 |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
| |
||||||||||||||
|
Maryland Moments, October, 2009 UM, Community Shanghai Daily: "The Chinese government will reinforce support for innovation in strategic industries and push technology to be commercialized as core efforts to sustain development in the world's third largest economy, the Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai was told yesterday. Wan Gang, China's Minister of Science and Technology, said innovation in industries including new energy, biotechnology, information technology, new materials and advanced manufacturing had become cutting edge in powering current economic development. ... The two-day forum, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai municipal government, is the highest level international forum on innovation in China. This year's theme is 'Economic Globalization and Innovation.' ... Dan Mote, president of the University of Maryland in the United States, said innovation was the only answer to addressing the world's major problems, including climate change, the economy, poverty, education and food safety. 'A world-level cooperation in innovation should be encouraged because no single country can solve these problems alone,' Mote told the forum. 'Also, people should pay more attention to the culture of innovation.' He said such a culture should have strong leadership committed to innovation, minimal hierarchy in decision making, commitment to implementation, and support for disparate talents and their unconventional ideas." Baltimore Sun: "State economic development officials joined with leaders from the University of Maryland and China to open a new incubator and research park Friday near the College Park campus. The University of Maryland-China Research Park, the first Chinese-sponsored research park in the United States, aims to forge stronger ties between the campus, state business development leaders and companies in China that seek expansion in the U.S. C.D. Mote Jr., president of the University of Maryland, said Chinese officials had considered locating the park in other technology hubs in the United States, such as Southern California, North Carolina and Boston. But after many discussions, he convinced them that the University of Maryland -- with its proximity to Washington and the Chinese Embassy and research facilities -- is an ideal location. 'Doing something like this for the first time is always a challenge,' Mote said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. Seven companies will initially operate at the incubator, which occupies 7,500 square feet in an office building near the campus. The goal is to accommodate 20 or more ventures in coming years." Capital News Service: "Fall foliage may be burning red, orange and yellow these days, but the University of Maryland, College Park is turning green. UM's 2008 Strategic Plan laid a course for the university to become a national green campus model and carbon neutral by 2050. The plan set a benchmark goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on campus 15 percent from 2005 levels by 2015. There's evidence that its efforts are paying off. The university has reduced its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 4.2 percent between 2005 and 2008, to 307,681 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to a survey for the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card. That figure is equivalent to roughly 7.3 metric tons emitted per full-time student in 2008, down from 7.8 metric tons three years ago, the survey showed. ... University President C.D. Mote Jr. announced the University Senate's approval of the 73-page Climate Action Plan to the campus via e-mail Oct. 1. To ensure the climate plan's implementation, a University Sustainability Council of students, faculty, and staff was created 'to advise the Office of the President and the campus community,' Mote said in the e-mail." Inside Higher Ed: "Undergraduates here announced on Friday the findings of their year-long study to uncover the University of Maryland�s slavery ties, discovering no evidence that slaves built or worked at the institution, even though many of its founders were themselves slaveholders. Students from a two-semester history research course led by Ira Berlin, a prominent slavery scholar, presented the culmination of hours of library and archival research Friday, a 30-page report 'Knowing Our History: African American Slavery and the University of Maryland.' Graduate students at Yale University, a faculty-student group at Brown University and researchers and archivists at several other colleges and universities have, in the last decade or so, begun scouring institutional records for long-forgotten details of ties to slavery. ... Though there had been 'no effort by the university' to stifle a project of this sort at Maryland, said C.D. Mote, Jr., the university's president, it was not until this recent spate of studies, and Maryland's 150th anniversary celebration in 2006, that administrators began to seriously consider a study. Mote asked Berlin to lead undergraduates in their examination of the institution's slavery past and, after some initial reluctance, the historian agreed. It was at once an opportunity to probe the university's earliest history and give the 18 students in the class a chance to conduct original, primary source research. 