The tragic news of recent teen suicides paired with a climate of anti-LGBT bullying in many schools has taken an enormous toll on our community and on our nation as a whole. While we are hard at work each day, fighting to prevent bullying and discrimination in schools, this issue also deeply affects all of us here at HRC on a very personal level.
It is for this reason that many of us came together this week to lend our voices to the “It Gets Better” project. The campaign has been created in response to the epidemic of bully-related suicides around the country to remind teens that life gets better, and that many of the feelings that can seem overwhelming won’t be around forever.
All of us here – from the newest intern to HRC president Joe Solmonese – feel passionately about this issue, and we sincerely wish that the video will lend a bit of hope to those in need. Teens, and anyone else struggling with thoughts of suicide, need to be told that things will improve, and that life will get better.
I hope that no matter who you are, you will take the time to check out “It Gets Better.” If you want to know more about the work that we here at HRC are doing to make our schools a more safe and welcoming place, check out our Schools & Youth resources. Most importantly, the Trevor Project and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline have resources available for those in crisis. No matter who you are, there is someone out there that cares for you. Hang on, it gets better.
]]>UMBC now has trial access to the three AAS Historical Periodicals collections through Dec.24.
EBSCO has partnered with the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) to provide digital access to American periodicals published between 1691 and 1877. In total, more than 6,500 periodicals will be available, eclipsing all other online resources in this area. The collection is divided into three series:
Series 1 presents over 500 titles dating from 1691 through 1820.
On campus direct access: Series1
Series 2 presents over 1,000 titles dating from 1821 through 1837.
On campus direct access: Series 2
Series 3 presents over 1,800 titles dating from 1838 through 1852.
On campus direct access: Series 3
The databases can also be accessed through the EbscoHost platform. Access any Ebsco database, click on "Choose Databases." The three AAS databases are at the end of the list and may be searched individually or in combination.
For off-campus access, please login via VPN first (http://vpn.umbc.edu). Then follow the link under "News & Events" on the library homepage. For more info on remote access, see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/remoteaccess.php
Feedback is encouraged. Use the form below or send directly to Drew Alfgren: alfgren@umbc.edu
]]>Contact:
Anthony Lane
Communications Manager:
Science, Technology and Environment
(410) 455-5793
alane@umbc.edu
A multi-institution team led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has received a $5 million water sustainability grant from the National Science Foundation— one of only three awarded nationally in that grant category — to develop a model of urban development sophisticated enough to answer crucial questions about water quality and supply.
What controls the way cities and suburbs develop, how do those development patterns affect present and future climate patterns, and how is all of this linked to the water cycle and water quality?
“Development puts stress on regional water supplies and aquatic ecosystems, and there are lots of questions about how we can better manage those stresses,” said Claire Welty, a UMBC professor who is principal investigator on the grant. “Those questions become even more urgent when we consider the uncertainties associated with climate change. Our team brings together hydrologists, social scientists and ecologists to find answers by analyzing the social, regulatory and economic factors that shape development, and with it the flow of water in the urban landscape.”
Urban development changes water flow in both obvious and subtle ways. Rainwater hitting parking lots, roads, rooftops and compacted soils is quickly shed as runoff, often carrying salt and nitrogen compounds into nearby waterways. Bridges, channels and culverts alter streams and rivers, while wells draw down aquifers and urban water systems shift water upstream or between watersheds. Urban landscapes also influence atmospheric processes, including patterns of evaporation and rainfall, in ways that scientists are just beginning to understand.
Welty, a professor in UMBC’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), said investigators will focus on understanding these and other factors in the context of land-use decisions and regional climate variability.
By documenting processes in the Baltimore region that have led to land conversion from farms and forests to urban and suburban uses, they aim to predict how future changes will affect water and nutrient flows, creating a model that policymakers can use to gauge the impact of various decisions and regulations.
The grant will be shared by 13 investigators at UMBC, the University of Maryland College Park, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Ohio State University, the University of Rhode Island, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, US Geological Survey and USDA Forest Service.
About $1.5 million of the five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Water Sustainability and Climate program will go to UMBC.
The research will build on 12 years of hydrological, chemical and socioeconomic data from the NSF-supported Baltimore Ecosystem Study, which is hosted at UMBC by CUERE.
In addition to managing the project, Welty and the UMBC team will work on modeling groundwater/surface water flows and nutrient transport. UMBC co-principal investigators include Andrew Miller, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems and Michael McGuire, geospatial data services manager and assistant research scientist at CUERE.
Miller said a multidisciplinary approach that includes the natural sciences, engineering and social sciences is crucial to understanding the complex relationships between climate, water, ecosystem processes and the built environment in an increasingly urbanized world.
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