Environmental Science

Ruth Eisenhour opened the padlock on the top of a wooden structure, swiped away some ants on its ledge and slid down into the crate-like contraption. She squatted and lopped off a couple branches of the blooming turtlehead plant. "This is the host plant for the Baltimore checkerspot butterflies," she said, holding a flower in the palm of her hand. "They are becoming more and more scarce, which means the checkerspots have no place to lay their eggs. And therefore their population is decreasing."

Scientists, economists, politicians, educators and even an artist gathered Monday in Annapolis to mark the launch of an unusual University of Maryland think tank that aims to bring academic disciplines together to tackle thorny environmental issues. The aim of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center is to foster collaboration among natural and social scientists so they can help policy-makers, businesses and the public find ways to balance the needs of people and the environment.

Students studying pollutants in a local stream may need to step out of the lab and follow the stream to a neighborhood landfill - if they're working on an assignment for Towson University's Environmental Science and Studies Program to be launched this fall.The interdisciplinary program is designed to give students experience in the nuts and bolts of natural science and the management and research skills of social studies - showing those who study the environment so they can save the world, that their world has just gotten bigger.

Kimberly Abbey, Kelsey Adams, Samantha Addison, Jonathan Adejoh, Chukwudi Amaefule, Shamira Anderson, Asi Andoh, BreAsia Andrews, Yinka Anibaba, Sherrell Apugo, Queen Armstead, Daisy Awasum, Sagar Bajpai, Taylor Bennett, Ebony Best, Vishvesh Bhatt, Gaurang Bhatt, Jenaé Black, Mariah Blume, Dallas Boodhoo, Nia Bowser, Keith Brady, Kianté Brantley,...

Scientists, economists, politicians, educators and even an artist gathered Monday in Annapolis to mark the launch of an unusual University of Maryland think tank that aims to bring academic disciplines together to tackle thorny environmental issues. The aim of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center is to foster collaboration among natural and social scientists so they can help policy-makers, businesses and the public find ways to balance the needs of people and the environment.

The student: Megan Hill, 17 School: Hammond High School Special achievement: Megan was one of three students to be recognized as a National Merit semifinalist from Hammond High. Education plans: Megan wants to attend a competitive four-year university. Her top choices are Georgetown, and Washington and Lee. She plans to major in environmental science. Her favorite subject: Independent research. How she describes herself: Reflective, persevering, open-minded. Hobbies: Megan enjoys working with Maryland Search and Rescue, helping to find people who are lost.

A representative of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees will be at the Service Center from 10 a.m. to noon today at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay.Information and assistance will be available to retired federal employees and their families about annuities, health and life insurance, beneficiary changes, taxes, and survivor and death benefits., Information: (410) 969-5980.Scouts earn honors for activitiesBoy Scout Troop 550, sponsored by the Linthicum Elementary School PTA, recently returned from a seven-day camping trip to Hart Scout Reservation near Green Lane, Pa.The Scouts and troop leaders participated in several activities, including aquatic, shooting and field sports; ecology and conservation projects; handcrafts; and first-year camper programs.

Dundalk High School junior Joseph Matthew Wallace showed up at the park in sweatpants and boots, ready to begin digging holes. He dug into hard ground until the hole was big enough to plant a tree. After about two hours, Wallace, 17, had planted five by himself. "I think it's a good experience," Wallace said. "It's better for kids to be involved in the environment." Wallace was one of 22 students from Dundalk High who worked in Lynchcove Park by Stansbury Pond yesterday as part of a Baltimore County public schools forest buffer restoration project.

A Hunt Valley environmental service company has signed agreements with two Chinese environmental agencies that could lead to nationwide projects in China.Officials of EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., who are part of a Maryland delegation in China this week, signed an agreement on Tuesday with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, a division of the National Environmental Protection Agency.Today, EA is scheduled to sign an agreement with Anhui Institute of Environmental Science, a research and regulatory agency in Anhui Province.

