Originally funded under the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and subsequently under Part C of the 1968 Amendments, the Maryland Research Coordinating Unit (RCU) started operation in January 1969 by recruiting a staff and securing the necessary equipment. Once these needs were satisfied the major activities of the staff evolved around (1) state plan development, (2) the design of data and information collection instruments to facilitate planning, evaluation, and reporting, (3) the design of an evaluation system, (4) work preliminary to the design of research in health occupations and industrial arts, and (5) research associated with the applied mathematics curriculum development. Future activities include recommended research in the areas of occupational programs, organization and administration of programs, and regional or state-wide evaluation studies. (Author/JS)