Dong Li, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE), and Konstantinos Kalpakis, associate professor in CSEE, were recently awarded funding from the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research to support the development of innovative healthcare technology. Both UMBC researchers are partnering with colleagues at UMB on their projects.

Li’s research aims to develop a reliable method to monitor blood pressure with a smartphone. High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects more than 1.3 billion people globally, and while conventional devices to monitor blood pressure are accurate, they are bulky and impractical in everyday life, Li says. As an affordable and accessible alternative, Li is testing if a smartphone, outfitted with ultrasound sensors to measure blood flow and using the built-in microphone to record heart sounds, could deliver reliable readings. Li’s partnership with UMB will allow the team to conduct clinical trials, with both healthy individuals and those with hypertension, to rigorously evaluate the system’s accuracy and effectiveness.

In a separate project, Kalpakis and his colleagues are developing a new approach to help trauma physicians make better-informed treatment decisions quickly. The team is working on a machine-learning framework that can help ER doctors predict medical outcomes, such as which patients will experience severe complications from trauma such as hemorrhaging, and what their blood transfusion needs may be. Unlike other machine learning models, the new approach can update over time and deliver measures of uncertainty, helping clinicians place more trust in the model’s guidance. 

“These projects highlight how interdisciplinary collaboration between UMBC and the University of Maryland School of Medicine can drive innovations in medical care and improve public health,” Li says. “I’m excited and proud to take this work forward.”

A multidisciplinary team of UMBC researchers was recently awarded $3.8 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new computational methods for assessing the feasibility of scientific claims. The project is motivated by the speed and volume of new developments in science and the need for tools to help evaluate the soundness of new claims.

“Some scientific claims are peer reviewed by independent experts, but others, such as from company press releases, or papers posted to pre-prints sites, are not,” says Frank Ferraro, an associate professor of computer science and lead researcher on the award. And even when science is peer-reviewed, there can still be errors, Ferraro notes. For example, recent research highlighting the danger of flame retardant chemicals leaching from black plastic into food was widely reported on, before it was discovered that an error in the paper led to a significant overstating of the exposure risk. 

An AI science assistant 

The idea of an AI assistant specifically designed to tackle complex research questions has been catching on recently. OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, recently debuted their “DeepResearch” tool, which the company says can use reasoning to synthesize large amounts of online information and complete multi-step research tasks.

Ferraro says the tool he and his colleagues hope to develop should stand-out from other approaches by employing a strongly iterative process, necessary to really take apart and analyze claims. The tool will break down a scientific claim into constituent sub-claims, and apply a wide range of evidence and reasoning approaches to assess the feasibility of each one. 

The team, which includes UMBC faculty Tejas Gokhale, computer science and electrical engineering, and Tyler Josephson, chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, as well as colleagues from Stony Brook University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Cambridge, will develop and test the tool on three leading areas of scientific research: materials science, AI, and quantum computing.

“It’s a little meta that the AI will be analyzing AI,” Ferraro says. More than 20 UMBC undergrads, grad students, and post-docs will take part in the project. “They’ll get opportunities to network with peers on a highly relevant topic,” Ferraro says. “They’ll be helping guide the national conversation on these issues.”

The TowerCares Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Laurel, Maryland-based Tower Federal Credit Union, has partnered with UMBC’s Cybersecurity Institute to create a new scholarship fund for UMBC students studying cybersecurity. The scholarships will support students in the university’s Cyber Scholars Program, a program with a track record of more than 10 years nurturing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The program provides financial aid, a welcoming community, unique courses, mentoring, and the chance for students to take part in cybersecurity research and internships early in their academic careers.

 “Our mission is to help our community thrive, and partnering with institutions like UMBC—recognized as a leader in information technology and cybersecurity—is a key part of that effort,” says Allen Brisentine, chairman of the TowerCares Foundation. “The entire Maryland region benefits from UMBC’s renowned and highly regarded cybersecurity program.”

As cyber threats, ransomware, and data breaches have become daily realities in our increasingly digital world, the demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals remains strong. The Cyber Scholars Program has launched the careers of over 100 graduates, many of whom have gone on to jobs safeguarding the digital data of government agencies, businesses, and everyday consumers.

“Last year we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the program, and it was such a great feeling to meet program alumni who have become cybersecurity leaders,” says Anupam Joshi, acting dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology. “We’re deeply grateful to the TowerCares Foundation for supporting this important work that both helps grow the cybersecurity workforce and makes it more inclusive.”

Where can UMBC engineering and computing students mingle with friends and mentors over sweet treats, test their knowledge and design skills in friendly competition, and network with potential employers? If it’s February, the answer is the annual Engineering and Computing Week, a traditional celebration of technology, held each year at UMBC to coincide with National Engineers Week. 

The UMBC chapter of the engineering honors society Tau Beta Pi, in collaboration with various student engineering organizations on campus, organizes the week of activities each year. This year, the line-up of events featured a mix of social activities, such as painting and crafting, presentations from student organizations, and chances for teams to compete in games testing engineering knowledge and design skills.

