Michael Humber To Receive Provost’s Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty
Each year, the UMD community comes together at its faculty and staff convocation to usher in the upcoming academic year, and to celebrate academic and service honorees who were selected by their peers to receive university awards. On Sept. 17, 2025, four members of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences community will be recognized at the 42nd Annual University of Maryland Faculty and Staff Convocation ceremony.
Michael Humber, an associate research professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences (GEOG), is among the nine individuals selected to receive a 2025 Provost’s Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty, which honors full-time faculty—who have served for at least five years and do not have nor are eligible for tenure—who have consistently made excellent contributions in teaching, research and/or service.
Humber was nominated by GEOG Distinguished University Professor Christopher Justice, and GEOG Research Professor Inbal Becker-Reshef, for his research contributions in particular. Justice and Becker-Reshef co-direct NASA Harvest, a multidisciplinary consortium of agriculture and remote sensing experts—led by GEOG researchers—who work with farmers, agribusinesses, economists, humanitarian organizations, governments, technology developers, and decision-makers to deliver critical agriculture assessments.
“‘Mike’ Humber is truly an outstanding scientist. He is a critical member of the NASA-funded Harvest and Acres Consortia and has taken on leadership positions in both programs,” said Justice. “He is an active member of the department and is highly valued by his colleagues at Maryland and around the world. He is fully deserving of the recognition that comes with this prestigious Provost's Excellence Award.”
Justice noted in his nomination letter that Humber currently manages a team of applications developers that create web/mobile apps and data processing pipelines for global agricultural monitoring, and to provide actionable information to farmers. He also noted that Humber is involved in the international Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM).
On being selected to receive the award, Humber said, “The Provost’s Excellence Award is an incredible honor, and as someone focused on applied science, this recognition shows that our data and tools help make a difference in peoples’ lives. I’m very fortunate to work with excellent, impact-focused teams that have made all of this work possible for more than a decade—this is an individual award, but most certainly a team effort.
This article was originally published by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS).
Published on Tue, 09/09/2025 - 10:06