African Interests Draw NASA Fellowships

Student researchers from the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center are addressing ecological issues in southern Africa, a region known for its great biodiversity.

The vast size and ecological complexity of southern Africa has become a common denominator for three University of Maryland graduate students whose use of remote sensing and satellite imagery may significantly improve the base of knowledge about the African environment.

Photo by Corbris.

The Department of Geography grad students--Jan Dempewolf, Stefania Korontzi and Konrad Wessels--each received a NASA Earth System Science Graduate Student fellowship to help support their work on southern Africa, known as one of the world's biodiversity "hot spots" for its richness of species. Two students from the Department of Meteorology also received funding from NASA, earning Maryland five of 52 grants given nationwide.

"We're blurring the boundary between the studies of human systems and the biological and physical systems," says Ruth DeFries, a professor of geography and advisor to Dempewolf.

Dempewolf's work involves using remote-sensing technology to monitor land-use change and the effects of such change on wildebeest migration. The wildebeest is one of Africa's prized mammals, and its spring migrations across the African plains are an important part of the region's ecological cycle.

Korontzi, meanwhile, is examining the spatial and temporal distribution of biomass burning in the region, while Wessels will model the impacts of land degredation on the health of native plants and animals.

All of the students who received grants are affiliated with the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, or ESSIC, whose goal is to enhance human understanding of relationships between the planet's atmosphere, oceans, land and biosphere.
--Daniel Cusick

If Disaster Strikes, How Will You Know?

Photo by Digital Vision.

Despite major strides toward improved safety and security since Sept. 11, 2001, many local governments remain unprepared to alert citizens of a major disaster. But a University of Maryland senior aims to solve that problem. His university-based company is creating a secure, robust emergency alert system that could deliver essential information to targeted populations within seconds.

Jason Volk, founder and CEO of Alertus Technologies and participant in the university's Hinman CEOs program, decided to launch his company after a devastating tornado hit the university campus only days after the September 11th attacks. Drawing from personal experience, he realized that people had no reliable way to find out when disaster was striking and how to respond.

So Volk pioneered Alertus, a localized warning system that sends secure messages wirelessly to display screens that can be located virtually anywhere. The screens scroll text messages that inform people of danger and advise them how to respond. The displays are battery-powered and can be equipped with sirens and lights to draw people's attention. Messages are controlled by a central software system, while data is encrypted to ensure secure transmission.

The company is developing its prototype system in conjunction with Steven Tretter, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The research, supported in part by a Maryland Industrial Partnerships project award, includes a scheduled prototype release for late 2003.

The Alertus system stands in stark contrast to the national Emergency Alert System, or EAS, which uses radio and television to disseminate information during emergencies. Volk says EAS, formerly the Emergency Broadcast System, has several limitations and is primarily used as a weather-emergency system. Outdoor siren systems, like the one in use at the University of Maryland, are effective at getting people's attention, but they provide little information about the specific nature of an emergency.

"An effective warning system must communicate the nature of the emergency and empower people to immediately understand whether to seek shelter, evacuate an area or take other precautions," Volk says. With Alertus, "authorities can let people know if there's an emergency within 15 seconds."

Volk expects the Alertus system to be offered initially to "closed communities" like large office buildings, college campuses and government complexes. In non-emergency situations, the system could also be used to communicate lower-priority messages.
--Eric Schurr

Senior Finds Bright Future in Microflames

Scott Heatwole (above) came to the University of Maryland four years ago fascinated by the big power provided by jet engines and gas turbines. The 22-year-old mechanical engineering senior has since found his niche on the opposite end of the combustion spectrum, in the scientific field of microflames, and graduates this May having helped advance the state of knowledge about this important engineering concept.

Since joining the laboratory staff of assistant professor of mechanical engineering Steve Buckley as a freshman work-study student, Heatwole has amassed extensive knowledge about the behavior of fire in very small enclosures, work that could have important implications for micro-power generation and storage. "He essentially works as a graduate student for me," says Buckley. "He grasps things very quickly and doesn't require much in the way of instruction. He figures a lot of things out on his own."

Among the things Heatwole has figured out is how flame dynamics change at the microscale when a foreign structure is brought close to a flame source. If successful, this research can help create small, lightweight and efficient power sources for use by the military or others far removed from other gas or electricity supplies. For his part, Heatwole says his lab experience has helped him learn key engineering concepts and put his classroom lessons to work on real-world applications. "It has given me insight into a lot of what's involved in research, and given me a taste of what graduate school will be like," he says.

Once his B.A. is finished, Heatwole will begin work on his master's degree in mechanical engineering. After that, he plans to look for a job with a government agency or in the private sector.
--Daniel Cusick