• help you find information on a topic
• help you develop effective search strategies
• help you select and search library catalogs and databases
• answer questions about the library's resources.

UMBC Professors Haibin Zhang (Computer Science and Electrical Engineering) and Karuna Joshi (Information Systems) will be panelists for an event focused on the impact, promise and perils of blockchain technologies at the bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park. The event will take place from 8:15 to 11:15am on Tuesday, March 20 2018 at and will include breakfast and time for networking.  They will be joined on the panel by Marcus Edwards, from Northrop Grumman’s Cyber & Intelligence Mission Solutions, Steve Cook of Verizon Enterprise Solutions and moderator Razvan Miutescu of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP.   For more information and tickets are available on eventbrite.

CyberInnovation Briefing: The Global Impact, Promise & Perils of Blockchain

8:15 – 11:15 Tuesday, March 20, 2018

bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park
5520 Research Park Drive, Baltimore, MD 21228

Cryptocurrency market capitalizations have soared over the past year and new innovative blockchain applications are continuing to emerge seemingly by the day. However, the average end-user is left to singularly make sense of a vast and global marketplace that is rapidly converging the core tenets of economics and technology development. The future prospects of traditional business and financial models is uncertain as blockchain technology leaves key decision makers in an untenable position to either adopt and adapt or simply be left behind. Industry and academic experts in the field will discuss the pros and cons and opportunities and challenges of this disruptive technology movement.

The post CyberInnovation Briefing: Global Impact, Promise & Perils of Blockchain appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

The snow began falling lightly 10 minutes into warmups, but that did not keep the UMBC men’s lacrosse team from playing their game at the Naval Academy on Saturday, Feb. 17. Playing in front of 1229 people, the Retrievers prepared to take on Navy, coming off a victory over previously ranked Richmond. Navy came into the game 0-2, but Retrievers Head Coach Ryan Moran knew not to take that for granted. Moran was the head coach of the Navy Prep School for a year in 2005, and was an assistant at the Academy from ’06-’08. Moran said “Since 2000 to now, I have played Navy all but two years…I know that you can never underestimate them.” This included Moran’s playing career at the University of Maryland.

Freshman Tommy Lingner earned his first start in goal, after he came in 10 minutes into the game against Richmond and stopped 13 of 15 shots. Lingner was named the America East Defensive Player of the Week, and was also named to the USILA Team of the Week. Lingner was also awarded the Inside Lacrosse Alpha Lacrosse Player of the Week by a fan vote. Lingner saw action early, making 4 saves in the first quarter.

The first goal came after intense end to end action by both teams. UMBC held an extended possession which gave them time to find the right play. Sophomore attack-man Ryan Frawley came around the back end of the goal, beat his defender, and scored on a 1 on 1 with the Navy goalie. The first quarter ended 1-0 to UMBC, with the tough weather conditions seeming to be a factor.

Navy’s offense found their rhythm in the second quarter, scoring two goals in 10 seconds before UMBC could respond. The Retrievers scored once more in the first half, when junior economics major Gunnar Schimoler beat his defender and took a shot from distance to score. Navy would score two more goals in the second quarter, to go into halftime up 4-2.

Halftime brought heavier snow, making the conditions even more difficult for both teams, especially when it came to seeing the white lacrosse ball. As the second half began, a player wound up to take a shot, and the entire stick slipped out of his hands. As the third quarter went on, the Retrievers’ offense got going, scoring two goals in just over three minutes. Anne Arundel County local, freshman attack-man Trevor Patschorke shot from distance to score his first goal, and scored his second after picking up a rebound the Navy goalie couldn’t hold onto. Patschorke finished with two goals and one assist on the day. When asked what it was like to play at the Naval Academy, a place so close to where he grew up, Patschorke said “It was an awesome experience.”

After scoring their fourth goal, UMBC’s offense stalled, going on a goalless drought that lasted 15 minutes and 49 seconds, just over a full quarter of play. Navy scored three more after that, going up 7-4 before junior political science major Billy Nolan scored a long-range shot, giving UMBC some hope with time left. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t score again, and UMBC lost 7-5 to the Naval Academy.

