Ecologist Develops New Method for Detecting Biodiversity
EMBARGOED until Feb. 1, 2009

BALTIMORE – Ecologists from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Baylor University in Texas have developed a new method for measuring the impact of human-caused environmental degradation on biodiversity that is significantly more precise than current methods and has revealed a dramatically lower ecological “tipping point” at which species are threatened.

The new method of statistical analysis was detailed online Feb. 1 in the British Ecological Society’s new journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution and includes a free download of a program to apply the analysis, created by co-author, and UMBC geography and environmental systems professor, Matthew Baker.

Environmental scientists are increasingly relying on statistical methods for determining thresholds, or “tipping points,” beyond which ecological systems are damaged by changes to the environment. More recently, ecologists have asked whether biological communities show similar responses – the proverbial “canary-in-the-coal-mine” test.

Accurately measuring these tipping points is important for protecting threatened species and better understanding how ecosystems respond to major changes such as global warming, coal mine leaching, agricultural pollutants or water-runoff from highly developed areas, said Baker, who with Ryan King, a biology professor from Baylor University, used stream invertebrate samples collected from Maryland tributaries by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and data from Florida’s Everglades in their analyses.

Baker said the precision of their new method is significantly greater than methods that have been widely used for the past 40 years.

For example, a decade-old analysis widely-cited by environmental professionals and policymakers suggests that it takes up to 10-15 percent of impervious surface (meaning roads, roofs, or parking lots) or about 20-30 percent developed land in a given area before local water-systems no longer sustain normal aquatic life. Baker and King’s new method demonstrates that aquatic life actually shows significant loss of biodiversity with only 1-3 percent developed land in a watershed.

A common practice by state and federal environmental protection agencies (U.S. EPA) is to rate the health of streams by comparing overall biotic life with data from “reference” streams using indices that combine various measures to provide a general scoring of health. This approach does a good job distinguishing highly degraded and relatively pristine systems, but isn’t as clear about what happens when conditions fall in between, Baker said.

“Our method of measuring response to degradation is more precise because we track the response of every species separately, and look specifically for places where the abundance or occurrence of many species changes simultaneously at a particular level of disturbance,” Baker said. “This allows us to detect, with a high level of statistical certainty, when we are approaching a point at which species are threatened, and whether the response is consistent with a community threshold.”

CONTACT:
B. Rose Huber
410-455-8117
brhuber@umbc.edu

Middle Schoolers to Compete in FIRST LEGO League State Championship

(BALTIMORE, MARYLAND) — Some say it “rivals American Gladiators and any other major competitive sports event.” But it’s not necessarily a battle of the body – but instead one of the mind. The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) State Championship is a game of smarts, where Maryland middle schoolers will learn the importance of transportation efficiency and team building by building motorized robots from LEGOs. The competition, “Smart Move,” stresses the importance of education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), helping students collaborate and develop necessary skills at an early age. Anne Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is the FLL affiliate partner for Maryland and spearheading the event, as her research focuses on the awareness and interest in engineering career opportunities for students in K-16.

Sixty four teams will compete on the UMBC campus on Saturday, January 30, to see who builds the best and most efficient robot. The championship will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., in UMBC’s Retriever Activities Center and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://www.umbc.edu/blogs/umbcnews/2010/01/middle_schoolers_to_compete_in.html.

Original reports on the allegations of assault and sexual assault against former UMBC professor Ramachandra Hosmane can be found here and here. The charges against Hosmane were nolle prossed (dismissed) last week in district court in Catonsville.

Since that time, we’ve received tips, including a comment on one of the previous posts, that the charges against Hosmane were dropped as some sort of deal with his accuser. The tipindicates that some sort of financial settlement deal between Hosmane and his accuser was made. Presumably this meant a civil or private settlement of some sort in which the accuser agreed not to testify in court – which would result in the charges being thrown out. The tipsters also indicated that Hosmane had retired from UMBC as of January 1, 2010. The commenter indicated that a UMBC investigation corroborated what the accuser had alleged.

