It is with real pleasure that I welcome you to the Council of the Environment of the University of Maryland. Our University has tremendous breadth and depth in environmental and earth system science and, as a land grant university, is committed to bringing those resources to support the work of local communities and government, and to promote economic development in the State. Our strengths spread across a wide spectrum of academic fields such as anthropology, agriculture, architecture, climate and earth science, ecology, economics, energy, engineering for sustainable infrastructure, public health, public policy, sociology, and transportation. The Council will work to integrate this diversity of effort and to develop new opportunities. The public and private sectors in the State are also deeply engaged in environmental issues, to which they too bring great strengths. The Council will build new partnerships to connect these efforts with the University. As Chair, I am excited at the...