Growing up in rural western Maryland, history alumnus Seth Sawyers ’99 couldn’t possibly have known what was in store for him — or how his world would expand — as a student at UMBC. Now a writing lecturer at UMBC, Sawyers shares some of those initial experiences in an essay appearing in The Morning News:

When I was 18, I left the skinny part of Maryland and woke up in a place paved over with asphalt, girded by concrete, nourished by it. I awoke fascinated by the mechanized hum, disoriented, wide-mouthed before the man-made angularity, the downtown steel visible from the top floor of the college library. I woke up that September in the middle of the great flowering of the American Dream. I woke up in the suburbs.

Read the full story here, and link to additional essays by Sawyers.

UMBC Receives Grant to Operate NASA Center Focused on Space Weather

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will administer a new NASA research center focused on studying space weather and the impact it can have on human activities.

The Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI), operating under a 5-year, $10 million cooperative agreement, will provide support and resources for university researchers to collaborate with scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as they refine efforts to predict the solar activity that ejects charged particles into space. The “weather” created by these events interferes with power grids, telecommunication systems and other activities on Earth, while also threatening spacecraft and creating risks for space travel.

“This agreement offers a great opportunity to continue research that is deepening our understanding of solar and magnetospheric physics,” said Jan Merka, director of the new center. “The main goal is to more reliably predict space weather so we can avoid the impacts on space and Earth activities caused by extreme solar and magnetospheric events.”

The GPHI research portfolio was formerly part of the UMBC-administered Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST). The cooperative agreement that established GEST in 2000 expired in May, and research now encompassed by GPHI was re-competed separately from the rest of the GEST portfolio. The remainder of GEST is now administered under a new cooperative agreement between NASA and the University Space Research Association.

The research group at GEST that focused on heliophysics has expanded to 16 researchers at GPHI.

UMBC has a long history of working closely with scientists at NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition to GPHI, UMBC administers the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), which focuses on geosciences and is now in its sixteenth year. The university is also a partner in the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), which focuses on astrophysics.

“We are delighted to continue collaborating with NASA in the area of planetary and heliophsyics research as GPHI scientists work to expand our understanding of space weather,” said Geoff Summers, UMBC’s vice president for research. “This ongoing area of research is particularly exciting as it both increases our understanding of the solar system and helps explain the effect of space weather on Earth.”

(6/21/11)

Who’d thought a Yogurt commercial could be controversial?

Say hello to Yoplait who has yanked a recent commercial(see below).

What is upsetting people about this commercial, is the mental process the main female character goes through to eat a single piece of cheesecake.

Lynn Grefe, president and CEO of NEDA [National Eating Disorders Foundation], told the Huffington Post that “To see this behavior in a commercial tells people with eating disorders, see, it’s even on TV. It’s OK and normal for my head to go through all these mental exercises.”

Yoplait is no doubt trying to trumpet it’s low fat product to a diet conscience country. But it had appeared to have misjudged its audience here. An earlier commercial focusing on a male character was better handled.

This isn’t the first time Yoplait has come under fire from consumers. There were these cutesy commercials and some push back to their pink lids campaign.

Issues relating to food, health and dairy products have been in the news of late.

Recently in Michelle Obama’s released the “MyPlate” nutritional guide (as opposed to the food pyramid of 2005). The drink with that plate?… a cup of milk. This makes the Milk industry happy

the industry has convinced USDA to recommend increased consumption of a product that’s not only unnecessary, but is actually bad for most people.

Is milk unhealthy? How about chocolate milk?  Los Angeles has taken a stand on that issue and decided to ban the sale of chocolate milk in public schools.

After the film Supersize Me exposed the dangers of a McDonald’s diet…. we’ve been looking at the food we eat with a more critical eye.

How much milk do you drink per week?

Image from CBS News

Ready to quit? FDA releases new, gruesome cigarette warning labels.

Close to extinction: World’s oceans are in worse condition than anyone previously thought.

The fallout continues! Two more Gingrich aides leave floundering campaign.

Bringing ‘em home: President Obama set to announce outline for Afghanistan troop withdrawal.

And, aging boomers are bad for the housing market?

