Courtesy of Morgan State University
For a second consecutive year, the Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded Morgan State University funding via the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative (MEI), a state program created to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields at Maryland-based colleges and universities, to support a new research professorship.
This marks the university’s fourth research professorship in as many years.
Morgan will receive $1 million, which will be matched by $1 million in funds received from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, to establish a new Endowed Chair for the Center for Urban Health Equity (CUHE).
The award will be a boon to the burgeoning center’s ability to recruit and attract the expertise necessary for growth and expansion of the center’s mission, which is to address the root causes of urban health disparities through asset-based, community-driven research and practice.
Morgan launched the Center for Urban Health Equity in January 2021, backed by annual state support and an initial investment of private funding. The center was established to focus on community-driven interests allowing maximum research energy and effort for immediate allocation and response to the root issues that influence — and, in many cases, perpetuate — one of the most troubling aspects of current society, health inequity.
In fall 2021, the Department of Commerce awarded Morgan $3 million to establish three new endowed professorships, the first-ever in university history. With the funding, the Endowed Chair in Brain Science, Endowed Chair in Psychometrics and Predictive Analytics and the Eugene M. DeLoatch Endowed Chair in Cybersecurity Engineering were established.
This year, Morgan was selected by the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative as one of eight local colleges and universities in Maryland that received a total of $8.2 million to fund new research professorships. Collectively, the schools raised more than $8.2 million in private funding to match the MEI contribution, bringing this year’s total endowments to $16.4 million.
The Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative was created by the General Assembly during the 2014 legislative session and has provided $74.1 million in funding to leverage $80.7 million in private donations. The funding can be used to pay salaries of newly endowed department chairs, staff and support personnel in designated scientific and technical fields of study; fund related research fellowships for graduate and undergraduat
