The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, located at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will promote an integrated understanding of the environmental, social and economic impacts of landscape transformation associated with urban and suburban development. The Center will conduct collaborative research; contribute to graduate and undergraduate education; and sponsor workshops and symposia. The Center will provide a host environment for forming problem-solving teams of scientists, policy researchers, and decision-makers required for addressing specific research issues within the areas of concern outlined below.

The Baltimore-Washington and larger Middle Atlantic Regions provide a natural laboratory for the study of the environmental consequences of different development patterns and policies. The well-known problems afflicting Chesapeake Bay are often attributed to the effects of land use in the upstream watersheds, and ongoing urban sprawl is widely believed to be responsible for some of the most significant and rapid local changes along riparian corridors, in fragmented habitat areas, and in receiving waters. The Smart Growth initiative in Maryland is one response to this perceived trend. Questions about environmental effects of urban development and the linkages between social, economic and environmental patterns are being addressed by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), one of the first two NSF-funded Urban Long-Term Ecological Research projects. BES headquarters are located on the UMBC campus and form part of a network of collaborative relationships with other academic institutions, public agencies, and citizens’ groups concerned with the relationship between urban development and environment. The Center will build on this network and broaden the scope of research in targeted areas.

A small percentage of the Center's budget will be used to provide partial support for environmental science laboratory facilities and field monitoring sites on the UMBC campus. These will augment the university’s curriculum for training students in collection and processing of water, soil, air, vegetation, and aquatic invertebrate samples. The students will then be eligible to serve as interns and research assistants.

Funding from EPA will be used to develop a program that can sustain itself through externally sponsored grants and contracts. Funds requested in this proposal will be used to provide support services, to bring a research professor, postdoctoral researcher, and graduate assistants to campus, and to provide seed grants for developing competitive proposals. Funds will also be used to bring visitors to campus who may collaborate in developing research proposals,  serve as technical consultants on topics where outside expertise is requested, or serve as visiting scholars who will deliver lectures, participate in informal meetings and information exchanges on designated topics, interact with students, and assist in planning and carrying out major conferences.

The Center will work with partners from EPA and from other federal, state, and local agencies, as well as scientists from other academic institutions and representatives from the private sector to help develop strategies for environmental assessment and policy based on the results of current research. The Center will also be a place where a broad range of environmental research activities across the campus will be coordinated and can be discussed.

INTRODUCTION

The spread of urbanization into agricultural lands and forests is one of the three major global impacts of humans (Vitousek, 1994).  In 1995, over 75% of the U.S. population resided in urban areas and that number is expected to increase to more than 80% by the year 2025 (Fox, 1987; Alig and Healy, 1987; Haub and Kent, 1989). Population growth and development activity is most dramatic not in the urban center, but on the urban fringe. Although the population of the United States is growing slowly compared to other countries in the world, the percent of urban land use has increased dramatically as people continually move from our urban centers to adjacent countryside (Frey, 1984; Davey, 1993),  affecting critical and sensitive natural resources. The phenomenon of urban “sprawl”—incremental, low density expansion of the urban area and diffusion and separation of homes and jobs—is not unique to the United States and is increasingly being observed in other parts of the world as well (Badshah, 1996). There is a widespread perception in the U.S. that a continuation of current trends will further exacerbate a broad range of environmental and social problems (Nussbaum, 1999; U.S. Geological Survey Urban Retrospectives Research Program, 1998).

Although urban sprawl has recently received the most intense publicity (Miller, 1999), all forms of development - whether on the urban fringe or in the urban core -  have the potential to cause environmental change. Transformation of landscapes to accommodate residential, commercial or industrial land use may disturb natural biogeochemical cycles (McDonnell, et al., 1997) and affect air, water, and soil quality; cause loss and fragmentation of natural habitats (Godron and Forman, 1983; Sharpe, et al., 1986; Zipperer, et al., 1991); induce toxic stress owing to the dispersal of contaminants from point and nonpoint sources; and cause fundamental alterations in watershed hydrology and sediment yields. Downstream impacts of development include physical, chemical and biological degradation of local stream channels and riparian corridors (Booth and Jackson, 1997), as well as impacts on larger receiving water bodies.  The effects of urban and suburban development may include both ecological stress and increased health risks for the human population (Schmidt, 1998). Receiving water bodies affected by rapid development include sensitive estuarine and coastal ecosystems (Malone, et al., 1999); according to the National Water Quality Inventory, urban sources contribute more to the degradation of estuarine waters than agricultural sources (USEPA, 1997). The cumulative environmental impact of urban development on environmental quality in the Great Lakes area has been a major topic of interest, and a summary of the issues is provided by Thorp, et al. (1997). However, there is still a need for more detailed analysis of cumulative impacts and of cause and effect relationships linking specific environmental outcomes to the mosaic of landscape transformations associated with development (Gordon and Richardson, 1998).

