University of Maryland Named Top 10 Public Institution in Influential Research Ranking

The University of Maryland’s expanding investment in high-impact research—work that improves lives in communities across the state, nation and world—helped propel it to No. 14 among all U.S. institutions and No. 9 among public institutions in the most widely recognized benchmark for sponsored research activity. That’s a one-year jump from No. 18 overall and No. 11 among public institutions in the National Science Foundation’s latest Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey.

The University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) are linked as a single research enterprise in the HERD survey. Together, they reported more than $1.5 billion in combined research expenditures in fiscal 2024, one of the enterprise’s highest rankings to date and an increase of more than $154 million from the previous fiscal year.

“This milestone reflects the power of collaboration and a shared commitment to improving lives through research conducted at Maryland's two premier public universities,” said Darryll J. Pines, UMCP president. “By uniting College Park’s leadership in engineering, science and technology with Baltimore’s strengths in medicine, health and human services, we are accelerating the translation of discovery into patient care and community benefit. Our combined success in the HERD rankings affirms that when we work as one enterprise, we deliver outcomes that truly matter.”

The growth of the research enterprise reflects the growing impact of the two institutions’ combined work, said Bruce Jarrell, UMB president. 

“Our researchers do more than advance knowledge in their fields; they work tirelessly to ensure that the discoveries they make improve the health and well-being of people worldwide,” he said. “In this way, our ranking is much more than a scorecard, it is a testament to the critical importance of public higher education and research institutions here in Maryland.”

That partnership was further strengthened in January with the launch of a transformative collaboration to tackle a broad spectrum of health challenges and advance medical innovation: the Edward & Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine. Located at 4MLK, a new state-of-the-art facility in the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, the center is designed to ensure that real-world clinical needs directly influence the development of new devices, diagnostics and treatments—accelerating the pathway from research to patient care.

“The strength of our unified research enterprise allows us to work across boundaries and turn breakthroughs into real-world solutions,” said Vice President for Research Patrick O’Shea. “Our continued growth is a testament to the talent of our faculty, the dedication of our students and staff, and the state’s strong commitment to research that delivers measurable benefits for Maryland and beyond.”

O’Shea also pointed to the university’s leadership in rapidly growing research areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum science as key drivers of the university’s upward momentum in the HERD survey. In partnership with the state, UMCP announced the Capital of Quantum Initiative in early 2025, a landmark public-private effort to catalyze $1 billion in investments and position Maryland as a global leader in quantum information science and technology.

Meanwhile, the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland, launched in spring 2024, serves as a collaborative hub for AI research and education, fostering partnerships and advancing human-centered AI in service of the public good.

Beyond the HERD survey, the University of Maryland research enterprise has earned significant national recognition across a range of measures. UMCP was named a top 10 school for entrepreneurship education for the 11th consecutive year by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. It also received the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ 2025 Innovation & Economic Prosperity Innovation Award, recognizing its broad impact in driving innovation across disciplines and throughout the state.

In addition, dozens of UMCP faculty were named among the world’s most highly cited researchers—placing it in the top 20 of U.S. institutions in an annual list compiled by Clarivate—and the university earned recognition as a Top-Producing Institution of Fulbright Students with 17 recipients in the 2024-25 academic year.