UMBC
Honors and ACHIEVEMENTS
RESEARCH
Achievements
In terms of funding, UMBC
is among the fastest-growing research universities, fueling knowledge
creation through strategic partnerships and interdisciplinary discoveries.
The
University attracts over $54 million in federal grants and contracts,
including major awards to address such critical issues as teacher
education and the environment. A $10-million
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education project
is strengthening teachers’ skills in the Baltimore County
Public Schools. The Center for History Education received four
$1 million U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History
grants to provide summer seminars for 231 teachers in six Maryland
counties.
In terms
of funding, UMBC is among the fastest-growing research universities. The
University’s research
funding has grown to $87 million, up from $36 million in 1996.
UMBC ranks
second among U.S. universities in NASA funding, according
to U.S. Census Bureau data. The university’s NASA-funded
centers are the Joint Centers for Earth Systems Technology, the
Joint Center for Astrophysics, Goddard Earth Systems and Technology
Center, the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research and
the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology.
UMBC’s research
park and technology
incubator are playing a direct role in Maryland’s
economic development. A study of the economic impact
of bwtech@UMBC, the University’s research park, and techcenter@UMBC,
its technology incubator, shows 841 direct jobs at the facilities
generating more than 2,000 total jobs in Maryland and an $11
return on each state dollar invested.
UMBC faculty are consistently among the winners of the
NSF Career Awards, grants made to young scientists who
show exceptional promise in their research. In recent years (2001-06),
10 UMBC faculty received these prestigious awards, a rate of
success that compares favorably to Georgetown, Brandeis and Tufts.
According to Thomson Scientific's Science Watch,
UMBC's geoscience research ranked third nationally in citation
impact for 2001-2005. The only other U.S. universities
producing more frequently cited geoscience research papers were
Harvard University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The University is one of 22 select institutions, including
Yale, Cornell and Duke, to receive
a three-year grant from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)
to support increased completion rates in doctoral programs.
UMBC will use the grant to collect and submit data on doctoral
completion and attrition implement such support strategies as
mentoring and financial assistance and develop rigorous assessment
tools to measure the impact of these efforts.
UMBC’s research
park is growing rapidly, with three buildings completed
and two more underway. Currently housing 500,000 square
feet of office and lab space, bwtech@UMBC and techcenter@UMBC are
home to more than 40 companies. These companies employ nearly
100 students and 50 alumni and have research collaborations
with more than 40 faculty members.
Twelve
new technology companies were created through UMBC’s ACTiVATE (Achieving the Commericialization of Technology inVentures Through
Applied Training for Entrepreneurs), and over 70 women
have been trained to date in technology entrepreneurship. ACTiVATE
is supported by a highly competitive NSF partnership for Innovation
Program grant and is a collaboration among the public, private
and academic sectors. The program received a 2007 Innovation Award
from The Association of University Research Parks and the U.S.
Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s 2008
award for Best Specialty Entrepreneurship Education Program.
Two UMBC companies received 2007 Maryland Incubator Company
of the Year awards. Lentigen Corporation won in the
Life Science Companies category (Amulet Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
another UMBC company, was a finalist), and BDMetrics, Inc. won
in the Graduate Companies category.
UMBC historians have a long record of excellence in scholarly
research and publication. Within the past decade the department
(with an average of just 16 fulltime tenured and tenure-track
faculty) has produced more than 50 books. More than simply prolific,
publishers include the most prestigious presses in academic publishing (Oxford,
Princeton, Harvard, the University of North Carolina, the University
of Illinois, Johns Hopkins, and many others).
The Albin
O. Kuhn Library’s Photography Collections contain
more than 1.8 million images documenting the development
of photography from daguerreotypes to digital imaging. Holdings
that have influenced public thought or legislation include
the 5,400 photographs of child labor made by Lewis Hine and
the mining photographs (1870-1895) of George Bretz.
UMBC is headquarters for the Shakespeare Association of
America, a professional organization for college teachers
with approximately 1300 members.
Exhibitions organized by the Center for Art, Design and
Visual Culture have traveled to the
International Center for Photography, the Studio Museum in Harlem
and the Chicago Cultural Center. Albin O. Kuhn Library
Gallery exhibitions have traveled to the American Institute
for Graphic Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbus Museum
of Art and the University of Pennsylvania.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture won its third
American Association of Museums Publication Design award for Museums
of Tomorrow: A Virtual Discussion, designed by Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo,
professor and chair of visual arts.
*Last updated 3/14/2008
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