UMBC News

June 12, 2008

UMBC Receives Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Study Sickle Cell Disease

New Connections Initiative seeks to link the Foundation to a new cadre of scholars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 12

CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Phone: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will support University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Assistant Professor of Psychology Shawn Bediako in a study of how adults with sickle-cell disease manage workplace absenteeism and limited access to health care.

The research is intended to inform policymakers on the types of social support services needed by adults with sickle-cell disease (SCD), a debilitating genetic blood disorder that disproportionately affects minorities.

“Due to wide health care disparities among low-income minorities, adults with sickle-cell disease make up a particularly vulnerable and under-represented population,” said Bediako, who co-chairs the Maryland Statewide Steering Committee on Services for Adults with Sickle-Cell Disease.

Although Maryland has an estimated 3,400 SCD patients, the state’s only service provider for adults with SCD is the Johns Hopkins Sickle Cell Clinic for Adults. Moreover, the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene does not provide support services for SCD patients once they become adults.

By exploring data from a national 10-year longitudinal study of SCD patients compiled by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bediako will examine the employment status of adults with SCD and the rates at which they can access and use health care and mental health services. Bediako will use the data to create a computer model projecting unemployment rates among SCD patients in Maryland during the next decade.

Social work intervention by certified genetic counselors and psychological counselors is critical to treating adults with SCD, Bediako said. Job counseling and support services are also important because many SCD patients lose their jobs due to illness-related absenteeism. Unemployment rates among SCD populations can reach 70 percent, he said.

African-Americans are the largest high-risk group for SCD in Maryland. The state has the fourth largest African-American population in the U.S.

Approximately 1-in-400 African-American babies is born with some form of sickle-cell disease and approximately 1-in-10 African-Americans is a carrier for abnormal hemoglobin that could lead to some form of sickle-cell disease in their children.
The $55,000 grant Bediako received to conduct the study was awarded through RWJF's New Connections Initiative, created three years ago to expand the organization's diversity of research by supporting underrepresented scholars and research topics. Twelve such grants are awarded annually.

New Connections is a competitive award for scholars who have historically been underrepresented in research activities. For more information about The New Connections Initiative, go to www.rwjf-newconnections.org

About UMBC:

UMBC is a medium-sized public research university of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate with faculty to address real-world challenges. Located just south of Baltimore near I-95 and the BWI airport, UMBC's residential campus houses state-of-the-art facilities in the sciences, engineering, arts, social sciences and humanities. UMBC combines the energy of a research university with the close community feel and attention to individual students found in liberal arts colleges.

About RWJF

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. The Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio supports innovative ideas and projects that may trigger important breakthroughs in health and health care. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.

Posted by kavan

April 30, 2008

‘From Need to Know’ to ‘Need to Share’: UMBC to Lead Six Campus-Team to Turn 9-11 Commission Intel-Sharing Reforms into Technology System

$7.5-million, Five-Year DoD Grant Partners UMBC With Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, Others

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

A six-campus team of computer scientists led by UMBC has been awarded a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the Department of Defense to turn the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations for better sharing of classified data between U.S. intelligence agencies, military and homeland security officials into a workable, secure technology network.

The team is led by a principal investigator Tim Finin, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering (CSEE) at UMBC. It also includes UMBC professors Anupam Joshi, Yelena Yesha, Hillol Kargupta and Alan Sherman, who add expertise in advanced networks, data mining and information security.

The UMBC team is partnered with researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Texas at San Antonio, and University of Texas at Dallas. The grant was awarded as part of the Department of Defense’s Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, which takes a more long-term, interdisciplinary approach to solving scientific problems.

Many pieces of the 9-11 plot puzzle weren’t recognized until after the attacks due to inability or reluctance by intelligence agencies to share information. The 9-11 Commission Report recommended that the traditional U.S. intelligence culture of “need to know” be shifted to “need to share.”

The goal is to build software and network systems that allow the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, homeland security and other organizations to share information dynamically and securely. The project hopes to help the U.S. better defend against future terror attacks, while protecting intelligence sources and methods as well has enforcing appropriate privacy policies.

According to Finin, the project will prove useful beyond the homeland security sphere. “There are plenty of real world problems that we can work on that are not classified, such as balancing patient privacy with making sure the right doctor in an emergency can quickly access their medical records,” Finin said. “Many of the principles of this research can apply to everyday scenarios where information is shared with the right people and protected from the wrong people, such as your family photo albums on Flickr or your credit history.”

“We want to create the science behind the idea of need to share,” said Joshi. “We’ll be weighing what should be shared with whom and asking if we can balance the utility of sharing something with the risk of its getting disclosed.”

“We want to find how to maximize our ability to share information while following pre-defined policies that protect privacy, ensure appropriate use and maximize accuracy,” said Finin. “It is a challenging task that will not be completely solved in the next few years, but we can make significant progress and advance the state of the art.”

More info online:

http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/

Posted by crose

April 21, 2008

UMBC Forum Looks ‘Beyond the Housing Crisis’

Marc Steiner to moderate panel featuring Federal Reserve economists and Md. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Phone: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE – UMBC and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond will host a panel discussion April 28 exploring how the subprime mortgage meltdown has spilled into the financial sector and shaken everything from local neighborhoods to the U.S. and global economy.

Baltimore radio personality Marc Steiner will moderate a panel at UMBC’s campus featuring three Federal Reserve Bank financial experts and Maryland’s Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Thomas E. Perez. The event, “Beyond the Housing Crisis: Understanding the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown’s Increasing Impact on the U.S. Economy,” will be held in the Engineering Building, Lecture Hall 5, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., followed by a reception. For directions and information visit: http://www.umbc.edu/pubpol/subprime

The forum is a rare public event featuring Federal Reserve financial experts, including Robert E. Carpenter, a professor of economics at UMBC and a Senior Financial Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; Dale T. Klein, a Senior Financial Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; and Breck Robinson, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and an associate professor at the University of Delaware in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.

The panel will address core economic problems stemming from the housing crisis, including issues such as:

• How defaults in subprime mortgages brought Wall Street to its knees and continue to threaten the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
• How Maryland political leaders are addressing skyrocketing foreclosures across the state.
• How the current housing crisis compares with previous housing market downturns.
• How the lending crisis is putting a strain on local and state government finances.

According to Klein, an expert on financial trends in the housing and commercial real estate markets, defaults in adjustable-rate subprime loans are at 21.7 percent and rising as of December 2007, compared with 13 percent at the height of the last recession in 2002. Defaults in prime adjustable-rate loans are also up sharply to 6.09 percent in December 2007, compared with a 4 percent peak in 2002.

“By any indicator the current housing downturn far exceeds damage to housing markets experienced during the last recession,” Klein said.

In addition, problems in the housing market now are threatening to spill into the commercial real estate and construction market, which could have a crippling impact on the economy, Klein said. Such a downturn may be “the next shoe to drop in the subprime meltdown,” he said.

Carpenter, an expert on structured finance markets, will address the complex “securitization” process, which is one of the core problems that has staggered Wall Street. Securitization is the process by which mortgage lenders can pass the risk of defaults to investors by repackaging and selling loans as “mortgage-backed securities.” According to Carpenter, fallout from defaults in subprime mortgages have now spiraled into many other asset markets and created a global problem.

“The subprime meltdown is an ongoing economic problem that has spread throughout Wall Street and the global financial sector,” he said.

Homeowners and commercial real estate developers aren’t the only ones having trouble getting loans, said Robinson, who is an expert on state and local government finances.

“It’s getting just as hard for your local government to get a loan as it is for you,” Robinson said.

Robinson will discuss how the credit crunch caused by the subprime meltdown is putting increased pressure on state and municipal finances by damaging the credit-worthiness of municipal bond insurers. This damage results in rising borrowing costs for communities and declining interest rates, which makes it difficult for governments to finance deficit spending.

Perez will address the housing crisis in Maryland and legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Martin O’Malley intended to provide immediate aid to homeowners facing foreclosure and prevent future housing crises. The new measures will lengthen the foreclosure process in Maryland by 150 days, toughen criminal penalties for mortgage fraud and reform predatory lending practices.

The forum is sponsored by the UMBC Departments of Economics and Public Policy, the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (MIPAR) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Posted by kavan

Plant Sensory Systems Receives SBIR Grant

Funding Will Help Company Test Plant Modifications

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Plant Sensory Systems, a resident of bwtech@UMBC’s Incubator, has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation. The $100,000 grant, which is a six-month grant (referred to as Phase I) that takes effect July 1, will help the company test new genetic modifications on its laboratory plants. The research is a crucial first step in creating plants that are more productive and environmentally-friendly.

Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Frank and Kathleen Turano last July, Plant Sensory Systems is focused on creating plants that are more nitrogen use-efficient as well as drought-resistant. More efficient use of nitrogen, the main ingredient in fertilizer, means less run-off into rivers and streams. Increased drought resistance could reduce crop losses significantly in drought years. Eventually, the Turanos hope to license their technologies to seed and biotechnology companies.

