Recent News & Accomplishments
2025
Agarwal finds success in competitive programming in cybersecurity and blockchain tracks.
Vitthal Agarwal , a freshman double majoring in computer science and mathematics at the University of Maryland, has quickly established himself in the hackathon circuit. The international student has competed in several high-profile events, securing first-place finishes in the blockchain category at HackMIT and the cybersecurity track at Hacklytics 2025. Agarwal and his team, which included students from Georgia Tech, developed "Phisherman," a cybersecurity training platform that uses artificial intelligence to simulate phishing attacks. Built with React, Next.js, Python and Flask, the... read more
Emojis—those expressive yellow faces and diverse icons that many of us use in texts and emails—offer a fun and quick way for people to share sentiments, convey emotions, and establish aspects of their identity that can’t easily be communicated through plain text. But for some, including researchers in the University of Maryland’s Computational Linguistics and Information Processing (CLIP) Lab, those smiling faces and fire emojis are not just conversational spice, but instead represent powerful data points that can improve machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) models. The UMD... read more
In a Q&A, Chen shares insights from his startup journey with FiscalNote and Nitra at the Mokhtarzada Hatchery Speaker Series.
The path to entrepreneurship is rarely straightforward. For many, hands-on experience in building projects, learning from failures and adapting to challenges can be just as valuable as formal education. University of Maryland Department of Computer Science alum Jonathan Chen (B.S. ’14, computer science) knows this firsthand. From co-founding FiscalNote to leading Nitra , Inc., a fintech company focused on financial solutions for healthcare providers, Chen has experienced the realities of launching and scaling startups. On March 13, Chen participated in the Mokhtarzada Hatchery Speaker Series... read more
A University of Maryland expert in machine learning has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore how autonomous systems can learn from each other and make decisions together in complex, real-world environments. Kaiqing Zhang , an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and an affiliate assistant professor of computer science, is the principal investigator of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award, which provides approximately $540,000 in funding over five years. This highly competitive award,... read more
University of Maryland, College Park was awarded 71 patents in 2024.
The University of Maryland has again earned a spot among the world's top academic institutions for turning research and discoveries into patents, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Together with other schools in the University System of Maryland (USM), the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) ranks eighth among U.S. public institutions—up one spot from the previous year—and 22nd in the world for patents awarded in 2024. According to the report, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year granted a total of 114 patents to five USM... read more
Lin is the first Asian American woman to oversee the Computing Research Association’s financial affairs.
Ming Lin , a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Computer Science, has been elected the Treasurer of the Computing Research Association (CRA) and a member of the Executive Committee of CRA Board of Directors. She will assume the position on July 1, 2025. Lin, who has served on the CRA Board since 2023, has also been actively involved in the CRA’s Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP), contributing as a board member and program co-chair for the National Science Foundation’s Distributed Research Experiences for... read more
In an age where the internet is woven into our daily lives, privacy concerns are on the rise. From cookies tracking online behavior to geolocation services pinpointing a person’s location, the digital age has increasingly become a double-edged sword. Erik Rye, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in computer science at the University of Maryland, is aware of these issues, noting that as technology evolves, so do novel methods used to collect, analyze, and sometimes exploit personal data. To help counter these threats, Rye is focusing his doctoral studies on security and privacy, even though his... read more
Sesame is the first voice assistant I’ve ever wanted to talk to more than once
I tell Amazon’s Alexa to shut up on a near daily basis. I have almost zero interest in speaking to Gemini after our first awkward chat. The hitches, misunderstandings, and lag in any given AI “conversation” mean I’m always wasting time speaking when I could be texting instead. But speaking to “Maya,” one of two voices from a new startup headed by Brendan Iribe (B.S. ’97-98, computer science), who built Oculus VR and sold it to Facebook, is the first time I’ve been left wanting more. Like I could just talk to it, or at least play a genuinely fun game of testing its limits, like I did with Bing... read more
Jun Nishida’s Embodied Dynamics Laboratory explores the dynamics of our physical skills and interactions.
In his Embodied Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Maryland, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Jun Nishida creates wearable devices that allow our bodies to communicate and measure our skills and embodied knowledge. From interactive exoskeletons that share finger dexterity skills from one person to another, to a virtual reality system that allows adults to experience the world from a 5-year-old’s perspective, Nishida’s devices aim to better understand the dynamics of our physical experiences, perceptions and interactions. For Nishida, who holds appointments in the University of... read more
Battish joins a global cohort of students selected to engage with cybersecurity professionals and industry leaders.
A University of Maryland senior has been named an RSA Conference 2025 Security Scholar. This program brings together students from institutions worldwide to engage with cybersecurity professionals and industry leaders. Isabella Battish (B.S. '25, computer science; B.S. '25, government and politics) was one of two students from UMD selected for the program. The conference, scheduled for May 1, 2025, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, is considered one of the largest gatherings of cybersecurity professionals and researchers. The Security Scholar program provides participants with access to... read more