Spring 2008 - Research Discoveries
- Rankings
- Major Grants/Contracts
- On Capitol Hill
- Awards & Honors
- Publications
- Service
- Students
Department of African American Studies
When whites and minorities are admitted to a hospital for the same reason, they receive the same quality care in that hospital, according to a study by Darrell Gaskin, acting chair of the Department of African American Studies. The study of 1841 hospitals in 13 states compared the quality of treatment for blacks, Hispanics and Asians to that of whites over a broad range of services. Earlier studies that looked at only a few specific conditions, such as cardiac care, and used general estimating equations, have shown quality differences based on race. According to Professor Gaskin, the findings indicate that the systems in place in the hospitals do work to deliver equal quality to patients in that same hospital.
Department of Anthropology
Substance abuse recovery is one of the most pervasive needs of prisoners returning to society, according to anthropology professor Tony Whitehead, whose Cultural Systems Analysis Group (CuSAG) was contracted by the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency in July of 2006 to carry out ethnographic research to explore the range of needs faced by those returning from prisons to Washington, D.C. neighborhoods.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Professor Hanno Petras studied the proximal impact of the Good Behavior Game on growth trajectories of aggressive/disruptive behavior between fall of first grade and spring of seventh grade as well as the long term impact on Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and violent/criminal behavior by age 19/21. The Good Behavior Game is a classroom behavior management strategy targeting aggressive, disruptive behavior and socializing children to the student role. The population consisted of two cohorts of first grade students (n=2311) who were in first grade during the 1985/1986 school year and followed into young adulthood. A beneficial impact was found among males in the persistent high trajectory with significantly reduced rates of ASPD and violent/criminal behavior. According to Dr. Petras, the results of this trial document the developmental significance of early aggressive behavior for later antisocial and violent behavior.
Department of Economics
In a paper titled “Is the 2007 U.S. Sub-Prime Financial Crisis So Different? An International Historical Comparison,” Maryland professor Carmen Reinhart and Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff revealed some parallels between America's subprime mess and 18 previous banking crises in the rich world. The Reinhart and Rogoff study shows that, although details may vary, banking crises follow the same broad script. Each blow-up is preceded by rising home and equity prices; an acceleration in capital inflows driven by optimistic foreign investors; a rapid build-up of debt; and—immediately before the storm hits—an inverted V-shaped path for the economy, with growth first picking up and then faltering.
In a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Econometrics and titled "Is Econometrics Useful for Private Policy Making? A Case Study of Replacement Policy at an Auto Rental Company," Maryland professor John Rust and professor Sungjin Cho of Seoul National University provide a detailed analysis of the car rental replacement decisions of a large car rental company and provide evidence that this company is failing to maximize its profits. They found that it is replacing its cars too soon in comparison with the predictions of the authors' econometric model and an associate model that predicts the optimal timing of replacement of rental cars. The theory also predicts that rental car companies should be discounting the rental prices of older cars, something they don't do.
This paper is online at: http://gemini.econ.umd.edu/jrust/research/rental_je.pdf.
The company they are studying was convinced by the analysis and is currently forming a new subsidiary that will rent older cars, convinced that instead of selling relatively new rental cars, it should be keeping them longer and renting them at reduced prices.
Medicare Part D, enacted in January 2006, substantially lowered the average price and increased the total utilization of prescription drugs by Medicare recipients, according to a study done by economics professor Mark Duggan, with professor Fiona M. Scott Morton of Yale School of Management, and both with the National Bureau of Economic Research. In Medicare Part D, the government contracts with private insurance plans to provide prescription drug coverage. Duggan’s and Morton’s results further suggest that the magnitude of these average effects varies across drugs as predicted by economic theory.
A policy change that expanded eligibility for family planning services to higher income women and to Medicaid clients whose benefits would expire otherwise led to a substantial increase in the number of program recipients and a reduction in overall births to non-teens by about two percent and to teens by over four percent. According to economics professor Melissa Kearney, who conducted the study with Wellesley College professor Philip Levine, there is widespread concern about the high rates of unintended pregnancies, abortions, and teen pregnancies in the United States. Estimates from their study suggest a nearly nine percent reduction in births to women age 20-44 made eligible by the policy change.
