In the past decade, UMBC Associate Professor of Political Science Devin T. Hagerty’s region of expertise, South Asia, has gone from being an understudied corner of the globe to one of the most closely watched. In 1998, India and Pakistan added nuclear weapon capability to what was already one of the tensest borders in the world. Then 9-11 focused U.S. public opinion and foreign policy on Afghanistan, the Taliban, stopping the spread of Al Qaeda and the continuing search for Osama Bin Laden.

Hagerty recently completed two books: Fearful Symmetry: Indo-Pakistani Crises in the Shadow of Nuclear Weapons, co-authored with Sumit Ganguly (July 2005, Oxford University Press and the University of Washington Press), and South Asia in World Politics, of which he is editor(May 2005, Rowman and Littlefield). He is also the editor of Asian Security, a pioneering academic journal that takes a global, interdisciplinary look at security issues in the region.

After Oct. 7’s devastating earthquake--adding humanitarian disaster to the already volatile sociopolitical mix in this global flashpoint--UMBC Research News caught up with Hagerty and the region he studies.

Help us understand Pakistan better – compare it to Iran, India or Saudi Arabia.

Economically it’s still a very depressed country; it’s extremely poor. Literacy is very low, only about 20 to 30 percent for all the population, and for women it’s more like five to 10 percent. The society has cut off almost all opportunity for women. Health care is non-existent or shoddy. There’s also a big drug addiction problem due to all the opiate production in the region–an estimated 1 to 1.5 million heroin addicts. There are many ethnic divisions–Punjabis, Sindhis, Muhajirs, etc., along with the ongoing internal rifts amongst Islam today.

What is the role of Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf in the “global war on terror” and the stakes for him in the hunt for Bin Laden?

It’s hard to think of a leader in a more precarious position. He’s got his own domestic pressures, plus he’s survived at least three assassination attempts in recent years.

He gets a lot of criticism from the West for not being perceived as doing enough to fight terror or find Bin Laden. But it’s important to realize that he did something never done before since Pakistan was founded in 1947. He has sent regular Pakistan Army forces to the lawless border region in an effort to fight Al Qaeda and other violent fundamentalist groups there. I tend to have more sympathy for him than most Western observers.

How would Pakistan react if Abu Zarqawi is successful in his goal of sparking a Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq that could spread throughout the Middle East?

Pakistan has a heavily Sunni majority, but probably would try to avoid choosing sides in that scenario.

Actually, there is as much of an ideological civil war going on within Islam today. They are really working out what it means to be a Muslim in the 21st century. On one end of the spectrum are the Wahhabis who want to turn back the clock several centuries with a strict fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran, and on the other are progressive Sunnis who believe the Koran is open to interpretation. In the same sense, a very similar debate is going on within Christianity today.

What’s the current status of India-Pakistan relations?

Well, let’s just say relations are not warm (laughs). But they’re not particularly bad right now either. It’s sort of a stand off, but there is a “peace process” which is making progress.

Kashmir is the big elephant in the room. The region is not just a flashpoint, it’s part of each country’s self-identity. Pakistan views itself as the political homeland for Muslims of South Asia. India sees itself as a secular society that is tolerant of all faiths, although it’s predominantly Hindu. There is a really deep ideological dimension to the Kashmir conflict beyond simple lines on a map.

It’s hard to be optimistic about a Kashmir solution in the near future, it really is. It would take a huge act of joint political courage to resolve the situation.

Many people have a hard time squaring current U.S. administration “you’re either with us or with the terrorists” rhetoric vs. reality in Pakistan. Some would argue that from Bin Laden to A.Q. Khan, Pakistan leans more to sympathy with or support for terror. Why are we still allies with these folks?

We need them. I get this type of question in my classes.

It’s similar to the Cold War in that our allies were often very thuggish. National security calculations always look at the overriding thereat. We need the Pakistanis’ information and access--something only they can give us right now in the Muslim world.

If there were a rupture in our relationship with Pakistan, we would lose our ability to be effective on the ground in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban is reconstituting itself, for example.

From the end of the Cold War to 9-11, we pulled back from the South Asian region and forgot about it, obviously in hindsight a terrible foreign policy mistake. In my opinion, the Bush administration feels it has no choice right now but to ally with Pakistan.

It’s a tough question. I always tell my students that if you like your answers nice and neat and consistent, then maybe international relations isn’t the field for you.

