University of Maryland, Baltimore County Centers and Institutes

Last updated
UMBC Office of Research
Type Public
Established1966
Dean Karl V. Steiner
Location, ,
United States
Website

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) features a variety of research centers and institutes both based on the campus and affiliated with other academic institutions. These centers and institutes listed below seek out to expand their research, educate, and promote partnerships between the university and the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and beyond.

Contents

Research centers

Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship

The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship was established in Spring 2000 through a donation of $1 million from The Alex. Brown Foundation. [1] The Brown Center hosts two major events at UMBC: : The Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition in the spring, and UMBC's Idea Competition in the fall. [2] The center administers an Entrepreneurship Minor as well as other academic services. [3]

Center for Advanced Sensor Technology

The Center for Advanced Sensor Technology derived from faculty of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. CAST focuses on the development of sensing technologies: the chemistries, methods, systems and devices used in measuring various substances of interest to biotechnology, medicine, the environment, and homeland security. [4]

Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research

The Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) fosters advanced photonics research and technology development in the areas of optical communications, optical sensing and devices, nanophotonics, biophotonics, and quantum optics in order to benefit government, industry and scientific progress. [5]

Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) was established in 1989 as the Fine Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. [6] The center is the university's prime exhibition location where students, professors, staff and the public can experience visual culture along with cultural and aesthetic issues.

Center for Space Science and Technology

UMBC has several centers and institutes that work with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland NASA logo.svg
UMBC has several centers and institutes that work with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

The Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) is the administrative unit for the university's participation in the CRESST (Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology) consortium with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) are partners in the center's consortium. [7]

Center for Urban Environmental Research & Education

The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) was created in 2001 with support from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The facility is located in the Technology Research Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Baltimore, Maryland, allowing for opportunities for UMBC students and faculty. The center's focus is primarily on the relationship between natural and socioeconomic processes that occur in urban environments. CUERE's location allows for ample research opportunities in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. [8]

Center for Women in Technology

The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) was established at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in July 1998 to provide leadership in achieving women's full participation in all aspects of information technology. The center's original name was the "Center for Women and Information Technology", and it was founded to encourage women as both developers of information technology and to women's experiences as users of IT. [9] The original CWIT site included a large number of resources and links and served as a clearinghouse about women and information technology. [9] This work included focusing on K-12 education as well as supporting university students, and work force advancement and retention. [10] [11]

Dresher Center for the Humanities

A photograph of an ice stream of Recovery Glacier taken on a Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology mission with NASA Ice stream of Recovery Glacier from DC8.jpg
A photograph of an ice stream of Recovery Glacier taken on a Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology mission with NASA

The James T. and Virginia M. Dresher Center for the Humanities promotes interdisciplinary research and scholarship in the humanities among faculty, students and visiting scholars at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Founded in 1996, the Dresher Foundation has expanded its research mission in order to bring national attention to UMBC's impressive achievements in the humanities. [12]

Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center

The Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST) was created in 2000 when NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded a Cooperative Agreement to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to create a center of excellence in the Earth sciences. [13] The center works with a variety of partners such as Hampton University, Howard University, Caelum Research Corporation, and Northrop Grumman Corporation in order to develop collaborative research programs in all areas of the Earth sciences. [13]

Imaging Research Center

Founded in 1989, the Imaging Research Center (IRC) uses an entrepreneurial approach to leveraging new technologies and emerging media platforms to create connections between knowledge and people. IRC activities include research in 3D visualization, immersive technologies, interactive installations, feature-length films, social media, and mobile device applications. [14]

Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology

The Shriver Center was named for Former Ambassador to France, Sargent Shriver and his wife, philanthropist and activist, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (pictured right). Eunice-zurab.jpg
The Shriver Center was named for Former Ambassador to France, Sargent Shriver and his wife, philanthropist and activist, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (pictured right).

The Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) operates under a cooperative agreement between the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The center partners with Goddard to develop new technology for environmental remote sensing. [15]

Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver Center

The Shriver Center was created in December 1993 in honor of the life‚ work of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver in order to focus in an integrated way, the resources of the colleges and universities of Greater Baltimore on pressing urban issues of the region. [16] The center works alongside the Career Services Center as a hub for student career development related to internships, co-ops, and research opportunities. Other features include the Shriver Peaceworkers Fellow Program, service learning, scholar programs, scholarships, and career counseling. [17]

UMBC Center for Cybersecurity

The UMBC Center for Cybersecurity is an interdisciplinary university center that unifies the university's cybersecurity capabilities. The center provides both Maryland and the nation with academic and research leadership, collaboration, innovation, and outreach in this critical discipline by streamlining academic, research, workforce development, and technology incubation activities. [18]

The Center for Cybersecurity offers a concentration in Information Assurance Concentration for undergraduate students pursuing a degree in Information Systems. [19] In addition, the center offers a M.P.S. in Cybersecurity and a certificate in Cybersecurity Strategy and Policy. [20]

UMBC AI Center

The UMBC AI Center is an interdisciplinary center established in 2024 to help support and promote faculty, staff, and students in research and education in all areas of Artificial Intelligence. It includes more than 50 faculty members with research interests in AI and related areas, including robotics, machine learning, data science, image processing, and natural language understanding. These faculty members work in 25 laboratories and research centers and teach many AI-related courses across departments and disciplines. [21]

Institutes

Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute

Founded in May 2011, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded a Cooperative Agreement to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to create a science center for collaborative research in Solar-Planetary Sciences at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. UMBC partners with the University of Maryland College Park and American University in an effort to develop collaborative research programs in all areas of the Heliophysics sciences. [22]

