The Paths Forward

TERPS SOMETIMES LIKE TO SAY that terrapins can only move in one direction: forward.

Determined. Dauntless. Driven. But what if they strapped on rocket packs?

That’s how it feels at the University of Maryland, where we’re increasing our momentum like never before. In the past year, we’ve achieved our best-ever U.S. News & World Report rankings. Notched a new high in research and development spending. Racked up the largest number of freshmen applications and the most competitive class of incoming students.

We’ve never been afraid to think big. Never shied away from big moves, powerful actions or doing what’s right rather than what’s easy.

Now we’re launching Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, an audacious bid to raise a record $2.5 billion.

We’re in pursuit of unprecedented transformation to advance new discoveries and knowledge, and to change life and lives—on this campus and throughout the state, nation and world.

Below, come along a journey that’s both local and global, soaring with ambition and down to earth, and see how this campaign’s 12 universitywide fundraising priorities will prepare a new generation of Terps to tackle the challenges that face us all.

To become a top 10 public university, UMD needs to recruit and enroll the nation’s best applicants. Donor-funded scholarships and graduate fellowships not only make Maryland more appealing than ever, they also swing open the doors to a Maryland education for students with financial need.

If Ken Isman ’86 was using one part of his brain while at UMD to learn about suppressing or controlling fires, the other was to get Terps fired up.

The fire protection engineering major happily spent his free time on campus playing the tuba in the marching and pep bands, along with the jazz band. But a doubling of his expenses senior year threatened to silence Isman’s twin interests.

No longer able to get by on his $500-per-semester band scholarship, Isman applied for, but didn’t receive, the few need-based engineering scholarships available back then. He was bracing to drop out so he could earn enough money to finish his degree later.

That’s when then-Director of Bands John Wakefield learned of Isman’s plight and doubled his music scholarship.

“It made the difference in my ability to stay in school,” Isman says. “I owe everything in my career to that degree.”

Isman worked for the National Fire Sprinkler Association for 28 years, then returned to the A. James Clark School of Engineering as a clinical professor for a decade. He never forgot his gratitude for that scholarship, though: He and his wife, Joan, have established an endowment to support Maryland bands—whose purchases have included new tubas—and created need-based scholarships for students in fire protection engineering.

“I want to see that industry succeed, so we need to get more people into the program, and hopefully scholarships are a major encouragement,” he says.

Instead of sitting in a cubicle or making coffee runs, Vinay Kumar ’26 got to call Northwest Stadium his office last fall.

As an intern for the Washington Commanders, he enjoyed the full behind-the-scenes gameday experience, assisting with fan traffic flow, answering questions from season ticket holders and even scoring some swag.

He’s a member of the second cohort of the Stephen M. Schanwald Sports Management Program, endowed as part of an $18 million gift from the 1977 graduate and trailblazing marketing executive.

“It’s really given me that foot in the door in sports,” Kumar says.

Follow Kumar on a day in the life, gameday edition:

As the Maryland men’s basketball team powered its way to a thrilling Sweet 16 run during last season’s March Madness, one of the hottest tickets was a T-shirt, and it was designed by a Terp.

Milan Chaudhary ’26, a marketing major in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, produced the wildly popular “Crab 5” T-shirts celebrating the starting lineup as founder and CEO of Brown Boy Nation. The custom streetwear company has designed for dozens of clients since 2023—from legendary actor Robert De Niro to basketball great LeBron James’ son Bryce to renowned stylist Zerina Akers—and last fall became licensed with Maryland Athletics to support Terp teams’ name, image and likeness deals.

That effect intensified, and he began crafting player shirts for neighboring high schools Churchill and Clarksburg. Riding the momentum, he decided to “shoot for the stars,” he says, and formed relationships with members of LeBron’s AAU team, Strive for Greatness. He flew out to its events to meet players and give them their custom tees, including now-Minnesota Timberwolves guard Robert Dillingham.

“His one-of-a-kind ability to talk to anybody is one thing that stands out,” says logistics, business and public policy Senior Lecturer Humberto Coronado, one of Chaudhary’s instructors. “Milan is not afraid to talk to the president of a company, to the president of the University of Maryland, to the president of the largest corporation.”

