UMD Awarded $2 Million from the Maryland Department of Commerce for New Brin Endowed Chair in Mathematics
The Maryland Department of Commerce awarded the University of Maryland $2 million to fully match a private donation establishing a new Brin Endowed Chair in Mathematics within the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. The endowment was made through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative (MEI), a state program created to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields at colleges and universities.
“Michael and Eugenia Brin’s support for a new endowed chair will allow the Department of Mathematics to retain and recruit talented faculty members and students to the University of Maryland,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. "We are grateful for the Brin family's leadership and the state of Maryland matching funding that will continue to propel our campus Fearlessly Forward.”
The donation from UMD Mathematics Professor Emeritus Michael Brin and his wife Eugenia, a retired NASA scientist, was part of a larger $27.2 million gift to the Department of Mathematics in March 2024 that also endowed the Brin Mathematics Research Center and piloted the Brin Maryland Mathematics Camp for talented high school students in the state.
“The Department of Mathematics is extremely pleased with the support of the Brin family and the state of Maryland,” said Doron Levy, chair of the Department of Mathematics. “The newly endowed Brin Chair is a testament to the foundational role that mathematics plays in so many areas of national importance.”
The Brins previously established an endowed chair in mathematics that also received matching MEI funding.
“The existing Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed Chair in Mathematics allowed us to recruit an outstanding scholar and teacher to the University of Maryland in 2022, Abba Gumel, and we are excited to see the world-class faculty members who will hold this new endowed position at UMD,” said CMNS Dean Amitabh Varshney.
The MEI was created by the General Assembly during the 2014 legislative session and has provided more than $86 million in funding to leverage more than $96 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 undergraduate students; and purchase lab equipment and other basic infrastructure and equipment.
“The latest round of grants from the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund will support cutting-edge research in critically important disciplines such as cybersecurity, cancer detection, chronic disease treatment, applied mathematics, economic development and more,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson. “Maryland Commerce is thrilled to once again join our partners in higher education to advance these bold new ideas.”
