TO: UMBC Community
FROM: Karl Steiner, Vice President for Research and William LaCourse, Dean, College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences

We are delighted to announce the appointment of physics professor Jane Turner as associate director of UMBC's Center for Space Science Technology (CSST), a member of the NASA-supported Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology consortium.

Dr. Turner is assuming her responsibilities from physics professor Ian George. Our deep gratitude goes to Dr. George for his outstanding leadership of CSST.

Dr. Turner joined UMBC in 1998 and is currently a professor in the physics department. She received her bachelors in Mathematics with Astronomy in 1984 and her Ph.D. in X-ray Astronomy in 1988 – both from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. Arriving in the United States in 1988, she first worked as an associate research scientist for the Universities Space Research Association, based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). During her time there, Dr. Turner supported the guest observer facility for the X-ray satellite ROSAT and timeline planning for the GSFC-built Broad Band X-ray Telescope, which flew as part of the ASTRO-1 shuttle mission.

Dr. Turner and her collaborators use X-ray data to pick up signatures of material close to the black hole that lies at the nucleus of an Active Galactic Nucleus. From these X-ray signatures they can learn about accretion onto black holes, and the process of forming a wind that returns gas back to the host galaxy.

UMBC has a strong focus on space sciences, and we are proud of our long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with NASA Goddard through several major centers.

Established in 2006, the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology (CRESST) is a cooperative agreement between UMBC, the University of Maryland, College Park, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

CRESST researchers cover a broad range of astrophysical studies and instrument development, including high-energy astrophysics, cosmology, gravitational astrophysics, exoplanets, and planetary studies. The Center also works to increase the involvement of minority and women scientists in space science research and facilitate university student participation in such research.

To enhance the effectiveness of our on-campus operations and our interactions with NASA, the Center for Space Science Technology will report to the Office of the Vice President for Research, effective July 1, 2015.

Note: This story has also been covered by the Daily Record, as detailed by this post in UMBC Insights.

UMBC is a founding member of a new consortium of 14 U.S. academic institutions and key partners addressing challenges that threaten urban water systems in the United States and around the world. With support from a $12 million cooperative agreement from the National Science Foundation, Colorado State University is leading a collaborative effort to establish the Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN). The mission of UWIN is to create technological, institutional, and management solutions to help communities increase resilience of their water systems and enhance preparedness for responding to water crises. 

Claire Welty, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education at UMBC, serves as the associate director of research for the UWIN project. Other UMBC faculty involved with UWIN include Professors Andrew Miller and Christopher Swan of the department of geography and environmental systems. The UWIN project takes advantage of UMBC’s strong research and educational programs in urban water, including stormwater management and green infrastructure, water quality control, groundwater-surface water interactions, urban flood dynamics, and urban biodiversity.

According to the 2014 Global Risks Perception Survey by the World Economic Forum, water crises are the top global risk to the viability of communities throughout the world. From the crippling droughts and water shortages in the West to the devastating floods in the East and South, water systems in the U.S. have been impacted by changes in climate, demographics, and other pressures. Our reliance on water is why Americans express greater concern about threats to water than about any other environmental issue and why more than half of all Americans worry a great deal about it, according to the latest Gallup poll of environmental concerns.

Extreme events and global climate change can have profound impacts on water security, shattering the most vulnerable communities and instilling enormous costs on governments and economies. Effective response to these challenges requires transitioning to both technological and management solutions that protect water systems from pressures and enhance their resilience.

The vision of UWIN is to create an enduring research network for integrated water systems and to cultivate champions of innovation for water-sensitive urban design and resilient cities. The integrated research, outreach, education and participatory approach of UWIN will produce a toolbox of sustainable solutions by simultaneously minimizing pressures, enhancing resilience to extreme events, and maximizing co-benefits. These benefits will reverberate across other systems, such as urban ecosystems, economies and arrangements for environmental justice and social equity.

The network will establish six highly connected regional urban water sustainability hubs in densely populated regions across the nation to serve as innovation centers, helping communities transition to sustainable management of water resources. Strategic partnerships and engagement with other prominent U.S. and international networks will extend UWIN’s reach to more than 100 cities around the world. Key UWIN partners and collaborators include the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), and the Network for Water in European Regions and Cities (NETWERC H2O).

