The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Ting Zhu, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, its prestigious CAREER Award for his work to significantly improve the existing sensing capabilities of common technologies, such as cell phones. The five-year grant will total nearly $500,000.

“We congratulate Dr. Zhu on his NSF CAREER Award, an important recognition of his inventive work and what it may mean for other fields,” said Karl V. Steiner, vice president for research. “Dr. Zhu’s recognition adds to our growing list of outstanding young faculty recognized by peers and national funding agencies for their potential to advance science and technology.”

Zhu’s research may have impacts on the daily lives of people who use their cell phones to track activities, like exercise and sleep. He finds that although many mobile phones have activity monitoring systems built in, these capabilities are often not used to their fullest potential.

“The purpose of my research is to enable Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices to conduct accurate, efficient, and scalable N-way sensing,” explains Zhu. “This award will allow me to leverage sensing capabilities from different IoT devices to significantly improve people’s daily life for applications such as personal health monitoring, indoor localization, and smart home automation.”

To integrate research with education, Zhu will collaborate with his colleagues at UMBC to disseminate his research to local communities and recruit underrepresented groups. His work also has potential applications for enhancing the teaching of sensing technologies in classrooms, and his lab will provide opportunities for diverse UMBC students to complete hands-on research related to sensing technologies, as well as potentially exploring connections with virtual reality and 3D scanning.

In the last two decades, UMBC faculty have received 34 NSF CAREER awards. Additional UMBC faculty honored with CAREER awards so far in 2017 include Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, for his work on water contamination, and Tinoosh Mohsenin, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, for her work on energy efficient implementation of deep learning technologies and machine learning algorithms that are developed to function similarly to the brain.

Republished from UMBC News; Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

This semester, the CS Education Club has started a mini lecture series for students to interact with faculty outside of the classroom. They will have Dr. Marie desJardins as their next speaker. She will give an informal presentation followed by a discussion at 12:00 Noon on Monday May 8 in ITE 227. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Dr. desJardins is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Engineering and Information Technology and a full Professor in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department. She has had an amazing career as a computer science researcher and educator. She has done research ranging from Artificial Intelligence to building a community of CS educators and improving CS education at the high school level in Maryland. She oversees the MAPLE lab, with a primary research interest in multi-agent intelligent systems. She has been an advocate for a better student experience as an administrator in COEIT, as well as the director of the Grand Challenges program at UMBC. Read more of her background on her website.

Please RSVP on myUMBC at the CS ED Club’s event page.

Tinoosh Mohsenin, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance her research on energy efficient implementation of deep learning technologies and machine learning algorithms that are developed to function similarly to the brain. Her award totals $475,104 over five years. Mohsenin’s research will enable those in medicine, intelligence, and environmental science to adapt the technology developed in her lab to their own work.

“We congratulate Dr. Mohsenin on her NSF CAREER Award, an important recognition of her groundbreaking work and the impact it will have on other fields,” said Karl V. Steiner, vice president for research. “This recognition of Dr. Mohsenin adds to our growing list of exceptional young faculty recognized by peers and funding agencies alike for the incredible potential their work has to move science and technology forward.”

The CAREER Award will support Mohsenin’s work creating solutions to both software and hardware issues with hardware implementation opportunities in her lab and across many industries. She is the director of the Energy Efficient High Performance Computing (EEHPC) Lab at UMBC. Mohsenin is particularly focused on energy efficiency, and emphasizes the importance of user-friendly, battery-powered and low-cost hardware implementation techniques for future computing.

In the medical field, Mohsenin hopes her low power deep learning technology will help physicians and medical professionals detect seizures and cancer more quickly and accurately by improving the analysis of highly complex brain signal and image data, beyond what can be gleaned from today’s standard brain monitoring and analysis techniques. Mohsenin hopes her work will also help people with significant mobility limitations who use small multi-modal sensors on their tongue as well as other methods to maneuver wheelchairs or command other technologies. More complex algorithms and their efficient hardware implementation can notably improve the responsiveness of such technologies for users.

