Director's Message to UMIACS June '24

While the summer months offer a time to rest and recharge for many of us, the ongoing work in UMIACS continues unabated.

We continue to push forward together—making new discoveries, developing novel technologies, building interdisciplinary partnerships, garnering professional accolades, and welcoming new employees.

These topics, and more, are covered in this month’s newsletter. A common theme is that all our success stories involve teamwork.

Even individual awards and accolades—such as our adjunct faculty member and QuICS Fellow Alexey Gorshkov receiving an IEEE award for his groundbreaking work in quantum electronics—recognizes that success is rarely a solitary effort.

To quote Alexey from the article: “I am profoundly grateful to my numerous fantastic collaborators, including students and postdocs, and to my colleagues—all of these people were instrumental to completing the research that led to this award.”

This idea is echoed by Rachel Rudinger in response to her receiving the prestigious NSF CAREER award. “I am fortunate to work with a group of outstanding Ph.D. students here at the University of Maryland, and it is gratifying to be able to support them through an award that could not have materialized without their hard work.”

And Laxman Dhulipala, who was just honored by the ACM with its prestigious Kanellakis award, is quick to point out that the work he was recognized for would not have happened without his teammates. "It’s an incredible honor to have this collaborative work with Guy [Blelloch] and Julian [Shun] recognized by the ACM. They both have taught me a lot through the years,” he said.

I encourage all of you to reflect on the high level of professional camaraderie and collaboration we have in UMIACS. From pooling resources to purchase computing equipment to sharing a cup of coffee to brainstorm new ideas, the age-old concept of “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” has worked well in UMIACS for decades.

I expect that we will continue our success—as a team—for years to come.

—Mihai Pop, UMIACS Director