Brazilian Delegation Visits Maryland after 10 years
From March 20-21 2023, a delegation from the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil visited Maryland to begin the process of renewing the Memorandum of Understanding between the two states. The last visit was in 2013. Key participants from Rio were Thiago Pampolha Gonçalves, the Vice-Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the Secretary of Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability; José Ricardo Ferreira de Brito, the Executive Undersecretary; Ana Larronda Asti, the Undersecretary of Water Resources, Sustainability and Waste; Bruno de Queiroz Costa, the Head of International Relations, and Márcio Barroso Santa Rosa, the Blue Economy and Bay Coordinator. Alexandra Fries, Katie May Laumann, and Bill Dennison assisted Dave Nemazie in organizing the visit and preparing presentations. The full day of presentations was March 21st, hosted at Maryland Environmental Service. We hope this visit will lead to more collaboration between the State of Rio and the State of Maryland and the continuation of the Guanabara Bay Report Card.
Admin Council DEI Retreat
The UMCES-wide Administrative Council had a retreat to discuss Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) at UMCES. Annie Carew and Nathan Miller attended and participated. Last year, a survey was conducted to assess the cultural climate at UMCES, and most of the retreat was dedicated to discussing the results of that survey. UMCES as a whole is striving to improve its culture of collegiality and mutual respect across all campuses. A lot of progress has been made in the last several years, but there is still more work to be done. At IAN, we are furthering DEIJ in our work by incorporating environmental justice indicators into our report card projects and including diverse stakeholders in our projects.
Healthy Rivers for All Partnership Retreat
The Healthy Rivers for All partnership retreat—attended by WWF and IAN staff—convened this month in Annapolis. This partnership seeks to assess and address water issues worldwide, and has developed many basin health report cards, most recently in the Upper Rio Grande. The most water-stressed regions of the world were identified and prioritized for future report card and other partnership efforts. Stakeholder engagement strategies were reviewed and plans to enhance and build on past successes were made. The utility of future scenario modeling—which was part of the Upper Rio Grande Report Card—in understanding resource management options was discussed. Ultimately, the team planned and prepared for the partnership’s work in the next few years, laying the groundwork to continue work in water-stressed basins across the globe.
IAN Team Wins Green Space Data Challenge
Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute held a Green Space Data Challenge for the month of February. Veronica Malabanan Lucchese, Joe Edgerton, and Lili Badri entered into the Physical Environment category of the challenge and worked to develop a green space indicator for Baltimore, MD. Their submission won first place in the category, and they will be presenting their work at a webinar by the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) on Monday, April 17th in addition to being highlighted on Georgetown’s blog.
Welcome, Lili!
Lili Badri has recently transitioned into her new position as science communicator from her previous role as a science communication intern with IAN since May 2022. In her time with IAN, she has assisted with projects such as COAST Card, Translating USGS Science into Management Products, edX, and STAC Rising Water Temperatures. We are excited to have her on the team and look forward to her continued achievements at IAN!
New edX Course Released
A new Professional Certificate in Environmental Project Management is being developed by IAN and partners from the Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland. The first of three courses is now available on the edX platform. This course is entitled "Stakeholder Outreach: Effectively communicating complex environmental and societal threats".