UMBC's GEST Center Hosts GEWEX Executive Meeting
The Global Water and Energy Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) held its annual Executive Level meeting at UMBC on July 21-22. GEWEX is the principal component of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) concerned with hydrometeorological aspects of the global climate system.

In 2003, the UMBC Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology (GEST) Center was awarded a 3-year grant by NASA to host the International GEWEX Project Office (IGPO). The IGPO is responsible for planning and coordinating all international aspects of GEWEX research involving global observing systems (satellites and ground-based systems); theoretical and experimental physical process studies; land/atmosphere/ocean coupled modeling; and data assimilation and prediction. For further information about GEWEX, contact either Robert Schiffer or Rick Lawford at the GEST Center.

Alumna Lana Khvalina Named America East Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Lana Khvalina '04 was selected as the 2003-04 America East Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Khvalina, who was a member of UMBC's women's tennis team, was chosen from the 22 scholar-athletes in each of the America East conference's sports by a committee of athletics administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives at America East institutions.

Khvalina completed her bachelor's degree in political science in three years with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She was recently selected one of 174 student-athletes from the more than 360,000 student-athletes at NCAA Division I, II and III institutions to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She will apply that scholarship toward her first year at the College of William and Mary Law School.

On the tennis court, she finished her singles career with a record of 62-20. The first two-time First Team Academic All-American in UMBC history, Khvalina twice earned all-conference honors and competed on teams that went to the NCAA Championships in 2002 and 2003.