomputing Online: "University of Maryland researchers have created a completely new way to produce high quality semiconductor materials critical for advanced microelectronics and nanotechnology. Published in the March 26 issue of Science, their research is a fundamental step forward in nanomaterials science that could lead to significant advances in computer chips, photovoltaic cells, biomarkers and other applications, according to authors and to experts not affiliated with the study. 'This is a major, major advance that shows it is possible to do something that was impossible to do before,' said Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor Francesco Stellacci, whose own work focuses on discovery of new properties in nanoscale materials and the development of new nanofabrication schemes. 'This research actually shows that it's possible at the nanoscale for two materials to happily coexist at their interface, two materials that would not coexist otherwise,' explained Stellacci, who was not involved in the study. Led by Min Ouyang, an assistant professor in the department of physics and the Maryland NanoCenter, the University of Maryland team has created a process that uses chemical thermodynamics to produce, in solution, a broad range of different combination materials, each with a shell of structurally perfect mono-crystal semiconductor around a metal core. Ouyang and fellow researchers Jiatao Zhang, Yun Tang and Kwan Lee, say their method offers a host of benefits over the existing process, known as epitaxy, used to create single crystal semiconductors and related devices. The biggest advantage of their non-epitaxial process may be that it avoids two key constraints of epitaxy -- a limit on deposition semiconductor layer thickness and a rigid requirement for 'lattice matching.' " In research published in the March 29, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Evan Grant, a research associate in the University of Maryland Department of Biology and wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative; along with William Fagan, a professor in the University of Maryland department of biology; and collaborators James Nichols, US Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; and Winsor Lowe, University of Montana; describe how two species of stream salamanders find new homes by moving both within streams and over land to adjacent streams during multiple life stages, and how this movement may help to stabilize their populations. "Scientists tend to be more focused on populations that are declining or threatened," explains Grant, "but it is also important to look at the populations that are doing well, and to understand what makes the population or species more stable. You can apply this to interpret what might be happening with populations that are declining." The Fagan lab is known for its expertise in combining math and biology to understand the spatial distribution of species to solve real-world conservation problems. They create mathematical models to understand patterns, influences and changes in spatial distribution." Scientific American: "If you ask the average person whether in the long run it is climate change or an asteroid/comet impact that's expected to kill more people annually, you'll undoubtedly get some confused replies. Those asteroid movies are scary, but there are no verified instances of an asteroid strike killing any humans, are there? Meanwhile, the science of climate change is currently being overshadowed by a media-driven public debate, mainly in the U.S. In fact, the expected annual fatality rate due to climate change is estimated to be far higher than that due to an asteroid or comet impact -- 150,000 versus 91, per the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alan Harris of the Space Science Institute, respectively. You won't, however, see that 150,000 figure in the main body of the Washington, D.C.--based National Research Council report on near-Earth object (NEO) surveys and mitigation strategies. (The report was written by a total of 42 scientists.) ... Panel member Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park, says that no single person made the decision to remove the climate figures: 'I think it was a majority opinion, but not a unanimous one.' He added: 'I don't think there was any disbelief in anthropogenic climate change, as such. I suppose there may be some doubts about our quantitative predictions of climate change, and there were certainly doubts about the quantitative predictions of deaths due to it.' The sociopolitical climate played a part in the decision, he says: 'There was definitely also the independent concern that this would become a distraction to the report.' A'Hearn actually would have preferred an even more reduced set of comparisons in the table. 'My personal hesitation did not apply solely to the climate change entry but to several other entries, as well,' for example, air pollution and possibly even tobacco deaths,' he says, 'and I espoused the general principle that we should list only discrete events with identifiable, individual deaths in order to have a fair comparison. Clearly that opinion did not carry the day.' " Physical Review Focus: "When two very cold molecules chemically react, the quantum states of their nuclei -- which are normally invisible to chemistry -- have a dramatic influence on the reaction rate, according to recent experiments. In the 19 March Physical Review Letters, theorists devise a scheme for calculating reaction rates of molecules at ultralow temperatures, where such quantum effects become important. The team calculates that the reaction rate is determined by the initial approach of the molecules at intermediate distances, rather than by the details of their final chemical reaction at close range. Experimenters need such detailed understanding if they hope