We do not yet have the kinds of data needed to assess and compare the environmental effects of different spatial patterns of development. However, it is clear that the way development occurs in an urban area can have important effects on the quality of life in both the urban core and outlying areas. There is increasing public awareness of and opposition to sprawl development on the metropolitan fringe.  Sprawl contributes to increased infrastructure costs and transportation costs, to complaints about congestion and lack of open space, and to concerns about the ability of the urban poor to access jobs in the suburbs (Burchell and Downs, 1998; Downs, 1994).  Yet there is an increasing amount of debate on both the definition of urban sprawl and on the merits of policies intended to control it (Miller, 1999). Further research is needed to determine whether or not the societal costs of sprawl exceed the benefits realized (Gordon and Richardson, 1998).

Increasing attention is being paid to new initiatives that promise better management of economic and natural resources under the rubric of "Smart Growth." Utah has recently created a public/private partnership to develop alternative growth scenarios and to solicit public input in selecting development strategies.  To encourage localities to undertake better land use planning, Pennsylvania has adopted a $1.3 billion "growing greener" initiative.  New Jersey, like several other Eastern states, is directing resources to older neighborhoods facing decline and setting aside funds to purchase and protect existing open spaces.  Georgia, facing a sprawling Atlanta, is creating a new agency to help build new transit lines to promote cleaner air and encourage urban commuting.  In the Mid-west, the states of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin are making plans to further guide sprawling development (Peirce, 1999).  On the West coast Portland has been recognized for creative land use planning (Pelley, 1999; Peterson, et al., 1999; Franzen and Hunsberger, 1998; Anderson, 1998).

Initiatives in the area of Smart Growth have also been introduced in Maryland, where the well-known problems afflicting Chesapeake Bay are often attributed to the effects of land use in the upstream watersheds, and where ongoing urban sprawl is widely believed to be responsible for some of the most significant and rapid local changes along riparian corridors, in fragmented habitat areas, and in receiving waters (Horton and Eichbaum, 1991).  A Smart Growth strategy was recently passed into state law, targeting state infrastructure funding for use in designated growth areas, providing funds to purchase conservation easements for preservation of rural land, and creating incentives for redevelopment of brownfields.  There is intense interest in these issues on the part of local political entities and the public at large.  Yet, in Maryland and elsewhere, there is relatively little basis for predicting which specific policy initiatives are likely to yield successful results; nor are there performance measures for distinguishing success from failure.  In a more general sense, our ability as a society to assess and to remedy the impacts of development is severely limited by inadequate understanding of the structure and functioning of our growing population centers as environmental systems and as economic and social systems. There are still significant unresolved questions not only about urban sprawl and its effects, but about all forms of urban development.

1.1 Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education

In recognition of the need for an integrated understanding of the environmental, social and economic effects of landscape transformation associated with urban and suburban development, UMBC proposes the creation of a Center whose primary research mission will be to investigate these impacts. We have identified five areas of concern. The first three are focused on environmental system response to development; the fourth is focused on the hazards and risks associated with system response; and the fifth is focused on policy issues as they relate both to environmental effects and social and economic consequences. The areas of concern are:

(1)     watershed hydrologic response and the role of geomorphic systems in modulating inputs, storage, and delivery of water, sediment, and associated constituents from source areas to downstream locations;

(2)   effects on biogeochemical cycling and the fate and transport of nutrients and contaminants through various media (e.g. air, water, soils and sediments, vegetation);

(3)   effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including habitat loss and fragmentation, changes in biodiversity, and changes in community composition;

(4)  effects of changes in contaminant fate and transport on human and ecological health risks; and

(5)  the influence of private-sector economic activity and of government policy on patterns of urban and suburban development and environmental quality

This list identifies areas of inquiry to be promoted by the Center over the long term. The actual balance of projects among these areas during the three years of funding requested in this proposal will depend on staffing and on funding allocation decisions that will be made by the Executive Committee, in consultation with the Science Advisory Committee, after the award establishing the Center. Funds awarded to individual researchers or teams of researchers are expected to lead to the development of grant proposals for submission to external funding sources. An initial goal is to generate external funding equal to or greater than the amount provided to researchers from the Center budget during the first three years of operation.

Analytical tools from all relevant disciplines will be applied to a series of questions that arise in these areas. The Center will provide infrastructure and staffing to support the use of Geographic Information Systems for spatial analysis and as a host environment for spatially-referenced modeling. Wherever possible, the negative and positive feedbacks between and among social and environmental systems will be rigorously analyzed using statistical and econometric methods and other techniques as appropriate.