This is the first grant the company has received and will enable the Turanos to test their hypotheses regarding a genetic modification to plants that will increase the production of GABA, an amino acid that has been shown to affect plants’ response to drought conditions as well as their nitrogen absorption. By increasing the amount of GABA, the plant could withstand drought better and require less nitrogen to grow. Currently, the Turanos’ experiments are being done on the Arabidopsis plant; if successful, they would start testing crop plants such as canola.

If the Turanos experience success in their research and show their plant engineering concepts are valid, they will be eligible to apply for a Phase II, two-year grant from NSF once their Phase I grant period is completed.

“We are confident our research will help us create better plants that will benefit the agricultural industry, consumers and the environment,” said Kathleen Turano. Added Frank Turano: “We are very pleased with this grant and the opportunity to take our research to the next level.”

“Plant Sensory Systems is engaged in groundbreaking work in the field of agricultural technology,” said David Fink, director of entrepreneurial services at bwtech@UMBC. “We are pleased that NSF has recognized their potential with this award.”

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bwtech@UMBC is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It comprises the technology business Incubator and Accelerator, home to over 30 early-stage high-tech and life science companies, and the Research and Technology Park, with a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington, D.C. bwtech’s annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be over $300 million.

Posted by dshapiro

April 7, 2008

Traxion Therapeutics Receives TEDCO Grant

Funding Will Help Company Develop Pain Medications

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Traxion Therapeutics, a bwtech@UMBC Incubator company, has received a grant from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), the state’s leading source of funding for seed capital and entrepreneurial business assistance for the development, transfer and commercialization of technology. The $74,018 award, from TEDCO’s Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF), will help finance the young company’s development of new medications to treat neuropathic pain. Currently, the company is working with pain researchers at the University of Maryland Dental School to assess the viability of its lead product, TXT-0200.

Neuropathic pain afflicts more than 10 million Americans. Sales of prescription drugs for neuropathic pain are increasing at roughly 7 percent each year. Traxion has assembled a diversified portfolio of novel, proprietary small molecule products to address this market opportunity. These products use more selective, mechanism-based approaches which exploit recent scientific discoveries in order to develop more effective, better tolerated treatments for neuropathic pain. Traxion plans to take these products through to Phase II proof of concept studies and then enter worldwide corporate partnerships for later-stage development and commercialization.

Founded in 2005, Traxion is yet another company successfully launched through the bwtech-affiliated ACTiVATE program. Traxion CEO Kerrie Brady is a member of the program’s class of 2005. ACTiVATE, which trains women with significant business or technical experience to start companies based on technologies developed at area universities and research institutions, has graduated 72 women and launched 15 companies since its inception three years ago.

“Traxion is a pioneer in developing more effective medications to treat neuropathic pain and improve the lives of the people it afflicts. We are grateful for the support of TEDCO and look forward to eventually bringing our products to market,” said Brady.

“Traxion is developing several new products for the treatment of intractable pain. We are pleased that TEDCO has recognized the potential of their work and is providing this stimulus for the growing health care industry in the Baltimore region,” said David Fink, director of entrepreneurial services at bwtech@UMBC.

“TEDCO was created to help early stage companies with promising technologies grow and succeed. Traxion fits this purpose perfectly as there is a great deal of potential for the company to leverage research findings to develop groundbreaking medicines,” said Renée Winsky, president and executive director of TEDCO. “Already the company has made great progress and TEDCO is proud to support its ongoing work.”

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), an independent entity, was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1998 to facilitate the creation of businesses and foster their growth in all regions of the State. TEDCO’s role is to be Maryland’s leading source of funding for seed capital and entrepreneurial business assistance for the development, transfer and commercialization of technology. TEDCO connects emerging technology companies with federal laboratories, research universities, business incubators and specialized technical assistance. For the fourth consecutive year, TEDCO was recognized as the most active early/seed stage investor in the nation in the July 2007 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine.

Posted by dshapiro

April 2, 2008

“Dust Busting” the Moon

UMBC/NASA Goddard Scientist to Study Electrically Charged Lunar Dust
to Aid Robotic and Human Exploration

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

Timothy Stubbs, a scientist at UMBC and NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, has won funding for a project that sounds like equal parts Ray Bradbury and early David Bowie: studying how electrically charged dust moves across the moon and how it could be a hazard to humans and robots exploring the lunar surface.

Stubbs was selected by NASA to join the science team for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, being built at Goddard and scheduled for launch later this year. The LRO is NASA's first step in plans to return humans to the moon by 2020. Stubbs is an assistant research scientist with UMBC’s Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center.

Most of the evidence for a lunar dust “atmosphere” dates back to the Apollo mission era. NASA scientists analyzing images returned by the Surveyor landers noticed a ‘horizon glow’ close to the surface after lunar sunset, believed to be caused by sunlight scattered by ultra-tiny (smaller than a few microns – a millionth of a meter) dust particles. While astronauts in orbit observed a high-altitude horizon glow (over 62 miles high) just as their spacecraft was passing out of the shadow of the Moon.

According to the “dust fountain” model developed by Stubbs and colleagues at NASA Goddard, the high-altitude dust grains inferred from the horizon glow are probably highly-charged and have been lofted upward by electric fields close to the lunar surface. Once above the lunar surface electric field, the dust grains then fall back toward the Moon under gravity, with their trajectories resembling the arc of a water fountain.

Like the rest of the lunar soil, the dust was created over billions of years by the countless impacts of tiny meteorites. It gets its electrical charge from the sun’s ultraviolet light, X-rays and the moon’s surrounding plasma (electrified gas of ions and electrons) environment. The dust’s electrostatic charge makes it move about the moon’s surface and also gives it a static-cling stickiness that can be hazardous to astronauts and their equipment.

The tiny dust fragments are sharp and jagged since there is no air or water on the moon to smooth them over time. The dust was a nuisance to the Apollo astronauts, sticking to their spacesuits and tracking inside their spacecraft.

But what was a minor annoyance for the relatively brief Apollo missions could be dangerous during the next-generation, long-duration missions being planned by NASA. Astronauts who regularly inhale the sharp dust fragments over time could develop lung diseases similar to those caused by asbestos or coal dust. The dust could also cause problems with sensitive equipment and instruments.

“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be directly involved with NASA’s return to the moon, as well as very excited about all the great new science that will be achieved with this historic mission,” said Stubbs.

Stubbs’ project will use instruments on the LRO and other spacecraft to measure how much lunar dust there is and map the moon’s electric fields to better understand when and where the dust is most likely to be a problem for the manned missions planned for 2020 and beyond.

Posted by crose

March 24, 2008

bwtech@UMBC Company Receives GBC Award

Next Breath Honored for Innovation and Industry Leadership

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Next Breath, LLC, a bwtech@UMBC Accelerator company, received the Entrepreneurship Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 3rd annual Bioscience Awards presentation on Tuesday, March 18 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. Julie Suman, the company’s co-founder and president, accepted the award at the presentation, which was attended by approximately 150 leaders from the Baltimore region's bioscience industry and research community.

Next Breath, a graduate of bwtech@UMBC’s incubator program, is a contract services provider to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies that bring new inhalation and nasal products to market. It provides services ranging from pre-clinical formulation development to analytical testing, in support of submissions made to regulatory agencies. To date, 55 pharmaceutical companies worldwide have sought Next Breath’s services to support their drug development efforts. The company currently employs 17 people.

Suman, a registered pharmacist who holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy, founded Next Breath in 2001 with partner and vice president Shailaja Somaraju. Suman was previously a pharmacist consultant with PAREXEL’s clinical pharmacology research unit, a research assistant at the University of Maryland’s Department of Pharmaceutical Science and an intern at Magellan Laboratories. Somaraju also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and was previously a project manager at the University Pharmaceuticals of Maryland.

Winners of the 2008 Greater Baltimore Region Bioscience Awards were selected by a panel of judges from among 22 nominees submitted by businesses, bioscience advocates, higher education institutions and government agencies. The criteria for the Entrepreneurship Award included: goals reached through perseverance; a company orientation toward greater risk taking behavior; high utilization of a new system, products or best practices in achieving results; evidence of entrepreneurial leadership to achieve company goals; and commitment to the greater Baltimore region and/or business community.

“Next Breath has always strived to be an innovator and an industry leader. It has been exciting to watch the company grow and achieve success. I am thrilled to see the company recognized by the local bioscience community for its achievements,” said Suman.

“We’ve had an exemplary track record of success over the years with our bioscience companies. It’s an honor for our companies to be nominated, and certainly for Next Breath to win the entrepreneurship award against a very competitive field,” said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director, bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park.

Other bwtech@UMBC nominees for the Bioscience Awards were Kris Appel, President & CEO of Encore Path, Inc. (Best New Product or Progress Award), Paul Silber, Former President/CEO & Founder of In Vitro Technologies, Inc. (President’s Award) and Stephen Auvil and the bwtech-affiliated ACTiVATE program (President’s Award).

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bwtech@UMBC (http://www.bwtechumbc.com) is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It comprises the technology business Incubator and Accelerator, home to over 30 early-stage high-tech and life science companies, and the Research Park, with a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington, D.C. bwtech’s annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be over $300 million.

