The search for new knowledge is one of the most challenging activities of humankind. We search for an understanding of the world around us, and this inevitably leads to remarkable progress in how we live. This is CMPS research where fundamental discoveries are the norm, made by the faculty whose stellar quality is reflected in the honors they receive and in the rankings of our disciplines -see the map above and the list of honors on this website.

Discovery in a rapidly changing world requires investment in new fields, and our profile has changed dramatically over the last decade. Bioscience is emerging as a key area in all our disciplines; earth science faculty are coupling physical and biosphere data to predict environmental change, geochemists are uncovering the history of the evolution of the earth, while our astronomers probe the origin of the universe with one of the world's premier radio observatories. The first ever entanglement of atoms at a distance just happened in our physics laboratories; computer scientists are transforming information security and decoding genomes, and mathematicians are modeling the spread of AIDS.

Educating students is at the heart of our mission, and CMPS provides a unique educational experience. The thrill of participation in discovery is a special opportunity we offer all our students, and we have made diversity a priority to ensure that minority students are in the game. We aim to give all our students an understanding of the role and power of science in today's world, informed by the outstanding faculty who are their teachers.

It is the reputation of our faculty and the quality of the education we provide that makes a Maryland degree in our disciplines so valuable.

Ultimately there are only two measures by which to judge us: the impact of the knowledge we create, and the impact of our graduates. We celebrate all our graduates, but to name a few: Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google; Herbert Hauptman, Nobel Laureate; George Dantzig, creator of the simplex algorithm and modern linear programming; Paul Butler discoverer of some of the first known extra-solar planets; and Robert Fischell, inventor of the modern stent.

And so, welcome to CMPS!

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