USM to Celebrate Naming of Baltimore IMET Headquarters Building for Rita Rossi Colwell
Baltimore, Md. (June 15, 2023) – The University System of Maryland (USM) will host more than 200 academic and regional leaders on the evening of Thursday, June 22, to officially celebrate the naming of the Rita Rossi Colwell Center, home to the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET).
In December 2022, the USM Board of Regents officially renamed the facility to honor Dr. Rita Rossi Colwell. Dr. Colwell was instrumental in founding the Columbus Center, as the building was originally known, for the purpose of expanding environmental science education and research in Baltimore City. The Colwell Center is also the official headquarters of the USM.
IMET is a joint USM research institute capitalizing on the strengths of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
UMBC manages and operates the Colwell Center, which is located at 701 E. Pratt Street in Baltimore, where the private evening dedication event will be held—just steps away from the city’s “Little Italy” neighborhood.
Dr. Rita Rossi Colwell is an internationally renowned microbiologist and marine scientist of Italian American descent with strong connections to the USM and IMET. A prominent national and international scholar with a distinguished record of service and accomplishments, Dr. Colwell is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and holds a concurrent appointment as Distinguished University Professor within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Speakers at the June 22 celebration will include USM Chancellor Jay A. Perman, UMCP President Darryll Pines, UMCES President Peter Goodwin, UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, and IMET Director Russell Hill.
“It’s an honor, truly, to work in the Rita Rossi Colwell Center,” said Chancellor Perman. “We have this unique opportunity to name a building after one of our own: a path-breaking scientist, a pioneering woman, a scholar who’s dedicated her life and career to improving human and environmental health, which we all know are inextricably linked. It’ll be a special evening.”
A microbiologist, Dr. Colwell’s research focuses on marine biotechnology, molecular ecology and systematics, and the ecology of microorganisms. She has focused extensively on the survival of pathogens in the aquatic environment.
Her work has been and continues to be used to improve public health conditions and medical advancements. Dr. Colwell has studied cholera for over 50 years. She is recognized as discovering critical findings related to the environment in which bacterium thrive, the dormancy and revival of bacterium and how this contributes to outbreaks. Her research on cholera serves those who lack access to clean water and continues to have an impact today. She developed a data technology model that can predict cholera outbreaks six months in advance. This model has very recently been applied to predicting cholera outbreak in war-torn Ukraine.
Dr. Colwell was the 11th Director and the first woman to lead the NSF. During her almost 6-year tenure (1998-2004), she oversaw the organization’s most significant period of growth as its budget increased by 68% and the average grant awards rose from an annual average of $90,000 to $142,000. She also championed and secured funding for innovative science and engineering education programs and initiatives to advance women in academic engineering and science careers.
Her relationship with the USM began in 1972 when she joined the UMCP faculty as a tenured Professor of Microbiology. She later assumed—sometimes concurrently—several academic administrative appointments at UMCP and within the USM. These appointments included Director of the University of Maryland Sea Grant College (1977-1983); Acting Director of the Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies (1980-1981); Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park (1983-1987); Founding Director, Center of Marine Biotechnology (1987-1991); and Founding Director of the Maryland Biotechnology Institute (1987-1991). Between 1991 – 1998, Dr. Colwell served as the President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. During this time, she led the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB), IMET’s predecessor. She was instrumental in the founding of the Columbus Center for the purpose of expanding environmental science education and research in Baltimore City and it is most appropriate that the building is now being named for her as the Rita Rossi Colwell Center.
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The USM comprises 12 institutions: Bowie State University; Coppin State University; Frostburg State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; the University of Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; the University of Maryland, College Park; the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and the University of Maryland Global Campus. The USM also includes three regional centers—the Universities at Shady Grove, the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown, and the University System of Maryland at Southern Maryland—at which USM universities offer upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses.
USM institutions and programs are among the nation's best in quality and value according to several national rankings. To learn more about the University System of Maryland, visit www.usmd.edu. To learn about the new USM Strategic Plan, “Vision 2030: From Excellence to Preeminence,” visit https://www.usmd.edu/vision2030/.
Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu
