The highly competitive award aims to increase the pipeline of diverse talent earning advanced degrees in computing-related fields by supporting doctoral students that are underrepresented in the field.

It is the highest academic honor bestowed by the university, reserved for faculty recognized nationally and internationally for their scholarly achievements.

Winners in each category will receive $250,000—the world’s largest unrestricted prize for early-career scientists.

The funding comes from NSF’s Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program, which supports exploratory work on untested, yet potentially transformative, ideas or approaches.

Qi Zhao is an expert in quantum resource theories—the mathematical tools that let researchers characterize and quantify the utility of quantum resources.

He will oversee a department that currently ranks 16th in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report.

Being hired by top universities and companies is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ambition, as well as to the excellence of faculty in MC2 that provide support and mentorship.

The annual symposium brings together experts from around the world to discuss the latest topics in parallel computing and distributed computing.

The two Maryland faculty imagined a future in microrobots where steerable cameras could find holes, successfully fly through them, avoid obstacles, and recognize a variety of objects without computing 3D world models.

Leonidas Lampropoulos's research focuses on using programming language abstractions to make it easier to write, debug, and reason about software and their specifications