RUSSO (Host Intro): Maryland Secretary of Commerce, Harry Coker Jr. Visited the University of Maryland Eastern Shore last week for a meeting with campus leadership to discuss future endeavors of the school and the surrounding town of Princess Anne. UMES student journalist Dillon Austin was there and he brings us to this report.
AUSTIN: Walter Woods works with Hawk's Corner in Princess Anne and is also the UMS Outreach Coordinator. He arranged a meeting for Secretary Coker to speak about the future plans for not just UMES, but Princess Anne and Somerset County. Here's Mr. Woods:
WOODS: As we talk with students in the future and students will be able to be presented, ideas, concepts, and instances of how what we're doing here on campus impacts a broader area off campus.
AUSTIN: Both Mr. Woods and Secretary Coker emphasized the importance of understanding the unique needs of the area surrounding UMES. They mentioned that conversations and meetings like this one play a critical role in identifying local challenges, ultimately contributing to the productivity and development of the region.
WOODS: [It] shows a partnership between the state of Maryland, Somerset County, the town of Princess Anne, and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. We are a vital part of what is going on in today's economy. Today's landscape and how we as an institution of higher education can change how we impact and how we integrate and how we are able to participate in what is going on.
AUSTIN: Many topics surrounding the economic future of UMES and Princess Anne came up at the meeting, but very little was said about the issues related to students and how they're being directly supported. However, secretary Coker does believe that there are many opportunities for HBCU students.
COKER: We have literally thousands of companies working with Maryland residents on apprenticeships. We also have internships while students are in school.
AUSTIN: Secretary Coker also believes it's important to pay attention to our technological advancements and other shifts in the economy when planning for the future.
COKER: Seeing where the world is going and get ahead of those emerging trends. Maryland has lighthouse sectors, significant areas where we will have economic investment because we know that's where the world is going.
AUSTIN: Lighthouse sectors were Coker's key contribution to the meeting. These are vital industries that a region, state, or country identifies as priorities for economic growth and development. The term lighthouse is used because the sectors are expected to guide or lead the economy forward, much like a lighthouse guide ships.
COKER: One of those is quantum technologies and artificial intelligence and cyber. Second lighthouse sector is computational health, doing deeper cross-disciplinary analysis and mathematical modeling in order to enhance our quality of life so that we can have more discoveries that enable us to develop drugs that are more effective and develop them faster. We also want to go after degenerative diseases that have plagued humankind for generations.
AUSTIN: Over the past decade, growing reliance on digital services has increased the need for infrastructure such as data centers, which are essential to supporting the expanding technological ecosystem.
COKER: There's a data center expansion that's happening globally. Artificial intelligence, advanced mathematical modeling require more data centers. Folks need to understand the resources that are required for data centers as well.
AUSTIN: Data centers are inevitable due to the rapid growth of our technology, but they have also begun to introduce a range of challenges that increasingly affect communities and daily life. According to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a mid-sized data center consumes as much water as a small town, while larger ones require up to 5 million gallons of water every day. That's as much as a city of 50,000 people. Data centers have been at the center of protests across the country.
COKER: Well, what Maryland is doing is advocating a case by case basis as opposed to saying "no data centers" or as opposed to saying "every data center", we take a look that's indicative of the resource focus that we have in Maryland. We want to make sure that data centers are not a resource hog that the public has to pay for.
AUSTIN: In contrast to the growing influence of technology in today's economy, secretary Coker emphasized that human connection still matters. Encouraging students to focus on building relationships and expanding their networks.
COKER: People make things happen or not happen. Don't have to, like everyone doesn't have to like us, but we need to respect everyone, even though everybody won't respect us. Focus on relationship. That's how things get done.
AUSTIN: Coker maintains strong ties with the administration at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, as well as key leaders in Somerset and Wicomico counties. The meeting brought together a wide array of stakeholders including UMES officials, local political figures and representatives from Salisbury University, all to discuss the rapid growth and future development of UMES. I'm Dillon Austin.
