A WORLD-CLASS UNIVERSITY PIONEERS BASIC RESEARCH OF HIGHEST IMPACT

The State’s position as a leader in science and technology requires constant vigilance. To compete in the international playing field we must match initiatives coming out of Asia, a region that has rapidly increased its global market shares in science and technology jobs. As Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation, noted:

“The United States is at a pivotal point in our history. Competition is heating up around the world with millions of industrious, highly educated workers who are willing to compete at salaries far below those paid here. The only way we can hope to compete is with brains and ideas that set us above the competition—and that only comes from investments in education and R&D." ¹⁰

To support and expand its research activities the University needs quality space. The current space deficiency of 1.1 million sq. ft. according to State standards (on a base of 6.9 million sq. ft.) is projected to grow to 1.8 million sq. ft. by 2016, aggravating already serious problems of inadequate classroom and laboratory space. Of this shortfall, research space deficiency exceeds 750,000 sq. ft. Furthermore, much of our existing space is seriously in need of renovation. Sixty-nine percent of all University System of Maryland State-supported space that is over 50 years old is at um, which leads to a deferred maintenance backlog of $625 million. More than 32 percent of all State-supported space on campus is over 50 years old, and 800,000 sq. ft. that is over 40 years old has never been renovated.

Advances in basic research that have highest impact are made continually at the University of Maryland. These contributions enhance the welfare of the people of the State, contribute to the State’s economy and address pressing problems that face our nation. For example:

SAFE, RECYCLABLE PLASTICS

Professor Lawrence Sita has invented a technology that creates a variety of recyclable, pure plastics. Developed over eight years, Sita’s technology can produce plastic products, with no additives or as blends, in about any form. With the banning of plastics with potentially dangerous additives, Sita’s technology could fill the gap created. Among many applications, food packaging and plastics for medical devices are currently targeted.

A prototype of a “super” computer, called “ParaLeap,” working at speeds 100 times faster than current desktops, has been developed in the A. James Clark School of Engineering. Led by Professor Uzi Vishkin and based on parallel processing on a single chip, this technology may be the basis for the next generation of personal computers.

The University’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) established the Global Terrorism Database, the world's largest unclassified database of terrorist incidents. Now online and available for general use by researchers, policy-makers, media and the general public, the database contains information on 80,000 terror incidents from 1970-2004. START is a University of Maryland-federal partnership, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Excellence. The database is available at www.start.umd.edu/dta/gtd.

The Department of Geography pioneered the use of satellite images to monitor fires and deliver information quickly to disaster management teams and resource managers. The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) is a partnership with the nasa Goddard Space Flight Center. The FIRMS helped the U.S. Northern Command fight the Fall 2007 wildfires in Southern California. firms uses the Internet to deliver maps of fire locations in their geographic context. The fire locations are generated from NASA modis instruments on two polar orbiting satellites imaging the Earth four times per day. FIRMS was recognized by the Northern Command for helping with its strategic support for fire fighters in Southern California. The FIRMS is also working with the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization to establish this capability for international disaster management.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has renewed its $5 million grant to the National Research Initiative Coordinated Agricultural Project on Avian Influenza. The University has led the consortium for the last three years. The consortium includes 13 institutions across the United States, including the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. The University’s Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology conducted the first large-scale sequencing of the western genomes of the deadly avian influenza virus.

The Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC)/Atmospheric and Oceanic Science is leading a two-year demonstration project on a Regional “Earth System” Model of the Chesapeake Bay region. This past year essic initiated a pilot project to develop an expert decision-support tool to provide integrated climate change analyses and prediction capabilities for the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

The University is also responding to the increased demand for Middle East language training. This year our four-year-old Center for Persian Studies expanded its faculty, programs and research with financial support from the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, allowing more students to study the languages and cultures of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. Also growing on campus are the National Flagship Language Program in Persian and the National Flagship Language Program in Arabic. The University also added a new Chair in Israel Studies, another component in the integrative approach to teaching Middle East Studies. 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.

Developing alternate and more efficient energy sources is a high research priority for the University. Using potentially ground-breaking technology, um researchers are developing a process to turn nearly any substance made of plant matter into its constituent sugars, which can then be fermented into ethanol.

The University is striving to increase research and educational efforts and to reduce human impact on the Earth’s climate. Faculty and students are working across disciplines on large-scale environmental problems in the Center for Integrated Environmental Research and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). ESSIC will move into M Square Research Park, along with climate scientists from NOAA, NASA and the Department of Energy. ESSIC is a joint center between the University of Maryland Departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology and Geography together with the Earth Sciences Directorate at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. This year their research funding grew by 50 percent, from $8 to $12 million.

The Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) combines the quantum physics expertise of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences; the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences. JQI will grow to 30 fellows and become a premier research center in quantum phenomena. It has already won $5 million in research grants, greatly accelerating research in the first two years of its existence.

University of Maryland astronomers are leading a $40 million nasa effort to use the Deep Impact spacecraft to study planets outside our solar system and then fly the craft to within 620 miles of the comet Hartley 2 for a close look. The mission is a partnership between the University, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation.

Software developed by a team at the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies is at the forefront of helping the National Archives preserve federal records. The Producer-Archive Workflow Network software (PAWN) will enable agencies to submit their records safely over the Internet to the planned Electronic Records Archive.

A new School of Public Health was launched, creating graduate programs in Health Administration, Health Services, Epidemiology, and Maternal and Child Health. The School will serve the State’s public health needs for research in several critical areas, with an emphasis on the health care of underserved populations. By applying a broad array of health promotion and disease prevention strategies, the School aims to improve quality of life across an extended life span. Its collaboration with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, will increase the high-quality research on behavioral, physical and environmental health concerns of populations at risk for disease and injury.

A new Bioscience Research building, so critical to expanding research in the biosciences and biomedical sciences, opened in September. Generously funded by the State, the building is a major catalyst in the elevation of our productivity, providing 33 laboratories focused on three high-impact areas of the biological sciences: host-pathogen interactions, comparative and functional genomics, and sensory neuroscience.