The statistics for the game were mixed, with UMBC outshooting Navy 35-30, which should have lead to more goals for the Retrievers, but the Retrievers did not have luck with face-offs, only winning three of the 15 oppurtunities. Losing the face-offs meant that the team was unable to gain possession easily, making the defense work harder to get the ball back. The defense played well, and cleared the ball from their end to the offense successfully 80 percent of the time. Lingner made 7 saves, including multiple point-blank stops.

In a post-game interview, Moran said, “It was a great opportunity to get our young kids a lot of real experience.” UMBC started six underclassmen out of 10 possible starters. This will work in their favor in the long run, playing against a team like Navy who is very physical. “I thought we played well defensively, but should’ve gotten more than five [goals].”

UMBC moves to 1-1 on the year and will go up against local rivals Towson on Saturday, March 3 after Mt. St. Mary’s on Feb. 23.

John Rennie Short, public policy, is a fan of all the Olympics represent for individual athletes, teams, and countries vying to be recognized as champions on the global stage. However, his new book, Hosting the Olympic Games: The Real Costs for Cities, goes behind the glamour and prestige of the games to focus on how the events come together at a local level.

Rennie Short’s research examines how preparing for a global event on the scale of the Olympics poses significant challenges for host cities, and can have substantial negative impacts for urban communities, from the displacement of marginalized people to environmental harm to shifts in infrastructure investment. The solution? Rennie Short suggests two possibilities: a fixed location or requiring host cities to integrate Olympics proposals into long-term urban development plans.

Rennie Short began to study the Olympics in 2002 when he received a professorship to research globalization and cities at Loughborough University, an institution known for drawing sports scientists because of its large sports library. It was here that his colleagues encouraged him to study the globalization of sport. The Olympics, as the largest global sporting event held in urban areas, was a natural fit with his research.

Two years later Rennie Short received a grant from National Geographic to visit former Olympic host cities struggling to manage the high costs of servicing large, empty sports arenas and hotels, and unemployment in the tourism industry. He took away a trend from these site visits: that many Olympic host cities were using the games for a heightened period of regional development, but that long-term positive impacts often failed to materialize.

“You don’t have to wait long to see the decay unfold. Usually, a journalist will return shortly after the closing of the Olympics and report decaying venues left behind,” says Rennie Short.

Further, to build venues can require destruction as much as construction, he suggests. “In Pyeongchang, parts of ancient forests were cleared and communities were displaced to build ski lifts,” Rennie Short notes. “Who knows what the global impact of disrupting pristine mountain environments will be.”

Rennie Short argues that many of the problems he has found stem from greed and corruption at the local level, with contractors and large landowners often benefiting the most. Once a city wins an Olympic bid, the kinds of investment that follow—building roads to increase access to and from the airport and on clearing land for large sports complexes—tend to benefit Olympics participants and visitors, but not long-term residents. They are also difficult to maintain and take away essential resources from long-term roads, bridges, and buildings with high local use.

“I feel a social responsibility to taxpayers to inform them of what is happening,” says Rennie Short. “Local communities are not always aware of how their money is being used to take away needed resources for individual gain. But it doesn’t have to be this way.” He draws attention to former host cities like Barcelona, that increased the long-term benefits of hosting by planning years in advance with the local community in mind and exploring ideas for sustainable global tourism plans. He also describes the experiences of cities like London and Sochi, which have emphasized the continued use of existing arenas and event sites.

While arguing for a fixed Olympics location that would decrease the need for intensive planning and investment in different host cities, Rennie Short says these cities offer examples for how to adjust the existing model to make it work for host city residents. “If the games don’t switch to a more sustainable centralized fixed location,” he argues,”then host cities must lead the way in innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly development.”

To read more about the Rennie Short’s thoughts on the urban impact of the Olympics read: “The Olympics should be in Vancouver. Winter and Summer. Every two years.” in Slate; “On rocky road to Rio, the biggest loser may be the glory of hosting Olympics,” in The Conversation” and “We should host the Olympics in the same place every time,” in The Washington Post.”

Banner Image: Untitled photo of Beijing Olympic site, November 2012, by Marko Kudjerski (CC BY 2.0)