The Dresher Center for the Humanities invites applications for two residential graduate student research fellowships. Funding will be given for the fall 2015 semester and is intended to promote promising research by graduate students in the humanities. The fellowships are open to all UMBC doctoral and master's level students working on humanities-related research projects that will culminate in a dissertation or master's thesis.

Fellows will reside two days a week in a shared office in the Dresher Center during the fall semester and will receive up to $1,000 to be used for research travel, materials, or other directly-related research expenses. Fellows will present a session as part of the CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now series and attend the Humanities Forum and other Dresher Center events and workshops.

After the fall semester, fellows will submit a summary of the work they accomplished during the semester, as well as a statement on the progress made towards the completion of their dissertation or master's thesis.

Applications for Fall 2015 fellowships must be received by March 15, 2015.

For information and an application: http://dreshercenter.umbc.edu/scholarly-resources/umbc-graduate-student-residential-fellowship-program/ 

In the wake of three hit-and-run accidents in the Baltimore region, the Baltimore Sun  recently published an article addressing the question of what leads someone to flee an accident where another person may have suffered harm?

Psychology professor Carlo DiClemente was quoted in the article and discussed how alcohol, a factor in about 30 percent of traffic fatalities nationally, can amplify emotions of fear, shame, and guilt which overwhelm self-control.

“Rational decision-making is clearly difficult in an intoxicated state, particularly as blood-alcohol levels increase,” said DiClemente. “Fear and escape motivations kick in and, without good executive functioning, make flight more probable.”

DiClemente, who researches addictive behavior, was recently appointed to the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The council advises and makes recommendations to the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) secretary, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) director on research program and policy matters in the field of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. For more information, click here.

To read the full article in the Baltimore Sun, click here.

In light of the recent significant snowfall across parts of the Northeast, School of Public Policy professor John Rennie Short wrote an article for The Conversation   in which he analyzed the impact of climate change on extreme weather events.

In referencing the 60 inches of snow that fell in 30 days on Boston and parts of the wider region, Short wrote: “This is the new normal for weather in the US. Global climate change increases the chances that the once-a-century event is now a once-every-twenty-years occurrence. The country is now experiencing more severe weather events: long droughts in the Southwest, destructive wildfires in the West, and more intense hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.”

In his article, Short discussed urban planning and climate adaptation and the value of publicly funded services, among other topics.

“Immediately after a storm, there is public outcry for more and better emergency responses, but these priorities quickly move to the back of the line of government priorities as the event passes from memory. We are not good at using public monies for extreme, irregular events,” Short wrote. “Major weather events also expose the recurring dilemma of balancing public concerns with private interest. The shift of the past forty years towards private interests is embodied in the desire for small government, reducing taxation and shrinking the public sector.”

To read the full article titled “Extreme weather exposes the vulnerability of our cities to climate change,” click here.