Five-Year Commemoration of the Walter Lomax Act

Honoring Mr. Lomax: Champion for restorative justice

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026

Time: 7:30 - 9 PM

Location: Performing Arts & Humanities Building (PAHB): 132

This event will feature Mr. Lomax, elected officials, members of the Maryland state government, and others integral in the passing of the Act, which compensates wrongly convicted and incarcerated individuals. 

All are welcome!

Presented by the Department of English, The School of Public Policy at UMBC, The Dresher Center for the Humanities, The Shriver Center, the Department of American Studies, and the Department of Political Science.

Private room available in a 2BHK townhouse for a male at Westland Gardens for a 3-month move-in, available from May to August. 

Fully furnished 2BHK townhouse: 

• Spacious Living Room with a sofa + TV. 

• Oven, Microwave, Fridge, Dishwasher.
• In-house Laundry(Washer + Dryer).
• Centralised Heater and Cooler.
• 1 min walk to the UMBC Bus stop.
• 10-minute walk to UMBC campus.
• Rent is 600$ + utilities.

DM for more information: +12029375716 or email me at IO95979@umbc.edu

Colten Peterson's (613/UMBC) proposal “Enhancing PREFIRE Cloud Products and Science with Cloud Phase Determination and Liquid Cloud Property Retrievals” recently was selected for funding from the ROSES A.2 Earth Venture: TROPICS and PREFIRE Science and Applications Teams. Dr. Peterson is the PI and Kerry Meyer (613/GSFC) is Co-I; this three-year grant will run from July 2026 to June 2029.

Initially launched in 2024, the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) mission “collects data on how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica environments emit to space and how this influences global climate. … Since clouds and water vapor can trap far-infrared radiation near Earth’s surface, they can increase global temperatures as part of … the greenhouse effect.”

For their research, Drs. Peterson and Meyer will develop several new cloud products for the PREFIRE mission and validate them against Program of Record (PoR) cloud products from EarthCARE, MODIS, and VIIRS. Their main focus is “to produce an algorithm that uses PREFIRE measurements in the far-infrared (FIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) to determine whether a cloud is liquid- or ice-dominated (i.e., the cloud phase). At present, the PREFIRE cloud products do not include cloud phase, [which] is critical for determining cloud optical properties and cloud radiative effects in the polar regions. ... The proposed cloud products will enhance the scientific return of the current PREFIRE cloud products." They also will "develop a liquid cloud optical thickness retrieval for PREFIRE, which is important for assessing cloud radiative impacts in the polar regions," and conduct thorough evaluations of cloud products to characterize limitations and uncertainties. 

Due to the Earth Day 3K, we will not have Cycle with Coach Bobb on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. 

You can still get your workout in by joining us at the 3K. Sign up day of starting at 11:30 a.m. The race starts at 12:15 p.m.

Sign up in advance here!

Hey Retrievers! 

Over the past couple months, Linux Users Group's system administration team has been working diligently setting up a public repository mirror service. We aim to provide open, reliable, high speed access to a variety of popular Linux distributions for the Linux and open-source community. 

The mirror server is now entering production, and is open to the general public for use. We support downloading via HTTP(s) and RSYNC (details below). We currently have 8 distributions mirrored (including Debian, Arch, Ubuntu, Mint, etc), with more coming soon! To utilize our mirror server for your distribution, consult the documentation for your distros package manager for instructions on how to set our server as your mirror!

Accessing the mirror:

• HTTPS: https://mirror.lug.umbc.edu
• HTTP: http://mirror.lug.umbc.edu
• RSYNC: rsync://mirror.lug.umbc.edu

Feel free to join our Discord server for more information, or check out our website! Links to both are below:

LUG Website | Discord Server

LUG meets on Wednesday's @ 7:15pm in Sherman 103 (time and location subject to change, join our Discord server for most up-to-date information regarding meetings!). See you there!

Kind regards,
Danielle Esposito
Vice President, UMBC Linux Users Group

Mark your calendars, Tuesday April 21 & Thursday April 23 for UMBC BookFest '26, a celebration of writers, readers, makers and advocates. All events are free! Full information is available on the event website, or through the myUMBC event posts linked below. Hope to see you there! 

