University of Maryland President Wallace Loh will be attending Saturday’s March for Science in Washington to celebrate the work of the nation’s universities.
“Our research universities are a landmark of American civilization, a beacon to the world,” he said in an April 17 email to the campus community. “The proposed deep funding cuts put at risk the future of American science and its beneficent impacts on society.”
In an April 20 editorial for The Washington Post, Loh highlighted the work of this university’s scientists and discussed his plans to attend the Earth Day march.
“Consider the University of Maryland scientist who dared ask what happens when fruit flies take naps,” he wrote. “After genetically altering the flies to get lots of sleep, their immune systems strengthened. Such research can suggest what happens in people.”
[Read more: A UMD center signed a $64.8 million agreement with NASA to expand its Earth systems research]
The university meet-up location is 15th and Constitution Avenue NW at 1:30 p.m., according to the Office of the President website. This university’s i-School will also sponsor a “Celebration of American Science and Engineering,” open to the public, at Francis Scott Key Hall beginning at 1 p.m.
Members of this university’s Student Government Association sustainability committee will also be attending the march. Students will be meeting outside of Stamp at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday to board shuttles to the Metro station.
Hundreds of organizations have signed on to sponsor the march, including New York University and the American Physician Scientists Association, and protests are expected in cities around the nation, including Seattle and New York. Permits for the march indicate organizers expect about 50,000 marchers in Washington.
“In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery, we might ask … can we afford not to speak out in its defense?” reads the March for Science website.
[Read more: “Moving and beautiful”: UMD students and faculty join 500,000 for Women’s March on Washington]
