The UMBC Transit Department is working to approve a new proposal for an additional eighth bus route in order to provide access to areas west of campus.

According to the the Transit Department, a new route for UMBC transit buses may be added between Howard Community College, Ellicott City, and the Mall in Columbia. The original proposal was based on feedback by students and parents on potential transit additional locations. The new route is currently being surveyed in collaboration with the Geography Department and the Transit Department in a geographic informations system, or GIS, in order to map out students living in the surrounding area, as well as other relevant data.

UMBC Transit currently offers 7 routes, carrying 366,000 riders, connecting the campus to locations such as BWI, Arundel, Halethorpe, Catonsville, and more.

Though this would add to the over 300 stops already a part of transit routes, new bus route should not disrupt any services already offered by UMBC transit according to Daniel Teage, interim director of UMBC Transit Services. “This is just an addition to the services we already offer. The next part is to put the proposal to the Student [Fee] Advisory committee.”

Once the Student Fee Advisory committee hears the presentation concerning the time, cost and effect by UMBC Transit officials, they will deliberate on whether to allocate funding to the project. The board represents the students interests in the majority of economic matters and should they deem the route cost effective to student life as a whole, they may allow the project to begin work on preparations for the addition.

According to the proposal, 1000 students live in the routes’ area and may potentially host an additional 200,000 rides a year. Should even half of the students living in this community elect to bus, they would eliminate rides from 500 cars and reduce carbon emissions. Additionally there may be reduced traffic on campus as a result of such a route adoption.

Should the expansion occur as planned, the resulting route would provide Howard Community College and UMBC students access to a city population of over 65,000, as recorded in 2010 by the US Census, in addition to transportation to the Mall in Columbia’s 216 storefronts and job opportunities. 

The post Proposed 8th line may be coming to UMBC Transit appeared first on The Retriever.

The last year has brought increased attention to mosquito-borne diseases, including the Zika virus, West Nile virus, and malaria. Dawn Biehler recently brought this discussion closer to home in a wide-ranging interview in Edge Effects about her work to better understand the prevalence of mosquitoes in low-income neighborhoods.

Biehler, an associate professor of geography and environmental systems, is leading the social science component of a major research project where she is examining the connections between mosquito ecology and social inequality in Baltimore. Her team is canvassing Baltimore neighborhoods to collect data on mosquito populations and residents’ contact with mosquitoes as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.

“We’re really talking about how social and ecological processes feed into one another and how we might study interventions into that system,” says Biehler. “I thought that it might also reveal more interesting things about human-environment interactions in a city where the housing market has been declining for a long time.”

When discussing the preliminary findings of the project, Biehler noted that it’s important to understand the historical context of neighborhood change in Baltimore.

“We can take this back probably over a hundred years in order to understand how Baltimore has been segregated by black versus white residents for decades,” says Biehler. “Some of the processes, including redlining that began in the 1930s, urban renewal that began in the 1960s, and highway construction that also began in the 1960s, have resulted in disinvestment—really massive disinvestment—in certain neighborhoods, almost all of them African American neighborhoods.”

Biehler also discussed the potential impact of climate change should Baltimore’s climate become similar to the Carolinas or Georgia, and she explained changes in public focus on different mosquito-borne diseases over time. But ultimately, Biehler says, when looking at Baltimore the biggest issue to focus on today is disinvestment in neighborhoods.

“The punchline here in terms of our results is that the neighborhoods that have this history of disinvestment have up to three times as many Aedes albopictus mosquitoes as do the upper-income neighborhoods that don’t have that history of disinvestment,” she says.

Biehler researches historical geography and environmental history of public health in U.S. cities, environmental justice, urban and feminist political ecology, housing, and human-animal interactions. She is author of Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats (University of Washington Press). See this recent interview, in full, in Edge Effects.

Update: Dawn Biehler also spoke about pests and inequality on WYPR’s “On the Record” with Sheilah Kast on March 28, 2017. Listen to the full radio interview on Baltimore’s NPR station.

Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Men’s lacrosse is off to a slow start this season, currently sitting at a 2-4 record after a difficult series of games. They picked the first of their two wins early into the season in a blowout against Mercer University and in their most recent outing, a 6-4 defensive battle where the Retrievers gained the edge with a four goal performance by freshman Ryan Frawley, which earned him America East Conference Men’s Lacrosse Rookie of the Week honors.