Research conducted through the Center may involve several different scales of organization.  Watershed units will be of key importance, but some investigations will involve regional scales that transcend watershed boundaries (e.g. airsheds, regional urban footprints, political jurisdictions, or border areas crossing political boundaries that are magnets for development). The scope of investigation may extend to the use of large data sets for comparative analysis among different regions at the national or international scale.

1.2 Campus resources and collaborative arrangements

The Center will serve as a focal point for environmental research on the UMBC campus and will promote a cooperative network of contacts with researchers at other academic institutions and with researchers and managers at public agencies, nongovernmental organizations and in the private sector, fostering integrative work among different disciplines.

 1.2.1 Campus resources

The initial list of affiliated faculty and staff participating in this proposal includes representatives from the UMBC departments of Geography & Environmental Systems, Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Physics, Policy Sciences, Economics, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

Additional educational programs that may be connected with and provide student research assistants to the Center include the University of Maryland graduate program in Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences (MEES), a multi-campus graduate program with several faculty representatives at UMBC and potential for expanded representation; the Environmental Statistics track within the graduate program of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics; the graduate program in Policy Sciences; and new environmental degree programs currently being planned for the UMBC campus. The MEES graduate program is supported in part by the research faculty of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), which currently has three principal locations, two of which focus primarily on coastal and estuarine environmental research and one of which focuses primarily on research in rural forested watersheds. Discussions are  underway to promote collaboration between UMCES and the new Center at UMBC.

Other research groups connected with the campus include:

Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) One of the first two NSF-funded Urban Long-Term Ecological Research projects, this project is part of a national network of more than 20 LTER sites in the United States and Antarctica, representing a collaboration among multiple academic institutions, public agencies, and citizens’ groups. Headquarters are located on the UMBC campus. The Institute for Ecosystem Studies (IES) in Millbrook, NY is the lead institution on the project and leases the headquarters space from UMBC. The site manager is an employee of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and other onsite staff are employees of either USFS or IES.

Center for Conservation Research and Technology A research group also located on the UMBC campus, whose agenda focuses on development and application of advanced technologies for conservation of biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystems on multiple scales. A principle research tool is biotelemetry for monitoring migratory and other behaviors of birds and other wildlife populations.

Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology A research consortium formed as a partnership between UMBC and NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.Principal research tasks include land, ocean, and atmosphere remote sensing; atmospheric processes associated with radiative transfer and precipitation; modeling, analysis, and data assimilation; and interdisciplinary studies of earth surface and planetary environments. The new Director of JCET, Raymond Hoff, has extensive research experience (including work with EPA) with optical properties of aerosols and gases in the atmosphere and the pathways and fates of toxic organic and elemental chemicals in the environment.

Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research  A UMBC research institute formed to provide a mechanism for linking the analytical resources of the University with public policy-makers in the region.  MIPAR also serves as a University center for applied scholarly research on significant issues of public policy and includes representation from all of the social-science departments on campus, with leadership from the Graduate Progam in Policy Sciences.

Shriver Center Promotes a number of social-action initiatives and coordinates domestic and international co-op, internship, and community service placements for UMBC students. The Shriver Center is involved in several major urban initiatives and can serve as a resource for connecting urban environmental research with community groups and student interns.

University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute Located in downtown Baltimore but with several UMBC faculty affiliates, UMBI forms a hub of intensive study into the basic science of biotechnology and its application to human health, the marine environment, agriculture, and protein engineering/structural biology.

Meyerhoff Scholarship Program Created in 1988 to address the shortage of African American males in the sciences and engineering, this program now is open to all high-achieving high school seniors who have an interest in pursuing doctoral study in the sciences, mathematics, computer science, and engineering, and who are interested in the advancement of minorities in the sciences and related fields. Upon graduation, 95 percent of Meyerhoff Scholars immediately go on to professional and graduate schools. In 1996 this program received the first annual Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, presented by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation.

Location
The UMBC campus is ideally situated to promote collaborations and to support workshops and discussions with a variety of federal, state, and local agencies; we are 15 minutes by car from downtown Baltimore, less than 10 minutes from Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and 35 minutes from the headquarters of state agencies in Annapolis and federal agencies in Washington, D.C. A new Research Park is presently being planned for construction adjacent to the campus and the campus has made a commitment to provide space in this facility to house the Center’s activities. UMBC is a young, highly entrepreneurial institution which has maintained rapid growth in externally sponsored research funding over most of the past decade, increasing from $8 million in FY 1990 to more than $62 million in FY 2000. The UMBC administration is strongly committed to the success of the new Center and is providing financial support for administrative services as well as recruiting new faculty for the campus who will be able to participate in the Center’s research mission. A strong research infrastructure is complemented with excellent computing and high-speed network resources that will facilitate rapid transfer of large data sets both on campus and between the campus and collaborators at other locations.

