UMB Awards Nearly $1.3 Million in MPower Early Scholars Awards
The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has awarded nearly $1.3 million to 29 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty in the first two rounds of funding for the MPower Early Scholars Awards, created late last year to support those at UMB and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) who have felt the direct impact of recent cuts to research funding.
The awards were given across all disciplines, with recipients in programs affiliated with all seven of UMB’s schools — Dentistry, Graduate Studies, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work.
At UMB, 15 graduate student awards were given across five schools totaling $487,500; four postdoctoral fellow awards were given across two schools totaling $300,000; and 10 junior faculty awards were given across five schools totaling $500,000.
"The MPower funding is an important investment in our early scholars," said UMB Provost and Executive Vice President Roger J. Ward, EdD, JD, MSL, MPA. "We are responding to a critical need to protect our emerging scholars and guarantee that society continues to benefit from important discoveries that improve lives and the human condition.”
The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State has committed $7.5 million to the program, split between UMB and UMCP over three years. More awardees will be announced this spring. So far, UMCP has funded 31 graduate student awards totaling $750,000; six postdoctoral fellow awards totaling $225,000; and 20 junior faculty awards totaling $1 million.
The award amounts of $32,500 for graduate students, $75,000 for postdoctoral fellows, and $50,000 for junior faculty can be used for stipends, research, and other support of early scholars.
Some of the awardees expressed relief in receiving the awards.
“There is a lot of fear among scientists about funding cuts, especially in the political climate that we are in,” said Kurt Espinosa, a fourth-year graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology PhD program in the Graduate Program in Life Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). “Winning this award has given me a bit of a breathing room, knowing that I can continue my research without significant financial hurdles.”
Espinosa, who works in the lab of professor Alex Drohat, PhD, studying enzymes involved in DNA repair, will use the funds to further his research.
Ahmed S. Sultan, BDS, PhD, assistant professor; program director, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Residency Program; and director, Division of Artificial Intelligence Research, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, said he had a federal award to develop an AI early warning system rescinded due to the government shutdown.
“This MPower award fills that critical void and allows us to advance the field with an AI early warning system developed with my AI collaborator at the School of Pharmacy,” he said.
Other awardees said the MPower Early Scholar Award encourages them to continue their work.
“This recognition motivates me to continue advancing this line of research and strengthens my commitment,” said Jihyeong Jeong, MA, a University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) PhD candidate who is studying what it means to age well in place. “As an early-career scholar, I see this award as an important steppingstone toward a research career that meaningfully bridges science and practice.”
Yu-Hua Fu, PharmD, MS, a PhD candidate in pharmaceutical health services research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy who is studying the epidemiology of high-risk medication use among vulnerable populations, including older adults with opioid use disorder, agreed.
“This recognition is very meaningful to me and provides valuable acknowledgment of the importance of my research and support for my dissertation,” Fu said. “This award motivates me to continue generating evidence that can help improve medication safety and care for older adults, wherever they are.”
Christopher Mathis, JD, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, studies the shrinking scope of children’s free speech rights in American public schools. He has compiled and analyzed every federal case in which a student sued a school district asserting First Amendment rights and traced how courts have responded to these claims.
“The MPower seed grant is more than validation; it will let me assemble a research team, build the technical and archival infrastructure needed to sustain a comprehensive national database, and expand the project’s reach from documentation to practical solutions for protecting student speech,” he said. “With this support, we can move beyond mapping legal erosion to developing policy tools, litigation resources, and outreach strategies that help safeguard students’ First Amendment rights across the country.”
Kayla Carter, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation in the Institute for Genome Sciences, UMSOM, says the MPower award will not only help her to have continuous funding for her project but will also allow her to present her research at the American Society for Microbiology Microbe conference in June. They are using stored samples from a longitudinal cohort study to identify components of the cervicovaginal microenvironment that contribute to spontaneous clearance of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women.
“This will be an excellent opportunity for me to begin building transdisciplinary collaborations as I transition into the next stage of my career,” Carter said. “Building these collaborations during this career transition will be immensely beneficial to my budding independent research program as I will be shifting my primary research focus from observational epidemiologic analyses to in vitro experiments.”
Tural Mammadli, MSW, LMSW, a PhD candidate at UMSSW, said the MPower award will allow him to attend the Society for Behavioral Medicine conference in April in addition to funding his graduate research assistantship. At the conference, he will present his research — Project Transcendence, an intervention development study aimed at facilitating pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence among Black transgender women — and build connections with other researchers.
“Knowing I have this support as I transition into the next stage of my career is incredibly validating and impactful,” Mammadli said. “This award provides the vital bridge I need to transition from candidate to a faculty member. It ensures that the momentum of my research, specifically my work aimed at improving the behavioral health of minoritized communities, continues without interruption. It provides the stability and resources necessary to turn my doctoral training into long-term, impactful advocacy and research.
