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Southern Cone

The Southern Cone (Cono Sur, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. In terms of social, economic and political geography, the Southern Cone comprises Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, and sometimes includes Brazil's four southernmost states (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo). In its broadest definition, taking into account common history and geography, it also includes Paraguay, another Spanish-speaking country.

The Southern Cone is the subregion in Latin America with the highest Human Development Index, and it has historically had a high standard of living; it's located at latitudes in the southern hemisphere that would correspond in the northern hemisphere to the United States, Canadian provinces, European countries (except the Nordic countries), northern China, the Korean peninsula and Japan.

Geography and extent

The climates are mostly temperate, but include humid subtropical, Mediterranean, highland tropical, maritime temperate, sub-Antarctic temperate, highland cold, desert and semi-arid temperate regions. Except for the northern regions of Argentina (thermal equator in January), the whole country of Paraguay, the Argentina-Brazil border and the interior of the Atacama Desert, the region rarely suffers from heat. In addition to that, the winter presents mostly cool temperatures. Strong and constant wind and high humidity are what brings low temperatures in the winter. The Atacama is the driest place on Earth.

One of the most peculiar plants of the region is the Araucaria tree, which can be found in Brazil, Chile and Argentina. The only native group of conifers found in the southern hemisphere had its origin in the Southern Cone. Araucaria angustifolia, once widespread in Southern Brazil, is now a critically endangered species, protected by law. The prairies region of central Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil is known as the Pampas.

Central Chile has Mediterranean vegetation and a Mediterranean climate, grading southward into an oceanic climate. The Atacama, Patagonian and Monte deserts form a diagonal of arid lands separating the woodlands, croplands and pastures of La Plata basin from Central and Southern Chile. Apart from the desert diagonal, the north–south running Andes form a major divide in the Southern Cone and constitute, for most of its part in the southern cone, the Argentina–Chile border. In the east the river systems of the La Plata basin form natural barriers and sea lanes between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Brazil

Southern Brazil has a temperate climate with annual average temperatures varying between 12 °C (53.6 °F) and 22 °C (71.6 °F). During the months of June, July and August, high-altitude areas in the South Region can receive snowfall. The state of São Paulo has seven distinct climatic types. The mountainous areas of the state have a subtropical climate (Cfa). In areas of high altitude, the average temperature is below 18 °C (64 °F). Oceanic (Cfb and Cwb) on the coast, the climate is of a super-humid tropical type (Af), without a dry season. The tropical climate of altitude (Cwa), predominant in the state territory, specifically in the center, is characterized by a temperature above 22 °C (72 °F) in the hottest month of the year. The occurrence of snow is rare, but has been recorded in Campos do Jordão and there are also reports that the phenomenon has occurred in several parts of the south.

Culture

Besides sharing languages and colonial heritage, the residents of the states of the Southern Cone are avid players and fans of football, with top-notch teams competing in the sport. Argentina has won the FIFA World Cup three times, while Uruguay has won the cup twice; they are the only national teams along with Brazil outside Europe to have won the cup. Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil have all hosted the World Cup. Additionally, national teams from the region have won several Olympic medals in football. Also, football clubs from the Southern Cone countries have won large numbers of club competitions in South-American competitions, Pan-American competitions, and world-FIFA Club World Cup-level competitions.

The asado barbecue is a culinary tradition typical of the Southern Cone. The asado developed from the horsemen and cattle culture of the region, more specifically from the gauchos of Argentina, Uruguay and Southern Brazil (and Southern Chile) and the huasos of Central Chile. In the Southern Cone, horsemen are considered icons of national identity; they are featured in the epic poem Martín Fierro. Mate is popular throughout the Southern Cone.

In this area, there was extensive European immigration during the 19th- and 20th-centuries, who, with their descendants, have strongly influenced the culture, social life and politics of these countries. Immigration reshaped the modern-day societies of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, countries where the influx of newcomers was massive.

In a social survey, residents rated their countries as 'good places for gay or lesbian people to live;' the following percentages said 'yes' in Uruguay (71%), Argentina (68%), Brazil (68%), and Chile (52%). By contrast, fewer people in the following countries agreed: Bolivia (31%) and Peru (35%).

Language
The overwhelming majority, including those of recent immigrant background, speak Spanish (in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) or Portuguese in the case of Southern Brazil. The Spanish-speaking countries of the Southern Cone are divided into two main dialects:

 * Castellano Rioplatense (River Plate Spanish), spoken in Argentina and Uruguay, where the accent and daily language is heavily influenced by 19th-20th century Italian immigrants, has a particular intonation famously recognized by Spanish speakers from around the world. It is sometimes unofficially referred to as "Castellano Argentino/Argentine Spanish" due to the majority of the speakers (by population) being Argentines. Preliminary research has shown that Rioplatense Spanish has intonation patterns that resemble those of Italian dialects in the Naples region, differing markedly from those of other forms of Spanish. Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Montevideo had a massive influx of Italian immigrant settlers from the mid-19th until mid-20th centuries. Researchers note that the development of this dialect is a relatively recent phenomenon, developing at the beginning of the 20th century with the main wave of Italian immigration.
 * Castellano Chileno (Chilean Spanish)

These dialects share common traits, such as a number of Lunfardo and Quechua words.

Minor languages and dialects include Cordobés, Cuyo, and Portuñol, a hybrid between Rioplatense and Brazilian Portuguese that is spoken in Uruguay on the border with Brazil.

Native American languages
Some Native American groups, especially in rural areas, continue to speak autochthonous languages, including Mapudungun (also known as Mapuche), Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani. The first is primarily spoken in Araucanía and adjacent areas of Patagonia, in southern Argentina and Chile. Guarani is the official language of Paraguay, the most widely spoken language in that country, and in 2010, the city of Tacuru, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, adopted Guarani as the official language, besides Portuguese. It is also a co-official language in the northeastern Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones.

Non-Iberian immigrant languages
English is spoken in the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory (disputed by Argentina), and by descendants of British settlers in Argentina and Chile. Welsh is spoken by descendants of immigrants in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

Italian (mostly its Northern dialects, such as Venetian), is spoken in rural communities across Argentina, Southern Brazil, and São Paulo where immigrants had settled. German, in various dialects, is mostly spoken in Southern Chile and Southern Brazil. As well as in the Chaco (Paraguay) by Mennonites. It is the second most spoken mother tongue in Brazil. Polish, Dutch and Ukrainian are also spoken in Southern Brazil. Dutch is spoken in Chile as well, and Ukrainian is used in Argentina as well. Croatian and other Slavic languages are also spoken in the southernmost areas of Chilean Patagonia, reflecting patterns of immigration and settlement.

Yiddish can be heard mainly in Buenos Aires, Argentina and São Paulo, Brazil.

In Brazil, Japanese is spoken by immigrant communities in the states of São Paulo and Paraná.

Selected words in the dialects of Southern Cone countries
Below there are selected words to show the similarities in vocabulary in the dialects of the countries of the Southern Cone.

Below there are selected words to show vocabulary in the dialects of the countries of the Southern Cone and other Spanish-speaking countries in South America and the dialect of Portuguese spoken in Brazil.

Religion
Like the rest of Latin America, most residents of the Southern Cone are members of the Catholic Church, with a minority of Protestants, including a significant Lutheran population in South Brazil. Other religions also present in the southern cone include Islam, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Daoism. Jewish communities have thrived in cities of Argentina and Uruguay.

While the Southern Cone has been conservative in some aspects of religion, it has had a tradition of social reform and liberation theology has been followed by many in the Catholic Church. Uruguay, where agnosticism and atheism is common, has a policy of strong separation of church and state; it is one of the most secular countries in the Americas. Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, in that order, have the least religious residents in South America, according to their responses about the significance of religion in their lives. According to the Pew Research Center, 28% of Uruguayans, 43% of Argentines, and 41% of Chileans think of religion 'very important in their lives,' contrasting with the higher values given by the residents of countries such as Peru (72%), Colombia (77%) and Ecuador (76%).

The Southern Cone produced the first pope from the Western Hemisphere, Pope Francis, elected in 2013, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Brazil
Brazil, being a country of continental dimensions, presents great internal regional differences. While its 4 southernmost states (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo) share characteristics with Argentina, and Uruguay (high standard of living, subtropical and temperate climate, high levels of industrialization and strong European ethnic component due to immigration), the other states are more similar to the other South American countries in these issues.

In relation to latitudes the 4 southernmost Brazilian states are located in latitudes in the southern hemisphere that would correspond in the northern hemisphere to northern Mexico, the American state of Florida and the coastal regions of the other southern states of the United States, North Africa, the Arabian peninsula, southern Iran, northern India and the southern China.

For these reasons, Brazil is included in some meanings when speaking in Southern Cone, but excluded in others.

When the definition is not limited to entire countries, the states of the South Region and the state of São Paulo are generally included.

Paraguay
Due to the geographical proximity, common history, geography and political cycles, Paraguay is usually included in what is meant by Southern Cone. However, it contrasts strongly with other countries by being a landlocked country.

Paraguay was defeated in the bloody Paraguayan war, which Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay participated, which in a way produced an important decline in its economy and its quality of life for a long time, though in the last few years this has been changing partly due to the political and macro-economical stability the country has experienced since the early 2000s.