The newest high-tech addition to the west county technology corridor opens today when the Environmental Protection Agency dedicates a new laboratory meant to snag environmental polluters.Environmental sleuths -- investigators, scientists and lab technicians -- will work out of the $47 million Environmental Science Center on Mapes Road in Fort Meade. Air, water and soil samples can be tested in 70 laboratories for chemical and biological contaminants, said Donna M. Heron, an EPA spokeswoman.

No sooner had farmer groups in the Chesapeake region started protesting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's suggestion that some farm production processes might have to be regulated to reduce nutrient pollution loads, than Maryland announced that it intends to place more and better oyster bottom areas off-limits to watermen. Oyster harvesters were quick off the mark, registering their dismay. We have The People's response to greater environmental accountability. They don't like it. We have not yet heard how the screws will be tightened on city dwellers and developers to reduce their pollution loads, but we know that should be coming.

Mya Holt drove the yellow vehicle through a forest at Mount St. Helens, searching for a cabin amid the digital trees on the three monitors in front of her. "It may be easier to see if you're in the air," said Chesapeake High senior Turrel David, prompting Holt to press a button on the unfamiliar joystick and transform the vehicle into an aircraft that soared above the mountainous computer-generated landscape. "Oh, there it is," she said a few seconds later, pointing to a dark, distant structure.

As millions of Americans head out for their annual Fourth of July fireworks, they might not realize the chemical that makes the shows so bright also poses an environmental threat. But researchers are developing new, greener pyrotechnics that already are being used at Disneyland and some indoor concerts. The new fireworks use alternatives to perchlorate, a salt that provides oxygen to the combustible elements in fireworks so they can burn. The chemical is considered particularly harmful to pregnant women and small children because of its ability to block absorption of iodine in the thyroid, a gland that controls metabolism and growth.

Maryland's coastal bays - where many beach vacationers fish, boat and admire the sunsets - are in better shape than the Chesapeake Bay, but their health is slipping amid growing pollution, a new scientific report finds. A first-ever report card issued Monday by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science gives a C-plus to the string of fragile lagoons separating Ocean City from the mainland. Conditions range from good in the southern bays bordering Assateague National Seashore to poor in bays increasingly lined with summer and retirement homes.

In one classroom, students pore over wires and switches, a complicated array of materials used to produce a working version of a mazelike circuit diagram on the projection screen. In another - actually not a classroom at all, but the woods behind a greenhouse - students poke insects, yell about a deer sighting and shriek as a tick finds its way up an exposed leg. The two very different experiences are part of a summer program for students attending the new science, technology, engineering and math magnet program at North County High School next month.

Students touched soil samples, tested water quality, identified tree species. The best of the state's Envirothon teams converged on Harford Glen Environmental Education Center last week to put their scientific knowledge to the test. The high school students from 19 Maryland counties were competing for the state championship. Harford Christian School, a Darlington-based private school, took the top prize Thursday after scoring 525 points out of 600. Harford Christian will represent the state for the 2008 Canon Envirothon, the national competition that will be held in Flagstaff, Ariz.

As a middle school student, Linn Griffiths developed an interest in science and problem solving. "I was drawn to the methodology of science," Griffiths said. "And I became passionate about it." Three decades later, Griffiths' passion has garnered her a nomination as one of three Maryland finalists for the 2007-2008 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Griffiths was surprised by the nomination, but Dennis Kirkwood, supervisor of science for the county school system, was not. "Linn Griffiths has set an example of an outstanding science teacher for more than 20 years," Kirkwood said.

ALTHOUGH THE NEW $44 million Environmental Science Center laboratory complex at Fort George G. Meade will not be ready until late next year, area civic leaders have been given a preview of the future. They like it."It's an asset to the base and community," said Glenn Akers, president of the Greater Odenton Improvement Association, after he and other activists were briefed on the 140,000-square-foot complex last month. The location of this Environmental Protection Agency installation at Fort Meade underscores the changes taking place at the base in western Anne Arundel County now that it no longer is headquarters for the First U.S. Army.