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Dr. Bert Hubbard (1960 Ph.D. Mathematics) Professor Emeritus, Mathematics, passed away on October 3 at the age of 81. Hubbard made significant contributions to the Department of Mathematics, particularly in the undergraduate classroom, where he considered it essential for students to be fully competent in algebra and calculus before pursuing more advanced work in mathematics and the sciences in general. He was an avid hiker and outdoorsman, loved classical music, was a determined learner even in his late years and never lost his passion as an advocate for social justice.

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The 10th Annual Bioscience Research and Technology Review Day on November 12, 2009, will feature a variety of special presentations on the impact that climate change is having on all living organisms—from bacteria to birds, from flu to frogs, and from polar bears to people. Thomas Lovejoy, one of the leading conservation biologists in the world, known for founding the PBS show Nature, will give the keynote address. Other highlights include an internship and career fair, a poster session showcasing cutting edge University of Maryland research, and the 3rd Annual Professor Venture Fair, which gives faculty inventors the opportunity to pitch new technologies to a team of five venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who judge them based on commercial viability. The event will take place at the Stamp Student Union.

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William McDonough (Geology) has been elected a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in recognition of his significant scientific activities.

Eitan Tadmor (Mathematics, CSCAMM and IPST) is an invited speaker at the Inaugural Conference of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore, India. The conference, entitled Science Without Boundaries, takes place December 28-31, 2009.

Dave Thirumalai (IPST and Chemistry) has been awarded a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award is granted to a scientist whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements.

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Dale Allen (AOSC), NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, $117,720, "Assessing the Sensitivity of Lightning—NO Emissions to Climate Change."

Ian Appelbaum (Physics), DOE, $289,728, "Imaging of Buried Nanoscale Optically Active Material."

Ben Bederson (Computer Science and UMIACS), NSF, $630,000, "CDI-Type I: Translation as a Collaborative Process."

Victor Galitskiy (Physics), DOE, $103,000, "Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors."

Wolfgang Losert (Physics, IPST and IREAP), NIST, $150,000, "Developing Computational Tools for NIST's Effort in Third Generation Photovoltaics."

Raghu Murtugudde (AOSC and ESSIC), NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, $229,916, "Decadel Variability of the Mixed Layer Heat Budget in the Indian Ocean."

Catherine Plaisant-Schwenn (Computer Science and UMIACS), NSF, $138,000, "User-Centered Visual Analytics Evaluation."

Gary Rubloff (IREAP, ISR and MSE), University of Maryland-Baltimore County, $1,000,000, "Ultrafast Dynamics for Next-generational nanotechnology."

Steven Salzberg (Computer Science and UMIACS), Boston University, $149,357, "RECOVERY: SciBay: A New Methodology for Scientific Collaboration and Gene Function Determination."

Ben Shneiderman (Computer Science an UMIACS), NIH-National Cancer Institute, $337,134, "RECOVERY: Interactive Exploration of Temporal Patterns in Electronic Health Records."

Amy Weinberg (Linguistics and UMIACS), Army Research Office, $1,761,100, "Center for Language and Cultural Analysis."

Wenlu Zhu (Geology), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, $107,500, "Permeability-Porosity Relationships in Seafloor Vent Deposits: Dependence on Pore Evolution Processes."

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The October 23 episode of the TV Show, Numb3rs, referenced LCCD's work on Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents (SOMA) and used SOMA-like techniques to solve a kidnapping, mistakenly stating that SOMA was designed by the Department of Defense. SOMA was designed by Professors V.S. Subrahmanian and Samir Khuller (Computer Science and UMIACS) and Dana Nau (Computer Science) with graduate students Gerardo Simari and Amy Sliva, funded by DoD and applied to terror groups by the Laboratory for Computational Cultural Dynamics (UMIACS) and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management.

Ian Appelbaum (Physics) was an invited speaker at the International IMR Workshop on Group IV Sprintronics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan on October 5, with a topic of "Lateral Spin Transport and Electrostatic Gating in Silicon." On September 29 he was an invited speaker at The Royal Society Discussion Meeting "The Spin on Electronics!" London, England.

John Mather (Physics), Nobel Laureate and senior astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA-Goddard, delivered the first of a series of lectures organized by the Dynasty Foundation and RIA Novosti's Mosaics of Knowledge club. The lecture, in which Mather spoke on the Big Bang theory, the James Webb Space Telescope and the new Nobel prize awards, was broadcast by RIA Novosti on October 27.

Raghu Murtugudde (AOSC and ESSIC) was an invited speaker at the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) 2009 Annual Meeting: Understanding Ecosystem Dynamics and Pursuing Ecosystem Approaches to Management, held October 23-November in Jeju, Korea, with a topic of "Marine Ecosystem from an Earth System Perspective: Prospects and Challenges." As well as presenting at the 2009 Chesapeake Bay Modeling meeting hosted by the Office of Hydrologic Development of the National Weather Service on October 2, he also delivered a Google TechTalk, September 18, entitled Regional Earth System Prediction: Microbes to Man.