Demography
The population of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay is 40, 16.8 and 3.6 million respectively. Buenos Aires is the largest metropolitan area at 13.1 million and Santiago, Chile has 6.4 million. Uruguay's capital and largest city, Montevideo, has 1.8 million, and it receives many visitors on ferry boats across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires, 50 km away.

By contrast, the Patagonia region of southern Chile and Argentina is very sparsely populated, with a population density of less than two people per square kilometer.

Ethnicity
The population of the Southern Cone has been strongly influenced by waves of immigration from Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People of European descent, make up 88% of total population of Uruguay, 85% of the total population of Argentina and 65% of the total population of Chile. In São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina self-identified white people are 61.3%; 70.0%; 82.3%; and 86.8% of the population respectively, with people of Italian,Polish and German ancestry predominating.

Italians started to emigrate to the Southern Cone as early as the second half of the 17th century, and it became a mass phenomenon between 1880 and 1920 when Italy was facing social and economic disturbances. As a consequence of mass Italian immigration, the Southern Cone has the largest Italian diaspora in the world, with people of Italian descent being the majority in many places, with the highest percentage being in Argentina (62.5% Italian), and in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (60% Italian). Among all Italians who immigrated to Brazil, 70% went to the State of São Paulo. In consequence, the State of São Paulo has more people with Italian ancestry than any region of Italy itself, with São Paulo city being the most populous city with Italian ancestry in the world, of the 10 million inhabitants of São Paulo city, 60% (6 million people) have full or partial Italian ancestry (the largest city of Italy is Rome, with 2.5 million inhabitants). Small towns, such as Nova Veneza, have as much as 95% of their population of Italian descent.

The region also has a large German diaspora (second largest after the United States), with People of German descent being 25% of the population of Rio Grande do Sul and 35% of the population of Santa Catarina.

Mestizos make up 15.8% of the population and are a majority in Paraguay. Native Americans make up 3% of the population, most live in Chile. Mulattoes (people of European and African ancestry) mostly in Uruguay (0.2%), and Asians (1.0%), mostly in Argentina, the remaining 1.2%.

There is also a strong Arab presence in the Southern Cone, with people of full or at least partial Arab ancestry being 5% of the population of Uruguay and Chile, 9.8% of the population of Brazil, and 11% of the population of Argentina. Brazil has the largest number of Arabs outside the Middle East, with 20 million Brazilians being descendants of Arabs, while the Palestinian community in Chile is considered the largest outside the Arab world.

Genetic and historical roots
Since interethnic marriages are widespread in Latin America, complex ethnic classifications emerged, including more than a dozen of "racial" categories created in 18th century Hispanic America, with notorious examples being castizo, morisco and cambujo. In Brazil, about 190 "racial" categories were detected by the Census of 1976.

Blacks made up 25% of the population of Buenos Aires in 1810, 1822 and 1838. In 1887, the government decided to cease asking Argentine citizens about their race. According to Laura López, it was a way to "hide" the Black population, not only from the Census, but also from public opinion. Chile does not ask its citizens about race, but a study from the University of Chile concluded that Whites make 60% of the Chilean population, while the CIA World Factbook described 88.4% of the population as white and mestizo.

A study conducted on 218 individuals in 2010 by the Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach, has established that the genetic map of Argentina is composed of 79% different European ethnicities (mainly Spanish and Italian ethnicities), 18% of different indigenous ethnicities, and 4.3% of African ethnic groups, in which 63.6% of the tested group had at least one ancestor who was Indigenous. An autosomal DNA study from 2009 found the composition of the Argentine population to be 78.5% European, 17.3% Amerindian, and 4.2% Sub-Saharan African (SSA).

A DNA study from 2009, published in the American Journal of Human Biology, showed the genetical composition of Uruguay to be mainly European, but with Native American (which varies from 1% to 20% in different parts of the country) and also SSA (7% to 15% in different parts of the country).

An autosomal DNA study from 2014 found the Chilean population to be 44.34% (± 3.9%) Native American, 51.85% (± 5.44%) European and 3.81% (± 0.45%) African.

In the case of Chile,"The use of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome" test results show the following: The European component is predominant (91.0%, versus 9.0% of the aboriginal one) in the Chilean upper class, the middle classes, 66.8%-62.3% European component and 37.7%-33.2 of mixed aboriginal and lower classes at 55–52.9% European component and 47.1%-45% mix of Aboriginal.

Similar to the rest of Latin America, the genetic ancestry of the population of the Southern Cone reflects the history of the continent: the Iberian colonizers were mostly men who arrived without women. In consequence, they had children with the local Indigenous or enslaved African women. European immigration to this part of the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (massive in Argentina, Uruguay, and south and southeastern Brazil, modest in the rest of Brazil, Chile and Paraguay) brought more European and Middle Eastern components to the local population – mainly Spaniards in Chile, Italians and Spaniards in Argentina and Uruguay, Italians in São Paulo, and Italians, Germans and Poles in southern Brazil.

Education and standards of living
The other conspicuous characteristic of the Southern Cone is its relatively high standard of living and quality of life. Chile's, Argentina's, and Uruguay's HDIs — (0.860), (0.849) and (0.830) — are the highest in Latin America, similar to countries in Eastern Europe, such as Slovakia, Hungary or Romania. Uruguay, where illiteracy technically does not exist, reaches the same level in this area, even considering that it faces restrictions to its industrial and economic growth. The Southern Cone is the most prosperous macro-region in Latin America. It has a high life expectancy, and access to health care and education. From an economic and liberal point of view the region has been praised for its significant participation in the global markets, and its "emerging economy" profile. More troubling are high levels of income inequality.

 * Central America
 * South America
 * Southern Cone
 * South America
 * Southern Cone
 * South America
 * Southern Cone
 * South America
 * Southern Cone
 * South America
 * Southern Cone
 * Southern Cone
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 * Southern Cone

Politics
During the second half of 20th century, these countries were in some periods ruled by right-wing juntas, military nationalistic dictatorships. Around the 1970s, these regimes collaborated in Plan Cóndor against leftist opposition, including urban guerrillas. However, by the early 1980s Argentina and Uruguay restored their democracies; Chile followed suit in 1990.

Governments
Timeline of presidents

title: Southern Cone


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Puuc

Puuc is the name of either a region in the Mexican state of Yucatán or a Maya architectural style prevalent in that region. The word puuc is derived from the Maya term for "hill". Since the Yucatán is relatively flat, this term was extended to encompass the large karstic range of hills in the southern portion of the state, hence, the terms Puuc region or Puuc hills. The Puuc hills extend into northern Campeche and western Quintana Roo.

The term Puuc is also used to designate the architectural style of ancient Maya sites located within the Puuc hills, hence, the term Puuc architecture. This architectural style began at the end of the Late Classic period but experienced its greatest extent during the Terminal Classic period.

Puuc architecture
In the florescence of Puuc architecture (such as at the ancient Maya site of Uxmal) buildings were decorated with carefully cut veneer stones set into a concrete core. The lower portion of the façades are blank with a flat surface of rectangular blocks punctuated by doorways, while the upper façade is richly decorated with intricate stone mosaics, often alternating repeated geometric elements with more elaborate figurative sculpture. Long-nosed masks (commonly believed to be of the Maya rain god Chaac) are found on many Puuc buildings.

Beyond the impressive decorative elements of Puuc architecture, the use of a concrete core is also considered an architectural advance beyond the earlier Maya technique of using larger stones (set on top of one another in lime and mud mortar) for structural support. The concrete core-veneer masonry allowed for slightly larger and more stable interior rooms. Many corbelled vaults in the Puuc style remain standing, even when most of the veneer stones have fallen away.

The most famous of the Maya sites exhibiting the Puuc architectural style is Uxmal; other major Puuc-style sites in the region include Labna, Kabah, Sayil and Xlapak. The architectural style is also seen at Kiuic, Bolonchen, Chunhuhub, Xculoc, and many smaller ruins. The transition from earlier Classic Period architecture to Puuc style core-veneer masonry is well documented at the site of Oxkintok. To the south, the style can be found in Edzná; and to the east at Chichen Itza (outside of the Puuc Hills region).

As stated by the Maya explorer Teobert Maler, who explored this zone intensively, the area around the site of Dolores is full of ruins. The recently completed Chunhuaymil project compiled data of the remaining Puuc architecture of 19 archaeological sites located in a 100 square kilometers area.

Puuc Biocultural State Reserve
Puuc Biocultural State Reserve, also known as Kaxil Kiuic reserve (Spanish Reserva Estatal Biocultural del Puuc) was designated in 2011. It covers an area of 1358.93 km2. The reserve was created to protect the region's archeological sites as well as its biodiverse flora and fauna. The reserve is home to 247 bird, 63 mammal, 52 reptile, and 14 amphibian species. Five species of large felines, including jaguars, live in the reserve.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Puuc


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Zhang Ailing

Zhang Ailing (張愛玲, 张爱玲) may refer to:

 * Eileen Chang (1920–1995), Chinese-born American essayist, novelist, and screenwriter
 * Zhang Ailing (badminton) (born 1957), Chinese badminton player

title: Zhang Ailing


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Serpentine subgroup

Serpentine subgroup (part of the kaolinite-serpentine group in the category of phyllosilicates) are greenish, brownish, or spotted minerals commonly found in serpentinite. They are used as a source of magnesium and asbestos, and as decorative stone. The name comes from the greenish color and smooth or scaly appearance from the Latin serpentinus, meaning "snake-like".

