The University of Maryland, in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (nist), has pushed the boundaries of quantum science, uncovering the often-mysteri-ous behavior of nature at the atomic scale.

With this foundational knowledge, researchers increasingly are moving toward technological applications for hard-to-grasp phenomena like quantum entanglement—where two linked particles mirror each other’s quantum states even if they’re great distances apart.

“The science is complex, but it will let us develop better computers, better information networks and better sensors,” says Edo Waks, a professor of electrical and computer engi-neering and a fellow in the Joint Quantum Institute (jqi), a partnership between umd and nist.

The physics community has struggled with quantum mechanics since Einstein’s day, but recent progress has created great opportunity, says Steve Rolston, chair of the Department of Physics and a jqi fellow.

“We are moving beyond just straight science and verging into engineering and technology,” he says. “We’re at the point where there would be a benefit to taking more of a systems engineering approach.”

That approach will be embodied in a new planned quan-tum center on campus—the Quantum Technology Center.

Maryland is already a top global center for quantum re-search, thanks to jqi as well as the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, or QuICS, another nist-

umd partnership that focuses on the software and computer science aspects of quantum research.

A third, technology-centered component expected to open in coming months will create a holistic approach that’s

unparalleled elsewhere. Maryland is currently in talks with several companies and government agencies about partnering in the qtc.

Immediate areas of emphasis will include:QUANTUM COMPUTING: By exploiting quantum effects like

“superposition”—which essentially means that things in the quantum world can exist in multiple states at once—comput-ers exponentially more powerful than today’s machines may be possible. Physics Professor Chris Monroe, a jqi fellow, has produced a small, state-of-the-art programmable and configu-rable quantum computer using the trapped-ion approach, in which charged atomic particles store quantum information, or qubits. Unlike a regular computer bit, which has a value of zero or one, the magic of quantum superposition means the qubit could be both zero and one.QUANTUM SENSORS: As our world becomes more intercon-nected, sensors of various kinds are proliferating, with uses ranging from health monitoring equipment to web-connect-ed appliances. Quantum technology promises a new breed of sensors both far smaller and far more sensitive and accurate, thanks to exploitation of quantum effects.QUANTUM NETWORKS: “Quantum teleportation” sounds like a “Star Trek” travel method, but actually refers to the ability of entangled particles to convey information about each other across distances. Although quantum networks won’t replace communications satellites and fiber optic cables for telecom-munications, Rolston says, they may allow unprecedented pre-cision of network sensors. For instance, quantum sensors set up to observe brain waves could be linked to provide far more sensitive monitoring than any technology that exists today.

Next Quantum Steps: Strong Science Foundation Opens Paths to Revolutionary Technology

m ay 2018 vol. 12, no. 1

n e w s l e t t e r

connecting the university of maryland research community

The University of Maryland and global aerospace and security leader

Lockheed Martin renewed and strengthened a long-running strategic

partnership earlier this year with a pair of agreements to foster common

research and innovation goals and encourage collaboration across campus.

“The core of our partnership is research aimed at addressing our na-

tion’s most pressing security needs,” says LAURIE LOCASCIO, UMD vice

president for research. “We look forward to our continued collaboration

and opportunities for our exceptional faculty and students to pursue

new frontiers in research.”

The renewed Strategic Partnership Memorandum of Understanding,

first signed in 2010, enables the University of Maryland and Lockheed

Martin to jointly pursue new strategic business opportunities and sup-

port student recruitment and professional development initiatives. It also

provides a framework for establishing joint centers like the University of

Maryland–Lockheed Martin Center for Logistics Collaboration.

A newly refined Master Research Agreement (MRA), first signed

in 2012, allows new collaborative research engagements without

renegotiating overall agreement terms. The MRA governs new projects

in advanced research areas such as autonomy and robotics, human

performance and sensing data analytics, artificial intelligence and

quantum information.

Lockheed Martin and UMD have a deep, rich history working on trans-

formational research, says ROBIE SAMANTA ROY, the company’s vice

president of technology strategy and innovation, and a Board of Visitors

member for UMD’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.

“The university has an amazing breadth of talent and research interests

that are relevant to Lockheed Martin’s innovation focus areas, and we are

pleased to work together to build a more secure future,” he says.

LOCKHEED MARTIN, UMD RENEW PARTNERSHIP

RESEARCH

MARYLANDAT

The Division of Research has

announced the following recipients

of Tier 1 grants to support early-

stage research, scholarship and

publication:

ARIEL BIERBAUM , Urban Studies and Planning, and GAIL SUNDERMAN , Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, “Geographies of Opportunity Amidst Increasing Diversity: How Housing, Transporta-tion and Education Policies Shape Educational Access in Maryland”

ALISON HELLER, Anthropology, “Making Toxic Bodies Legible: Lead Contami-nation in Sub-Saharan Africa”

MASOUD NEGAHBAN-AZAR, Environ-mental Science and Technology,

“Reducing the Ecological Footprint of Agriculture: Developing an Innovative Framework for Water Footprint Assessment”

LAUREN PORTER , Criminology and Criminal Justice, “Challenges in the Continuity of Care Among Formerly Incarcerated Persons Living With HIV or HCV”

