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The 2008 Faculty and Staff Convocation was held October 7, in the Memorial Chapel.  CMPS Faculty and Staff were amongst those recognized for their contributions:
 
PRESIDENT’S DISTIGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS
Jeanne S. Martin, Department of Geology
 
KIRWAN FACULTY RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE
Sankar Das Sarma, Physics
 
DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR-TEACHERS
Theodore a. Jacobson, Physics
 
DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS
Ruth S. DeFries, ESSIC and Geography
 
Stephen Brush, IPST, is the recipient of the American Physical Society’s 2009 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, "for his pioneering, in-depth studies in the history of nineteenth and twentieth century physics."

Andrew Campbell, Geology, has been selected by the CMPS Board of Visitors to receive the Board’s Distinguished Assistant Professor Award.  Campbell oversees the Laboratory for Mineral Physics where they study the physical and chemical properties of materials under high pressure and high temperature conditions to better understand the constitution, structure, and evolution of the Earth's interior.

Lucy McFadden, Astronomy, was one of three editors of the publication “Encyclopedia of the Solar System” which was selected by the GeoScience Information Society for the Mary B. Ansari Best Reference Work Award.  The award was presented at the Society’s annual meeting, October 7, in Houston, TX.

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Michael Cummings, UMIACS, NSF, $442,700, “Grid, Public and GPU Computing for the Tree of Life.”

Russell Dickerson, AOSC, Maryland Department of the Environment, $365,000, “Air Pollution in MD – RAMMPP.”

Lise Getoor, Computer Science and UMIACS, Army Research Office, $150,000, “Intelligent Systems: Statistical Relational Learning as an Enabling Technology for Data Acquisition and Data Fusion in Video.”

Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, AOSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $100,000, “Satellite Proxy Data Studies to Determine CLARREO Sampling Errors.”

Judith Klavans, UMIACS, Institute of Museum and Library Services, $996,750, “T3: Text, Tagging and Trust to Improve Image Access for Museums and Libraries.”

Thierry Lanz, Astronomy, NSF, $172,730, “Toward 3-Dimensional, Time-Dependent, Non-LTE Radiation Transport for Cosmological Simulations.”

Ricardo Nochetto, Mathematics and IPST, NSF, $510,119, “Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Multiscale Problems Governed by Geometric PDE.”

Mihai Pop, Computer Science and UMIACS, NIH, $260,000, “Assembly and Analysis Software for Exploring the Human Microbiome.”

Hanan Samet, Computer Science and UMIACS, NSF, $300,435, “Similarity Criteria Issues in Similarity Retrieval.”

Mark Wolfire, Astronomy, Cal Tech Jet Propulsion Lab, $109,878, “Dust Evolution in Low-Metallicity Environments.”

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Michael A’Hearn, Astronomy, was quoted in Science, October 14, in an article on the radar observations of the small, icy nucleus of the comet, Tuttle, which suggest that it consists of two clumps that touch each other.  A’Hearn was also featured in an article on SpaceRef.com, October 13, the Baltimore Sun, October 15 and was interviewed by WTOP, October 15, on his award of the Kuiper Prize.
 
Millard Alexander, IPST, published an article in Science, October 24, reporting molecular beam experiments, based on hydrogen-atom Rydberg tagging detection, that reveal only a minor role of Cl*.
 
Ben Bederson, Computer Science and UMIACS, was quoted in an article on America.gov, September 18, about the collaboration with children on the design of the International Children’s Digital Library.  The July 08 edition of the Review of Policy Research reviewed Bederson’s recently published book “Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot.”
 
Tony Busalacchi, AOSC and ESSIC, was quoted in the Washington Post, October 3, in an article on penguins floating ashore in Brazil and changes in the ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere.
 
Rita Colwell, UMIACS, was mentioned in the Washington Post-Business Notes, October 16, in an article on the membership of the Montgomery County, Maryland Biosciences Task Force.  Colwell was also quoted in Discovery News, October 8, in an article on using satellite imagery to predict disease outbreaks.  
 
Nicholas Hadley, Physics, was quoted in the Daily Guide (Ghana), October 28, in an article on the first meeting of the US-Large Hadron Collider Users Organization held at Fermilab.
 
Tom Holtz, Geology, was mentioned in New Scientist, October 23, in an article on the new fossil find of a pigeon-sized, flightless dinosaur, named Epidexipteryx.  The fossil comes from the Daohugou formation in Inner Mongolia.
 
Doron Levy, Mathematics and CSCAMM, was mentioned in Forbes, October 27, in an article on customizing cancer treatment with computer simulations.
 
Stacy McGaugh, Astronomy, was quoted in ScienceNow, October 24, in an article on research undertaken to see whether galaxies shared any common characteristics.
 
Robert Park, Physics, was quoted in Popular Mechanics, October 15, in an article on personal electromagnetic fields.
 
Bill Phillips, Physics and IPST, was featured in The Register-Guard, October 1, in an article on his scheduled lecture at the University of Oregon entitled “Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe.”
 
V.S. Subrahmanian, Computer Science and UMIACS, was quoted in the Daily Star (Lebanon), October 22, in an article on the development of a software tool that can forecast the behavior of groups branded as “terrorist.”

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Robert Fischell, 1953 M.S. Physics, was the speaker at the annual Fischell lecture where he talked about his AngelMed Guardian, a new computer-controlled sensor that is implanted under the skin of a patient's chest like a pacemaker with a wire that senses the occurrence of an impending heart attack. Fischell has over 200 patents and is the father of modern medical stents, lifetime pacemaker batteries and implantable insulin pumps. On Saturday, October 25, Fox 5 News aired an interview with Fischell and WTTG-TV (Washington) aired their interview on October 27.
 
Neil Jhaveri, 2007 B.S. Computer Science and Finance, has been named a 2009 Siebel Scholar.  The Siebel Scholars program was established by the Siebel Foundation in 2000 to recognize the most talented students at the world's leading graduate schools of business and computer science. Presently Jhaveri is a graduate student at Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
 
Judith Mopsik, 1965 B.S. Mathematics, accepted the position of Senior Vice President for Strategic Business Development, The Lewin Group, in January, 2008 where she plays a key role in expanding existing markets and opening new markets for the Group’s evaluation, analytics, and technical assistance expertise. Over the course of three decades she has been a key innovator, implementer, and manager for work involving survey systems design and the implementation of surveillance and analytic systems supporting public sector clients including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Veterans Affairs; also for private-sector clients in the Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical industries.  Mopsik received her Master of Health Sciences from The Johns Hopkins University.
 
Michael Shay, 1998 Ph.D. Physics (advisor Jim Drake), has received the University of Delaware’s Francis Alison Young Scholars Award for 2008.  The Award is highly competitive and given to a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Delaware who has demonstrated outstanding research and academic teaching excellence. Shay is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
 
Richard Upton, 1984 Ph.D. Computer Science (advisor Satish Tripathi), is Executive Vice President, Healthcare Informatics at BBN Technologies, MA, and responsible for developing new business areas.  Prior to joining BBN, Upton was responsible for all business development and strategy for a BAE Systems North America line of business as Vice President, Business Development, National Security Solutions.

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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. Antonio Busalacchi, Director
IPST - Dr. Rajarshi Roy, Director
IREAP - Dr. Dan Lathrop, Director
UMIACS - Dr. V.S. Subrahmanian, Director

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