Q&A with Rick Bissell
Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director
UMBC Emergency Health Services (EHS) program

As the U.S. presidential election draws near, homeland security remains a top concern for Maryland’s voters. Many Marylanders are curious about what government agencies and first responders have learned since Sept. 11, 2001, and how well prepared the state is for future emergencies.

UMBC Research News spoke with Rick Bissell from UMBC’s fast-growing Emergency Health Services department on the state of homeland security and emergency readiness in Maryland. Bissell discussed how UMBC EHS is working with state, local and federal government agencies to make sure Maryland’s emergency first-responders, hospitals and health departments are well-trained for disaster scenarios.

UMBC EHS also has an extensive online training program for emergency workers through the National Disaster Medical System, part of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. To date, UMBC EHS has created more than 200 courses and trained more than 16,000 physicians, nurses, paramedics and logistical staff in emergency preparedness and disaster response.

What is UMBC EHS doing currently to help Maryland first-responders be better prepared?

We have a two-year contract with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to provide disaster-preparedness training for both directors and line personnel in hospitals and health departments statewide. These are day-long sessions covering everything from potential terrorist threats to location-specific emergencies like snow collapsing a building roof after a blizzard.

What are some specific areas where Maryland needs to improve?

The main problem in the past has been that the health sector—both public health departments and hospitals – weren’t well integrated into the state’s emergency management system. When we do these training sessions, we often find that the health sector isn’t always coordinated with non-health sector resources like police, fire, state and county emergency management agencies. It’s not so much the fault of the health sector, it’s just that in Maryland, like a lot of states, prior to 9/11, the health sector wasn’t integrated in a meaningful way with emergency management.

Is there a terror scenario that Maryland is not well prepared for?

The worst-case scenario today would be the breakout of a new infectious microbe with a long incubation period. This could be caused by either bioterror or a natural incident. With a long enough incubation period, the damage would be done before infected people start showing up and hospitals or health departments realize that an attack or outbreak is underway.

The absolute worst probable case we think about is a scenario where terrorists release an infectious microbe in a crowded space like a convention center. Less probable but truly catastrophic would be the detonation of a nuclear weapon in a populated area. There is no good response to that scenario; only prevention works.

So what is Maryland doing better than before 9/11?

Well, we’re better off than we were before 9/11 and Maryland is better off than many states, mainly thanks to a new statewide emergency information-sharing system for the health sector. This system allows health sector workers from across the state to post surveillance findings or odd clinical findings in real time to share with other officials.

For example, if a case that looks like bioterror shows up at a hospital ER in Garrett County, people in Baltimore will know there’s a problem virtually immediately. This system is also helpful for more day-to-day needs like immediate access to hospital capacity information so a full hospital can steer incoming patients to a nearby facility with more bed space available.

Second, and perhaps most important, hospitals are now training with emergency responders. Hospital workers now know who to contact for all kinds of scenarios. Everybody is learning their roles, who they’re supposed to work with and how information is supposed to be transmitted, and that’s real progress and a dramatic change from the pre-9/11 days.

Has 9/11 raised awareness of and funding for emergency health services in America?

Yes, definitely, but most of us in the field feel that we’re on top of a bubble and that much-needed funding isn’t getting to first-responders as fast as it should. Everywhere I travel across the U.S., there is frustration among emergency health workers, from the county level on down, because lots of money funded for local application never got there.

In many cases, it’s because the states are still holding onto the funds. EMS is probably the most egregiously treated area, with lots of money promised but virtually nothing trickling down to the local level.

So how scared should people be of another terror attack in the U.S.?

I think it’s important to remember that weapons of mass destruction like chemical and biological weapons are much harder to use than people think. The famous example is the Aum Shirinkyo cult attack with sarin gas on the Japanese subway several years ago, which was quite ineffective at wreaking mass destruction, and the cult had tried to use bioweapons for years before that attack with no results. What’s interesting is that Aum Shirinkyo was a well financed group with well qualified scientists.

What about preparing a personal safety plan? What can people do to feel better prepared?