Posted by dshapiro

March 3, 2008

ACTiVATE Graduates Recognized for Business Plans

Three Graduates Are Among Nine Finalists in Rockville Business Plan Competition

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Three recent ACTiVATE graduates, Kym Wong (Class of 2007), Loleta Robinson and Colleen Nye (Class of 2006), have been selected as finalists in the StartRight! Business Plan Competition. The competition, run by Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI), is in its fifth year and recognizes top business plans from women entrepreneurs. Wong’s 3DeLux Images and Robinson and Nye’s Syan Biosciences are among nine businesses in the finals. Both businesses were launched upon their founders’ completion of the ACTiVATE, a UMBC program that trains mid-career women to start their own businesses based on technologies developed at area universities and research institutions.

This is the first business plan competition Wong has entered. Her business, which focuses on using a scanning system developed at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab to create three-dimensional images for online retailers, is in the preliminary stages of development. If feasibility studies prove successful, she will move ahead with the licensing process. Wong has twenty years of experience in business, including e-commerce, and after spending much of her career building new businesses for others, she decided it was her turn. “When I heard about the ACTiVATE program, it seemed like a very good fit,” she says. After her successful presentation of her business plan at the conclusion of the program, the program’s faculty encouraged her to enter StartRight!.

Nye and Robinson’s Syan Biosciences is working with a technology developed at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute to create a diagnostic platform that uses biomarkers to diagnose diseases such as cancer and heart disease. They are hoping to eventually license their technology to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. They also plan to make their own products based on the platform. Nye, a chemical engineer with an M.B.A. degree, and Robinson, a physician who also holds an M.B.A., entered StartRight! last year with a business plan based on a different technology that they were ultimately unable to license. Entering this year’s competition allowed them to receive advice on their new business model. “The competition is a great opportunity to get feedback and to network,” says Nye. “We knew the competition would be a good forum to get feedback on our new plan.”

According to Lynne Benzion, the associate director of REDI and administrator of StartRight!, 33 entries were submitted for this year’s competition. She notes that the 4 criteria for judging the business plans are overall financial viability, the company’s management plan, the quality of an entrant’s market research and its marketing plan, and the degree of innovation and differentiation in the business model. To be eligible to enter, businesses must be at least 51% women-owned, operating for two years or less and located in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC.

Entrants compete for cash and prizes: the first place winner earns $10,000, courtesy of sponsor Eagle Bank. The second place award is $5,000, courtesy of REDI, and the third place award is $2,500, courtesy of sponsor Foster, Soltoff & Love, a Bethesda-based financial planning and employee benefits consulting firm. The top three entrants also receive varying lengths of services from virtual office solutions provider Intelligent Office. Winners will be announced April 1 at the 2008 Women in Business conference at the Marriott North Bethesda Conference Center.

Benzion notes the established partnership between REDI and the ACTiVATE program. In return for REDI’s publicizing of ACTiVATE in the Rockville area and referring candidates to the program, ACTiVATE encourages its graduates to enter the StartRight! competition. In addition to the opportunity to win seed money for their business, the competition deadline gives graduates a target by which to complete their business plans. “Working with ACTiVATE extends our reach up to Baltimore and gives us good competitors. Anytime we can connect to another area [of Maryland], it makes the competition better.”

“We place an intense focus on helping our participants design sustainable businesses and solid business plans,” says Julie Lenzer Kirk, ACTiVATE’s lead instructor. “ACTiVATE graduates have created a force of technology entrepreneurs who have raised the bar for the StartRight! competition. We're hoping one day that ACTiVATE alumnae will take all three top spots.”

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Posted by dshapiro

February 21, 2008

Gates Cambridge Scholarship to Send UMBC Physics Major on Path of Newton, Hawking

Philip Graff is UMBC’s Second Consecutive Winner of Prestigious Full Scholarship to Cambridge

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

UMBC senior physics major Philip Graff will follow the path of science greats Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking to Cambridge University as the second UMBC student in the past two years to win the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, one of the world’s most selective academic awards.

Graff, who will pursue a Ph.D. in physics, was one of just 45 U.S. winners chosen from more than 600 applicants and 119 finalists. Graff is UMBC’s second consecutive Gates Cambridge Scholar, following alumnus Ian Ralby ‘02, who won in 2007. Other U.S. winners for 2008 included students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton and other prestigious universities.

The Gates Cambridge was created in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donated $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust. The award fully funds one to four years of graduate study in any field at Cambridge University.

The Gates Scholarship is too young to have become a household name like the Rhodes Scholars Program (established in 1902) or the Marshall Scholarships (established in 1954). But like the Marshall and Rhodes, the Gates only accepts the cream of the academic crop. The Gates Scholarship is expected to grow into one of the world’s most recognizable programs over time thanks to the high quality of its winners and the program’s unique emphasis on public service and research career paths.

Graff, a native of Manalapan, NJ, came to UMBC on a full scholarship through the University Fellowship program and is a member of the Honors College. Graff, who maintains a 4.0 G.P.A., plans to attend Cambridge but was also accepted at other prestigious universities including MIT and the University of Illinois. After graduation and post-doctoral study, Graff plans a career as a university professor and researcher.

For Graff, the Cambridge experience will be an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of history’s greatest physicists (such as Isaac Newton) and hopefully to meet a personal hero, Stephen Hawking of “A Brief History of Time” fame.

“It’s said that Cambridge has been home to more Nobel Prize winners than all of France, so it’s an amazing honor to study there.” Graff said. “I consider Hawking one of the great minds in the field, so I really hope to meet him.”

An astrophysicist, Graff studies what gravitational waves (caused by the interactions of binary stars and other massive bodies) can tell us about the large scale structure and history of the universe. He created a computer model of quasar radiation as an undergraduate at UMBC and worked with one of the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), during a National Science Foundation fellowship at Caltech. His quasar work is the topic of a research paper currently under refereeing with the Astrophysical Journal.

Graff has also been highly involved with campus life at UMBC, serving as president of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, Director of Student Advocacy with the Student Government Association and a teaching assistant. In the little spare time he has, he enjoys playing video games, watching movies and playing ultimate Frisbee.

Science runs in the family for Graff; his older brother is an aerospace engineer. “My parents always pushed us, but beyond a certain point it becomes self-motivated,” said Graff. “We had a pretty normal childhood; I played little league and was on the bowling team and my brother was active in Boy Scouts. But we did do pretty well in science fairs,” Graff said.

Graff hasn’t had much time to reflect on his achievements to date, but does recall with amusement a favorite family report card story. “My first grade math teacher said I didn’t understand mathematical concepts but was just memorizing,” he said. “So I guess I showed her.”

About the Gates Cambridge Scholarship Program:

In October 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a donation to the University of Cambridge of $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust.
The gift funded in perpetuity an international scholarship program to enable outstanding graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. The Trustees are required to award scholarships on the basis of a person's intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.

Following interviews held in Annapolis, Maryland, on 8 and 9 February 2008, the Gates Cambridge Trust announced that scholarships for study at the University of Cambridge were awarded to 45 American students. Over 600 students from the United States applied for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship this year and 119 of them were interviewed at St John’s College and the United States Naval Academy.

For more information about the Gates Cambridge Scholarship program, please visit www.gatesscholar.org.

Posted by crose

February 14, 2008

Plant Sensory Systems Joins bwtech@UMBC

Company Developing Innovative Agricultural Technologies

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Plant Sensory Systems, an agricultural biotechnology company, has chosen the technology incubator at bwtech@UMBC as its headquarters. The company’s owners, Kathleen and Frank Turano, felt the services and support offered by bwtech@UMBC were an ideal fit for their young company’s needs.

The Turanos founded Plant Sensory Systems in July and moved to the incubator at the end of December. Currently, the company is working on two projects: making plants that use nitrogen more efficiently and creating plants that can produce more sugar or plant oils to aid in the production of biofuels. “If we can make plants that use nitrogen more efficiently, then farmers won’t have to use as much fertilizer. Not only will this save costs, but there will be less nitrogen run-off into streams and rivers,” explained Frank Turano.

At the moment, their focus is on genetic research using a laboratory model plant. Their long-term goal is to license their technologies and/or partner with seed or agricultural biotechnology companies to apply the technologies they develop to a variety of crops. They are currently talking to seed companies to establish relationships.

The Turanos’ interest in biological research and sensory systems is an outgrowth of their professional experience: Frank is an associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at George Washington University (he has resigned, effective in May 2008) and Kathleen was formerly a professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After interviewing at several incubators, they chose bwtech@UMBC as the place to launch their business. “They have a solid track record of launching companies and offer a host of business support services to help companies get off the ground,” said Kathleen Turano.
Both Turanos plan to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain advice and share experiences with the CEOs of the other incubator companies at the variety of networking events offered at bwtech@UMBC.

“Plant Sensory Systems represents exactly the type of early-stage company that we hope to attract to our incubator program”, said David Fink, bwtech@UMBC’s director of entrepreneurial services. “The Turanos bring strong scientific credentials from local research institutions. Their projects are very innovative and the company has great potential to benefit the Maryland economy.”

About bwtech@UMBC:
bwtech@UMBC (http://www.bwtechumbc.com) is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It comprises the technology business Incubator and Accelerator, home to over 30 early-stage high-tech and life science companies, and the Research and Technology Park, with a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington, D.C. bwtech’s annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be over $300 million.