UMBC chapters of the Information Systems Security Association, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, Engineers without Borders, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers all helped organize sessions. UMBC CyberDawgs, a group of UMBC students who share a common interest in cybersecurity, also participated. 

Students could also join faculty, staff, and alumni from the College of Engineering and Information Technology at an evening reception at the Guinness Brewery near UMBC to socialize and network.

“I think the biggest success from the week was the great turnout and engagement we got from the students,” says August Phelps, a mechanical engineering senior and vice president of the UMBC chapter of Tau Beta Pi.

He says the event showcases the wide variety of engineering-focused student organizations at UMBC, which hold events throughout the year and offer great opportunities for students to develop leadership skills and form lasting connections with their peers. 

“I hope attendees left feeling more connected as a community,” he says.

A new $7.8 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will support the development of biologically-powered underwater sensors. Right now, a vast network of underwater sensing devices in oceans around the world conducts environmental monitoring and supports national security—and most of these devices rely on batteries and underwater cables for power. 

“The motivation of the project is to eliminate the requirement for periodic battery replacement or recharging, which is expensive and logistically demanding,” says Kevin Sowers, professor of marine biotechnology and a co-PI on the award, which is led by Stephanie Lansing, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland, College Park. The project is supported by DARPA’s BioLogical Undersea Energy (BLUE) program and includes researchers from nine universities and companies.

A new fuel source for underwater sensors

The proposed devices, called the Persistent Oceanographic Device Power (PODPower) system, will autonomously draw phytoplankton from the surrounding water into a fermentation chamber. There, microorganisms will break down the phytoplankton into simpler chemical compounds. Finally, other microorganisms in a microbial fuel cell will use those compounds to generate electricity, Sowers explains. Sowers, a microbiologist, will work on engineering bacteria that can break down the phytoplankton into chemicals such as acetic acid that the microbes in the fuel cell can use. 

Sowers will also lead efforts to develop a testing environment in the Aquaculture Research Center (ARC) at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in downtown Baltimore to evaluate components and a complete prototype of the new devices. The current award will support development of a functioning prototype, and there is the potential for $3.4 million more for testing in the open ocean. 

“This unique collaboration of interdisciplinary experts will produce a bio-inspired system that has game-changing potential to provide direct electric power to improve sensing capabilities while protecting and limiting the impact to the environment through use of this unique bioenergy system,” Lansing said.

A six-person UMBC team built international connections at the “PIWOT – World of Technology” conference, held in late January in Mumbai, India. The conference is organized by the alumni association for graduates of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and attracts many of the leaders in science and technology in India and around the world. The CEO of Alphabet, Inc. (Google’s parent company), the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and the CEO of IBM are all graduates of IITs. 

UMBC was represented at the conference by Anupam Joshi, acting dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology; Upal Ghosh, professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering; Ramana Vinjamuri, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and director of the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center; Govind Rao, director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology and professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering; Karuna Pande Joshi, professor in the Department of Information Systems and director of the NSF IUCRC Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics; and David Di Maria, senior international officer and associate vice provost for international education at UMBC. 

The UMBC team staffed a well-trafficked booth in the Expo Hall. As an extension of the meeting, they also visited IITs at Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Tirupati, and met with the directors of these institutions to discuss institutional agreements and lay the groundwork for international faculty and student exchanges. 

This year’s PIWOT conference focused on the impact of technology across multiple dimensions of life, from the professional to the personal. Dean Joshi took part as a speaker on a panel about the impact of technology on education. The UMBC booth also displayed the low-cost infant incubator developed by Professor Govind Rao.

Carla Guarraia, Ph.D. ’06, molecular and cellular biology, has received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching for her work at the Park School in Baltimore. Only one award is given per state per year, and Maryland is an extremely competitive region.

In 2017, Guarraia proposed and coordinated a complete redesign of the science curriculum for ninth and 10th graders at Park in close collaboration with colleagues. The new ninth grade course, first implemented in 2019, integrates physics, engineering, and computer science content, and the 10th grade course brings together concepts from biology, chemistry, and data analysis. In addition to covering content, the courses emphasize skill-building and opportunities for memorable and authentic project-based experiences that inspire excitement about science. Park juniors and seniors are then prepared to pursue an array of electives in all five disciplines and interdisciplinary topics.

An external evaluator lauded the resulting curriculum, which Park calls its “Core Program,” for its alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards, differentiated learning approach for students with a range of needs, emphasis on mastery learning and a growth mindset, prioritization of active learning, and the faculty’s commitment to caring for their students. 

Expanding her view

Guarraia, who as of the 2024 – 2025 school year is the upper school science department chair at Park,  studied for her Ph.D. under the mentorship of Philip Farabaugh, professor of biological sciences. Then she completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Jennie Leach, associate professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering. 

“Phil Farabaugh supported my growth as an academic, and as a citizen of the world. He consistently showed respect for me and built up my confidence that I could be smart and fun while not only teaching science but caring for the people around me. As a mentor for life, I have learned from Phil that if I am my authentic self my life will be most successful,” Guarraia says.  

