In the weeks since the shooting in Newtown, Conn., Gov. Martin O’Malley has repeatedly referred to gun violence as a “public health issue.” On Monday he announced a plan that would give Maryland one of the nation’s strictest gun laws, reports the Baltimore Sun. To own a handgun, residents would need to pass a training course and provide fingerprints to a police database, and Maryland would ban the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

How was the proposal received and how might this impact O’Malley’s prospects in a national election? Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, notes, “This appeals to the Democratic base,” continuing, “If he can get out in front on this and show some success legislatively on this, it bodes well for him in the Democratic primary.” The Sun reports O’Malley aides have dismissed the notion that the gun proposal signals his presidential aspirations.

On Wednesday, Governor Martin O’Malley is expected to deliver his budget proposal for the coming year to the Maryland legislature. Last year the General Assembly garnered a lot of unwanted attention for failing to pass a budget before time ran out in the regular legislative session. WYPR’s Sheilah Kast interviewed UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers on Maryland Morning to learn if there might be any surprises in store for this year.

“The state has made some very tough choices over the past couple years in reducing spending,” says Meyers. Listen to the full interview to learn about the relationship between federal and state budget cuts and what Meyers anticipates in the coming year for the Transportation Trust Fund and a possible gas tax.

TO:  All Full-time, Tenure-Track Faculty

FROM: Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

I am delighted to announce a new joint UMBC-UMB Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant Program. This research initiative has been developed in close collaboration with our UMB colleagues with the goal of establishing, enhancing and promoting long-term research partnerships between faculty at UMBC and UMB.

The UMBC-UMB Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant Program provides research funding of up to $75,000 to be expended over a period of twelve months. All proposals submitted to this program must include at least one PI from UMBC and one from UMB. All areas of research will be considered for funding and all full-time tenure-track faculty members having primary academic appointments in any of UMBC’s and UMB’s colleges or schools are eligible to apply.

The request for proposals is below. To be considered for the seed grant opportunity, a proposal meeting the attached guidelines must be submitted no later than March 1, 2013.  Proposals should address the merits of the proposed research and identify and justify external funding sources that would be receptive of a full proposal that contains preliminary results obtained.

Additional information about the program and instructions for the application process are included in the attached announcement. Applications are due by March 1, 2013. Any questions from the UMBC faculty regarding the application guidelines should be addressed to Vice Provost Moreira via e-mail at moreira@umbc.edu.

RRP: UMBC-UMB Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant Program

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Baltimore (UMB) campuses are pleased to announce a new joint Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant Program for 2013.  The intent of this new initiative is to promote the structured collaboration between UMBC and UMB and to advance the institutions’ joint goals in research and innovation. Proposals submitted to this program must include at least one PI from each institution.

Our new UMB-UMBC Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant Program will:

• Foster creative teams of investigators working across disciplinary boundaries and campuses;
• Support new research foci to pursue future health care improvements and/or technologies; and
• Stimulate submission of innovative research proposals to federal, public or private funding agencies.

All areas of research will be considered for funding. Projects that promote and further our collaborative interests will be given preference in this year’s review. For example, one area of interest is collaborations in visualization and imaging that use tools such as fMRI thus leveraging the joint UMB/UMBC fMRI facility.

To be considered for the seed grant opportunity, a proposal meeting the attached guidelines must be submitted no later than March 1, 2013.  Proposals should address the merits of the proposed research and identify and justify NIH, NSF or other funding programs that would be receptive of a full proposal that contains preliminary results obtained. Further details are in the attached Appendix.

It is anticipated that multiple awards will be made. The final number of awards will depend on the quantity and quality of proposals received, as well as their proposed budgets. The program will have significant financial support from many sources. The maximum per grant award is $75,000. Indirect costs are not to be included in the proposal budget.

Individual investigators may submit multiple proposals but can participate as a PI on only one awarded proposal. The top-ranked proposal after peer review will be the one eligible for funding. Investigators can serve as collaborators on an unlimited number of proposals.

If you have detailed questions regarding application guidelines, please contact Sue Hobbs, UMSOM, SHobbs@som.umaryland.edu  or Antonio Moreira, UMBC, moreira@umbc.edu. Proposals must be submitted to partnershipprogram.umbc.edu as a combined pdf file prior to 5:00 PM EST March 1, 2013.

The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is pleased to announce the addition of two electronic collections for the UMBC community. ARTstor Digital Library provides access to over one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities and sciences. These images are hi-resolution and may be downloaded and used for classroom and research purposes.

ScienceDirect’s Freedom Collection contains the full text of over 1,700 social science, science, medical, and technology journals published by Elsevier. See the Library’s website for more information about these resources. Thanks to the Office of the Provost for its continued support of the Library.

A new post by UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller on Sabato’s Crystal Ball discusses the concept of election “drop-off” and why he expects it to benefit the Republican Party in the 2014 election.

Schaller explains, “‘Drop-off’ is the political science term for the decline in turnout between the high-water benchmark of presidential elections and other electoral moments” such as “midterm elections for both chambers of Congress” and “state and local elections…held in non-presidential years.” Between 1964 and 2010, the average drop-off effect was 14%, with election turnouts ranging from 54.2% to 69.3% in presidential cycles and from 41.8% to 55.4% in midterm cycles.

What effect does this have? Schaller writes, “It’s no mystery why Democrats generally perform better in presidential years while Republicans tend to excel in midterm cycles: Lower midterm turnouts tend to skew the electorate toward older, white and/or more affluent voters.” He concludes, “Democrats will need to employ new strategies to compel voters who disappear when the presidency isn’t on the ballot to show up.”

For discussion on this topic, see also Charlie Mahtesian’s Politico blog, which excerpted and linked to the piece.

