Job Description: The Program Associate position is a full time position (40 hours per week), providing support to the Program's Department and will occasionally work early morning and evening events. This is an entry level position with a starting salary in the high $20,000's and includes an extensive benefits package. This position reports to the Program Director.
]]>On this installment of ST, an interesting conversation with Anne Sarah Rubin, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who is also the author of "Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and American Memory." This book explores the stories as well as the myths about Sherman's infamous March to the Sea. In doing so, it draws from a diverse range of sources, among them the firsthand accounts of African Americans, women, Union soldiers, Confederates, and even Sherman himself -- as well as, of course, travel accounts, memoirs, literature, films, and newspapers of the time. Thus Rubin shows the ways in which our thinking about the Civil War -- and especially Sherman's role within it -- has changed over time. "Through the Heart of Dixie" was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as "an engrossing exploration of the ways in which the march has been recounted and understood over the years" -- and the Gettysburg Chronicle called it "one of the more innovative books which has been published this year on the Civil War and one of the more innovative books on the March to the Sea."
]]>Felipe Filomeno, an assistant professor of political science, has been awarded the Early Career Prize of the Economics & Politics Section of the Latin American Studies Association. The award comes in recognition of his article “Patterns of Rule-Making and Intellectual Property Regimes: Lessons from South American Soybean Agriculture”, published in the Journal of Comparative Politics in 2014. Below is a summary of Filomeno’s article:
Around 1980, states and corporations from core countries led by the U.S. government started to demand from other countries reforms that increased the scope and strength of private intellectual property rights. The resulting global upward ratchet of intellectual property protection has not developed uniformly across time and space. This study presents a theory of cross-national variation in intellectual property regimes based on a comparative-historical analysis of the making of intellectual property rules in South American soybean agriculture (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay). It concludes that a corporatist pattern of rule-making is conducive to a weak intellectual property regime (Argentina), whereas pluralism (Brazil) and state capture and abstention (Paraguay) are more conducive to strong intellectual property regimes.
]]>Four projects focused on aquaculture on the US state of Maryland are getting funding from the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program.
Two involve automated oyster production, while a third enhances oyster aquaculture by co-harvesting algae as an additional product. The fourth creates a high-value fish feed from Maryland crops.
The MIPS program is an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.
This round of MIPS grants, worth $3.3 million, combines $1.3m from MIPS and $2m in cash and in-kind contributions from participating companies. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency provided additional funding.
The four aquaculture projects are:
Hollywood Oyster Company, based in Hollywood, is one of the largest oyster farms in Maryland, which got a grant of $157,880. The company works with Patrick Kangas, associate professor, department of environmental science and technology, University of Maryland, to develop methods for scaling up macroalgae (seaweed) aquaculture to be grown in conjunction with oysters, both as a commercial product and to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Hoopers Island Oyster Aquaculture Company, based in Fishing Creek, produces half-shell oysters and the equipment needed to support aquaculture in Maryland. The company got a grant of $511,000. The company works with Yang Tao, professor, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, to develop a laser 3D machine vision system that sorts Chesapeake Bay-cultured oysters into quality grades.
Metompkin Seafood, based in Crisfield, distributes a variety of seafood products in the Chesapeake Bay region. The company got a grant of $238,676.The company works with Donald Meritt, principal agent, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, to develop a high-volume, spat-on-shell oyster production system based on remote setting technology
Plant Sensory Systems, based in Baltimore, develops technologies that improve agricultural performance and reduce negative environmental impact.The company got a grant of $135,950. The company works with Allen Place, professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, to produce a plant-based aquafeed with low-leaching taurine, a compound required for the development and growth of farmed fish and shellfish
As well as the aquaculture projects, MIPS approved 11 other collaborative technology product development projects, teaming Maryland companies with university researchers.
A technology acceleration program, MIPS grants money, combined with company funds, to faculty engaged in each project.
Swab in hand, Rena Shimizu lightly scraped a sample from a salmon fillet, dipped the swab in a tube of liquid and gently swirled it before setting it aside to briefly incubate at the Baltimore lab.
After a few more steps, the research scientist for InstantLabs inserted a vial with the fish's DNA into a small cartridge and snapped that into a portable device the size of a printer.
The machine, developed by the Baltimore-based diagnostic device company, can identify species of salmon, crab and other fish through DNA testing. It can determine the presence of pork or horse meat. It can detect E. coli, salmonella and other pathogens in numerous foods. Equipped with a touch screen, it can email or print out results — in less than two hours.
Read more at http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-instantlabs-seafood-testing-20150406-story.html#page=1