E-News | CMPS

The 21st Annual Spring Academic Festival was held on Friday, April 24 in recognition of the outstanding excellence of our students, faculty, staff and alumni (see Alumni News for the Alumni Awards):

DEAN’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING:
Kasso A. Okoudjou, Department of Mathematics

OUTSTANDING INSTRUCTOR:
Jandelyn D. Plane, Department of Computer Science

OUTSTANDING TEACHING ASSISTANT:
Peter C. Fontana, Department of Computer Science

THELMA M. WILLIAMS ADVISOR OF THE YEAR:
Ida K. Chan, Department of Mathematics

OUTSTANDING EXEMPT EMPLOYEE AWARD:
Ritzie M. Coleman, CMPS Dean’s Office
Donna M. Hammer, Department of Physics

OUTSTANDING NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEE AWARD:
Clay M. Daetwyler, Department of Physics
Sandra M. Romeo, Department of Geology

J. ROBERT DORFMAN PRIZE FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH:
R. Matt McCutchen, Computer Science and Mathematics

2009 OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE:
Kristin V. Stephens, Computer Science

NATIONAL BARRY M. GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIPS FOR MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES: Zachary N. Russ, Mathematics and Bioengineering
John M. Silberholz, Mathematics, Computer Science and Business

Kara Hoffman, Physics, has been awarded an NSF Faculty Career Award for “Towards a GZK Neutrino Detector at the South Pole." The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Jim Gates, Physics, has been appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The group will advise President Obama and the Vice President to help the administration formulate policy in the many areas where understanding of science, technology, and innovation is key to forming responsible and effective policy. Gates has also been appointed to the Maryland State Board of Education with his term beginning in July 2009 and lasting four years.

Arthur La Porta, Physics and IPST, has been selected as the 2008-2009 Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year by the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and the Dean for Undergraduate Studies.

Bill McDonough, Geology, has been selected by the CMPS Board of Visitors to receive the Board’s Distinguished Faculty Award. The Award, established by the College’s Board of Visitors, recognizes outstanding accomplishments over the previous five years that have had a major impact, and thereby contributed significantly to raising the profile and visibility of the College.

Eve Ostriker, Astronomy, has been named a Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for her work on large-scale regulation of star formation. The Guggenheim Memorial Foundation annually recognizes and awards professional scholars in all fields, with the exception of performing arts, "on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment."

Lawrence Washington, Mathematics, is the recipient of the John M. Smith Faculty Award for Exceptional Teaching awarded by the Mathematical Association of America.

John Weeks, IPST, Physics and Chemistry, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Established in 1863, the Academy acts as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.

The University of Maryland’s chapter of Sigma Pi Sigma, the Physics Honor Society, is a recipient of the 2009 Sigma Pi Sigma Chapter Project Awards. The Society will use the award to fund a Student-Faculty Dinner for the Physics Department.

CONTRACTS/GRANTS:

Rama Chellappa, Computer Science, UMIACS and ECE, Office of Naval Research, $219,974, "Statistical and Semantic Approaches for Object, Activity and Intent Recognition."

Rama Chellappa, Computer Science, UMIACS and ECE, Office of Naval Research, $648,025, "DURIP: Multi-Sensor Remote Biometrics Systems: Video."

Larry Davis, Computer Science and UMIACS, Kitware, $360,000, "VIRAT."

PATENTS:

Uzi Vishkin, UMIACS and ECE. Patent entitled "Optical interconnect structure in a computer system and method of transporting data between processing elements and memory through the optical interconnect structure."

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WHAT'S NEW:

Tony Busalacchi, AOSC and ESSIC, gave an invited lecture on "The Impact of Climate Change on Global Viticulture," Princeton University on April 28. Busalacchi is a member of the Society of Wine Educators.

Rita Colwell, UMIACS, gave the second annual Grimes Distinguished Lecture Series presentation on global infectious diseases, water and health at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory on April 16th.