What about the recent Afghanistan elections? What is the hope for that country and where does it fit in the global picture now?

The big thing to remember is that if you had Googled “elections” and “Afghanistan” in the year 2000, you wouldn’t have gotten a lot of hits. Afghanistan is one of the most politically regressive countries in the world; it’s seen literally constant warfare since 1978. Two million people killed, about six million refugees to Pakistan, Iran and elsewhere.

The Soviet occupation tried to depopulate the countryside and push everyone into the cities, then the Mujahideen power struggle obliterated the cities. It’s a country in really bad shape.

Now a lot of progress is being made. Elections are a very hopeful sign. There’s now a true, multilateral presence there of international peacekeeping troops and NGO’s. NATO is leading aid efforts and organization in the countryside. In some ways it’s a more hopeful situation than Pakistan right now.

As someone who lived and worked in Australia for many years, what are your thoughts on how it is increasingly becoming a target of South Asian based terror groups? It seems like US allies have been systematically targeted. What do Australians think of the “war on terror” and their role in it?

Australia is a vital U.S. ally. Globally, they are one of our two or three closest allies along with the UK. They have an extremely close security and international relationship with the U.S.

Australians are very proud of the fact that in every war the U.S. has fought, they have supported us with boots on the ground, not just sending a hospital ship or moral support. I have a lot of respect for the Australian people.

I’ve been a bit surprised that there has yet to be a successful terror attack on Australia. It’s as big as the lower 48 United States, with 20 million people. They have excellent coastal defenses; the Royal Australian Navy is damned good.

That said, the alliance with the U.S. isn’t always popular in Australian society. It’s a real generational difference – folks in their fifties and sixties recognize the role the U.S. played in the WWII Pacific theatre. When Japan overwhelmed Singapore in 1942, the UK was out of the game. The US got in and has stayed in ever since.

The US relationship hasn’t been cost-free for the Australian government--John Howard and George W. Bush are very close and it has cost Howard some domestic political support, especially among younger people.

bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park

Athena Environmental Sciences, Inc. Announces Line of Environmentally Friendly Products
AthenaES has announced the launch of a new line of environmentally friendly products. The first of these is MagiGlue, a superior multipurpose glue with the unique property of being reversible with water, which makes MagiGlue perfect for temporary applications as well as standard glue uses. The glue is superior to standard multipurpose glues because it can be used in a greater range of applications-- MagiGlue adheres to not only paper, wood, fabric and most plastics, but also to metal and glass. It is also safe to use on photographs.

MagiGlue's bond can be reversed with water, which is excellent for temporary home projects such as holiday displays, dorm decorations, dashboard figures and many more. MagiGlue is also ideal for temporary manufacturing applications including labeling of products, appliance stickers, temporary signage, parts assembly operations and positioning and holding during micromachining operations. The glue is also suitable for wound dressings and other medical adhesive applications.

MagiGlue is made from all natural polymers. It contains no animal by-products, is petroleum-free, and is completely non-toxic.

RWD Technologies and BPT Partners Align Forces to Revolutionize Return on Investment in the CRM Industry
RWD Technologies, Inc. (RWD), a company that develops, implements, and supports products and services in the areas of training, consulting, and organizational performance, and BPT Partners, LLC, a leading customer relationship management (CRM) training and research company, announced today a strategic alliance expected to offer a number of unique services in the CRM industry, including expertise that will give companies a more successful capability to achieve their return on investment (ROI) as well as the means and tools to identify and deliver it. Read more.

SPI USA, Inc. and Omnia Biologics, Inc. Sign Collaboration Agreement
SPI USA, Inc. has announced an agreement to provide biotechnology and pharmaceutical consulting services for Rockville-based Omnia Biologics, Inc., which specializes in customized manufacturing for the development of vaccines, gene therapeutics and biodefense products. Read More.

techcenter@UMBC

Aurora Analytics, LLC Launches New Product Line
Aurora Analytics, LLC has launched a new product line known as G-MARK. The featured products are glucuronide diagnostic standards. Glucuronides are biomarkers to determine if alcohol consumption has occurred in humans for both clinical and forensics purposes. The Web-based launch in July was followed by U.S. and international sales in August, including the largest U.S. commercial testing laboratory.

