During Earth Week at Goddard, Oct. 11-14, 2022, five members of the Goddard community gave virtual presentations. On October 11^th, GESTAR II member Akiko Elders (618/MSU) presented on the use of Earth observing systems, remote sensing, and machine learning models to address and combat food insecurity due to crop conditions, particularly in Burkina Faso, located in West Africa. She provided the following summary:

"Earth observing systems provide a unique opportunity to monitor and evaluate crop conditions globally. This is particularly important for evaluating regions with food insecurity. This project used Sentinel-2 and Machine Learning to estimate crop type and yield in Burkina Faso with greater than 80% accuracy in rainy season crop type and rice yield estimates. A unique aspect of this work is the use of Machine Learning models to make uncalibrated, interannual predictions of dry season crop type, which is critical for evaluating food availability in data scarce regions with limited agricultural data. The uncalibrated models estimated subsequent dry season crop type with as much as 60% accuracy, indicating some utility in uncalibrated estimates of crop type for years without training data. Ultimately, the ability to use affordable and timely remote sensing-based methods is essential for remote agricultural monitoring and evaluation and appropriate humanitarian interventions to combat food insecurity."

During your presentation, you mentioned working with Millennium Challenge Corporation. Would you expound on that?

"The work we are doing with MCC is part of an interagency agreement where NASA provides remote sensing and Machine Learning expertise. MCC is interested in how remote sensing can be used to assess their Agricultural Development Projects (ADP). This is a four institution collaboration working in partnership towards this goal."

Who are the end-users of your findings, and how would this be applied?

"Overall, the information from our work is to benefit MCC's mission. They invest in ADPs such as building irrigation infrastructure to help small holder farmers in developing nations transition from subsistence to small-scale commercial farming in efforts to combat food insecurity. Traditionally, they evaluate their ADPs with field work, which is expensive and can be limited by social conflicts. They are looking to us to explore how they can accurately understand the growth of their projects in years when they cannot collect data. MCC has a number of ADPs across Africa, so our work with them will continue as they expand to new perimeters. We will leverage what we have learned in Burkina Faso and follow the development of a new perimeter, in West Africa, over time."

In August 2022, Dr. Elders published an article on the work in Burkina Faso: Elders, A., Carroll, M.L., Neigh, C.S.R., D'Agostino, A.L., Ksoll, C., Wooten, M.R., Brown, M.E., 2022. Estimating crop type and yield of small holder fields in Burkina Faso using multi-day Sentinel-2. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment 27, 100820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100820.

Not only is Dr. Elders a postdoctoral assistant research scientist in Code 618, the Biospheric Sciences Lab, she also holds the same position in Code 615, the Cryospheric Sciences Lab at NASA Goddard. There, she currently "is working on a project that evaluates sea ice representation in NASA GISS ModelE. Climate models have a lot of variability in how they represent Arctic climate, such as fluxes between the ice and atmosphere. We are reviewing how the sea ice is represented and how that impacts the Arctic climate and ways to potentially improve the representation of the sea ice and climate."

Greetings Residential Retrievers--

As we enter a new month, we want to provide you with some important updates and reminders to get you through the end of the semester. Please take the time to review this email.

Important Dates

• November 23, 2022 at 8 PM | Eight-month communities close for Fall Break
• November 27, 2022 at Noon | Eight-month communities reopen 
• November 30, 2022 | End of Semester Room Change Application Deadline. Contact your Community Director in advance of this deadline if you want to be considered for a room change.
• November 30, 2022 | Recommended deadline to request Spring Housing License Release Petition Form
• November 30, 2022 | Fall Housing Freeze Begins

Special Dining Events

• November 9, 2022 | Falafel Teaching Kitchen
• November 16, 2022 | Friendsgiving Dinner in True Grits
• November 20, 2022 | World Cup Kick-off Lunch in True Grits

Residential Life Focus Group

We want to hear from you! Volunteer to participate in a focus group on November 30, 2022 from Noon-1 p.m. The topic for our first focus group of the year is Residential Life Community Spaces & Amenities. 

If you are available and interested, we encourage you to sign-up by submitting the volunteer form (https://forms.gle/RiFVjEVZGc19Xv51A) by November 9, 2022 at 5PM.  Residential Life will select a random sample of volunteers (10-15 students) to attend the November focus group.  If invited to participate, lunch will be provided. 

Thanksgiving Closing & Health & Safety Inspections

Eight-month communities (Chesapeake, Erickson, Patapsco, Susquehanna, and Harbor (2-4 North & all East wings) close for Thanksgiving Break on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. and reopen on Sunday, November 27, 2022 at Noon. 