I recommend following Department of Homeland Security and Red Cross guidelines—having a family plan for emergencies that parallels preparation for a hurricane or blizzard. A common-sense approach of having a battery-powered radio, bottled water, some canned food and so on available is always a good idea. Go to www.ready.gov for more information.

But most of all it’s important to have a family communication plan and to never panic. My best advice on a personal level is to carry a small penlight or pocket flashlight on your person—maybe on your keychain or in your purse. That way in any scenario, whether it’s a simple weather-related blackout or something more serious, you have a comforting and common-sense way to guide yourself and others out of any potential danger.

Some homeland security first responders travel on four legs. Thanks to a four-year collaboration between UMBC chemistry and biochemistry professor Bradley Arnold and George Murray of The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), an explosive detection device about the size of a pocket calculator may one day give bomb-sniffing canines a high-tech break.

“We hope our detector will be as sensitive as the bomb detecting dogs—plus you will not have to feed it and it never needs a rest," says Arnold.

According to Arnold, a patent is in the works for both tabletop and handheld versions of the device, and the inventors are already talking to a local company about licensing their new technology.

Murray, a former professor in the chemistry department at UMBC, is an expert in molecularly imprinted polymers, or MIPs. “MIPs are polymers that have cavities in them that are designed to have exactly the right shape to hold the molecule of interest—like how a key fits a lock,” explains Arnold.

Paired with fiber optics, which picks up a light emission signal created when the explosive agent reacts with a surrounding material, the MIP provides a way to identify explosive compounds. “All you have to do is wave the fiber in the area you want to check for explosives, and if they are present, you can see the emission from them using our device,” says Arnold.

Aside from using the technology to protect against terror attacks, Arnold and Murray also have some more everyday uses in mind—similar devices that will recognize certain drugs or spoiled food. “We think mothers would like to know what their teenage kids are up to and if the leftovers in the fridge are still safe to eat,” says Arnold. “But that’s another field altogether—call it household security instead of homeland security."

Baltimore Business Journal
EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
From the July 30, 2004 print edition

UMBC launches first spinoff; company develops food tech
Robert J. Terry
Staff

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is launching a new commercial enterprise -- a company developing technology to detect whether seafood is spoiled.

Aurora Analytics LLC is the first spinout launched by the university's Office of Technology Development and is its most ambitious move yet to foster technology transfer, commercializing university research with the help of investors and strategic partners. The company is headed by two UMBC-affiliated chemists, Aris Kalivretenos and William R. LaCourse.

The startup, officially launched in May, is developing test kits for seafood processors to check for spoiled fish. Aurora envisions its technology eventually being applied in the poultry and meat industries.

Rather than simply license the technology, UMBC's Office of Technology Development filed a patent on the research and formed Aurora to develop and market the technology.

UMBC has taken an equity stake in Aurora -- it won't say how much but describes its stake as significant -- and is now putting its resources to work nurturing the company through the difficult startup phase. Aurora has taken up residence in UMBC's technology incubator and is working with university staffers to secure government grants to expand its research efforts and operations.

Aurora is also working with an incubator neighbor, Columbia Technologies, doing contract analytical work, a service component of its business model that will serve as an important revenue stream as it aims to bring a product to market.

For UMBC, Aurora is the test case for a new, more aggressive approach to technology transfer. State officials are pinning much of Maryland's future economic development hopes on the ability to leverage the billions of dollars in research funding that flow annually into state universities and government laboratories and commercialize that work.

"It's significant in that we're taking more of a proactive role in this and we want to do more of this," said Stephen Auvil, director of UMBC's Office of Technology Development.

© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.

Research by faculty and graduate students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) was published in the prestigious Nature family of scientific journals four times in October, including work in molecular biochemistry, earth science and quantum photonics. Overviews of the findings by UMBC researchers follow below, with links to further coverage.