This innovative and adaptive research approach will ultimately produce an Urban Water Sustainability Blueprint, outlining effects and tradeoffs associated with sustainable solutions for cities of all sizes. It will also provide steps and guidance for action based on the collective knowledge gained by the research and the collaborative approach of the SRN. The Blueprint will be rigorously vetted by regional stakeholders across the U.S. and the global urban water community.

The UWIN consortium includes:

• Colorado State University
• Arizona State University
• Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
• Florida International University
• Howard University
• Oregon State University
• Princeton University
• University of Arizona
• University of California-Berkeley
• University of California-Riverside
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• University of Miami
• University of Oregon
• University of Pennsylvania

For more information on the project, contact UWIN Coordinator Meagan Smith at meagan.smith@colostate.edu. To reach UMBC faculty involved UWIN, contact Director of Communications Dinah Winnick at dwinnick@umbc.edu.

Professors Alan Sherman (CSEE), Dhananjay Phatak (CSEE), and Linda Oliva (Education) have been awarded a research grant from the Department of Defense to create two educational cybersecurity assessment tools, to help improve the way cybersecurity is taught.  The $294,016 one-year project is joint with Geoffrey Herman at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (UMBC portion $146,917). The research is being carried out at the UMBC Cyber Defense Lab at the UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance and will fund a 12-month GRA in 2015-2016.

This project is creating infrastructure for a rigorous evidence-based improvement of cybersecurity education by developing the first Cybersecurity Assessment Tools (CATs) targeted at measuring the quality of instruction. The first CAT will be a Cybersecurity Concept Inventory (CCI) that measures how well students understand basic concepts in cybersecurity after a first course in the field. The second CAT will be a Cybersecurity Curriculum Assessment (CCA) that measures how well curricula prepared students graduating from college on fundamentals needed for careers in cybersecurity. Each CAT will be a multiple-choice test with approximately thirty questions.

Inspired by the highly influential Force Concept Inventory from physics, the investigators are following a three-step process:  In fall 2015, with MS student Geet Parekh, they carried out two Delphi processes to identify important and difficult concepts in cybersecurity.  Next, they will interview students to uncover their misconceptions about these concepts.  Finally, they will draft and psychometrically evaluate questions whose incorrect answers are driven by the uncovered misconceptions.  For more information, see cisa.umbc.edu/cats.

Balance. A simple word, yet, a challenge to achieve. Intervention to help members in academia to achieve work-life balance started in the 1990’s by the College and University Work/Family Association (CUWFA) and is still being implemented today. Career-life balance is an integral piece in one’s life; without balance, it can offset various factors, including, but not limited to: stress levels, work productivity, attentiveness, and level of happiness. How can one manage everything when called from all ends? Can an equilibrium exist? What are some successful and effective strategies for acquiring and maintaining work-life balance? “Celebrating Life!” serves to share real firsthand experiences of members within the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) community on their approach for achieving career-life balance.

We hope that Celebrate Life! would bring light to others through showing successful stories of people who have demonstrated career-life balance. Sharing firsthand experiences is an excellent way of learning where we gain knowledge and insight on effective approaches for balancing career and life. Career-life balance is an important topic that is currently spreading across various institutions. In 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama and NSF Director Dr. Subra Suresh launched the National Science Foundation’s Career-Life Balance Initiative to address family-friendly practices. At UMBC, we are currently implementing the Career-Life Balance Initiative, which will raise awareness of career-life balance for faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students.

Through the Celebrate Life! section of our Career-Life Balance Initiative, we hope to provide a central learning place for the public to view. If you are a member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) community and would like to share your story, we are open to submissions of your own experience of balancing career and life. Please share with us your story and an accompanying photo (if applicable) of how you demonstrated career-life balance by clicking the link below. We respect each person’s story as each scenario and approach may be different. It is through viewing each person’s approach that we gain knowledge and insight on effective ways for balancing career and life. Through submitting your story, it will be an indication that you are giving us permission to share your story and accompanying photograph to the public for educational purposes. For any questions or concerns, please email us at promisestaff@gmail.com. We will respond as promptly as possible.

Picture Credit: Marlayna Demond 

Picture Details: Amanda Knapp, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Provost, Academic Standards and Policy Administration, who was featured on the magazine cover of American Motorcylist. She is an example of the UMBC community who demonstrates career-life balance.