Upcoming Event
May 14-16
20th Annual University of Maryland Personal Finance Seminar for Professionals
Sponsored by University of Maryland Cooperative Extension.
Expert speakers discuss today's most critical consumer-spending issues.
Location: Doubletree Hotel Annapolis,
Annapolis, Md.
Information & registration:
http://www.money.umd.edu/
Contact: Jinhee Kim
jinkim@umd.edu
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Take a look through our window
If you think you know what the college has to offer Generation Y, aka the Millennials, you haven't seen our video. Fasten your seat belts and take a look through our window on the college," Prepare for a Changing World."
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When is a ditch more than a ditch?
While driving around the countryside, you've seen them before--ditches in fields. These long, shallow channels appear on farms all over the Eastern Coastal Plains, either empty or filled with suspicious-looking water. "Their purpose," says Josh McGrath, soil fertility and nutrient management specialist, "is improving field drainage for growing crops." Unfortunately, adds Brian Needleman, soil science and water quality specialist, "they also carry pollutants from both nonpoint sources, such as in runoff, and point sources such as manure storage areas." That's where the herbaceous vegetation in ditch channels comes into play: it filters widely varying percentages of pollutants along with sediment and heavy metals.
In our watershed the still-nutrient-rich ditch water eventually ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. Which is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded McGrath and his team a $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant. The money, he says, "will fund research of agricultural drainage into the bay, plus the design and evaluation of filtration systems that will remove phosphorus and other contaminants from ditch flow." McGrath and Needleman are assistant professors in the Environmental Science and Technology department.
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Will corn get us off the hook?
Is corn-produced ethanol a boon to Maryland farmers? Does it offer a good alternative to fossil fuels? Or will its production further degrade the Chesapeake Bay? In "Working Landscapes," a publication of the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology and written by Lara Lutz, researcher Ken Staver answers questions about the production and use of biofuels and their potential impact on our waterways. Five other perspectives on these issues also appear in the publication's winter issue (pdf). Staver, a specialist in the impact of agriculture on water quality, is based at the college's Wye Research and Education Center in Queenstown.
Will increased corn production impact water quality in the Chesapeake Bay?
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Got a future inspector at home-
--between ages 14 and 18? Someone who would love to learn how scientists track down smuggled goods at airports? Then check into Ag Discovery, a two-week, resident camp, summer program now in its third year at UM. Ag Discovery, held on campus in July, introduces students to animal science, veterinary medicine, plant pathology, biotechnology, and more. The program is free, thanks to funding by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
USDA, which handles the program's competitive admissions process, has set April 28 as the application deadline. Leon Slaughter and John Doerr, associate and assistant deans, respectively, will be the program's facilitators. Find additional program details in Doerr's news article.
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Wei's Way
With a sad heart I announce that Bruce Gardner, a wonderful teacher, colleague, and friend, died last week after a brief, but serious, illness. Bruce joined the college in 1981 as professor in the Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) Department. Named Distinguished University Professor in 1995, he served as AREC's chair for several years. In 2003 he was called into service to act as interim dean, a position he graciously held for two years. He authored, co-authored, or edited six books, including U.S. Agriculture in the Twentieth Century: How It Flourished and What It Cost, published by Harvard University Press in 2002, and more than 140 articles, book chapters, and other publications. During the administration of the first President Bush, he served for two and a half years as assistant secretary for economics in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Bruce, who received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, worked with the World Bank and other international organizations on agricultural policies and reform in developing countries. We will sorely miss him. On a lighter note, my congratulations go to: Liangli (Lucy) Yu, associate professor, Nutrition and Food Science. The American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) named Lucy winner of the 2008 Young Scientist Research Award for her "significant contribution in basic or applied research." Lucy, who will receive the award at the AOCS annual convention in May, will deliver the award address, entitled "Nutraceutical Lipids from Fruits, Spices, Herbs and Flours."Ted McConnell, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, who was inducted as a fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (AERE) last month. Ted, whose research focuses principally on valuation of nonmarket services, served as president of AERE in 1991-1992 and as associate editor of AERE's Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Among his well-cited works is the book he co-authored with T.C. Haab, Valuing Environmental and Natural Resources: The Econometrics of Non-Market Valuation, published in 2002. Amy Burk, assistant professor in equine science, Animal and Avian Sciences department, and Maryland Cooperative Extension specialist. The Equine Science Society recently presented her with the Outstanding Educator Award for developing programs that are exceptionally effective at disseminating research-based information that affects the long-term well-being of horses or the horse industry.Ben Beale, Extension educator, St. Mary's County. Ben recently won the Maryland Grape Growers' Association's "Verasion Award" for his leadership of the rapidly growing grape and wine industry in Southern Maryland. |
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