So far, the majority of the team’s season has been plagued by tough road matchups. The season opener was on the road against defending NCAA champions and fourth ranked University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, followed by an intense rivalry game against seventh ranked Johns Hopkins University. Both games resulted in one sided losses, with the Retrievers falling by a combined score of 32-11. The team followed those losses with a game against the also high voted Richmond University, where they managed to fight to keep it close with a 10-5 loss.

The Retriever’s season is at its halfway mark and men’s lacrosse is looking to turn their season around in intense conference play. On Saturday, March 18, the team will begin conference matchups with a road game against Stony Brook University (currently ranked at 14th in the nation) before finishing their season up with yet another road game, as they travel to face the University of Michigan.

Despite the frustrations the team has faced in the early part of the season, it has been a great year for the team’s youth to plant their cleats in the field. Frawley is helping out by tying the team for leading in goals, while getting support by fellow freshman Mitch Howell who has four points in the early part of the season and sophomore Jack Andrews whose nine points are second on the team.

This young guard that leads the Retrievers is getting a lot of guidance from senior Max Maxwell, who leads the team with eight goals and nineteen points. Rising junior Max Haldeman has managed to put away five goals in the front half of the season, and is also helping out the younger core on the offense as he prepares for his final season next year.

The Retriever defense has been heavily tested through the early part of the season, conceding 46 goals in February. However, as the competition slowed down, the Retrievers have bolstered their defensive positioning, conceding only twelve goals in the first half of March. The defense, also, has a very young core, relying on sophomores Billy O’Hara and Jason Brewster to lead the team in caused turnovers.

The young freshman midfielder Jake Brothers has been reliable with ground balls and has taken face offs for the team. Which is why he also earned the America East Conference Rookie of the Week accolade on Feb. 13.

Head coach Ryan Moran has to hope that the early tribulations the team has went through will be a learning experience for a young, raw Retriever core. The team will spend April playing heated conference battles and will hope that their upperclassmen leadership can help guide the underclassman core through all of the rigors of the America East Conference play when it starts off against Stony Brook.

The post Men’s lax left in a hole after tough stretch of road games appeared first on The Retriever.

UMBC is state mandated to buy its furniture from the Maryland prison system as per the Code of Maryland article §14–103 (a.1.).

In the Code of Maryland it is written that, “A State or State aided or controlled entity shall buy supplies and services from: Maryland Correctional Enterprise… if Maryland Correctional Enterprises provides the supplies or services.”

Maryland Correctional Enterprises is the prison system within the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. MCE supplies state facilities with commodities ranging from furniture, as in the case of UMBC, to meat products, graphics, apparel and accessories. All of these products are produced in MCE plants across Maryland.

As a state school, UMBC must buy from MCE in accordance with the Code of Maryland. The Maryland State University System is the third top consumer of MCE goods, buying around $11 million of MCE products annually.

According to UMBC Contract Administrator Donna Von Paris, “The UMBC Campus currently purchases desks, systems furniture, seating, file cabinets, conference tables and lounge seating from MCE. We also utilized MCE design services.”

UMBC has bought various other products from MCE in years previous as well, including dorm mattresses, counter tops and bed frames. MCE-made furniture can be found just about anywhere on campus, including in dorms, academic buildings, administrative offices and the Commons.

Maryland has the eighth greatest number of employed inmates in the U.S. and has been ranked in the top 10 since 2008. MCE employs some 2,035 inmates as well as around 250 civilian employees. Jobs at the MCE plants are also made available to ex-inmates. Beyond that, MCE helps ex-inmates seek more gainful employment after release as a part of the MCE Continuing Allocation of Re-entry Services program.

MCE CARES is designed “to assist inmate employees in transitioning to civilian employment upon release.” So far the program has seen 328 CARES graduates since the program began, including 15 in the past year.

In its mission statement, MCE claims that the goal of the inmate labor is to “provide structured employment and training activities for offenders in order to improve employability upon release.”

Prisoners working at MCE facilities must be paid at least the Federal Minimum Wage ($7.25 an hour); however, deductions are made from inmates’ wages to pay taxes, room and board, contributions to a victims’ compensation fund and family support programs. MCE does not publicly disclose the average wage of inmate laborers, but local news outlets report the typical wage of inmate workers is between $1.50 and $5.10 a day.

