Director's Message to UMIACS October '24

As we continue working through a busy fall semester, our newsletter is once again filled to the brim with important news updates.

Several of the stories amplify the interdisciplinary, cross-institutional partnerships that define much of our work. One example is Furong Huang and Tom Goldstein collaborating with researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin on autonomy in robotics.

Another is Michael Cummings and Ph.D. student Rana Khalil working with Parkinson’s disease experts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

And take a look at the work involving stroke assessment in a clinical setting that Amitabh Varshney is doing with the physician’s assistant program at UMB.

These are bold, innovative ideas that can have an impact on clinical care, medical training, safety in autonomous vehicles, and much more.

Less visible, yet vital to the projects described above, are the numerous people in UMIACS that help bring these ideas to fruition.

Like most faculty, I recognize the important contributions that our graduate students make to advancing research and scholarship on our campus. Sometimes this is easily acknowledged—the graduate student may earn a significant honor or be listed as first author on an academic paper.

Other times it's less obvious, although we all realize the untold hours that our grad students spend doing research, preparing for demos and talks, or presenting their work in poster sessions at academic conferences.

To the 200-plus graduate students that UMIACS currently supports, we say “Thank You.” Your contributions are vital to our success.

And while I have stated unequivocally—multiple times—that the staff support we have in UMIACS is second-to-none, it’s worth acknowledging again that the scientific discoveries we make are inextricably linked to the hard work done by our business, tech and communications staff.

All of the research funding managed by UMIACS requires multiple layers of support. This includes pre-and post-award management, assistance with purchasing, installing and maintaining equipment, and strategic communications that encourage internal and external stakeholders to collaborate with our institute.

It’s a team effort across the board. Our faculty researchers identify and execute bold ideas that will have a broad scientific and societal impact; our excellent staff and talented graduate students provide the bedrock of support to make these ideas happen.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

—Mihai Pop, UMIACS Director