By Chris Carroll | Photos by UMCP and UMB; collage by Stephanie S. Cordle
Scientists, scholars, doctors and engineers from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) have collaborated for years to develop futuristic medical training, fight human trafficking, advance unmanned flight and much more.
This teamwork has been newly recognized by the preeminent measure of academic research activity—the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey—which now links the institutions as a single enterprise with research expenditures of $1.1 billion. The University of Maryland claims the No. 7 spot in research and development spending among public institutions and ranks 14th among all U.S. universities in fiscal year 2019. For 2018, UMCP ranked 29th and UMB was listed at 47th.
The societal impact of University of Maryland research has expanded under the MPowering the State (MPower) initiative. Founded in 2012, the strategic partnership paved the way for the universities to combine their research offices under Vice President for Research Laurie E. Locascio.
UMCP President Darryll J. Pines says the partnership results in a world-class research enterprise—“one with the power, depth and reach to discover knowledge, innovations and technologies. These advances are vital to meeting the challenges facing our world, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and racial, economic and health care injustice.”
