Anupam Joshi, Ph.D., has been named vice provost and chief AI officer for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) beginning July 1. Joshi brings almost three decades of experience at UMBC to the new role. For the last two years he has served as the interim dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology in addition to his position as the Oros Family Professor and director of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute.

In this newly created role, Joshi will oversee various areas previously managed by the vice provost for Academic Affairs (e.g. academic resource planning and management, space management), provide leadership to academic affairs strategic initiatives, and lead the university’s strategy for AI and computing. This includes coordinating and leveraging current efforts in AI and computing, leading the strategic planning for university goals in this area, and leveraging new resources and university partnerships.

A prolific scholar, Joshi obtained a B.Tech degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 1989, and a master’s and Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1991 and 1993. His research interests are at the intersection of AI and systems. He is a pioneer in data management and security for mobile and ad-hoc networks using AI approaches.

Over the last decade, Joshi has explored this intersection to improve cybersecurity – using distributed AI approaches for attack detection and resilience in CPS/IoT systems that undergird critical infrastructure and policy-driven approaches to security and privacy. He has worked with scholars from areas as diverse as medicine, psychology, linguistics, gerontology, and public policy to explore AI-based approaches in those domains that have led to publications and extramural funding.Joshi is an affiliate faculty in the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and in UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at IIT Delhi’s School of IT. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and serves on the Maryland Cybersecurity Council chartered by the Maryland legislature. Anupam has published more than 300 technical papers with an h-index of 97 and over 34,000 citations (per Google scholar), been granted nine patents, and has obtained research support totaling more than $22 million from the National Science Foundation, NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Dept of Defense, NIST, IBM, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin amongst others.

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) seeks a full-time Advancement Manager to be an integral part of the BMA’s Advancement team. The Baltimore Museum of Art is a world class, internationally recognized museum, recently ranked by the Washington Post as one of the top 20 museums in the United States. The BMA embodies a commitment to artistic excellence and social equity in every decision from art presentation, interpretation, and collecting to the composition of the Board of Trustees, staff, and volunteers — creating a museum welcoming to all.

The Baltimore Museum of Art seeks a full-time Director of Corporate Relations to plan, implement, and monitor a comprehensive corporate giving and sponsorship program. This role includes developing strategies for the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of corporate partnerships that includes philanthropic giving, sponsorships, in-kind partnerships, employee engagement, and strategic co-branding opportunities.

The Baltimore Museum of Art seeks a full-time Major Gifts Officer to lead the BMA’s major gifts including identifying, cultivating and soliciting individual and non-event donations. This position reports to the Senior Director of Advancement and will be part of the Advancement Leadership team and assume a significant role in prospect management with prospects and donors who have the capacity to make five to seven figure gifts.

Before 1960, the United States didn’t have a shock trauma center. That was until the construction of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland, which marked a turning point in emergency medical treatment—the first facility of its kind in the world to treat shock. 

Before 1980, the United States didn’t have a bachelor’s or master’s program in health services. That was until UMBC launched a revolutionary new program, Emergency Health Services, today known as Emergency and Disaster Health Systems (EDHS), awarding the world’s first bachelor’s degree in health services in 1984, and first master’s degrees in 1986.

John W. Ashworth, III,had a hand in shaping both.

Now, the man who helped build so many life-saving programs is being honored with the John W. Ashworth, III, Professorship in Emergency Health Services, another first. This time, the first named professorship in UMBC’s EDHS program.

“The University System of Maryland [USM] is known as a pioneer in emergency care and trauma care, and a great deal of that has to do with John Ashworth,” said USM Chancellor Jay A. Perman.

Ashworth was a vital leader in Maryland’s public health and emergency services community for more than four decades. Ashworth’s early career focused on emergency services and trauma. He was the director of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, where he oversaw the construction of the Gudelsky Building and the Weinberg Building, helping bring the vision of the country’s first shock trauma unit to reality. 

His career spanned critical leadership roles, including director of development and special projects for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services, COO and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center, senior vice president for network development at the University of Maryland Medical System, and associate dean of hospital networks at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He also helped build and taught at UMBC’s program in EDHS.

“There is no one, no one in this state who has done more for shock trauma, more for the University of Maryland Medical System, and more for the University of Maryland Medical Center,” said Maryland State Senator Francis X. Kelly. “There is just nobody that can even come close to him.”

Ashworth’s leadership helped develop a statewide network of care that continues to serve Marylanders to this day. But perhaps his most enduring contributions are the ones that began in the classroom.

“I enjoyed so much being with the students,” said Ashworth. “I learned so much from the students. It was so rewarding.”

The world’s first bachelor’s degree in health services

The EDHS baccalaureate program launched in 1980 to educate practitioners, clinicians, scholars, and leaders to support community and emergency health and disaster management, eventually awarding the world’s first bachelor’s degree in health services in 1984. The graduate program, also the first in the nation, followed a year later and remains the largest such program in the United States. 

“From the start, the [EDHS] department has been a leader in EMS and related fields with a track record for innovation,” said Manfred H. M. van Dulmen, UMBC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “EDHS is a department grounded in excellence and built for the future.”

From 1989 to 2012, Ashworth taught undergraduate and graduate courses at UMBC, including EHS 400, the capstone management course for the undergraduate program. Today, Ashworth is an emeritus clinical assistant professor with the EDHS program, which serves more than 150 students across its undergraduate and graduate majors and minors with a robust curriculum that includes paramedic training, disaster health management, and emergency leadership.

Photo right: The faculty member, center, helps students practice emergency health techniques. (University Archives. Special Collections, UMBC)

“You have influenced and affected so many people in your career,” said Matthew Levy ’00, M.S. ‘08, EDHS medical director,of Ashworth, “and the impact you’ve had…goes further than you will ever know.”

In recognition of his tremendous work shaping the emergency health landscape, not just at UMBC, but throughout the state of Maryland, a group of Ashworth’s former colleagues and friends banded together to establish the John W. Ashworth, III, Professorship in Emergency Health Services. 

“This is a significant milestone that honors John’s enduring legacy and his tremendous contributions to the EDHS department,” said van Dulmen.

This investment will enhance faculty excellence, expand research in emergency health systems, and elevate the academic experience for students in one of UMBC’s most impactful programs.

“This is a big deal in terms of furthering emergency health in Maryland, the nation, and the world,” saidPerman.

Friends, family, colleagues, and former students of Ashworth gathered together on Tuesday, May 13, to celebrate the tremendous legacy of Ashworth and the establishment of this new professorship—a tribute to a man whose career helped shape emergency care in Maryland and whose teaching left a lifelong impression on his students.

“Having an endowed professorship named for you is eternity,” said Thomas Scalea, physician-in-chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, among other titles. “As long as there is a UMBC, there will be a John Ashworth Professor.”