University Of Maryland

If Kermit the Frog thinks "It's Not Easy Being Green," how will he like being bronze? The beloved Muppet sits beside his creator, Jim Henson, in a larger-than-life-size bronze statue, to be dedicated Sept. 24 at Henson's alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park. The design, by sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter of Gaithersburg, depicts Henson and Kermit in lighthearted conversation, Kermit's left hand resting thoughtfully on Henson's wrist. "I thought of them as creative collaborators," Carpenter said of the pair.

COLLEGE PARK -- When the funnel cloud touched down -- blue lightning crackling inside the violent, swirling winds -- Matt Peterson could see it from his dormitory window. It was headed straight for the part of campus where he and most other freshmen lived. In retrospect, the tornado that barreled across the University of Maryland just a few weeks after the Class of 2005 arrived here in September 2001 was a precursor to a tumultuous four years, a college career that offered students an education in crisis management.

In the dense heat of an Annapolis summer, University of Maryland students in Eastport dug for treasure - and came up with a booty of poultry bones and old medicine bottles. Led by field supervisor Matthew Palus, a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, 15 students wrapped up a hands-on course in archaeological history yesterday that had them digging in the back yards of four Eastport residents. The goal, said Palus, was to give the University of Maryland, College Park students experience in excavation and in community interaction, to make the project a public and collaborative effort.

Ernest Owen Brown, a retired Baltimore surgeon who was one of the early African-American graduates of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, died of heart failure June 8 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 81. Born in Baltimore, one of 11 children of a longshoreman, Dr. Brown settled in Severna Park with his family. In an unpublished biographical sketch, Dr. Brown wrote that the first school he attended was Pumphrey Elementary School. "It was a two-room clapboard and shaker shingle structure with outdoor privies."

WHEN ESTHER McCready finally entered the University of Maryland School of Nursing in 1950, two people approached her. One was another nursing freshman, who crossed the color line to welcome Ms. McCready warmly, putting her own career at the school in jeopardy.The other person was an instructor who saw Ms. McCready standing alone, approached and said:"If you don't pray to God, you won't get out of here, because nobody's here for you."Ms. McCready replied, "If God intends for me to get out, no one can stop me."

THE UNIVERSITY of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore will break ground next week for a seven-story, $145 million addition that will cap more than a decade of expansion and renovation.A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Monday for the addition, which will contain a new emergency center, advanced surgical suites and patient rooms when it opens in the spring of 2002.The building will rise on the north side of the 600 block of W. Lombard St., between the 5-year-old Homer Gudelsky Building and the 10-year-old Shock Trauma Center.

What does it feel like to walk through a hurricane? What submarine design produces the least drag? Which sail catches the wind best? How much steel does a building need to stand up to strong gusts? Since 1949 scientists at the University of Maryland have been using the Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel in College Park to answer those questions and more. Shaped like a squared-off doughnut, the tunnel stirs up the air with a 20,000-horsepower fan with blades 20 feet in diameter that can generate wind speeds up to 230 mph. Ford Motor Co. uses the tunnel to help make its automobiles more aerodynamic and pays fees to the college, which help keep the tunnel self-supporting.

The ninth-graders packed into Elkton High School's classroom A3 on a recent morning were restless as Nick Tsourounis, a University of Maryland School of Pharmacy doctoral student, stepped up to talk with them about addiction and stimulants, with particular attention to cocaine. But soon, amid the fidgeting, hair-twisting and averted eyes, the students began to listen as Tsourounis, in khakis and a button-down shirt, described the clinical effects drug use has on the human body and on human behavior.

CAMBRIDGE -- "This is Jellyland," says Karla Heidelberg, as she steps into a tiny, cluttered lab at the Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies at Horn Point.So it is. All around her, aquarium tanks hold tiny, translucent jellyfish, drifting and dropping in the cloudy water under the unblinking stare of microscopes, cameras and computers.The lab Heidelberg affectionately calls "Jellyland" is also part of a graduate program in Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) at the University of Maryland.

William L. "Bud" Thomas Jr., longtime vice president of student affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, died of complications from a stroke Monday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Silver Spring resident was 74. Dr. Thomas was born and raised in Knoxville, Tenn. He served in the Army in the early 1950s, and as an active reservist attained the rank of captain. He earned a bachelor's degree in social studies and secondary education in 1955, and a master's in education administration and supervision in 1966 -- both from the University of Tennessee.