>>> BookMarkIt on the Library Plaza, Tuesday April 21, 11am-1pm 

>>> One Maryland, One Book event, Tuesday April 21, 5-6:30pm, UC312. An evening with Lawrence Burney, author of the 2026 OMOB selection, No Sense in Wishing

>>> Freedom to Read: Libraries and Our Democracy, Thursday April 23, 5-6:30pm, Library Gallery

Join us on Tuesday April 21 & Thursday April 23 for UMBC BookFest '26, a celebration of writers, readers, makers and advocates. All events are free! Full information is available on the event website, or through the myUMBC event posts linked below. Hope to see you there! 

>>> BookMarkIt on the Library Plaza, Tuesday April 21, 11am-1pm 

>>> One Maryland, One Book event, Tuesday April 21, 5-6:30pm, UC312. An evening with Lawrence Burney, author of the 2026 OMOB selection, No Sense in Wishing

>>> Freedom to Read: Libraries and Our Democracy, Thursday April 23, 5-6:30pm, Library Gallery

Mark your calendar for Public Humanities presentations at URCAD 2026 on April 22 in the Retriever Activities Center (RAC):

11:20 – 11:35 a.m. (RAC 106) - Sophia Crowell
Bay Shore Amusement Park: A Forgotten History Of Sparrows Point
Sophia Crowell, Biological Sciences major, Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

11:40 – 11:55 a.m. (RAC 106) - Finley Bandy
Our City Is A City Without An Expressway: A Historical Review Of Transportation Injustice In Baltimore City
Finley Bandy, History major, Public History and Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

11:40 – 11:55 a.m. (RAC 230) - Andrea Quispe
Visualizing Enforcement: ICE Activity and Community Response in Maryland
Andrea Quispe Majors: American Studies, Economics; Public Humanities minor
Tamara Bhalla, American Studies, Mentor

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. (RAC 230) - Kat Gill
The Case For A Public Internet
Kat Gill, American Studies and English double major, Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

2:55 – 3:10 p.m. (RAC 230) - Bryan Castro-Velez
Museo Garifuna Sawaina In Context: Honduran Neoliberalism, Anti-Colonial Ethnographies & Garifuna Celebrations Of Life
Bryan Castro-Velez, GES Major, Public Humanities minor
Sarah Fouts, Public Humanities, Mentor

For the full URCAD schedule see:

urcad.umbc.edu

Mark your calendar for AMST and PubHum presentations at URCAD 2026 on April 22 in the Retriever Activities Center (RAC):

11:20 – 11:35 a.m. (RAC 106) - Sophia Crowell
Bay Shore Amusement Park: A Forgotten History Of Sparrows Point
Sophia Crowell, Biological Sciences major, Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

11:40 – 11:55 a.m. (RAC 106) - Finley Bandy
Our City Is A City Without An Expressway: A Historical Review Of Transportation Injustice In Baltimore City
Finley Bandy, History major, Public History and Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

11:40 – 11:55 a.m. (RAC 230) - Andrea Quispe
Visualizing Enforcement: ICE Activity and Community Response in Maryland
Andrea Quispe Majors: American Studies, Economics; Minor: Public Humanities
Tamara Bhalla, American Studies, Mentor

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. (RAC 230) - Kat Gill
The Case For A Public Internet
Kat Gill, American Studies and English double major, Public Humanities minor
Michael Casiano, American Studies, Mentor

2:55 – 3:10 p.m. (RAC 230) - Bryan Castro-Velez
Museo Garifuna Sawaina In Context: Honduran Neoliberalism, Anti-Colonial Ethnographies & Garifuna Celebrations Of Life
Bryan Castro-Velez, GES Major, Public Humanities minor
Sarah Fouts, Public Humanities, Mentor

For the full URCAD schedule see:

urcad.umbc.edu

Join RIH for Student Mental Health Conversations on April 22, 27,and May 6th (details in flyer). These conversations are intended to be opportunities for students to share with others their experiences with mental health, how the university is doing in addressing mental health concerns of students, and barriers/access points to care on the campus. Students will also have an opportunity to play some trivia games, find resources for mental health services both on and off campus, and enjoy lunch/dinner.

April 22, 12pm-2pm, Lower Flat Tuesdays

April 27, 11am-1pm, The Gathering Space

May 6, 6pm-8pm, Lower Flat Tuesdays