Center & Lab Policies

Several structures are organized within UMIACS with the goal of bringing closer together faculty and students with common research interests. These sub-units within the institute are created according to the University of Maryland Policy and Procedures for the Establishment and Review of Centers and Institutes.

An updated list of our major centers and labs is available here.

This policy outlines four types of structures:

Institutes—formally-created entities intended to have a level of permanence similar to that of a department. UMIACS itself is such a structure;

Centers—formally-created entities that comprise multiple faculty, staff, and/or students in an area of specialized scientific focus;

Groups—informal collections of faculty with common research interests;

Externally-funded entities—entities created due to an external grant or contract. Confusingly, such structures could be named Centers, or Institutes, or whatever else either the principal investigator or the funding agencies decide, irrespective of their size or level of permanence.

In UMIACS, some groups are referred to as “Laboratories,” with a prominent example being the Computational Linguistics and Information Processing Laboratory (CLIP Lab). The CLIP Lab is an informal structure that has, nonetheless, developed a long-lasting set of traditions and community spirit. Other groups or labs in UMIACS are typically smaller, involving just one or a few faculty members and associated students.

Currently UMIACS hosts two externally funded research groups: The NSF Grand Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation Institute (RQS), and the Center for Medical Innovations in Extended Reality (MIXR). UMIACS also hosts centers created jointly with external partners, such as the UMD-NIST Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS).

How do centers and labs operate?

As already mentioned, groups or labs are informal structures, and therefore, their operation, policies, and procedures are entirely at the discretion of their corresponding members, within, of course, the scope of UMIACS, campus, state, and federal regulations and laws.

The organization and operation of the formally established centers within UMIACS varies from center to center and is largely defined by the founding document (the proposal submitted for approval to the campus), or by the proposal submitted to the external sponsor as well as by sponsor requirements, in the case of externally funded centers. As a result, the organization of the different centers within UMIACS varies.

There are, however, some commonalities.

All formally established centers have an appointed director who is appointed by, and reports to, the director of UMIACS. In the case of externally funded centers, the principal investigator of the project typically serves as the director.

All centers and major laboratories within UMIACS also have developed a culture of collaboration among their members, and most decisions that impact the centers or laboratories are taken collaboratively by their core faculty, even if the director of the center has substantial latitude in decision making.

Who are the faculty associated with centers?

We typically distinguish between two types of center affiliations: core faculty, and affiliate faculty. The core faculty are those UMIACS faculty members who are the primary members of the center, and are the most engaged in, and responsible for the success of the center. Typically, a group of core faculty members is identified at the creation of the center, however new core members may be added later, as described in more detail below.

Most of the privileges (e.g., access to center resources) and responsibilities associated with membership in a center are reserved for the core members of the center, who must all also be joint members of UMIACS unless otherwise described in the center's founding documents. It is typically assumed that the core members’ research activities are primarily associated with the center. The primary metrics used to evaluate the productivity of centers and to make financial determinations (such as assigning DRIF credit) are restricted to the activities of the core faculty members of each center.

Affiliate members of a center are faculty who have a general affinity with the center’s faculty and scientific mission, but whose primary activities take place outside of the center. All faculty members affiliated with UMIACS centers must also be affiliate or adjunct members of UMIACS, and are, therefore, subject to the review of the UMIACS APT committee. LEARN MORE

How can I join a UMIACS center?

The first step toward joining a UMIACS center is to develop a relationship with the faculty in the center and with the center’s director. Appointments (core and affiliate, alike) within a center assume a mutually beneficial relationship between the center and each of its members.

Once a candidate and the current core members of the centers agree that membership in the center is desired, the process for establishing the appointment depends on the nature of the appointment and the candidate's situation, largely as follows:

Faculty member with a joint appointment in UMIACS seeking core membership in a center. The appointment can be directly made at the discretion of the center director and faculty, according to relevant center policies or norms. A faculty member may only be a core member of one UMIACS center.

Faculty member with an affiliate, adjunct, or joint appointment in UMIACS seeking affiliate membership in a center. The appointment can be directly made at the discretion of the center director and faculty, according to relevant center policies or norms.

Faculty member who does not have a joint appointment in UMIACS seeking core membership in a center. The faculty member must request and receive a joint appointment in UMIACS prior to seeking membership in the center. Learn more about the process for joining UMIACS.

Faculty member who does not have an affiliation in UMIACS seeking affiliate membership in a center. The faculty member must request and receive an affiliate, adjunct, or joint appointment in UMIACS prior to seeking membership in the center Learn more about the process for joining UMIACS.