About UMBC:
UMBC is a medium-sized public research university of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate with faculty to address real-world challenges. Located just south of Baltimore near I-95 and the BWI airport, UMBC's residential campus houses state-of-the-art facilities in the sciences, engineering, arts, social sciences and humanities. UMBC combines the energy of a research university with the close community feel and attention to individual students found in liberal arts colleges.

Posted by dshapiro

February 6, 2008

Amethyst Technologies Joins bwtech@UMBC

Growing Company Seeks to Carve Out Market Niche

Deborah Shapiro
Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Amethyst Technologies, a growing company specializing in services for life science companies and research organizations, has set up shop at bwtech@UMBC’s technology incubator. The company’s owner, Kimberly Brown, hopes to capitalize on the location and establish business relationships with the life science companies located at the incubator.

Amethyst, originally founded as Cell Systems, Inc., in 1992, provides overall management, implementation, and execution of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliance systems. These services include equipment calibration and validation, quality management software, process validation, qualification and design services for clean rooms and high purity utility systems, and environmental monitoring system management. Its clients include hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, biological repositories, and federal government labs and research institutions. The Incubator and Accelerator at bwtech@UMBC is the headquarters for numerous early-stage life science companies, so the location presents multiple business opportunities for Amethyst.

Setting up operations at bwtech@UMBC was a natural move for the company. Brown, who has owned Amethyst for about a year, is a recent graduate of UMBC’s ACTiVATE program, which teaches mid-career women with significant business or technical experience how to start companies using technologies developed at universities and other research institutions.

A chemical engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, Brown was unique among most ACTiVATE participants in that she already owned a company at the time she began the program. However, she notes that the knowledge of marketing, finance and intellectual property laws that she gained from ACTiVATE has been essential to her success as an entrepreneur: “ACTiVATE provided the knowledge and awareness to have a successful business. You can have a good product, but you also need to know how to run a company. Now I know how to protect my business.”

In addition to the business opportunities for Amethyst at bwtech@UMBC, Brown and her company will benefit from the support and networking that the incubator provides. In addition to monthly networking events for CEOs and senior managers, the incubator offers an array of business support services that include market analysis and strategic planning guidance and assistance with grant funding applications. Companies also have direct access to UMBC’s technology transfer office and an abundant supply of students, graduates and faculty that are ready to serve early-stage companies.

Brown’s long-term goals for her company are “to become an industry leader in both the private and public sector” as well as develop a product line focused on patient safety and environmental responsibility and provide “green” services to create environmentally friendly clean rooms and labs.

####

bwtech@UMBC (http://www.bwtechumbc.com) is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It comprises the technology business Incubator and Accelerator, home to over 30 early-stage high-tech and life science companies, and the Research and Technology Park, with a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington, D.C. bwtech’s annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be over $300 million.

Posted by dshapiro

January 31, 2008

UMBC’s Tom Schaller on WJZ Channel 13 Super Tuesday

UMBC’s resident expert on presidential elections, Tom Schaller, will appear on WJZ Channel 13 news to comment on “Super Tuesday’s” Feb. 5 primary elections.

Schaller will appear on all major news updates from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. to provide expert political commentary on the results of the night’s presidential primary elections. An unprecedented 24 states hold primaries or caucuses on this date with 52 percent of all pledged Democratic Party delegates and 41 percent of Republican Party delegates at stake.

"Never before in American electoral history have we had a primary with so many delegates at stake on the same day and with both party's nominees still uncertain," said Schaller.

Thomas F. Schaller is associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of “Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats can win without the South.” The Jan. 20 New York Times Sunday Magazine cited "Whistling Past Dixie" and recognized Schaller as the “political scientist and liberal blogger (who) won over a lot of his fellow progressives with an entire book devoted to the premise that Democrats should ignore the South and instead focus their finite resources … on the West and Southwest.”

Schaller is a weekly national political columnist for The Baltimore Sun, and has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The American Prospect, The New York Sun, The Boston Globe, The Washington Examiner and Salon, and has appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, MSNBC's Hardball, National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation and Morning Edition, PBS's The Tavis Smiley Show, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

Posted by kavan

January 24, 2008

Dr. Bill Thomas’ Transformative ‘Green House’ Featured on the Newshour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Office: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE – Dr. Bill Thomas, outspoken nursing home reformer and professor of aging at the Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was featured on the Newshour on PBS Jan. 23 in a special report on his innovative Green House project to transform nursing home care.

Click here to watch on streaming video.

Thomas’ Green House project is a radically new approach to long term care where nursing homes are torn down and replaced with small, home-like environments where people can live a full and interactive life. Launched as a pilot project in 2003, there are now 35 Green Houses up and running on 13 campuses across the country. In partnership with a nonprofit, NCB Capital Impact, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is spending nearly $10 million to replicate the model nationwide.

Thomas, an internationally-recognized authority on eldercare, was interviewed by Newshour health correspondent Susan Dentzer while visiting one of his ‘Green Houses’ in Lincoln, Neb. The twelve-minute story highlights innovative characteristics of the Green House concept, which is intended to de-institutionalize long-term care by eliminating large nursing facilities and creating close-knit communities of patients and caregivers.

The Green House model is designed to be a home for nine to 12 elders. It blends architecturally with neighboring homes, includes vibrant outdoor space, and utilizes aesthetically appealing interior features. Each elder has a private room or unit with a private bathroom. Elders' rooms receive high levels of sunlight and are situated around an open kitchen and dining area. There are no nursing stations

“We've always insisted in the Green House that there be one big table, because that makes a meal into a community experience, where food and companionship come together,” Dr. Thomas told the Newshour.

The Green House model has been endorsed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In June 2007, researchers at the University of Minnesota released a longitudinal study of the first group of Green Houses, built in Tupelo, Miss. It showed residents received equal or better quality of care than in traditional nursing homes and they reported a higher quality of life. The average charge for residents at Green Houses is comparable to the cost of traditional nursing homes.

Click here to learn more about the Green House Replication Initiative.

About Dr. Thomas

William H. Thomas, M.D. is a geriatrician and a visionary with an international reputation as one of the leading authorities on the future of aging and longevity. He is founder of the Eden Alternative, a global nonprofit organization, and a professor at the Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where is teaching his innovative concepts on reforming long term care. He lives in Ithaca, NY, with his wife, Judith Meyers-Thomas, and their five children.

Dr. Thomas has published a half a dozen books, the most recent of which is What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World. The book, which American Medical Writers Association named it the “Book of the Year” in 2005, explores the virtues concealed within the necessity of aging.

In conjunction with his books and research projects and advocacy, Dr. Thomas has been interviewed by a broad range of television, radio and print media including CNN, 48 Hours, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Fast Company ,The New York Times, Washington Post and Newsweek Magazine Time Magazine, The CBS Early Show, and was chosen by US News World Report Magazine as one of "America's best leaders."

About the Erickson School

The Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was created with a $5 million commitment from John Erickson, CEO and founder Erickson Retirement Communities, and matching state funds. The School integrates aging, management, and policy in each of its programs, with a strong emphasis on preparing leaders for the 21st century. The School offers credit and non-credit educational programs at the undergraduate, masters, and executive levels.

Posted by kavan

January 23, 2008

Kafui Dzirasa ’01 in Ebony Magazine

Ebony magazine featured Kafui Dzirasa ’01, Chemical Engineering, in its “30 on the Rise” collection of 2008 Young Leaders of the Future.

Dzirasa earned his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Duke, where he is a fourth-year medical student and postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Neurobiology at the Duke Medical Center. The magazine cited several of his UMBC achievements, including his studies as a Meyerhoff Scholar and a conference championship in the long jump. Ebony also noted that he received Duke’s Somjen Award for Outstanding Dissertation Thesis.

The “30 on the Rise” section, in the February 2008 issue, is available to registered Ebony subscribers at www.ebonyjet.com/ebony/.

Posted by elewis

January 16, 2008

UMBC’s ACTiVATE Program Receives Prestigious Award

Recognition Affirms Program’s Status as a Leading Innovator in Educating Entrepreneurs

CONTACT: Deborah Shapiro, Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

ACTiVATE, a program of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) that trains mid-career women to start and manage technology ventures, was honored by a leading national entrepreneurship organization last Saturday. The program received the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s (USASBE) award for Best Specialty Entrepreneurship Education Program. Presented at the organization’s annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, the award was based on each program’s innovativeness, uniqueness, quality, effectiveness, comprehensiveness, sustainability and transferability.

Stephen Auvil, director of UMBC’s Office of Technology Development, Vivian Armor, director of UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, and Julie Kirk, ACTiVATE lead instructor, represented ACTiVATE at the conference.

“The winner is the one program that demonstrates a fresh approach to adding new meaning to entrepreneurial education,” said judging panel member Stan Mandel, an executive professor at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University and director of the school’s Angell Center for Entrepreneurship. “This was clearly demonstrated by UMBC in the ACTiVATE program—a great concept, implemented well, with outstanding participants.”

