Partnerships in Innovation
Conference Sponsors
National Archives and Records Administration - University of Maryland Program Coordinating Committee
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the University of Maryland (UM), College Park, have cooperated under a joint policy statement since 1989, concluded at the time the decision was made to construct NARA's new facility, Archives II, on the University of Maryland Campus. Since that time, NARA and the University have cooperated on multiple initiatives, including conferences, joint research efforts, and student internships. A joint NARA-University of Maryland Archival Research Coordinating Committee has monitored these activities over the years. This shared history of cooperation and collaboration in research, education, and public service is the prologue to future partnerships envisioned by the two (2) institutions
Both NARA and the University of Maryland have expanded their program activities dramatically over the past decade, laying the basis for substantially expanded or new cooperative work. In 2004, a joint NARA-University of Maryland Program Coordinating Committee, appointed by the Archivist of the United States and the President of the University of Maryland, was established to encourage and coordinate work in areas of common interest. These areas include:
- Joint research initiatives and projects which relate to and further the missions of NARA and the University of Maryland, particularly in areas related to information technology and digital information
- Conferences, symposia, seminars, and other meetings that explore issues related to archives, records, digital information, and other areas
- Initiatives to increase the research use of NARA holdings by University of Maryland faculty and students
- Internships, practica, field studies, and other programs for University of Maryland undergraduate and graduate students to carry out work under the direction of NARA personnel and/or projects jointly sponsored by, and where appropriate co-located at both institutions
- Public programs, including public presentations, exhibits, and presentations via the Internet and in other ways which reach a broad public audience.
- Joint research and teaching projects, including joint appointments, adjunct faculty appointments and teaching opportunities for NARA staff; visiting professorships; internship opportunities for University faculty or advanced graduate students as project opportunities permit; participation by University faculty in NARA teaching and public outreach activities
- Opportunities for University professors to consult with and provide advice to NARA on topics of joint interest
- Visiting positions for distinguished scholars whose work is of common interest to NARA staff and University faculty, including History and other areas
- Providing transportation between the campuses of the two (2) institutions to encourage co-located research and exchanges
The National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is our nation's recordkeeper and the public trust that safeguards the records on which people of our democratic republic depend for documenting their individual rights, for ensuring the accountability and credibility of their national institutions, and for analyzing their national experience. In the context of E-Government, NARA today is just as responsible for caring for the billions of electronic records in our custody as we are for our most famous documents, America's great Charters of Freedom-the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
Under the Archivist's direction, NARA's strategy to accomplish our agency mission and to be more efficient, provide more service, and be more productive includes establishing strategic partnerships with universities, libraries, professional associations, commercial entities, and other Federal agencies to develop creative ways to collaborate in service to the Nation. NARA's partnerships with universities, other government agencies, and the private sector provide this agency a window on our American genius for innovation.
The application of computer science and advanced technology can ensure electronic records are well managed, properly preserved, and readily accessible for as long as needed. Preservation environments are part of the national fabric that is being extended by advances in computing, networking, software and information management technologies. These extensions to the national fabric are adding powerful new dimensions to the ways citizens, work, learn, communicate, and interact with Government over the course of the 21st Century.
The University of Maryland
The University of Maryland (UM) is a national public research university, which is the flagship institution of Maryland's system of higher education. Various national rankings place the university among the best universities in the nation in the quality of its undergraduate and graduate education, its faculty expertise, and the diversity of its population. The latest U.S. News &World Report ranks 50 programs at Maryland in the top 15 among public universities, and the National Research Council ranked the departments of Computer Science, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics and Oceanography among the 10 best at public universities in the nation. Federally supported research has risen 61% over the past five (5) years - now topping $225M. More than 3,000 research projects are currently underway, with a particular focus on cross-disciplinary research programs. The campus has state of the art research facilities and world-renowned faculty.
A primary organizer of this symposium is the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), which is an interdisciplinary research unit whose mission is to foster interdisciplinary research in computing across the College Park campus. The Institute currently has over 70 faculty members most of whom hold tenure-track appointments in different academic departments such as Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Information Studies, Business College, Department of Linguistics, Department of Biology, and Geography. The Institute's research programs address fundamental issues at the interface between computer science, information technology, and core disciplines. Its annual external funding tops $18M, coming from the Federal and the private sectors. The Institute has a long tradition of developing long-term partnerships with national and international research centers. One such partnership is a joint effort between UMIACS, Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE, and NARA to develop the computing infrastructure for persistent archives and digital preservation. This effort has already led to the development of a pilot persistent archive using and extending data grid, digital library, and web services technologies, and includes a wide variety of significant NARA collections.
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