Univ. unveils new $27.5M center for the environment

A slew of high-powered state officials — including Gov. Martin O'Malley, university President Wallace Loh, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and State Senate President Mike Miller — all gathered yesterday to unveil the opening of a new, $27.5 million collaborative research center, poising the university to lead in environmental policy research.

After receiving the money from the National Science Foundation in the largest grant this university has ever seen from the organization, officials gathered yesterday in Annapolis to officially open the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. Also known as SeSynC, the center will focus on the "interaction between human activity and health ecosystems," Miller said.

Miller said a center like SeSynC is critical to advancing research efforts, since it will combine studies from other institutions in the state and around the world. Without collaborative research, he said, this university will not advance at the same pace as its competing schools, like the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkley.

"Our flagship university has had its hands tied behind its back," Miller said. "We are crippled in competing against our peer institutions."

Margaret Palmer, executive director of SeSynC, said she hopes the new center attracts top researchers from around the world to collaborate on a number of policy issues, and said the support from the NSF was a significant boost to the university's social and environmental research programs.

The center will bring together researchers in biology, earth science, mathematics, computer science, anthropology, sociology and economics, according to Palmer.

"The space, its location and how we function are all designed to maximize creativity and interaction across disciplinary boundaries," Palmer said at the event. "Our mode of operation involves unique approaches designed to enable rapid progress on difficult questions that require synthesizing research methods, ideas and data from many fields."

The center will use a research method known as synthesis, Palmer said, meaning researchers will use existing and under-used data and knowledge to find answers to environmental problems, rather than conducting new experiments.

"The focus of the work is the intersection of people and the environment," Palmer said. "It's uniquely focused on the natural and social sciences."

Miller said the opening of the center, as well as the recognition this university received in securing the funds and launching the facility, is an important first step in bringing together a wide array of scientific minds across the state and the globe.

"It's a wonderful facility and its potential is unlimited," he said.

University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he hopes SeSynC will help promote this university's growing push towards sustainability research.

"The whole premise of the center is that there is lots of work going on related to the environment," Kirwan said. "Developing sound policy research can have significant impact on climate change and the environment."

The center will not only benefit this university, but will also bring a needed boost to the state economy and spur job growth in environmental research and sciences, Mikulski (D-Md.) said.

"Investing in science creates new ideas and new technologies that can become new businesses and create jobs," she said in a press release. "This center will ensure that Maryland continues to lead the way with the best and the brightest students, scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs that are creating jobs today and jobs tomorrow."

bach@umdbk.com