|
|
 |
Major Grants, Research Activity, Academic Initiatives
Direct research awards from all sources totaled more than $407 million, an increase of $58 million (over 16%) over last year. 90 proposals requesting greater than $1million were awarded in FY07. To name just a few, the Joint
Quantum Institute (JQI), established by NIST, UM, and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences was funded at $20 million over 5 years. The Avian
Influenza Virus Program in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine was funded for over $10 million over 4-5 years. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. Department of Defense
awarded $4.9 million to the National Foreign Language
Center to establish the Startalk Pilot Immersion Summer Camp Program. The Center
for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector won a $6.9 million grant from USAID for the "Ecuador Business Environment Improvement and Private Sector Leadership Project." The team of UM, College Park, UM Baltimore County, and the Universities Space Research Association was selected by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to establish and operate the Center
for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST) with an initial award of $8 million.
2006 saw the birth of the Center for Integrative
Environmental Research (CIER) in the School of Public Policy, addressing critical environmental, technological, economic and policy issues. CIER initiated the first study to look at the economic and environmental effects of having a heavy coal-based electric generation state like Maryland join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The CIER is currently conducting a green house gas inventory of the University to be completed by May, 2008.
The University of Maryland Energy
Research Center (UMERC) was also launched this year. UMERC is a multidisciplinary initiative dedicated to research on alternative energy generation and storage, as well as research on energy policy, economics, and education. Formed in the Fall of 2006 the UMERC is directing its efforts toward several energy related fields including renewable technologies such as fuel cells and hydrogen, and advanced solar and biomass technology. Other research directions include nuclear power and fusion, small-scale power sources, and energy policy. This year the Center received a substantial grant from the Petroleum Institute of the United Arab Emirates ($4 million) to support energy research and instruction.
The National Consortium for the Study of
Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) entered its second year at UM, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Excellence to study the causes of terrorism and recruitment of terrorists. Among its many accomplishments in the first year, START launched a new database of terrorism attacks. The world's largest unclassified database of terrorism attacks, the Global Terrorism Database is now online. Available for general use by researchers, policy-makers, media and the general public it is an important tool that the researchers say may aid in the development of more effective responses to terrorism.
The A. James Clark School of Engineering Space
Systems Laboratory partnered this year with Stanford and Carnegie Mellon to create a consortium for advanced robotics, the Institute for Dexterous Space Robotics. Designed to address NASA's current and future needs, the Institute will focus on creating robotic technologies for applications ranging from large space telescope construction and maintenance, to in-orbit assembly of interplanetary spacecraft, to surface exploration of the moon and Mars. The Institute was awarded $3.2 million this year by NASA.
Research funding for the Earth Systems Science
Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) grew by 50% this year. FY06 awards totaled $8 million and jumped to $12 million in FY07. A joint center affiliated with three UM departments—Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology and Geography—and the Earth Sciences Directorate at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, its research cuts across several traditional disciplinary boundaries. Areas of specialization include climate variability and change, atmospheric composition and processes, the global carbon cycle and the global water cycle. Together these topics provide a foundation for understanding and forecasting changes in the global environment and regional implications.
The University of Maryland has launched the Maryland
Pathogen Research Institute (MPRI), to study microorganisms that cause infectious diseases. The newly created Institute will bring together leaders in the biosciences, computational sciences, engineering and nanosciences. These innovative collaborations within MPRI share the goal of developing a comprehensive research program to find new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent the spread of pathogens.
A new Plant Protection Center was established within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR). This initiative, sponsored by AGNR and the College of Chemical and Life Sciences aims to secure and enhance Maryland Cooperative Extension's core education and diagnostic services relating to plant protection. It also aims to build a national research, academic and training program in plant diagnostics and protection through expanded partnerships with nearby USDA-Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
The Maryland School of Public Policy (MSPP) celebrated its 25th Anniversary with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer as the keynote speaker on campus. The School continued to take advantage of its proximity to Washington, D.C. to enrich its students' academic training and to partner with experienced public policy makers. Its faculty and scholars are often drawn from important government positions or Washington, DC think-tanks. MSPP is a natural bridge for high-value internships for students as well. This year ten MSPP students were named 2007 Presidential Management Fellows and one was named a White House Fellow (out of only 15 in the nation). These are both records for MSPP.
The Center for Firefighter Safety
Research and Development in the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute was awarded its largest grant ever, $915,000 from the Department of Homeland Security. The award will allow for funding of research projects that improve firefighter location and accountability, prediction of gear performance, a new temperature warning system, and a firefighter assessment and screening project.
The Astronomy Department continues to soar, building on its recent contributions to the Deep Impact mission with a scheduled September launch of the Dawn mission. Led by UM co-investigator Lucy McFadden, the mission will explore the two largest objects in the asteroid belt in an effort to answer questions about the formation of our solar system. Over the past four years, Maryland astronomers have won three of the major prizes awarded by the American Astronomical Society. Continuing this tradition, Mukul Kundu was awarded the George Ellery Hale Prize this year, the top international prize in solar astronomy, recognizing outstanding contributions over an extended period. Kundu's contributions include demonstrating that solar radio flux can be used as measure of the Sun's effect on the Earth's ionosphere, and identification of the link between hard X-rays and microwave emission in solar flares. Lee Mundy was also appointed Director of CARMA, the most powerful millimeter-wave telescope in the world. CARMA began science observations in 2007 and is a partnership with the California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois.
Another reorganization is taking place in the College
of Education which recently divided the Department of Education Policy and Leadership into two new departments: Department
of Education Policy Studies, and the Department
of Education, Leadership, Higher Education, and International Education. This change makes it possible for the two new units to better respond to the twin challenges of preparing effective school leaders and grounding education policy and practice in highest quality research. It will also enable the College to have a more sharply focused mission and structure that can be more responsive.
In addition to these changes, two additional Masters' degrees were approved this year, in Real
Estate Development and Landscape Architecture. Several new Post-Baccalaureate Certificates were also approved: Population Studies, Neuroscience and Cognitive Studies, Literacy Coaching, and Terrorism Analysis.
People
|
|
