This Second Initiative Provides $15M For Bold, Interdisciplinary Research Projects in Support of Public Good
Faculty and Extension personnel from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) are playing leading roles in 7 of the 11 projects selected for funding through the university's Grand Challenges Grants 2.0 program.
With an investment of nearly $15 million over three years, the grants aim to support interdisciplinary research projects addressing major societal challenges and are a signature component of the Fearlessly Forward strategic plan. The selected projects emerged from nearly 80 proposals involving 400 researchers from every college and school at UMD.
It’s the next step in an ongoing commitment to channel the university’s research power into advancing solutions for the public good. In 2023, the first round of Grand Challenges Grants committed $30 million to 50 projects—the largest investment of its kind in the university's history, resulting in an additional $55 million in external funding.
AGNR researchers are serving as principal investigators or co-principal investigators on 2.0 projects spanning environmental health, artificial intelligence, public health, agriculture, aquaculture and ecosystem resilience.
“These projects exemplify the power of interdisciplinary collaboration to generate new ideas, accelerate discovery and address the grand challenges facing communities in Maryland, across the nation and around the world,” said Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice and Vice President for Research Patrick O’Shea in an email announcing the selected projects to the campus community. “We are inspired by the vision and innovation reflected in these projects, and grateful to everyone who submitted proposals.”
Read on to learn about individual projects with AGNR leadership.
Institutional Awards
IN-PLACE: Interdisciplinary Network for Place-Based Learning, Action and Community-Engaged EnvironMental Health
PI: Associate Professor Jessica Magidson, Psychology; Co-PIs: Professor Byoung-Suk Kweon, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture; Senior Agent Alexander Chan, University of Maryland Extension; Associate Professor Jana VanderGoot, Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Assistant Professor Jayson Porter, History; Associate Professor Andrea Lopez, Anthropology; Associate Clinical Professor Amy Green, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership; Associate Professor Jennifer Roberts, Kinesiology; Assistant Professor Noah Triplett, Behavioral and Community Health.
IN-PLACE connects time spent in nature with evidence-based mental health care through community partnerships, research and campus programming to simultaneously address the interconnected challenges of mental health, environmental health and health disparities.
Impact Awards
Predictive Biology Hub for Human and Environmental Health
PI: Professor Joshua Weitz, Biology; Co-PIs: Professor and Chair Evan Economo, Entomology; Professor Meredith Gore, Geographical Sciences; Distinguished University Professor William Fagan, Biology; Assistant Professor Nikolas Francis, Biology; Professor Michelle Girvan, Physics; Associate Professor Philip Johnson, Biology; Associate Professor Haizhao Yang, Mathematics; Assistant Professor Nan Xu, Bioengineering.
This initiative develops new predictive tools to mitigate pandemics, improve human health outcomes, and sustain vital ecosystems in the face of emerging global threats across biological scales, from pathogens and ecosystems to brain networks and bioinspired design.
Team Awards
Maryland Initiative Against Superbugs (MAS)
PI: Assistant Professor Norberto Gonzalez-Juarbe, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics; Co-PI: Assistant Professor Seth Dickey, Veterinary Medicine.
This project focuses on the discovery and engineering of bacteriophage: viruses that infect and kill bacteria. It will combine AI, computational modeling and experimental validation to identify and optimize bacteriophage, or phage, therapies capable of precisely targeting and killing drug-resistant superbugs.
Gut-Healing Smart Pill
PI: Assistant Professor Younggeon Jin, Animal and Avian Sciences; Co-PIs: Distinguished University Professor Reza Ghodssi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute for Systems Research; Assistant Research Scientist Justin Stine, A. James Clark School of Engineering; Associate Professor Katharina Maisel, Bioengineering.
This project is developing a smart, swallowable capsule that precisely targets and activates the gut's natural repair mechanisms to heal damaged intestinal tissue, aiming to reduce surgical interventions, improve patient outcomes and lower the enormous costs of inflammatory bowel disease care.
The Air We Share: A Public Health Revolution for the 21st Century
PI: Distinguished University Professor Donald Milton, Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health; Co-PIs: Professor Jelena Srebric, Mechanical Engineering; Associate Research Professor Kathleen McPhaul, Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health; Assistant Professor Huang Lin, Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Distinguished University Professor Maureen Cropper, Economics; Professor Anna Alberini, Agricultural and Resource Economics; Distinguished University Professor Abba Gumel, Mathematics, Institute for Health Computing.
This project aims to revolutionize indoor air safety by advancing the science of airborne infection transmission, demonstrating clean air interventions in homes and healthcare settings, and building the research infrastructure and next-generation leadership needed to make safe indoor air a universal public health standard.
Land-Sea Exchange Network for Salinity (LENS): An Early Warning System for Detecting and Managing Salinity Risks
PI: Associate Professor Kate Tully, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture; Co-PIs: Associate Professor Becky Epanchin-Niell, Agricultural and Resource Economics; Professor Sujay Kaushal, Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences.
LENS brings together experts across numerous fields to track salt levels from land to coastal waters and develop an early warning system to help policymakers and communities identify, manage and reduce the environmental and economic impacts of saltwater intrusion and road salt pollution.
Sustainable Precision Aquaculture Network for Shellfish (SPANS)
PI: Professor Miao Yu, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Co-PIs: Professor Nikhil Chopra, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Yang Tao, Bioengineering; Agent Hemendra Kumar, University of Maryland Extension; Principal Agent Associate Matt Parker, University of Maryland Extension; Principal Agent Don Webster, University of Maryland Extension.
SPANS aims to transform oyster farming into a precision, data-driven industry that addresses global food security, restores water quality and revitalizes coastal economies, leveraging robotics, AI, big data and internet of things technologies to modernize shellfish aquaculture in the Chesapeake Bay.
