COLLEGE PARK, MD – Jennifer Funn has been named the director of the Baltimore region Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Maryland. The new region will provide services to businesses and entrepreneurs in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. The center is one of 6 that manage numerous service locations throughout the state. As the director, Ms.

In his new book, English Professor Robert Levine (below) explores the failure of Reconstruction through the lens of abolitionist Fredrick Douglass' changing view of President Andrew Johnson, who took office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It was a year of presidential impeachment and struggles over African American voting rights—wait, are we talking about 2021 or 1868?

For women with a science or engineering PhD, is academia a more equitable haven, compared to industry? Is it a place where gender gaps narrow in pay and promotions? In recent research published in Nature Biotechnology, Maryland Smith’s Rajshree Agarwal and Waverly Ding, together with Hitotsubashi University’s Atsushi Ohyama, explored those questions. Writing for the journal’s “Behind the Paper” series, they describe their findings.

The Arctic climate system is undergoing rapid change, from rising sea and air temperatures to melting glaciers to the loss of permafrost and snow cover on land. As the Arctic thaws, maritime and commercial activities in the region are expanding, presenting new opportunities—as well as societal and cultural challenges. Habitats are eroding, and food systems are disrupted.

Amalia Perez, 17, of Takoma Park, Md., checks in as she votes for the first time on Nov. 5, 2013, in her community, which has allowed 16- and 17-year-old voters to participate in local elections. The new Vote 16 Research Network led by the University of Maryland will study the impact of the lowered voting age in Takoma Park and other municipalities in the state.

UMD will lead a multi-institutional hub, funded by a $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation, to train science and engineering researchers in entrepreneurship to bolster U.S. leadership in innovation.

Professor Casey Dawkins' new book is available August 31.

An informal settlement (IS) is a densely populated area of housing that has little to no legal status or regulation. The settlements arise as a result of housing needs for low-income residents or migrant workers. Typically, the homes are quickly assembled on any plot of available land, using materials that are donated or can be easily acquired. Globally, the number of people living in IS ranges from 200 million to 1 billion [Walls, et al., 2020] [United Nations, n.d.]. In South Africa, people in IS households comprise between 18% to 33% of the total population.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the University of Maryland School of Public Policy (SPP) $300,000 and Syracuse University $200,000 to study changes in electricity and technology use in consumers who adopt solar panels (PVs), battery storage and electric vehicles (EVs). The study will help policymakers develop targeted interventions to encourage consumers to co-adopt these energy-saving technologies.

New funding from the National Science Foundation will expand the reach of Engineering for US All, a program to make engineering accessible in high school launched by UMD President Darryll J. Pines in 2018.