Appalachian Lab Monthly Newsletter
Dear AL Community,
The Nitrogen Summer Institute, hosted by the Global Nitrogen Innovation Center for Clean Energy and the Environment (NICCEE), concluded successfully on June 14 at IMET. More than 50 experts from academia, government agencies, industry, farming and non-profit organizations gathered for this three-day event to explore advancements and collaborative efforts for nitrogen management in agriculture, food and energy systems.
NICCEE is a global research initiative dedicated to advancing sustainable and climate-smart nitrogen management through socioeconomic and technological innovation. This event was the first in-person gathering for the center and will be held annually going forward.
Recent Happenings & Announcements
Retired faculty member and Professor Emeritus, Ray Morgan, was recently honored with the 2024 Maryland Sport Fisheries Achievement Award by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for his longstanding commitment to Maryland fisheries as an educator, researcher, and for his strong stewardship of our aquatic resources. He will be honored during a presentation this fall. Learn more about the award and Ray’s achievements here. Congratulations, Ray!
As Sarah Garvey mentioned above, the first annual Nitrogen Summer Institute was held at IMET last month. In addition to the conference events, there were also some field trips (see photo at right).
Internship Updates
Our Summer 2024 Undergraduate interns have been busy with their projects and have also participated in some professional development activities and field trips. They visited a solar farm in Garrett County in June and Powdermill Avian Research Center in July:
The date for their Lightning Talk presentations has been set for Friday, August 16th at 11:00 AM. Mark your calendars today!
Workday Implementation
We know that you’ve been hearing about this for a very long time and might even be a little sick of the updates, but the implementation of a modern cloud-based solution for UMCES Human Capital Management and Finances is approaching quickly. We all need to complete training so that we know how to use the system when it goes live on November 15th. The current systems for conducting activities, like entering your time and leave and effort reporting will not be available after we transition to Workday.
We need people to complete the training because this will affect all of us. If you aren’t sure what training you need to take, visit this page, enter your UID number and UMCES email. You will almost immediately receive an email from Smartsheet Automation telling you what Workday roles have been assigned to you along with recommended training curriculum you can complete online.
Visit this page to learn more about the transition, so that you can be aware of last day activities for each component being transitioned to Workday: https://elevate.umd.edu/drive-go-live/last-day-activities-0.
UMCES Strategic Planning Steering Committee
Upward Bound Visit
High school students in FSU’s Upward Bound STEM program visited the lab on July 15th.
Spotlight on Safety - Research Support Website
At the July Town Hall Meeting, we provided an online tour of a new resource available to the AL community to help provide you with all of the tools and information you might need to conduct your research all in one place – the AL Research Support Website.
In addition to providing important information related to emergency response and laboratory and field safety, it also connects you with information related to many other aspects of research, like available tools to help promote your work, resources to assist you with policy compliance, along with available tools and services.
It has been under development for two years and we hope that it will prove useful to you. If you have any suggestions for content or information you would like to see on this site, please contact Katie Kline. Here’s a preview of the home page:
DEI Update
Pride Month Update:
Members of the AL DEI group attended Pride events in Allegany and Garrett Counties in June. Brian shared these photos from the events:
The AL DEI group has a new Slack Channel. Join to learn about and share diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice-related community events, new research, training opportunities, and other resources. We will discuss plans for meetings on the Channel but will continue to post meeting notices to the listserv as well. https://appalachianlabdei.slack.com
Our next meeting is on July 31st at 10:00 AM. We will first recap the events in June and provide UMCES DEI updates. The remainder of our discussion will be about potential DEI initiatives and budgeting for the school year. Anyone is welcome to join us – even if you have never attended a DEI meeting before.
Emily, Sarah, and Olivia
Recent Publications
Constance E. Bolte, Tommy Phannareth, Michelle Zavala-Paez, Brianna N. Sutara, Muhammed F. Can, Matthew C. Fitzpatrick, Jason A. Holliday, Stephen R. Keller, Jill A. Hamilton. 2024. Genomic insights into hybrid zone formation: The role of climate, landscape, and demography in the emergence of a novel hybrid lineage. Molecular Ecology.
Mark Your Calendars
- Altoona Curve Baseball Game – August 3rd
- 2024 Summer Intern Lightning Presentations, August 16th at 11:00 AM
- Start of Semester Picnic – August 24th
- Dr. Miralles-Wilhelm visit to AL – August 29th
- Richard Johnson Environmental Education Award – August 29th – Don’t forget to RSVP if you’re attending!
- Western Maryland STEM Festival at FSU – October 26th
- MEES Colloquium at HPL – October 25-26th
Do you have an announcement or update you’d like to include in a future newsletter?
AL’s monthly newsletter is issued during the second week of the month. Please submit any announcements and updates to Katie Kline or Heather Johnson before the close of business on the first Friday of each month to ensure that your content can be included in that month’s newsletter.