“I am very excited about this award as it allows me to take my research to the next level and help society find new computing techniques for smart wearable or mobile devices,” Mohsenin explains. “Current deep learning models have not been explored for power-constrained smart devices, and this research can potentially revolutionize several fields including healthcare, transportation, ecology, surveillance and public utilities.”

The award will provide her with opportunities to engage more UMBC students in STEM research, particularly among women and minority. She also looks forward to inspiring local middle and high school students to pursue engineering majors and careers.

Adam Page ‘12, computer engineering and Ph.D. ‘16, computer engineering, worked in Mohsenin’s lab on research that will be continued through the CAREER award.

In the last two decades, UMBC faculty have received 34 NSF CAREER awards. Additional UMBC faculty honored with CAREER awards so far in 2017 include Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, for his work on water contamination, and Ting Zhu, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, for his work to develop a networked system that can accommodate solutions for wireless communications, machine learning and data processing.

Adapted from a UMBC News article. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s latest leak is the most recent major hack exposing information that could possibly compromise national security. In The Conversation, Anupam Joshi and Rick Forno, explain that this hack is a reminder of how cyberdefense strategies must be continually improved to ensure sensitive information is protected.

Joshi is a professor and chair of the department of computer science and electrical engineering and director of UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity, and Forno is the assistant director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and director of UMBC’s graduate program in cybersecurity. Their latest article has been republished by media across the globe and has been read more than 20,000 times.

“This round of leaks, of documents dating from 2013 to 2016,…reinforces perhaps the most troubling piece of information we already know: Individuals and the government itself must step up cyberdefense efforts to protect sensitive information,” write Joshi and Forno.

They ask readers to consider the risk to security and privacy compared with the benefits and convenience of modern technologies. “As citizens, we must decide what level of risk we — as a nation, a society and as individuals — are willing to face when using internet-connected products.”

Any electronic device connected to the internet is susceptible to a cyber attack, Joshi and Forno go on to explain, noting, “It’s not necessarily a good idea to have always-on and network-enabled microphones or cameras in every room of the house.”

Joshi also spoke with CBS Baltimore about how hacks can impact technologies consumers use every day, such as cars that now feature high tech navigation and entertainment systems. “The more electronic gizmos you have in your car, the newer the car you have, the more you’re connected to the network with your car, the greater the probability something can be done to your car,” he explained. Still, he noted, a hacker would need to have advanced technical knowledge and, likely, close proximity to the car to carry out such an attack.

To ensure that sensitive information is protected, Joshi and Forno say that focusing on “the mundane tasks of cyberdefense” is essential to maintaining security for everyone, from government to individuals, although they emphasize that no internet-connected technologies are immune to cyber hacks. Ultimately, they write, “Keeping others out of key systems is crucial to American national security, and to the proper function of our government, military and civilian systems.”

Read the full article in The Conversation, and watch the complete interview on CBS Baltimore.  Adapted from an article in UMBC News.

How can we begin to use our body as a power source? The same way we use a battery: by harnessing its chemical energy. As part of the annual Baltimore Light City Festival: A Festival of Light, Music and Innovations, Dr. Gymama Slaughter will present her research work on “The body as a battery – harnessing its chemical energy to power wearable and implantable sensors that diagnose and monitor diseases.” Dr. Slaughter will show how her team is converting the biochemical energy in blood sugar into electrical power, and how it is used to power wearable and implantable sensors.

The HealthLab@LightCity conference brings together innovators and leaders from Baltimore and across the nation to explore emerging technologies and innovative practices that have the potential to improve the quality of life and health outcomes for all people, here and around the world.

HealthLab@lightcity is presented by Kaiser Permanente and will be held 8:00am-6:00pm on Monday, 3 April 2017 at the IMET Columbus Center (701 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202) as part of Baltimore’s annual Light City Festival.

