9-02-2025 4:49am

Meet 15 Local

RealLIST Innovators 2025: Meet 15 technologists driving Maryland’s innovations

Between top-flight universities, rising startups, public agencies and all matter of meetups, these STEM professionals make an impact well beyond the tech they build.

By: Maria Eberhart Sameer Rao, technical.ly

Throughout Maryland, people developing tech behind the screens are also the ones powering innovation and giving back to their communities.

They’re the technologists creating the systems that keep businesses running, experimenting with new tools and leading cutting-edge projects.

But their impact doesn’t stop at the office. Many of them are mentoring the next generation and working to build community in the tech scene.

This year’s list comes with two big changes. First, we broadened this series’ title from RealLIST Engineers to RealLIST Innovators, recognizing the wide range of technologists and researchers driving progress. Second, we expanded the scope beyond Baltimore to include the entire state of Maryland, reflecting our growing coverage across the region.

As in past years, going back to 2019, we built this list through your nominations, personal outreach and our reporting — and remember that you can keep submitting names year-round.

From researchers and startup founders to educators and cybersecurity pros, these are the builders making Maryland’s tech ecosystem stronger in 2025.

Meet them here: View it in a new tab here.

This article mentions EcoMap Technologies, a Technical.ly client. That relationship has no impact on this report.Maria Eberhart is a 2025-2026 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs emerging journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported in part by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and the Abell Foundation. Learn more about supporting our free and independent journalism.