With the launch of its second round of project funding, or Grand Challenges 2.0, 11 ambitious new collaborations will receive support, including three led or supported by faculty from the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
The Grand Challenges Grants Program is designed to catalyze bold, interdisciplinary research projects that address society’s most pressing issues and advance solutions for the public good. The program is a signature initiative of UMD’s Fearlessly Forward strategic plan.
“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. We are inspired by the vision and innovation reflected in these projects,” said UMD Provost Jennifer King Rice and Chief Research Officer Patrick O’Shea in a joint email to the UMD community.
Together, the 11 projects will receive a UMD investment totaling nearly $15 million over three years, with a 50% matching in-kind and/or cash investment from their college or unit.
Advancing women’s health across the spectrum
The largest award type, Institutional – with $1.5M per award plus 50% in matching support – will be given to two projects, including the Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative (WHIRC), led by SPH’s Associate Professor in the Department of Family Science Marie Thoma.
WHIRC is a campuswide interdisciplinary collaborative that advances translational research, workforce development and evidence-based policy to close critical knowledge gaps in women's health across the lifespan. The collaborative will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and community-engaged approaches to drive real-world improvements for this historically underrepresented population in medical research.
WHIRC co-PIs are: Associate Professor Jioni Lewis, Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education; Professor Alisa Clyne, Bioengineering; and Assistant Professor Ang Li, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“Women’s health has historically been underfunded and understudied,leaving critical gaps in our understanding of the conditions and factors that affect women across their lifespan. This Grand Challenge award will enable WHIRC to foster collaborations across disciplines, accelerate discovery and generate a sustainable infrastructure to ensure that UMD research translates into meaningful improvements in women’s health and well-being,” shared the WHIRC team.
Keeping indoor air safe from infectious disease
As well, three SPH faculty were part of a Team Award – which will receive $600K + 50% matching – for The Air We Share, A Public Health Revolution for the 21st Century.SPH Distinguished University Professor Don Milton, from the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health (GEOH), will lead the project as principal investigator. SPH Associate Research Professor Kathleen McPhaul, also in GEOH, and Assistant Professor Huang Lin from the SPH Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics will serve as co-principal investigators.
The Air We Share 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.
“The COVID-19 pandemic showed the world the importance of making sure that the air we share is as clean and free of infectious disease risk as the water we drink and food we eat,” Milton said. “We need safe food and water every day. In the same way, we all need safe indoor air, not just during a pandemic, but every cold and flu and allergy season. That means every day.”
Other co-PIs on the project are: Professor Jelena Srebric, Mechanical Engineering; Distinguished University Professor Maureen Cropper, Economics; Professor Anna Alberini, Agricultural and Resource Economics; Distinguished University Professor Abba Gumel, Mathematics, Institute for Health Computing.
Supporting mental health, equity and community through the great outdoors
SPH faculty will also support another Institutional awardee: IN-PLACE: Interdisciplinary Network for Place-Based Learning, Action, & Community-Engaged EnvironMental Health, with Associate Professor Jennifer Roberts in the SPH Department of Kinesiology and Assistant Professor Noah Triplett in the SPH Department of Behavioral and Community Health serving as co-principal investigators. 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.
IN-PLACE principal investigator is Associate Professor Jessica Magidson, Psychology; other Co-PIs are: Professor Byoung-Suk Kweon, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture; Senior Agent Alexander Chan, UMD Extension; Associate Professor Jana VanderGoot, Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Assistant Professor Jayson Porter, History; Associate Professor Andrea Lopez, Anthropology; and Associate Clinical Professor Amy Green, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership.
The first round of Grand Challenges grants included awards across several disciplines within SPH, including the Global FEWture Alliance, one of three Institutional awardees. As a whole, the first round of projects doubled the return on the University’s initial investment, with more than $55 million secured in external funding, provided experiential learning and research opportunities for more than 6,500 students and engaged a broad range of over 450 partners, including in every Maryland county.