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College Park, Md - While once optional and voluntary, best practices for how farm workers are trained under the Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule are now required, establishing science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption (FDA.gov). Included in the compliance requirements is worker training and health and hygiene, an area in which UMD Extension faculty Dr. Shauna Henley and Dr.

Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a way to convert one of the primary greenhouse gases—methane—into a range of valuable commodity chemicals while releasing no climate-changing emissions in the process. The achievement, detailed Wednesday in the journal Advanced Energy Materials, is a major opportunity for the chemical and natural gas industries and a step forward in the fight to protect Earth’s climate.

From the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color to fatal encounters between police and African Americans, UMD sociology Professor Rashawn Ray acknowledges it would be easy to be pessimistic in the face of addressing such challenges. Yet during his speech on Saturday for the inaugural Homecoming “Beyond the Field” address, he was hopeful, encouraged by the progress that can be made through academic inquiry. “I believe in the power of critical thinking,’ Ray said. “I believe in the power of research to create meaningful change.”