The University of Maryland’s Office of the Provost and Office of the Vice President for Research have announced the ten recipients of this year’s Independent Scholarship, Research, and Creativity Awards (ISRCA). Now in its fifth year, the program provides grant funding to support a diverse range of research and scholarly projects, including studies on climate change, A.I.

Led by Professor Howard Milchberg, the Lab for Intense Laser-Matter Interactions has been chosen as one of ten LaserNetUS nodes.  The lab will receive an annual award for three years to fund laser lab research staff, postdocs and graduate students.

Current batteries are limited by their required charging time and achievable range. The US Department of Energy (DOE) developed a Fast-Charge goal of 10 minutes to charge an electric vehicle (EV) battery. However, fast charging current Li-ion batteries can result in Li-metal plating of the carbon-anode and the potential formation of catastrophic lithium dendrite shorts.

Hazel Analytics, a food safety technology company born out of cross-disciplinary University of Maryland (UMD) research in economics and computer science and funded in part by the Maryland Innovation Initiative, has been acquired by longtime partner and global sustainability leader

The Army Research Lab has tapped the University of Maryland for an ambitious effort to integrate data science and engineering on a sweeping array of projects, ranging from a “smart nose” to sniff out hazardous materials to lightning-quick “fingerprinting” of cell phones and other radio-emitting devices. ARL, part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, recently awarded the A. James Clark School of Engineering a five-year, $78.2 million cooperative agreement to spearhead the Data Driven Engineering Research (DataDrivER) program.

The International Fire Safety Consortium (IFSC), a network co-led by the University of Maryland that brings together leading higher-education institutions and fire safety research organizations from around the world, has announced the release of a new series of free, open access educational video webinars on wildland fires, in partnership with UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). 

Trains ground to a halt for several hours in Denmark last November after a ransomware attack hit a railway subcontractor. Earlier in 2022, cybercriminals breached the computer system used by Italy’s state railroad, forcing a suspension of ticket sales.

A $2.2 million grant will help launch a University of Maryland-led initiative to address the effects of environmental racism and climate change across the mid-Atlantic region, providing financial and training support and advocating for policy changes.

An international research program that brings together more than 2,300 land scientists to advance studies of rapid changes to Earth’s environment is moving its home to the University of Maryland on Feb. 1.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people die in fires that cause economic damage equivalent to 2% of combined global income. With that toll expected to continue to increase, researchers from the University of Maryland will co-lead two new global initiatives designed to expand our knowledge and understanding of wildfires and fire modeling. Supported by $1 million in funding from Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the projects will involve scientists from across the International Fire Safety Consortium (IFSC) and UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute.