A team of UMBC researchers has received a four-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an online infrastructure intended to vastly improve how scientists study land change. The new toolbox aims to allow researchers to rapidly share, compare and synthesize local studies and combine them with global datasets of human and environmental variables. A planned social-networking component would also allow researchers to more easily find one another and collaborate.

The simplest description: “A globally relevant Google scholar,” says Erle C. Ellis, the principal investigator on the grant and associate professor of geography and environmental systems at UMBC.

The toolbox, a “Global Collaboration Engine” (GLOBE), will facilitate the growth of land change science, an emerging field of study that is focused on understanding how human use of land affects the terrestrial biosphere, atmosphere and other Earth systems. You can read more about the work here, in Ellis’ own words.

The project is highly interdisciplinary, involving environmental, geographic, computer and information scientists at UMBC. Joining Ellis on the research team as co-principal investigators are UMBC researchers Tim Finin, professor of computer science and electrical engineering; Wayne G. Lutters, associate professor of information systems; Tim Oates, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering; and Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and director of the Center for Women and Information Technology.

The University of Pennsylvania Law School reports that Christopher DiPompeo ’04, economics, attained a highly-coveted clerkship in the U.S. Supreme Court for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. He started his clerkship in July.

DiPompeo earned his law degree from UPenn in 2009, having served nearly half of his law school career as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Read the full article here.

UMBC researchers now have convenient access to BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), an online search engine that allows users to search across hundreds of digital collections from around the world. You can access the website by going to http://www.base-search.net/ or by searching for it from the Library's Database search.

Unlike a general Google or online search, BASE targets academic sources, ensuring that the results are relevant and of high quality. With over 31 million documents and 2 thousand content providers, this website is a great resource for academic researchers in every field from biochemistry to dance. And, best news yet - it's free! So start your searching!

UMBC's Digital Collections will be added to BASE this fall - making it a one-stop-shop for locating digital resources from UMBC, UMD, and beyond.

Sample entry from the Australian Institute of Marine Science:

Written by Johanna Schein, Special Collections Graduate Assistant.