Recent News & Accomplishments
2026
University of Maryland researchers played a key role in a recent national workshop aimed at helping early-career faculty strengthen their cybersecurity research proposals and compete for National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. The 2025 NSF Security, Privacy, and Trust in Cyberspace (SaTC) Aspiring Principal Investigator Workshop—held on December 15–16 at George Washington University—brought together more than 65 early-career faculty from across the country. The attendees were all researchers involved with security, privacy and trustworthy computing that had previously not received SaTC... read more
Ishaan Chakraborty and Urjit Chakraborty developed ThinkEx to help users capture, organize and synthesize information beyond traditional AI chat interfaces.
Large language models have become standard tools for students navigating coursework, research projects and independent study. They can explain concepts quickly, summarize dense material and respond to follow-up questions in real time. As their use has expanded, however, a recurring limitation has emerged: information generated through AI often remains buried in long chat histories that are difficult to revisit, compare or connect. That challenge is central to ThinkEx , a digital platform developed by University of Maryland computer science students Ishaan Chakraborty (B.S. ’27, computer... read more
UMD Research Shows Systems Left Unchecked in Simulation Harmed Humans to Fulfill Objectives
The cute title character of Pixar's 2008 hit “WALL-E” was its most memorable robot, but a far less friendly artificial intelligence (AI) named AUTO seized the plot by piloting a ship orbiting a polluted Earth with one goal: Never let the humans onboard return to the planet. This kind of science fiction could portend the future if AI systems acquire enough sophistication to blast through safety measures developers currently use. Might AI seek to meet its objectives—even employing deception to do so—no matter the human cost? Such scenarios could happen at “an alarmingly high rate” if tomorrow’s... read more
2025
Blending ‘old-fashioned’ logic systems with the neural networks that power large language models is one of the hottest trends in artificial intelligence.
Will computers ever match or surpass human-level intelligence — and, if so, how? When the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), based in Washington DC, asked its members earlier this year whether neural networks — the current star of artificial-intelligence systems — alone will be enough to hit this goal, the vast majority said no. Instead, most said, a heavy dose of an older kind of AI will be needed to get these systems up to par: symbolic AI. Sometimes called ‘good old-fashioned AI’, symbolic AI is based on formal rules and an encoding of the logical... read more
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems that understand and produce text and images have grown exponentially into mainstream use, flooding the internet and social media feeds with AI-generated content. But the same can’t be said for audio-based AI systems, known as Large Audio-Language Models (LALMs), which use machine learning, speech recognition, and natural language processing to convert spoken words into data, or to synthesize realistic human-like voices and music from text or other audio. This deficiency stems in part from researchers and software developers involved with LALMs having... read more
University of Maryland Computer Science Lecturer Matthew Nolan brings his experiences in music, art, computing and game design to the Immersive Media Design program.
As an accomplished musician, visual artist, game designer, programmer and educator, Matthew Nolan finds inspiration at the intersection of art and technology. This summer, he brought his unique skill set and nearly two decades of experience in sound design, digital audio, and interactive multimedia to the University of Maryland’s Immersive Media Design (IMD) program as a new lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. “Immersive media kind of encompasses a lot of different disciplines,” Nolan explained. “It’s essentially where computation and media sort of shake hands or meet, and it’s... read more
Baggett reflects on early influences, the creation of “Crash Bandicoot” and what he learned growing companies in the tech sector.
Dave Baggett (B.S. '92, computer science; B.A. '92, linguistics) has spent more than three decades working at the intersection of software, entertainment and security. From helping create the original “Crash Bandicoot” to co-founding ITA Software and later leading Inky, Baggett’s career spans several eras of technology development. Now overseeing security products at Kaseya, he continues to focus on how artificial intelligence can support operational tasks. In a Q&A, Baggett discussed his early interest in computing, the circumstances that led him into game development and what he learned... read more
Google Developer Student Club hosts 12-hour AI-focused event drawing 120 participants.
The Brendan Iribe Center took on the energy of a fast-moving workspace on November 2 as students came together for the University of Maryland’s Gemini Hack Night. For 12 hours, teams shifted between planning sessions, coding sprints and quick tests of emerging ideas as they worked to turn early concepts into working prototypes. More than 200 students RSVP’d for the event, and 120 participated. The smaller format offered a focused space for students to experiment with AI tools in a setting designed for exploration rather than large-scale competition. “We wanted something smaller where people... read more
UMD researchers develop tools to detect cultural and linguistic inconsistencies in AI-generated answers.
Imagine asking an AI chatbot for health advice and getting conflicting guidance—or turning to a chatbot in a crisis only to receive unclear instructions. Confusing or inconsistent AI isn’t just frustrating; it can put people’s health and safety at risk. Researchers in the Computational Linguistics and Information Processing (CLIP) Lab—including Jordan Boyd-Graber , a professor of computer science with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS); and Vanessa Frias-Martinez , a professor in the College of Information with an appointment in... read more
Edward Marine and Viswanath Vasa develop SenseGuard, a long-range sensor system that helps organizations monitor environmental conditions in unattended sites.
Unoccupied buildings often carry risks that go unnoticed. A small leak, an unexpected power outage or a sudden temperature shift can cause extensive damage before anyone is aware. As property managers, researchers and organizations seek more reliable ways to monitor these spaces, two University of Maryland computer science students are developing a system to meet that need. SenseGuard, created by undergraduates Edward Marine and Viswanath Vasa , is a long-range, low-power platform that uses environmental sensors to monitor vacant buildings, research storage units and other locations without... read more