Events

Join us tomorrow morning for a special GES 286 balloon launch across campus. Weather balloons equipped with downward-facing cameras will be floating up to 450 feet above campus as students collect geospatial images for their environmental data projects.

This hands-on activity is part of the course "Exploring the Environment: A Geospatial Perspective" taught by Dr. Charlie Kaylor. Students will be deploying balloons from six different locations around campus, all centered on the Quad.

If you're walking across campus between 9:15 and 10:30 a.m., look up and you'll see the balloons in action.
To learn more about how these launches support geospatial learning, check out this UMBC Magazine feature:

Getting Your Research Off the Ground—Balloons Give Students New Perspectives

Come by, watch the launches, and see geospatial science in action!

Join us for a Guest Speaker Session with Dr. Shannon Lyons, East Coast Regional Director of the Surfrider Foundation.

The Surfrider Foundation works to protect and preserve the world's oceans — focusing on plastic reduction, water quality, beach access, and sustaining marine ecosystems.

Dr. Lyons will share insights into Surfrider's national and local initiatives, community organizing, and environmental justice efforts. Students will also learn about opportunities to engage through Surfrider's student club networks and advocacy programs.

Founded in 2024 by Leo Martinez-Diaz, Crow's Nest is an art incubator in Baltimore that provides studio, social, and exhibition space for artists addressing climate change and environmental justice through artistic expression.

In summer 2025, the Crow's Nest launched the Extreme Heat Fellowship to support the work of three Baltimore-based artists Rowan Bathurst, Kei Ito, and Rachel Stein in exploring the growing public health threat of extreme heat in Baltimore and urban areas around the world.

The fellowship artists worked in collaboration with researchers in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and will present their resulting works in artist talks and an exhibition at Crow's Nest.

Transportation: Van transportation will be available from UMBC. RSVP required to secure a seat.

This event is co-sponsored by CIRCA and the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems (GES) at UMBC.

How have histories of colonialism and their foundational language of gender, race, sexuality, and nation shaped the language, terminology, and theories of the modern plant sciences? How and why do botanical theories remain grounded in the violence of their colonial pasts? Join feminist botanist, Dr. Banu Subramaniam, who develops the concept of migrant ecologies to retheorize plant migration and reproductive biology. This lecture explores new biological frameworks that harness the power of feminist thought to reimagine and reinvigorate our love of plants.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Banu Subramaniam is the Luella LaMer Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College. Trained as a plant evolutionary biologist, Dr. Banu engages the feminist studies of science in the practices of experimental biology and is author of Botany of Empire (2024), Holy Science (2019) and Ghost Stories for Darwin (2016).

Co-sponsors and Partners: Social Science Forum, The Center for the Social Sciences Scholarship, and the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems

This event is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Join us for a presentation exploring how strategic international partnerships are transforming pollution challenges into scalable environmental solutions.

Speaker: Ngozi Oguquah

Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos, Nigeria

Pollution to Solution: The Power of Collaborative Environmental Research in Nigeria

Abstract: Nigeria faces severe environmental challenges, with 94% of its population exposed to air pollution exceeding WHO guidelines and ranking 9th globally in ocean plastic emissions. This presentation demonstrates how strategic international partnerships are transforming these challenges into innovative solutions with global scaling potential.

The collaborative framework involves the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK universities, the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), and Nigerian policy institutions addressing pollution in Lagos State. Through integrated field investigations, laboratory analysis, and stakeholder engagement, the partnership achieved breakthrough discoveries, including the identification of contamination hotspots, comprehensive baseline data collection, and advanced chemical analysis that revealed concerning heavy metal levels in waterways.

Key innovations include machine learning for plastic identification in drone imagery, documentary creation for evidence-based advocacy, and capacity-building programs enhancing Nigerian scientists' capabilities through hands-on training and co-creation research methodologies. The research directly informed policy reforms on industrial waste disposal, reached over 50,000 residents through education campaigns, and established community-based plastic collection points.

The presentation concludes with replication pathways demonstrating that 85% of sub-Saharan African environmental challenges are addressable with Nigerian-developed solutions, offering 62% cost reductions compared to imported technologies across a potential 3.2 billion-person market. This represents a transformative model for global environmental collaboration.