Leach “shares my passion for teaching, and in Jennie I continue to have a role model for pursuing ambitious exciting science while also being a working mom,” Guarraia adds. 

“UMBC is a really special place that shaped my view of Baltimore, as the campus focus was on rigorous education, inclusion, and excellence, and it was my first experience with a truly international community,” Guarraia says. “I am forever grateful for how UMBC, Jennie, and Phil expanded my view of the world and of myself.”

Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Md Badrul Hasan has received the 2025 Professor Kirti “Karman” Ghia Memorial Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), for his research modeling the fluid flow inside hurricanes with physics-informed machine learning. 

The award recognizes an international graduate student in the U.S. who has developed an innovative approach to computational fluid dynamics, in which computers are used to analyze and predict how fluids flow, with applications in aerospace engineering, weather forecasting, and more. Hasan, who is from Bangladesh, is the inaugural recipient of the award. His research explores new ways to improve the modeling of energy flow in hurricanes.

Machine learning for better weather forecasting

Hasan and his UMBC mentors—Meilin Yu, mechanical engineering, and Tim Oates, computer science and electrical engineering—looked at the layer of atmosphere in a hurricane that is directly above the ocean surface. Called the hurricane boundary layer, it is where turbulent flows bring heat and moisture from the water into the air, and it plays a crucial role in determining a hurricane’s intensity and track.

Traditional modeling of this layer fails to account for ways that energy within the smaller eddies in a flowing fluid can feed back into larger scale eddies. Hasan, Yu, and Oates explored how physics-informed machine learning models—which analyze large datasets to spot patterns—could better capture this phenomenon. Ultimately, they are looking to integrate their machine learning models into larger physics-based hurricane simulations to improve the simulations’ accuracy.

“This work sets up the cornerstone of our ongoing research towards more accurate numerical simulation of hurricane boundary layer flows at the scale of tens to hundreds of miles,” says Yu. “It is also a key step in our renewable energy research, where improving offshore wind farms’ resiliency to tropical storms is our ultimate goal as mechanical engineers. Badrul’s hard work pays off, and we are very proud of him.”

Hasan accepted the award for his work at the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum, held in early January in Orlando, Florida, where he also presented his research. He says that while the community is filled with many researchers specializing in the traditional physics-based simulations, there is more and more interest in machine learning. 

Hasan says he is grateful for the guidance of Tim Oates, from the computer science and electrical engineering department, in selecting and understanding the machine learning models. 

“It was a great team effort between mechanical engineering and computer science—really productive and rewarding for both sides,” he says.

U.S. News and World Report has recognized UMBC’s online master’s degree in information systems as #32 on their national list of 2025 Best Online Master’s in Information Technology Programs. The program moved up two spots from last year’s ranking. 

U.S. News evaluates programs based on qualities such as strong faculty credentials, a good reputation among peer institutions, and the opportunity for students to use diverse online learning tools and engage with their instructors and classmates.

The UMBC program prides itself on its flexibility, industry-relevant curriculum, and specialization options. Working professionals can choose to pursue a degree on a full-time or part-time basis, depending on their career and personal goals. Students looking to narrow their focus can choose a specialization track in data science, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, or UX design.

New this semester, the program is expanding the student experience for online learners by offering tailored events and networking opportunities, such as virtual networking events, industry-specific webinars, and guest speaker sessions. “These initiatives will help foster a sense of community, even from a distance,” says James Foulds, the director for the online information systems master’s program. “Students can connect with peers, faculty, and alumni in meaningful ways to support their academic and professional growth.”

Foulds himself will participate in the first such event—the new “Midday Mingle” series offering students the chance for informal online chats with program faculty and alumni. In February, Foulds will discuss his research specialty: the ethical and responsible uses of AI.

Naghmeh Karimi, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, was recently granted more than $300,000 in funding from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) to study the security of promising hardware components that speed up the computing process. 

SRC brings together technology companies, academics, and government agencies to tackle large scientific and technical challenges, and Karimi’s research will be funded by three leading technology companies: IBM-Research, AMD, and Siemens. 

Karimi and her team, including graduate students and a collaborator from Arizona State University, will study computer chips whose design and structure allows computing-in-memory (CiM), where data processing happens directly within the computer’s memory. CiM architectures are promising for speeding up the use of machine learning algorithms because they consume less energy.

Different types of CiM devices (such as RRAM, MRAM, and SRAM) each have their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of performance, power use, and size, and to get the best results, engineers need to combine different CiM devices into one system. Building these systems in 3D layers can further improve their efficiency and performance. However, the security of these 3D architectures has received little attention to date. 

Karimi’s team will study the security of 3D CiM technologies used in AI applications. In particular, the research will focus on evaluating the security vulnerabilities of the technologies and developing mitigation strategies. 

“I’m excited about this project because the topic is very timely,” says Karimi. “The support from three leading companies in the AI field shows the importance of the problem and the promise of the solutions we are working on.”

The team aims to enhance the security of CiM-based AI accelerators against physical attacks that adversaries might launch to leak sensitive data or induce malfunctions. The researchers will work closely with the funding companies over the next three years in this area.