A re-engineered Spotify experience that helps people with autism better access the calming power of music took top honors in the first Amazon-University of Maryland Design Challenge, a University System of Maryland student competition to redesign an app, website or experience for a more inclusive world.

Developed by electrical and computer engineering major Elyas Masrour, the streamlined Spotify concept was one of just three entries, selected from 40 proposals, that earned a spot in UMD’s inaugural Amazon Day symposium. Masrour grabbed first place—and $2,500—through a live poll by Amazon employees and UMD faculty, administrators, students.
Cannabis use is on the rise, but much remains to be understood about how the drug affects health—and particularly how it might impact the human cardiovascular system. To help fill in that research gap, Assistant Professor Eleonora Tubaldi is partnering with colleagues from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in a bid to use machine learning and advanced computing to obtain hitherto elusive answers.

Chief pilot Darren Robey and engineer Grant Williams of UMD's UAS Test Site challenged their team's rotorcraft in extreme conditions out on Lake Michigan in February. Their work could ultimately help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) refine its measurements of polar sea ice. They collaborated with NOAA sensor and data analysts to test the feasibility of drone-based validation.

Effective immediately, Akua Asa-Awuku has been appointed the A. James Clark School of Engineering Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion by Dean Samuel Graham, Jr. “I am honored and excited by this appointment,” said Asa-Awuku. “I look forward to contributing to the mission of the Clark School to increase diversity, champion equity, and to encourage an atmosphere of compassion, tolerance and dignity.”

Professor Teng Li brought CNBC Correspondent Shomari Stone into his lab to test a wooden knife that is three times sharper than commercial knives made of stainless steel or plastic.