The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the state of Delaware. The mouth of the Bay at its southern point is located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others surrounding within its watershed. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, and all of Washington, D.C.
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean.
The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the Northeastern and Southeastern states of the United States. The region typically includes five states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and the national capital of Washington, D.C.. Virginia and West Virginia are sometimes included in definitions of the region's geography. The region has its origin in 18th century, and its states were each among the Thirteen Colonies of pre-revolutionary British America.
The Junior State of America, abbreviated JSA, is an American non-partisan youth organization. The purpose of JSA is to help high school students acquire leadership skills and the knowledge necessary to be effective debaters and civic participants. JSA is sponsored by the Junior State of America Foundation Inc., which also operates the JSA Summer Schools. The Junior State of America is student-run, the largest such organization in the United States.
The Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine is a state-supported college of two states, Virginia and Maryland, filling the need for veterinary medicine education in both states. Students from both states are considered "in-state" students for admissions purposes.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).
The Washington metropolitan area, also sometimes referred to as Greater Washington, the National Capital Region or colloquially as the DMV, is the metropolitan area centered around Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which is the third-largest combined statistical area in the country.
ReliabilityFirst (RF) is one of the six Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission)-approved regional entities responsible for ensuring the reliability of the North American Bulk-Power System, pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. ReliabilityFirst performs this function pursuant to and under its delegation agreement with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which is the Commission-approved Electric Reliability Organization. NERC and the Regional Entities are non-governmental, self-regulatory organizations that were created in recognition of, among other things, the complex, interconnected, and international nature of the North American Bulk Power-System.
The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) is a community for atheists and freethinkers in the military, both within the United States and from around the world. The MAAF can assist U.S. military members to respond to illegal and insensitive religious proselytizing on military bases. It is an independent 501(c)(3) organization building community for freethinkers and other nontheists in the military. The MAAF supports constitutional separation of church and state and First Amendment rights for all service members. It also educates and trains both the military and civilian community about atheism and Freethought in the military.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by the Virginia Spaceport Authority.
The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC), established in 1997, is a regional group focused on addressing the pest management crisis facing the beekeeping industry in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A task force has been established with representation from the departments of agriculture, state beekeeping organizations, and land-grant universities from each of the following states: New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The US Regional Arts Organizations are six not-for-profit entities created to encourage development of the arts and to support arts programs on a regional basis. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, membership dues, and various enterprises, these organizations, which include Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Southern Arts Federation, and the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), provide technical assistance to their member state arts agencies, support and promote artists and arts organizations, and develop and manage arts initiatives on local, regional, national and international levels.
Arts Midwest is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations created to “encourage development of the arts and to support arts programs on a regional basis.” Arts Midwest's mission is to "build unprecedented opportunity across the Midwest by advancing creativity.” Its vision is that Midwestern creativity powers thriving, entrepreneurial, and welcoming communities. Arts Midwest is primarily funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and is charged with supporting artists and arts organizations, and providing assistance to its nine member states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Frostburg State University (FSU) is a public university in Frostburg, Maryland. The university is the only four-year institution of the University System of Maryland west of the Baltimore-Washington passageway in the state's Appalachian highlands. Founded in 1898 by Maryland State Senator, John Leake, Frostburg was selected because the site offered the best suitable location without a cost to the state. Today, the institution is a largely residential university.
Maryland's leading industries by employment are health care and social assistance, state and local government, retail trade, and professional and technical services. Maryland's Gross State Product (GSP) was $295.4 billion in 2010. The Government sector produced $52.1 billion and accounted for 18 percent of Maryland's GSP in 2009. Federal government, including military and civilian, accounted for slightly more than half at just over $27 billion, while state and local government combined for nearly $25 billion. The Fort George G. Meade military installation, which includes employees of the National Security Agency, is the state's biggest employer at 44,540. The largest private sector industry is real estate with $48.4 billion, or 17 percent of economic activity. Large private employers in Maryland include Black & Decker, Legg Mason, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, ZeniMax Media, McCormick & Company, Perdue Farms, General Motors, IBM, Northrop Grumman, and Verizon.
The Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA), is the state agency that supports the arts through funding from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) is a multi-state organization founded in 1991 and created under the Clean Air Act. It is responsible for advising EPA on air pollution transport issues and for developing and implementing regional solutions to the ground-level ozone problem in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, collectively called the Ozone Transport Region (OTR). OTC has no regulatory authority, but assists its members in developing model regulations for implementation at the state level. OTC also manages a regional planning organization MANE-VU, which is charged with regional multi-pollutant air quality planning. In January 2020, operations of OTC were placed under new management by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) and Washington, DC operations were closed.
GRID Alternatives (GRID) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California. Founded by Erica Mackie and Tim Sears in 2004, it installs solar power systems and provides job training for underserved communities and operates in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Nepal.
Tanya Davis is an American artist predominantly known for her hyper-realistic representational watercolors which are often on the subject of reflections and transparency. She is a past President of the Torpedo Factory Artists' Association, one of the largest artists associations in the US. In 1999 she was selected as the Torpedo Factory Artist of the Year.
The Virginia Spaceport Authority, formally better known as Virginia Space, is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia focused on bringing commercial spaceflight to Virginia and providing education in aerospace technologies across the Commonwealth. Created in 1995 as the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) in the name of states’ rights by the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Space owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, located within the Wallops Flight Facility. The subdivision assumed its current name in April 2023.