Serpentine subgroup is a set of common rock-forming hydrous magnesium iron phyllosilicate minerals, resulting from the metamorphism of the minerals that are contained in mafic to ultramafic rocks. They may contain minor amounts of other elements including chromium, manganese, cobalt or nickel. In mineralogy and gemology, serpentine may refer to any of the 20 varieties belonging to the serpentine subgroup. Owing to admixture, these varieties are not always easy to individualize, and distinctions are not usually made. There are three important mineral polymorphs of serpentine: antigorite, lizardite and chrysotile.

Serpentine minerals are polymorphous, meaning that they have the same chemical formulae, but the atoms are arranged into different structures, or crystal lattices. Chrysotile, which has a fibrous habit, is one polymorph of serpentine and is one of the more important asbestos minerals. Other polymorphs in the serpentine subgroup may have a platy habit. Antigorite and lizardite are the polymorphs with platy habit.

Many types of serpentine have been used for jewelry and hardstone carving, sometimes under the name "false jade" or "Teton jade".

Properties and structure
Most serpentines are opaque to translucent, light (specific gravity between 2.2 and 2.9), soft (hardness 2.5–4), infusible and susceptible to acids. All are microcrystalline and massive in habit, never being found as single crystals. Lustre may be vitreous, silky or greasy. Colors range from white to grey, yellow to green, and brown to black, and are often splotchy or veined. Many are intergrown with other minerals, such as calcite and dolomite.

The basic structural unit of serpentine is a polar layer 0.72 nm thick. A Mg-rich trioctahedral sheet is tightly linked on one side to a single tetrahedral silicate sheet, regardless of the 3–5% larger lateral lattice dimensions of the octahedral sheet. The second level of the structure organized into different serpentine species originates partly to compensate the intra-layer stress due to this dimensional misfit. Good compensation results in a nearly constant layer curvature, with the larger octahedral sheet on the convex side. However, such curvature weakens the H-bonding between the layers. H-bonding tries to maintain flat layers, but this competes with the requirements of misfit compensation. As a result, the layers are locally either curved or flat. Antigorite, lizardite and chrysotile have the same chemical composition, but their different layer of curvatures result in lamellar agglomerated antigorite and lizardite and fibrous chrysotile elongated mineral particles.

Occurrence
Serpentine minerals are ubiquitous in many geological systems where hydrothermal alteration of ultramafic rocks is possible, in both terrestrial (oceanic hydrothermalism, subduction zones and transform faulting) and extraterrestrial environments. The process of alteration from mafic minerals to serpentine group minerals is called serpentinization. Serpentine minerals are often formed by the hydration of olivine-rich ultramafic rocks at relatively low temperatures (0 to ~600 °C). The chemical reaction turns olivine into serpentine minerals. They may also have their origins in metamorphic alterations of peridotite and pyroxene. Serpentines may also pseudomorphously replace other magnesium silicates. Incomplete alteration causes the physical properties of serpentines to vary widely.

Antigorite is the polymorph of serpentine that most commonly forms during metamorphism of wet ultramafic rocks and is stable at the highest temperatures—to over 600 C at depths of 60 km or so. In contrast, lizardite and chrysotile typically form near the Earth's surface and break down at relatively low temperatures, probably well below 400 C. It has been suggested that chrysotile is never stable relative to either of the other two serpentine polymorphs.

Samples of the oceanic crust and uppermost mantle from ocean basins document that ultramafic rocks there commonly contain abundant serpentine. Antigorite contains water in its structure, about 13 percent by weight. Hence, antigorite may play an important role in the transport of water into the earth in subduction zones and in the subsequent release of water to create magmas in island arcs, and some of the water may be carried to yet greater depths.

Occurrence is worldwide, notable localities include New Caledonia, Canada (Quebec), US (northern California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania), Afghanistan, Britain (the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall), Ireland, Greece (Thessaly), China, Russia (Ural Mountains), France, Korea, Austria (Styria and Carinthia), India (Assam, and Manipur), Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, Norway and Italy.

Uses
Serpentines find use in industry for several purposes, such as railway ballasts, building materials, and the asbestiform types find use as thermal and electrical insulation (chrysotile asbestos). The asbestos content can be released into the air when serpentine is excavated and if it is used as a road surface, forming a long-term health hazard by breathing. Asbestos from serpentine can also appear at low levels in water supplies through normal weathering processes, but there is as yet no fully proven health hazard associated with use or ingestion, although the EPA states an increased risk of developing benign intestinal polyps can occur. In its natural state, some forms of serpentine react with carbon dioxide and re-release oxygen into the atmosphere.

The more attractive and durable varieties (all of the antigorite) are termed "noble" or "precious" serpentine and are used extensively as gems and in ornamental carvings. The town of Bhera in the historic Punjab province of the Indian subcontinent was known for centuries for finishing a relatively pure form of green serpentine obtained from quarries in Afghanistan into lapidary work, cups, ornamental sword hilts, and dagger handles. This high-grade serpentine ore was known as in Persian, or 'false jade' in English, and was used for generations by Indian craftsmen for lapidary work. It is easily carved, taking a good polish, and is said to have a pleasingly greasy feel. Less valuable serpentine ores of varying hardness and clarity are also sometimes dyed to imitate jade. Misleading synonyms for this material include "Suzhou jade", "Styrian jade", and "New jade".

New Caledonian serpentine is particularly rich in nickel. The Māori of New Zealand once carved beautiful objects from local serpentine, which they called tangiwai, meaning "tears".

The lapis atracius of the Romans, now known as verde antique, or verde antic, is a serpentinite breccia popular as a decorative facing stone. In classical times it was mined at Casambala, Thessaly, Greece. Serpentinite marbles are also widely used: Green Connemara marble (or 'Irish green marble') from Connemara, Ireland (and many other sources), and red Rosso di Levanto marble from Italy. Use is limited to indoor settings as serpentinites do not weather well.

Potential harm
Soils derived from serpentine are toxic to many plants, because of high levels of nickel, chromium, and cobalt; growth of many plants is also inhibited by low levels of potassium and phosphorus and a low ratio of calcium/magnesium. The flora is generally very distinctive, with specialized, slow-growing species. Areas of serpentine-derived soil will show as strips of shrubland and open, scattered small trees (often conifers) within otherwise forested areas; these areas are called serpentine barrens.

Antigorite variety
Lamellated antigorite occurs in tough, pleated masses. It is usually dark green, but may also be yellowish, gray, brown or black. It has a hardness of 3.5–4 and its luster is greasy. The monoclinic crystals show micaceous cleavage and fuse with difficulty. Antigorite is named after its type locality, the Geisspfad serpentinite, Valle Antigorio in the border region of Italy/Switzerland.

Bowenite
Bowenite, a variety of antigorite, is an especially hard serpentine (5.5) of light to dark apple green color, often mottled with cloudy white patches and darker veining. It is the serpentine most frequently encountered in carving and jewelry. The name 'retinalite' is sometimes applied to yellow bowenite. The New Zealand material is called tangiwai.

Although not an official species, bowenite is the state mineral of Rhode Island, United States: this is also the variety's type locality. A bowenite cabochon featured as part of the "Our Mineral Heritage Brooch", was presented to U.S. First Lady Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson in 1967.

Williamsite is an American local varietal name for antigorite that is oil-green with black crystals of chromite or magnetite often included. Somewhat resembling fine jade, williamsite is cut into cabochons and beads. It is found mainly in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Gymnite
Gymnite is an amorphous form of antigorite. It was originally found in the Bare Hills of Maryland, and is named from the Greek,, meaning "bare" or "naked".

State emblem
In 1965, the California Legislature designated the mineral serpentine as "the official State Rock and lithologic emblem".

title: Serpentine subgroup


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User talk:RossA

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them:

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If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

Tip: you can sign your name with ~

Dori 05:14, Nov 22, 2003 (UTC)

Hi, I saw your ideas on bots. I think the Copyright bot would be problematic (since there might be any number of perfectly legitimate derivatives of Wikipedia on the Net), but the Disambiguation bot sounds like a good idea. How would it work though? I haven't done any bot programming myself, but I think a bot like that one might work best by taking a list of similarly named articles from an SQL dump, i.e. "article", "article (some topic)", "article (another topic)", etc. I will be interested to hear if you start work on it! --Ejrh 09:01, 2003 Dec 24 (UTC)

 * You're right about the copyright bot, although it might be possible to have a whitelist of known wikipedia mirrors, and/or compare creation dates of pages.

 * What I was intending with the "disambig bot" idea has already been done - see User:Robbot.