Synchronize Quantum Watches
Nature, October 14
UMBC physics graduate students Alejandra Valencia and Giuliano Scarcelli teamed with UMBC physics professor and co-principal project investigator Yanhua Shih on a method for synchronizing distant clocks, an important function for telecommunications and global positioning satellite systems. Their experiment showed that quantum entanglement of photon pairs allowed the synchronization of two clocks three kilometers apart to within picoseconds of each other. The research was also featured in Applied Physics Letters and Science News.

As the World Turns, It Drags Space and Time
Nature, October 21
UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) scientist Erricos Pavlis co-led a team that proved how shifts in satellite orbits are caused by the Earth warping space and time as it rotates, a phenomenon first predicted in 1918 by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. The international team of NASA and university researchers studied the orbits of two satellites over an 11 year span to arrive at the first direct proof of what is known as "frame dragging." "It's like a bowling ball spinning in molasses," said Pavlis. "As the Earth rotates, it pulls space-time in its vicinity around itself, which shifts the orbits of satellites near Earth." The findings were covered by newspapers and science websites across the globe.

Iraqi Fire Pollution Rivaled 1980 Mt. St. Helens Eruption
Nature News, October 25
JCET volcano expert Simon Carn led a group of earth scientists who used satellite monitoring to show how pollution caused by the ongoing war in Iraq has rivaled the output of one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recent history. Carn's group observed how a June, 2003 fire at a sulphur plant near Mosul, Iraq, probably started by arsonists, caused the largest man-made release of polluting sulphur dioxide ever recorded, which was similar in magnitude to the same type of pollution released by the 1980 Mount Saint Helens volcanic eruption. The story was covered by BBC News online and other national and international science media.

Why Retrovirus Replication Takes Two
Nature News & Views, October 28; Nature, Sept. 30
UMBC molecular biochemist and AIDS researcher Michael Summers, the only Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at a Maryland public university, and UMBC HHMI research associate Victoria D'Souza discovered a potential answer to a question that has baffled scientists for 20 years, namely how and why retroviruses must make two copies of their RNA in order to successfully infect other cells. By studying MoMULV, a retrovirus commonly used in the lab to learn more about lethal viruses like HIV, the UMBC team discovered a potential "RNA switch" instrumental to this process that could lead to a next generation of antiretroviral drug therapies. The work originally appeared in Nature on Sept. 30 and was then reviewed in the Oct. 28 "News and Views" section of the journal.

About UMBC Research:
UMBC's research funding has quadrupled during the past decade to over $85 million and the campus ranks sixth nationally in inventions disclosed and ninth nationally in U.S. patent applications filed per million dollars spent on research. UMBC, which is ranked 16th nationally in NASA funding, is home to three major collaborative NASA research centers. Michael Summers, the only Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at a Maryland public university, has led student researchers in solving three of the seven protein structures which make up HIV. In 2000, Summers was one of only 10 recipients nationwide of the National Science Foundation's Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Light for All

 

The science of light – photonics – is as ubiquitous as oxygen in today’s technology driven world. Go to the grocery store, make a phone call, listen to a CD or watch a movie on DVD and odds are photonics made it possible.

Anthony Johnson , director of UMBC’s Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) is not only focused on pushing the boundaries of research in his field, but is also determined to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the sciences.

CASPR, which began with a 2002 NASA grant, is an interdisciplinary center, partnering with UMBC’s Departments of Physics; Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Mathematics and Statistics; and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. A current CASPR goal is to partner with photonics faculty in Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry and Biological Sciences.

Johnson, one of the most respected researchers in his field and a past president of the Optical Society of America, has longtime connections to UMBC that helped bring him to campus. Johnson got his start at the famous Bell Laboratories, where he was in the same Cooperative Research Fellowship Program as UMBC Graduate School Associate Dean Janet Rutledge.

Soon after CASPR’s funding was announced, Rutledge, along with Curtis Menyuk and Gary Carter—UMBC photonics experts and longtime colleagues of Johnson—encouraged him to consider leading the new center.

“I really liked what I saw at UMBC,” said Johnson. “There was a strong photonics effort, plus the opportunity to do things I enjoy most—working with students and mentoring while doing industrial collaboration in an academic setting.”

