Strong Market Demand for UMBC Research Park Buildings

International property development and investment firm Grosvenor announced today the sale of two buildings at bwtech@UMBC, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s on-campus research and technology park, to Baltimore-based Merritt Properties, LLC.

Merritt acquired the 63,000 square foot three-story building at 5521 Research Park Drive, delivered in 2001 and fully occupied by RWD Technologies, and the 60,000 SF 5523 Research Park Drive building delivered in mid-2004. 5523 Research Park Drive is leased to multiple tenants including BDMetrics, Inc., Edwards and Kelcey, Invoke Systems, Convergent Technologies, Physicians Practice, Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, and other organizations including several UMBC program offices.

The sale includes transfer of a long-term ground lease for the two building lots, totaling approximately eight acres. However, the sale terminated Grosvenor’s prior development agreement and plan for the remainder of the 41-acre site.

“Our successful sale of bwtech@UMBC is part of Grosvenor’s overall U.S. strategy to concentrate our holdings in four major markets -- Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco -- while focusing on urban office and boutique retail product,” said Andrew Galbraith, Senior Vice President, Grosvenor. “In divesting this suburban office park, we found a perfect match with Merritt Properties, which is locally based and has developed more than 13 million square feet of office, flex, and industrial property in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.”

"We were pleased to see such high market demand for our buildings," said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation. "Our team was also delighted to have a top-notch manager like Merritt Properties on board who will maintain the high standards and reputation in the real estate industry that Grosvenor had established so well with bwtech@UMBC."

"We look forward to working with UMBC and are excited about the acquisition of these two Class A office buildings which help further strengthen our position in the marketplace,” said Robb Merritt, Vice President of Merritt Properties.

Merritt manages several other top properties in the greater Baltimore region, including Columbia Corporate Park, Columbia Corporate Park 100, Beltway Business Park, Schilling Square, Timonium Business Park
and Merritt Owings Mills.

About bwtech@UMBC:
bwtech@UMBC allows tenants to benefit from access to UMBC’s expertise, students, technology, programs, and facilities. Businesses moving to the Research Park, which is part of Maryland’s Southwest Enterprise Zone, may receive tax incentives in exchange for creating new jobs and making capital investments.

UMBC began planning for a new research and technology park in the early 1990s, based on the success of similar endeavors in other parts of the U.S. In 1998, UMBC forged ahead with its approved plan for a research and technology park that would house more mature companies, potentially including “graduates” of the techcenter@UMBC incubator program. UMBC searched for a development partner and ultimately selected Grosvenor, based in part on the firm’s experience in developing other research parks including one at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

About Merritt Properties, LLC:
Merritt Properties, LLC defines its mission simply: Creating Homes for Businesses. Since 1967, this privately held commercial real estate firm has developed more than 13 million square feet of industrial and office properties in the Baltimore/Washington area. Merritt designs, builds, leases and manages their properties for the long-term and is committed to providing the highest quality service to all of its customers. For more information about the company, please visit www.merrittproperties.com.

About Grosvenor:
Grosvenor is a privately owned real estate development and investment company that has been active in North America for more than 50 years. The Company’s North American portfolio consists of more than six million square feet of space, including office, retail, industrial properties, and residential units. Internationally, Grosvenor has interests in properties with a total value of $20 billion, with operating companies in the Americas, UK and Ireland, Continental Europe and the Australia/Asia Pacific region. For more information about the Company, please visit the Grosvenor Web site at: www.grosvenor.com.

17 UMBC Aging Experts to Take Part in Nov. 18-22
Gerontological Society of America Science Meeting

UMBC's Center for Aging Studies will be well-represented this weekend as 17 of its researchers present at the 58th annual scientific meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the world’s largest and most prestigious multidisciplinary scientific conference devoted to gerontological research.

According to Kevin Eckert, dean of the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC, 17 faculty and doctoral student researchers from UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies will present research posters, papers and/or participate in symposiums at the Orlando, FL conference.

“It’s an honor for UMBC to present a significant amount of research at the top scientific meeting of gerontologists in the world,” said Eckert. “We’re especially excited to present research findings on assisted living that include faculty as well as several doctoral students.”

UMBC is building a national reputation for aging studies, thanks to a strong foundation of research built by The Center for Aging Studies. The Center is affiliated with the University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the new Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC, which Eckert leads. UMBC also partners with the University of Maryland, Baltimore on an interdisciplinary, multi-campus doctoral program in gerontology, one of a handful nationally.

The GSA meeting was originally scheduled to take place in New Orleans, but was relocated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The conference’s closing session will address the lessons learned from Katrina on how government, communities and families can respond more effectively to the needs of the elderly during natural disasters. The closing session will be moderated by Charles Longino, president of the GSA and the first visiting professor to join the UMBC Erickson School of Aging Studies faculty.

According to Eckert, the highlight of the conference for UMBC will be the Saturday, Nov. 19 symposium, “Interpersonal Dynamics in Assisted Living.” The ethnographic study dispatched interviewers to large and small assisted living facilities across Maryland to speak directly to residents about their experiences. “UMBC researchers will be presenting real stories of family relationships around assisted living decision making, what life is like for residents, what it’s like to work in one and the relationship between residents and physicians in assisted living facilities,” Eckert said.