AVIcode Hires New Sales VPAVIcode, Inc. recruited an executive from BMC Software--a major player in software circles--to drive sales of the smaller, local company's own lines. Mark Davis, who will serve as AVIcode's vice president of sales, comes from BMC Software (NYSE: BMC) a Houston-based software giant with offices worldwide and fiscal 2005 revenues of more than $1.46 billion. At BMC, Davis managed all aspects of sales operations for its mid-market product line, while overseeing field channel activities for all BMC enterprise and emerging growth customers.

"Mark is widely recognized in the field for his ability to dramatically influence both top- and bottom-line corporate performance, while building and managing sales teams that consistently deliver the big wins," said AVIcode CEO Mike Curreri.

Cognate's new CEO is biopharmaceutical veteran
A longtime executive of the biopharmaceutical industry has become the CEO of Cognate Therapeutics. Brandon Price, who most recently was vice president of biotechnology services for Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH), one of the country's largest companies, has been named CEO and a member of the board for Baltimore-based Cognate, a privately held company attempting to develop drugs using adult-stem cells for cardiac, peripheral vascular and orthopedic indications. Read more.

InVitro Technologies, Inc. Forms Partnership with SOVLO Biotechnologies, Inc.InVitro Technologies, Inc. (IVT) and Budapest-based SOLVO Biotechnologies, Inc. have formed a strategic partnership to distribute SOLVO's leading in vitro ABC Membrane Transporter Assay Product line in the United States and Canada. InVitro Technologies is a leader in the development, production, sale and trade of in vitro testing products and services for studying chemical-biological interactions in vitro. Read More.

*UMBC Research Park and Incubator News

UMBC’s ACTiVATE Program, an innovative, year-long program, sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation to train women to become technology entrepreneurs, is accepting applications for its second year, to begin in January 2006. Classes will be held Thursday evenings and one Saturday a month at techcenter@UMBC.

The program is recruiting women with strong technical or business backgrounds who have an interest in high-tech entrepreneurship. Participants will access technology inventions from universities and research institutions in Maryland, put together plans to commercialize suitable technologies and, potentially, start new companies. The ACTiVATE Program will provide technologies, training and support infrastructure for participants, including instructors, entrepreneurs in residence and advisors from the local business community.

Interested women are invited to attend an open house on November 16 or December 6. Applications may be sent to Barbara Breslau, program manager, at Breslau@umbc.edu. For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/activate or contact Barbara Breslau, program manager (Breslau@umbc.edu, 443-543-5594). Leaders in the Baltimore business community are encouraged to recommend candidates to Ms. Breslau.

Read about UMBC alumnae who are participating in ACTiVATE.

Creating Clockwork Crab

 

Mechanical engineering major Arthur Gould is proudly checking out his Clockwork Crab, part of Baltimore’s Crabtown Project, when a group of Red Hat Society ladies stop to look at the unusual black and white creature hanging out by Key Highway just behind the outdoor trapeze school. When they find out Gould is the artist, they ask to have their picture taken with Clockwork Crab.

Baltimoreans and tourists have enjoyed looking at the 200 fiberglass crab sculptures since they began appearing in May. But while the Crabtown Project is a benefit for Baltimore City’s Believe in Our Schools fund, Clockwork Crab also represents UMBC’s goal to explore interdisciplinary opportunities for its students. It’s a University where a mechanical engineering major can win an art contest open to students regardless of major and show off his talent to the people of Baltimore and beyond.

“What’s great about UMBC is that there are opportunities to create art even if you aren’t an art major,” said Symmes Gardner, director of UMBC’s Center for Art and Visual Culture. “We opened the contest to design UMBC’s crab to all students, and asked participants to create a design using education at UMBC as a theme. Arthur’s idea was fun and really stood out.”

“I liked the idea of combining my major and the artistic aspects of the project,” said Gould, who admits he is not a fan of the spicy crabs many Baltimoreans look forward to eating each summer. “Engineering has artistic elements too. You have to design and solve problems, and think outside of the box. I enjoy the interdisciplinary opportunities at UMBC and the fact that the arts are open to everyone — I can join the visual arts listserv and art clubs and meet art majors.”

In November, the Crabtown Project crabs will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Believe Our Schools Foundation, so be sure to check out Gould’s Clockwork Crab (#23) at the Inner Harbor, just east of the Maryland Science Center. A map is available at www.crabtown.org.

