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APRIL 2026
The Monthly Build
A newsletter for the alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of the University of Maryland's Department of Computer Science.
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Features
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UMD to Lead DARPA-Funded Effort to Accelerate Mathematical Discovery With AI
Mohammad Hajiaghayi will lead an initiative to develop AI systems that can reason alongside mathematicians and advance complex problem-solving. Read More » |
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New UMD-FDA Collaboration to Advance Evaluation of AI-Enabled Medical Devices
The partnership led by Amitabh Varshney aims to develop standards and tools to evaluate safety, reliability and long-term performance of AI-driven health technologies. Read More »
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High School Students Compete at UMD’s 36th Annual Programming Contest
More than 100 students from 24 schools tested coding and problem-solving skills at the Brendan Iribe Center. Read More »
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Students
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10 Ph.D. Students Receive Outstanding Graduate Assistant Awards
The students were recognized for being among the top 2% of graduate assistants for the 2025-26 academic year. READ MORE »
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Teaching AI to Listen: UMD Advances Audio Timestamp Captioning with Adobe Research
In collaboration with Adobe, CS Ph.D. student Sonal Kumar advances audio timestamp captioning to improve AI's understanding of speech and complex sounds. READ MORE »
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Testing AI Before It Touches the Network
CS Ph.D. student Yajie Zhou developed the NetArena benchmark to evaluate the safety and reliability of AI agents that manage complex systems. READ MORE »
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CS Ph.D. Student Seungjae Lee Advances Data-Driven Approach to Household Robotics
Lee explores how large-scale human data can help robots perform everyday household tasks. READ MORE »
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CS Majors Use AI to Animate 3D Ant Models
In CMSC 435, James Purtilo’s software engineering class is helping transform ant specimens scanned by a UMD entomologist into lifelike 3D models. READ MORE »
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Prospective CS Ph.D. Students Visit UMD
Admitted applicants attended the annual CS Visit Day, where they met faculty, explored labs and connected with graduate students. READ MORE »
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Faculty & Research
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David Mount Receives Purdue’s Distinguished Science Alumni Award
The award honors alumni whose work and achievements have made a significant difference in their communities and fields. READ MORE » |
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TRAILS Announces 11 Broader Impact Awards to Cultivate Next Generation of Trustworthy AI Leaders
Funding of up to $25,000 per project supports community-driven initiatives to expand AI literacy, engagement and governance across education, industry and local communities. READ MORE »
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Mid-Atlantic Microbiome Meet-up Marks 10th Anniversary
The symposium held at UMD highlighted advances in microbiome engineering and data-driven discovery. READ MORE »
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IN PICTURES
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In Pictures: The SMART Lab
Researchers in this lab design small, interactive devices to explore how people engage with technology through physical interaction. READ MORE » |
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In Pictures: The iCoSMoS Lab
Here, researchers explore how signals such as sound and wireless waves can help machines better understand the physical world. READ MORE » |
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Events
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Sat
APR
25
Maryland Day
Stop by the Brendan Iribe Center to try smart glasses, meet a 3D-printed robotic dog, dive into a virtual reality playground and more. LEARN MORE »
Thurs-Fri
SEPT
10-11
Immersive Media Design New Works Incubator
Applications are open for a free, nine-week summer program supporting students in creating immersive media experiences. Selected projects will be showcased at NextNOW Fest, Sept. 10-11, 2026. LEARN MORE »
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We are grateful to alumni and friends whose generosity supports current and future students. To learn more about how you can make a difference, please visit cs.umd.edu/giving.
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