 1.2.2 Off-campus collaboration

The Center will seek to collaborate with EPA scientists, managers and policy specialists who may participate in the symposia as speakers, session organizers and panelists, as well as  participating in round-table discussions along with academics and citizen groups.

Many of the individuals and organizations who have expressed interest in forming a collaborative relationship with the Center are already participants in or are collaborating with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), including investigators from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland-College Park, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Delaware, Towson University, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Parks and People Foundation, Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM), and the Baltimore City Water Quality Management Office.

In addition we have had discussions about opportunities for collaboration with colleagues at the University of Toronto, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Oak Ridge National Laboratories Environmental Sciences Division, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

2. Organization and Management

The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Training at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will be administered by a Director with a small administrative staff and an Executive Committee. The activities of the Center will be overseen by a Science Advisory Committee (SAC) consisting initially of 9 members. The SAC will meet twice per year and will review proposed research initiatives, conduct reviews of the Center’s progress, and make recommendations to ensure continued success of the Center.

The agenda will be carried out by members of the Center, including faculty, postdoctoral researchers and other research scientists affiliated with the UMBC campus; by graduate and undergraduate research assistants; and by collaborators and visitors from other academic institutions, government agencies, and private-sector firms. A project administrator and a secretary will provide necessary services for preparing and managing grants, handling payroll and expenses, making arrangements for conferences and workshops as well as travel arrangements for visitors. A geospatial data services manager will provide support for pilot projects and grant proposals requiring preliminary work in spatial analysis and management of large data sets, and will also be available to coordinate related tasks on projects that are successful in attracting funds from other sources.  The three-year budget includes partial salary support for a Senior Scientist with the rank of Professor, who will be recruited through a national search and will be an established scholar with a track record of sponsored research in one or more of the five areas of concern listed above. The Center will also provide a series of seed grants each year to support other campus-affiliated researchers in conducting preliminary investigations and in preparing grant proposals for larger projects to be funded externally.

Additional funds will support visiting researchers, senior fellows, and consultants for the purpose of (1) collaborating with campus researchers on preparation of grant proposals, (2) serving as technical consultants on topics where outside expertise is requested; (3) serving as visiting scholars or scholars-in-residence who will deliver lectures, participate in informal meetings and information exchanges on designated topics, interact with students, and assist in planning and carrying out major conferences. The amounts of support provided will depend on the duration of the visit and the scope of the work to be accomplished. The postdoctoral and graduate research assistant positions will be used to provide support for projects consistent with the Center’s mission and will be awarded on a competitive basis to research teams affiliated with the Center. The projects and research areas to be supported each year will be chosen by the Executive Committee with the oversight of the Science Advisory Committee.

Collaborative efforts will involve basic research, and will also include the application of research results to the kinds of problems facing regulatory agencies.  Many regional organizations are already devoting significant resources to work on various aspects of the problems outlined under item 1.1 above, and we will seek to coordinate with them rather than duplicate efforts. As part of the Center's agenda, occasional short courses and workshops, as well as informal roundtable discussions on topics of mutual interest, will be developed for managers, policymakers, scientists, and other working professionals in public agencies, in nonprofit organizations, and in private engineering and environmental consulting firms. The Center will also sponsor one major symposium each year, focusing on an integrative topic that can draw interest from environmental scientists and policy specialists and highlighting both the research agendas sponsored by the Center and related work by colleagues from academic and research institutions outside the region. Symposium presenters will be asked to prepare manuscripts which will be peer-reviewed for publication in an edited volume.

A small percentage of the Center's budget will be used to provide partial support for environmental science laboratory facilities and field monitoring sites on the UMBC campus. These will augment the university’s curriculum for training students in collection and processing of water, soil, air, vegetation, and aquatic invertebrate samples. The students will then be eligible to serve as interns and research assistants working on the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and related projects, and their work will be carried out in the same laboratory facilities to support the research agenda.

Proposals for additional support of these facilities will be developed in collaboration with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and will support both collaborative research projects and new interdisciplinary environmental degree programs. These programs may also include expanded fellowship and assistantship opportunities for minority students, who are generally under-represented in earth and environmental sciences. UMBC already is recognized as a national model for recruiting and mentorship of minority students.

Our intention is to use the initial funding from EPA in order to build an institution that will become self-sustaining by encouraging the development of externally funded research proposals from multiple sources.  Hiring of staff and allocation of seed money to help develop competitive proposals will in general be carefully targeted to subject areas that match programmatic goals defined above. The Center will also be a place where a broad range of environmental research activities across the campus will be coordinated and can be discussed.