(10/3/04)

 

Writing UMBC’s Next Chapter

 

Providing a distinctive undergraduate experience and supporting faculty development and research are an important part of UMBC’s strategic planning process. Two significant steps to enhancing these goals are the recent reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences into two new colleges:the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and the creation of the Office of Undergraduate Education. These changes also will expand scholarship, research and creative achievement experiences for both students and faculty.

Overseeing these new entities are Diane Lee, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education; John W. Jeffries, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and Geoffrey P. Summers, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. Here, the three new deans discuss their priorities for the coming year.

Diane Lee, Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Office of Undergraduate Education

With the creation of the Office of Undergraduate Education, Lee hopes to find new opportunities for collaboration across campus. “We want to bring people together in order to strengthen the undergraduate experience and provide an honors experience to every undergraduate.” said Lee. The Office of Undergraduate Education connects with offices and departments on issues and initiatives such as First-Year Seminars, the Introduction to an Honors University seminar, New Student Book Experience, Campus Connect and undergraduate research, including Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day, Undergraduate Research Awards and UMBC Review The office is also involved with other programs that promote student academic achievement and take a proactive approach to student engagement.

The Office of Undergraduate Education is now responsible for evaluating student academic affairs issues across all of the colleges that cannot be satisfactorily resolved at the department level, a role formerly handled in the college offices. “This change will assure consistency in how policies and rules are enforced, monitored and communicated across campus,” said Lee. In addition, the Learning Resource Center, which provides critical tutoring and other academic support to students, became a part of the office.

A major priority for the office is to work with undergraduate program directors and the General Education Committee in preparation for a fall 2006 launch of the new GFRs. The office is also focused on the development of an academic integrity tutorial and online tracking systems.

John W. Jeffries, Dean, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS)

A major priority for Jeffries for the academic year is examining whether his college should be further subdivided, and he has appointed a committee to study what would be in the best interests of the University. “This is not just an issue for the college but ultimately for the entire campus,” said Jeffries. “We plan to invite college faculty and staff and then the UMBC community to discuss this issue in a variety of venues. The process will be accessible and transparent, and we will continue to keep everyone informed as it progresses.”

Other important priorities for the college include raising the visibility and financial support for CAHSS departments and programs, addressing the need for additional full-time faculty, and enhancing recognition and support of the important research conducted by UMBC faculty in the arts, the humanities and the social sciences.

Geoffrey P. Summers, Dean, College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS)

Summers hopes to raise visibility of both the CNMS departments’ graduate and undergraduate programs. One priority is to create two advisory boards, one consisting exclusively of CNMS alumni and the other for leaders in industry and government. The purpose of these boards is to increase opportunities for these groups to connect with the college, to find new internship and employment opportunities for students, and new research opportunities and resources for faculty. Additional faculty and research foci are also goals for the college, in addition to finding ways to attract more outstanding undergraduate and graduate students to UMBC.

Summers added that CNMS is considering new interdisciplinary programs that connect the life sciences to the quantitative sciences, such as biophysics. “With a smaller college, the commonality among disciplines will be more apparent than in the past,” said Summers, who said that he would also like the college to address K-12 teacher training in the sciences by participating actively in the ongoing initiatives on campus.

Read more about the reorganization in Insights online. Watch Insights and the UMBC homepage for future updates.

(9/26/05)

 

Homeland Security for H20

It’s a post-9-11 scenario that most homeland security experts agree is not a matter of if but when: a “dirty bomb” attack in the United States.

Technically known as radiation dispersal devices or RDDs, dirty bombs combine conventional explosives with radioactive material, most likely cesium or cobalt stolen or scavenged from medical or industrial use. Often confused by the public with nuclear weapons, a dirty bomb’s primary impact is psychological, since while they could render an entire city block uninhabitable for quite some time, overall damage would be limited beyond that area.

Like many scientists since 9/11, Brian E. Reed, William and Lillian Hackerman Chair of Engineering and Chair of UMBC’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), has studied how his field can contribute to homeland security. Reed has recently studied a serious side effect of dirty bombs: the toxic trickledown effect on the environment and water supply in the aftermath of an attack.

“If an RDD attack happened in our region, first responders would use water to extinguish fires and control dust at a detonation site, and the contaminants could ultimately end up in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said Reed. “The public health and environmental impact would vary depending on the type and potency of the attack, but the mass psychological impact would be significant, requiring a focused and immediate response.”

