Think agriculture is about planting crops and raising animals? Well, it is, but it's also about much more, according to Mary Ann Ottinger, professor in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences. �The field of agriculture is much more diverse than most people realize,� she says. �It includes a broad spectrum of disciplines and careers�from business to biotech�and offers women more opportunities than they may ever have imagined.�

Want proof? You'll get it at a free symposium called � Success in Science, Scholarship, and Business�Women in Agriculture,� September 14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Stamp Union's Grand Ballroom, University of Maryland, College Park.

Starting with Phyllis Wise, provost of the University of Washington and former dean of agriculture and life sciences at UC-Davis, successful women in the field of agriculture and science will share their career preparation and experiences, including both challenges and successes. These speakers include

• a molecular biologist at the USDA's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,

• a consumer affairs consultant,

• the president of a family-run pick-your-own farm,

• a veterinarian who focuses on endangered species reproduction, and

• the director of the U.S. Botanic Garden.

When (or if) the Chesapeake Bay returns to health, it won't be because of great scientific research alone. Only research combined with outreach will reap effective results. Why? Because what cows eat and the existence of dead zones in the bay are related. And no matter how significant your research is, you can't feed a cow from inside a laboratory.

Animal and Avian Sciences' Rick Kohn, who's involved in internationally celebrated research in dairy cattle nutrition, also works with University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, whose educators train farmers to follow ecologically sound nutrient management practices. Kohn, professor of animal nutrient management, has been researching milk urea nitrogen (MUN) and its use in monitoring cattle nutrition. Testing nitrogen levels in milk can tell farmers if the animal is eating the right amount of protein, too little protein, or too much. Farmers can respond to excess levels of MUN by reducing protein, which in turn reduces the amount of nitrogen the cow excretes. The result is less nitrogen ending up in the nearest waterway. Reducing dietary protein improves farmers' bottom line as well.

Kohn's work has yielded him two recent grants for more than $1.7 million from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and USDA for applying nutritional monitoring technologies to improve water quality in the bay region.

Protecting our country while enjoying the sublime beauty on the beach in the Caribbean. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. The lucky somebody is Natural Resources Management (NRMT) program graduate Dennis Ballam Jr.

Ballam works for CH2M HILL as site manager at the former Vieques Naval Training Range in Vieques, Puerto Rico, providing logistical support to the other Navy contractors at the site. This can range from overseeing the clean up of unexploded ordinance, munitions debris, and range related debris to procuring helicopters and the construction of new roadways. Before Puerto Rico, Ballam conducted several groundwater investigations at naval installations throughout the mid-Atlantic and performed baseline ecological risk assessments that involved collecting fishes and identifying sediments and plants as well invertebrates.

How did his degree help prepare him for his career? "The NRMT program," Ballam says, "gave me the basic knowledge to do just about anything we do for the Navy. When I first began working for CH2M HILL I relied heavily on my soils coursework. As I progressed from doing groundwater investigations to areas of greater interest, my other coursework in plant ecology and ecological engineering became extremely useful. Overall, I think the NRMT program prepares its students to be successful in a variety of positions. Even a job working on a Caribbean Island!"

� could't be the student mantra from Pat Kangas' 3-credit course, Tropical Ecology and Resource Management. For the past 14 years, Kangas, associate professor and coordinator of the Natural Resources Management Program, has taken his class to the Sittee River area in Belize for a week of research, analysis, observation, and, at times, physical tasks, all tempered by sun and fun.

Students work on long-term sustainability and field research projects: from planting mahoganies�the once-abundant national tree, now almost decimated from logging�to researching whether aquatic birds or crocodiles and turtles are the top predators in the river area. A campaign to preserve an old-growth forest of mangroves threatened by development was begun by students and is now being led by local residents. Some of the tallest mangrove trees in the Caribbean region grow in this small country, once known as British Honduras. Among other benefits, the mangroves offer wildlife habitat, hurricane protection, and carbon sequestration, which slows or reduces the buildup of greenhouse gases. Kangas' Belize website, filled with photos, highlights his students' work.

Natural Resources Management is a program of the new Environmental Sciences and Technology department.

^{Nicolas Orem Middle School student mural}

University of Maryland Cooperative Extension is new home to the �Engaged University.� The focus of the Engaged University, headed by scholar-activist Margaret Morgan-Hubbard, is building relationships between the university and the immediate surrounding communities by taking faculty expertise and identifying community issues that can benefit by campus talents.

The free enrichment program �Do It Yourself!� held this past summer at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville is an example. During the program, a joint effort of the Engaged University and Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers, students gained life skills, learning to deejay, painting a mural, maintaining an organic garden, and learning photography, among other activities. Classes were taught by artists and youth workers from the community and the university.

September marks my first-year anniversary as dean of the college. There've been times when I've felt I hold the best job in the world and times when I've looked back fondly at the more innocent days before I took on the challenges of leadership. I'm happy to say that triumphs always outweigh the challenges.

The creation of our new Department of Environmental Science and Technology (ENST) is one of these triumphs. Already ENST is celebrating a new faculty member, Joshua McGrath, a former post-doc researcher at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and research and teaching assistant at the University of Delaware. As an assistant professor, Joshua will be researching progressive, sustainable approaches to farming in Maryland's urbanizing environment. He'll also do outreach work with University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, involving soil fertility and nutrient management. Another ENST professor and Extension agricultural engineer, David Ross, is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Extension Education Programs by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. Congratulations, David.

In news of other departments, congratulations also to Nathaniel Tablante and Jianghong Meng. Nathaniel, associate professor and Extension specialist in poultry health at the VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, just received the Bruce Calnek Applied Poultry Research Award from the American Association of Avian Pathologists. Jianghong has been appointed acting director of the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN). A professor of food science in the Nutrition and Food Science department, Jianghong has enjoyed six years of internal grant support from JIFSAN.