Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pride that we share some exciting news. The University of Maryland has achieved its highest ranking ever in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey.

For the first time, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) were linked together as one research enterprise in the ranking, with combined research expenditures of $1.1 billion. This expanded research effort earned us a ranking of 14th overall and eighth among public institutions. Previously, we ranked separately in Fiscal Year 2018 as No. 55 (UMB) and No. 47 (UMCP).

With this new ranking, the state of Maryland joins an elite group of six states with more than one research university conducting research at or above $1 billion per year.

The MPowering the State (MPower) partnership — made possible by the late Honorable Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, Gov. Larry Hogan, Sen. Bill Ferguson, and the Maryland General Assembly — paved the way for this recognition. The partnership, originally launched in 2012 and further advanced by the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership Act passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2016, was further formalized in 2018 with the appointment of one vice president for research to lead the joint research enterprise.

We recognize the superb work being done as part of MPower including 25 programs and centers, such as the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, Maryland Blended Reality Center, Center for Brain Health and Human Performance, and Support, Advocacy, Freedom and Empowerment (SAFE) Center for Human Trafficking Survivors. 

We are grateful to the staff and faculty who have worked tirelessly to advance our research efforts on important issues including:

• police-community relationships and expanding research and training;
• neuroscience, virtual and augmented reality, biomedical devices, and data analytics; and
• the opioid epidemic in Maryland and the United States.

Recent research initiatives include responding to COVID-19 and the threat of future pandemics. The teams address the pandemic from multidisciplinary angles including medicine, engineering, pharmacy, and social and behavioral science, and are already working to improve acceptance of vaccines among minority communities, develop new rapid testing methods, and better understand the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

We are excited by this recognition and cannot wait to see what this transformative research enterprise holds for all of us in the future. We commend our vice president for research, Laurie Locascio, PhD, MSc, who oversees the joint research enterprise. 

Thank you all for your continued efforts and commitment to excellence. This is a proud day for Maryland. 

Sincerely,

Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS

President

University of Maryland, Baltimore

Darryll J. Pines, PhD, MS

President

University of Maryland, College Park