Governor’s Cabinet Meeting Features Peek into Southern Maryland Research and Collaboration

State leaders had the opportunity to see where education and research meet in St. Mary’s County.

As part of the governor’s cabinet road tour, Governor Moore, Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, and the Moore-Miller Administration cabinet explored local landmarks including the Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River and Leonardtown before holding Friday’s meeting.

After the meeting, the group, including Congressman Steny Hoyer, toured the USMSM SMART Building. They saw the labs where USMSM’s partners, including the University of Maryland (UMD), hold classes. They walked through the UMD MATRIX Lab research spaces, including the Project Assembly Area, water tunnel, anechoic chamber, and Open Air-Land Lab, a large space for flying drones and operating ground robots.

In the Project Assembly Area, Gov. Moore and Lt. Gov. Miller met MATRIX Lab Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Justin Stine, who showed them his ingestible capsule research alongside Keith Davenport. Dr. Stine is mentoring Davenport, a College of Southern Maryland and DREEM program student who plans to transfer to UMD’s engineering program at USMSM in Fall 2024.

After the tour, Gov. Moore and Lt. Gov. Miller learned about Southern Maryland’s economic and physical assets through a series of presentations led by Dr. Reza Ghodssi, Executive Director of Research and Innovation for the UMD MATRIX Lab.

More information can be found on UMD ECE News. (5 - February / 2024)