Robert Provine, professor of psychology, will lead a discussion at the DC Science Café on May 21.  The DC Science Café, which is sponsored by the DC Science Writers Association, aims to give the general public an opportunity to participate in lively and important discussions about the consequential scientific discoveries and issues of our times.

The discussion will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Busboys and Poets’ 5th and K St., NW location. Provine’s discussion will focus on “Curious Behavior,” the subject of his book “Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond.”

A flyer for the event is below.

Robert Provine, professor of psychology, was a keynote speaker and judge at the U.S. finals of the Fifth Annual International Brain Bee on March 2 and 3.  This is the second time that Provine has spoken at and judged this event. The topic of his talk was “Curious Behavior,” and was based on his book “Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond.”

The International Brain Bee is an annual competition about knowledge of neuroscience for high school students sponsored by the Society for Neuroscience. Thousands of students from around the world participate. Forty-seven US regional finalists, from as far as California and Alaska competed; one regional finalist will be attending UMBC.

The U.S. finalist won a $3,000 and the opportunity to compete at the international championship in Vienna, Austria.

The Gazette reports that following Congressional reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Frederick’s Heartly House will be able to continue providing counseling services for victims of domestic abuse without worrying about major program cuts. Heartly House receives about $30,000 in federal funding under the law each year. House Republicans had resisted reauthorizing the legislation because it expands coverage to new groups.

UMBC assistant professor of political science Laura Hussey told the Gazette that blocking VAWA put House Republicans in a tough position. Although some stated that they opposed VAWA because they want to curb federal spending and involvement in state issues, Hussey notes that their position played into the Democratic message that Republicans are waging a “war Against women.” Read the full article online.

A new Washington Post poll, published this weekend, explores Marylanders’ views on Governor Martin O’Malley in the context of a potential future run for president. O’Malley received mediocre marks in some areas of the poll, which the authors note could be due to his work on polarizing issues, including same-sex marriage.

“He’s taken some very gutsy positions on some controversial issues,” said UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller. “My suspicion is that’s poisoned the well and brought him down some.” read the full article at the Washington Post.

Charlotte Keniston, an imaging and digital arts (IMDA) graduate student, has been selected as a featured artist in Maryland Art Place’s upcoming project, THIRTY: 30 Creative Minds Under 30.

Find out more at Maryland Art Place’s website.

“THIRTY is a series of monthly talks featuring thirty emerging Baltimore artists under the age of thirty. All of the participants use a diverse range of creative practices, from visual art to performance, curatorial, community art, design, film, photography and technology to create visual experiences.”

A recent visit by students of Mount Hebron High to the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture’s current exhibition, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, was featured in an article in the Arbutus Patch.

Read “Local High Schools to Visit UMBC Exhibition Thursday” at Patch.com.

The high school group, is one of several to visit the exhibition, in a project in which visiting students are encouraged to create their own “social justice-inspired artwork” following the visit. A collection of the student artwork is currently scheduled to be displayed in April 2013.

Associated Black Charities CEO Diane Bell-McKoy ’73, sociology, has recently been featured in Essence magazine and the Baltimore Business Journal, her foundation reported.

In the March issue of Essence magazine, Bell-McKoy is one of several women to discuss the effects depression can have on black women. In the first-person piece, she tells Essence: “For Black women who suffer from depression, racism is a real challenge, like a slap in the face you experience day in and day out.”

The Baltimore Business Journal story focuses on the fact that the majority of Baltimore city non-profit board positions are primarily filled with white males. In the story, Bell-McKoy (who has run ABC since 2007, and who before that worked with both the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Baltimore’s Empowerment Zone corporation) discusses the results of a survey her foundation commissioned around this subject.

Read the BBJ story here.

Bell-McKoy was a 2003 UMBC Oustanding Alumna of the Year. She was featured in UMBC Magazine; read that story here.

Over the last 20 years, Eastern Shore tattoo artist Todd “Noble” Holloway ’92, visual and performing arts, has made a name for himself as a businessman — and a permanent impression on his customers and the tattoo community.

In a recent story on DelmarvaNow.com, the Salisbury native describes a career pathway that lead him to ultimately opening his own tattoo parlor, Right Coast Tattoo in Fenwick Island. As he told DelmarvaNow:

“I didn’t really know the realm of tattooing until I started, but once I really got into, it I found that it’s all-encompassing and from there I focused on how to get better at it and continuously hone my skill,” Holloway said.

“I had no idea you could reach that kind of level of notoriety in tattooing,” he said. “It was never a goal.”

Read the story here at DelmarvaNow.com.

A new USA Today article exploring the impacts of sequestration suggests federal budget cuts designed to save $85 billion in the short term might end up costing the government more money in the future through lower tax revenue, increased unemployment, contract terminations, and deferred maintenance on warships and airplanes.

UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers, a former Congressional budget analyst, adds, “It makes it less likely that some contractors will want to supply services into the federal government, and in the future they’re going to charge a risk premium.”

Meyers further argues, “We’ve been paying this cost of sequester for a while already, just through wasted administrative time preparing for conditional cuts that generate absolutely no value for the American public.” Read the full article online at USA Today.