Director's Message to UMIACS

I hope you’re enjoying the new year (both the calendar year and Lunar New Year). Given it’s now 2024, I asked someone on staff to investigate our archives for any milestone markers for UMIACS.

We have several documents showing then-University of Maryland President John S. Toll authorizing the formation of UMIACS in Fall 1984. In speaking with others, we determined our institute hit the ground running—with faculty and staff budget lines and significant work being done—in early 1985.

That means 2025 will mark four decades of forward-looking research, innovation and scholarship by UMIACS faculty—relying heavily on assistance from our talented grad students and support staff. We’ll let you know this fall if we plan to have any special recognition of this milestone next year.

But the look back did get me thinking at just how cutting-edge our institute has been from day one. Early pioneers—Rita Colwell in computational biology, Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant in human-computer interaction, Hanan Samet in spatial data structures, and Jack Minker in AI and deductive databases—conducted groundbreaking research that, for the public, almost seemed like magic.

But we’re not a community of magicians. We’re hardworking scientists and scholars continuing to push forward with bold new ideas. A quick peek at our newsletter will confirm just that.

We continue to be a leader in AI, using a socio-technical approach to improve the trustworthiness and safety of technologies that are transforming society and changing our way of life. We’re exploring the microbiome, using powerful computational tools to investigate the connectivity between microbes interacting with each other, the environment, agricultural systems, and human and animal health. We’re part of a team using data science and quantum sensors to reduce food insecurity and waste. And we’re continuing our trailblazing work in quantum computing, helping design a novel system that has a record number of qubits.

But we’ve never rested on our laurels before—we’re always pushing forward with new scientific discoveries. I expect we will continue that practice, which will require new talent and new ideas.

I’m pleased the newsletter highlights those topics as well, recognizing the superb early-career work by Christopher Metzler and Sanghamitra Dutta. Bravo to every member of our research community! The work you do is important, meaningful to society, and forward-looking. It’s not magic—it’s cutting-edge science.

—Mihai Pop, UMIACS Director