“ACTiVATE has become a model of innovation for teaching and mentoring entrepreneurs, and we are thrilled to be recognized by a leading organization in the field of entrepreneurship,” said Ms. Armor.

ACTiVATE is a year-long program that utilizes technologies developed by Maryland’s universities and research institutions and trains women with significant technical or business experience to start companies based on those technologies. In the first three years of the program, ACTiVATE has trained 72 women. To date, 15 companies have been founded by ACTiVATE graduates.

Said David Fink, director of entrepreneurial services at bwtech@UMBC and the ACTiVATE program director: “We felt there was a need for a new way to teach entrepreneurship and increase the commercialization of technologies. In just three years, ACTiVATE has already had a tremendous impact on the local business community.”

An acronym for Achieving the Commercialization of Technology in Ventures Through Applied Training for Entrepreneurs, ACTiVATE is a joint program among Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, Office of Technology Development and the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). Sponsors include the National Science Foundation, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Maryland Technology Development Corporation, Whiteford, Taylor and Preston, Constellation Energy, Wachovia Bank, Lion Brothers and Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT).

“The ACTiVATE program is just one part of UMBC’s commitment to entrepreneurship, technology transfer and workforce development,” noted Mr. Auvil, who is also one of the program’s architects. “It encourages the development of new technology companies and supports women who are interested in pursuing an entrepreneurial career.”

Classes are held on Monday evenings, from January through December, and one Saturday per month at the bwtech@UMBC Incubator near UMBC’s main campus in Catonsville. Six of the companies founded by ACTiVATE graduates have entered bwtech@UMBC’s incubator program.

About UMBC:

Posted by crose

January 14, 2008

UMBC Peaceworker Alumni Remain Engaged in Baltimore Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Phone: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- While nearly 85 percent of Shriver Peaceworker Fellows at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) originally come from outside the Baltimore region, 60 percent have settled and remain engaged in service careers in local communities.

"With 100 percent of Peaceworker alumni continuing in public service careers and more than half staying in our region to engage in community service careers, the Shriver Peaceworker Program is proving to be a 'creative-class' infusion for the City," said Program Director Joby Taylor '05, Ph.D. language, literacy and culture.

The Peaceworker program at UMBC's Shriver Center was founded in 1994 by Sargent Shriver, who will be honored in an upcoming PBS documentary to be aired nationally on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 21, 2008. The film, American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver, celebrates a man who is little known among today's generation, but has had an indelible impact on our society.

Few people have had a greater impact on public service in America than Shriver, who founded and directed the Peace Corps under President John F. Kennedy. Both men envisioned a powerful impact of RPCVs on American society, and as a native Marylander, Shriver realized this vision concretely in the establishment of the Peaceworker program at UMBC, with an urban problem-solving focus on the Baltimore region, Taylor said.

One hundred returning Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) have participated in UMBC's Peaceworker program after completing their missions abroad. The program combines graduate studies at area universities with service jobs in local communities.

"Shriver's genius in the Peace Corps and Peaceworker programs was his ability to marshal a sense of 'practical idealism,' which is optimism about making a difference matched with realism about the hard work this involves," Taylor said.

Peaceworker alumni working in the Baltimore region include:

Erin Hood '07
Graduate Degree: UMBC Master's Degree in Public Policy focused on Human Services, with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management.
Peace Corps Volunteer: Jamaica.
Peaceworker Fellowship: UMBC Coordinator for Service and Volunteerism to foster student's sense of social responsibility through community service.
Where she is now: Director of Development, Community Mediation Program, Baltimore City

Brian Greenan '05
Graduate Degree: UMBC Master's Degree in Intercultural Communications focused on Spanish language study and Latin American history and politics
Peace Corps Volunteer: Niger
Peaceworker Fellowship: Centro de la Communidad, serving Baltimore's growing Latino community. As a mayoral fellow and then with the Downtown Partnership, he provided direct outreach to homeless persons in the downtown area for which he was given a commendation by the Baltimore City Council.
Where he is now: Organizer with Neighborhood Housing Services

Sarah Morris-Compton '07
Graduate degree: UMBC Master's Degree in Public Policy focused on Human Services Policy
Peace Corps Volunteer: Turkmenistan and Kenya.
Peaceworker Fellowship: Coordinator of a service-learning project that linked college Web design classes to non-profit organizations at the University of Baltimore's School of Information Arts and Technologies
Where she is now: Program Associate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore working on large-scale state child welfare and juvenile justice system reform.

Posted by kavan

January 3, 2008

bwtech@UMBC Expands Staff

New Additions to Marketing and Business Development Team

CONTACT: Deborah Shapiro, Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park is pleased to announce the expansion of its marketing and business development team with the addition of Deborah Shapiro, Marketing Manager, and Alex Euler, Associate Director of Business Development.

Shapiro will provide marketing support and strategy development to UMBC’s entrepreneurial initiatives, including bwtech@UMBC, the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, the ACTiVATE program, and UMBC’s technology commercialization enterprise. She has a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Maryland.

Shapiro was previously the Public Relations Manager for Thomson Prometric, and has successfully developed marketing and promotional strategies with both online and traditional media.

Euler will assist tenant companies with their marketing and business strategy needs, and will recruit tenants for bwtech@UMBC's properties. He will also facilitate interactions between the university and bwtech@UMBC businesses and work to increase overall awareness of bwtech@UMBC within the broader business community.

Euler has a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UMBC and is working on an M.S. in Biotechnology Management at the University of Maryland. He was previously the Communications Manager for MdBio/TCM, a statewide trade association for high-technology and life science companies, and has extensive experience working with regional economic development groups and administering programs designed to support early-stage biotech companies.

About bwtech@UMBC:

bwtech@UMBC (www.bwtechumbc.com) is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It comprises the technology business Incubator and Accelerator, home to over 30 early-stage high-tech and life science companies, and the Research and Technology Park, with a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington, D.C. bwtech’s annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be over $300 million.

Posted by crose

December 20, 2007

Elliot Hirshman Appointed Provost of UMBC

Chief Research Officer at George Washington University and Alumnus of Yale, UCLA
to Lead UMBC’s Academic Program

CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

Photo Caption: Elliot Hirshman is UMBC's new provost. (Click on photo to download high-resolution image).

BALTIMORE – The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has appointed Elliot Hirshman as its next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. Hirshman joins UMBC after serving as chief research officer at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was previously chair of the Department of Psychology.

Hirshman, who earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at UCLA and his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in economics and mathematics from Yale, will lead UMBC’s academic program, including instruction, research and academic support services. His appointment, effective July 1, 2008, concludes a national search that began in August with the assistance of Greenwood and Associates, a leading executive search firm.

Before joining the George Washington faculty in 2002, Hirshman chaired the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver. He began his academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989, rising to the rank of full professor while at that institution.

“My colleagues and I are delighted to welcome Dr. Hirshman to the UMBC community,” said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski. “We are all very impressed by his reputation as a fine scholar, teacher and leader in both public and private universities. He is an important addition to the University and to Maryland.”

While at Chapel Hill, Hirshman was recognized by the late Michael Hooker, then chancellor there (and former UMBC president), who nominated him for the American Council on Education Fellows Program. Through that program, he participated as a fellow in the Provost’s Office at Arizona State University and, subsequently, served as special assistant to the provost at Chapel Hill.

“I am deeply honored to be selected as UMBC’s next provost,” said Hirshman. “UMBC’s reputation as a national leader in educational programs, diversity initiatives, research innovation and public-private partnerships makes the provost’s position an especially exciting opportunity. I look forward to working with President Hrabowski, the University’s academic and administrative leadership teams and UMBC’s exceptional faculty, students, staff, alumni and external partners to further enhance the University’s highly regarded educational, research and service programs.”

Hirshman is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and has served as the associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition(2000-2006) and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review(1998-2000). He will hold the rank of full professor in the UMBC Department of Psychology.

UMBC’s current provost, Arthur Johnson, will serve until June 30, 2008, before returning to the faculty after 10 years as provost. Johnson and Hirshman will collaborate during the coming semester to ensure a smooth transition.

Posted by crose

December 18, 2007

Alex. Brown Center Receives Major Gift

Barnhill Gift Will Help Aspiring Entrepreneurs

CONTACT: Debbie Shapiro, Marketing Manager
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Mike Lurie, Media Relations Director
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE, MD – The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has received a pledge of $250,000 from one of the center’s most active leaders, Gregory Barnhill. Mr. Barnhill, a partner with Brown Advisory Securities, has served as chair of the center’s external advisory board for more than two years and has been a member of its board for four years.

This gift from Mr. Barnhill, his wife Lisa and son Scott, advances the Alex. Brown Center nearly to the halfway point of its $10-million fundraising goal, which includes a $2-million matching grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Funds raised will enable the innovative center to enhance its programs and educational offerings for students and faculty.

Established in 2000 with a grant from the Alex. Brown Foundation, the center seeks to provide students and faculty with opportunities to learn about and experience entrepreneurship. Its goal is to infuse entrepreneurial thinking throughout the campus and across all disciplines. Programs include academic courses, skill-building workshops, internships with local business leaders, and an annual business plan competition. Current course offerings include Entrepreneurship for IT and Careers in Music. Workshops are held each summer for university faculty in a variety of disciplines; this summer’s offering will be geared to faculty in the humanities.

