The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) has appointed Amy R. Sapkota, professor of applied environmental health in the School of Public Health, as an MPower Professor. The MPower Professorship recognizes, incentivizes and fosters collaborations between University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) faculty who are working together on the most pressing issues of our time.
Sapkota directs the CONSERVE Center of Excellence and leads the UMD Global Stewards Research Traineeship program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation to train graduate students to become future leaders focused on innovations at the nexus of food, energy and water systems. Sapkota is a leader in research focused on ensuring the safety of agricultural and municipal water reuse and understanding how environmental microbial exposures impact the human microbiome (the collective microorganisms that live on and within the human body).
"I'm truly honored to receive an MPower Professor award,” Sapkota said. “Our work that addresses water and food insecurity through advancing energy-efficient water treatment and reuse approaches is critically important to bolstering community resilience to our changing climate. These challenges transcend academic boundaries and impact every corner of the world. To develop sustainable solutions, we need an ‘all hands on deck’ approach where all disciplines are engaged.”
As an MPower Professor, Sapkota said she looks forward to continuing collaborations with the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, School of Medicine and School of Social Work in Baltimore to advance climate action for communities in Maryland and around the globe. Her collaborators on the College Park campus include experts in the Clark School of Engineering, the Colleges of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Computer Mathematical and Natural Sciences as well as the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Sapkota is one of six MPower Professors announced on Friday. She will receive $150,000, allocated over three years, to apply to her salary or to support supplemental research activities. These funds recognize, enable and support strong collaborations between faculty in the joint research enterprise between UMCP and UMB.
To be considered for the MPower Professorship, faculty must demonstrate collaboration on strategic research that would be unattainable or difficult to achieve by UMB or UMCP acting independent of one another and must embrace the mission of MPower — to collaboratively strengthen and serve the state of Maryland and its citizens.