University of California – Davis (UCD):
UC Davis is one of the top public research universities in the world and offers undergraduates highly ranked academics, unparalleled research and internship opportunities, and an active student life in a welcoming, friendly, college town environment.
UC Davis is highly ranked in the nation and the world, recognized by influential university ranking publications like U.S. News & World Report (national and global), QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and The Princeton Review. The Wall Street Journal recognized UC Davis as the fifth-best public university in the United States in its 2022 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. Washington Monthly magazine ranked UC Davis second nationally among Affordable Elite Colleges in 2019. In STEM, UC Davis ranked World's #2 in veterinary science, #2 nationally in ecology and evolutionary biology, #3 nationally in biological and agricultural engineering, World's #6 in environmental engineering, and #9 nationally in civil engineering. In addition to academic excellence, UC Davis is recognized in the nation for campus sustainability (#1), social mobility (#2), diversity inclusiveness and internalization (#1), best public school for making an impact (#8).
With 32,273 undergraduate students and 4,621 graduate students actively enrolled in Fall 2024, UC Davis provides world-class excellence in education with over 100 majors and graduate degrees and 6 professional schools.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC):
Classified as a STEM-Dominant Research Doctoral University-High Research Activity, UMBC is recognized nationally as a leader in promoting inclusiveness in graduate education. The latest U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings include several UMBC graduate programs as among the best in the nation. Times Higher Education has recognized UMBC as one of the world’s top universities. In a new THE impact ranking, UMBC is #3 in the U.S. and #62 worldwide in global social and economic impact. Undergraduate: 10,932; Graduate: 2,565. The College of Engineering and IT (COEIT) offers 21 areas of study, has 3,995 undergraduate students, and 1,310 graduate students. Research focus areas include security, health, energy, and the environment. COEIT has among its strategic goals to increase the number of tenure-track faculty.
UMBC will coordinate the activities of the PROMISE Engineering Institute in Maryland. UMBC, UMCP, JHU, and Morgan State have a history of interacting with one another through several engineering initiatives within and outside of Maryland. UMBC and JHU are members of the 38-institution CIRTL Network. While the activities will span all 4 areas in the mission, most of the activities for which we are seeking financial support fall into the 2nd area: provide students and postdocs with comprehensive research and pedagogical skills, supplemented by development of national and international professional networks to counter the “we can’t find any qualified candidates” response, and to fill the gap of the “it’s not just what you know, but who you know, and who knows you” adage.
UMBC will be the primary organizer of two signature events for the PROMISE Engineering Institute. The first will be a virtual workshop that includes participants from both the east and west coast branches of the PROMISE Engineering Institute that will prepare them to navigate their future role as a new faculty member and the teaching, scholarship and service responsibilities within their university and discipline. The Maryland partners will each select a faculty mentor and PhD student teaching fellow to implement what they learned during the workshop during a spring semester course. Our LSAMP grant will fund undergraduate researchers to work with each of the teaching fellows or participating postdocs in the spring and/or summer so that they can gain experience as research mentors in addition to their classroom teaching. The mentoring can continue as they travel together to the SREB conference in April. The second signature event will be the PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI) that will be in its 19th year in August 2021. SSI brings together new and continuing graduate students from across Maryland for professional development and networking.