While a strong focus on entrepreneurship is unusual for a university without a business school, the Alex. Brown Center strongly reflects UMBC’s entrepreneurial spirit and experience in economic development. Since its founding, the center has helped numerous students and faculty transform their ideas and expertise into viable business opportunities. One such business is Legendary Studios, a game and simulation development company founded by two students that now resides at UMBC’s technology business incubator.

“Mr. Barnhill’s generosity will allow us to enhance our programming and continue to support students interested in launching their own business ventures,” said Vivian Armor, director of the Alex. Brown Center. “Mr. Barnhill has been a valued supporter of the Alex. Brown Center for many years and we are grateful for his commitment to the center’s mission.”

"Lisa and I have been around—and been inspired by—entrepreneurs our whole lives,” said Mr. Barnhill. “We believe strongly in the importance of exposing young people to entrepreneurship, and know that this gift to UMBC and the Alex. Brown Center will make a big impact on developing future leaders."

UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski added, "It takes entrepreneurial leadership to inspire new entrepreneurs. We are honored to receive this gift and very excited about the opportunities it creates for our students."

Mr. Barnhill has a long history of civic involvement in the Baltimore area. He has donated his time and leadership skills to numerous organizations, including the Maryland Historical Society, Greater Baltimore Medical Center Foundation, Harbor Hospital, St. Paul School Board of Trustees, and Ocean Race Chesapeake.

For more information about the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, please contact Vivian Armor at armor@umbc.edu, or via phone at (410) 455-5740.

About UMBC:
UMBC is a medium-sized public research university of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate with faculty to address real-world challenges. Located just south of Baltimore near I-95 and the BWI airport, UMBC's residential campus houses state-of-the-art facilities in the sciences, engineering, arts, social sciences and humanities. UMBC combines the energy of a research university with the close community feel and attention to individual students found in liberal arts colleges.

Posted by crose

December 12, 2007

UMBC Among 12 Universities Chosen by HHMI to Launch Nationwide Science Education Initiative

Professors Sandoz, Caruso to Give Freshmen Early Genomics Research Experience

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has chosen UMBC as part of a collaborative network of 12 colleges and universities to teach a new, hands-on genomics course aimed at involving more U.S. first-year college students in authentic research.

The course is the first major initiative from HHMI's Science Education Alliance (SEA), which seeks to enhance science education and inspire new generations of scientists. The year-long research course will be part of the SEA’s Phage Genomics Research Initiative. HHMI received 44 applications and selected 12 institutions for the Initiative.

UMBC biological sciences professors Jim Sandoz and Steve Caruso will work with UMBC’s Honors College to develop a fall 2008 course for freshmen science and non-science majors. Students in the class will collect soil samples on campus and use sophisticated lab and computer-based genomics and gene sequencing techniques to identify new bacteriophages. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are common forms of viruses which infect bacteria and could offer insight into some types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“SEA takes the best ideas from the individual teaching experiments that HHMI has supported over the past 20 years and makes them broadly accessible to scientists and educators around the country,” said Michael Summers, professor of biochemistry and HHMI Investigator at UMBC. “UMBC has been at the forefront of science education, especially in enhancing retention rates among minority students, so it’s both exciting and appropriate that UMBC is part of these new efforts,” said Summers, who is the only HHMI Investigator at a Maryland public university. “We have a lot to learn from our colleagues in the SEA consortium, but we also have much to offer.”

SEA represents a new, more active involvement by HHMI in catalyzing change in science education. HHMI is committing $4 million over the program’s first four years and staffing SEA with its own employees. SEA will provide up to three years of support from HHMI to assist with faculty training, computing and DNA sequencing services for the course.

“The initial institutions we have selected represent a broad sampling of high quality higher education,” said Peter J. Bruns, vice president for grants and special programs at HHMI. “Although diverse in size and location, all participating schools share a desire to bring authentic discovery to freshman instruction. I am impressed by their commitment to the project and eagerly wait to see what a working alliance of such a diverse, yet commonly committed community, will yield.”

The other universities chosen for the 2008-2009 program are: Carnegie Mellon University, The College of William & Mary, Hope College, James Madison University, Oregon State University, Spelman College, the University of California, San Diego, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the University of Mary Washington and Washington University in St. Louis.

Based at HHMI's Janelia Farm Research Campus in Northern Virginia, SEA aims to build a collaborative network of U.S. scientists and educators to develop and distribute new instructional materials and methods while encouraging students to produce real research results. HHMI built SEA based on over two decades of supporting science education and research.

For more information, please visit http://www.hhmi.org/grants/sea/

Posted by crose

December 6, 2007

UMBC’s ‘ACTiVATE’ Program Looking to Train Women Entrepreneurs

National Award-Winning Program Teaches Female Professionals to Take Maryland Universities’ Technologies to Market

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE, MD – ACTiVATE, UMBC's award-winning training program for female entrepreneurs, is recruiting for its next class.

Originally funded with a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, ACTiVATE’s goal is to form start-up companies based on technologies developed at UMBC, Johns Hopkins, the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, Towson University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and the University of Maryland College Park.

In its first three years, ACTiVATE has trained 90 women in entrepreneurship ands and its graduates have formed 12 new companies.

ACTiVATE recently received national acclaim and state-level investment. In late October, the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) gave the program its 2007 Innovation Award and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) gave ACTiVATE a $50,000 grant to help continue its mission.

Companies started by ACTiVATE graduates include:

-- EncorePath, built on a unique rehab technology for stroke victims developed by University of Maryland, Baltimore physical therapists;

-- Foligo Therapeutics, which has received significant funding as it focuses on new treatment therapies for ovarian cancer;

-- and Traxion Therapeutics, a biotech firm developing new drugs for chronic pain.

There are two remaining information sessions scheduled for women with significant business or technical backgrounds who are interested in ACTiVATE:

Monday, December 10, 2007
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Rockville Economic Development Office (REDI)
95 Monroe Street
Rockville, MD 20850

Tuesday, January 8, 2008
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Courtyard Room
techcenter@UMBC
1450 South Rolling Road
Baltimore, MD 21227

ACTiVATE classes will be held from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Monday evenings, starting on Feb. 4, 2008.

More information online: www.umbc.edu/activate

About ACTiVATE
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC) ACTiVATE* is a year-long program to train women with significant technical or business experience to be entrepreneurs and to create start-up companies from inventions from Maryland research institutions and federal agencies. It is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and is supported by Constellation Energy, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and Wachovia Bank. Admission to the program is competitive.

*ACTiVATE – Achieving the Commercialization of Technology in Ventures through Applied Training for Entrepreneurs

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November 27, 2007

Dr. Gene Cohen Explains Why Brains Get Better With Age

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Office: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- Contrary to long-held beliefs that brain power inevitably declines as we age, the mind actually experiences a surge of creativity and brain function well into the second half of life, says Dr. Gene Cohen, MD, PhD, who will present his groundbreaking research on “Creativity and Aging” at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), on December 3.

Sponsored by the Erickson School at UMBC, Cohen will speak at the University Center Ballroom at 10 a.m. Cohen is director of George Washington University’s Center on Aging, Health & Humanities and author of the book The Mature Mind: the Positive Power of the Aging Brain. Drawing on the latest scientific research as well as in-depth interviews with older women and men, Cohen has demonstrated for the first time how there are actually positive changes taking place in our minds as we age.

In his presentation, Cohen, 63, will explore how late-blooming artists such as Grandma Moses, Picasso and Georgia O’Keeffe reached their creative peak late in life. He will explain how the mind gives us “inner pushes” of creativity and positive change throughout adult life.

According to Cohen, not only can older brains produce new brain cells, but the latest research shows that the brain can draw on areas of itself underused in earlier years, compensating for effects of aging. From age 60-80, the brain’s information processing center achieves its greatest density and reach. And the brain has the capacity to “re-sculpt” itself as certain genes are activated by experience as we age.

Cohen is at the forefront of a movement to focus attention on the capacity for positive change and creative expression in the second half of life, rather than on aging as a problem.

About Gene Cohen

Cohen, a graduate of Harvard and Georgetown University medical school, earned a doctorate in gerontology from the Union Institute. He was the first chief of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Center on Aging, and served as acting director of the National Institute on Aging and coordinated Alzheimer’s-disease programs at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Cohen is founding director the Washington, DC-based think tank Center on Aging, and is past president of the Gerontological Society of America. He now directs George Washington University’s Center on Aging, Health & Humanities. He is also a professor of behavioral sciences and psychiatry at GW.

About the Erickson School

The Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was created with a $5 million commitment from John Erickson, CEO and founder Erickson Retirement Communities, and matching state funds. The School integrates aging, management, and policy in each of its programs, with a strong emphasis on preparing leaders for the 21st century. The School offers credit and non-credit educational programs at the undergraduate, masters, and executive levels.

Posted by kavan

November 26, 2007

Ecologists Remap the Biosphere to Include Humans

No Such Thing as Pristine Nature Any More, Say UMBC, McGill Researchers

Photo Caption: Ecologist Erle Ellis has helped design a new way of mapping the Earth to include human impact.