ESSIC hosted the 30th session of The Joint Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Programme (jointly sponsored by World Meteorological Organization, International Council for Science and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO), April 6-9, 2009. Scientific guidance for the WCRP is provided by the Joint Scientific Committee, chaired by Antonio Busalacchi, AOSC and ESSIC, and consisting of 18 scientists selected by mutual agreement between the three sponsoring organizations and representing climate-related disciplines in atmospheric, oceanic, hydrological and cryospheric sciences. The 3-day session included 80 participants representing Switzerland, India, Australia, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Ghana, Canada, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, China, Norway, and the USA. A keynote speaker was Mary Glackin, 1982 B.S. Computer Science, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at NOAA.

James Gates, Physics, was an invited speaker at the University of Florida’s Department of Physics, April 16, with a topic of "Seeing the Mathematics Behind Supersymmetry Theories – Adinkras." Gates also gave a talk at SUNY-Buffalo, Department of Physics, on April 3 entitled "The DNA of Reality and its Genome."

Zhanqing Li, AOSC and ESSIC, was appointed as editor and associate editor, respectively, for the Journal of Advances in Meteorology and the Journal of Geophysical Research, a leading journal in geophysics.

Bill McDonough, Geology, mentored High School student intern, Madara Jayatilake, who received two awards at the Montgomery County Science Fair for his research project "Preparation and Analysis of Uranium Isotope Standards for Laser Ablation." The awards were from the Chemical Society of Washington for Excellence in Chemistry and the American Nuclear Society-Washington DC for Efforts and Accomplishments in Nuclear Science and Related Fields.

Mihai Pop and Steven Salzberg, both Computer Science and UMIACS, received a grant from the National Science Foundation Cluster Exploratory Program (CluE) to fund research aimed at discovering how remote cluster computers, computer networks available over the internet, might be used to process DNA sequence data.

Ross Salawitch, AOSC, Chem/Bio-Chem and ESSIC, has been selected by the AGU Atmospheric Sciences section, with co-awardee Ralph Kahn of NASA-Goddard, as the first Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award recipient for "….broad influence in atmospheric science through exceptional creativity, inspiration of younger scientists, mentoring, international collaborations, and unselfish cooperation in research."

Undergraduate contestants Alan Jackoway, Mitchell Katz and R. Matt McCutchen, all Computer Science and Mathematics majors, with coach Amol Deshpande, Computer Science and UMIACS, participated in the 33rd Annual World Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest, Sweden, April 18-22, taking 20th place (tied with Stanford) – fourth among all U.S. universities and first among all U.S. public universities. From more than 7,100 worldwide teams representing 1,838 universities who competed during the regional competitions, a total of 100 universities made it to the finals.

IN THE NEWS:

Ashok Agrawala, Computer Science and UMIACS, was interviewed on News Channel 8, April 23, on a new emergency alert tool for mobile phones and PDAs. Created by Agrawala and his team of researchers, V911 technology is one tool in MyeVyu, a downloadable software package that provides a host of new networking and information access capabilities, including a direct link between the user and campus police dispatch. Follow-up stories appeared in the Washington Post, The Engineer-Technology News, The Washington Times, TMCnet and Tweakers.net.

Tony Busalacchi, AOSC and ESSIC, was quoted in First Science, April 9, in an article on the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme meeting held at M-Square.

The International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) was mentioned in findingDulcinea, April 17, in an article on exploring digital library collections. Co-founders of ICDL include Ben Bederson, Computer Science and UMIACS and Allison Druin, UMIACS and CLIS.

James Farquhar, Geology and ESSIC, published two articles in Science, April 17 edition. The first article reported on research of an ecosystem discovered below the Antarctic Taylor Glacier which has survived millions of years by using sulfur and iron compounds for growth. Follow up articles appeared in The Guardian, ScienceNow, UPI, Space Daily and RedOrbit. The second article reported on research findings of early oxygenation, showing how supposed signs of an early lack of oxygen could have come from unrelated geochemical reactions. The research was also the topic of a Science, News of the Week article. A follow-up article appeared in Chemical and Engineering News, April 20.

