Recent News & Accomplishments
2024
Over 2,000 hackers gathered at UMD for 36 hours of exploring, learning and creating with world-class mentors.
The University of Maryland celebrated the 10th anniversary of Bitcamp , one of the East Coast's largest collegiate hackathons, from April 19-21, 2024, at the Reckord Armory . High school students and undergraduates participated in the 36-hour event, developing innovative software and hardware solutions. The annual hackathon draws ambitious student programmers, designers and innovators from across the region. More than 2,000 students registered, including 200 participants from outside UMD. This year, Bitcamp offered a variety of tracks aligned with current technology trends, including machine... read more
Goldstein and Lin are participating in an interdisciplinary project to develop AI-powered tools to foster innovative learning.
The University of Maryland's Department of Computer Science is collaborating with the Office of Public Health on an interdisciplinary project to enhance public health education through advanced technologies. Distinguished University Professor Ming Lin and Volpi-Cupal Endowed Professor Tom Goldstein are part of a team developing an AI-powered community simulator. The simulator will allow public health students to input demographic and geographic information to simulate various public health scenarios. The project will begin its pilot test in Fall 2026 and provide a virtual environment for... read more
Immersive Media Design (IMD), in collaboration with Arts for All and the Colleges of CMNS , ARHU and iSchool , is sponsoring a two-day symposium on the relationship between embodied practices and technology. This in-person event, co-organized by IMD instructor Jonathan David Martin , will feature multi-disciplinary experts and enthusiasts discussing how screens and machines shape our experiences and interactions. The symposium will include a Dance 2 performance on Friday night at The Clarice, an interactive dance involving a robot created by Computer Science Assistant Professor Huaishu Peng... read more
Kalbhor was recognized for her paper on securing national critical infrastructure.
University of Maryland sophomore Harshita Kalbhor , a computer science major and astronomy minor, is the 2024 recipient of the Honors College ’s Gordon Prize in Managing Cybersecurity Resources . Kalbhor was honored for her paper, "From Private Ownership to Public Risk: Securing National Critical Infrastructure," which discusses the challenges of protecting vital national assets primarily controlled by private entities. Kalbhor will be recognized at the Honors College Citation Ceremony scheduled for Friday, April 26, in the Memorial Chapel. Established in 2008, the Gordon Prize is an endowed... read more
NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Katherine Calvin (B.S. ’03, mathematics; B.S. ’03, computer science) will share her story with graduates and their families at the CMNS Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony in May.
When Katherine Calvin (B.S. ’03, mathematics; B.S. ’03, computer science) was invited to be the keynote speaker at the 2024 CMNS Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony at the University of Maryland, she couldn’t help thinking back to the day she graduated from UMD, 21 years ago. "Since I received the invitation, I have spent a lot of time thinking about my own graduation—what it was like to be graduating and what I wish I had known then,” Calvin said. “I remember rushing to finish finals, being both excited and nervous for the next step, which was moving to California for grad school, and being... read more
Carl Froggett worked as one of Citibank’s chief information security officers for over two decades, protecting the bank’s infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. And while criminal trickery, from low-tech paper forgery to rudimentary email scams, has long plagued banking and the wider world of business, deepfake technology powered by generative AI is something previously unseen. “I am very worried about deepfakes being used in business,” said Froggett, who is now the CIO of Deep Instinct, a company that uses AI to combat cybercrime. Industry experts say that boardrooms... read more
Nakul Garg, Shoken Kaneko, Mazda Moayeri and Gowthami Somepalli each received the award that will support them in the final stages of their dissertation research.
The University of Maryland's Graduate School has announced Department of Computer Science graduate students Nakul Garg , Shoken Kaneko , Mazda Moayeri and Gowthami Somepalli as recipients of the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship , an award recognizing outstanding research contributions and academic performance by doctoral students in the later stages of their dissertation research. The Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship is a testament to the university's commitment to fostering academic excellence and research innovation. It includes a $15,000 stipend, a candidacy tuition award and... read more
Professor Jennifer Golbeck conducts research into how supernatural experiences with dogs might support pet owners in mourning.
Paranormal encounters with deceased pets may help some animal owners cope with their grief, according to a new study. Jennifer Golbeck , an affiliate professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, recently conducted the first systematic study of the supernatural experiences of bereaved animal owners. The goal was to examine the range of perceived encounters with deceased canine companions and their meaning and significance to the pet owners. Golbeck conducted the study using social media, posting a prompt on both X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram that asked, “If you... read more
The microbiome refers to the whole sum of microorganisms in a particular environment, such as the collective sum of gut bacteria in a human being. Microbiome research is a new frontier of scientific exploration. Studies that use big data technology to examine whole genomes of hundreds of organisms simultaneously represent a field called metagenomics. As this field matures, scientists are increasingly recognizing the need for sophisticated tools and technologies to decipher the complexities hidden within these microbial ecosystems. To that end, on April 2, Mihai Pop , a professor in the... read more
Bansal, a former student manager at the Sandbox, reflects on his makerspace experience and its impact on his professional journey after graduating from UMD.
At the University of Maryland's Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering , the Jagdeep Singh Family Makerspace—also known as the Sandbox —is a testament to the fusion of practical skills with academic learning. Located on the first floor, the Singh Sandbox is a makerspace with six workshops and a large communal space. The 5,300-square-foot work area includes electronics testing and fabrication facilities, textile arts, woodworking, CNC machines, laser cutters, 3D printers and more. The Sandbox is primarily operated by student volunteers, fostering creativity and hands-on work... read more