The Maryland Department of Commerce approves $1 million in matching grants to support new research professorships at Goucher College and Bowie State University.
The Maryland Department of Commerce, Bowie State University and Goucher College have endowed more than $2 million in new research professorships. The endowments were made through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund (MEIF), a state program created to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields at colleges and universities. The schools raised a total of $1 million in private funding and Maryland Commerce approved matching grants of $1 million to support the endowments.
“The past year has shown us time and time again why innovative thinking and creative new ideas are essential to Maryland’s economic prosperity. We can never be sure what obstacles life will throw in our path,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly M. Schulz. “By supporting these professorships, Commerce is helping make sure that some of the sharpest minds in Maryland continue their important work.”
Bowie State University will use the $500,000 Maryland E-Nnovation award to establish an endowed chair of cybersecurity, who will serve as the director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies in the Department of Computer Science. The initiative will create a Bowie State ecosystem of cyber innovators, infuse entrepreneurship and technology in the STEM curriculum, and enhance Bowie State’s pipeline of students from traditionally underrepresented communities to become cybersecurity leaders.
Goucher College received matching funds of $500,000 from the Maryland Department of Commerce for a total of $1,000,000 to support the endowed professorship in integrative data analytics. This data science faculty position will support Goucher’s new integrative data analytics major and lead programming to develop students’ skills that can be applied to data analytics in local, state, and federal governmental agencies, as well as with non-profit organizations and local and global corporations.
The Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative was created by the General Assembly during the 2014 legislative session and has provided more than $54.3 million in funding to leverage more than $60.6 million in private donations. The funding can be used to pay salaries of newly endowed department chairs, staff, and support personnel in designated scientific and technical fields of study; fund related research fellowships for graduate and undergraduate students; and purchase lab equipment and other basic infrastructure and materials.
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