Department of Government and Politics
Government and Politics professor Paul Herrnson, director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship, found in a recent study that electronic voting technology, especially touch screen systems, easily passed the tests of voter confidence and satisfaction, although voters still made mistakes and often had to ask for help. The study found an overall voter accuracy rate of 97 percent, which is still enough to affect the outcome of a close election, professor Herrnson points out. The five-year study of voter experiences concludes that improvement in voters’ abilities to cast their votes accurately and without assistance can be accomplished simply by improving the way ballots are laid out on touch screen and paper-based systems.
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
Professor Rochelle Newman found that oral reading tests fail to distinguish between children who cannot comprehend written words and those who simply have language problems. “Students fail because they have trouble speaking aloud and get placed in remedial reading courses, where they are taught what they already know,” says Newman.
She recommends screening tests to identify children with reading problems should be administered silently, with limited use of oral tests.
Department of Sociology
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Americans average as much sleep as they did 40 years ago, and possibly more, according to professors John Robinson (left) and Steve Martin (right). The two professors report that adult sleep averages have increased about three hours per week over the last decade, up
from 56 to 59 hours. They based their analysis on data from time diaries collected jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau. Respondents aged 18 to 64 were asked to report all their activities the previous day in chronological order. The Maryland study, Not So Deprived: Sleep in America, 1965-2005, identifies long working hours as the main 'thief' of sleep, but concludes that most Americans still manage to average at least the 'proverbial' eight hours of rest each night.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and
Responses to Terrorism
Gary LaFree (left) and Laura Dugan (right), both of START and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, have released the Global Terrorism Database (GTB) – the world’s largest unclassified data collection on terrorist events. The GTB contains detailed information on more than 80,000 terrorist incidents that have occurred around the world, dating back to 1970. The data
contained in the GTD allow researchers and analysts to test systematically theories about the behaviors and activities of terrorist organizations, and reveals some “mythbusting” findings: for instance, GTD demonstrated that the majority of terrorist organizations disappear or disband within one year of their first attack, and that while the number of terrorist attacks worldwide per year is on the decline, the average number of fatalities per attack is increasing. More information about these data can be found at http://www.start.umd.edu/data/GTD/.
The Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences’ speech-language pathology program broke into the top 20 in the U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings, moving from 22 to 18. The Department's audiology program also improved its standing, moving from 27 to 24.
Economics professor Carmen Reinhart was named the top-ranked female economist by the University of Chicago, which measured the number of times each of 2,137 female economists were cited in economics and finance literature. Professor Katharine Abraham (left) of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology was ranked 38th.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Professor David Weisburd received a $350,500 grant from the National Institute of Justice for a project titled “Broken Windows Policing: A Randomized Experimental Evaluation of its Impacts on Disorder, Fear and Crime in Three Cities.”
Department of Economics
Professor John Haltiwanger was awarded $648,073 from the Kauffman Foundation for a project titled "Business Formation and Growth: Building and Analyzing Longitudinal Business Databases." The project will study the process of business formation in the U.S., essentially asking, “When does life begin for a business?”
Department of Geography
Geography professor Chris Justice received $955,616 from NASA-Goddard for the "NASA Land Cover Land Use Change Program Scientist Project." With a strong emphasis on the use of satellite remote sensing, this project combines physical and social science to study the current distributions of land cover and land use, patterns of change and the implications of these changes on biogeochemical and hydrological cycles, or human livelihood and resource management.
Department of Government and Politics
The Center for International Development and Conflict Management was awarded $435,089 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for “Leland Initiative: African GII Gateway.” The project consists of activities -- mainly technical support and workshops -- that bolster the U.S. Agency for International Development’s efforts to bolster African telecom agencies’ work to better regulate the telecom sector.
Psychology professor Michele Gelfand (above left) and collaborators received a $4.27 million grant from the Department of Defense Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative’s program for work on "Dynamic Models of Culture and Negotiation and Collaboration in the Middle East." The multidisciplinary research team includes Paul Hanges (second from left) and Arie Kruglanski (second from right) from psychology, Jonathon Wilkenfeld (above right) from government and politics, Sarit Kraus from computer science, Deborah Cai from communication, along with colleagues from Harvard, Columbia and the University of Central Florida.
Professor David Yager was awarded $413,961 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled "Sensory System Innovation for Hearing in Multiple Frequency Channels." He will be studying a very unusual group of praying mantises that has evolved a second complete auditory system.
