Grand Challenges Grants Program Generates Nearly $100M in External Investments to Solve Global Problems

Children moving from grade to grade without learning to read. Farms and cities battered by violent storms and increasingly unpredictable weather. Struggles worldwide to supply needed food, energy and clean water to support growing populations.

In 2023, the University of Maryland launched a $30 million program to accelerate solutions to seemingly intractable problems like these. The Grand Challenges Grants Program funded 50 research projects representing faculty from every college and school — the largest interdisciplinary initiative of its kind at UMD.

Three years later, they have secured nearly $100 million more in external research funding, more than tripling the university’s initial investment, UMD officials announced Wednesday. 

From global health and education, to environmental resilience and ethical technology, “these projects are creating experiential learning opportunities for students, strengthening partnerships with communities and industry, extending our reach across Maryland and around the world and multiplying our public impact, living out our mission to be a public university for the public good,” said Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice, whose office collaborated with UMD’s Division of Research to launch the program. 

UMD researchers working on Grand Challenges Grant-funded projects have not only powered an influx of funding from federal, state and local agencies, nonprofits and philanthropic foundations, and private businesses. They have engaged with more than 155,700 stakeholders, including community members, government officials and teachers, and brokered nearly 600 partnerships. More than 11,000 students participated as well, helping collect findings across 48 states and 36 countries. 

Building on that momentum, the university this summer launched Grand Challenges Grants 2.0, investing more than $15 million over three years across 11 interdisciplinary projects, with faculty representing more than 40 disciplines on campus. 

The projects include:

• Interdisciplinary Network for Place-Based Learning, Action and Community-Engaged EnvironMental Health (IN-PLACE), an initiative connecting time spent in nature with evidence-based mental health care
• Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative, a collaborative that leverages AI and community engagement to support a historically underrepresented population in medical research
• Predictive Biology Hub for Human and Environmental Health, an initiative that develops predictive tools to mitigate pandemics, improve human health outcomes and sustain vital ecosystems
• Sustainable and Ethical AI Infrastructure, a project integrating engineering, economics and policy analysis to help Maryland and the nation balance the surging power and water demands of AI data centers 

“From advancing women’s health and developing tools to build more resilient ecosystems to exploring how time in nature can support mental health and engineering sustainable infrastructure for AI, UMD researchers are addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time,” said Vice President for Research Patrick O’Shea. “These projects demonstrate the power of bringing together expertise from across disciplines to develop solutions that improve lives, strengthen communities and benefit society.” 

See the full list of Grand Challenges Grants 2.0 recipients.