Reed realized that many available advanced technologies for cleaning up and limiting damage by dirty bombs were too complex and expensive to be practical in an emergency. He found that adsorbents – materials that cause the molecules of liquids, gases, and dissolved substances to adhere to the surfaces of solids – offered a more robust response and easier disposal of contaminants.

Under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, Reed and his graduate students are testing adsorbent materials in CEE laboratories located at UMBC’s Technology Research Center (TRC).

CEE is part of a growing cluster of collaborative environmental research entities headquartered at UMBC, including the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) (led by CEE colleague Claire Welty) and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES).

A native of Buffalo, NY, Reed came to UMBC in 2002 from the University of Missouri-Columbia to help build on the success of department founder the late Dr. Severino “Bino” Koh and Reed’s CEE colleague Jack Gwo, a challenge that has him energized.

“It’s a great chance to build a new department that is not constrained by how civil and environmental engineering departments have operated in the past,” Reed said. “Our goal is to produce a different type of environmental engineer – one who is able to work closely with scientists and policy professionals in solving the complex environmental problems facing the nation. Working closely with CUERE, BES and departments such as geography and environmental systems gives our students a much broader outlook on how environmental problems are addressed.”

(9/12/05)

bwtech@UMBC, UMBC's on-campus research and technology park, has announced that two new corporate tenants will relocate to the park's second building, 5523 Research Park Drive.

The new tenants are the healthcare communications and technology firm Physicians Practice, Inc., formerly of Glen Burnie, and the engineering/design firm Edwards and Kelcey, which moves its Baltimore office to UMBC from Caton Avenue.

Physicians Practice is publisher of Physicians Practice: The Business Journal for Physicians, the most widely circulated practice management journal for physicians in the country. The firm is also known for its award-winning Web site, www.PhysiciansPractice.com, and a weekly e-mail newsletter, Physicians Practice Pearls.

Physicians Practice comes to UMBC thanks in part to the close ties to the University by president, co-founder and UMBC alumnus Scott Weber, who graduated in 1985 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. Weber, a former president of the UMBC Alumni Association, continues to advise students in UMBC's Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship on starting up and running a successful business. The company, which will occupy most of the second floor, currently employs 45 people.

"UMBC offers an excellent strategic location for us to grow our business, with its thriving technology environment, wealth of intellectual capital, and convenient proximity to transportation," said Gerry Hartung, chief executive officer and co-founder of Physicians Practice. "We look forward to partnering with UMBC as our business continues to grow throughout the region and country."

Edwards and Kelcey is a nationally recognized engineering, design, planning and construction management firm which has been in business since 1946. Headquartered in Morristown, NJ, Edwards and Kelcey has 900 employees, 23 regional offices and is ranked 68th among the Top 500 U.S. Design Firms by Engineering News-Record (ENR). Edwards and Kelcey employs 25 transportation engineers and planners locally, and is currently providing services to the Maryland Aviation Administration, Maryland State Highway Administration, City of Baltimore, and other local DOTs.

K.R. Marshall, EK's Baltimore office manager said, "Our new location at UMBC will allow us to optimally service our transportation clients in the Baltimore region. With convenient access to BWI and downtown Baltimore, coupled with partnership opportunities with the UMBC engineering department, Edwards and Kelcey looks forward to continued success in the Maryland market."

bwtech@UMBC's first two buildings were developed by Grosvenor, one of the largest private real estate companies in the world with a global property portfolio of $7 billion. The park's 62,000 square-foot first building has been leased by the information technology firm RWD Technologies since 2001.

(7/05)

"In scholarly literature, there is a lot of interest about inner suburbs, those older suburban communities near the central city. We found that these areas suffer from increasing poverty and declining incomes. Therefore, we set off to better understand these urban dynamics," said Bernadette Hanlon, a public policy Ph.D. candidate at UMBC and one of two authors of "The State of the Inner Suburbs," an analysis of the urban decline surrounding Baltimore.

"There is room for public policy to intervene, to stop this decline, to process and revitalize the suburban communities," said co-author Thomas J. Vicino, public policy Ph.D. candidate. "We're at a crossroads, where the suburbs haven't declined as far as old Baltimore, and there is hope."

