Ann Wylie, former interim provost and current chairwoman of a university cybersecurity task force, listens at a forum in fall 2012 about an alliance with UMB.

Although this university is steadily progressing in its collaborations with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the uncertain prospect of acquiring funding hangs over most planned projects, officials said.

Throughout the last few months, the university has made strides in joint initiatives with UMB, including a collaborative public health school, a joint institute for technology transfer and commercialization and a seed grant program for developing cures. The only thing holding them back, according to former interim Provost Ann Wylie, is the funds necessary to achieve such goals.

“I think there’s been a lot of progress, considering that it’s only been around a few months that this thing got rolling,” university President Wallace Loh said.

Wylie said she is pleased with the progress of combining bioscience and biotechnology research efforts with programs in the works at the Universities at Shady Grove in health, law and human services, as well as science, technology, engineering, math, business and the social sciences.

“We are very excited about it. We think that this research effort will have a long-term impact on the state’s economy … and to advance that whole area forward,” she said.

The universities have also established a biomedical informatics and imaging center, which has been recognized on both campuses, Wylie added.Additionally, officials hired a director of University of Maryland Ventures, a program to “promote tech transfer and commercialization,” according to the MPower Maryland website. That office will open Oct. 1, and the director will report to the vice presidents for research at this university and at UMB, she said.

Asearch for a new director for a bioengineering and health sciences center is also underway, Wylie said. The administration has not yet hired a chief academic officer for the Shady Grove campus.

“That will be next year’s job, or maybe in the spring,” Wylie said.

This morning, University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan is hosting a news conference to announce progress on MPower the State and plans for the joint public health school, which has not yet received accreditation — the university received permission to apply for accreditation over the summer. Wylie said the process will likely take more than a year. She said the school will probably see an accreditation decision in fall 2014.

“It’s a very big undertaking,” Wylie said. “The creation of a joint school is very significant.”

A great benefit of that partnership, Loh said, is students pursuing pre-nursing will no longer have to “drop out” of the university. On average, about 30 to 40 sophomores leave this university each summer to go to Baltimore to pursue nursing, a number Loh said accounts for about a 1 percent reduction in retention rates. With the joint school, the transfer will be seamless.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if our national rankings started going up a tiny little bit,” Loh said, adding he appreciated what faculty and staff on both campuses have accomplished so far in the MPower initiative. “That’s not bad for five months of work. … It certainly has exceeded my expectations.”

The biggest roadblock in undertaking these projects is a lack of funding, Wylie said. The schools are hoping to receive some financial backing by the summer, and while this university is prepared to internally reallocate funding if officials do not secure outside funding, that’s not ideal, she said.

“Everyone understood that it would be not good for us to rely totally on internal reallocation,” she said.

However, some projects are reaching their full potential at the current level of funding. Through the seed grant program, this university and UMB have given out three research grants of more than $1 million each from the university’s research initiative fund. Wylie said she expected seed grant funding to grow.

“I expect that this funding stream will increase significantly going forward,” she said.

The schools also have a plan to move forward with a shared library system. Wylie said they are exploring their options with vendors who could possibly reduce rates in order to expand access to library resources. For example, one solution may be limiting access to a less popular particular study or database in order to expand access in other areas.

In addition, the universities plan to expand the University of Maryland Scholars program by allowing undergraduates at this university to participate in research and educational opportunities with UMB faculty.

Junior biology and chemistry major Hina Patel, one of two students to participate in the scholars program over the summer, said her work was like that of a full-time researcher, and she benefited from networking and shadowing people at the medical center.

“It was really good exposure to the research going on. … They kind of integrated us with the med students,” Patel said. “I’d say it was a really effective program and I really enjoyed it.”

One of the best things to come out of the partnership thus far, officials said, is the working relationships administrators have developed with UMB faculty.

“We’re like two pieces of a puzzle that have been separated for many years, so when we come together, we can do things better than we could before,” said Vice President for Research Pat O’Shea.

And although the partnership is tight on funding, Wylie is confident in the current progress.

“Given that we have so many fronts and no money, I think we’re doing really well,” she said.