Joint Program in Survey Methodology
The Bureau of the Census renewed the Joint Program in Survey Methodology’s funding, awarding $9 million to continue the nation's oldest and largest program offering graduate training in the principles and practices of survey research.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and
Responses to Terrorism
The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) received a $499,443 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to launch a career development program for Maryland undergraduates and doctoral students interested in pursuing a career in homeland security.
Public Safety Training & Technical Assistance Program (PSTTAP)
PSTTAP was awarded $900,719 from the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to help support the goals of the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center by supplying experienced researchers. The first goal is to provide analytical support for federal, state and local agencies involved in law enforcement, fire, emergency medical and response services, public health and welfare, public safety and homeland security. The second goal is to provide strategic analysis to better focus the investigative activities being conducted by law enforcement within the state.
Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Agency
The Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Agency was awarded $495,000 from the Office of National Drug Control Policy for the continued development, update and maintenance of software they developed for HIDTAs across the country to use to manage and measure their performance.
Edward Montgomery, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, was an invited participant in an economic forum on Capitol Hill on March 5 that advised the Democratic leadership where the economy is headed and what economic policies should be enacted in 2008.
Gary A. Ackerman, research director for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on April 2 as part of the committee's hearing on 
Nuclear Terrorism: Assessing the Threat to the Homeland. Ackerman's testimony focused on issues related to the "demand-side" of the nuclear terrorism debate: why and when might a terrorist group want to use a nuclear weapon, and which types of groups might be most likely to pursue such weapons technology.
David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization and sociology professor, will testify to a joint session of subcommittees of the House Science and Technology Committee and the House Armed Services Committee on April 24. He will speak about how research in the behavioral and social sciences such as the research at the Center for Research on Military Organization can help the military perform its mission, what new research opportunities there might be in this area, and how results of research in his center get communicated to the military.
Assistant Dean Katherine Beardsley was named Woman of the Year by the President’s Commission on Women’s Issues.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Professor Denise Gottfredson (above left) was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.
John Laub (above middle) was named a Distinguished University Professor.
Professor Doris MacKenzie (above right) was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.
Professor Maureen Cropper (above left) was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Larry Ausubel (above center) was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society.
Professor John Haltiwanger (pictured earlier) was named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.
Distinguished University Professor Tom Schelling (above right) was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society.
Professor Ruth DeFries was named a Distinguished University Professor and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Department of Government and Politics
Professor Stephen Elkin was named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.
Department of Sociology
Sociology Professor John Pease won the Board of Regents’ Excellence in Mentoring Award.
David R. Segal (pictured earlier) and Mady Wechsler Segal (left), professors of sociology and director and associate director of the Center for Research on Military Organization, are the United States Military Academy's 2007-2008 Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Distinguished Former Faculty co-awardees.
David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization in the Department of Sociology, was awarded the Morris Janowitz Award for Career Achievement in Military Sociology from the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society. He is also the 2008 recipient of the American Sociological Association's Award for Public Understanding of Sociology for his work to enhance public understanding of issues surrounding the military and peacekeeping.
Department of Anthropology
The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital: Excavations in Annapolis, by professor Mark Leone, has been awarded The Society for Historical Archaeology's James Deetz Book Award for 2008.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Criminology professors Gary LaFree and David Weisburd were appointed members to the Committee on Law and Justice at the National Research Council of the National Academies.
Criminology professor Charles Wellford was tapped to chair a 15-person committee for the National Research Council that will assess the research program of the National Institute of Justice.
Department of Psychology
Professor Michele Gelfand (pictured earlier) was elected president of the International Association of Conflict Management.
The university’s Mock Trial team, housed in the Department of Government and Politics and led by students in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, won the American Mock Trial Association’s national championship, defeating 63 other teams, including those from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Virginia and other elite universities.
At the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, master’s student K.J. Doneby Smith won first place in the student poster competition for her poster, “First Five Merced: Uses and Limitations of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Evaluation of Health and Social Service Programs. Master’s student Melissa Stevens received an honorable mention for her paper, "Power Disparities in Community-Based Tourism Partnerships: A Vietnamese Case Study" and an honorable mention for her poster, "Community-Based Tourism in Vietnam: Working within Countervailing Systems of Hierarchy and Egalitarianism to Promote Inclusion."