Both Hanlon and Vicino are researchers at UMBC's Center for Urban and Environmental Research and Education (CUERE). After a year of compiling massive amounts of data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Vicino and Hanlon developed a new system for classifying the suburbs that ring Baltimore's beltway.

"Because the inner suburbs are juxtaposed by outer suburbs, there's a lot of talk in Maryland of 'smart growth,' and where to direct new development," said Vicino.

"The State of the Inner Suburbs" is currently under consideration for publication in the Journal of Urban Affairs. The data was presented at the national Urban Affairs Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, and to a group of state legislators, politicians and other academics. It was also a front page story in the Baltimore Sun.

The report is potentially useful to legislators, from the migration of work and the composition of the work force to the deflation of property values. "I'd like to see the community and policy makers look to our research as a way to target investment in the communities," said Vicino, while Hanlon added, "We've done analysis on Baltimore, and we hope to continue our research in a comparative context in other urban areas throughout the country."

"The State of the Inner Suburbs" is available for download at: www.umbc.edu/cuere/inner_ring .

(7/05)

Spring usually brings Kevin Omland attention since he studies Maryland's State bird, the Baltimore Oriole, which migrate back to our region near the start of the season for the baseball playing O's. The assistant professor of biological sciences was recently interviewed on National Public Radio and in the Baltimore Sun about the search for new animal species.

What are the criteria for determining whether an organism is a new species?

We look for three or five pieces of evidence. For example, distinct appearance, plumage, color differentiation, an especially distinct pattern or marking, and so on, plus we also sequence DNA.

Our raven work is the closest we've come to finding a new species. We studied a form of raven in California that was so genetically different from ravens elsewhere in the world but gave absolutely no hint of that in its exterior appearance, behavior, or calls. In the end we found that if the only thing that's distinct is DNA, then it's not enough to be a new species.

How long does DNA sequencing take and can you do it here at UMBC?

Yes, our lab manages the DNA sequencing facility for whole university. Our undergraduate and graduate students learn all the skills required to sequence. In fact, one of our graduate students runs the DNA sequencing equipment and does about 99 percent of the sequencing work for UMBC.

You can teach a bright undergraduate student to sequence DNA in about two weeks, from the first feather or muscle sample to editing the final data on the computer.

Your previous work with ravens has shown that they are remarkably resilient, clever and adaptable to the encroachment of mankind on their habitat. Could you give some examples?

Well, ravens in the Mojave Desert really take advantage of dairy farms as a water source - they've learned to drink from cattle troughs. Ravens in urban areas are also very willing to do dumpster diving for everything from Pizza Hut crusts to parking lot French fries. Of course ravens also cruise up and down highways for miles in search of road kill.

Will you and your students be in the field this summer?

Yes. Baltimore Orioles returned to Maryland from wintering in Mexico and Latin America around May 1.

Where's the best Oriole watching site at UMBC?

We are studying Baltimore Orioles on campus near Pig Pen Pond. They stay high up in the treetops but they'll be there.

I've always thought that the pond next to the UMBC Library was another good habitat with its big trees and water source, but they don't use it. Orioles can be like humans, I guess, in that they seem to use each other as an index of which neighborhood is a good place to settle.

Were you a birdwatcher growing up?

Yes, I grew up in the country in Vermont and my parents were always camping and hiking with us. We always had a bird feeder in the yard or would gather around the back window to see deer or wild turkeys. I've always been drawn to the outdoors and wildlife.

Why did you decide to study orioles and ravens in particular?

We picked the Baltimore Oriole because it has such interesting feather coloration. The male has that wonderful, bright, almost fluorescent orange color. In contrast there's the orchard oriole which is much more chestnut colored.

I wondered why there's such color variation in oriole males from one species to other and why female Baltimore orioles are so dull colored. Both sexes of tropical oriole species found in Mexico have very bright coloring. We have a five-year National Science Foundation grant to study oriole coloration, particularly in females.

We thought ravens were perfect for studying speciation since they're found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The Common Raven is found from Siberia through Alaska, Norway, Canada and on to the U.S. Because of this wide distribution, we suspected this species might show high levels of genetic diversity.

We also correctly suspected that the Chihuahuan Raven of the U.S. Southwest wasn't genetically distinct from the Common Raven. For our fast breaking paper, we showed that of the 2,000 animal species we surveyed, 23 percent didn't have distinct mitochondrial DNA. So ravens are the bird poster child of why DNA distinction is not enough to declare a new species.