 * I think (in theory) the best way to fix ambiguous linking is at the time an article is created. This could be done as part of the preview process. The wiki software could check each link in the edit and if it is ambiguous (ie if its target article links to Disambiguation) then it could present a list of options with radiobuttons, and the user could select which one they meant.  The options would be parsed from the list in the linked disambiguation page.  For example, if I put the link Mercury in an edit, and then click "Show preview", I would see:
 * Your link to Mercury is ambiguous. Please select:
 * [*] keep ambiguous link to Mercury
 * [ ] change to Mercury (planet)
 * [ ] change to Mercury (element)
 * [ ] change to Mercury (god)
 * (etc)
 * There would be something in the options to enable this feature.
 * However, I don't know if something like this would ever be implemented. It would add significantly to the web server load and database load, and from a programming point of view it seems very dodgy because you have to parse lots of wikitext and make assumptions about what you find - bad assumptions which wouldn't apply to any other MediaWiki installations except en.wikipedia.org. RossA 11:14, 30 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Indeed, I was just thinking that a list of Wikipedia derivatives would be interesting... the Google API (such as it is) could facilitate searching for phrases, though you also need a mechanism to identify the right phrases to search for.

 * I also like the idea of checking links when editing articles. There are probably other helpful checks that could be done automatically (spelling?) but it's unlikely the Wikipedia code will be changed much soon.  One thing I've always wanted was a list of similarly named articles for when you go to an article that doesn't exist.  This could also appear when editing for links that go to non-existant articles.  It depends on how much work the server needs to do.

 * I have a slightly old Wikipedia dump (not likely to be updated soon, it's a bit absurd to try to keep it up-to-date over 56.6 kbps!) and running Wikipedia code so I'll have a play around with some of these ideas. --Ejrh 04:28, 2003 Dec 31 (UTC)

Hello, Ross. Thanks for disambig Canterbury in Robert Stout. I hadn't read the whole article, just fixing "OU" wherever I found it. Robert needs more attention. I had a look at your user page and your stubs. DoC is almost not a stub any more, so I look forward to seeing someone progress with it. What a lovely image of Banks Peninsula! There must be several articles it can go with (even in the Maori Wikipedia, which has no pictures yet).
 * Must do some work for the real boss. Catch you later. Robin Patterson 20:22, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hello again. As I've said to some other Kiwis, the reason I've been doing less for the English WP in the last 6 weeks is here: the fledgling Maori Wikipedia, briefly mentioned above, which is mostly my articles at present. I would be pleased if you had a look at its current state; it may inspire something! Kind regards - Robin Patterson 03:26, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

Category:Wikipedians in New Zealand
Hi, You might want to consider adding User NZ res to the top of your user page, which will add you to this category automatically and also add a nice graphic. Onco_p53 07:43, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:12, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:RossA


text:
Successor ordinal

In set theory, the successor of an ordinal number α is the smallest ordinal number greater than α. An ordinal number that is a successor is called a successor ordinal. The ordinals 1, 2, and 3 are the first three successor ordinals and the ordinals ω+1, ω+2 and ω+3 are the first three infinite successor ordinals.

Properties
Every ordinal other than 0 is either a successor ordinal or a limit ordinal.

In Von Neumann's model
Using von Neumann's ordinal numbers (the standard model of the ordinals used in set theory), the successor S(α) of an ordinal number α is given by the formula

 * $$S(\alpha) = \alpha \cup \{\alpha\}.$$

Since the ordering on the ordinal numbers is given by α < β if and only if α ∈ β, it is immediate that there is no ordinal number between α and S(α), and it is also clear that α < S(α).

Ordinal addition
The successor operation can be used to define ordinal addition rigorously via transfinite recursion as follows:

 * $$\alpha + 0 = \alpha\!$$
 * $$\alpha + S(\beta) = S(\alpha + \beta)$$

and for a limit ordinal λ

 * $$\alpha + \lambda = \bigcup_{\beta < \lambda} (\alpha + \beta)$$

In particular, S(α) = α + 1. Multiplication and exponentiation are defined similarly.

Topology
The successor points and zero are the isolated points of the class of ordinal numbers, with respect to the order topology.

title: Successor ordinal


text:
User talk:FrancisRogers

Hello "FrancisRogers" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages.
 * You can experiment in the Sandbox.
 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date.
 * Ask questions on Village pump.
 * Happy wiki'ing, -- Infrogmation 05:17, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:FrancisRogers


text:
Bob Packwood

Robert William "Bob" Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to 1995. He resigned from the U.S. Senate under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and assault of women emerged.

Early life and career
Packwood was born to Frederick William and Gladys Dorothy (Taft) Packwood in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Grant High School in 1950, and in 1954 graduated from Willamette University in Salem.

Packwood is the great-grandson of William Packwood, the youngest member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention of 1857. Packwood had his great-grandfather's political bent from his early years. During his undergraduate years, he participated in Young Republican activities and worked on political campaigns, including later Governor and U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield's first run for the Oregon House of Representatives. He received the Root-Tilden Scholarship to New York University's Law School, where he earned national awards in moot court competition and was elected student body president. After graduating from the NYU Law School in 1957, he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Portland.

State legislative career
In 1960, he was elected Chairman of the Multnomah County, Oregon Republican Central Committee, thus becoming the youngest party chairman of a major metropolitan area in the country. In 1962, he became the youngest member of the Oregon Legislature when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives after a campaign waged by what The Oregonian called "one of the most effective working organizations in many an election moon in Oregon". Hundreds of volunteers went door-to-door, distributing leaflets throughout the district, and put up lawn signs that became "literally a geographical feature" of the district. Because of the effectiveness of his own campaigns, Packwood was selected to organize a political action committee that recruited attractive Republican candidates for the Oregon House throughout the state, and trained them in "Packwood-style" campaigning methods. The success of his candidates was credited with the Republican takeover of the Oregon House, thus making Oregon the only state in the Union in which the Republicans were able to score a significant victory in 1964.

Packwood was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1963 to 1968. In 1965, he founded the Dorchester Conference, an annual political conclave on the Oregon coast that "pointedly ignored state leadership in the Grand Old Party" to bring Republican officeholders and citizens together, to discuss current issues and pass resolutions taking stands on those issues. Initially a forum for liberal politics, it has become an annual networking event for Oregon Republicans.

U.S. Senator
In 1968, Packwood was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon as the Republican candidate against Democratic incumbent Wayne Morse. Morse had been elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1944 and 1950, then switched parties due to his liberal views, and was easily re-elected as a Democrat in 1956 and 1962. The relatively unknown Packwood was given little chance, but after an 11th-hour debate with the incumbent before the City Club of Portland, which Packwood was generally considered to have won, and a statewide recount in which over 100,000 ballots were challenged by both parties, Packwood was declared the winner by 3,500 votes. Packwood replaced Senator Ted Kennedy as the youngest senator. Packwood was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992.

Packwood's voting record was moderate. He supported restrictions on gun owners and liberal civil rights legislation. Packwood voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a federal holiday, and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override Ronald Reagan's veto).

Packwood differed with President Richard Nixon on some significant issues. He voted against Nixon's Supreme Court nominees Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell, as well as Nixon's proposals for the Rockwell B-1 Lancer, submarines capable of carrying the Trident and the supersonic transport (SST). He became the first U.S. Senate Republican to support the Impeachment process against Richard Nixon, which was unsuccessful. In a White House meeting on November 15, 1973, he told Nixon that the public no longer believed him, and no longer trusted the integrity of the administration.

Two years before the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court, Packwood introduced the Senate's first abortion legalization bill, but he was unable to attract a co-sponsor for it. His pro-choice stance earned him the loyalty of many feminist groups, and numerous awards, including those from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (January 10, 1983) and the National Women's Political Caucus (October 23, 1985). In 1987, Packwood crossed party lines to vote against the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, and he was one of only two Republicans to vote against the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the court in 1991. Both votes were based on the nominee's opposition to abortion rights.

He played a major role in the enactment of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Act, sponsoring a bill which protected scenic Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America, by making it into a 652488 acre National Recreation Area on the borders of northeastern Oregon and western Idaho. Environmentalists also praised his advocacy of solar energy, returnable bottles, and bike paths.

Deregulation was another interest of Packwood's. In the late 1970s, he became a passionate supporter of trucking deregulation, and a "persuasive spokesman" for reform.

He has been described as an "ardent" pro-Israel supporter. He opposed a sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia under President Reagan.

He was most noted for his role in the 1986 tax reform, while he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. President Ronald Reagan had proposed the idea of tax reform in 1984, but Packwood's initial response was indifferent. However, he played a leading role in fashioning a tax code that would raise business taxes by some $120 billion over five years, and lower personal income taxes by roughly the same amount.

Packwood's debating skills were rated A+ by USA Today in the issue of July 18, 1986. But his debating and legislative skills could kill bills as well as pass them. His floor management has been credited with killing President Clinton's 1993 health care bill. And he could be stubborn; in 1988, he was carried feet-first into the Senate Chamber by Capitol Police for a quorum call on campaign finance reform legislation.

Sexual misconduct as a U.S. Senator
Packwood's political career began to unravel in November 1992, when a Washington Post story detailed claims of sexual abuse and assault from ten women, chiefly former staffers and lobbyists. Publication of the story was delayed until after the 1992 election, as Packwood had denied the allegations and the Post had not gathered enough information about the story at the time. Packwood defeated the Democratic nominee, Representative Les AuCoin, 52.1% to 46.5%–easily his closest race since his initial run for the seat a quarter-century earlier. Eventually, 19 women came forward.

