june 2012 | vol. 6, no.3 Research≤aryland@ connecting the university of maryland research community UMD, UMB Partnership to Fuel Highlights of New Knowledge, Innovation New Agreement • Formation of University of A strategic partnership between the state’s top Maryland Ventures to expand public research institutions is expected to signifi- technology transfer and university- cantly increase scientific knowledge, while also based startups spurring basic research and new ideas that can readily transfer from the laboratory to the • Streamlined administration of joint appointments and marketplace. joint grant submissions Officially known as MPowering the State, the agreement announced on March 1 • A Collaborative School of connects the University of Maryland and Public Health, joining the master’s the University of Maryland, Baltimore in in public health programs at both interdisciplinary research and scholar- institutions ship involving bioinformatics, biomedical • Increased research partnerships devices, public health and more. It eases in bioengineering and the health the paperwork for faculty submitting cross- sciences institutional research proposals and provides incentives for increasing entrepreneurial activity on • A new center in biomedical both campuses. informatics and imaging “Together, we’re going to magnify the scale of our educational training, research and commercializa- in health care and design the next tion of ideas that will have a broad impact across this generation of biomedical devices.” state and beyond,” says UMD President Wallace Loh. One research thrust will involve biomedi- Senior administrators from each campus have cal informatics and imaging, applying advanced been meeting regularly to identify and refine strate- computer science capabilities at UMD to patient gic objectives. This includes combining the master’s information gathered by UMB physicians. of public health programs at both institutions and of- “There’s been a surge of new data related to areas like genom- fering new courses in science, technology, engineer- genomics and proteins,” says Amitabh Varshney, ics, personalized ing and mathematics (STEM) at the Universities at director of the Institute for Advanced Computer medicine and complex Shady Grove. Studies at UMD. “We hope our computing resources therapeutics. “This will bring a wealth of new educational, can identify specific disease markers to address seri- These cross-institutional partnerships are im- research and outreach opportunities for faculty and ous health concerns like cancer, diabetes or autism.” perative for securing large federal research grants, students at both campuses,” says Ann Wylie, UMD’s The agreement establishes University of Maryland many of which require team-based proposals that senior vice president and provost. Ventures, which combines the resources of the two include both scientists and clinicians, says Ken Other plans call for improving the face-to-face institutions’ existing offices that promote technol- Gertz, UMD’s associate vice president for research interaction between clinicians in Baltimore and ogy transfer and commercialization. There are also development. faculty researchers in College Park, says Patrick plans to improve the management of joint grants, “The federal agencies recognize, just as we do, that O’Shea, UMD’s vice president for research and chief officials say, and enhance the established seed grant transformational discoveries demand a dedicated, research officer. program between UMD and UMB. multifaceted approach,” Gertz says. “We’ll con- “Our bioengineers and others may go on grand The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology tinue to provide increased resources for our faculty [medical] rounds in Baltimore,” O’Shea says. “They’ll Research (IBBR) in Shady Grove is also part of the researchers to seek out, apply for and win these see firsthand the problems that physicians face, strategic partnership. Officials foresee broader competitive grants that can ultimately impact some further motivating them to innovate new solutions collaboration between UMD, UMB and IBBR in key major scientific and societal challenges.” From Ideas, to Innovation, to Impact Patrick O’Shea, vice president for research and chief research officer, recently sat down to discuss the new strategic partnership between the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Q: Why is it important to have a permanent, structured all of these challenges will involve technology and Q: What new initiatives partnership between the two institutions? the hard sciences, but we also need experts to and concepts can incentivize address the economic, behavioral, cultural, social, faculty to bring their research O’Shea: We already have successful partnerships political and environmental aspects. So I strongly to market? with UMB, as evidenced by our seed grant program. believe that MPowering the State will involve almost Patrick O’Shea This new agreement will harmonize much of the O’Shea: The University every discipline on this campus. administrative processes that will allow for a much System of Maryland Board of Regents has recently deeper collaboration. Researchers at both universi- Q: How will combining the research and entrepreneurial added innovation and entrepreneurship to the ties want to focus on their scientific work, and not expertise of both institutions benefit the state of considerations in promotion and tenure policies. get bogged down in institutional bureaucracies. Maryland, and more broadly, innovation as a whole? Practical applications of a faculty member’s work could be anything from assessing how children learn Q: What new opportunities do you see for UMD O’Shea: Working with our colleagues in Baltimore, syntax and semantics to a startup company that faculty, including those not in the hard sciences or in we plan to rapidly move from ideas, to innovation, makes wearable energy storage systems. We want public health? to impact. This will be an important component of a culture where researchers and scholars in College diversifying the region’s economy. We want to cre- O’Shea: I’ve always said that what’s important in re- Park and Baltimore are not just patenting their ideas, ate an ecosystem of companies—many of which will search is what’s important to people. It comes down but are actively thinking about how to get those in- initially come from research at this university—mak- to water, health, energy, the environment, informa- novations out into society. ing it attractive for other companies to come into tion, security and metaphysical and philosophical the region. More information about the initiative is available at questionsLook to like the “Why Federal are Corner we here?” for information In today’s on world,higher education and the federal government. www.umresearch.umd.edu. If you have a specific topic you’d like to see discussed, contact Rae Grad, director of federal relations, at [email protected]. NEWFACULTY SPOTLIGHT We introduce you to new faculty and research scientists in the Maryland research community. Assessing Financial Strain in Older Adults Perla Guerrero is an assistant professor of Ameri- Can a healthy wallet lead to a better medical checkup? can studies. She researches comparative race and A university sociologist, working with a public health expert in Baltimore, wants ethnicity, immigration, space and place, labor and to better understand the association between financial strain and health, particu- 20th century U.S. history. larly among older adults. Jeremy Munday is an assistant professor of electri- Associate professor of sociology Joan Kahn is collaborating cal and computer engineering. He researches solar with Dawn Alley, an epidemiologist in UMB’s School of Medicine, energy conversion processes, with an emphasis on optics, photonics and thermodynamics. to crunch data from a National Institute on Aging-funded study of adults ages 50 and over. They are looking at the relationship Naomi Feldman is an assistant professor of linguis- between financial stress and health outcomes like chronic dis- tics. She uses tools from statistics and machine eases and physical functioning, taking into account an individual’s learning to formalize questions about at how people learn and represent the structure of their language. monetary “comfort” level. Joan Kahn “We believe that it’s not always about the actual state of a Yi Ting Huang is an assistant professor of hearing person’s finances,” says Kahn. “It’s often how peopleperceive how they’re doing and speech sciences. She researches language financially, whether they’re satisfied or constantly worried.” acquisition, psycholinguistics and cross-linguistic comparisons. For adults over the age of 50, Kahn says, worrying about paying the bills might lead to behaviors like not taking costly medications or eating unhealthy Hanna Lee is an assistant professor of accounting foods. This can result in serious health concerns like depression, hypertension and information assurance. She studies debt mar- kets, default prediction, disclosure and financial or diabetes. reporting quality. The research was initially funded by a seed grant program between UMD and UMB, with the researchers seeking additional federal funding this year. A long-term goal of the project, Kahn says, is to develop a model that can pre- dict which older adults are more susceptible to negative outcomes from financial strain, allowing for appropriate intervention strategies. FACULTY OTC Invention Gala Celebrates Milestone