Recent News & Accomplishments
2022
Vishnu Dutt Sharma, advised by Assistant Professor Pratap Tokekar, is one of only 4 graduate students to receive the UMD Graduate School Kulkarni Foundation Summer Research Fellowship for 2022.
Sharma , a University of Maryland third-year doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science, was recently awarded the Kulkarni Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship. The Kulkarni fellowship is endowed by Dr. Ashok Kulkarni, a distinguished alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Together with funding from campus graduate programs, the endowment provides research support for doctoral students at “mid-career” and enables them to take a significant step forward in their research work. A B.Tech. and M.Tech. in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from... read more
The online version of the classic board game Diplomacy is serving as a testbed for researchers in the Computational Linguistics and Information Processing Lab (CLIP) to advance artificial intelligence’s ability to negotiate and detect deception. The project is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to defend against social engineering attacks , or when a user is manipulated into providing money or sensitive information. It’s estimated that cybercriminals successfully stole $7 billion this way last year, and such attacks can compromise national security. “We’re... read more
Mihai Pop , a professor of computer science and the director of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), is being recognized for his significant achievements in computational biology and bioinformatics. The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) has selected Pop as a Fellow for 2022. He joins 10 other ISCB members who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the field. ISCB selected Pop for his leadership in the development of algorithms for analyzing metagenomic data, particularly in the context of metagenome... read more
The funding supports efforts to advance a randomized testing technique known as “fuzzing,” making it easier to write, debug, and reason about software and its specifications.
Software correctness is becoming increasingly important as our society grows more reliant on computer systems, with even the simplest software errors now having the capacity to inflict devastating financial or security losses. A University of Maryland expert in programming languages is addressing this issue, using funding from the National Science Foundation to advance a randomized testing technique known as “fuzzing,” making it easier to write, debug, and reason about software and its specifications. Leonidas Lampropoulos , an assistant professor of computer science and a core faculty member... read more
Former graduate student Soheil Behnezhad was recently announced as the winner of the Charles A. Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award bestowed by the UMD Graduate School. The award recognizes outstanding original work that makes a significant contribution to the discipline. Behnezhad is the first student from the Department of Computer Science to win this prestigious award since it was established in 2011. His dissertation titled, “ Modern Large-Scale Algorithms for Classical Graph Problems ,” focused on studying modern computational models that capture the challenges of big data... read more
With $1.6M in funding from the National Science Foundation and Amazon, University of Maryland faculty are developing algorithms and protocols that can improve the efficiency, reliability and trustworthiness of artificial intelligence systems.
Fully ingrained into our daily lives, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can help us shop online, calculate credit scores, navigate vehicles, and for those that run afoul of the law, offer judges criminal sentencing guidelines. But as the use of AI increases exponentially, so does the concern that biased data can result in flawed decisions or prejudiced outcomes. At the University of Maryland, two teams of researchers are helping to eliminate those biases by developing new algorithms and protocols that can improve the efficiency, reliability and trustworthiness of AI systems... read more
Research explores navigational challenges for autonomous vehicles in dense urban environments.
The article is republished from ECE University of Maryland research into using machine learning to predict human driver behavior was featured in Tech Explore. The article, “ B-GAP: A simulation method for training autonomous vehicles to navigate complex urban scenes ,” highlighted work that was recently published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters . The researchers, headed by Distinguished University Professor Dinesh Manocha (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Computer Science), include computer science Ph.D. students Angelos Mavrogiannis and Rohan... read more
She was also recently elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
The University of Maryland’s Ming Lin has been inducted into the IEEE Virtual Reality Academy , which highlights the accomplishments of the leaders in the field. Criteria for selection include cumulative and momentous contributions to research and/or development; broader influence on the field, the community, and on the work of others; and significant service and/or active participation in the community. Also inducted into the inaugural class of 49 members are UMD alums Michael Antonov (B.S. ’03, computer science) and Brendan Iribe, who were recognized for turning headset virtual reality into... read more
For David Doggette (M.S. ’94, computer science), a National Security Agency scholarship, hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit came together in his Maryland tech company, 2HB Inc.
More than 30 years ago, when David Doggette (M.S. ’94, computer science) was a teenager, he agreed to play the piano at a local college scholarship event. He had no idea it would end up changing the trajectory of his life. “The people organizing the event knew I was a pretty accomplished pianist and asked me if I would play at an event where they were giving out college scholarships,” Doggette recalled. “When they asked me how much I would charge to perform, I told them I’d do it for free.” Although Doggette didn’t receive a scholarship at the event, the woman coordinating the event was so... read more
As an intern, Li developed an extension to help the news infrastructure team resolve bugs before news stories go live.
Last summer, Yong Li interned with Bloomberg Engineering ’s news infrastructure team—a dream position for this University of Maryland senior computer science major fascinated with fintech. Just a few months later, he accepted the company’s offer to join full-time as a software engineer. His not-so-secret weapon? Connecting with people. Li made the most of his time at Bloomberg by meeting as many employees and interns as possible to maximize his learning and networking potential. “ Yong was clearly excited to learn about Bloomberg Engineering and our culture,” said Lisa Ulker, a Bloomberg... read more