As the situation developed, Packwood's diary became an issue. Wrangling over whether the diary could be subpoenaed and whether it was protected by the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination ensued. He did divulge 5,000 pages to the Senate Ethics Committee but balked when a further 3,200 pages were demanded by the committee. It was discovered that he had edited the diary, removing what were allegedly references to sexual encounters and the sexual abuse allegations made against him. Packwood then made what some of his colleagues interpreted as a threat to expose wrongdoing by other members of Congress. The diary allegedly detailed some of his abusive behavior toward women and, according to a press statement made by Richard Bryan, at that time serving as senator from Nevada, "raised questions about possible violations of one or more laws, including criminal laws".

Expulsion recommendation and resignation
Despite pressure for open hearings from the public and from female Senators, especially Barbara Boxer from California, the Senate ultimately decided against them. The Ethics Committee's indictment, running to ten volumes and 10,145 pages, much of it from Packwood's own writings, according to a report in The New York Times, detailed the sexual misconduct, obstruction of justice, and ethics charges being made against him. The chairman of the Ethics Committee, Republican senator Mitch McConnell, referred to Packwood's "habitual pattern of aggressive, blatantly sexual advances, mostly directed at members of his own staff or others whose livelihoods were connected in some way to his power and authority as a Senator" and said Packwood's behavior included "deliberately altering and destroying relevant portions of his diary" that Packwood himself had described in the diary as "very incriminating information". On September 7, the committee unanimously recommended that Packwood be expelled from the Senate.

The following morning, the committee released its findings. With bipartisan pressure mounting, Packwood announced his resignation from the Senate, saying that he was "aware of the dishonor that has befallen me in the last three years" and his "duty to resign." Democratic Representative Ron Wyden won the seat in a special election.

After the sexual harassment case came to light, Packwood entered the Hazelden Foundation clinic for alcoholism in Minnesota, blaming his drinking for the harassments.

Four years later, during debate on Impeachment of Bill Clinton, McConnell said that the Republicans knew that it was very likely Packwood's seat would fall to the Democrats if Packwood were forced out. However, McConnell said, he and his fellow Republicans felt that it came down to a choice of "retain the Senate seat or retain our honor."

After the U.S. Senate
Soon after leaving the Senate, Packwood founded the lobbying firm Sunrise Research Corporation. The former senator used his expertise in taxes and trade, and his status as a former Senate Finance Committee chairman, to land lucrative contracts with numerous clients, among them Northwest Airlines, Freightliner Trucks, and Marriott International. Among other projects, he played a key role in the 2001 fight to repeal the estate tax. In 2015, Packwood returned to the Senate as a witness for the Senate Finance Committee, which was again considering tax reform. He and Bill Bradley spoke on the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

title: Bob Packwood


text:
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, and 29 graduate certificate programs) and the first university research park in Maryland. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".

Established as a part of the University System of Maryland in 1966, the university became the first public college or university in Maryland to be inclusive of all races. UMBC has the fourth highest enrollment of the University System of Maryland, specializing in natural sciences and engineering, as well as programs in the liberal arts and social sciences. Athletically, the UMBC Retrievers have 17 NCAA Division I teams that participate in the America East Conference.

History
The planning of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was first discussed in the 1950s due to the post-World War II baby boom, the expansion of higher education under the GI Bill, and the large amount of growth both in population and industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. At this time, the University of Maryland, College Park was the main higher education source in the region, so talks began of adding a branch campus in the Baltimore area. In 1955, Governor Theodore McKeldin issued "The Needs of Higher Education in Maryland," which recommended the need for university expansion. Three years later, the "Advisory Committee on Higher Education in the State of Maryland" report proposed that the Baltimore branch of the University of Maryland be established as a two-year program, subordinate to the College Park campus. In 1960, the Warfield Commission, appointed by Governor Tawes, issued, "A Plan for Expanding the University of Maryland," which propelled the idea of creating three additional university centers throughout Maryland.

In 1963, the Maryland Legislature approved the development of several new universities throughout Maryland. By the end of that year, 435 acres were purchased from Spring Grove State Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Catonsville, Maryland. The new campus would be efficiently located in Southwestern Baltimore, and would be able to be accessed from Wilkens Avenue, the Baltimore Beltway and Interstate 95. Architectural design and planning of the new campus was completed at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1965, Albin Owings Kuhn, an accomplished administrator and professor at College Park was named Vice President of Baltimore Campuses, including both UMBC and the founding campus, University of Maryland, Baltimore. The new campus also included Dr. Homer Schamp of the College Park as the first dean of faculty, David Lewis as the first full-time faculty member and head of Social Sciences, and John Haskell Jr. as the first librarian.

The first classes began on September 19, 1966, with 750 students, 3 buildings, and the older wing of the Biological Sciences building, 45 faculty members, 35 support staff, and 500 parking spaces. As university enrollment increased drastically over the coming years, the university would also coincide with the turbulent changes in society in the 1960s. While undergoing the Civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, UMBC would prove to be a new and different atmosphere with open and peaceful minds during campus protests. In 1971, Albin Owings Kuhn resigned his position as UMBC's first chancellor, succeeded by Calvin B. T. Lee. Five years later in 1976, John Dorsey, administrative vice president at the University of Maryland, College Park was appointed as UMBC's third chancellor.

By 1980, undergraduate enrollment reached 5,800 students. Also in this year, Homecoming and Quadmania were established as cornerstone events that would become UMBC tradition for years to come. During this decade, the University Center and Sherman Hall were opened, as well as Hillside and Terrace Apartments. In addition, University of Maryland, College Park alum Jim Henson funded the establishment of the Imaging Research Center at UMBC. In 1986, Michael Hooker became chancellor, a post he held until 1992, when he was appointed president of the University of Massachusetts system. In 1988, a proposed merger of UMBC with the University of Baltimore was considered but was voted down by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

In 1990, undergraduate enrollment reached over 10,000 students. In 1991, a merger plan between UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore was approved in the Maryland House of Delegates, but was rejected by the Senate. Throughout the last decade of the 20th century, the university opened the Engineering and Computer Science Building and Potomac Hall. UMBC's longest-serving president, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, was appointed in 1992. He retired in 2022 and was succeeded by Valerie Sheares Ashby that summer.

The first decade of the 21st century featured many university developments as UMBC approached its 40th anniversary in 2006. Some of these developments included the establishment of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, a new partnership with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop the Goddard Earth Science and Technology (GEST) Center, as well as numerous expansions to the campus such as The Commons, the Physics Building, Information Technology & Engineering Building and the Public Policy Building. During this time, UMBC was recognized by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) for being the leading producers of chemistry and biochemistry degrees, and was classified by The Carnegie Foundation as being among the top tier research universities, Doctoral/Research Universities for achieving 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines.

Academics and research

UMBC offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a variety of areas of study. There are 61 majors in 55 distinct programs, 70 minors, and 36 certificate programs offered in its undergraduate program. UMBC's Graduate School offers 38 master's degree programs, 25 doctoral degree programs, and 29 graduate certificate programs. The university is divided into three colleges, three schools, as well as its graduate school.

Colleges

 * The UMBC College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences includes the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Marine Biotechnology, Mathematics and Statistics, Naval Science, and Physics.
 * The UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology offers different areas of study in four departments: the Departments of Chemical, Biochemical & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, and Mechanical Engineering.
 * The UMBC College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences houses the most departments in the university and awards more than half of all undergraduate and graduate degrees. Among many others, it includes the departments of Ancient Studies, History, Dance, Music, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Media and Communication studies, and Visual Arts. Many of the departments are now housed in the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building. The Media and Communications studies department is housed on the second floor of Sherman Hall, in the A-wing. Groundbreaking and a grand opening ceremony for the Performing Arts building was held on September 19, 2012. Another grand opening ceremony was held to officially open both phases of the building on October 17, 2014.

Schools

 * The UMBC Erickson School of Aging Studies offers undergraduate and graduate level programs that focuses on various aspects of aging studies, including policy and management issues.
 * The University of Maryland Graduate School, Baltimore (UMGSB) represents the combined graduate and research programs at UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).
 * The UMBC School of Public Policy includes the public policy programs for the masters and doctorate degrees.
 * The University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work links with UMBC in offering graduate and undergraduate level social work programs, respectively.

Extension

 * UMBC Training Centers provide technical and professional training programs remotely and directly at UMBC's South Campus in Arbutus, the Columbia Gateway Campus in nearby Columbia, Maryland, and cybersecurity education in Augusta, Georgia.

Research and creative achievements
UMBC is among the fastest-growing research universities in the country and is classified as a Doctoral University with Very High Research Activity by the Carnegie Foundation. The university consistently ranks among the top 100 public U.S. institutions in federal research and development expenditures. UMBC's research themes focus on environmental sciences, especially atmospheric physics and remote sensing, Earth and space sciences, and ecology and remediation; on health and life sciences, including marine biotechnology and bio sciences and engineering; on data sciences and national security, with special focus on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, cognitive computing, health IT, and big data analytics; on health equity and policy studies, and on public humanities and the arts.

The university is ranked among the top 15 U.S. universities in NASA funding. UMBC's NASA-funded centers at NASA Goddard include the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI), and the Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST). In April 2021, CSST received an additional $54 million in funding from NASA Goddard for astrophysics research.

