MPOWER Research

Through the MPOWER Initiative we aim to bring together a broad research community, link the CGIS and Research HARBOR environments, support research proposal development and train interdisciplinary scientists to develop new and strengthen existing collaborations between faculty at UMCP and UMB. A primary goal of the project is to build a robust collaborative community to capitalize on the complementary strengths of researchers at both units to advance geospatial health science and applications at the national and international arena. The dual focus of most UMB faculty on both research and patient care or field work prompts the need for both the research and application development agenda of the project.  While the on-going activities have already demonstrated the potential for attracting external funding from government and charitable organizations, we expect that potential will grow exponentially as new research avenues, which include Big Data mining, geospatial modeling, and application development are launched.  UMB’s focus on clinical practice, public health, nursing, pharmacy, disease prevention, and responsiveness to the needs of the local community and the population in the State of Maryland paves the way for development of applications directly benefitting the health and well-being of Maryland’s population.   Finally, interdisciplinary research approaches will be supported through a cross-training program for students, faculty and health care professionals.  We will continue our efforts to involve graduate students from both programs in research as well as expand other educational opportunities.