9 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About President Pines

The University of Maryland’s new president, Darryll J. Pines, is fond of the concept of “grand challenges”—problems so complex, yet so pressing, that only the full mobilization of scientific, engineering and societal resources will solve them. Think of curing cancer or traveling to Mars.

Pines had begun preparing a slate of them for the university to tackle after he was named the next president in February—and then the world intruded with challenges of its own, as urgent as any that could be devised: a spreading viral pandemic, with more than 175,000 Americans dead as of press time, and the societal pandemic of racism, violence against Black people and institutionalized inequality.

He pivoted, announcing in his inaugural message his plans to direct UMD’s research power at the problems, as well as work to free the campus from the ravages of both pandemics as much as possible.

“The things I wrote about on that first day were not what I would have rolled out in a non-COVID world, or a non-social-unrest world,” he says. “But these are grand challenges facing our society that we must deal with.”

A longtime colleague in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, where Pines landed as an aerospace engineering professor in 1995 and later served 11 years as dean, says Pines would not only guide the school through trying times, but find ways for the university community to excel and grow stronger through them.

“I thought of him as the lemonade dean—when something is going wrong, he asks, ‘How can we find something positive to get out of it?’” says William Fourney, professor emeritus of aerospace engineering. “And he almost always finds a wrinkle where he can make things better.”

Forward momentum, observers say, has characterized Pines’ leadership at UMD so far, whether pushing the Clark School ahead in national rankings, beefing up fundamental undergraduate courses or dramatically increasing numbers of female and underrepresented students and faculty. His devotion to learning beyond the classroom resulted in high-profile wins and world records in student competitions, while his attention to fundraising and donor relations was key to a $219.5 million investment from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation benefitting the entire university.

Those who know him expect Pines to place an array of new grand challenges and opportunities for excellence on the table in coming months for the university to unite behind.

“He likes the big plays,” says C.D. Mote Jr., a longtime mentor of Pines who served as UMD president from 1998 to 2010. “He understands the success of the university is about the people, the vision, the impact. He is always looking to the future, and the students, university, state and nation will all benefit.”

But what about his present and his past? While Pines isn’t known as someone who loves talking about himself (but don’t get him started on the role of engineering in society), he is known for more than just academic and professional achievements—there’s his genuine enjoyment of working with young people, his no-lunch-late-nights work ethic and his easy charm (like showing up in full commencement garb in a neighbor’s yard to help two high school seniors celebrate their virtual graduation). What else might you not know about Pines? Read on for what we discovered.