Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) provides UMD students of all backgrounds, disciplines, and levels of experience with the opportunity to engage in scaffolded, multidisciplinary team-based projects.
About VIP
Program Features
VIP Teams engage in work related to a broad range of academic and professional disciplines. All of them have the following features in common:
Scaffolded Engagement & Support
Teams are comprised of second-year students through graduating seniors. New VIP Team members learn from and replace those who graduate by engaging in peer-to-peer learning and mentorship.
Multidisciplinary Engagement
The VIP program is open to students from all majors and experience levels. VIP drives the completion of big, multidisciplinary projects, which enhance and expand faculty scholarship while providing students the opportunity to work with peers from various fields.
Multi-Semester Participation
The VIP program extends project-based learning beyond a single semester, with students participating for multiple semesters. This provides time and context for students to gain deeper insights, learn and practice professional skills, make contributions to projects, and experience a broad range of team-based roles.
Degree Advancement
Participating VIP students enroll in VIPS courses each semester and earn academic credit.
Authentic Engagement & Skill Building
VIP Teams use authentic and contemporary practices, deal with real-world uncertainties, and engage in the creation of multifaceted outcomes.
Student Impacts
Students who participate in the VIP program build broad personal and professional skills directly related to their academic discipline and applicable to a broad range of long-term professional career paths:
Marketable Skillsets
Develop broadly marketable and contemporary skillsets that will allow you to succeed in a broad range of long-term professional destinations.
Communication
Learn to clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
Critical Thinking
Grow in your ability to identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
Leadership
Excel in your ability to recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
Professionalism
Understand how work environments differ and demonstrate effective work habits.
Teamwork
Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
VIP Team Projects Engage Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Each VIP Team targets clear, defined, and achievable objectives related to research, design, entrepreneurship, or community outreach & service. Projects are derived from the research agendas, interests, scholarship, and expertise of the VIP Faculty Mentor.
Current VIP Teams
3D-Printed Video Game-Playing Soft Robots
Dr. Ryan Sochol
Mechanical Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Baby Brains
Dr. Tracy Riggins
Department of Psychology
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Beyond Co-Intelligence
Mr. Kevin Calabro
Keystone Program
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Biosensors
Dr. Catherine Spirito
Office of Undergraduate Research
Engineering on the Edge of Space
Dr. Mary Bowden
Aerospace Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
FIELDS: Food, Integrated Environmental, Animal & Laboratory Detection Systems
Dr. Magaly Toro
Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
Go with the Flow!
Dr. Ken Kiger
Mechanical Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Integrating Sociology in Technology, Engineering, and Policy (INSTEP)
Dr. Roan Parrish
Science, Technology, and Society
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Quantum Machine Learning
Dr. Shabnam Jabeen
Office of Undergraduate Research
Researching Innovative Tools for Meaningful Digital Engagement
Dr. Ronald Yaros
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Sodium Fire Safety in Nuclear Power Plants
Dr. Peter Sunderland
Fire Protection Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
The Immersive Realities in Digital Humanities Workgroup
Dr. Marisa Parham
Department of English & Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities
Wind TERPines
Dr. James Baeder
Aerospace Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
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Dr. Raffaele Viglianti
Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities
Belonging for Immigrants and Refugees with Disabilities (BIRD)
Dr. Veronica Kang
Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education
College of Education
Beyond-Lithium Battery Materials
Dr. David Stewart
Materials Science and Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Community Learning Garden
Meredith Epstein
Institute of Applied Agriculture
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
Exoskeleton Explorers: Arthropod-Inspired 3D Printed Robots
Dr. Molly Carton
Mechanical Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
FLASH: Flexible Low-cost AI Scanning Hardware
Dr. Davis McGregor
Mechanical Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Integrated Media for Policy, Agriculture, Climate & Technology
Dr. Rebecca Epanchin-Niell
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources & UMD Extension
Mini-Breadboard Data Center
Dr. Lingnan Lin
Mechanical Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Research/Research
Dr. Cari Ferguson
Office of Undergraduate Research
RetroComp
Dr. Jeffery Moro
Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, African American Digital and Experimental Humanities (AADHum), Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM)
TestuGo: A Bluetooth Navigation & Exploration App
Mr. Bryan Quinn
Electrical and Computer Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
Water Quality, Outreach, and Wellness - WOW, What a Team!
Dr. Brienna Anderson
Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health
School of Public Health
Wood Vault
Dr. Ning Zeng
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
The VIP Movement & UMD
Originally created at Georgia Tech and Purdue University, Vertically Integrated Projects has been making an impact for over 20 years at universities across the globe.
Vertically Integrated Projects is a transformative approach to enhancing higher education by engaging undergraduate students in ambitious, long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary project teams that are led by faculty. The program has been rigorously evaluated and refined over more than two decades.
UMD's initial investment in Vertically Integrated Projects was led by the A. James Clark School of Engineering. Engineering and the Office of Undergraduate Research are now moving forward as collaborative partners to support a broader range and number of students and ensure campus partners from all UMD disciplines have the opportunity to benefit from this opportunity.