By Nicole Blanchard

This February, the University of Maryland earned a top 10 ranking in the National Science Foundation’s fiscal survey of Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) programs.

In the highest HERD ranking ever received by the university, UMD placed eighth out of all public institutions in research and development spending and 14th overall for the fiscal year of 2019. 

Laurie E. Locascio was appointed to lead the program as Vice President of Research for the university in 2018. She believes that the success and growth of UMD research is directly linked to their effort to focus on national priorities.

Particularly, the social divisions, pandemic and other issues of the past year have become a focus for the University of Maryland. Most of the research and development funding at UMD comes from the federal research budget, but some of it is provided by philanthropic organizations that fund research towards nationwide challenges.

“Our research funding really reflects those national priorities, which I think fund some of the hardest problems that exist today,” Locascio said. “Really, a lot of the new funding was related to research and infectious diseases like COVID, specifically.”

In addition to research pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and opioid crisis research expanded due to the growth of UMD’s research and development budget.

Dr. Eric Weintraub, a UMD associate professor of psychiatry, said the opioid epidemic in the United States has shifted his research focus towards developing innovative strategies to help patients with opioid use disorder.

Providing increased access to evidence-based treatments is the root of the opioid crisis solution, Weintraub said. He now focuses on providing telemedical access to those with opioid use disorder in rural areas.

“There’s been an influx of money to try to study interventions that can help stop this increase,” Weintraub said.

When it comes to the opioid epidemic, medication is the treatment of choice, according to Weintraub. Increasing the availability of addiction treatment medication in poorer regions hit hard by the epidemic is essential to combat the crisis.

“There’s just a lack of access to providers who can offer those medications in certain areas,” Weintraub said. “We’re trying to bridge that gap by piping out our expertise from the University of Maryland School of Medicine into underserved rural areas.”

Some of the more notable funding increases acquired by Weintraub include a grant to develop a care system for incarcerated individuals with opioid use disorder. This care system is currently implemented in three county jails on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

The opioid crisis is not the only pressing social issue that is receiving help from UMD research.

Longtime UMD student and current PhD scholar Julie Cohen is currently working within the hearing and speech sciences program, focusing on how humans understand speech in real world environments. She has been at the University of Maryland for over a decade, and said that she has seen substantial growth in the research and development program in the past few years.

“I’ve been at the university for probably way too long,” Cohen joked. “I did my undergraduate coursework and my clinical doctorate, so I’ve seen the department evolve over the last decade.”

She said she had nothing but positive things to say about the growth of the department. Cohen revealed the success of the graduate research program can’t only be seen through the increase in funding, but through the passion of each individual involved. 

And she is not alone. Locascio also expressed pride and confidence in UMD’s higher education research.

“It’s just exciting to see us contribute in a really productive way, with our brilliant researchers, to probably the hardest thing that’s ever happened to the United States in my lifetime,” Locascio agreed.

Looking towards the future of UMD research, Locascio believes climate science is the next big pocket for development.

“Science is highly valued in this administration. And we really think that that funding is going to remain strong and even grow stronger,” she said.

Featured image: The University of Maryland placed eighth out of all public institutions in research and development spending in the National Science Foundation’s fiscal survey of Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) programs.

Photo by Sarah Natchipolsky