John Fourkas, IPST and Chemistry and Biochemistry and Hana Hwang, Physics, et al., co-authored a report published in Sciencexpress, April 9, introducing an approach to photolithography in which multiphoton absorption of pulsed 800-nanometer (nm) light is used to initiate cross-linking in a polymer photoresist and one-photon absorption of continuous-wave 800-nm light is used simultaneously to deactivate the photopolymerization.

Mark Herrera, Physics Graduate Student, was mentioned in MIT's Technology Review, April 13, in an article on the evolution of scientific ideas.

Alan Kaufman, Geology, was quoted in ScienceNow, April 16 in an article on scientists finding life in an ecosystem trapped underneath a glacier in Antarctica for nearly 2 million years. A follow-up articled appeared in Discovery Channel, UPI and Science Now.

Dan Lathrop, Physics, Geology, IREAP and IPST, was interviewed on Channel 4, April 16, on how magnetic strips on credit cards can be damaged.

Christopher Monroe, Physics, was quoted in Physics World, April 15, in an article on NIST scientists creating a junction in an ion trap in which there is practically no heating.

Raghu Murtugudde, AOSC and ESSIC, was interviewed by public radio station WYPR Baltimore, April 1, on the development of a computer simulation that can predict, for up to 30 years, the state of health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Luis Orozco, Physics, was quoted in the Globe and Mail, April 13, in an article on absolute zero.

Robert Park, Physics, was interviewed on NBC Dateline, April 6, on Dennis Lee and the perpetual motion machine.

Roald Sagdeev, Physics and IPST, was quoted in IEEE Spectrum, April 7, in an article on Russia’s 11-ton Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, designed to land on the surface of the Martian moon, Phobos, and return samples of its soil back to earth.

Steven Salzberg, Computer Science and UMIACS, et al., published an article in Genome Biology, April 24, on the genome of the domestic cow. Salzberg was also quoted in ScienceNews on findings by a second research team at Baylor College of Medicine stating that "there are hundreds of regions of DNA duplicated in their assembly that are not duplicated in our assembly."

Steven Salzberg, Computer Science and UMIACS, was interviewed on WTOP radio, April 26, on the swine flu outbreak. He was also quoted in Wired Magazine, April 28, on the influenza virus appearing to be a hybrid of two common pig flu strains.

Jan Sengers, IPST. A review by David Cannell, UC-Santa Barbara, of Sengers and Ortiz de Zarate’s monograph "Hydrodynamic Fluctuations in Fluids and Fluid Mixtures," appeared in the International Journal of Thermophysics, April edition. The "...beautifully written monograph provides a detailed treatment of thermally excited hydrodynamic fluctuations in fluids."

ALUMNI NEWS:

In recognition of their many accomplishments, the 8th annual 2009 Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented on Friday, April 24 as part of Academic Festival, which celebrates the excellence of alumni, faculty, students and staff:

ASTRONOMY DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA
Kimberly A. Weaver, 1990 M.S. and 1993 Ph.D., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Astrophysics Division.

ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
Paul A. Dirmeyer, 1988 M.S. and 1992 Ph.D., Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA).

COMPUTER SCIENCE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
Vipin Kumar, 1982 Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

GEOLOGY DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
William Smith, 1981 B.S., Environmental Alliance.

MATHEMATICS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
Dean P. Foster, 1982 M.A. and 1988 Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Department of Statistics.

PHYSICS DISTINGUISHED POSTDOCTORAL AWARDEE
William J. Thompson, 1993-1999, Circadiant Systems Inc.

Three College alums were among those honored at the 10th Annual Alumni Association Awards Gala which took place on April 18:

ROBERT FISCHELL, 1953 M.S. Physics and 1996 D.Sc. (Hon.), received the President’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for achieving national recognition for excellence in his profession and field. Fischell holds more than 200 patents for inventions such as the internal insulin pump, and has created pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and more.