The Hilltop Institute

The Hilltop Institute at UMBC is a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities. Hilltop conducts cutting-edge data analytics and translational research on behalf of government agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations to inform public policy at the national, state, and local levels. [23]

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute at University of Maryland, Baltimore County is engaged in the research on application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to studies of the structure and function of proteins and macromolecular interactions. [24]

Institute of Fluorescence

The Institute of Fluorescence was founded in 2001 by Dr. Chris D. Geddes of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Approaches and concepts both developed and discovered by the group, such as Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF), Metal-Enhanced Chemiluminescence (MEC), Surface-Plasmon Coupled Phenomenon and the glucose-sensing contact lens, are both well-recognized, highly cited and currently used in laboratories around the world today. [25]

Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis & Research

The Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR) is the main center for social science and public policy research at UMBC. The center links the analytical resources of the university with policymakers in Maryland and the Baltimore region, conducting opinion research, policy analyses, and program evaluations on a variety of topics. MIPAR also administers the Center for Aging Studies at UMBC. [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Maryland, Baltimore County</span> University in Catonsville, Maryland, US

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs and the first university research park in Maryland. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".

Capitol Technology University is a private university in South Laurel, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The university was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute by a former US Navy Radioman. CREI changed its name to Capitol Institute of Technology in 1964, changed its name again to Capitol College in 1987, and assumed its present name in 2014. Capitol offers undergraduate and graduate programs specializing in engineering, computer science, information technology, and business. It is classified among "Special Focus Institutions—Schools of Engineering" and is a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Zuber</span> American astronomer (born 1958)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Mather</span> American astrophysicist and cosmologist (born 1946)

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Dr. Kimberly A. Weaver is an American astrophysics astronomer and professor. She has worked with NASA on several research projects. She is often seen on television programs about astronomy. She is an expert in the area of x-ray astronomy.

The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) was established at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in July 1998. The center's original name was the "Center for Women and Information Technology", and it was founded to encourage women as both developers of information technology and to women's experiences as users of IT. The original CWIT site included a large number of resources and links and served as a clearinghouse about women and information technology. This work included focusing on K-12 education as well as supporting university students, and work force advancement and retention. The center has included engineering majors since 2006, and in 2011 its name was changed to the Center for Women In Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Goddard Space Flight Center</span>

Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA's first, and oldest, space center. It is named after Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern rocketry. Throughout its history, the center has managed, developed, and operated many notable missions, including the Cosmic Background Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony M. Johnson</span> American physicist, ultrafast optics (born 1954)

Anthony Michael Johnson is an American experimental physicist, a professor of physics, and a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR), also situated on campus at UMBC. Since his election to the 2002 term as president of the Optical Society, formerly the Optical Society of America, Johnson has the distinction of being the first and only African-American president to date. Johnson's research interests include the ultrafast photophysics and nonlinear optical properties of bulk, nanostructured, and quantum well semiconductor structures, ultrashort pulse propagation in fibers and high-speed lightwave systems. His research has helped to better understand processes that occur in ultrafast time frames of 1 quadrillionth of a second. Ultrashort pulses of light have been used to address technical and logistical challenges in medicine, telecommunications, homeland security, and have many other applications that enhance contemporary life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Thomas</span> American data scientist and inventor

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The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) is located at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in Catonsville, Maryland. The center's focus is primarily on the relationship between natural and socioeconomic processes that occur in urban environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology</span>

The College of Engineering and Information Technology is one of three colleges at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The college offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in various engineering, computer science, and information systems programs for full and part-time students. The programs featured in the College of Engineering and Information Technology are ranked for top enrollments and degrees in several areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UMBC College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences</span> Undergraduate and graduate college at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery</span>

The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is the main library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Catonsville, Maryland. It is located in the center of the campus at the confluence of Academic Row and Walker Avenue. The library features 1 million+ books & bound journals, 1.9 million+ photographs and slides, 30,000+ sound recordings, 800,000+ microform pieces, 1,200+ linear feet of manuscripts/archives, 180,000+ government documents, and 100,000+ slides. In addition to the stacks, the Albin O. Kuhn Library also features the Library Gallery, the UMBC Special Collections, the Retriever Learning Center and Math Lab, Resources Learning Center, a cafe, and administrative offices.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Ashby</span> African-American polymer chemist

Valerie Sheares Ashby is an American chemist and university professor who currently serves as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She was the Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University from 2015 to 2022 and formerly chair of the chemistry department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2012 to 2015. With her research group, she holds ten patents. On April 4, 2022, it was announced that Ashby would assume the position of president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Anupam Joshi is the Oros Family Professor and Acting Dean of the UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology in the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA. He is also the Director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Ka Ming Lau</span> Chinese-American scientist

William Ka Ming Lau is a senior scientist at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, a research center at the University of Maryland and an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Maryland. A physicist by training, his research spans over 4 decades covering a wide range of topics in climate dynamics, tropical meteorology, ocean-atmosphere coupling, aerosol-water cycle interactions, and climate variability and change. Lau conducted pioneering research on atmospheric teleconnection, and the global monsoon climate system. He discovered the aerosol-monsoon regional feedback mechanism, i.e., the Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) effect that strongly modulate climate change in Asian monsoon regions. He was the senior author of a popular research reference book, “Intraseasonal Variability in the Atmosphere-Ocean Climate System”. As of November 2020, he has coauthored 297 refereed papers, with total citation = 33,932, h-index=101.

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