Steiner joins UMBC

Dr. Karl V. Steiner is joining the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as vice president for research beginning Sept. 1.

Steiner joins the UMBC community from the University of Delaware, where he served as senior associate provost for research development and previously as associate provost for Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives.

At the University of Delaware, Steiner held faculty appointments at the rank of professor in both the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Program. He also served as founding associate director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute for eight years, as executive director of the Center for Composite Materials, as founding executive director of the Fraunhofer Research Center – Delaware, and as President and Founder of Lightweight Solutions, Inc.

Steiner has chaired and organized over 50 research symposia, conferences and panels for groups from the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance to the Northeast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium. His work includes fostering notable interdisciplinary collaborations among engineers, life scientists, social scientists, health scientists and others. Throughout his career at Delaware, Dr. Steiner has been instrumental in securing $150 million in externally funded programs for University and statewide research and infrastructure initiatives.

Steiner received his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Braunschweig Wolfenbüttel, Germany, in 1983; his master’s of electrical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1989; and his Doktor Ingenieur in mechanical engineering from the Institute for Composite Materials at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1995. He advised 23 Ph.D. and master’s students, is a co-holder of two patents, and has authored over 80 publications in prominent science, technology and engineering journals, including articles in the Journal of Industry and Higher Education.

As vice president for research, Dr. Steiner will play a leading role in fostering the UMBC’s research agenda and advancing its research mission, serving as a catalyst for research innovation and for the integration of research and education across the university.