Senior Faculty Specialist

In addition to showing superior ability to administer academic or research programs, as evidenced by successfully discharging responsibilities such as those of the Faculty Specialist, the appointee shall hold a Master’s degree or have at least three years full-time experience as a Faculty Specialist (or similar appointment at another institution), or its equivalent. Appointments to this rank are typically one to five years and are renewable. To complete the Appointment, Evaluation and Promotion (AEP) process for a Senior Faculty Specialist, gather the required documents listed below and email them to UMIACS Coordinator Elizabeth Hontz. *Each document needs to be signed and dated by the candidate for validity.

• CV*
• General List of Duties and Responsibilities*
• UMIACS Professional-Track Faculty Policy*
• Nomination Letter from UMIACS staff or faculty member
• Professional Statement*
• References

Associate Research Professor

This rank is generally parallel to Associate Professor. In addition to the qualifications required of the Assistant Research Professor, appointees shall have extensive successful experience in scholarly or creative endeavors, the ability to propose, develop, and manage major research projects, and proven contributions to the educational mission through teaching or service. Appointments to this rank are typically one to five years and are renewable. To complete the Appointment, Evaluation and Promotion (AEP) process for an Associate Research Professor, gather the required documents listed below and email them to UMIACS Coordinator Elizabeth Hontz. *Each document needs to be signed and dated by the candidate for validity.

• CV*
• General List of Duties and Responsibilities*
• UMIACS Professional-Track Faculty Policy*
• Professional Statement*
• References

Expectations of Conduct for UMIACS Members

Throughout its 40+ year history, UMIACS has developed a collegial culture that values all members of the Institute equally, irrespective of academic rank or demographic characteristics. In order to promote and maintain this culture, which is a key enabler of the Institute's academic excellence, we hold all members of the Institute to the highest standards for professional and academic conduct.

Allegations of professional or scientific misconduct are addressed according to the relevant University policies, notably:

University of Maryland Policy on Faculty Professional Conduct 

USM Policy on Professional Conduct and Workplace Bullying 

Other relevant USM and UMD Policies:

Below we list some of the policies relevant to promoting scientific integrity and professional conduct. This list is not exhaustive. Additional policies may apply.

Non-discrimination:

University of Maryland Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Statement of Policy

University of Maryland Policy on Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity 

Professional Conduct:

University of Maryland Policy on Sexual Misconduct 

University of Maryland Policy on Faculty Professional Conduct

USM Policy on Professional Conduct and Workplace Bullying

State of Maryland Policy on Bullying in the Workplace

Scientific Conduct:

University of Maryland Policy and Procedures Concerning Scholarly Misconduct

Research Misconduct from Faculty Affairs 

Research Infrastructure

Resources

Diversity and Inclusion

We believe that diversity is a key prerequisite of scientific excellence, and that we can only achieve our full potential if all members of our community—irrespective of seniority and rank—are valued and supported. Learn more about what we do to support diversity and inclusion here.

Policies & Procedures

The operation of UMIACS is governed by a plan of organization, comprising a constitution and bylaws, as well as several policies related to the appointment, promotion, and evaluation of our members. The policies, as well as the operational procedures and processes used by UMIACS to implement these policies are described in more detail here.

Intranet

The UMIACS intranet page contains information about the computational resources available in the institute, as well as a range of "self service" apps allowing you to manage your computational resources (e.g., requesting accounts for students or collaborators).

Business Office

Information about the business processes in the institute, such as new appointments, travel, grant administration, etc., is available on the business office page.

Broadening Participation

We believe that expanding the scientific workforce is a key prerequisite of scientific excellence, and that we can only achieve our full potential if all members of our community—irrespective of seniority and rank—are valued and supported. Learn more about the expectations of conduct for UMIACS members.

The institute is committed to broadening participation of those who want careers in computing and technology.

Many UMIACS faculty are actively engaged in activities on campus and beyond in support of this goal. The institute also provides support to a number of organizations and initiatives that promote and support broadening participation in computing, such as: 

• The University of Maryland Computing Catalyst
• Technica—the world's largest hackathon celebrating underrepresented genders
• The Rising Stars in Machine Learning program organized by the University of Maryland Center for Machine Learning
• The Institute for Broadening Participation

Mission & Vision

The University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, known by its acronym UMIACS (pronounced YOU-me-acks), is a multidisciplinary computing research institute led by distinguished researchers and supported by a cutting-edge infrastructure. UMIACS pioneers computational science involving national defense, precision medicine, big data, cybersecurity, language and culture, and more.

Director's Message to UMIACS Feb '24

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

Director's Message to UMIACS March '24

Technology that is part of everyday life. We’ve been “there” for a while now. But the explosion of AI in the past few years offers food for thought on topics like trustworthiness, empowerment, inclusiveness and accountability as they relate to computing and new technologies.

We’re fortunate to have researchers in UMIACS that are addressing these questions—and more—in a meaningful way. From my view as UMIACS director, I see a common thread that is driving much of this activity: creating technology for the greater good and making scientific discoveries that improve people’s lives.

Those ideas are certainly on display in our featured story this month, an engaging video highlighting a multidisciplinary effort to help new mothers answer questions about maternal and infant health care. Jordan Boyd-Graber, one of our top experts on making machine learning more useful, more interpretable, and able to learn and interact from humans, is handling the computational end of the project.

Jordan and the rest of the team are relying heavily on Neha Srikanth, a Ph.D. student in our Computational Linguistics and Information Processing (CLIP) Lab, to manage tech-related tasks like optimizing the AI-powered question and answer software and determining best practices for hosting the platform.

Bravo to Jordan and Neha for their innovative AI work that will have a real impact in on the everyday lives of people in our community.

Nirupam Roy and his students are on that same track, developing AI software called TalkLock that can help identify deepfake videos and stop the spread of disinformation. The project has received a lot of media attention, including this feature from a Baltimore television station.

I also encourage you to read the Q&A with Hal Daumé III in Roadmap magazine. Hal lays out, in a thoughtful and precise way, the importance of ongoing work involving trustworthy AI and why new technologies being developed should help humans, not replace them.

All the projects I just mentioned benefit immensely from the support they receive from UMIACS. As AI research and scholarship continues to expand on this campus and beyond, it will take experienced technical support to ensure that the large computational infrastructures required are built and maintained with the utmost efficiency.

That’s exactly what we do in UMIACS. We have almost 40 years of experience designing, installing and maintaining high-performance platforms for research computing.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming Spring Break and look forward to seeing many of you in person afterward.

—Mihai Pop, UMIACS Director

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