The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), was established as a part of the University System of Maryland in 1966. UMBC offers 42 majors and 41 minors, as well as 17 certificate programs, spanning the arts, engineering and information technology, humanities, sciences, pre-professional studies and social sciences.UMBC’s Graduate School offers 37 master’s degree programs, 24 doctoral degree programs and 21 graduate certificate programs. Programs are offered in education, engineering, emergency health services, imaging and digital arts, information technology, aging services, life sciences, psychology, public policy and a host of other fields.
Since 2001, has been part of NOAA-CREST with a total of 16 students (4 Doctoral, 6 Masters and 6 Bachelor students) conducting research in NOAA-sciences and supported by funding of NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program. Remote sensing activities at UMBC have aided local, state and federal agencies efforts to understand the transport of particulates and air pollutants (from both natural and anthropogenic sources), and their impact on the regional variability of ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Upon identification of meteorological conditions that favor ozone and PM2.5 concentrations that may reach Moderate to Unhealthy Air Quality Index levels, lidar measurements generate vertical and volumetric profiles of aerosols with the UMBC Lidars. This data provides real-time information about particulates in the planetary boundary layer (where the air we breathe is confined in the Earth’s atmosphere), as well as information its dynamics, and evolution needed to support weather, air-quality prediction and pollution transport into the Mid-Atlantic United States. Research activities are discussed and highlighted in UMBC’s daily diary of US Air Quality, the UMBC Smog Blog.