MCE is and aims to be a self sufficient state agency. Around 0.7 percent of Maryland’s prison system’s expenses are compensated by MCE revenue, easily covering the total budget of the MCE program. In 2015, the state allocated almost $3 million to MCE resources and projects (not including wages of civilians or supervisors) and was able to cancel that funding due to MCE’s sustainability. MCE has a total economic contribution of over $100.2 million across the state, through goods and services rendered as well as wages.  

In November of 2015, Towson University students, as part of the Occupy Towson movement, attempted to force the school to terminate its contract with MCE on the grounds that the system perpetuates slave labour. Towson University interim president Timothy Chandler agreed to the demands after an eight hour protest in his personal office.

The post UMBC utilizing prison-made furniture appeared first on The Retriever.

The Retrievers baseball team appeared to turn a corner on March 5, shutting out Gardner-Webb University 6-0 after suffering from five straight losses. However, the Retrievers once again struggled on the diamond this week with their early missteps that have resulted in a 2-9 record, mirroring their rough start in 2016.

On Wednesday, the Retrievers hosted their crosstown rival Towson University Tigers. The Tigers opened the game with three one-run innings. Late in the game, UMBC showed signs of life. After redshirt sophomore left fielder Zack DeThomasis reached on a fielding error, freshman designated hitter Dalton Stewart smashed a double to left field to get the Retrievers offense going.

This set the stage for freshman shortstop Christian Torres. The youngster singled to left field, scoring both DeThomasis and Stewart to trim the Towson lead to 3-2 in the seventh inning. The Retrievers tied it up in the bottom of the eighth on senior center fielder Andrew Casali’s run batted in (RBI) groundout.

Once the game went into extra innings, the wheels fell off. The Retrievers had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, and unfortunately, failed to plate any runs.

Towson had no problems scoring the next half inning. The Tigers put up four runs in the top of the 11th. Sophomore catcher Trey Martinez smacked a home run over the left centerfield fence to break the tie and propel the Tigers toward their eventual win. Two batters later, sophomore shortstop Richie Palacios singled home redshirt senior outfielder A.J. Gallo to further the lead to it’s final score, 7-3.

Following the heartbreaking loss to Towson, UMBC headed back out on the road to visit the University of North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs for a three game series. The Bulldogs rode an eight run second inning to an 11-5 victory in the first game, whereas UMBC only mustered one run on five hits after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first frame.

The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader saw another Retrievers rally fall by the wayside. UNC Asheville sprinted to a 6-1 lead through the first four innings.

The Retrievers stormed back though, scoring three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie the game. Unfortunately, the bullpen could not hold serve. UNC Asheville senior right fielder Kyle Carruthers served a single back up the middle for the game winning run.

UMBC forced the Bulldogs to put the brooms away and avoided the sweep later that afternoon with an 8-4 victory. The Retrievers posted consecutive two run innings in the third and fourth innings and would not relinquish the lead going forward. 

The Bulldogs made it interesting, though. In the bottom of the eighth, senior left fielder Justin Woods clobbered a leadoff home run to right center field to cut into the lead. Four batters later, sophomore infielder Carmine Pagano hit a sacrifice fly bring UNC Asheville to within a run. The Retrievers promptly followed up with a three-run ninth inning to put the game out of reach.

The Retrievers will look to build off of this win. A nine game home stand might be just what the Retrievers need to get back on track. The first game is on Mar. 15, when they host the Naval Academy. Then conference play finally begins on Saturday, when the Retrievers welcome the University of Maine Black Bears to Alumni Field.

The post UMBC baseball continues this season’s struggle appeared first on The Retriever.

Education Program Manager

Job Description

The Education Program Manager functions as a critical member of the Education Department. This position is an exciting addition to the Education staff and is responsible for managing and maintaining a wide variety of tasks related to Everyman’s existing education programs.

Join the UMBC Computer Science Education Club and the Center for Women in Technology for a free screening of the award winning film, CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap. The documentary exposes the dearth of American female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap. CODE raises the question: what would society gain from having more women and minorities code?

CODE will be screened on Friday March 31 at 3:00-5:00pm in ITE 104.  A discussion about the film will immediately follow the screening. Snacks will be provided!  RSVP via myUMBC to let the organizers know you will be there on Friday 3/31!.

Here’s a trailer for the film:

The post Free screening: CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, 3-5 Fri 3/31, UMBC appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.