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE and MONTREAL – Pristine wilderness is a thing of the past and it’s time to adjust our vision of the biosphere accordingly, say a team of American and Canadian eco-geographers in new research published today.

Erle Ellis, associate professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at UMBC, and Navin Ramankutty, assistant professor in McGill University’s Department of Geography and Earth System Science Program, used global data from satellites and land management statistics to map a new system of “anthropogenic biomes” or human biomes, that describe the biosphere as it exists today, the result of human shepherding and reshaping of ecosystems. Their map provides a 21st century challenge to the classic images of Earth's wild ecosystems that appear in nearly every ecology and earth science textbook.

Their research will be published in the Nov. 26 issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment together with maps viewable in Google Earth and Google Maps at the Encyclopedia of Earth (a sort of Wikipedia for earth scientists and ecologists) and a printable classroom wall map for use by ecologists, educators and the public.

“The fact that an area is now covered by forests depends more on human decisions than it does on climate” said Ellis, who has studied anthropogenic landscapes in the field across rural China since 1992. He was inspired to investigate human landscapes globally during a research sabbatical at the Department of Global Ecology of the Carnegie Institute of Washington at Stanford University.

Photo Caption: Ellis has studied human biomes in rural China since 1992.

“The classic biomes, such as tropical rainforests or grasslands, were based on differences in vegetation caused by on climate,” said Ellis. “Now that humans have fundamentally altered global patterns of ecosystems and biodiversity, these biomes are rarely present across large areas any more. It is time for our map of the biosphere to reflect this new reality- that nature is now embedded within human systems” said Ellis.

Another key message from Ellis and Ramankutty was that ecologists should turn their focus to the changing ecosystems right underneath their feet. “A section of our paper is entitled ‘ecologists go home,’” said Ramankutty, an expert on global agriculture’s connection to environmental change. “Ecologists go to remote parts of the planet to study pristine ecosystems, but no one studies it in their back yard,” he said.

“We can no longer study ecology while ignoring humans,” Ellis said. “Humans are now as much a part of nature as the weather and human and ecological systems are so intricately linked that focusing just on nature gets in the way of conserving nature for future generations. We need to sustain positive interactions between human systems and ecosystems, not avoid these interactions. Focusing on so-called wilderness areas ignores more than four-fifths of Earth’s ice-free land. Ecologists need to do more research in places where humans live,” said Ellis.

Other key findings of the research:

More than three-quarters of our ice-free land surface is human altered. Wildlands cover just 22 percent of ice-free land today, and most of this land is barren and relatively unproductive.

Rangelands are the largest anthropogenic biomes, followed by cropland and forested biomes.

More than 80 percent of people live in dense settlements and village biomes, though these cover just seven percent of the Earth’s ice-free land surface. Village biomes are about five times as extensive as urban biomes and are home to about a quarter of Earth’s human population.

Anthropogenic biomes are mosaics. Instead of distinct vegetation or land-use types, anthropogenic biomes are complex mixtures of different land uses (settlements, crops, pastures, forests) that are classified by degree and type of human influence. For example, village biomes, which are found mostly in Asia and Africa, are crowded networks of towns and rural settlements embedded in intensively managed croplands and rice paddies alongside patches of less disturbed vegetation in hilly areas.

UMBC’s national reputation for excellence in earth and environmental science is growing. According to Thomson Scientific's Science Watch, UMBC's geoscience research ranked third nationally in citation impact for 2001-2005. The only other U.S. universities producing more frequently cited geoscience research papers were Harvard University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

UMBC ranks third nationally in NASA research funding and is home to two major collaborative NASA earth science research centers and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Maryland/Delaware/D.C. Water Science Center.

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November 19, 2007

UMBC Experts Discuss “Mental Illness and the Campus Community”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Office: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- Faculty and staff experts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will discuss “Mental Illness and the Campus Community” at this year’s Mosaic Roundtable, sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Studies (INDS) program. The free, public event will be held Tuesday, November 27, 4-6 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom.

In the wake of Virginia Tech University’s deadly shooting rampage, colleges nationwide have made campus security a top priority and have been reexamining policies dealing with students affected by mental illness.

But some critics at UMBC say that looking at mental health issues in the context of Virginia Tech’s massacre perpetuates a false stigma equating mental illness with violent outbreaks. Instead, college campuses need to encourage open dialogue about the facts of mental illness and the need for increased services for those impacted by depression and mental disorders, said INDS Director Patricia Lanoue.

“Substance abuse, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and other dimensions of mental illness have been a growing problem on college campuses nationwide,” LaNoue said.

LaNoue called the statistics sobering: 37 percent of college students reported they felt “so depressed it was difficult to function,” in a 2006 National Student Health Survey. Seven percent of college students have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, according to recent research conducted by UCLA. Suicide is among the top three leading causes of death for people ages 10 to 24 and the average onset age for most severe types of mental illnesses is 18 to 24, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

In addition, 92 percent of college counseling directors believe that the number of students with severe psychological problems has increased in recent years, according to the National Survey of Counseling Center Directors conducted by the International Association of Counseling Services in 2006. The survey found that 40 percent of students who seek campus counseling services have “severe psychological problems.”

UMBC Counseling Services data indicate that the most common mental health issues reported by UMBC students are anxiety/stress disorders, depression, academic problems, relationship problems and time management problems, said J. Lavelle Ingram, director of University Counseling Services, who will speak at the Mosaic Roundtable about behavioral indicators for mental illness and appropriate responses.

The media plays a large role in promoting inaccurate stigmas and stereotypes of people with mental illness, said Carolyn Tice, an associate dean in UMBC's department of Social Work, who will also speak at the Mosaic Roundtable. Events such as the Virginia Tech massacre often result in media frenzies. Also, a survey conducted for the Screen Actors’ Guild found that characters in prime time television portrayed as having mental illness are depicted as the most dangerous of all demographic groups.

Conversely, research indicates that people with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators. Researchers at North Carolina State University and Duke recently reported that people with severe mental illness – schizophrenia, bipoloar disorder or psychosis – are two and half times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population.

“One in three Americans will experience a form of mental disorder at some point in their lives,” LaNoue said. “The Mosaic Roundtable, created to address complex issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, is one way we can contribute to sharing knowledge and provide an opportunity for the campus community and the public to ask questions.”

Also speaking at this event:

Charles Milligan, executive director of the Center for Health Program Development and Management, will discuss patient confidentiality and counselors’ responsibilities in protecting the safety of third parties.

Carlo DiClemente, professor of psychology, will address addictions and the overlap between drinking, drug use and mental illness, as well as how abuse can contribute to emotional programs and mental illness.

For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/mosaic.

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UMBC is a medium-sized public research university of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate with professors on real-world challenges. Located just south of Baltimore near I-95 and the BWI airport, UMBC's residential campus houses state-of-the-art facilities in the sciences, engineering, arts, social sciences and humanities. UMBC combines the energy of a research university with the close community feel and attention to individual students found in liberal arts colleges.

Posted by kavan

October 26, 2007

UMBC’s ‘ACTiVATE’ Program to Receive National Award, TEDCO Funding

Program Trains Female Entrepreneurs to Take Maryland Universities’ Technologies to Market

CONTACT: Chip Rose, UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

ACTiVATE, an innovative program based at UMBC that trains female entrepreneurs to take technologies developed by Maryland universities to market, will receive a national honor and an investment from the state today.

The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) will award its 2007 Innovation Award to ACTiVATE today at the AURP’s national conference in St. Louis. Also today, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced a $50,000 grant to help ACTiVATE continue its mission.

“We are thrilled that UMBC and the ACTiVATE program was recognized by AURP with this year’s Innovation Award,” said Renée Winsky, president and executive director of TEDCO. “The program has proven to be instrumental in growing the number of women entrepreneurs commercializing groundbreaking research being developed in labs throughout the state and starting new businesses. In fact, we are so thrilled with the success of the program that TEDCO is providing a $50,000 grant award to UMBC to expand our continued support of the effort.”

“It is wonderful to have TEDCO support this effective technology entrepreneurship training program,” said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation. “ACTiVATE gives opportunities to women who are underrepresented as entrepreneurs while strengthening tech commercialization from Maryland’s research universities.

“AURP’s Innovation Award is a great honor for our program which we believe is well-deserved, since in the past three years, ACTiVATE has trained over 70 women who have formed 12 companies,” Hemmerly said.

Hemmerly is a past president of AURP and was instrumental in the establishment of ACTiVATE. She also recently received the Catonsville Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year award for her efforts to grow the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, which includes a high-tech business incubator, accelerator, research park and other UMBC entrepreneurial ventures.

Originally funded with a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, ACTiVATE’s goal is to form start-up companies based on technologies developed at UMBC, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, Towson University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and the University of Maryland College Park. In its first three years, ACTiVATE participants have evaluated 97 technologies from Maryland research institutions and formed 12 new companies.

ACTiVATE was recently cited by the National Science Foundation's 2007 Government Results and Accountability (GRPA) Performance Assessment Report. The annual report highlights best practices and programs from all fields of science and engineering supported by the NSF.