So where are your favorite bird watching spots in the region?

On campus I'd say Pig Pen Pond or CERA. You can spot great birds at UMBC-owls, wood ducks and of course the most charismatic bird of all, the Baltimore Oriole.

Another good place is the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge off the Baltimore Washington Parkway. The National Wildlife Visitors Center there is a great place to go.

(7/05)

By Patrick Coyle, UMBC

Since its inception in 1987, artists and researchers across disciplines have collaborated in the creative environment of UMBC's Imaging Research Center (IRC), a state-of-the-art R&D studio for digital media, animation and visualization.

One of the IRC's most recent projects is Euphoria, a full-length feature film about the pursuit of happiness. Written, directed and narrated by Lee Boot, the IRC's associate director, Euphoria received a gold medal for best documentary at the WorldFest-Houston festival and had its Baltimore premiere at the Maryland Film Festival in May. (Watch a trailer for the film online.)

As a teacher with 15 years experience, a classically trained artist with a degree in painting and owner of the Baltimore-based educational media company InfoCulture, Boot is in a unique position to bring his life experience to the role of director, researcher, artist, but above all, educator. Here, he talks about the IRC's research mission and the making of Euphoria.

Would you describe the IRC as a comprehensive imaging lab?

Yes, but we take that word "imaging" and we stretch it a lot, and I think that's important. One of the reasons the IRC is more than a traditional imaging lab is that we don't want to be just a service bureau or technical design shop. We do research, that's our mission.

We produced a high-end kiosk for the Baltimore Museum of Art, digitally recreating the Cone sisters' incomparable collection of early 20th Century painting. Now a lot of museums want us to create something similar for them. But I say no, because to repeat ourselves doesn't constitute a research challenge, but a production challenge, and that's not our goal.

Is this imaging in a philosophical sense?

It is. In fact, a major goal of the IRC is to be a part of research that increases our ability to track the way research affects culture.

Euphoria is a full-length film, with graphics and editing done by the IRC, that will hopefully revolutionize the approach to education films. How is it different?

Euphoria is an attempt to create an "information-based film" for entertainment. Specially, it's a film that conveys what we know about what creates long-term fulfillment, happiness, euphoria-including neuroscience, psychology, the history of the pursuit, etc.

The story is told by juxtaposing visual metaphors against information-based narration, so essentially the story is told with metaphors, a very different way to approach this information. Initially some worried that it would be too challenging for teenage audience members, but nobody thinks twice in high school about teaching difficult texts and artwork like Shakespeare, Faulkner, Van Gogh. They're not considered beyond the high school mind. We'd like to raise this media to a higher form of art. We count on the teacher to deconstruct them. So we're asking, "Why should an informational film always be understood completely in real time?"

What was the research process for the film?

Similar to the way a researcher might proceed with a science grant, I targeted a program at the National Institutes of Health that promoted neuroscience education, and began to assemble a team. I was able to recruit two neuroscientists, one oriented toward the physiology of the neuron and another with a more global orientation to the brain, an addiction psychiatrist, a science-media expert, a great anthropologist and two people from different ends of the film business.

Then I set out to learn how to write the research grant, which was very hard and new for me because my background is not in science-I'd never done it. The grant came in two phases, the first to prove feasibility and the second to produce the full film and evaluate its effect on teenagers' beliefs, attitudes and intentions. Sometimes I find that people think we were paid by the NIH to make a film. That's not true. The NIH supported a research question which asked: is our plan a way to make a different kind of science education film that teenagers will find engaging enough to really hear the information and allow it to help them find a way to feel good without drugs?

How would you describe Euphoria's potential effects on culture?

Euphoria is funded by the National Institutes of Health, in particular, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, because they believe that by talking about what does create "euphoria" in a believable way, it could go a long way toward preventing kids from becoming dependent on substances. They also like our approach that we're aiming for something beyond a typical educational film. There's also an extensive Web site that teachers can use at www.TheEuphoriaProject.com .

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The IRC is currently working on a new project called Fieldtrip, a plan to use an array of media to help students and their parents better understand a range of issues related to learning, so they can make informed choices and take a more active role in education.. This will likely include the IRC's first-ever video game, which will complement the Fieldtrip Web site and film.

Learn more about the IRC at www.irc.umbc.edu .

Watch a Maryland Public Television feature on the IRC.

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