IAN WHITE , Bioengineering, “Culture-independent ESBL Detection With Glucose Cycling Amplification on Paper”

As part of their ongoing partner-ship, the University of Maryland and Northrop Grumman have announced joint seed grants to support research in autonomous systems, logistics and other research priorities:

RAMA CHELLAPPA, Electrical and Computer Engineering, “Efficient and Robust Machine Learning From Multi-Sensor Image Data”

CORNELIA FERMÜLLER, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, “Object Motion Analysis for Autonomous Systems”

MOHAMMAD HAFEZI, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Joint Quantum Institute, “Machine Learning-Assisted Quantum Measurement”

MICHAEL ROTKOWITZ , Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute for Systems Research, “Robust Decentralization for Teaming in Autonomous Multi-Vehicle Systems”

YASSER SHOUKRY, P.S. KRISHNAPRASAD, Electrical and Computer Engineering,

“Attack-Resilient Law Enforcement Drones”

ANKUR SRIVASTAVA, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute for Systems Research, “Enabling Secure Systems With Locked Memory Modules”

SEED GRANTS FOR FACULTY LAY RESEARCH GROUNDWORK

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND is

leading a new NASA program aimed at

providing agriculture officials, humani-

tarian groups and farmers with satellite

data to help ensure the world has a

steady supply of affordable food.

INBAL BECKER-RESHEF, associate

research professor in the

Department of Geographical

Sciences, will oversee the

Earth Observation for Food

Security and Agriculture

Consortium (EOFSAC), with

support from NASA’s Food Security

Office at nearby Goddard Space Flight

Center. EOFSAC’s more than 40

partners include various universities,

international organizations and

government agencies in the United

States and abroad.

Data from satellite observation can

be key to informing decisions about the

global food supply, Becker-Reshef says.

“Events such as food price spikes

and food shortages related

to severe weather illustrate

the risks associated with

knowledge gaps around food

production and supply,” she says.

“Satellite data can help identify areas

vulnerable to things like drought, flood-

ing and fire, as well as variability in soil,

crop conditions and yield status.”

NASA awarded EOFSAC $14.5 million

over five years. The consortium’s Earth

observations will be freely available to

decision makers and others working on

issues such as food security, freshwater

availability and human health.

“Providing decision makers with

access to timely, objective, accurate

and actionable information can

strengthen food security, market

stability and human livelihoods.” says

CHRIS JUSTICE , chair of the Department

of Geographical Sciences and EOFSAC

scientific lead.

SPOTLIGHT

The Division of Research publishes RESEARCHATMARYLAND twice per semester. Its goal is to better inform and connect the research community at the University of Maryland. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Please email them to ELISE CARBONARO, Director of Communications, Division of Research, at ecarbo@umd.edu.

Produced by the Office of Strategic Communications for the Division of Research Laurie Locascio, Vice President for Research

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Elise CarbonaroMANAGING EDITOR: Chris CarrollART DIRECTOR: Hailey Hwa Shin

RESEARCHATMARYLAND connecting the university of maryland research community

Office of the Vice President for Research2133 Lee BuildingUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-5121 research.umd.edu

connecting the university of maryland research community

IN THIS ISSUE:

▶ Next Steps for QuantumResearch

▶ Seed Grants Lay Groundworkfor Research

▶ UMD and Lockheed MartinRenew Strategic Partnership

@UMDRESEARCH

RESEARCH

MARYLANDAT

UMD LEADS NASA PROGRAM ON EARTH OBSERVATION FOR FOOD SECURITY

FACULTY AWARDS&HONORS

School of Public Health Dean Boris D.

Lushniak received the American Medical

Association’s Distinguished Service Award

for broad service and contributions in the

field of public health. He is former acting

surgeon general of the United States.

The Development and Life Course Criminol-

ogy section of the American Society of

Criminology awarded Professor John

Laub its Lifetime Achievement Award for

sustained and outstanding contributions to

scholarly knowledge on developmental and

life-course criminology.

Maissam Barkeshli, assistant professor of

physics and fellow of the Joint Quantum

Institute, received a 2018 Sloan Research

Fellowship, awarded to early-career

scientists with potential to contribute

fundamentally significant research to a

wider academic community.

Michelle “Shelby” Bensi, assistant professor of

civil and environmental engineering, researches

the probabilistic assessment of natural and man-

made hazards and infrastructure risk assessment

and mitigation.

Ming Lin, professor and chair of the Department

of Computer Science, researches physically

based and geometric modeling, applied compu-

tational geometry, robotics, distributed interac-

tive simulation, virtual environment, algorithm

analysis and many-core computing.

Sushant Ranadive, assistant professor of kinesi-

ology, researches aspects of integrative human

physiology with a focus on aging, sex differences

and cardiovascular and autonomic function.

Jeremy C. Wells, assistant professor of archi-

tecture, researches an improved relationship

between conservation practice and human flour-

ishing through a better understanding of how

people value, perceive and use historic places.

NEWFACULTY

n e w s l e t t e r

CONTACT ERIN FITZGERALD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL RESEARCH

INITIATIVES, TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DIVISION OF RESEARCH’S PROPOSAL

DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES.

EMAIL : ERINF@UMD.EDU PHONE : 301 .405.4462.

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