Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 77.34
Liaison Sally DeLeon
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Maryland, College Park
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 12.00 / 12.00 Emily Hightower
Sustainability Coordinator
Environmental Safety, Sustainability, and Risk
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Part 1. Sustainability research

Total number of employees that conduct research:
2,226

Number of employees engaged in sustainability research:
1,423

Percentage of employees that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
63.93

Part 2. Sustainability research by department

Total number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts research:
83

Number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts sustainability research:
83

Percentage of departments that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
100

Research Inventory 

A copy of the inventory of the institution’s sustainability research (upload):
Inventory of the institution’s sustainability research:
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A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:
The Office of Sustainability partnered with the Office of Research Administration (ORA) to collect and analyze data on sustainable research at the University. Using a centralized research database, ORA pulled all research projects considered “Active” between January 1, 2017 and September 1, 2020. The database was created to track all research projects including procedural and contractual agreements. To avoid counting non-research focused projects included in the complete database, ORA and the Office of Sustainability excluded Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Interpersonnel Agreements (IPAs) and other procedural agreements.

Using the data extracted, a team of staff in the Office of Sustainability reviewed each unique research project to identify sustainability-related projects. To capture sustainability-related projects, each project was categorized using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In a second review to verify the SDG categorizations, reviewers categorized each project by SDG Targets. If a project could not specifically tie to at least one SDG and SDG Target, the project was not listed as sustainable. A final round of review was completed by individuals who did not participate in the SDG categorization. Total number of the institution's faculty and staff that are engaged in research is based on the total number of faculty included as Lead Investigators in the database of sponsored research in CY 2020.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Additional information about UMD's Sustainability Education and Research opportunities: https://sustainability.umd.edu/sustainability-education-research

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.