'The possibility of using this larger concern about our university's origins' was, Berlin said Friday, 'in some ways ... irresistible.' ... After summarizing their findings at Friday's event, the students presented Mote with a list of recommendations for the university's next steps on slavery. The university, they said, should 'issue a statement of regret' for its ties to slavery and segregation practices that continued there well into the 20th century." Washington Post: "At 9, Madieu Williams immigrated to Prince George's County from Sierra Leone, one of the poorest nations on Earth. The move gave his family a sense of perspective. His mother told him over and over that if he ever found himself in a position to make a difference, he should do it. At 28, Williams finds himself in a relatively prosperous position: He plays free safety for the Minnesota Vikings. And Wednesday, he made a difference. In a morning news conference, the University of Maryland announced the creation of the Madieu Williams Center for Global Health Initiatives. The former UM star is providing a $2 million endowment. It is the largest gift to the flagship school from an African American alumnus and the largest sum donated by someone so young." Washington Post: "As a child growing up in Sierra Leone, Trevor Young had a life was circumscrbed by an occasional three or four hours of electricity. That was on the good days, when his family could spring for fuel to run the generator outside their home. These days, the situation in Sierra Leone is even more dire; what infrastructure there was has crumbled under 11 years of brutal war. 'Imagine a city full of cars with no electricity for traffic lights,' Young says. 'And no streetlights.' In many rural areas, there is no electricity to run an overhead light or plug in a radio, let alone charge a computer or power a plant. But Young intends to change all that. The 33-year-old senior at the University of Maryland in College Park has a plan to light up the developing world -- one rural village at a time. A pipe dream? Not according to the university, which gave him $5,000 in seed money and two of its top prizes, totaling $25,000, in its annual business plan competition." Baltimore Sun: "Forget the poor economy: Yesterday was a day for start-up dreaming at the University of Maryland. More than 500 people turned up for the university's ninth annual technology start-up boot camp. It was a full day of speakers and sessions dedicated to helping the university grow as a regional powerhouse for innovation and business incubation. The audience was dotted with graduate and undergraduate students, venture capitalists and local entrepreneurs. and faculty members, some of whom are involved in their own start-up businesses. When asked at the beginning of the day how many were interested in starting up their own companies, about half the audience members raised their hands. One of the sessions featured Michael Chasen, founder and chief executive officer of Washington-based Blackboard Inc., a public company that sells software to education institutions. ... One of the students was Gregory Waldstreicher, 20, a junior accounting major from Stamford, Conn., who's looking to take his startup -- Refill Manager LLC -- to the next level. He and a high school buddy started the company to give physicians a cheaper alternative for connecting their offices to pharmacies, so they can quickly fill prescriptions for patients." Washington Post: "Khawar Malik had written just one 10-page paper in four years at DuVal High School in Lanham, and his teacher had given him an entire year to finish it. High school left him unprepared for college. So, Malik, 19, entered the University of Maryland through its Academic Achievement Programs division. He spent six summer weeks in the academic equivalent of boot camp, learning all the reading, writing, math and study skills he would need to keep pace with other freshmen. By the end of the sixth week, he had written another 10-page paper and several shorter ones. Today, he is an English major. 'If I didn't have this program, I wouldn't be here right now,' said Malik, a sophomore who has a 4.0 grade-point average. The federal Student Support Services program, launched during the Nixon administration, is part of a larger effort to help disadvantaged students overcome academic and cultural barriers to success in higher education. The program is part of TRIO, a group of national initiatives that have proven their ability to raise the odds that a disadvantaged student will stay in college, get good grades and graduate. Yet supporters say the programs have languished through years of fiscal neglect." New York Times: "The University of Maryland, College Park and Rio Salado College in Tempe, Ariz., are expected to earn bragging rights for their green ambitions -- at least according to organizers of the 'America's Greenest Campus' contest, which pitted colleges and universities against one another to reduce their carbon footprints. The contest, which was funded by grants from the Department of Energy and various foundations, will award the two schools $5,000 each, to be put towards green initiatives on campus. In total, more than 460 schools and 20,000 people participated in the contest, which began in April and was created as a partnership between Smart Power, a nonprofit clean-energy marketing company, and Climate Culture, a