About the Gerontological Society of America:
Founded in 1945, the GSA’s membership includes some 5,000+ researchers, educators, practitioners, and other professionals in the field of aging. The Society's principal missions are to promote research and education in aging and to encourage the dissemination of research results to other scientists, decision makers, and practitioners.

More information online at:
http://www.geron.org/
http://www.agingconference.com

About the Center for Aging Studies at UMBC:
The Center for Aging Studies is a hub for faculty, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral research activities on the policy and sociocultural dimensions of aging in the United States. The Center is the administrative and intellectual home for currently funded research (exceeding $5 million) on such topics as long-term care quality, consumer direction, physician/older patient interactions and practice, among others. Working with the doctoral program in Gerontology, housed jointly at UMBC and the University of Maryland Graduate School, Baltimore, the Center has greatly increased the contributions and visibility of UMBC faculty and students on aging-related issues of State and national importance.

About The Erickson School of Aging Studies:
The Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC was established in April 2004 with a $5 million commitment from John Erickson, CEO and founder of Erickson. The School’s goal is to become the preeminent resource for education, research and policy on services for the mid-life and older population.
To achieve this vision, the School will expand upon existing strengths at UMBC in public policy, aging and health services research through credit and non-credit educational programs and activities.

UMBC, an Honors University in Maryland, is a four-year, public research university that is home to leading experts on aging who are active in research, education, and service in the field of gerontology. It is one of a handful of universities in the nation to offer a Ph.D. in Gerontology.

More information online at:
http://www.umbc.edu/erickson

Caught Stealing: Debunking the Economic Case for D.C. Baseball
by Dennis Coates and Brad R. Humphreys

Dennis Coates is a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Brad R. Humphreys is an associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Executive Summary
District of Columbia mayor Anthony Williams has convinced Major League Baseball to move the Montreal Expos to D.C. in exchange for the city’s building a new ballpark. Williams has claimed that the new stadium will create thousands of jobs and spur economic development in a depressed area of the city.

Williams also claims that this can be accomplished without tax dollars from D.C. residents. Yet the proposed plan to pay for the stadium relies on some kind of tax increase that will likely be felt by D.C. residents.

Our conclusion, and that of nearly all academic economists studying this issue, is that professional sports generally have little, if any, positive effect on a city’s economy. The net economic impact of professional sports in Washington, D.C., and the 36 other cities that hosted professional sports teams over nearly 30 years, was a reduction in real per capita income over the entire metropolitan area.

A baseball team in D.C. might produce intangible benefits. Rooting for the team might provide satisfaction to many local baseball fans. That is hardly a reason for the city government to subsidize the team. D.C. policymakers should not be mesmerized by faulty impact studies that claim that a baseball team and a new stadium can be an engine of economic growth.

Link to article

While some UMBC departments help train first-responders, the faculty, staff and students in the department of Geography & Environmental Systems(GES) recently helped make sure that emergency workers could accurately navigate the realities of homeland security in America.

In a project that alternately chilled the blood and got the creative juices flowing, the GES department’s Cartographic Services Lab worked with the U.S. Department of the Census’ Map Division to produce approximately 150 map symbols for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Joe School, director of the lab (one of only a handful of full-service map-making facilities at U.S. universities), teamed up with Tom Rabenhorst, a lecturer in the UMBC GES department. Each semester, Rabenhorst guides his cartography students as they produce final project maps for real-world clients such as local state parks and the Baltimore Bicycle Club.

The UMBC team of Rabenhorst, School and Pat Hipp, Ethan Wells, and Mike Sturtevant, three undergraduate students specializing in Cartography & GIS, began brainstorming and sketching ideas for symbols representing many unpleasant scenarios—looting, chemical exposures, FEMA disaster field offices, hijacked planes and unexploded bombs—in order to represent homeland security-related incidents, operations, infrastructure and natural disasters.

According to Rabenhorst, “The creative process of coming up with symbol ideas was fun, but the reality of how they would be used was sobering. It’s indicative of how the U.S. has changed since 9/11. Six years ago we’d never thought that we’d have to map this kind of thing.”

According to School, a growing pipeline of partnerships and alumni employment between UMBC’s Geography and Environmental Systems department and federal agencies helped make the project happen. “The project came to us primarily because of our contacts at the Department of Census,” School says. “We have three UMBC alumni working there now and we hope to continue training skilled mapmakers for homeland security-related work in the federal agencies.”

Discover Magazine has named The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram (Basic Books, 2004) by UMBC psychology professor Thomas Blass as one of the Top 20 Science Books of 2004. The national honor is the latest accolade for Blass's biography of Milgram, one of the most controversial psychologists in modern history.

Milgram is best known for his "Obedience Experiments" carried out at Yale University in the 1960s. In the experiments, 65 percent of test subjects repeatedly gave seemingly real and painful electrical shocks to another subject (actually an actor) just because a scientific "authority figure" commanded them to. Milgram was also the originator of the "Six Degrees of Separation" theory.