to exploit ultracold molecules for fundamental studies and quantum computers. Atomic physicists have steadily improved their ability to cool atoms to temperatures where quantum effects reign, and in the past decade they have also trapped loosely bound pairs of atoms. But only in 2008 did they produce large numbers of ultracold pairs that were bound strongly enough to properly be called molecules. Each of these molecules is in its lowest possible state of vibration and rotation, and their overall motion corresponds to temperatures under a millionth of a degree above absolute zero. Bose-Einstein condensation of ultracold atoms 14 years ago spawned a continuing flurry of physics experiments and garnered a Nobel Prize, but researchers expect even richer quantum behavior from ultracold molecules. Understanding how ultracold molecules interact is critical to the experiments. To observe these interactions, an experimental team recently measured the rate at which ultracold potassium-rubidium (KRb) molecules swapped atoms in pairs to form Rb2 and K2 molecules [1]. The rate was as much as 100 times slower when the nuclear spins of all the molecules were aligned (all pointing up, for example) than when some spins were in different orientations. Paul Julienne of the Joint Quantum Institute of the University of Maryland, College Park and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was a co-author of that work and now teams up with Zbigniew Idziaszek of the University of Warsaw to formally calculate the reaction rate." Society & Culture THE MAKING OF AFRICAN AMERICA The Four Great Migrations > By Ira Berlin 304 pp. Viking. $27.95 A NY Times book review: "My parents bought their first house in 1960, six years after emigrating from Ireland. They'd grown up with a fierce sense of place -- of land, family, history -- and they were determined to recreate that sense for their children. That little house in the middle of a non--descript block on Detroit's East Side was going to be their home forever. It didn't work out that way. In the early 1970s the first African-American couple moved into the neighborhood. They were young teachers, I think, though I don't remember that anyone asked them. Immediately the 'for sale' signs began to appear, one or two at first, then more and more until the panic was complete. Within a year or so whites were selling their homes for whatever they could get, running for the suburbs as fast as they could. My parents waited awhile before joining the rush. They sold their house in 1977, their cherished sense of place swept aside by the terrible power of race. I kept thinking of them as I read Ira Berlin's majestic new history, 'The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations.' Over the course of his distinguished career teaching history at the University of Maryland, Berlin has redefined our understanding of American slavery. In this relatively thin book he goes a step further. It's time, he says, to reconceptualize the entire African-American experience from the 1600s to the present -- to set aside the long dominant 'slavery to freedom' narrative, the story of a people moving slowly but inexorably toward equality, and to put in its place what Berlin calls a 'contrapuntal narrative' of 'movement and place, fluidity and fixity, the story of a people uprooted and searching for home.' " Wall Street Journal: "It is pretty obvious that drowning your sorrows in alcohol isn't a great way to cope. Nevertheless, a lot of people do it, scholarly research shows -- especially when work interferes with the ability to take care of your family the way you want and plan to do. Workers are significantly more likely to drink alcohol if they feel work is interfering with their family life, based on a study in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology. Those whose jobs kept them from spending as much time as they wanted with their families were more likely to drink, to reduce tension, according to the study by researchers at the University of Maryland and Peking University. Alcohol use wasn't higher among workers who complained that the conflicts ran the other way -- that their family lives interfered with their jobs or careers. Although the study was based on interviews with 57 full-time Chinese workers, it echoes past findings in studies of U.S. workers." Mo Wang, assistant professor of psychology, directed the study. Arizona Republic, Q and A: "The lore of the Old West seems to hold particular sway over those who don't live in it. East Coasters visit with pink sunsets glinting in their eyes, hungry for the Grand Canyon and ghost towns. Author Christopher Corbett hails from Maine. On Friday, he's talking shop at the Festival of the West in Scottsdale, where all manner of Western lore will be bandied about, right down to a log-home show and a Western-music jamboree. Corbett, however, is an East Coaster who has done the West proud. He rides buses and takes back roads and even taught us Western newspaper folks a new vocab phrase: Telluride cowboy, which we plan to employ often. (Follow along, and he'll tell you what it means.) Corbett's first book, 'Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express,' traces the tall tales of America's favorite mail route. His latest, 'The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West,' explores the Chinese experience and influence through the legend of one child concubine, traded in a poker game. It recently was named a New York Times Editors' Choice book. Corbett, 58, now a creative-writing professor at the University of Maryland, might warrant adoption as an honorary Westerner: The man can make our wide-open spaces seem like the dreamiest on Earth." Press Trust of India: "Three out of ten Muslims in the country are below poverty line living on less than Rs 550 a month, says a survey. "The Adivasis are the most vulnerable group with nearly 50 per cent below the poverty line...