clean-energy social networking site (think Facebook meets the Jenny Craig of carbon)." Chronicle of Higher Education: UM ranks No. 5 among all U.S. univeristies in graduating black Ph.D. students. Howard No. 1 (472), Nova Southeastern No. 2 (452), University of Michigan No. 3 (339), Walden University No. 4 (284), Maryland No. 5 (286). UM ranks No. 16 in producing Asian Ph.D. students (140). Maryland Daily Record: "The newspaper Financial Times named Executive MBA programs at two universities in Maryland among the best such programs in the world. The EMBA program at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business placed No. 50 among the top 95 programs in the world. The EMBA program at Loyola University Maryland's Sellinger School of Business and Management was ranked No. 89. The rankings were compiled from two questionnaires -- one that focuses on business school and program information, the other that focuses on alumni achievement three years after graduation for the EMBA class of 2006." As part of its one-year anniversary celebration of the official launch of the Tree Campus USA program, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota will plant trees on five college campuses across the United States this fall. The first tree-planting event will be held at the University of Maryland on Sunday, Oct. 11. In the fall of 2008, the Arbor Day Foundation started the Tree Campus USA program to recognize colleges and universities that practice sound campus forestry. The aim of the program is to honor college campuses and the leaders of their surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Since its inception, Tree Campus USA has been supported by a total of $1.3 million in grants from Toyota. During the initial year of Tree Campus USA, the Arbor Day Foundation honored 29 colleges and universities that met the program's standards. In Hiring, Uncle Sam Could Use Better HR -- and PR Washington Post: "The 40 people who met behind closed doors in the Ronald Reagan Building on Wednesday weren't in a position to make any decisions about fixing the federal government's recruitment and hiring process, but their discussion could have a lasting impact on federal policy. The Harvard Kennedy School, along with the University of Maryland and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), organized the six-hour meeting of administration officials, members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers, employee organization heads, private sector leaders, good government types and academics." Business Journals: "The faculty at University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business had been kicking around plans to establish a financial policy center for a couple of years. Then the economy pushed its hand. In September 2008 the federal government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a move to rescue the struggling lending agencies. Then Wall Street began its long slide. Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11. The Federal Reserve moved quickly to prop up flagging American Insurance Group with an emergency $85 billion government loan. Monetary officials Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson struggled to get ahead of the cascading events and craft a solution. Much of the nation realized the financial system was so confusing that even those steeped in the industry could not explain it. The Smith faculty realized it was time to dust off its plans, and this fall the Center for Financial Policy opened its doors." Business Journals: "The Universities at Shady Grove have announced three new degree programs offered by partner schools. The University of Maryland, College Park will offer a bachelor's of science degree in public health science and a master's of science degree in elementary and middle school science. The public health science program was designed specifically for Universities at Shady Grove and is the first of its kind in the state. USG is also adding a bachelor's of science degree in early childhood education designed by Towson University. The program will allow professionals to work in Montgomery County Public Schools while pursuing their undergraduate degrees." Maryland Daily Record: "The University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center (National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education) and the Maryland Department of Agriculture cooperated to make a berth for local seafood on the Internet, at the university's virtual farmer's market, www.foodtrader.org. The Web site now accepts listings of local fish, crabs, oysters and similar products. This makes fresh seafood direct from watermen and aqua-farmers as easy as picking up the phone and placing an order. A free service to buyers and sellers, Foodtrader.org provides instantaneous listings of fresh foods available only from Maryland food producers, connecting consumers directly with local farmers and now the fishing industry." Web Wire: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded more than $11 million through the National Integrated Water Quality Program (NIWQP) to address critical water resource issues including water quality protection and water conservation. ... University of Maryland, College Park, Md., $600,000, Mid-Atlantic Water Program." Genome Web: "Tomatoes, corn, insect resistance in poplar trees, and switchgrass durability