Bookshelf

University of Maryland faculty and staff showcase their expertise as authors of the following books, all published in the first half of 2025:

“Probability, Statistics, and Reliability for Engineers and Scientists”
Bilal M. Ayyub, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Faculty Member, Institute for Systems Research; and Reichard H. McCuen
Routledge
This book, now in its fourth edition, introduces key methods of data analysis, uncertainty modeling and risk assessment with a focus on real-world engineering and scientific applications. It is designed for both students and professionals seeking to support effective decision-making in complex systems.

“Home on Earth: Recipes for Healthy Housing”
Adam Ainslie, Lecturer, School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Oro Traditions
The book showcases built houses alongside material studies and models to propose a healthy “building cuisine” specific to the mid-Atlantic.

“Otro cincel para Rosetta. España y el español en la temprana modernidad de los Estados Unidos”
Carmen Benito-Vessels, Professor of Medieval Studies
This book thoroughly documents that the history of early modern North America is strongly linked to late medieval and early modern Spain’s literary, architectural and linguistic traditions.

“The Wokisme Controversy: The Americanization of Debates on Identity, Race, and Gender in France”
Hervé-Thomas Campangne, Professor of French
Focusing on French controversies about wokisme—a literal translation of the American word wokeism—this book reflects on France's ongoing transformation into a multicultural society and the divisions this change has caused.

“Analytics for Finance and Accounting: Data Structures and Applied AI”
Sean Cao, Associate Professor of Accounting and Information Assurance; Wei Jiang and Lijun Lei
SmartLearn Publishing
This book equips students with the necessary skills to integrate applied AI within the fields of accounting and finance. It can serve as foundational material for the equivalent of a business school graduate-level course, emphasizing the data-driven nature of these disciplines.

“Valuation Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises and Tests to Help You Master Valuation” (Eighth Edition)
Tim Koller, Mark Goedhart, David Wessels and Michael Cichello, Clinical Professor of Finance.
Wiley
This workbook is the companion book to the eighth edition of “McKinsey's Valuation,” the industry standard in measuring and managing valuation for more than 30 years. In the book, the authors walk through the foundations of valuation, advanced topics like valuing high-growth companies and digital assets, and managerial topics such as corporate portfolio strategy and acquisitions.

“Citizen Scholar: Public Engagement for Social Scientists”
Philip N. Cohen, Professor of Sociology
Columbia University Press
Cohen calls on readers to embrace the reciprocal relationship between professional scholarship and active citizenship, arguing that aligning personal and vocational identities can enhance both public and academic contributions.

“Rebel Governance in the Age of Climate Change”
Kathleen Cunningham, Professor of Government and Politics; Leonardo Gentil Fernandes, Elisabeth Anne Gilmore, Reyko Huang, Danielle Fitzpatrick Jung and Cyanne Elizabeth Loyle
Cambridge University Press
This book examines how rebel groups govern the environment in areas where state authority is weak or absent, particularly in regions severely affected by climate change. It introduces the concept of "rebel environmental governance" to explore why rebels engage in environmental management and what this means for both climate resilience and security.

“Provincias Un-Idas: un itinerario conceptual en el presente”
Laura Demaría, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
This cultural study work proposes a new conceptualization for the term “province” as a critical tool to explore contemporary fictions and visual arts from Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

“Intercultural Public Relations: Insight from the Middle East”
Ganga Dhanesh, Associate Professor of Communications, and Ruth Avidar
Routledge
This book explores how culture shapes public relations in the Middle East, focusing on Israel and the UAE. Using the Global Public Relations Framework, it examines how political, economic, social and organizational cultures influence key PR practices such as identity, reputation, listening and engagement.

“Everyday Activists: Undocumented Immigrants’ Quest for Justice and Well-Being”
Christina Getrich, Associate Professor of Anthropology
New York University Press
The book examines how Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who are not active in public, organized immigration-related activism nonetheless fight for immigrant well-being and justice in their everyday lives in the D.C. region.

