Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
EPA Grant Number: R828182Center: Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE)
Center Director: ,
Title: UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
Investigators: Miller, Andrew
Institution: University of Maryland - Baltimore County
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: June 1, 2001 through December 31, 2004
Project Amount: $1,944,996
RFA: Targeted Research Center (1999) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Targeted Research , Environmental Statistics
Objective:
The objective of this project was to establish the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education at UMBC. Activities included hiring of core staff, establishing a Geospatial Data Analysis Laboratory, establishing a Soil and Water Quality Laboratory, including purchase of equipment for the laboratories, laying the foundation for a sustainable research center, and carrying out initial research projects.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
This was a multi-year project to establish the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) at UMBC. The Center was founded to advance understanding of the environmental, social and economic consequences of changes to the urban and suburban landscape.
During its first three years of operation, the Center concentrated on research and education programs in the Baltimore metropolitan region, the Baltimore-Washington corridor, the State of Maryland, and other urban areas in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. New techniques of spatial data analysis coupled with multidisciplinary research approaches to urban environmental problems that have been developed by CUERE are widely applicable to other urban areas in the U.S. and abroad. Projects that have been initiated using the EPA Star grant as core funding include: (1) Comparative Study of the Baltimore Region; (2) State of the Baltimore Region; (3) The Definition and Measurement of Urban Sprawl; (4) Revisiting Megalopolis; (5) The State of the Inner Suburbs: An Examination of Suburban Baltimore, 1980 to 2000; (6) Creating an Urban Ecosystem of Blue and Green Space in the Greater Baltimore Region; (7) Survey and Analysis of Statewide Recreational Needs; (8) Children's Environmental Health Infrastructure Study; (9) The Impact of Demographic Change and the Expansion of Urban Areas in Rural Maryland Since 1970; (10) Markets for Preserving Land in Maryland: Making TDR Program Work Better; (11) Collaborative Research on Hydrology, Hydraulics and Hydrometeorology of Flood Response in Urbanizing Drainage Basins; (12) Assessment of LIDAR for Hydraulic Modeling of Flood Hazards; (13) Using DTM and LIDAR Data to Analyze Human Induced Topographic Change in Owings Mills, MD; (14) Using an Impervious Permit Allowance System To Reduce Impervious Surface Coverage for Environmental Sustainability; (15) The Influence of Land Use and Environmental Factors on Landscape Characteristics and Dynamics in Urban Ecosystems, (16) Watershed 263; (17) Cyberinfrastructure Needs for a Model Environmental Field Facility in Baltimore, and (18) Determination of Sediment Erosion and Deposition Rates for Valley Creek in Valley Forge National Historical Park. In addition, dissemination of final results from an EPA/NSF/USDA Water and Watersheds project, “Documenting the Effects of Urban Sprawl on a Model Watershed near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania” was partially supported as an activity.
Conclusions:
We believe that EPA’s investment in starting this center has been successful by any measure. CUERE is a thriving and engaged partner with the university, the greater Baltimore region, and collaborators around the US in carrying out a program of research and education related to its stated mission.
Journal Articles: 8 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other center views: | All 70 publications | 17 publications in selected types | All 8 journal articles |
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Chen Z, Gangopadhyay A, Karabatis G, McGuire M, Welty C. Semantic integration and knowledge discovery for environmental research. Journal of Database Management 2007;18(1):43-68. |
R828182 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Emerson CH, Welty C, Traver RG. Watershed-scale evaluation of a system of storm water detention basins. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 2005;10(3):237-242. |
R828182 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Galster G, Hanson R, Ratcliffe MR, Wolman H, Coleman S, Freihage J. Wrestling sprawl to the ground: defining and measuring an elusive concept. Housing Policy Debate 2001;12(4):681-717. |
R828182 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Groffman PM, Bain DJ, Band LE, Belt KT, Brush GS, Grove JM, Pouyat RV, Yesilonis IC, Zipperer WC. Down by the riverside: urban riparian ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2003;1(6):315-321. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Hanlon B, Vicino T, Short JR. The new metropolitan reality in the US: rethinking the traditional model. Urban Studies 2006;43(12):2129-2143. |
R828182 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Pouyat RV, Yesilonis ID, Russell-Anelli J, Neerchal NK. Soil chemical and physical properties that differentiate urban land-use and cover types. Soil Science Society of America Journal 2007;71(3):1010-1019. |
R828182 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Pouyat R, Groffman P, Yesilonis I, Hernandez L. Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems. Environmental Pollution 2002;116(Suppl 1):S107-S118. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Szlavecz K, Placella SA, Pouyat RV, Groffman PM, Csuzdi C, Yesilonis I. Invasive earthworm species and nitrogen cycling in remnant forest patches. Applied Soil Ecology 2006;32(1):54-62. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
Urban Environmental Research, Environmental Education,, RFA, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, Urban and Regional Planning, Monitoring/Modeling, Environmental Monitoring, educating school children, urban environment, Brownfields redevelopment, children's health, community outreach, computational model, data gatheringRelevant Websites:
http://www.umbc.edu/cuere Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.