A Semantically Rich Approach to Automating Big Data and Cloud

Dr. Karuna Joshi
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

12:00pm Monday, 20 February 2017, ITE 325b, UMBC

With the explosion of Big Data and the growth of data science, there is an urgent need to automate the data lifecycle of generation, ingestion, analytics, knowledge extraction, and archival and deletion. With a promise of rapid provisioning, scalability and high computing capability, cloud based services are being adopted as the default computing environment for Big Data analytics.

To effectively manage their data on cloud, organizations need to continuously monitor the rules/constraints and performance metrics listed in a variety of legal contracts. However, these documents, like Service Level Agreements (SLA), privacy policy, regulatory documents, etc., are currently managed as plain text files meant principally for human consumption. Additionally, providers often define their own performance metrics for their services. These factors hinder the automation of steps of the data lifecycle, leading to inefficiencies in using the dynamic and elastic elements of the Data+Cloud ecosystem and require manual effort to monitor the service performance. Moreover, Cloud-based service providers are collecting large amounts of data about their consumers including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) like contact addresses, credit card details, bank account details, etc. They are offering customized service level agreements which indicate how such data will be handled. To see whether these agreements meet individual or corporate requirements, or comply with statutory constraints, currently involves significant human effort.

In this talk, we present the semantically rich approach that we have developed to automatically extract knowledge from large textual datasets, specially legal documents, using text analytics and Semantic Web technologies. We describe the OWL ontologies that we have developed, and the techniques to extract key terms and rules from textual legal documents. We will also illustrate application of our work in domains such as education, healthcare and cybersecurity.

Karuna P. Joshi is a Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her research focuses on Data Science and Big Data Analytics, especially legal text analytics; knowledge representation and reasoning; privacy and security of Big Data and Cloud; and cloud enabled Health IT services. She has published over 30 papers, including in journals like IEEE Transactions on Service Computing and conferences like IEEE Big Data and IEEE CLOUD. Her research is supported by organizations like DoD, ONR, NIST, NSF, GE and IBM. She was also awarded the TEDCO MII award for exploring the commercialization of her research. She has been awarded the prestigious IBM PhD Fellowship. She also has over 15 years of industrial experience, primarily as an IT project manager. She worked at the International Monetary Fund for nearly a decade. Her managerial experience includes portfolio/program/project management across various domains. She received the MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from UMBC and bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai, India.

Professor Anupam Joshi, chair of the CSEE Department and director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity

With a new administration in the White House, securing the president’s smartphone is a national security priority, but exactly what steps are taken to secure the phone are not made public. In a new article in The Conversation, Anupam Joshi, professor and chair of computer science and electrical engineering, and director of the Center for Cybersecurity at UMBC, discusses several likely ways President Trump’s security team is building protections into his phone, through everything from hardware to settings to app restrictions.

Limiting the number of people who have the president’s new phone number and keeping the unique International Mobile Equipment Identity number guarded can prevent potential attackers from accessing confidential information stored on the phone. This method is called “security by obscurity,” says Joshi.

Joshi also says the device Trump will use was likely made by a trusted manufacturer with carefully created and checked parts, explaining that this minimizes the “risk that the hardware would have any vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit.”

Customizing the operating system, and allowing the phone to connect only with predetermined networks that are regularly monitored can also help protect against attacks, says Joshi. “Limiting its contact with the internet would, of course, by key,” he notes, “though that would also significantly limit the phone’s usefulness to a president whose routine involves constant connection.” Joshi says that limiting the number of apps on the phone, reducing the ability for additional apps to be downloaded and installed, and disabling automatic updates to the phone could keep the device even more secure.

While it is not certain which methods have been employed to secure the presidential smartphone, Joshi says that Trump trading in his commercial-grade phone for a government-secured device is an important first step in protecting the U.S. from hacks and attacks.

In another article in The Conversation, Rick Forno, assistant director of the UMBC Center for Cybersecurity and director of the Cybersecurity Graduate Program at UMBC, addresses the importance of addressing both short-term and long-term cybersecurity issues. He explains that ignoring underlying problems and only addressing small, attention-grabbing issues does not lead to lasting progress. “Cyber-fatigue,” explains Forno, is an “inability to think critically about what needs to happen for meaningful, lasting cybersecurity improvements while focusing only on near-term problems.”

