The Spring 2024 GES Seminar Series will be updated here throughout the semester, so please check back for details. Events are also posted on CS3's calendar and upcoming events page.
Wednesday, February 21st | noon | ITE 229 |
Maryland's Climate Pollution Reduction Plan: new policies to achieve Maryland's nation-leading climate goals
Mark Stewart, Program Manager, Climate Change Program, Maryland Department of the Environment
Mark Stewart leads the Climate Change Program at the Maryland Department of the Environment, where he and his team are responsible for developing and implementing policies to achieve the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals of any state in the nation. His team recently released Maryland's Climate Pollution Reduction Plan to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031 and set the state on a path to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045. Mark's team is also responsible for developing new regulations, conducting Maryland's official greenhouse gas emissions inventory, staffing the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, and running other stakeholder processes.
Wednesday, March 6th | noon | ITE 229
Do existing Maryland stormwater regulations protect channel stability? Understanding the origin, history, and effects of stormwater regulations on the physical integrity of headwater streams
Dr. Tess Thompson, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech
The State of Maryland is a national leader in stormwater management. Current stormwater regulations seek to minimize the impacts of urbanization on stream systems by conserving natural features, minimizing the use of impervious surfaces, and slowing runoff to reduce runoff volumes and rates by increasing evapotranspiration and infiltration. While there are numerous studies documenting improvements at the level of individual stormwater control measures, fewer studies have evaluated benefits at the watershed level. This seminar will describe the origin and history of the Maryland stormwater regulations and present results from a case study that compared the impacts of different types of stormwater management on watershed hydrology and channel stability.
Wednesday, March 13th | noon | ITE 229 | Webex
What Harriet left behind: rural redlining and rising seas on Maryland's eastern shore
Rona Kobell, Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative
Eroding History tells the story of two Black communities on the Deal Island Peninsula that are losing their land and their history due to the intersection of historical racism and modern climate changes. It is s among the few Chesapeake Bay films that center Black communities at the forefront of climate change. Black people are often on the lowest land, because that was the only land that was available to them. On the Eastern Shore, where everything is low, the lowest spot is a dangerous place. Rising water, saltwater intrusion, and marsh migration are endangering Black lands at a rapid pace. That Black filmmakers are telling these stories is important, and EJJI is proud to provide a platform for telling and disseminating these films.
Wednesday, April 3rd| noon | ITE 229 | Webex
Click here to view the recording.
Ecological Diversity in Human Landscapes
Dr. Karin Burghardt, Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland College Park
Humans modify vast swaths of the earth for food, material, shelter, and recreation. What are
the implications of these modifications for the ecology of plants and animals living in these spaces with
humans? In this seminar, I will explore this question through vignettes of ongoing research projects in the
lab: 1) the effect of historic redlining housing policy on current street tree communities in Baltimore, MD;
2) how tree planting diversity in restorations or managed forests alters insect food webs; and (time
permitting) 3) the impact of yard landscaping decisions such as autumn leaf removal on the biodiversity
and overwintering success of beneficial insect species. Throughout I will highlight how basic ecological
principles can help us understand the potential feedbacks between ecology and policy in humandominated spaces.
Wednesday, April 17th| noon | Webex
Domestic water demands of socially vulnerable communities in response to drought
Dr. Alisha Chan, Interdisciplinary Data Scientist, MD-DE-DC Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Extensive water usage in socially vulnerable communities that face drought may worsen resource depletion, perpetuating a cycle of persistent water scarcity in already vulnerable areas. This work studies how public and self-supplied domestic water use by socially vulnerable communities varies spatially and with differences in drought severity. Domestic water use per capita data is combined with social vulnerability and drought severity indices through multivariate log-transformed regression models at the county level. Results were stratified by regions with varying water availability conditions (i.e., severe drought, moderate drought, normal, unusually moist, and very moist). Results reveal the paradoxical relationship between the water demands of socially vulnerable communities and the environmental justice challenges in areas with water scarcity.
Dr. Alisha Yee Chan is a scientist in the Water Resources Mission Area at the U.S. Geological Survey. She obtained her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2022, specializing in health and socioeconomic effects of urban flooding. Alisha's current research at the U.S. Geological Survey aims to better understand the interacting relationship between human dimensions and water availability.
Wednesday, April 24th| noon | ITE 229 | Webex
Applications of isotope geochemistry for understanding living and non-living systems
Dr. Gabriella Weiss, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology II, UMBC/ NASA Goddard SPC
Reaction pathways for biological organisms are enzyme-driven. Biological organisms often compete for energy sources and constantly perform reactions that maintain homeostasis. Thus, enzymes help provide a competitive, life-sustaining advantage for organisms. On the other hand, abiotic reactions are not random but rather reflect the physiochemical conditions under which they occur. These reactions depend on available reactants and environmental conditions that facilitate chemical reactions, such as the temperature or pH in a solution. The pace of these reactions is driven by energy and substrate availability; thus, it is likely that abiotic reaction networks impart distinctly different molecular signals relative to enzyme-catalyzed biological reaction networks. Isotope values, the ratio of heavy (13C) to light (12C) versions of an element, represent such a molecular signal. Conveniently, isotope ratios vary because of chemical reactions and environmental factors, making them important tools for understanding the origins and characteristics of a system. My research focuses on measuring the isotopic variation within molecules to understand signals that may be unique to living and non-living systems, respectively.
Wednesday, May 10th| noon | Physics 401 | Webex link coming soon
Dr. Yaya Richter, Special Projects Lead, National Center for Atmospheric Research – joint seminar with Physics and GESTAR II, will speak about Earth System Predictability Across Timescales