through climate change are just some of the focus areas of the $101.6 million that the National Science Foundation has granted this week for plant genome sequencing projects. Ranging broadly from $500,000 to $10.4 million, the 32 new NSF Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) grants will support projects using sequencing and functional genomics to study gene function and interactions between genomes and the environment in a number of important crop plants, including cotton, corn, rice, soybean, tomato, and wheat. ... These grants will be spread among 53 institutions in 30 states and include funding for international groups from Africa, Asia, Europe, and in the Americas. First time winners of the PGRP awards include: Bowie State University; Brigham Young University; Central Michigan University; College of Wooster; Hamline University; Miami University; Montclair State University; New College of Florida; HudsonAlpha Institute; University of Buffalo; and the University of Maryland, College Park." Gazette Newspapers: "When greeting students and staff at Paint Branch Elementary School in College Park, it might work just as well to say 'ni hao' -- the Mandarin Chinese equivalent of 'hello' -- as it would to say hello in English. The school's yearlong 'One World, One Dream' program incorporates Chinese culture into virtually every aspect of the school's curriculum. It officially kicked off Oct. 15 with a visit from China's Hubei University Lion Dance and Martial Arts Troupe, which entertained students inside the school's gymnasium. 'The kids were literally amazed,' said Principal Jay Teston. 'It definitely has piqued their interest.' The program is run in accordance with the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Confucius Institute, a Beijing-based nonprofit organization that promotes Chinese education at universities throughout the world. The students at Paint Branch began learning about China last year and many said they cannot wait to learn more."s Swine Flu ABC News: "As Americans prepare for the height of flu season, health experts keep saying 'Wash your hands, wash your hands.' That's great advice, but we wanted more information. What should we wash with? Is antibacterial soap better than regular soap? And do hand sanitizers really work? 'Good Morning America' put them all to the test. We went to the University of Maryland, a world leader in food safety and microbiology, and did a small, informal test in which we basically washed our hands until they were raw. Caution: Not all soaps and sanitizers are created equal. 'Good Morning America' enlisted Jianghong Meng and his intrepid University of Maryland graduate students to do the experiment with us."
Washington Examiner: "[G]et the vaccine when it becomes available, said the University of Maryland's Steven Salzberg. 'The issue that just hasn't sunk in is that the vaccine is our best defense and it is perfectly safe, and some people just don't seem to believe that,' said Salzberg, director of the university's Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. 'It can't hurt to say that again and again.' While doses of the vaccine trickle in, the non-immune can take solace in the fact that the virus likely won't grow heartier or more vicious in coming months. 'Normally, infectious viruses get gradually less virulent or just stay the same,' Salzberg said. 'It always needs to be a concern, but there's no particular reason why this strain would be different.' "
Washington Examiner: "Vaccination seasons in the coming years likely will feel far less chaotic as the swine flu replaces the seasonal flu as the illness to reckon with. 'Over the course of the next year or two, H1N1 will likely supplant the seasonal flu,' said Steven Salzberg, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. He added that a similar virus 'replacement' happened after the 1967-68 flu pandemic. When a new virus comes along, he said, old flu strains tend to die off. 'In a pretty short time, we'll be back to vaccinating only once,' Salzberg said. At that point, states and counties will be back to mundane dispersal of ample vaccinations, as opposed to the endless lines and daily shortages characterizing this flu season. The current seasonal flu vaccination fends off three strains with a common ancestor in the 1918 flu pandemic that lasted two years and killed more than 50 million people worldwide. 'The new H1N1 has been in pigs till this year, while the other strains have been in humans,' Salzberg said." People Science: "Does the United States need another high-powered panel recommending ways to improve how students learn science and math? The President's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) thinks the answer is yes. Late last week, the presidentially appointed body heard from two expert panels and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about what governments, academic institutions, and the private sector are doing to raise the quality of teachers, improve the curriculum, and close the achievement gap between rich and poor students. Council members pressed witnesses to explain the theory behind their efforts and provide evidence to back up any reported successes. They also solicited advice on how PCAST might make a unique contribution to the raft of existing reports and analyses. PCAST would like to get a report to the president within 6 months, says Eric Lander, head of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who will be leading the effort along with Jim Gates, a physics professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. 