He also liked UMBC’s track record of increasing the number of minorities and women in the sciences. “I wanted to translate the model of the Meyerhoff Program’s success in biomedical sciences to the physical sciences and engineering,” said Johnson. “In addition to world-class research, I really would like to foster that kind of environment in the physical sciences and engineering and spearhead it through CASPR.”

Johnson knows firsthand the uphill battle minorities in the sciences face. “In 1981 when I received my Ph.D. in physics, there were roughly 1,000 physics doctorates granted in the country,” he said. “Of those, only four went to African-Americans and I was one of the four.”

According to Johnson, those paltry numbers have not changed much in the decades since. Out of about 1,000 physics Ph.D.’s awarded annually in the U.S., an average of just 10 to 15 go to African Americans, and only about 20 to Hispanic Americans.

The numbers don’t improve at the faculty level. “Out of the nearly 5000 full-time physics faculty at 186 U.S. Ph.D. producing institutions, there are only about 38 African American physics faculty in the nation right now. I just couldn’t believe it was that low.” [Source: 2000 Physics Academic Workforce – American Institute of Physics]

Under Johnson’s leadership, CASPR is already becoming a magnet for talented women and minority researchers. Elaine Lalanne, Ph.D., an assistant research scientist at CASPR, received her doctorate in 2003 from NJIT and was very likely the only African American female to receive a physics PhD in the country that year.

Johnson is a firm believer in taking his dedication on the road and into the community. Each year he logs thousands of miles traveling cross country and across the globe to locations like Italy and Ghana to connect with fellow researchers, educators and most importantly, to demonstrate science to young people.

He is the principal investigator of “Hands-On Optics: Making an Impact with Light,” a K-12 educational outreach partnership that includes the Optical Society of America and the National Science Foundation. This past summer, he hosted an optics and laser demonstration for middle school girls from ESTEEM, a UMBC Center for Women and Information Technology-affiliated program.

Johnson is on the road a lot in his personal life as well, as he still lives in New Jersey and drives home for the weekends to be with his wife, Adrienne Johnson, Ph.D. The Johnsons have three children, one of whom, Brandon, is a sophomore mechanical engineering major and Meyerhoff Scholar at UMBC.

A portion of the NASA funds were used to build a CASPR Ultrafast Optics & Optoelectronics Research & Teaching Facility for Johnson’s research group. His group is doing research on a variety of future-looking technologies, including the interesting optical properties of carbon nanotubes, high-speed optical switching for telecommunications, improving quality control for fiber optic manufacturers and research in optical limiting for proposed experimental eyewear for the U.S. Department of Defense.

But the project that Johnson and CASPR are most eagerly awaiting news about is UMBC’s participation in Mid-Infrared Technology for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE). The $17 million NSF Engineering Research Center proposal teams CASPR and UMBC with co-investigators at Princeton University (lead institution), The Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, Texas A&M University and the City University of New York.

“Of 110 pre-proposals submitted to NSF, our team has made it to the final nine proposals and is a strong competitor to make the final cut to four funded proposals,” Johnson said. “This would be a major engineering center at UMBC if we are selected. We are incredibly excited about the future of CASPR.”

(11/1/05)

 

 

 

The science of light – photonics – is as ubiquitous as oxygen in today’s technology driven world. Go to the grocery store, make a phone call, listen to a CD or watch a movie on DVD and odds are photonics made it possible.

UMBC is fortunate to be at the forefront of the photonics field, thanks to the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR), where exciting advances in basic science and novel applications are being made.

CASPR unites the efforts of prominent photonics researchers throughout UMBC into a single interdisciplinary collaborative center of nearly 20 researchers drawn from UMBC's Departments of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, Physics, Math & Statistics and Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, plus 20 graduate students. The center is supported under grants from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Science Foundation, Naval Research Laboratories, Army Research Laboratories and the Army Research Office.