(followed by) the Dalits and Muslims with poverty rates of 32 per cent and 31 per cent," said the Indian Human Development survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and University of Maryland of the US. Over one-fourth of India lives below poverty line, the survey said and pointed out they live on a monthly income of less than Rs 356 per month in rural areas and Rs 538 in urban areas. 'About 25.7 pc of the population lives below the poverty line', said the survey which is based on feedback of 41,000 households." Inc.com: "Small businesses flocked to social media in 2009, with their adoption of the technology doubling from 12 percent to 24 percent, says a new University of Maryland/Network Solutions study. The Small Business Success Index, as it's called, is the third in a series of surveys the pair have done over the past year. The social media findings are based on a December 2009 telephone survey of 500 small businesses, compared to one done in December 2008. Nearly one in five small business owners are mashing social media into the daily (and hourly) lives of their companies, with the most popular sites being Facebook and LinkedIn. Of the business owners using social media, 75 percent have company pages on the two sites, and 69 percent use status updates on the same two. Just 16 percent use Twitter." Roll Call: "A recent report by University of Maryland professors Frederick Johnson and Margaret Malone at the Center for Applied Linguistics, furthermore, points out that the federal government's need for speakers of critical foreign languages has been addressed inconsistently over the past 50 years and reaffirmed primarily during the height of diplomatic or military conflicts. The professors note that while the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks spurred a series of federal agency steps to entice more Americans into foreign language programs, these foreign language experts are now isolated and lack central coordination and accountability. In response, the One America, Many Voices Act provides much-needed leadership, standardization and consistency throughout federal agencies, thus strengthening our national security apparatus." PBS: "The migration of the blues from the fields of the Mississippi Delta to clubs on the southside of Chicago has been well-documented by historians and musicologists, but there is also a rich tradition in and around the Appalachian mountains that has received scant attention. A new album, 'Classic Appalachian Blues' by Smithsonian Folkways, helps to set the record straight. 'Evidence suggests that the blues arrived in Appalachia well after it had become entrenched in the Delta,' writes University of Maryland professor Barry Lee Pearson in the album's liner notes. 'It was brought by itinerant musicians who sought work in the mines or building roads and railroads, and who entertained themselves and other workers,' or by professionals who would play in local watering holes on payday. During the same period, records became more affordable and available in the region, providing another medium for the propagation of the genre. The Appalachian blues incorporates a more complex finger-picking style than what came out of the Delta. It blends dance hall stomps, boogie-woogie and takes from the regional spirituals that also influenced their bluegrass and country music. It's a diverse mix of sounds that reflects a confluence of black and white musical traditions." New York Times: "Going green and renewable doesn't just save money, it may save lives of U.S. soldiers, according to military leaders who argue that a push for energy efficiency and a move away from fossil-based fuels could strengthen America's military. 'Every dollar spent on gasoline is a dollar that could be better spent on armor, or artillery, or machinery,' Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said, speaking here at a conference at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. A benefit that may be less evident to civilians, according to Mabus, is that switching to renewable and more efficient fuel sources will mean undertaking fewer supply convoys to supply military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. That's important because those convoys are ripe targets for enemy attacks. ... When it comes to energy, there are also larger geopolitical considerations at stake. 'Petroleum is sold on a world market,' said Jeffrey Werling, executive director of the University of Maryland's Interindustry Forecasting Project. 'We don't import much from the Middle East. But if there's a disruption in the Middle East, Europe might do what it can to bid away oil from Nigeria or Venezuela. We're not insulated from shocks in Syria or Iran. We all buy out of the same bucket.' " Baltimore Sun: Steven Kull, director of UM's Program on International Policy Attitudes, writes and op/ed: "Polls on health care can be confusing. At last month's health care summit, Republicans repeatedly asserted that the majority is with them in their opposition to the president's health care reform plan. President Barack Obama asserted that majorities support all the major specific elements of the plan. Can they both be right? It is true that in numerous polls, a plurality or a slight majority say that they are opposed to the health care plan. But it is misleading to imply that this means that the public is aligned with the Republicans. In a recent Newsweek poll, only 21 percent approved of how the Republicans are handling health care. More important, several polls reveal that many of the people who oppose Mr. Obama's health care plan do so not because they fear it will go too far in changing the status quo but because they think it does not go far enough."
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