In doing further research, we discovered that Hosmane is no longer listed on the faculty page for the Chemistry Department at UMBC and the Hosmane Research Group is missing from the list of research groups. We also sent email to the office of his attorney, Arthur M. Frank, asking for comment last week on the charges being dismissed and again today regarding the latest tips we received. Additionally, we made similar requests of the attorney for the accuser and received no responses.

I did receive confirmation from Eleanor Lewis at UMBC that Hosmane has indeed retired from the University.

Anyone with further information on this story is welcome to send email to mail@insidecharmcity.com. We welcome comments from Dr. Hosmane, Mr. Frank, Hosmane’s accuser, her attorney, and anyone else with information confirming or refuting the previous information relayed to us.

To sum things up, Ramachandra Hosmane is retired from UMBC. This reportedly happened January 1 and then charges were dismissed against him January 6. We received information that indicated Hosmane reached some sort of financial agreement with his accuser in which she agreed not to testify against him. We are still seeking additional confirmation on the details of any settlement and his retirement.

Update: The Retriever Weekly’s blog picks up the story about the retirement and the charges being nolle prossed.

According to online court records, the second degree assault and fourth degree sexual assault charges against UMBC Chemistry Professor Ramachandra Hosmane today were nolle prossed. We previously discussed the charges here and here.

UMBC release

December 15, 2009
UMBC Receives $83,208 BRAC Higher Education Grant

Cybersecurity Program Will Help Develop BRAC Workforce

CONTACTS:

Deborah Shapiro, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
410-455-1509
dshapiro@umbc.edu

Michael Raia, Office of the Lt. Governor
410-260-3888
mraia@gov.state.md.us

ANNAPOLIS, MD – December 15, 2009 – Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown announced earlier today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) received one of 12 BRAC Higher Education grants. The grant, made available through legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly (the Higher Education Investment Fund) in 2008, will help UMBC establish a Center for Cybersecurity Training focusing on developing regional workforce with qualifications and skills to support local cybersecurity needs, as well as national cybersecurity initiatives within the State.

Fifteen courses will be developed by UMBC Training Centers and will be targeted to employees of state and federal government agencies and contractors, active military, veterans and any others seeking job training or skill enhancement. Courses planned include Java Development for Secure Systems, Enterprise Linux Security Administration, and Securing .NET Applications and Web Services. The goal is to begin delivering pilot courses to small groups of students this spring, at either UMBC or a government or contractor location via a mobile computer lab. While it is projected that 75-150 students will be served during the pilot phase, ultimately the goal is to serve about 720 students per year.

“We want to thank Governor O’Malley and Lt. Governor Brown for their outstanding support of our efforts to build a strong education and training foundation for the BRAC workforce,” said Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of UMBC. “This grant from the Maryland Higher Education Investment Fund (HEIF) will enable us to establish a Center for Cybersecurity Training which is an essential component of BRAC.”

“I applaud UMBC and the ten other institutions of higher education on their successful grant application. It is only through our partnerships that Maryland will reap every benefit of BRAC,” Lt. Governor Brown said. “Governor O’Malley and I have set clear priorities that put an emphasis on job creation and we wholly understand that our strong network of public, independent and community colleges play an important role in reach our ambitious goals.”

The 2005 decisions by the Commission on Base Realignment and Closure will create as many as 60,000 new jobs across Maryland, including jobs in communications, intelligence and other high-skilled fields. To fully grasp the potential of this expanding economy, Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly created the BRAC Subcabinet, which Lt. Governor Brown chairs. In 2008, the General Assembly passed an administration bill that funds the BRAC Higher Education Grant program. This is the second year grants have been awarded to colleges and universities across the state.

Every Maryland institute of higher learning is eligible to apply for the BRAC Higher Education Fund grants, including two- and four-year public or independent colleges or universities, Maryland research institutions, Maryland Regional Higher Education centers, and Maryland private career schools.