Sumant Nigam (AOSC and ESSIC) was an invited speaker at the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) 2009 Annual Meeting: Understanding Ecosystem Dynamics and Pursuing Ecosystem Approaches to Management held October 23-November in Jeju, Korea.

Marvin Zelkowitz (Professor Emeritus in Computer Science) gave a keynote talk on "The Science of Software Engineering" at the International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, Orlando, Florida, October 15-16, 2009.

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Robert Adler (ESSIC), was quoted in the New York Times, October 20, in an article on landslide hazards.

Wally Greenberg (Physics) was quoted in the Investor's Business Daily, October 5, in an article on Paul Dirac.

Doug Hamilton (Astronomy) with co-authors Anne Verbisher and Mike Skrutskie (University of Virginia), published an article in Nature, October 22, on their discovery of an enormous ring associated with Saturn's outer moon, Phoebe. There were numerous follow-up stories including, but not limited to, The Washington Post, Science, National Geographic, Agence France-Presse, CNN, BBC, The New York Times, US News & World Report, The Baltimore Sun and PBS.

Paul Julienne, Eite Tiesinga (Physics and JQI) et al., were mentioned in PhysOrg, October 20, on their report to be published in an upcoming issue on Physical Review A, on properly tuned radio-frequency waves influencing how much the atoms attract or repel one another, opening up new ways to control their interactions. A follow-up story appeared in Science Daily, October 25.

William McDonough (Geology) with co-author James Brennan (University of Toronto) published an article in Nature Geoscience, October 18, concluding that not all highly siderophile elements were affected by core formation in the same way, and that the abundances of elements such as osmium and iridium require the addition of a late veneer. Follow-up stories appeared in ScienceDaily, US News and World Report, Red Orbit and Asian News International.

Tom McMullen (CMPS Dean’s Office) was mentioned in the Santa Paula Times, October 2, in an article on the collapse of the St. Francis Dam in March, 1928. McMullen, who was extensively mentioned in a previous article of June 12, received his M.S. in Engineering with a thesis topic of "The Saint Francis Dam Collapse and Its Impact on the Construction of the Hoover Dam."

Cole Miller (Astronomy) was mentioned in ZeeNews, October 6 in an article on using thermonuclear burst to reveal the true size of neutron stars.

Mihai Pop and Steven Salzberg (Computer Science and UMIACS) were quoted and mentioned, respectively, in GenomeWeb, October edition, in an article on the National Institutes of Health's Human Microbiome Project.

Steven Salzberg (Computer Science and UMIACS) was quoted in the Washington Examiner, October 29, in two stories dealing with the H1N1 flu and vaccination.

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Sergey Brin (1993 B.S. Computer Science and Mathematics), was the subject of a New York Times article, October 25, on his recent donations to charity. Brin also published a letter in the New York Times, October 9 on digitizing all books.

Richard Kreminski (1990 M.A. and 1994 Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, advisor Paul Green), previously Head of the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M-Commerce, is the new Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo CO. The co-author of "Applied Abstract Algebra," with W. David Joyner (1983 Ph.D. Mathematics, advisor John Benedetto) and JoAnn Turisco, Kreminski earned a Juris Doctorate from the Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University, in 2008.

Northrop Grumman Alumni: Join Us on November 17

The Clark School will hold a reception for all alumni working at Northrop Grumman from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17 at the National Electronics Museum near Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport. Meet and network with fellow Terps. RSVP to Josey Simpson ’84, director of alumni relations, josey@umd.edu or call 301.405.2150, by November 7.

The University of Maryland Libraries has digitized its yearbooks from 1897 to 2009 as part of its participation in Lyrasis' Mass Digitization Collaborative. Each yearbook may be downloaded as an Adobe PDF file, and may be searched individually for names and events.

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WE GREATLY ENCOURAGE ALL OUR READERS TO KEEP US INFORMED OF THEIR NEWS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

PLEASE SUBMIT ITEMS TO: Mary Kearney (mkearney@umd.edu)

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER, MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Astronomy Department - Dr. Stuart Vogel, Chair
Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department - Dr. James Carton, Chair
Computer Science Department - Dr. Larry Davis, Chair
Geology Department - Dr. Michael Brown, Chair
Mathematics Department - Dr. James Yorke, Chair
Physics Department - Dr. Drew Baden, Chair
CSCAMM - Dr. Eitan Tadmor, Director
ESSIC - Dr. Tony Busalacchi, Director
IPST - Dr. Rajarshi Roy, Director
IREAP - Dr. Dan Lathrop, Director
UMIACS - Dr. V.S. Subrahmanian, Director

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