He says that while it is important to evaluate the benefits, conveniences and savings that new products and services may offer, the potential risks and problems should be considered, too. “So instead of repeating the same guidelines and recommendations of the past, it’s time to take a new and unconventional look at our approach to technology and how we secure it,” Forno explains. “Unless we’re willing to go beyond our traditional cybersecurity ‘comfort zone’ and explore new solutions, our cyber-fatigue will worsen.”

Read “How to secure a smartphone for the tweeter-in-chief” and “Overcoming ‘cyber-fatigue’ requires users to step up for security” in The Conversation. Joshi’s piece also appeared in Mashable and Channel Newsasia, and together the articles have already been read over 36,000 times.

Adapted from UMBC News, photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC Chess finished seventh overall at the 2016 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 27–30.

The UMBC Chess A team finished in 10th place, with victories over the Texas Tech D team, the University of Oklahoma A team, the Columbia University B team, and the Arizona State University team. The UMBC Chess B team earned wins over the Texas Tech E team, and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities B team, and finished 45th overall.

UMBC’s 2016 A team includes international master Levan Bregadze ‘16, financial economics; grandmaster Tanguy Ringoir ‘19, economics; woman FIDE master Ewa Harazinska ’20, chemistry; and Maor Leker Locker ’20, biological sciences. The UMBC Chess B team includes Dobrynya Konoplev ‘18, computer science and mechanical engineering; Nathan Janus ’20, mathematics; Nathaniel Wong ‘18, Asian studies and political science; Abhilash Puranik ‘17, M.S. computer engineering; and Jeffrey Mich Carr ’19, interdisciplinary studies.

UMBC has participated in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship for 26 years, and has won or tied for first place at the Pan-Am Championship ten times. UMBC Chess has also continued on to the President’s Cup—known as the Final Four of College Chess—numerous times, but did not qualify for 2017.

At the 2015 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, the UMBC Chess A team finished in 10th place, and the UMBC Chess B team finished 31st overall. Alan Sherman, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, serves as director for UMBC Chess and Joel DeWyer, interim director of The Commons, is business manager.

UMBC Chess made headlines earlier in 2016 when Nazi Paikidze-Barnes, information systems, an alumna of the team, won the 2016 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship held in St. Louis.

Reposted from UMBC News. Image: Members of the UMBC Chess A team before attending the 2016 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. Photo by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

UMBC CSEE Professor Marie desJardins was elected as a as Member-at-Large of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor desJardins will serve a four-year term as one of four AAAS members representing the field of Information, Computing, and Communication. AAAS members-at large are charged with assessing the performance and role of their section in the Association and working to involve its members in AAAS activities and professional interactions.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people. Established in 1848, the AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, with more than 120,000 members.

Diana Parr, adjunct instructor in UMBC’s Cybersecurity Graduate Program, has been selected to participate in the highly competitive Brookings Legis Congressional Fellows Program. The year-long program allows professionals in the public and private sectors to work on Capitol Hill alongside individual members of the U.S. Congress or on a congressional committee to understand the policy-making side of government.

“I am most excited about the opportunity to work for a member of Congress and to learn how the legislative process flows. It will be a huge time for change on Capitol Hill—a new president and many newly elected officials. I would like to bring my technical knowledge to the Hill as those new officials discuss legislation relating to cybersecurity,” she said.

In addition to her role at UMBC, Parr is a cybersecurity technical leader for the National Security Agency. She anticipates that her work in Congress will focus on cybersecurity education.

“There are many opportunities for new legislation this year to make our nation stronger and safer,” Parr said. “My biggest hope is to build awareness of the need to grow educational opportunities for young people, especially young women, in the growing field of cybersecurity.”

More information about the Brookings Legis Congressional Fellows Program can be found on the Brookings Institution website.

Republished from UMBC News, header image by Robert Lyle Bolton (CC by 2.0), headshot by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.