Thanks to Politico!

This week’s addition to the 2012 GOP lineup might not have an “h” in his first name, but he definitely has one in his last.

Jon Huntsman is the former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China and now a candidate for president in 2012!

And today, I’m a candidate for the office of President of the United States of America.”

Though a Republican, the newest candidate has often been described as a moderate (a rarity in today’s Republican party). His announcement, at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, noticeably lacked any harsh criticism of his former boss, President Obama.

I don’t think you need to run down anyone’s reputation to run for President.

Of course we’ll have our disagreements. I respect my fellow Republican candidates. And I respect the President. He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love. But the question each of us wants the voters to answer is who will be the better President; not who’s the better American.”

Huntsman’s current strategy is centered on his credentials, but will it work?

Who will kickoff their campaign next? Michele Bachmann! As if we didn’t see that coming.

Exodus 40:12-15 (NIV)

¹² “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ¹³ Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴ Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. ¹⁵ Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”

Numbers 18:2-7 (NIV)

² Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law. ³ They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die. ⁴ They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.

⁵ “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. ⁶ I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the tent of meeting. ⁷ But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”

Reflection:

Under the Mosaic Law, the tribe of Levi was chosen by God to be the dedicated priests for the nation.  The priests had many duties, but were primarily the mediators between God and the people.  They were the ones who took the people’s sacrifices and offered them up to God.  The High Priest, in particular, represented the whole nation of Israel before God.  When a priest sinned, he brought guilt not only upon himself, but also upon the whole people.  The priests also interceded on behalf of the people before God, and they would inquire of God for the nation.

Just like the priests of the Old Testament, God has chosen us to continue this royal priesthood- an incredible privilege entrusted to us.  It’s not a status that is earned or achieved; it is a calling given by God to serve and bless others and to glorify Him in all that we do.  As the people of God, we live out this calling whenever we pray and intercede for those who are lost and share the good news with others.

Responding to the Transmission:

As we desire to live for Jesus, may we take up our calling of being a part of this priesthood in confidence because He has chosen us.  Spend time today reflecting on the greatness and love of God.  Pray that He will give us the strength and the wisdom to live out this calling in our lives.

Expectant father, UMBC alumnus and UMBC development office Jordan Hadfield ’07, ’08, shares memories of his father, Ken Hadfield, Jr., in an essay in the Dundalk Patch.

While a student at UMBC, Jordan served as president of the Student Government Association, and also was a founding member of the a cappella group The Mama’s Boys.

Read the full story here.

Contact:
Anthony Lane
alane@umbc.edu
(410) 455-5793

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will administer a new NASA research center focused on studying space weather and the impact it can have on human activities.

The Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI), operating under a 5-year, $10 million cooperative agreement, will provide support and resources for university researchers to collaborate with scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as they refine efforts to predict the solar activity that ejects charged particles into space. The “weather” created by these events interferes with power grids, telecommunication systems and other activities on Earth, while also threatening spacecraft and creating risks for space travel.

“This agreement offers a great opportunity to continue research that is deepening our understanding of solar and magnetospheric physics,” said Jan Merka, director of the new center. “The main goal is to more reliably predict space weather so we can avoid the impacts on space and Earth activities caused by extreme solar and magnetospheric events."

The GPHI research portfolio was formerly part of the UMBC-administered Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST). The cooperative agreement that established GEST in 2000 expired in May, and research now encompassed by GPHI was re-competed separately from the rest of the GEST portfolio. The remainder of GEST is now administered under a new cooperative agreement between NASA and the University Space Research Association.

The research group at GEST that focused on heliophysics has expanded to 16 researchers at GPHI.

UMBC has a long history of working closely with scientists at NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition to GPHI, UMBC administers the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), which focuses on geosciences and is now in its sixteenth year. The university is also a partner in the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), which focuses on astrophysics.

"We are delighted to continue collaborating with NASA in the area of planetary and heliophsyics research as GPHI scientists work to expand our understanding of space weather," said Geoff Summers, UMBC's vice president for research. "This ongoing area of research is particularly exciting as it both increases our understanding of the solar system and helps explain the effect of space weather on Earth."