His UMD marketing courses helped him land clients like the Washington Commanders, including a collection with HBCU schools like Bowie State and Morgan State, and more. But the company really blew up when he created the Crab 5 shirt. He collaborated with the men’s basketball team on a three-month NIL agreement, and after the team posted it on X, it garnered 800,000 views and over $10,000 in revenue for the players, who received 70% of the profits.

“It was amazing to be a student as well as to handle a handle high-profile deal with the university, accessing the trademarks,” he says.

After that short-term contract, his new official licensing agreement will help him create products for more Terp squads, as well as for Testudo himself. Now with a team of employees and a factory for larger-scale production, he credits his UMD education with helping him get there.

“A lot of professors here at the Smith School have made themselves available because they really, truly believe in entrepreneurs,” he says. “Without them, I don’t think I would be as successful.”

Click on the left and right arrows below for a gallery of five of his top tees. 

UMD is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to boost human potential, promoting its trustworthy and responsible use throughout society. We’re preparing students from all majors to thrive in an AI-integrated workforce.

The university’s hub for AI collaboration is the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM). With donor support, AIM can continue to develop new AI majors, minors, certificates and graduate degrees and expand a research seed award program to steer this revolutionary field for the benefit of all.

Long a leader in quantum science, UMD is accelerating a statewide effort to amp up discovery and economic growth in a field that holds the potential to revolutionize education, health care and commerce.

The beating heart of the Capital of Quantum is the research underway in campus landmarks like the Physical Sciences Complex, the IDEA Factory and the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering. Here, our faculty and students continually lay the groundwork for a growing ecosystem of quantum startups and innovation that extend from UMD’s Discovery District to the entire region.

Learn more about UMD’s quantum facilities with this interactive map. Click on each building icon for info on research happening inside.

Frederick Douglass wrote back in 1845, “Once you learn to read, you’ll be forever free.” That rings true today: Children who reach adulthood without knowing how to read or write are at risk of being unable to find a job, access health care or even vote.

Through the Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity (MILE), UMD faculty have partnered with school districts across the state to create research-based teacher training and instructional strategies, professional development opportunities, and new tools to engage families and communities with the goal of boosting students’ reading scores.

One example is researchers’ work with nonprofits including Open Source Phonics and Reading University, which offer free materials and activities for the classroom and home.

Novice readers must learn 29 high-frequency words by heart that don’t follow traditional phonics rules and have unique, irregular spelling and pronunciations. Think what, said and you. Can you find the “heart words” in this quiz, adapted from the organizations’ websites?

UMD’s initiatives in K-12 classrooms, across higher education and beyond prepare the next generation of voters to participate in the democratic process and create a more just society for all.

The flood of information coming from your phone and laptop can be relentless—and it’s hard to parse what’s real and what’s not as you scroll through attention-grabbing headlines and flashy graphics.

Now imagine being 13 and trying to navigate this chronic chaos.

“Students aren’t very good at evaluating information online ... but that’s where they are turning for news,” says Associate Professor Sarah McGrew, a misinformation expert. That’s why she works with social studies teachers in middle and high schools. “If we teach strategies explicitly to help students find credible information and identify misinformation, we help them make better decisions.”

Her work is part of a broader push across UMD to promote civic education and engagement through the Maryland Democracy Initiative, which has been supported by more than $6 million in gifts from Marsha ’64 and Henry Laufer.

Does the made-up social media graphic below seem credible? Hover over where the red arrows are pointing in the image below to get McGrew’s tips on how to pick out what’s real and what’s not.

Our ambitious campuswide initiative bridges the arts, tech and sciences to spark important conversations, expand understanding and kick-start action. Immersive programs, pop-up performances and other arts explorations fire our imagination and reveal our shared humanity.

We rev up Terrapin pride by supporting student-athletes in the game and in the classroom and by rallying alums through the Alumni Association’s donor-funded programs that merge passion and purpose.

The Forward campaign will elevate UMD’s championship culture and empower young people to realize their full potential by supporting scholarships and career development programs and allowing Maryland Athletics to thrive in the revenue-sharing era.