[en] The University of Maryland electron ring (UMER) is a low-energy, high current recirculator for beam physics research with relevance to any applications that rely on intense beams of high quality. We review the space-charge physics issues, both in transverse and longitudinal beam dynamics, which are currently being addressed with UMER: emittance growth and halo formation, strongly asymmetric beams, Montague resonances, equipartitioning, bunch capture and shaping, etc. Furthermore, we report on recent developments in experiments, simulations, and improved diagnostics for space-charge dominated beams