USM Climbs in List of Nation’s Top 10 Patent-Producing Universities

The University of Maryland has again earned a spot among the world's top academic institutions for turning research and discoveries into patents, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Together with other schools in the University System of Maryland (USM), the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) ranks eighth among U.S. public institutions—up one spot from the previous year—and 22nd in the world for patents awarded in 2024. According to the report, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year granted a total of 114 patents to five USM institutions; of those, UMCP holds 71—up from 59 the year prior.

"Patents empower universities to protect their innovations, foster collaboration, attract funding and turn research into real-world solutions, driving both academic advancement and economic impact,” said Ken Porter, the College Park executive director of UM Ventures, an initiative of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) to commercialize discoveries and create economic impact at both the University of Maryland, College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore. "A robust patent portfolio creates opportunities not just for our faculty researchers and inventors, but for the entire university, state and region.”

Innovations from UMCP researchers that received patents in 2024 include:

A battery that uses a special graphite material with halogen added to make it work better and last longer, developed by Chunsheng Wang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and collaborators.

A computational method for recognizing human emotion in images or video, developed by UMD alums Trisha Mittal Ph.D. ’23, Uttaran Bhattacharya Ph.D. ’22 and Rohan Chandra Ph.D. ’22; Pooja Guhan, a doctoral student in computer science; Anikat Bera, adjunct associate professor of computer science; and Dinesh Manocha, Distinguished University Professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering.

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