Faculty at UMBC have been recognized with 40 National Science Foundation CAREER Awards since 1995, including nine since 2017. Two UMBC researchers have received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) — one from NSF in 2005 and one from NSA in 2014. UMBC also has one of only two Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at a public university in Maryland, a National Academy of Sciences member, as well as a DARPA Young Faculty Award winner, and NASA's 2012 Distinguished Public Service Medal recipient. UMBC faculty regularly receive Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships.

bwtech@UMBC, UMBC's incubator and research park, houses more than 130 companies and three incubators in cybersecurity, life sciences, and clean technology. UMBC has more than 20 campus-wide centers and institutes, including three Collaborative Centers with NASA Goddard (JCET, GPHI, and CSST), the Center for Accelerated Real-Time Analytics (CARTA), the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST), the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), the Earth and Space Institute (ESI), The Hilltop Institute, the Center for Social Science Scholarship (CS3), the Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture (CADVC), the Dresher Center, the Imaging Research Center (IRC), and the UMBC AI Center.

History
In 1840, the state of Maryland purchased the land where the university is located today. At that time, it was known as the Stabler Estate, owned by the prominent Stabler family of Baltimore County. James P. Stabler, the chief engineer and superintendent of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was connected to the estate. The Baltimore Trade School, an orphan's home located on present day Giffen Hill, was established in that same year. The school continued to operate and farm the surrounding acreage up until World War II. The state later added the property to Spring Grove State Hospital, which farmed the land until the university's establishment. A few of the original structures were still in use by UMBC for some time, including the Hillcrest Building and a farmhouse. Located off of Walker Avenue, the Hillcrest Building was originally built in 1921 to house patients of Spring Grove State Hospital. The building was historically significant for it was the "first building constructed specifically for the care and treatment of mentally ill prisoners to be built at a state psychiatric hospital anywhere in the United States". In 1965, the structure was used as UMBC's administration building, and later used as the office of residential life and a student union. A common campus urban legend claims that the man that Hannibal Lecter was based on lived in a basement cell of the building. Hillcrest was demolished in 2007 due to toxicity concerns, leaving the farm silo on UMBC Boulevard to be oldest surviving structure on the university's campus.

Opened for enrollment in 1966, UMBC was created to serve the overflow of students from the Baltimore area seeking admission to University of Maryland, College Park. From its beginning, the new commuter campus faced a surfeit of problems. Sited on free land taken from a state hospital, the campus was not sponsored or protected by any political constituency. There were already nine other campuses in the metropolitan area. Located a few miles from the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, there was no chance UMBC could develop the array of professional schools common to research universities. Its County name, an afterthought, was more consistent with two-year schools than a Ph.D. - granting institution. Yet as UMBC continues past its 50th anniversary, it has become a national role model for new American universities. The book Improbable Excellence: the Saga Of UMBC chronicles this development.

Landscape

UMBC's main entrance is approached from Metropolitan Boulevard where there is a UMBC Campus exit that leads to UMBC Boulevard. Soon after the campus exit, UMBC Boulevard intersects Research Park Drive which leads into UMBC's Research & Technology Park. UMBC's campus is also served by Wilkens Avenue, which provides access to the Baltimore Beltway and Rolling Road. Entrances off of Wilkens Avenue include Hilltop Road and Walker Avenue. Hilltop Road leads towards Catonsville's Business District on Frederick Road and Spring Grove Hospital Center. On the other side of the campus, Poplar Avenue gives direct access to Arbutus's Business District on East Drive. The campus core is served by Hilltop Circle, which creates a complete circle encompassing the campus.

Academic Row is known to be the central pedestrian concourse and maintenance vehicle highway in the campus that borders along a series of buildings. Beginning south at Administration Drive, the pathway is covered by mature trees on either side. Academic Row is bordered by the Administration Building, the Retriever Activities Center, Janet and Walter Sondheim Hall, Sherman Hall (Previously named Academic IV), University Center, Math and Psychology Building, Biological Sciences Building, and the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building. At the northern end, the walkway is intersected by Schwartz Breezeway leading to the Commons, the university's student union. Academic Row terminates at the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, where multiple paths radiate across Erickson Field towards the Commons, the Physics and Public Policy Buildings, West Hills, Hillside, and Terrace Apartments, as well as additional dormitories.

Taking any of the tree-lined staircases to the next level of campus leads to the ITE, Engineering, and Fine Arts buildings, all of which can also be accessed though shortcuts from any of the multitude of buildings on Academic Row. As of 2015, the new Performing Arts and Humanities building has also been servicing students, which is another short walk up from the Engineering building. New lots have also been constructed outside of the Performing Arts and Humanities building in order to accommodate more commuter students and faculty. Fall of 2015 brings with it two new roundabouts that have been made at the intersection of Administration Drive and Research Park Drive and between Research Park Drive and the entrance ramp on to I-95.

On the southern side of the Commons, a large grassy area known as the Quad is where many student events and activities take place throughout the school year. Another area of student congregation is at UC Plaza in front of the University Center. The University Center houses multiple dining options, the UC Ballroom, as well as additional university event and teaching space.

Location
UMBC's campus is located on 500 acres. It is approximately 15 minutes from Baltimore's Inner Harbor and 60 minutes from Washington, D.C. Baltimore-Washington International Airport is five minutes away, as well as Amtrak and Baltimore Light Rail stations (BWI Airport and BWI Business District). In addition, the MARC Penn Line serves the UMBC population at Halethorpe Station, which is located approximately two miles away on Southwestern Boulevard in Arbutus, Maryland. The Halethorpe/Satellite bus transit line transports students to and from the train station. UMBC, three miles outside Baltimore city limits, successfully lobbied the government to use 'Baltimore' as its address. While its suburban campus has minimal interaction with its surroundings, students variously consider it to be located in the towns of Catonsville (by CDP) or Arbutus (whose street grid it borders). The campus is undercut by a series of tunnels.

Originally UMBC was supposed to be located in Baltimore. However, due to many disputes the university is located in the neighborhood of Southern Catonsville, 1.5 miles south of Catonsville's Central Business District along Frederick Road. Catonsville provides a college town atmosphere for UMBC by having numerous restaurants, bars, and other conveniences. The town also provides festivals and farmers' markets every Sunday from May to November.

Research and Technology Park
UMBC Research and Technology Park is a 71-acre development on the campus hosting technology, bioscience and research organizations, many of which are engaged in partnership with the university. The research park, split into two campuses, is the oldest university research park in Maryland. The North Campus focuses primarily on cybersecurity, and includes the Cyber Incubator and a new addition of the CyberHive. The South Campus is a life-science and business incubator, and has graduated over 50 companies through its program. Research Park tenants include the US Geological Survey, US Forestry Service, CardioMed Device Consultants, Audacious Inquiry, Med-IQ, Physician Practice, Inc., Retirement Living TV, Ascentium Corporation, Solvern Innovations, RMF Engineering, Inc., Convergent Technology, Clear Resolution Consulting, Fearless Solutions, Potomac Photonics, and Next Breath.

Transportation
UMBC has several bus shuttle lines that are available to UMBC's students, faculty, and staff. All but the Wave 'n Ride are free by showing of one's campus identification card. The Wave ‘n Ride was historically available to anyone who needs intra-campus transport around Hilltop Circle and UMBC Boulevard, but the service is pending decommission.

In August 2014, service has expanded to two new lines connect the campus to downtown Baltimore. These two lines (Downtown A-B Lines) also connect the campus to the Baltimore Metro Subway by way of Lexington Market Station. The Downtown B Line connects to the Metro as well as MARC Train at Camden Station, and the Baltimore Light Rail by way of Convention Center Station.

The Maryland Transit Administration offers additional service to the UMBC community. Bus lines 35, 77, and 95 offer service to the campus. The MARC Train provides Penn Line rail service two miles from the campus at Halethorpe station, connecting the university to Baltimore and Washington.

The UMBC campus is home to a number of trails for pedestrians and bicyclists as well. Some of these pathways include a walking bridge and path that connects the central campus to the Research Park to the south, as well as an unpaved path from UMBC Boulevard to Selford Road that is frequented by runners and joggers. Nearby, the Short Line Railroad Trail can be accessed through Hilltop Road and Spring Grove Hospital Center. The rail trail provides paved pathway access from downtown Catonsville and Paradise, crossing the Baltimore Beltway. Additionally, cyclists have on-road bike routes from the campus to Halethorpe station via downtown Arbutus.

Campus police
UMBC maintains a 24-hour police staff of sworn officers, supplemented by non-sworn security officers and student marshals. Like the campus police of the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the campus police are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Accreditation is expected by the University System of Maryland mandated 2013 deadline. The UMBC police logs all crime reports and statistics as required by law on the UMBC Police Webpage.

President

In May 1992, Freeman A. Hrabowski III began his term as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He was named by TIME Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World", and for his work with UMBC was honored as America's Top 10 College Presidents in 2009. Under his leadership, UMBC has been ranked the #1 Up and Coming University in the US for six consecutive years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) by U.S. News & World Report magazine. His research and publications are more focused on science and math education, with particular emphasis on minority participation and performance.

On August 1, 2022, following Hrabowski's retirement, Valerie Sheares Ashby became president of the university, becoming its first female president.