Current CASPR investigations involve a broad spectrum of future-looking technologies including:

• theoretical and experimental research in ultra-broadband optical telecommunications by Gary Carter, Yung J. Chen, Tulay Adali, Curtis Menyuk, John Zweck, Susan Minkoff, and Joel Morris;
• fabrication and studies of photonic semiconductor materials, optical devices, and electronic structures for new generations of spaceborne high-power/high-temperature lasers, terahertz radiation generation, high speed single photon detectors, and sensors by Fow-Sen Choa, Terry Worchesky, Michael Hayden, and Li Yan;
• studies of optical properties of nanostructures and other novel materials in an Ultrafast Optics Laboratory by Anthony Johnson and Elaine Lalanne;
• science of quantum photon entanglement and its applications, such as precision clock synchronization, remote spectroscopy, and remote lensless imaging by Yanhua Shih, Morton Rubin, and Arthur Pittenger.

For a full description of current and future CASPR projects please visit the CASPR web site to view or download the 2004 and 2005 CASPR Annual Reports.

CASPR director Anthony Johnson is not only focused on pushing the boundaries of research in his field, but is also determined to change the face of science in America.

Johnson, a past president of the Optical Society of America, was drawn to UMBC because of its strong photonics research foundation. He got his start at Bell Laboratories in the same Cooperative Research Fellowship Program as UMBC Graduate School Associate Dean Janet Rutledge. Rutledge and longtime photonics colleagues Menyuk and Carter encouraged him to apply to lead CASPR.

One project that Johnson and CASPR are eagerly awaiting news about is UMBC’s participation in Mid-Infrared Technology for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE). The $17 million NSF proposal teams CASPR and UMBC with lead institution Princeton University, the Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, Texas A&M University and the City University of New York.

“Our team has made it to the final nine from 110 pre-proposals and is a strong competitor to make the final cut to four funded proposals,” he said. “This would be a major engineering center at UMBC if we are selected. We are incredibly excited about the future of CASPR.”

Johnson’s optimism for the future of CASPR is tempered by concern about the big picture for American science. “We’re so used to being number one, but it’s not at all clear that we’re going to stay number one in science and technology,” he said. “We need to wake up and provide better support for our federally funded research, because that’s where our innovations come from.”

Helping Women Achieve Their Potential

 

UMBC’s array of programs that empower women to be both successful students and successful professionals has been recognized for the second year in a row by CosmoGIRL! magazine’s guide to the 50 best colleges for girls. Featured in the magazine’s October 2005 issue, the guide also includes such institutions as Amherst College; Brown University; Duke University; MIT; Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

“We’re confident that the girls who go [to UMBC] are given the opportunity to see other women being innovative thinkers and successful leaders, and that these students will, in turn, follow in their footsteps and become the powerhouses of tomorrow,” said CosmoGIRL!’s Editor-in-Chief, Susan Schulz.

In compiling the list for its readership of young women ages 12 through 17, editors at CosmoGIRL! consulted admissions officers and guidance counselors across the country to determine the kind of environment that gives girls the best chance of success in school and after graduation. These key factors include prominent female role models on campus, strong women’s sports programs, outstanding technology and entrepreneurship programs, excellence in internship and job placements and effective alumni networks.

UMBC impressed the magazine’s editors with a variety of programs that empower women. UMBC’s Women’s Studies Program, which emphasizes the importance of historical, cross-cultural and international perspectives, recently added certificate programs for undergraduate and graduate students. The Women’s Studies Coordinating Committee worked with the Office of Student Affairs to develop Women Involved in Learning and Leadership (WILL) , which engages the campus in a learning community that promotes academic excellence, leadership development, career exploration and civic engagement on women’s issues. The University’s Women’s Center provides programs that support women’s academic and intellectual growth, professional development and personal empowerment.

Other innovative programs that help women achieve their potential include the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT), dedicated to achieving women’s full participation in all aspects of information technology (IT), while the Imaging Research Center (IRC), specializing in high-end computer animation and visualization, offers both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to work on professional projects with clients such as the Baltimore Museum of Art, PBS and the Discovery Channel. Through UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, students can gain targeted expertise through internships, test their skills through competitions, accelerate a business concept through the Idea Lab, and attend courses and lectures tailored to spark their entrepreneurial spirit.