Students in 8-month communities are expected to vacate and complete the below checklist to help ensure the overall health & safety of your room and personal belongings:

• Clean your bathroom and personal spaces well. 
• Remove and dispose of all trash in a trash room or a dumpster.
• Turn the heat to 68-72 degrees.
• Unplug all appliances and extension cords from the wall, with the exception of refrigerators and fish tanks.
• Feed your fish and water your plants.
• Pack medications and other necessities you might need during break.
• Turn off water. 
• Turn off lights and bathroom exhaust fans.
• Close and lock all windows and doors.
• Close blinds on ground-level floor rooms; leave blinds up on all other floors.
• Report facilities concerns to your RA or FXIT (410-455-3948).

RAs will conduct an inspection in each 8-month community. Failure to properly prepare your space and vacate by the deadline may result in student conduct action. For more information about break closing please contact your RA or Community Director.

Room Freeze & End of Semester Room Changes

Fall room assignments are frozen beginning November 30, 2022 to allow Residential Life staff to prepare for any upcoming transitions. Room changes will not be permitted during the remainder of the semester.

If you are looking to change rooms for the Spring Semester, please contact your Community Director about opportunities for End of Semester Room Changes (ESRC). If your Community Director believes you are eligible for an ESRC, you may be issued the ESRC Application.  There is a firm deadline of November 30, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. to submit the ESRC application.  Late applications will not be considered.

Submission of an ESRC application does not guarantee approval. Priority for ESRC approval is as follows: students with an accommodation approval from Student Disability Services, and students approved for an administrative move by Residential Life.  

If approved:

• Residents moving to a 8-month community are expected to vacate completely by 8PM on December 21, 2022 and will move into their new room on Sunday, January 29, 2022 at 9 a.m.
• Residents moving to a 9-month community are expected to relocate on December 23, 2022 between 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; no exceptions will be made.

Spring Semester Housing Petitions

As a current resident you acknowledged a housing license (contract) that is for the entire academic year. If you do not plan to return to housing in the Spring Semester please review your options and complete the outlined instructions.

• Not Returning to UMBC (Transfer, Withdraw and/or Leave of Absence): Students who do not plan to return to UMBC are not automatically released from the housing license. Please contact Residential Life or the WAA Management Office to request access to the Housing License Petition Request Form before November 30, 2022.  

• Extenuating Circumstance Preventing Return to Housing (Medical, Financial, etc.): Students who plan to attend UMBC in the Spring but do not wish to return to on-campus housing must contact Residential Life or the WAA Management Office to request access to the Housing License Petition Request Form before November 30, 2022.  License releases are extraordinary, not automatic, and will be reviewed, with appropriate supporting documentation. 

• December Graduates & Study Abroad Students: Residents who have applied and are approved for December graduation or Spring Study Abroad are automatically released from the terms of the license.  You are not expected to complete a petition form. Walker Avenue residents should contact the WAA Management Office via email. 

Additional information about the petition process can be found in the "Cancellation" section on https://reslife.umbc.edu/rlexperience/procedures/.

Have a wonderful day!

Residential Life

Design as Democratic Inquiry 

Dear UMBC Community,

I am writing to share that Dr. Philip Rous has informed me of his decision to step down from his current position as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in anticipation of his retirement from UMBC. With eleven years in the role, Philip will leave his position as the longest serving provost in UMBC's history. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his exemplary service and for his decades long commitment to our UMBC community. 

Dr. Rous was appointed as UMBC's provost on July 1, 2012 and served previously as dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences and as president of UMBC's Faculty Senate. He joined the UMBC community as an assistant professor in 1990 and holds the rank of professor in the Department of Physics. An accomplished theoretical physicist, Philip's research has been published extensively in materials science, physics, and chemistry journals. In his capacity as provost and dean, he has served as a PI and Co-PI on several major institutional grants focused on student success with a particular attention to the advancement of underrepresented students.

Throughout the years, the impact of Philip's leadership has been recognized in many collaborative campus initiatives. As provost, Philip worked with the UMBC community as it achieved several important milestones including the development and implementation of UMBC's most recent strategic plan, a successful Middle States re-accreditation, significant improvements in retention and graduation rates, and UMBC's achievement as a Carnegie Community Engaged university and R1 institution. In partnership with the Committee for the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Underrepresented Minority Faculty and the Office of Faculty Affairs, Philip guided the development of several initiatives to increase the diversity of our faculty including the postdoctoral fellows for faculty diversity and STRIDE. In recognition of his leadership in advancing community engagement at UMBC, Philip received the William M. Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement. He also successfully nominated and then mentored several UMBC faculty members as ACE fellows, a clear reflection of his commitment to leadership development. 

We will launch a national search for a provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in partnership with the search firm Isaacson, Miller.

Please join me in thanking Provost Rous for his years of dedicated scholarship, leadership, and service to UMBC. Additional details about a celebration to honor Philip will be announced soon. 

Sincerely, 

President Valerie Sheares Ashby