Constantine Vaporis, professor of history and director of the Asian studies program, will give a series of lectures onboard the Orion II, an Australian-operated cruise ship, during  a ten-day tour around the islands of Japan and Korea. The cruise will begin in Hokkaido in the far north, travel along the Sea of Japan to Busan, Korea, and then through the Inland Sea. The ship stops in a number of cities, including Otaru, Kanazawa, Matsue, Busan, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kobe.

During the cruise, Vaporis will deliver lectures entitled “A Maritime View of the Japanese Archipelago,” “The Samurai in History” and “Popular Culture and The Atomic Bombs in Japanese History and Popular Culture.”

The Washington Post published an article by Steven Overly on June 11 detailing the recent partnership between the University of Maryland, College Park and the aerospace and defense technology corporation Northrop Grumman. The article noted the recent trend of corporations engaging more directly with universities via donations and partnerships, and cited specifically UMBC’s own collaboration with Northrop Grumman and other firms in the development of both a master’s program and an incubator program in cybersecurity.

Read Overly’s original article for Washington Post here.

UMBC is proud to announce the appointment of Dr. William LaCourse as Dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS) beginning July 1st, 2012, according a press release by Provost Designate and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Philip Rous. Holding a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry obtained at Northeastern University in 1987, Dr. LaCourse had been serving as Interim Dean since August of last year, and had previously served as Acting Dean, as well.

He had previously served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, as well as Scientist at the Ames Laboratory of Iowa State University before joining UMBC in 1992. Dr. LaCourse was also crucial in the creation of the Chemistry Discovery Center, which was a model for the CNMS Active Science Teaching and Learning Environment (CASTLE) program at the university, which has in turn served as a model for other universities in the nation.

According to the release, Dr. LaCourse’s responsibilities will include “the strategic advancement of the College’s research and educational mission; the long-term financial stability of the college; and strategic budgeting and planning to strengthen the faculty, improve student success at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and support and enhance research activity,” among others.

Congratulations to Dr. LaCourse on his past, present, and future success with CNMS.

The Economist recently spoke with Leonid Yurganov, senior research scientist for the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), among other scientists for a special report entitled “Uncovering an ocean,” detailing the melting of ice in the Arctic region.

Yurganov weighed in on the issue of permafrost covered in the article, saying that “there are a lot of white spots in our knowledge,” when it comes to the matter. This is characterized in the report as “extraordinary” given the possible dangers of permafrost thaw due to climate change, as methane hydrates which are contained in permafrost are 25 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide could be released into the atmosphere as a result, though in fairness these particular hydrates have a relatively short-life of 6-10 years before oxidation in the atmosphere.

You can read more of the original article and its coverage of Arctic ice issues here.

Adrian Rosebrock ’14, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science, was featured in a June 6th article for the online local news site Catonsville Patch. The article focused on Rosebrock’s development of a website and an application for iPhones called Chic Engine, which is supposed to help consumers locate clothing online and helps compare which colors and designs are available at which stores. Images can be uploaded to the site and compared with others available on Chic Engine, and features men’s and women’s shirts along with dresses, currently.

Speaking with Patch‘s Penny Riordan, Rosebrock described his motivation for starting the venture, saying, “I always hear people saying, ‘Where did you get that shirt?’ … This is the answer to that.”

Read the original article for the Catonsville Patch here for more details.

Seth Sawyers ’99, history, published an op-ed about childhood memories of his dad in the Father’s Day issue of the Baltimore Sun. Sawyers, who recently finished a memoir about growing up in the Maryland Appalachians in the 1980s, also teaches writing classes at UMBC.

An excerpt from the piece:

The zombie trend continues to spread across the pop cultural landscape and shows little sign of slowing down. Speaking with The Baltimore Sun‘s John-John Williams IV for a June 9 story entitled “Pop culture’s undying affection for zombies“, Arnold Blumberg ’93, English, an adjunt faculty member in UMBC’s English department and co-author of Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For, illustrated the history of this now-ubiquitous staple of modern popular culture, as well as theorizing as to why the walking undead seem to have captured our culture’s imagination in recent times.

“There has never been a figure that has reflected all the fears we have as the zombie,” he told Williams. “It is the closest type of monster to us. They are us and we are them. The zombie comes down to some form of being a human being.”

Originally posted in UMBC Insights.

Read more about Blumberg in UMBC Magazine.

Samantha Hawkins ’14, cultural anthropology and interdisciplinary studies, is competing for the title of Miss Maryland.

Hawkins was named Miss Free State in March, a title that earned her the chance to compete at the Miss Maryland pageant. As the reigning Miss Free State, she will be working in the community on her platform issue of “Building Stronger Communities: Preserving Culture and Appreciating Diversity,” and serving as a goodwill ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network. A humanities scholar, honors college member, and art history minor, Hawkin’s talent is the piano.

“It seems that with the Miss Maryland Organization the possibilities are truly endless for what you can achieve. There have been wonderful directors and young women leading by example, illustrating the incredible work a titleholder can do if she applies herself,” Hawkins wrote on her Miss Free State blog.

The Miss Maryland pageant will be held June 17-24 at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information, visit the Miss Maryland website.

Joseph Tatarewicz, professor of history, was  part of an American Historical Association sponsored briefing for congressional members and staffers at the House Committee on Science, Technology and Space on Friday, June 15.

The focus of the session was the historical context of two issues of current legislative concern: commercialization of space travel and space exploration and the future of human participation in space exploration. Joining Tatarewicz were: James Grossman, Executive Director-American Historical Association; Roger Launius, Smithsonian National and Space Museum Senior Curator; Matthew Hersch, University of Pennsylvania; and Alexander MacDonald, NASA Emerging Commercial Space Office.

Political Science professor Tom Schaller tackled legalized gambling in his June 12 column for The Baltimore Sun, “Casinos are no game-changer for Maryland finances.”

With the recent opening of the Maryland Live! Casino in Arundel Mills, hopes are high that the expansion of gambling in the state can aid in issues with the state budget and local economy via tax revenue, spending by tourists, increased job creation, and other potential benefits.

Schaller, however, noted a 2002 column of his which detailed the complexities of legalized gambling, arguing that many of the forms of gaming introduced in Maryland over the years hold greater appeal for the working-class demographic of the gambling community (scratch-off tickets, lottery, Keno, etc.), while the higher-stakes live-dealer tables favored by more affluent gamblers have yet to be legalized here. The professor then lists a few statistics showing the relatively slight financial return of casino receipts on state budgets, though he does conclude that “casino receipts are not unlike income tax increases on the top 1 percent: Alone they cannot solve the government’s revenue problems, but they do make a difference at the margins — which is why most taxpayers are keen on both.”