Science And Technology

A team lead by Battelle Memorial Institute has won a five-year, $333 million Defense Department contract to provide biological and chemical detection support at Aberdeen Proving Ground and 11 other hubs around the world. Battelle will administer the program from Aberdeen. The Columbus, Ohio, institute manages or co-manages seven national laboratories for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.

Firefighters to discuss blaze with residents Firefighters will meet with residents at 7 tonight to respond to questions about the Tuesday afternoon fire at a Randallstown apartment complex that displaced more than a dozen families. The fire, which is under investigation, damaged 17 apartments in the three adjoining brick buildings in the Brookhaven Estates complex, said Lt. John Cromwell, a county fire spokesman. "Whenever there's a significant fire or fire death, very typically the fire departments walk through the community to talk about the value of having smoke detectors and to answer questions," Cromwell said.

A steel beam was hoisted yesterday atop the first life sciences building at the East Baltimore biotech park -- marking the halfway point in the structure's completion and providing officials with the opportunity to publicly promote progress in a project designed to transform a once-decayed swath with research facilities and hundreds of units of new housing. "This is a grand milestone for a grand project," said Dr. Edward D. Miller, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, one of several private and public officials to speak before the ceremonial "topping out" of the building.

Alicia Lee plans to do something no one in her immediate family has done. The 17-year-old senior at Woodlawn High School will attend the Johns Hopkins University beginning this fall, and if all goes well, she'll become the first person in her family to earn a bachelor's degree. Lee and many other county students got help with the college application process from Building STEPS Science Technology Education Partnerships, a nonprofit program that helps high-achieving high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds by guiding them through the application process and providing activities that expose students to college, science, math and technology.

We cover a Hampden resident who sets out to find the perfect addition to her holiday display. IN GO TODAY Sunday Profiling Peabody's director We give a profile of the new director of the Peabody Conservatory, the young Jeff Sharkey. IN A&E TODAY online today NFL ONLINE To check out Bill Ordine and Ken Murray's weekly NFL report, go to: www.baltimoresun.com/nflpod HEALTH REPORTS For recent stories about health, science and technology, go to: www.baltimoresun.com/healthscience

The recent, alarming report by the National Academies of Science on the health of our innovation economy, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future," did the nation a major service by decrying the dismal state of science and math education in the U.S. and the gradual erosion of our world primacy in science and technology. But the report fell short in one crucial area: It failed to address the persistent shortage of women and minorities in science and engineering.

A group of Essex schools could soon become the site of a new program to promote science and technology education. Baltimore County school officials submitted a proposal last month to the state Department of Education to create an academy dedicated to "STEM" - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - at Chesapeake High School and its feeder schools. "The idea was to build as strong a program there as we can - one to make Chesapeake a star," said H.B. Lantz, executive director of science, mathematics, engineering and technology for county schools.

The state of science and technology in Maryland was the focus of some 250 people from industry, government, academia and civic organizations who gathered at the University of Maryland, College Park last month. Dividing into groups, they considered various aspects of Maryland's competitive status in an increasingly technological global economy. Here is a summary of some of their findings. C.D. MOTE JR. Maryland has jumped out ahead of the other states recently by developing a grass-roots response to technological challenges from countries such as India and China.

Faculty member Lyon is honored by HCC Sharon Lyon, associate professor of physical science at Howard Community College, has been named overall outstanding faculty member for 2005-2006. As part of the award, she will lead the faculty procession at the college's commencement ceremony, address student honorees at dean's list receptions and attend a major conference or other professional development activity. Also recognized by their peers as outstanding faculty members in their divisions were David Beaudoin and Jenny Male in arts and humanities; Rose Volynskiy and Mary Beth Furst in business and computer sciences; Anne McQueen in continuing education and workforce development; Linda Wiley and Rahim Salih in English and world languages; Jeanette Jeffrey and Kimberly Middleton in health sciences; Betty Anderson and Andy Bowie in mathematics; Bhuvana Chandran in science and technology; and Michael Heffren and Larry Fischer in social sciences.

Though the purpose of the robot-building competition is to solve problems, a group of Aberdeen High School students had a tough one to tackle before they could even participate: They didn't have a team. The students from Aberdeen's Science and Math Academy magnet program brought plenty of technological skill to the table. But they lacked a suitable location and the resources to make a run at the Chesapeake FIRST Regional Robotic Competition. Enter the Park School in Baltimore County. Likeminded students at Park, a private school in Brooklandville, invited the Aberdeen students to join their team.