Thanks for representing us Charlie!

Bella Dastvan, who graduated from GES last year, was lead author on a recent publication (link below).  She wrote this piece in collaboration with folks at Grateful Gardeners, where she worked for several summers.  

Bella is still on campus, working as a fellow with the UMBC Office of Sustainability.  

Article: Growing Dahlias, Dahlia coccinea Cav., for Commercial Cut Flower Production in Aquaponics and AutoPots

Published in Journal of Floriculture and Landscaping

Congratulations on this achievement, Bella!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our colleague and friend Dr. Roger Dubois on Oct. 14, 2021. He began his career as a professor in 1972 at the Catholic University of America before joining the faculty of the Geography Department at UMBC in 1975. He continued to serve the university community for 30 years before his retirement in 2005.

His research focused on beaches, seasonal variations in beach profiles in response to wave climate and tidal variations, and effects of sea-level rise on shoreline erosion and beach profile retreat. He taught courses in physical geography and in introductory geomorphology as well as coastal and fluvial geomorphology. He was a coastal geomorphologist, passionate about teaching, about supporting his students, and about UMBC.

Dr. Dubois was a Rhode Island native and a Navy veteran. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Geography from University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1967 and his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1970 and 1972.

Erle Ellis: “I have fond memories of Roger. He had the kind of personality that seemed gruff at first, but within a short time, his kindness, generosity, and curiosity shone through, and one realized that he was someone who cared deeply about people. Not to mention his love of scholarship. He put his all into teaching and strengthening our department. I can still feel his presence in the hallway sometimes. I'll never forget how, when I first asked him what he did, he told me, smiling: "I am in search of the perfect beach". That was such a great metaphor for his work in coastal geomorphology, and was also classic Roger humor. And that is how I will think of him evermore: Roger on the perfect beach.”

 Andy Miller: “Roger always was an energetic and enthusiastic participant in conversations about all sorts of topics, and he possessed an extraordinary intensity of focus on the question in front of him. Whether in casual conversation or in a discussion about an issue to be decided by the faculty, he approached you with a series of rapid-fire questions, probing for the thing he wanted to know that was the key to understanding what needed to be done. The smallest details were important to him, but never to the exclusion of seeing the bigger picture. Whether he was standing at the blackboard in a classroom or chatting with colleagues, he always acted with intention. For students it was to make sure they understood what was most important and could use it to find their own paths forward. For colleagues it was to help ensure the good of the whole.”

Please join us in welcoming Charles Kaylor as Lecturer & Director of GIS+Cartography Lab. Mr. Kaylor joins us from Temple University, where he spent the past 12 years in the position of Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Urban Studies and Geography. Prior to Temple, Mr. Kaylor earned an M.U.P. from the University of Michigan, an MA in Political Science from Duke University, and a BA from Carlton College. His interests include sustainable infrastructure, specifically how spatial technologies can be used to plan for climate change. His recent projects include measuring social vulnerability to climate change in the Mekong Delta, climate change and public opinion, and broadband expansion. Mr. Kaylor has a broad teaching background in spatial analysis and methods. Recent courses include basic and advanced GIS, spatial statistics, and advanced spatial analytical techniques. This fall he’ll be teaching GES 286.

The designation is of Presidential Research Professor at UMBC is for a three-year term effective July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024.