UMD President Mote includes ISR highlights in remarks to legislators

In February, University of Maryland President C.D. Mote spoke before the Maryland General Assembly about the university's accomplishments in the past year. Several portions of his speech mentioned the research and faculty members of ISR. The following excerpts from the speech illustrate ISR's continued prominence in the university research community:

—John Baras, Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research, was elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

—NASA awarded $728,000 to the Institute for Systems Research in the Clark School of Engineering for the first year of a three-year collaborative research project to develop models and concepts for the next generation air traffic flow management system. Minimizing delays as air traffic increases is a primary purpose of the study. UM leads a consortium that includes UC Berkeley, MIT, Virginia Tech and Metron Aviation.

—The Institute for Dexterous Space Robotics. The A. James Clark School of Engineering will partner with Stanford and Carnegie Mellon to create the Space Systems Laboratory, a consortium for advanced robotics. Designed to address NASA's current and future needs, the Institute will focus on creating robotic technologies for applications ranging from large space telescope construction and maintenance, to in-orbit assembly of interplanetary spacecraft, to surface exploration of the moon and Mars in partnership with space-suited astronauts. Students will be heavily engaged in this program.

—The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute is working with the Maryland NanoCenter to develop a nanoscale sensor system that can detect exceedingly small quantities of explosives, chemicals and other hazardous materials.

—UM researchers from the Clark School of Engineering are teaming up with local businesses through the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program to develop the first video system capable of recognizing terrorists in real time, and a weapon detection system that scans people for weapons in open spaces—such as airports, train stations or subway terminals—as they walk by. These projects have direct implications for security, a high priority for the federal government, the largest employer in the State. UM's ability to train specialists who will work in the high-tech business sector and attract business start-ups in cutting-edge security fields is just one of its many contributions to the State's economy.

| Read the complete text of President Mote's speech |

Published March 1, 2007