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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
October 2024
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Hall Awarded $3.5M in NIH Grants to Help Unravel the Mysteries of the Gut

The funding supports his groundbreaking work in the characterization of microbial enzymes and the development of novel wearable devices for monitoring gut health.

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Director's Message


“It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen.”



—Scott Belsky

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TRAILS Announces Second Round of Seed Funding

Five interdisciplinary projects—supported by grants totaling $685K—will advance novel AI research and scholarship that can impact education, transportation, emergency preparedness and health care.

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UMIACS Duo Part of $2.8M DARPA Award to Advance Autonomous Robotics

Furong Huang and Tom Goldstein are developing robust systems based on symbolic reasoning, allowing the machine’s AI neural networks to mimic human thought processes.

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Reimagining the Future of Archival Research

Douglas Oard and Tokinori Suzuki are part of a team developing novel methods to track down documents at the National Archives in College Park.

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16,648 Reasons to Live

Philip Resnik examined the diverse reasons that kept Reddit users from suicide, using computational linguistics to identify themes and new possibilities for suicide prevention.

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Protecting Our Region’s Poultry Industry

Mostafa Ghanem is using new genomic tools to improve the prevention and control of infectious poultry diseases.

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Medical Training Comes to Life in UMD’s VR Simulation

Amitabh Varshney is collaborating with UMB's Physician Assistant Program to develop immersive training tools for stroke assessment.

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Solving Challenges in the Intermittent Computing Domain

New faculty member Milijana Surbatovich is addressing the reliability and security challenges of intermittent computing while expanding her research into distributed systems for applications like smart cities and disaster monitoring.

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Purcell Runs the MC2 Playbook with Precision and Passion

Handling everything from office management to event planning, she skillfully directs the daily functions of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center with the pride and precision of a champion football quarterback.

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Dhulipala Awarded $364K to Make Data Analysis Faster and More Accessible

The multi-institutional project aims to develop advanced algorithms that will enable clustering over massive datasets and allow scientists, companies, and government agencies to solve complex problems.

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UMD Alumna Wins Best Thesis Award for Machine Translation Research

Eleftheria Briakou received the AMTA award for her work on enhancing translation accuracy through algorithms detecting subtle shifts in meaning.

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Seamlessly Connecting Smart Tech to Our Everyday Lives

Nakul Garg was recognized for his innovative contributions to low-power sensing and perception systems by the prestigious Marconi Society Award.

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ACES Awarded $5M Grant Renewal to Strengthen Cybersecurity Workforce

The funding will support 30 students over the next five years as they prepare for careers in cybersecurity.

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Yunger Halpern Makes Science News’ 10 Scientists to Watch List

The QuICS Fellow has been named one of Science News’ 10 “Scientists to Watch” for her pioneering work in quantum thermodynamics.

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Molina Answers Questions About Machine Learning and Extreme Weather on Reddit

The Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science was featured on a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything, spotlighting research on climate and weather extremes.

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Gorshkov Named Finalist for 2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists

The awards acknowledge the accomplishments and future potential of scientists and engineers who are 42 years of age or younger.

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CBCB Team Publishes Innovative Research on Improving Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis

In collaboration with UMB, the researchers developed machine learning algorithms to analyze wearable sensor data that will improve the accuracy and efficiency of Parkinson's disease diagnoses.

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AI-Generated Misinformation is Everywhere. ID’ing It May Be Harder Than You Think

Philip Resnik discusses the implications of AI-generated misinformation in the upcoming election, highlighting the challenges voters face in discerning truth from deception in an era of rapidly evolving technology.

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