In UMBC's annual report submitted to the state legislature, our environmental sciences program was specifically cited for its strength and growing reputation. At a time when President Freeman Hrabowski admits via the legislative report that the school is financially strained, UMBC still maintains a focus on excellence in research. Dr. Sandy Parker, the Chair of the geography and environmental sciences (GES) department, believes the geosciences program has benefited in particular over the past few years, thanks to a confluence of events, hard work, and the hiring of many new, young faculty members.

Relating to the environment sciences, UMBC cited existing strength in faculty research within the geosciences: "faculty research in the geosciences was ranked third nationally by Science Watch for citation impact…, [out-ranked only by] Harvard and Georgia Tech." This faculty research culminated in more than 50 books published in the past decade by the geography and environmental sciences department while it maintained an average of only 16 full-time faculty members. This command of the research literature stems from the many new faculty members the department has hired over the past six years. Many of these "fresh PhD's," as Dr. Parker called them, bring with them robust ongoing research in their fields. With faculty experts on issues like watershed science, environmental health, and environmental policy, and four different undergraduate degree tracks, the department has been attracting more and more students, says Dr. Parker.

Brennan Smith, a senior in GES, is happy with a lot of these new hires: "All the professors I've had have been fun with great classes." One of his professors, Dr. Miller, actually helped him get his internship, where he got to do independent environmental science research.

As Dr. Miller put it, the department has benefited from being at the nexus of a collection of events. First was the strong, consistent push by the faculty for research partnerships and grants. These events brought groups like the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) to UMBC's new research park and secured multiple National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. One of the newest NSF grants has helped the department fund a new graduate studies program, with the grant providing IGERT Fellows scholarships.

The second factor was the growth in student awareness and interests. "Students are increasingly aware of the environmental challenges facing us locally and globally, and our program provides a way to gain the skills necessary to go out and make a difference either in the private or public sector," believes Dr. Parker.

Smith echoed this, "We go outside, we even do insect collecting… There is a lot of hands on experience."

One thing the department has benefited from was their own internal focus on researching the cutting-edge problems of environmental sciences while using a curriculum that prepares their students with both the theoretical and practical grounding the environmental sciences requires. "We are constantly reviewing our curriculum to ensure we're providing our students with the state of the art education, including [geospatial information] science (GIS)," said Dr. Parker. This mandate of GIS classes has been vital to many students of the environmental sciences securing jobs upon graduation: GIS has been one of the most in-demand degrees nationally. UMBC's GES students have been hired or have interned at Baltimore's Citistat, the CIA, US Army, and USGS.

It is promising that in these dire times, UMBC remains committed to building upon its strengths while minimizing the damage to its academic programs. For a copy of the legislative report, please go to www.umbc.edu/AboutUMBC/welcome/testimony2009.