The exhibition currently on display in the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights received praise in the Sun article released today, “Using Images to Change History” written by Lionel Foster.

Read the article here: “Using Images to Change History: UMBC exhibit shows how African-Americans have portrayed themselves and how they have been portrayed by others”

The author reviews For All the World to See by speaking about the exhibition’s impact on him personally, and discussing the ability certain objects have to captivate its audiences. He also notes the way in which the exhibition’s curator, CADVC Research Professor and Chief Curator Maurice Berger, is particularly successful in presenting a powerful story.

For All the World to See is on display in the CADVC until March 10.

Red Sammy, a Baltimore band helmed by Adam Trice ’04, English, will release its fourth album, “These Poems with Kerosene,” next month with a show at the Windup Space. We asked Trice to talk a bit about life as a musician, and how his study of literature has influenced his work.

Q:  Tell us some of the story behind your band…what type of music do you play? What influences you?

A: Red Sammy is a minor character in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (1955). Our music tends to be gritty, sparse, and deeply emotional. One music reviewer noted that our music attempts to connect with a listener’s mournful regions of the heart and soul. Musically, we fall closely within the Americana/Roots Rock genre. Influences include Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Neil Young, The Pixies, Lou Reed, Alejandro Escovedo.

Q:  Tell us a little about how your educational background fits in with what you do?

A:  I earned my degree in English at UMBC and a M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing/Publishing from the University of Baltimore. Both degrees provided me with insight and resources to develop as a writer (both lyrically and poetically). Many of our songs have a strong emphasis on word content and poetic form.

Q:  What’s your favorite song and why?

A:  Our latest album titled “These Poems with Kerosene” (due out on February 17, 2013), combines music and the recorded poems of University of Baltimore poet and professor Steve Matanle. My favorite track from the album is titled, “Everything Must Go.”

Q:  What’s it like collaborating with another poet?

A:  Steve Matanle was one of my favorite professors during graduate school. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with Matanle especially since his hard luck style of poetry blends very well with our music and lyrical content.

Q:  Where would you like to see Red Sammy go from here?

A:  From a songwriter’s perspective, I would like to continue to grow and collaborate with new musicians and poets. In the next few years I would like to have a stronger presence performing as part of academic readings and art performances. It’s much more interesting when collaborating across artistic mediums.

Learn more about Red Sammy and listen to music samples at their website.

Baltimore Dance Project returns to UMBC for its 30th year, featuring the creative work of professors Doug Hamby and Carol Hess, with dancer Sandra Lacy, along with music and dance performances by UMBC alumni. The show will be held on February 7 in the proscenium theatre in UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

Expanding dance with visually stunning, inter-disciplinary and collaborative works, BDP brings together company alumni, new dancers, visual artists and live musicians, and features dances with interactive sound, video and spoken text.

The performance will feature two world premieres:

• “Common Axis 13,” a Hamby/Hess collaboration for ten dancers, blending movement with video images and live video feeds, created and mixed live, with sound performed professor Timothy Nohe, and featuring UMBC alumnae Renee Barger ’99, visual & performing arts, Jen Dobbins ’06, dance, and Desiree Koontz-Nachtrieb ’08, history, ’11, dance.
• “If I Told Him,” by Hamby features student Jeffrey Mensah creating a live soundscape designed by Ferdinand Maisel.

Come see Sandra Lacy perform her solo “Once Again,” and award-winning duet “Out to Play,” with Adrienne Clancy.

Jen Dobbins performs Hess’ “Persona,” with a tiny wireless surveillance camera.

Angel Chinn ’08, dance, returns to BDP to perform Hamby’s “Construction #2,” in honor of American composer, John Cage’s centennial year, performed live by percussionist Tom Goldstein and UMBC Department of Music alumni.

$20 general admission, $10 students and seniors, $7 UMBC students. To order tickets in advance by credit card, purchase online through MissionTix. Patrons who prefer to pay cash or check at will call may make a reservation by calling 410-455-6240.

Thomas F. Schaller, professor of political science, writes in his latest Baltimore Sun column, “As Washington politicians search for budget solutions, imagine if there were a magical revenue source that operated not unlike a national consumption tax that many conservatives prefer and would mitigate global warming to please liberals, all while helping repair America’s infrastructure and strengthening our national security, to the delight of almost everyone. Actually, such a tax already exists: It’s called the federal gasoline tax, and it’s been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon for two decades. We’re long overdue to increase it — maybe even double or triple it.”

How does the gas tax work and what is Schaller’s argument for increasing it? Read his commentary to learn more.

Today’s Baltimore Sun suggests the next 90 days will likely be the most important that remain in Martin O’Malley’s tenure as Maryland governor. Reporters Michael Dresser and Erin Cox write, “As the General Assembly opens its 2013 session Wednesday, O’Malley will be looking to cap a record that many people believe he will use as a springboard for a future presidential run.”

Key issues to be debated include the death penalty repeal, assault weapons ban and offshore wind power, all of which have national resonance. Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, told reporters, “Objectively, if you look at what he’s proposed and what he’s gotten, he’s gotten a lot of what he proposed,” but a few more wins this legislative season give him the strong record he would need to take to Iowa and New Hampshire if he seeks the presidency in 2016. Norris stated, “If he gets the death penalty nullified and wind energy, those kinds of things appeal to the liberal base of the Democratic Party.”

In the Baltimore Business Journal, Norris commented more specifically on a potential increase in the state gas tax this session, noting that the CEOs of major Maryland companies would need to get behind such a bill to move it forward, given previous concerns that lawmakers could redirect money out of the Transportation Trust Fund.

Norris also spoke to the Gazette about the upcoming 2013 session, suggesting bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips are likely to pass even if some conservative Democrats unite with Republicans to oppose them, and that overall, the Republican Party’s limited influence in the state is “not enviable.”