Financial aid and scholarships
The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program at UMBC is a program focused on the cultivation of underrepresented minority scholarship and awareness in the math, science, and engineering disciplines. Other scholarship programs include the CWIT Scholars Program, the Humanities Scholars Program, the Dresher Humanities Fellowships, Honors College Fellowships, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program and the Sherman Teacher Education Scholars Program. Students can also receive scholarships through the athletic department, after being recruited to play on a sports team at UMBC. The Linehan Artist Scholars Program is a four-year scholarship program for incoming freshmen with a major in the arts, including dance, music, performing arts, visual arts, and theater. The artists learn to work together and collaborate on projects, under the direction of Doug Hamby.

UMBC's Grand Challenge Scholars Program is designed for students from all majors who are interested in solving important societal problems. The program fosters a vibrant interdisciplinary community to help tackle the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Grand Challenges, and gives students experiences and skills to create solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.

Rankings
The university is ranked 130th in the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report rankings of "National Universities" in the United States, and is ranked 70th nationally among public universities. It was ranked 6th nationally in undergraduate teaching and 6th in innovation. UMBC ranks fourth among U.S. research universities in the production of IT degrees and certificates, according to U.S. Department of Education data. The data shows UMBC ranking #21 in MS, and #31 in PhD IT degree production.

In 2012, U.S. News & World Report rated UMBC as the 12th most under-performing university, citing a gap between academic reputation and performance in the academic indicators. The Carnegie Foundation classifies UMBC as a research university with very high research activity.

UMBC has received a rating of 4 out of 5 from Campus Pride's LGBT-friendly campus climate index.

Partnerships
The university has formed a variety of centers and institutes. It has a partnership with NASA. The Center for Space Science and Technology, Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, and the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology all are affiliated with the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and share collaboration efforts with the University of Maryland, College Park.

In 2014, the university signed agreements with the United States Army Research Laboratory and the United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, for research in information systems, computer science, cybersecurity, networks, sensors, communications, mathematics and statistics, human dimensions, human systems integration, synthetic biology, power, quantum information processing, natural language processing and robotics.

USB and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) jointly operate the Research & Innovation Partnership Seed Grant program, which aims to promote inter-institutional research collaborations between the two USM institutions and to stimulate joint grant proposals to federal agencies and foundations. This shared program allows students and faculty to receive grants for research, increased collaboration, as well as the ability to use the facilities of both universities.

In February 2015, UMBC formed another partnership with Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, for research in computer security.

Furthermore, in the spring of 2015 an array of partnerships between UMBC and the US Navy were announced. The two announced the opening of the first Naval ROTC unit in Maryland, on the campus of UMBC, with the US Navy sponsoring a multitude of four year full-ride scholarships for select candidates. In addition, a cybersecurity research partnership between the two institutions was announced, beginning with five collaborative research projects between UMBC faculty and students and the US Navy.

Sustainability
In 1997, President Freeman Hrabowski created the Conservation and Environmental Research Areas of UMBC also known as CERA on the south end of the campus. The conservation area encompasses 50 acres surrounding Pig Pen Pond and Bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park. At the same time as preserving the land, CERA allowed UMBC students to use the land for educational and recreational purposes. CERA contains two parts. The larger tract, covering approximately 45 acres of the south end of the main campus, contains a wide variety of ecological conditions: mature upland forest, early- and mid- successional forest, and riparian and wetland environments. The second, area is much smaller, with an area of about 3 acres. This surrounds Pigpen Pond, which was once actually a pigpen until it filled with water. There are also several areas within CERA where evidence of previous human occupancy and use can be found. In addition to teaching opportunities for faculty, CERA offers a wide range of opportunities for students and faculty to undertake short and long-term research projects in a variety of disciplines. Management of CERA is guided by the need to maintain these landscapes as natural areas to be preserved and protected for approved uses in education, research and wildlife observation.

In 2007, President Freeman Hrabowski signed on to the American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and formed the Climate Change Task Force. 20% of the university's emissions comes from renewable energy. Additional sustainable efforts include a green roof on Patapsco Hall, and the construction of new LEED certified buildings such as West Hills Community Center and the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. Preservation has also been a growing focus for UMBC, through the creation of CERA, Conservation Environmental Research Area. "No-mow zones" and stormwater retention ponds have also been added to the campus.

In 2013, UMBC earned Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation.

In May 2014, UMBC dedicated 11 acres on the northeastern side of the campus for preservation through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Also in 2014, the university has opened its first community garden for its students. The garden will give students the chance to grow their own food on campus.

In May 2015, two Prove It! teams went on to win the $10,000 grant for their sustainability driven ideas to improve the life of students. The first, Retriever Treasure, collects unwanted furniture, clothes, and other items from students moving out of dorms and apartments at the end of each school year. They then resell these items at the beginning of the school year to raise funds for other initiatives and donate the remainder of the items not sold. The second, SolarRetrievers, raised an additional $30,000 from UMBC Residential Life, Facilities Management, and The Commons to purchase 4 EnerFusion Solar Power-Dok solar tables. These tables promote the idea of sustainable energy by directly demonstrating how solar panels are used to charge a battery and power devices in areas that normally would not have electricity readily available. The tables are located in the courtyard between Harbor and Chesapeake Hall, The Commons terrace, and two are on the terrace outside of the Retriever Activities Center.

Mascot
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever is the state dog of Maryland and has been the mascot of UMBC since weeks after its founding in 1966. The costumed mascot was alternately known as "Fever the Retriever" in the late 1990s. The university also once had a live mascot, upon whom the True Grit statue is based, named Campus Sam. At the beginning of the 2008 fall semester, a Chesapeake Bay retriever puppy was chosen as a new mascot. He attends many athletic events and an online poll was held on the Retriever Activities Center website to choose his name, which was ultimately decided as "Gritty". The school's dining hall is named True Grits.

True Grit appears in two forms: Both as a statue in front of the Retriever Activities Center of a Chesapeake Bay retriever and as a costumed mascot, an anthropomorphized Chesapeake Bay retriever. The latter can typically be seen in attire of whatever sport he is currently attending; this is most often basketball or lacrosse. As part of an art installation, there are also several smaller True Grit statues placed around campus, all given themed decoration by various student artists.

Student life
The Resident Student Association and Student Events Board provide social programming during all academic semesters at UMBC. Over 220 student-run organizations exist on campus.

LLC (Language Literacy & Culture)
This unique interdisciplinary doctoral program draws upon faculty from disciplines in the humanities and social sciences from eight departments and programs at UMBC: African Studies; American Studies; Education; English; History; Gender and Women's Studies; Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication; and Sociology and Anthropology.

LLC (Living Learning Community)
A living learning community (LLC) is essentially themed housing. A hallway of one of UMBC's residence halls is set aside for students who share a certain academic ground. LLCs are intended to provide residents with social, academic, and career opportunities related to their theme. Many sponsor a one credit course in which students are required to enroll.

UMBC has eight LLCs, listed below.

The Center for Women in Technology
The Center for Women in Technology LLC houses women and men who major in engineering or information technology, with the special intention of providing a community for females in this traditionally male dominated academic area. It offers academic, social, and career opportunities.

Discovery Scholars
The Discovery Scholars LLC helps students of an undecided career path explore possible majors and careers. Participants must enroll in its sponsored one credit course. Discovery Scholars are provided with social excursions, career exploration services, academic advising.

Honors College
The Honors College LLC houses members of UMBC's honors college, providing an environment for socialization outside the classroom. Graduates of the Honors program must earn an "A" or "B" in special honors-level courses in various categories of academic disciplines. It is located in Susquehanna Hall.

Humanities Floor
The Humanities Floor LLC is composed of students interested in—though not necessarily majoring in—the humanities. It facilitates intelligent discussion and field trips related to the humanities. Residents must attend four sponsored events and assist in planning floor activities. Many of the accepted Humanities Scholars choose to reside on the Humanities Floor LLC. The students who live on the floor find a community of like-minded scholars to study with and join in social activities with.

Intercultural Living Exchange
The Intercultural Living Exchange LLC aims to promote cultural diversity. Residents are mentored by international students and participate in social events centered around cultural items, such as holidays, movies, or cuisine. Students are also expected to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA while earning academic credits during service projects. Students earn academic credit for participating in this LLC. Students can participate in language immersion and live with others who are studying French, Spanish, Korean, or Chinese.

Shriver Living-Learning Center
The Shriver Living-Learning Center LLC is centered around service learning. Students build leadership skills by volunteering three to five hours weekly. They are required to take the LLC's sponsored academic course. Residents also hear presentations from guest speakers and give presentations on their own service experiences. Students are able to earn academic credit for their participation.

Visual and Performing Arts
The Visual and Performing Arts LLC provides students interested in the arts chances to deepen their experience of the arts through learning new skills, holding intelligent discussions, and attending relevant events.

Women Involved in Learning and Leadership
The Women Involved in Learning and Leadership LLC is intended to promote leadership skills in social issues. Residents hear speakers, activists, and organizations involved in social change as well as plan and attend related events. Though not its sole focal points, feminism and gender issues predominate this LLC.

STEM LLC
The STEM LLC is UMBC's tenth and largest LLC, and as of Fall 2016 houses 75 students. The STEM LLC is intended for first and second year students at UMBC majoring in STEM. Residents have access to Peer Mentors that are exclusive to the STEM LLC, resources through the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and different seminars that assist residents with deepening their understanding and knowledge of STEM.

