UMD Team Wins Prestigious Department of Defense MURI Grant for Cutting-Edge Research

The University of Maryland's Department of Computer Science is part of a cross-institutional team selected by the Department of Defense for the 2024 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. This initiative will support the team's project, "Algorithms, Learning and Game Theory: The Foundations of Multi-Agent Systems," focusing on theory and algorithms for learning and decision-making in multi-agent systems. Selected projects for the MURI program are expected to receive an average of $7.5 million over five years, encouraging collaborative research across various academic disciplines.  

Collaborators on the project from UMD include Computer Science Professor Mohammad Hajiaghayi and Associate Professor Soheil Feizi. 

“I am truly excited to have won this MURI grant, especially in one of the most competitive areas, given the popularity of machine learning and game theory,” shared Hajiaghayi, who holds the Jack and Rita G. Minker Professorship. “It appears we were the top choice in our category. The team, comprising exceptional individuals from Columbia, MIT, CMU, UCSD, and UMD, was already outstanding in previous collaborations. And now we have an even greater opportunity to work together over the next five years.” 

Since its inception in 1985, the MURI program has been instrumental in promoting interdisciplinary research efforts addressing the unique challenges of the Department of Defense. By encouraging teams of investigators from different disciplines to collaborate, the program has facilitated the development of innovative technologies and contributed significantly to military capabilities and commercial sector applications.

“It’s an honor to be a part of such an interdisciplinary team aiming to make principled connections between deep learning and game theory in the multi-agent learning context,” Feizi said. “The opportunity to collaborate with experts from other institutions enriches the project, bringing a wide array of perspectives and expertise to the table.”

The MURI program is highly competitive and complements the DoD’s single-investigator basic research grants. Over the years, it has been responsible for numerous achievements with broad-ranging impacts. Notable contributions include advancements in cold-atom quantum methods, which hold promise for quantum sensing and communication, and breakthroughs in pulsed magnetic field propagation and Doppler radar detection that have led to new landmine detection physics. 

—Story by Samuel Malede Zewdu, CS Communications