RSA isn’t the only computer security conference in San Francisco this week.

On Thursday morning, Mikko Hypponen spoke to a crowd in a movie theater in downtown San Francisco, just around the corner from the RSA security conference. Hypponen, the chief research officer at Finnish security software company F-Secure, was originally scheduled to speak this week at RSA, as he’s done eight times since 2004. But he decided to boycott the conference after Reuters reported in December that the U.S. National Security Agency had a secret $10 million contract with RSA, the computer security company behind the conference, under which RSA added a faulty encryption algorithm created by the NSA to one of its computer security products in order to allow the agency to break such encryption when needed.

CSEE professor Fow-Sen Choa has been selected as a Fellow of SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics.

SPIE Fellows are honored for their technical achievements and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular. Professor Choa was cited for for achievements in the development of standoff chemical sensing using quantum cascade lasers.

In the announcement of Dr. Choa’s section, the SPIE noted that:

“Choa has contributed significantly to the advancement of standoff chemical sensing using quantum cascade lasers, achieving a greater than 41 feet standoff chemical detection distance. In addition his research on MOCVD growth and regrowth of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has led to the development of high power QCLs, integrated widely tunable QCLs, and power scalable surface-emitting QCL arrays. He has developed large format (64×64) photon counting arrays and demonstrated current-bias-mode photon counting techniques to simplify the bias circuits for 64×64 single photon arrays. Notably, his research has extended into broadband, low crosstalk, low noise semiconductor gain materials, Photon-neuron interactions, high speed long distance (loss-limited) multimode fiber transmissions, and other technologies associated with optical networks, lasers, and integrated coherent receivers.

A prolific scientific author, Choa has published nearly 200 refereed conference papers and over 70 peer reviewed articles, has received nearly 50 grants, and has been issued 10 patents. He has also served the greater optical community by serving as an associate editor, topical editor, and reviewer for several journals and he has been recognized as for his expertise as research faculty for eight years.

Choa has made sustained contributions to the SPIE community by serving on program committees of the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing Conference. He has authored and co-authored more than 50 SPIE journal and conference publications including three invited papers.”

Read more about Dr. Choa’s work here.

Take a look at how we're doing in RecycleMania compared to our fellow Maryland competitors!

Here are our numbers (in pounds) from this past week. We need to get those waste numbers down and our recycling numbers up so let's get recycling!  To get involved, email recycle@umbc.edu :

Bottles and cans – 6400

Corrugated cardboard – 4600

Paper -750

Food waste – 540

Trash/landfill - 56900

University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Place - 137

*lbs/person - 2.476

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 103 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent(20 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 9 houses)

Johns Hopkins University

Place - 84

*lbs/person - 3.453

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 185 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent(36 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 16 houses)

Frostburg

Place - 86

*lbs/person - 3.426

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 60 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent(12 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 5 houses)

Towson University

Place - 93

*lbs/person - 3.390

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 104 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent(20 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 9 houses)

University of Maryland - College Park

Place - 95

*lbs/person - 3.353

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 375 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent (74 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 32 houses)

Harford Community College

Place - 261

*lbs/person - 0.649

Cumulative Greenhouse gas reductions - 20 Metric Tons of CO2 Equivalent (4 cars off the road, or the energy consumption of 2 households)

 * These rates are the Per Capita Classic: In this category schools compete to see which can collect the largest 

1. Games are played to 11 points (straight) *7-0 skunk
2. 5 v 5 players
3. Games are scored by 1 & 2 point shots
4. Call your own foul (only the player who is fouled), *check the ball at the top of the 3-point arc
5. If there is a jump ball or "tie up" ball, (the two opponents shoot a 3-point shot for possession)
6. The winner of the contest prior gets possession of the ball to start each game; (if teams are picked, the team that had first pick forgoes possession of the ball) or (if teams are already established, a 3-point shot for possession occurs) 

*Teams that are waiting to play must "call next" by placing all five players names on the white board located at the Equipment Desk (teams waiting should be listed in chronological order).*

The rules board is located on the brick wall outside Rec Court 2

Thank you for your cooperation,

RAC Staff

The deadline for all 2D & Time-Based AW Submissions is TOMORROW!

This is your last chance to get into what is looking to be one of the biggest ArtWeeks in a long while!

Also, the deadline for the 10-second Motion Challenge is today! You’ve got 10 minutes until the deadline! Get ‘em in!

Also, an update will be sent out soon concerning bad weather and possible school cancellations during ArtWeek, so be on the lookout! We will do our best to make sure that as many events as possible happen at some point during ArtWeek, even if not on the scheduled date.