Director's Message to UMIACS May '24

UMIACS recently hosted a trio of visitors tasked with conducting an external review of our institute. The reviewers came from academic units that somewhat mirror UMIACS—high-level, computing-focused groups at universities that require a team effort from faculty, students and staff to excel.

While a written report from our external reviewers has not yet been delivered, I was offered some anecdotal evidence through brief conversations with the committee members and those they spoke with.

UMIACS is doing very well. From our research endeavors to our computational infrastructure to the quality of our business operations and more, we set the bar high for how a top-tier research enterprise should operate.

This should be of little surprise to many members of our community. We collectively work hard, prodding each other in a focused yet professional way to improve our daily operations.

All the reviewers spoke of how impressed they were by our support staff. I may have even sensed a bit of envy from several of their comments!

Is there room for improvement? There is always room for improvement. That’s the purpose of a comprehensive external review—to highlight the good and identify areas that need attention.

But overall, I believe we came through the review process with flying colors. I cannot say enough how proud I am of the work done by each of you.

Thank you. Enjoy a break to recharge when the semester ends. We’ll see some of you over the summer and the rest of you this fall.

—Mihai Pop, UMIACS Director