As part of UMBC's Homecoming weekend, GRIT-X was held in the Fine Arts Recital Hall on Saturday, October 14, 2023. Sponsored by the Office of Research and Creative Achievement, GRIT-X 2023 (Global. Research. Innovation. Trends. Excellence)featured a variety of speakers throughout the UMBC community, and among them was Charles Ichoku, Professor, Geography and Environmental Systems and Director of GESTAR II. Dr. Ichoku's talk was titled "Wildfires, Climate, and People - A Triangular Threat to Global Sustainability." His talk is available here, and all GRIT-X 2023 presentations are available here.

Abstract:

This summer of 2023 was the hottest summer on record. Rising global temperatures have persisted since the last half century, but the trend is getting even more alarming. To quote from a recent NASA online publication "the top-five hottest Julys since 1880 have all happened in the past five years". There are several factors responsible for this rising trend, of which the most dominant is the atmospheric accumulation of long-lived greenhouse gases (particularly carbon dioxide CO2) that trap heat. Among the numerous sources of CO2, wildfires and other open burning come only second to fossil fuel burning. Authorities seek to improve "fire weather" forecasting for issuing warnings of potential wildfire threat to society on short-term basis, but what is even more important is understanding "fire climate" and how to reverse the increasing trend. We are contributing to this effort by creating the fire energetics and emissions research (FEER) project by which we seek to understand how active wildfires behave and what and how much hazardous pollutants they emit and the impacts of these on climate and humans.

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Greetings All!

I know many of you were unable to attend our Sep 27 meeting on campus, so here is a brief recap. We had a full room, tasty lunch, and many new faces- thanks to everyone who could attend! Each week we meet new service members and Veterans who haven't yet joined UMBC SSMVF or who are unable to make it to events, and we appreciate the time, effort, and support from everyone. A big thanks to Alex Getachew and our OCSS supporters for their partnership, and we welcomed Mr. Dennis Walker, Jr., UMBC’s new Assistant Director for Adult-Learners and Veteran Student (student service member) Success. We know Dennis will be a great addition to UMBC, and we look forward to working as partners to improve the UMBC experience for service members and their families.

After introductions, we reviewed our progress over the last 18 months, from the dissolution of the previous student Veteran group, to our formation of a new organization for student military service members, Veterans, and their families. We discussed our meetings with various leaders of UMBC and University of Maryland system, discussed problems and concerns, and laid out a vision for what we’d like to achieve over the next 18 months. We also discussed future fun events. Watch for a brief survey- we hope you’ll add your input, suggestions, and ideas.

On behalf of SSMVF, thanks again for your time & support!

-S.

Merritt Gallery & Renaissance Fine Arts are seeking an Art Handler/Installer/Driver for our Chevy Chase gallery.

Art Handler/Installer/Driver is responsible for the proper handling, loading, unloading, wrapping, and transport of artwork in our fast-paced art gallery. Other responsibilities include assisting in hanging the gallery, handling & installing artwork on in-home/office appointments, preparing artwork for inter gallery transfers.