'We have a lot of issues on our plate, but this one is too important to ignore,' Lander said after the 2-day meeting, which ended on Friday." PR Log: "The Deafness Research UK Pauline Ashley Prize 2010 has been awarded to Nick Leach,PhD student at the University of Oxford, for his highly commended and ongoing research into how the hearing brain adapts to different sounds. The prize was established in memory of the charity's founder, Lady Pauline Ashley, and aims to encourage the most promising young scientists to start or continue research into hearing and deafness. Awarded annually to an exceptional young scientist near the beginning of their career in hearing research, the prize enables them to gain valuable research experience in a leading research centre overseas, so that knowledge gained will be brought back to the UK to the benefit of the British deafness research community. Nick will travel to Shihab Shamma's lab at the University of Maryland in the USA to conduct his research. He will be investigating whether a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine affects the brain's ability to learn and re-learn behaviour." Maryland Daily Record: "The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, and its student-run Supply Chain Management Society, named John T. 'Jock' Menzies, chairman of the Terminal Corp., a Baltimore-based warehouse, trucking and distribution company, as the 2009 'Person of the Year.' Menzies was applauded not only for his role at the head of a major mid-Atlantic logistics company but also for his leadership in philanthropic efforts. Menzies is a director and the first president of the American Logistics Aid Network, an organization formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to provide efficient distribution of humanitarian aid for disaster relief." Washington Post: "Two-thirds of Pell recipients have family incomes of $30,000 or less, according to a College Board analysis. Two-fifths are surpassing their parents by entering college, and one-tenth are single parents, according to federal statistics. Sarah Pollard, 20, raised by a single mother in Silver Spring, is the first in her family to go to college. She works part time at a Nordstrom, studies full time at Montgomery College and draws the maximum Pell grant. The aid 'enabled me to do everything that I'm doing today,' Pollard said. Dylan Winslow, 24, transferred to the University of Maryland this fall from Temple University. To cover $8,000 a year in tuition and fees, he holds two part-time jobs, earning $8.50 an hour as a lab assistant in the geography department and $25 an hour as a bouncer at a bar in College Park. He also has a student loan and the maximum Pell grant. 'Any extra dollar will help,' Winslow said. Under the House bill, the grants would rise with the consumer price index, plus 1 percentage point, starting in 2011. The estimated maximum award in 2019 would be $6,900." Brisbane Times, Australia: "Ashley Wells, 26, is also a recent recruit, although she says the military has always been part of her life plan after she finishes her physical sciences degree at the University of Maryland in May. She has applied to be an intelligence analyst, but she is also planning to be part of the airborne division, which means high-level parachuting and combat training at Fort Benning in Georgia. 'My dad, my grandfather, my uncles have all been in the army: I have cousins in the marines and the air force, so it's always something that I have been around,' she said. 'I really believe in what the army stands for. I believe in standing up and defending your country and I love the opportunities. That camaraderie, training together, being with soldiers and going overseas if you have to, that's something you can't get in an ordinary job,' she said. As for deploying to Afghanistan, Ms Wells reckons she has only a moderate chance given her chosen specialty, which would probably mean being based in the United States." Business Journals: "Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Christopher E. Kubasik to serve as president and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1, 2010. ... Currently, Kubasik serves as executive vice president of Lockheed Martin's Electronic Systems business area, with 2008 sales of $11.6 billion, a portfolio of more than 1,400 programs and customers in 43 nations. Prior to his appointment to that position in 2007, he was the corporation's executive vice president and chief financial officer, responsible for financial strategies, processes and operations. Kubasik received an Executive Engineering Certificate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008 and has attended an Executive Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business. He also completed the Systems Acquisition Management Course for Flag Officers at the Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va. He received his bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Maryland in 1983."
|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
 Information provided by the Office of University CommunicationsEmail University Communications at emailum@umd.edu |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