“The Celluloid Atlantic: Hollywood, Cinecittà, and the Making of the Cinema of the West, 1943–1973”
Saverio Giovacchini, Associate Professor of History
SUNY Press
This book reconsiders how we look at American and Italian cinema in the postwar period. Giovacchini revisits the history of Neorealism, World War II combat cinema, the "Western all'Italiana" and the career of John Kitzmiller, the African American star who made Italy his home and was the first person of color to win the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal”
Julie Greene, Professor of History
University of North Carolina Press
The labor historian returns to the cache of first-person essays—held at the Library of Congress and stored in Box 25 of the Isthmian Historical Society Collection—written in 1963 by Afro-Caribbean people on what it was like to be a migrant laborer on the construction of the Panama Canal.

“A Chinese-English Dictionary of Current Events in PRC State Media”
Michael Horlick, Faculty Specialist, Executive Development, School of Public Policy
Echtralex Contemporary Lexicography
Compiled from a proctored selection of publicly available information distributed by PRC government ministries, the dictionary serves the needs of translators and cryptologic linguists, policy analysts and researchers, foreign service officers and diplomats, members of the media, China watchers in dozens of countries, human rights activists, educators and academics, and language learners.

“The Psychology of the Extreme”
Arie Kruglanski, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, and Sophia Moskalenko
Routledge
The authors explore the full spectrum of extremism, its biological roots and its motivations in a book and explain how extremism can show up in our daily lives and in our habits—and can even be helpful.

“V Puti: Student Activities Manual: Russian Grammar in Context”
Anna Kudyma, Olga Kagan, Frank J. Miller and Michael Lavery, Assistant Professor of Russian
Routledge
This student activities manual consists of 12 chapters offering conversational exercises, readings and grammatical explanations and practice for Russian study.

“Handbook of Smoke Control Engineering”
James A. Milke, Professor Emeritus of Fire Protection Engineering, and seven others
International Code Council, National Fire Protection Association and Society of Fire Protection Engineers
This second edition of the most exhaustive and complete treatment of smoke control and related topics in the U.S. is essential for practicing engineers designing smoke control systems or conducting related analyses.

“School Consultation in a Global Context: Theory, Research, and Practice for School Psychologists”
Colleen R. O'Neal, Assistant Professor of School Psychology
Taylor & Francis Group
Theoretical foundations, empirical research, lessons learned and implications for practice in school consultation across distinct cultures and national borders are all brought together in this resource for school psychologists to help them provide effective service for culturally diverse populations globally, including refugees.

“Sorrow Tears and Blood”
Stephanie Shonekan, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Ethnomusicology
Part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 Global Series, devoted to in-depth examination of the most important albums from around the world, "Sorrow Tears and Blood" examines Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s prophetic 1977 album as a powerful response to state violence in Nigeria. Blending musical analysis, political history and personal reflection, Shonekan—who is half Nigerian and spent most of her childhood in Nigeria—explores Fela’s musical genius and his enduring social and political influence on Nigeria and the world.

“Retrieval-Augmented Generation in Production with Haystack”
Skanda Vivek, Assistant Research Scholar of Public Policy
O’Reilly Media
The book explores how open-source tools can simplify the complex process of building AI-powered applications, offering engineers practical guidance for creating scalable, reliable systems in an era of rapidly evolving language models.

“The Visual Preservation of Roman Stabiae: The Villa Arianna Survey and the Study of Frescoes in Their Physical Context”
Joseph Williams, Assistant Professor of Architecture
BAR Publishing
The book showcases the first comprehensive survey work of the decorated walls excavated from an ancient villa in Stabiae, Italy, by UMD faculty, students and alums from 2011-24. Their work offers insight into how Roman wall paintings interconnected with onlookers and their surroundings.

“Cyberbullying: Helping Children Navigate Digital Technology and Social Media”
Stephanie Fredrick, Amanda Nickerson, Michelle Demaray and Chunyan Yang, Associate Professor of School Psychology
Wiley
This practical resource for keeping kids safe online presents a thoughtful account of both the dangers and benefits of digital technology and social media. The book offers evidence-based strategies to guide children on how to use technology responsibly and positively and communicate openly about cyberbullying.

Bookshelf is a twice-a-year compilation that highlights new books written by UMD faculty members or staff members. Send your information to Lauren Brown at lbrown12@umd.edu.