- August 27, 2025
- By Maryland Today Staff
The University of Maryland received a $2 million award, matched by $2 million in qualified donations, to establish two endowed professorships at the A. James Clark School of Engineering through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund.
UMD and five other colleges and universities in the state were awarded a total of more than $23 million to fund the new professorships to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields through the program, the Maryland Department of Commerce announced on Wednesday.
The universities also included the Maryland Institute College of Art, Loyola University Maryland, McDaniel College, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Johns Hopkins University. They raised $11.7 million in private funding for the positions, and the state approved matching grants of $11.45 million to support the endowment.
“These six colleges and universities are some of the most important drivers of cutting-edge research and innovation in Maryland,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Harry Coker Jr. “Innovation fuels economic growth, and our goal is for these E-Nnovation grants to help unleash discoveries and technologies that will help make our economy stronger and more competitive.”
At UMD, the two Edward and Jennifer St. John Endowed Professors in Bioengineering will work within the Clark School’s Fischell Department of Bioengineering and will be jointly appointed to the University of Maryland School of Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. They’ll work with the newly created Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine, an innovative collaboration between the two universities focused on tackling health challenges and driving medical innovations, improving treatments for patients and empowering them to live healthier lives.
The Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund, created by the General Assembly in 2014, has awarded funding to support the creation of 18 professorships at the University of Maryland. 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 equipment.