Vandana Janeja and Christine Mallinson have received a two-year, $300,000 grant from NSF to study deepfakes, focusing on audio clips. Deepfakes are images, videos, and sounds that are developed using artificial intelligence, but that are designed to appear as real-life recordings. They can be highly deceiving for audiences, impacting public opinion and behavior.
Articles on The Conversation offer context to current events, explain natural phenomena, introduce new research in an accessible way, and more. “The Conversation helps us contribute to our public service mission as a public university,” says Vice President for Research Karl Steiner. “This milestone underscores the importance of academic researchers actively participating in the public discourse of complex issues.”
U.S. News today announced that UMBC’s online master’s degree in information systems is one of the nation’s best online programs in this growing field. This year, joining UMBC in the top 50 ranked programs are universities like Virginia Tech, Johns Hopkins, and George Mason. UMBC’s program is also included on the Best for Veterans list for the second year in a row, among the top 25 programs nationwide.
Senior year ended with a surprising turn of events for Dominique Ross ‘21 and Yianni Karabatis ‘21. Both received prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards for 2021 – 2022. But, like many Fulbright recipients, their Fulbright experiences were initially stalled due to COVID-19. Now, with immunization and continued mask requirements, international travel is once again possible for Fulbright recipients.
Eight members of the UMBC community, including faculty and alumni, spoke about their work, providing online and in-person audiences a glimpse of UMBC’s local, national, and global impact.
Tens of millions of people live in areas that are at risk for flooding due to climate change, sea level rise, and melting of glaciers. UMBC’s Maryam Rahnemoonfar and a team of researchers are using data science, machine learning, and AI to analyze enormous volumes of climate data, and Arctic and Antarctic observations, in ways that could help populations prepare for and respond to these risks.
“What makes this award special is that it truly recognizes the work of our entire Division of Information Technology (DoIT),” Suess says. “Our team’s work, particularly in helping the university quickly shift to remote learning last year, due to COVID, reflects a spirit of empathy and collaboration. This spirit has made IT true partners in the university’s success, not just technology experts.”
Physicist Steve Guimond and collaborators have received a new $682,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop, run, and analyze complex hurricane models on supercomputers. However, Guimond might never have received the grant if he hadn’t received a UMBC Strategic Award for Research Transitions (START) first. A new cohort of START funding recipients begins their projects this summer.
UMBC will partner with the University of Maryland, College Park, and the DEVCOM Army Research Lab on the $68-million, five-year endeavor, which ARL is funding. The goal is to strengthen Army AI technology so it is able to meet the demands of today’s national defense.
The eighth annual Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition hosted by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship was held virtually on April 29, with one track focused on technology and the other focused on social impact ideas beyond tech.
Students from across all three UMBC colleges are graduating this week having taken advantage of the unique undergraduate research opportunities and supportive mentorship UMBC offers. They’re poised to take their research to the next level and move on to new challenges through graduate school and careers.
Six members of UMBC’s Class of 2021 share how they’ve been able to impact issues and communities that matter to them through strong relationships and an entrepreneurial approach to their UMBC experience.