JAMES KAPLAN, 1970 Ph.D. Mathematics, advisor Jim Yorke, received the College's Distinguished Alumnus Award in recognition of his many accomplishments. Kaplan, who is President of Cubic Asset Management, is a brilliant mathematician, and a financial innovator and investor of broadly acknowledged acclaim.

ZEKERIA MOKHTARZADA, 2001 B.S. Computer Science shared the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award with his brother, D. Haroon Mokhtarzada, 2001 B.A. Economics for distinguishing themselves both personally and professionally. In 2005 the brothers raised venture capital and re-launched their company, Freewebs, as Webs.com.

Douglas Arion, 1980 M.S. and 1984 Ph.D. Physics, is the Donald Hedberg Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and Professor of Physics, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI. Arion is also a member of the team developing and distributing the Galileoscope for the International Astronomical Union and the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. The team has designed an inexpensive, high quality telescope that is being sold worldwide as part of the International Year. Sky and Telescope reviewed the telescope, "The Amazing $15 Telescope" in March 2009. For more information: www.galileoscope.org.

Dheeraj Batra, 1998 B.S. Computer Science and Finance, is currently a Venture Director at Innosight Ventures (IV) in Mumbai, India. Innosight was founded by Professor Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School to focus on applying his research in the field of Innovation. Dheeraj's primary focus at Innosight Ventures is on incubating and developing socially-focused, disruptive ventures which earn "double bottom-line" returns. He is currently incubating two ventures - Peepal Finance and Razor Rave. Prior to IV, Dheeraj was with Innosight Consulting, IV's US affiliate, where he worked on consulting projects in several industries including consumer products, financial services, and automotive. His work had a particular focus on utilizing Innosight's Jobs-to-be-Done methodology to develop and evaluate new ideas as well as on applying Innosight's IP to position products with a view to disrupting the market. Prior to joining Innosight, Dheeraj spent a number of years in the technology industry in various roles ranging from a Project Manager at Grey Interactive in New York to a Management Consultant at Adventis, a technology-focused strategy consulting firm based in Boston. Dheeraj also holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Wharton Business School.

Justin Cohen, 1991 B.S. and 1993 M.S. Physics, is Vice President of Stellar Services, with responsibilities that include managing the operations of the western region, focusing on federal, state and local government engagements within the project management space. In 1995, Cohen founded his own company, AniWorld, developing educational software. Later, he refocused the company on IT-related custom software development, primarily using the Microsoft platform. Entering the Primavera integration market in 2000, AniWorld quickly became recognized as the leader in Primavera integration to financial systems, including JD Edwards, Oracle and Peoplesoft. In 2005 AniWorld was acquired by ITresources, with Mr. Cohen staying on as a director for several years. When not traveling, Mr. Cohen fights the traffic in Los Angeles, where he has resided for the past 12 years.

Patrick Connolly, 1991 B.S. Physics, received his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore in 1998, completed his neurological surgery residency at Indiana University School of Medicine, and an Epilepsy and Functional Neurosurgery Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Neurosurgery. Connolly specializes in epilepsy and functional neurosurgery, including deep brain stimulation and minimally invasive spine surgery at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is collaborating with a Temple faculty member, Iyad Obeid, Ph.D., electrical engineer, and is glad that he can still talk about op amps, ground loops and A/D converters. “Making electrical measurements in the brain and spine is pretty much a daily activity for me.”

Heath (Hap) Peden, 1990 B.S. Computer Science, has been nominated as one of 20 professionals in the D.C. area for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society 2009 Man and Woman of the Year Award. The candidates are judged solely on a philanthropic basis, and will be crowned based on their success in generating funds during a ten week campaign which began on April 1 and will culminate on June 13 at the Grand Finale Celebration. The candidates raise money in honor of local blood cancer survivors, the Society's Boy and Girl of the Year. Peden has dedicated his fundraising campaign in honor of his father and fellow Terrapin, Carole Harris (1969).

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