College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences - Univ. of Maryland

10/08/2026

🌸 Biological sciences Ph.D. student Wesley DeMontigny won the Award for Most Accurate Prediction in the 2026 International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition!

The annual contest challenges contestants to predict peak bloom dates for select trees in five cities around the world. Wesley's cherry blossom forecast—which leveraged techniques he mastered while studying genomics at UMD—was the most accurate of more than 30 entrants, earning him an award and a cash prize.

“I expected that my model would perform strongly, but to be the best-performing one?” he said. “That was really exciting.”

The statistical modeling skills Wesley DeMontigny mastered while studying genomics gave him an upper h

10/06/2026

UMD physicists played an essential role in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos: go.umd.edu/neutrinos

University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics Professor Francis Halzen was named the 2026 Nobel Prize laureate in physics "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin."

The Maryland IceCube team joined the collaboration 25 years ago, before IceCube’s construction began, and hosts one of its largest collaborating groups.

The group currently includes Physics faculty members Greg Sullivan, Kara Hoffman, Erik Blaufuss, Michael Larson and Brian Clark; software engineer Don la Dieu; postdoctoral scholars Bennett Brinson and Rachel Procter-Murphy, PhD; and graduate students Taylor St Jean, Emma Tintinger and Aishwarya Vijai.

10/06/2026

Clinical medicine is having an AI moment, and Computer Science's Heng Huang and colleagues are making the most of it.

“AI has so much potential to help us address human health problems, and developing these kinds of real-world tools is one important way forward,” said Heng, who holds the Brendan Iribe Endowed Professorship of Computer Science at UMD.

Learn how a National Institutes of Health- National Science Foundation grant and a Food and Drug Administration contract will support their most innovative AI-enabled advances: go.umd.edu/huang-AI

10/02/2026

Krisztina Zsebo (B.S. ’74, Biochemistry) has spent her 40-year career in pharma and biotech at the forefront of therapeutic discovery, bringing life-changing drugs to patients: go.umd.edu/zsebo

Currently CEO and chairman of California biotech companies VST Bio and VasoRx Inc., Krisztina credits much of her success to her early biochemistry experiences at UMD.

“UMD was absolutely critical,” she said. “You know, if it wasn't for the University of Maryland biochemistry program, I wouldn't have gone into this field at all. It gave me the foundation I needed to jump to the next level.”

10/02/2026

The Pop-Up Shop is back! Order from a new selection of T-shirts, quarter-zips, thermals and more! Open until Sunday, October 11: go.umd.edu/cmns-shop

In addition to CMNS apparel, some of our units (Computer Science, Mathematics, Neuroscience) have merch too!

10/01/2026

Jared Wolinsky (B.S. ’09, Computer Science) is living out his childhood dream working in technology, business and entrepreneurship: go.umd.edu/wolinsky

Jared leads a group of developers at SiriusXM working on playback, browsing, search, personalization and everything else related to a user’s listening experience. He credits his experience at UMD and in the Quest Honors Program for preparing him for success in computer science and organizational leadership.

“Seeing working software take shape after it was just an idea in your mind—there’s nothing like that,” Jared said. “But there's something equally satisfying about seeing your team deliver something amazing that you had almost no part in actually building yourself... That brings a different type of satisfaction.”

09/30/2026

If you use a leading quantum computer today, you probably have Hanhee Paik (M.S. ’05, Ph.D. ’07, physics) to thank ➡️ go.umd.edu/paik

This helped pioneer the transmon—a superconducting qubit that many quantum computing companies use today—and built IBM’s first 16-qubit quantum computer in 2017.

Now, Hanhee leads initiatives to help researchers find impactful ways to use the company’s increasingly powerful quantum computers, yielding breakthroughs that seemed impossible a decade ago.

As Hanhee helps advance IBM’s quantum technology and business, she draws on lessons from the University of Maryland. For her, the most cherished learnings from graduate school weren’t technical skills, but values.

“At UMD, people were so nice and supportive. They provided unwavering support to help young students unleash their full potential.” Hanhee said. “That sense of community is really important to experience at an early age—especially as a student. It sets your view on life. I treasure those values and want to live them out.”

09/29/2026

Senior physics and Astronomy major Paige Nolan shares a day in her life at the University of Maryland!

See this 's day attending courses in statistical thermodynamics, quantum physics and optics, painting pumpkins with her sorority, and conducting research with the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Paige's research with STScI is a continuation of her summer internship. This fall, she is reducing data from the Gemini South Observatory to get it “science-ready.”

09/28/2026

Measles is making a comeback—but how bad can it get? In a state that might lift a key vaccination requirement, it could get epidemically bad, according to UMD mathematicians Abba Gumel and Alice Oveson.

To assess potential outcomes of Florida’s proposed vaccine-mandate retraction, the team built a transmission model based on a 2025 measles outbreak in Gaines County, Texas, and incorporated Florida-specific demographic structure, MMR vaccination coverage data, and realistic mixing patterns across ages and geographies.

Their study predicts that such a policy change could spark the largest measles epidemic in the United States in nearly 50 years.

“It’s like having a very dry forest with a lot of kindling,” Alice said. “Having a large unvaccinated population, including children, is the perfect set-up to spark a very big and potentially deadly outbreak.”

UMD mathematicians predict the dramatic impact of a proposal to repeal Florida’s measles vaccine mandate.

09/27/2026

Ever wonder, 'What kind of animal is Gonzo the Muppet?' According to Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences' Tom Holtz, he could be an early carnivorous dinosaur.

Gonzo’s most distinct feature is also his most baffling: his beak. (Or is it a nose?)