In addition, UMBC is one of only 16 schools in the country chosen by the National Science Foundation to sponsor an ADVANCE program designed to support the recruitment and advancement of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Programs that help women prepare for success after graduation include the UMBC Alumni Association’s popular “Backpack to Briefcase” program, which offers students the opportunity to network with the University’s alumni. UMBC’s Career Services Center and Shriver Center offer internship and coop placement, as well as other programs that help students make a successful transition from UMBC to the workforce.

(10/24/05)

 

 

 

John Cannizzo, an associate research scientist with UMBC’s Joint Center for Astrophysics was part of a global team who recently unveiled some secrets of a little understood, powerful cosmic explosion in the prestigious journal Nature.

Cannizzo was one of an international team of nearly 80 astrophysicists who co-authored a paper entitled “A short γ-ray burst apparently associated with an elliptical galaxy at redshift z=0.225” published in the Oct. 6, 2005 issue of Nature. The lead of the paper’s 77 authors was N.Gehrels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The paper looked at the lesser-understood of the two types of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), known as ‘short and hard’ GRBs. Longer duration GRBs are less powerful but have an easier to study afterglow. They have been extensively studied and are known to be caused by explosions of massive stars in faraway galaxies.

Short GRBs don’t have a long afterglow and are thus more elusive. With the help of NASA’s Swift satellite, launched last November, a short burst, GRB 050509B, was viewed, precisely measured and studied. Over 20 years after short GRBs were first recognized, their likely origin was revealed as a merger between neutron stars of a binary system and the instantaneous production of a black hole.

Links to more information:
NASA Press Release

There are miniature, sci-fi movie monsters buzzing around the bucolic fields of Maryland’s wineries and orchards, but you have to know where to look.

Grab a magnifying glass, kneel down near the fallen grapes and peaches and soon you’ll see tiny fruit flies flitting from meal to meal and laying their eggs. Look closer and you may see a stealthy intruder injecting the unsuspecting fruit fly larva with its own eggs that will soon make the flies the surprise special of the day.

For UMBC senior Kate Laskowski, this shape-shifting horror show worthy of a David Cronenberg or Alien movie is just another day in the field. The biological sciences major with a chemistry minor from Easton, Md., has spent nearly three years studying parasitoid wasps, a fascinating insect that could someday help us better understand human aging.

Laskowski, a UMBC Presidential Fellow with a 3.93 GPA, has studied the wasps at Boordy Winery in northeastern Maryland, a peach orchard in Severn, Md. and in the lab of her mentor, UMBC biological sciences professor Jeff Leips. She recently traveled to Cardiff, Wales, where she turned heads as the only undergraduate student at a research conference on the wasps.

“The poster that she presented on her research won first prize, beating out all other presenters that included graduate students and post docs,” said Leips.

According to Leips, the wasps’ creepy means of reproduction was the inspiration for the Alien series of science fiction thriller films. The wasps literally rob the cradle of other insect species, injecting their eggs into living fruit fly larvae. The tiny time bomb lies dormant for four to five days until the larva pupates, or spins a cocoon around itself. Only then does the baby wasp hatch, killing its host and simultaneously providing itself with a food supply and comfy, secure home in which to grow.

More importantly to Laskowski, is the wasps’ interaction with fruit flies or Drosophila, the standard studied life system for geneticists. A particular fruit fly gene, known as Ddc, seems to be an enzymatic tradeoff between how long the fly lives and how well they can avoid a parasitoid attack. Long-living flies are more likely to get hit, while those better resistant to wasp attacks seem to be shorter-lived.

“Ddc accounts for a 15 percent variation in longevity in the fruit flies,” said Laskowski, “So myself and many other researchers in the Leips Lab and across the world are very curious about what else Ddc could teach us about human aging.”