Looking Ahead to Maryland 2050: Living in Our Environment

Abstracts

Welcome and Introduction

Matthias Ruth, Roy F. Weston Chair and Director, Center for Integrative Environmental Research

Ken Gertz, Division of Research

John Townshend, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography

Abstract
The greatest impact upon the natural environment comes from the people who live in it and, in turn, the state of our environment impacts our quality of life.  In Maryland, pressures upon the environment arise from our changing population, our life style and values, and the way in which we use the land.  If we are to secure Maryland’s environment and our associated quality of life for the future, it is imperative that we understand where we are presently positioned with regard to human-environmental concerns and start to address how these will change over the coming years.  This is the focus of this exploratory workshop in which we will focus upon the issues central to protecting Maryland’s environmental future while at the same time enhancing the quality of life for its citizens.

There are three immediate goals for this workshop:  First, to think creatively about potential environmental challenges, and new opportunities, for the State, that may emerge over the lifetime of the next generation.  Second, to stimulate dialog about the role of the University in shaping life in Maryland.  Third, to convene researchers from across campus and to provide a venue for their collaboration on matters relevant to the health and welfare of the citizens of Maryland.  On the basis of this workshop, we will subsequently initiate focused discussions with leaders in the State – from the public, private and non-profit sectors.  The purpose of these discussions is to explore the contributions that the University can make to problem solving, and to identify contributions they can make in support of research that helps maintain and improve the quality of life in Maryland and to better manage the State’s resources.

Speaker information
Matthias Ruth holds the Roy F. Weston Chair in Natural Economics at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland and is the Founding Director of the Center for Integrative Environmental Research at the Division of Research, University of Maryland. He teaches - nationally and internationally - courses and seminars on microeconomics and policy analysis, ecological economics, industrial ecology and dynamic modeling at the undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. levels, and has also conducted short courses for decision makers in industry and policy.

Ken Gertz comes from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he served 12 years as Director of Government Relations, and the past six years as Assistant Vice President of Research.  While at RPI, Ken played a key role in the development of a number of significant multidisciplinary initiatives, including the Center for Computational Nanotechnology Innovations and two Rensselaer Centers for Advanced Technology.  Ken's outstanding skills in building relationships with federal agencies and laboratories, industry, and other universities played a significant role in raising Rensselaer's overall research funding from $38M in 2000 to over $80M upon his departure. The Associate Vice President for Research Development is a new position created to facilitate the development of large, multidisciplinary research proposals and activities, particularly those working across the university, and across university campuses, government agencies and the business sector.  In this position, Ken will also assist Dr. Melvin Bernstein, the incoming Vice President for Research, in developing partnerships and agreements with government and industry that will lead to the expansion of research projects to be performed in M-Square, and in facilitating the integration of cross-campus entrepreneurial efforts.

John Townshend's broad interests are in how and why the vegetative land cover of the earth is changing and how this impacts key biogeochemical cycles especially the carbon cycle. The tools that are used in his research are primarily remote sensing earth observation sensors. He is also interested in the development of new earth science information systems to ensure the improved use and distribution of key products and data sets. In particular, the research has focused on improving our abilities to depict and monitor changes in land cover at regional and global scales. This work is carried out in the context of the importance of such changes on climate variability, especially through the global carbon cycle, biodiversity and sustainability. This is done with the philosophy that monitoring the rates and character of change is important in its own right, separate from model and theory testing, because some observations are so fundamental that consistent long-term monitoring must be ensured. Associated with his research is his chairman ship of the GOFC/GOLD (Global Observations of Forest Cover/Global Observations of Land Cover) Panel of the Global Terrestrial Observing System.