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University of Maryland Fearlessly Forward
UMIACS Interface a monthly newsletter highlighting interdisciplinary research and innovation at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
November 2024
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UMIACS Team One of Six Finalists for Prestigious ACM Gordon Bell Prize

Led by Tom Goldstein and Abhinav Bhatele (seated second and third from left), the team is being recognized for their innovative work in developing a scalable distributed framework that can rapidly train AI-based large language models on thousands of GPUs.

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Director's Message


“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”


—Winston Churchill

UMD Team Receives $10M to Help Students with Disabilities Thrive After High School

UMIACS is working with education experts to develop an analytic tool that can integrate confidential data from multiple state agencies.

earworm on corn

Tracking Transgenic Crop-Produced Mutations in the Corn Earworm

Megan Fritz and Erin Molloy received a $650K USDA grant to monitor genetic mutations in corn earworms to prevent pesticide resistance.

Frontier Supercomputer

UMIACS Team Aims to Boost High-Performance Computing Software Development Using AI

Supported by a $7M Department of Energy award, Tom Goldstein and Abhinav Bhatele are part of an open-source project to significantly enhance software development productivity.

man wearing VR headset with water system strapped to arm and hand

New Haptic Hardware Offers a Waterfall of Immersive Experiences for Gamers

Developed in Huaishu Peng's lab with assistance from Jun Nishida, JetUnit is a haptic system that uses water jets to generate realistic touch sensations in VR, without getting users wet.

smiling woman with black hair and blue shirt

Evaluating the Use of LLM Agents to Provide Better Software Security

Yizheng Chen was awarded $1.7M from Open Philanthropy to benchmark the use of large language model agents for cyberdefense applications.

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Coles Elevates UMIACS Events with Expertise and Enthusiasm

Mel. Coles brings positive energy and a commitment to excellence in her new role as the institute’s manager of engagement, events and special projects.

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CLIP Graduate Student Merges Psycholinguistics and Technology to Enhance Large Language Models

Sathvik Nair was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for his work exploring how large language models can enhance understanding of human cognition and language processing.

man in black shirt and glasses

QuICS Alum Wins Larry S. Davis Doctoral Dissertation Award

Yuxiang Peng was recognized for developing tools that enhance quantum systems' computational capabilities, which could lead to practical quantum applications within the next decade.

man in glasses smiling

Tokekar Featured on "Robot Talk" Podcast

As a guest speaker on the popular weekly podcast, he discussed how teams of robots with different capabilities can work together for applications like environmental monitoring.

ACM CSS 2024 conference logo

MC2 Researchers Present Seven Papers at ACM Security Conference

Their papers showcased advancements in secure deep learning model verification, zero-knowledge proofs, steganography in diffusion models, and de-identification methods.

superconducting circuit

New Design Packs Two Qubits into One Superconducting Junction

RQS researchers are unlocking the power of superconducting junctions to create multi-qubit devices, pushing quantum computing and simulations forward.

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