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PARTNERS ARE ESSENTIAL (contd.)
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS AND INITIATIVES
Research funding. UM's success in direct research funding speaks to the excellence of its scholars and their capacity for innovation. In FY06 the University of Maryland faculty raised $350 million in research funds, up from $330 million in FY05. $240 million was from federal sources, $31 million from state, $17.7 million from corporate and $14 million from foundations. Other sources accounted for $42.5 million.
UM's federal partnerships: This year brought the birth of the Joint
Quantum Institute, a collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency. This joint research institute was designed to advance quantum physics research and applications—utilizing nature at the subatomic level. The partnership exploits UM's stellar physics department and long partnerships with NSA and NIST. Located on campus, JQI will have an annual budget of $6 million and a staff of 20 scientists, half from the University and half from NIST, and over time it will attract the best quantum physics expertise from around the world.
The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to
Terrorism (START) was launched at UM this year, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Excellence to study the causes of terrorism and recruitment of terrorists. The Center will be a hub for research on the social science of terrorism, involving the best researchers from more than 35 universities and 15 research institutes, working together under the guidance of START researchers at UM. The Center will research why people become terrorists, how they are recruited, how they can be dissuaded, and the country's responses to terrorism. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary of Science and Technology, Jay Cohen, describes START as the
model for DHS Centers of Excellence.
New research initiatives break ground for the future of the University, the State, and even the nation. They combine the best of innovation with the best of scholarship. A new Center
for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST) has been established in cooperation with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. NASA will support the center at $7.5 million annually over the next five years. The research focus is high energy astrophysics, including neutron stars, black holes and extremely hot gases across the universe.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has designated UM a Tier
I University Transportation Center (UTC). Each of 10 UTC's nationally can receive up to $1 million per year beginning in FY 2007 to "advance
U.S. technology and expertise in the many disciplines comprising transportation." Senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski announced UM's selection.
CapWIN has created the first multi-state, multi-disciplinary public safety and transportation network in the United States. Providing state-of-the-art wireless integrated mobile data technology to first responders in the region, the CapWIN solution enhances greatly communication and information sharing across agencies. 68 local, state and federal government agencies are listed as users and more than 2,000 first responders are currently participating in the CapWIN program, including the Maryland State Police and State Highway Administration, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.
CARMA. Last May we formally opened a world premier astronomy instrument. The magnificent array of millimeter radio astronomy telescopes was formed by combining, at a single site, dishes owned by Caltech, Berkeley, Illinois and Maryland. The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) cost $15 million to construct and its annual NSF operating/scientific budget is about $5 million.
The Center for Food Systems, Security and Safety within the College
of Agriculture and Natural Resources was established this year to address U.S. food and water supply safety. The center will address the security of food supplies and the food system from the field to the dinner table on a local, national and global scale. This is agriculture's new and critical problem.
The Center for Integrative Environmental Research, established in 2006, provides a focal point for multidisciplinary environmental research and collaboration on local, regional, and national levels. It addresses the complex environmental challenges that face society, particularly the competition among environmental, economic and social forces.
NASA awarded $728,000 to the Institute for Systems Research in the Clark School of Engineering for the first year of a three-year collaborative research project to develop
models and concepts for the next generation air traffic flow management system. Minimizing delays as air traffic increases is a primary purpose of the study. UM leads a consortium that includes UC Berkeley, MIT, Virginia Tech and Metron Aviation.
The Maryland Pathogen Research Institute unites faculty engaged in innovative pathogen research within existing government agencies, private sector and academic institutions. The Institute is a national resource developing cures and preventive measures, detecting pathogens in water-borne environments, identifying pathogens and determining strategies to minimize impact on U.S. citizens.
The University of Maryland Energy Research Center addresses seven areas: hydrogen fuel-cell systems; small-scale power systems for mobile electronics and small-scale propulsion systems; advanced nano-film solar energy conversion; next-generation nuclear reactors for power and transportation applications; bioprocesses for fuel production; fusion; and oil recovery, transport and processing. Additionally, the Center will address energy policy and economics. It is a principal thrust of the Clark School.
The government awarded UM and Johns Hopkins a Center of Excellence in
Machine Language Translation. When considered along with the Center
for Advanced Study of Language, UM leads the effort nationally in language, culture and cognition from both the social science and technology perspectives.
The Institute for Dexterous Space Robotics. The A. James Clark School of Engineering will partner with Stanford and Carnegie Mellon to create the Space Systems Laboratory, a consortium for advanced 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 in partnership with space-suited astronauts. Students will be heavily engaged in this program.
Homeland Security. UM research plays an increasingly important role in fields that impact our national security. The Avian Flu Virus Program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources continues its study of the transmission of the avian influenza virus. The Laboratory for Computational and Cultural Dynamics through UMIACS is developing software that helps decision makers best engage with special interest groups (terror groups, for example) and learn about the behaviors of different cultural groups around the world. The
Center for Advanced Transportation Technology established CapCOM to facilitate operational coordination and communication in response to terrorism emergencies. The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute is working with the Maryland NanoCenter to develop a nanoscale sensor system that can detect exceedingly small quantities of explosives, chemicals and other hazardous materials. UM researchers from the Clark School of Engineering are teaming up with local businesses through the Maryland
Industrial Partnerships Program to develop the first video system capable of recognizing terrorists in real time, and a weapon detection system that scans people for weapons in open spaces—such as airports, train stations or subway terminals—as they walk by. UM is developing a fast, three-dimensional x-ray baggage screening system to detect explosives. All of these projects have direct implications for security, a high priority for the federal government, the largest employer in the State. UM's ability to train specialists who will work in the high-tech business sector and attract business start-ups in cutting-edge security fields is just one of its many contributions to the State's economy.
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