Discover described Blass's book as "by turns both moving and chilling." The magazine's Top 20 Science Books list put "Shocked..." in good company beside other nationally honored nonfiction, including The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene, which was an Amazon.com Top Book of the Year. Blass' book was well received nationally by critics, including the Library Journal, American Scientist, the Washington Post, and the Jerusalem Post.

"I am delighted to be part of Discover's list of excellent books," said Blass. "This is the kind of honor that helps make 10 years of work worthwhile."

Blass, a social psychologist and Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, has studied Milgram for 15 years and authored over 20 publications and an equal number of academic papers on Milgram's life and work. He also runs the Web site www.stanleymilgram.com, devoted to preserving Milgram's legacy and connecting his research to current and historical events.

FINDING THE FACE OF TERROR:
Using Math to Help Track Madmen

Q&A with Andrew Rukhin, Professor
UMBC Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The emerging field of biometrics technology uses optical scanning among other technologies to rapidly identify individuals based on biological traits such as fingerprints, unique patterns in the eye or face recognition.

Earlier this month, New Zealand's government announced that all of its citizens will be issued biometric passports by next summer. Each passport will include a microchip containing a digital photograph, eye coordinates and an electronic version of the information printed on the passport. Many other nations whose citizens previously were permitted visa-free entry to the U.S. will soon be following suit.

UMBC faculty researchers are working with U.S. government agencies to improve high-technology methods such as biometrics to detect terrorists and their tools of destruction. Through an anti-bioterror grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), UMBC Statistics professor Andrew Rukhin is working to improve facial identification software that could help identify terror suspects at border crossings, transportation hub, and other sensitive locations.

In addition to his work at UMBC, Rukhin is a Mathematical Statistician in the Statistical Engineering Division of NIST, a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an editor with several scholarly journals. He has published more than 160 papers, given more than 140 invited lectures at various universities and presented about 70 invited papers at statistical conferences.

UMBC Research News spoke with Professor Rukhin to briefly discuss the state of biometric technology and how it could help law enforcement locate and capture terror suspects.

How far away is the U.S. from requiring biometric ID for its citizens?

It is very difficult to judge this. It would rely on the state of commercial algorithm systems, which remain proprietary. Also, political considerations that must be addressed introduce a large element of uncertainty.

According to news reports, there are still many flaws in facial recognition software currently on the market or in testing. What makes faces harder to recognize than fingerprints or the iris of the eye?

Faces are complex when considering differences that arise from changes in orientation or changes in expression. They are also easy to camouflage. Keep in mind that when comparing partial fingerprints against national databases, there is at least a 10% error rate, so there are algorithmic challenges with all biometric methods.

In lay terms, how can mathematics help make facial biometrics more accurate?

By developing more efficient methods for representing human faces in multidimensional parameter space, and improving face comparison methodologies.

How did you first become interested in biometrics as a mathematical challenge?

By consulting with NIST scientists and reading some popular literature on the topic. My interest developed before 9/11.

How are NIST and other government agencies working to balance homeland security with citizens' concerns about civil liberties and privacy?

This is a very difficult question for society, but I am sure it will eventually find a balance.

Welcome to the new online home for UMBC research. This section features multidisciplinary approaches to real-world problems and debuts with an area dominating scientific innovation and public concern: homeland security.

At UMBC, faculty, staff and student researchers in the departments of Geography and Environmental Systems, Chemistry, Mathematics/Statistics, Emergency Health Services, and many others are addressing issues of homeland security in imaginative ways through research. Faculty and students work in close collaboration with state and federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the Maryland Department of Health.

As you read the stories below and explore this web site, you’ll learn more about the groundbreaking work of faculty and students who creatively address issues that affect our lives while laying the groundwork for future scholarship.

HOW PREPARED IS MARYLAND?
Homeland Security & Emergency Management Training in Maryland
Through a two-year contract with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, UMBC’s Emergency Health Services department is training hospital staff members across the state of Maryland to improve their responses to both man-made and natural disasters.

MAPPING THE UNTHINKABLE
Cartographers Develop Post-9/11 Symbols
As homeland security officials prepared for the new realities of post-9/11 America, the need for a new type of map became clear. Recently, faculty, staff and student mapmakers in UMBC's Geography and Environmental Sciences department rose to the challenge as part of a project for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security.

FINDING THE FACE OF TERROR
Calculating New Standards To Identify Bioterrorism Suspects
The emerging field of biometrics helps to rapidly identify individuals based on biological traits such as fingerprints or face recognition. Through an anti-bioterrorism grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), UMBC mathematician Andrew Rukhin is working to improve the facial recognition software that will be used in the near future to better secure border crossings, transportation hubs, and other sensitive locations.

REPLACING FIDO WITH FIBER OPTICS:
Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Get High-Tech Break
UMBC chemist Bradley Arnold has helped design an invention that may give a high-tech break to bomb-sniffing dogs in homeland security K-9 units: a hand-held fiber-optic device that detects the presence of explosives.

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.