Companies started by recent ACTiVATE alumnae include: EncorePath, built on a unique rehab technology for stroke victims developed by University of Maryland, Baltimore physical therapists; Foligo Therapeutics, which has received significant funding as it focuses on new treatment therapies for ovarian cancer; and Traxion Therapeutics, a biotech firm developing new drugs for chronic pain.

EncorePath recently received $74,345 from TEDCO’s Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF). EncorePath’s founder and president Kris Appel has won first prize in business plan competitions from the MIT Enterprise Forum of Washington-Baltimore and the Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI).

The ACTiVATE Program is recruiting for its next class beginning in February 2008. Women with substantial business or technical backgrounds interested in applying for the competitive entrepreneurship training program should visit www.umbc.edu/activate for more information.

About ACTiVATE
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC) ACTiVATE* is a year-long program to train women with significant technical or business experience to be entrepreneurs and to create start-up companies from inventions from Maryland research institutions and federal agencies. It is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and is supported by Constellation Energy, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and Wachovia Bank. Admission to the program is competitive. For additional information about the ACTiVATE program, please see www.umbc.edu/activate.

*ACTiVATE – Achieving the Commercialization of Technology in Ventures through Applied Training for Entrepreneurs

About Maryland TEDCO:
The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), an independent entity, was established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1998 to facilitate the creation of businesses and foster their growth in all regions of the State. TEDCO's role is to be Maryland's leading source of funding for seed capital and entrepreneurial business assistance for technology transfer and development programs. TEDCO connects emerging technology companies with federal laboratories, research universities, business incubators and specialized technical assistance. For the fourth consecutive year, TEDCO was recognized as the most active early/seed stage investor in the nation in the July 2007 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. For more information on TEDCO and its programs and resources, visit www.MarylandTEDCO.org.

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October 24, 2007

The “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour” Comes to Baltimore for a Town-Hall Meeting on the Nation’s Unsustainable Fiscal Policy

U.S. Comptroller General David Walker will head a public forum on the campus of UMBC featuring federal budget analysts from across the political spectrum.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 3, 2007

CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Office: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE -- On Monday, Oct. 29, U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker comes to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) for the Maryland stop of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, a nationwide series of town hall forums focusing on the threats posed by the nation's long-term fiscal challenges. The event, sponsored by the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, will include a panel of analysts from The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation and will be open to the press and public.

“One thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that our nation's current fiscal policy is not sustainable over the long-term,” said Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition. According to Bixby:

“Our childrens' economic future is at risk, which is something no one wants. Changing course will require hard choices such as scaling back future entitlement promises, increasing revenues to pay for them, or -- most likely -- a combination of both. Because these choices are politically difficult, the active involvement of the American people is critical. Without greater understanding of the problem among the public, community leaders, business leaders and home state media, elected leaders are unlikely to break out of their comfortable partisan talking points and unlikely to find solutions. That is why we began the nationwide Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. As demonstrated by the recent election result, voters are tired of partisan gridlock. This gives both parties an opportunity and a duty to begin working together on the real problem we face. Ensuring a sound fiscal future for our children should certainly be high on their list.”

David Walker is the nation's top account and head of the GAO (Government Accountability Office), Congress' watchdog agency. He is frequently featured in the national media, most recently on CBS News 60 Minutes and Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, featured below:

What: Public Forum and Reception

Where: Engineering Building, Lecture Hall 5
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
(Click here for directions)

When: Monday, October 29, 2007
5:00 PM Public Forum
6:30 PM Reception

Who: U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker
Robert L. Bixby, The Concord Coalition
Doug Elmendorf, Brookings Institution
Stuart Butler, Heritage Foundation

For more information call 410-455-2916 or email FiscalWakeUp@umbc.edu.

Panel members will be available to the media before and after the event. For a complete press packet, visit: http://www.concordcoalition.org/events/fiscal-wake-up/press/07-atlanta-pp.html

For information about David Walker's participation, please contact the GAO Office of Public Affairs, 202-512-4800. For information about the forum, please contact Jonathan DeWald, Communications Director of The Concord Coalition, at 888.333.4248 or 703-894-6222.

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About The Concord Coalition

The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to informing the public about the need for generationally responsible fiscal policy

About UMBC

UMBC is a public research university integrating teaching, research, and service to benefit the citizens of Maryland. UMBC provides undergraduate programs in economics and political science and graduate programs in economic policy analysis and public policy. The Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program at UMBC supports talented undergraduate students who want to become effective leaders in government, non-profits, corporations and the community.

Posted by kavan

October 15, 2007

"Learn More": Television Ad Campaign Displays Energy Behind UMBC Scholarship and Campus Activity

CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

Oct. 16, 2007

BALTIMORE -- After welcoming a record 12,000 new and returning students this fall, UMBC plans to build on its success with an advertising campaign that aims to have even more people experience the public research campus.

The campaign, developed by Baltimore marketing and design firm idfive, will launch October 15 with a television ad in the Baltimore and Washington markets. The spot – titled “Learn More” – offers a highly visual 30-second tour showing the surprising range of students, professors, programs and activities on campus. The commercial also uses an animated map to emphasize the campus’s location near BWI airport.

The television ad can be viewed by clicking http://www.idfive.com/clients/umbc/30sec_spot/

“When people visit UMBC, they are amazed by the energy of the campus and the variety of opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students alike,” says Lisa Akchin, associate vice president for marketing and public relations. “The campaign will accelerate this process by bringing the campus to the attention of many more people.”

The new advertising message is part of a three-year, $2.2 million marketing investment made by the university to build undergraduate enrollment and attract more students to professional master’s and certificate programs. The campus, already well-known for its science and engineering programs, especially seeks to build the number of students enrolled in humanities, arts and social sciences programs, says Akchin.

Sean Carton, idfive’s chief strategy officer and a 1990 graduate of UMBC, is especially eager to get the word out that students at the campus get a great education and have fun doing it. “To know UMBC is to love it,” says the former English major turned entrepreneur. “As people learn more about the UMBC experience, they’ll love it too.”

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September 20, 2007

Research Indicates Investing to Reduce Child Poverty Pays Off

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 20, 2007

CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Office: 410-455-1896
kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE – Recent research indicating substantial economic benefits from investing in programs to reduce child poverty will be discussed by top policy researchers and child advocates Sept. 21 at the World Trade Center, in a public forum sponsored by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Department of Public Policy.

The economic circumstances in which children grow up have important effects on their success as adults. Recent research indicates that in addition to being justified on moral grounds, spending to improve the conditions in which poor children are raised provides substantial economic returns to the child and society.

From 8 to 10 a.m. Sept. 21, a panel of public policy researchers and child advocates will discuss this intriguing research and the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of different programs and policies that can improve key elements of a disadvantaged child’s life.

Moderator:
Patrick McCarthy
Vice-President for System and Service Reform, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Panelists:
Hathaway Ferebee
Executive Director, Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign

Harry J. Holzer
Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Marvin B. Mandell
Professor of Public Policy, UMBC

The forum is free and open to the public but advance registration is required. Call 410-455-8193, email policyforum@umbc.edu or visit www.umbc.edu/pubpol/forums.

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About UMBC

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a major research university in the Baltimore-Washington area. Its proximity to both federal and state government offices provides an ideal setting for training in a public policy program, internships and employment opportunities.

The Department of Public Policy offers a Master of Public Policy, a Ph.D. degree, and advanced graduate certificates. Our major areas of focus are: health policy; evaluation and analytical techniques; public management; social policy; and urban policy. For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/pubpol or call 410-455-3201.

Posted by kavan

September 19, 2007

Professionals Across Industries Attracted to Unique Masters Degree Program in Aging Services

CONTACT: Kavan Peterson
Phone: 410-455-1896
Email: kavan@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE – The first class of graduate students in the Erickson School’s new Masters in the Management of Aging Services (MAgS)program at UMBC includes professionals as varied as company CEO’s, nursing administrators, retirement community directors, marketing executives, publishers and the executive directors of aging departments in Baltimore City, Harford and Baltimore County.

Unlike any other graduate degree, the MAgS program weaves together disciplines in management, public policy and the study of human aging. Integrating these core disciplines combines skills and knowledge necessary for leaders creating and providing products, services and making policy for older adults, said Erickson School Dean Kevin Eckert.

“From healthcare and housing to finance and development, the Masters in Management of Aging Services is designed specifically to prepare individuals for leadership roles unique to the 21st Century,” Eckert said.

Designed for working professionals, the program is offered in a 15-month executive masters format. The program begins with an intensive one-week session Sept. 23-29, followed by sessions every two to three weekends and concludes with an integrative capstone exercise addressing a relevant issue for each student’s specific organization or agency. The program has attracted 27 students from eight states who will attend as a single cohort and graduate together in December 2008.

With America’s population of 65 and older expected to skyrocket to 77 million by 2030, there will be unprecedented opportunities and challenges to meet the needs of older adults.

"With the launch of the master's program, the Erickson School is positioned to prepare many of the nation's leaders in the aging field," said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.

As part of the school’s mission to change the way society thinks about aging, the master’s program will kick-off with an unconventional course designed around Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear. The play, about a dying patriarch who tears down his family with him, offers universal ins