Student Events Board
The Student Events Board, stylized as (seb), is the major programming organization on campus. They host approximately 150 events a semester that are diverse, fun, and often free. The spring festival on campus, Quadmania, is hosted entirely by (seb).

UMBC holds homecoming in the fall semester during the month of October. Homecoming consists of numerous activities and festivities on campus. Namely, Homecoming includes the 5K Dawg Chase race, and a comedy show. Past performances include Trevor Noah, Jim Gaffigan, B. J. Novak, Nick Offerman, Bo Burnham, and others.

Quadmania serves as the university's student festival during the spring semester. The event takes place during April outdoors, near the center of campus on the Quad or Erickson Field. The headliner for the spring of 2012 was Gym Class Heroes. The headliner for the spring of 2013 was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and that for the spring of 2014 was Capital Cities. The 2014 Quadmania was also to have elephant rides, but these were allegedly cancelled due to claims of animal cruelty by some students. In 2015, Kesha performed at the Retriever Activities Center. In spring of 2016, Fetty Wap headlined Quad Mania on April 24. In the spring of 2017, T-Pain returned to UMBC and headlined the event.

In October 2019, SEB announced that it would be hosting rappers Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby on campus. DaBaby performed on November 14, 2019, in the RAC, and Megan Thee Stallion performed on November 21 in the UC Ballroom.

Greek life
UMBC has 20 officially registered sororities and fraternities with nearly 5% of UMBC's undergraduate students belonging to one of them, as well as one professional fraternal organization. UMBC houses four Greek councils, (NPHC, PHA, MGC, IFC). UMBC is home to 5 PHA organizations, which include Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Kappa, Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Mu, and Phi Sigma Sigma. The IFC organizations represented on campus are Lambda Chi Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Triangle. The NPHC currently houses the organizations Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma. Their Multicultural Greek Council currently consists of Lambda Theta Alpha, alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Zeta Sigma Chi, Iota Nu Delta, and Lambda Phi Epsilon.

Mock Trial
UMBC fields an undergraduate mock trial team within the American Mock Trial Association. As of the 2022–2023 season, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is ranked #9 in the nation. In 2019, UMBC advanced to the National Championship Tournament, placing eighth in their division. In 2021, UMBC won the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) National Championship Tournament, defeating Yale University in one of the closest final rounds in AMTA history. In the 2021–2022 season, UMBC again advanced to the National Championship Tournament, but failed to place in their division.

UMBC competitor Sydney Gaskins also competed at Trial by Combat, the one-on-one competition for AMTA competitors hosted by UCLA Law and Drexel Law. As of the 2022 tournament, Gaskins is the only individual to have competed at Trial by Combat three times.

UMBC head coach Benjamin Garmoe hosts the Mock Review, a podcast discussing undergraduate mock trial and associated matters.

Campus housing

There are ten housing areas housing approximately 3,900 students, which are: Potomac Hall, Chesapeake Hall, Erickson Hall, Harbor Hall, Patapsco Hall, Susquehanna Hall, Hillside Apartments, Terrace Apartments, Walker Avenue Apartments, West Hill Apartments.

Those building types denoted "Hall" are traditional dormitories with the following typifying characteristics:
 * Shared rooms (usually two students per room)
 * Shared bathrooms (usually four students per bathroom/two rooms per bathroom)
 * Includes basic furniture (bed, desk, chair, closet), Internet access (Ethernet and Wi-Fi) and access to cable television
 * Special activities and events every week in the dormitories
 * Potomac Hall and the on-campus apartments are open all year, including holiday breaks (called "continuous occupancy").
 * Most international students prefer Potomac Hall because it is always open. (The other dormitories close during Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks.)
 * Erickson and Harbor Hall rooms include a living area between the two bedrooms, with the bathroom located in the living area. (living room shared by four students)

Those denoted "Apartments" are distinct in the following ways:
 * One student per room
 * All avail "continuous occupancy" 9-month housing
 * All include a living room

Off-campus housing
Although 71% of first-year undergraduate students are reported to live on campus, UMBC is known as a commuter campus where approximately 65% of the entire student population lives off campus, often in neighboring communities. These students are provided specialized programs and services through the Off Campus Student Services (OCSS) office. Popular locations for students include Catonsville and Arbutus. Popular apartment complexes include the Westland Garden Apartment & Town homes, and the Colony Hill Apartments located 1.5, and 2.5 miles away from campus, respectively. The UMBC Transit lines serves many neighborhoods. Students also live in numerous Baltimore neighborhoods, such as Beechfield, Oaklee, Irvington, Yale Heights, and Edmondson.

Chess

UMBC has won the Pan American Chess Tournament 9 times in 13 years (1996–2009). The school provides substantial chess scholarships to outstanding high school graduate players at the International or Grandmaster level. Former UMBC team captain GM Alexander Onischuk has gone on to become US Champion in 2006. Professor of Computer Science Alan Sherman has been instrumental in building up the UMBC chess dynasty by recruiting players from around the world. UMBC hosts two annual open chess tournaments, the UMBC Open (March) and the UMBC Championship (September).

Athletics
The Maryland–Baltimore County (UMBC) athletic teams are called the Retrievers. The university is a member of the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the America East Conference since the 2003–04 academic year. The Retrievers previously competed in the Northeast Conference (NEC) from 1998–99 to 2002–03; and in the Big South Conference from 1992–93 to 1997–98; while they also competed in the Mason–Dixon Conference at the NCAA Division II ranks: the first variation of it from 1972–73 to 1977–78; and the second variation from 1983–84 to 1987–88.

UMBC competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

Quick facts
The school's colors are black and gold. The mascot of the university is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, the state dog of Maryland, named True Grit. A statue of True Grit stands in front of the Retriever Activities Center (RAC). Their fight song is the UMBC Riser, and was written by Dr. George LaNoue, a professor of policy sciences.

Accomplishments
Until 2017, the UMBC women's volleyball team has participated in the America East tournament every year since 2008. In 2013 the team became a runner-up after losing to University of New Hampshire.

In 2007, UMBC's women's basketball team won the schools first ever women's basketball title. They were invited to the 2007 NCAA tournament where they fought hard against UConn. The UMBC women's basketball team also won the AEC conference title in the 2011–12 season. They were invited to the WNIT where they fell short to the University of Florida.

The Retrievers won their first regular-season American East men's basketball title in 2007–08, and also qualified for their first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. They had previously competed in the Division II men's basketball tournament.

In 2009, the men's lacrosse team secured their fifth consecutive outright or shared America East regular season championship and their third America East tournament championship in four years. UMBC has secured a berth in the NCAA tournament each of the past four seasons. In 2007, the unseeded Retrievers upset seventh-seeded Maryland, 13–9, in the NCAA tournament to advance to the Division I second round for the first, and so far only, time in school history.

In 2010, a contest was launched to find a new logo for Athletics. In May 2010, the UMBC Athletic Department unveiled a new logo for the Retrievers created by Jim Lord.

The Retrievers men's swimming and diving program captured its 15th straight conference championship in the 2012–13 season. This streak included every season the UMBC program had competed in the America East, starting with the school's joining the conference in 2003–04 and ending when the America East dropped the sport at the end of the 2012–13 school year. The streak of UMBC conference titles in this sport did not continue in the CCSA.

In March 2016, UMBC announced that their new Men's Basketball coach would be Ryan Odom. Parks Smith criticized the pick, saying that the search firm hired had promoted a candidate more remarkable for his nepotistic ties than for merit.

With the master plan wrapping up in 2018, the school spent $67 million in January 2016 on a new event center completed in Winter 2018. This new event center hosts athletic events such as basketball games, as well as concerts.

The Retrievers’ Men's Basketball team, on March 16, 2018, during the 2018 NCAA men's basketball tournament became the first No. 16 seed in the history of the competition to defeat a No. 1 seed, defeating the Virginia Cavaliers 74–54. They advanced to the Round of 32 for the first time in school history, where they were eliminated by Kansas State.

Soccer
The Retrievers Men's Soccer Team won the America East Conference in 2010, receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. The Retrievers won their first-round game against Princeton but lost in the second round to William and Mary. Star striker, Levi Houapeu, from the 2010 team was drafted as a 5th pick in the 3rd round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by the Philadelphia Union. He is the first UMBC player to be drafted into the MLS. The men also won the conference again in 2012, and advanced to the NCAA tournament once again. They won their first-round game against Old Dominion, but lost in the second round to defending champion, UNC Chapel Hill. In 2013 the Retrievers led the country with an overall record of 16–1–3 and became the first team since 1997 to repeat as America East Conference Champions. They would earn a #16 seed and a first round bye as well as host UMBC's first ever NCAA Tournament match in any sport. The Retrievers would fall in the second round of the tournament to UConn. In 2014, the Retrievers won their third straight America East Conference Championship and advanced the furthest of any UMBC NCAA Division I team by beating the #12-ranked Creighton, as the Retrievers reached the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship semifinals. UMBC is the first team in tournament history to win four consecutive road games and to post shutouts in four consecutive games.

UMBC Women's Soccer Team went 13–5–2 in their 2013 season, tying for the regular-season conference title then winning the conference tournament. This was their first American East Conference title. They then made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2013, where they lost to #1-ranked VA Tech 2–0 in the first round. This was an amazing accomplishment considering the team had a cumulative record of 3–39–9 in their previous three years.