These high-achieving students will lead their classmates into the university's Commencement Ceremony.

Anirud Aggarwal, Nishkal Hundia and Raina Saraiya were finalists for the highest honor bestowed on a graduating senior each academic year, based on academic distinction, exemplary character and service to the campus or broader community. 

Guhan (Ph.D. '25, computer science), Kumar (M.S. '26, data science) and Saraiya (B.S. '25, neuroscience) will be the student speakers at the three CMNS Commencement Ceremonies.

Researchers discovered that supermassive black holes torched their host galaxies with violent winds just 1 billion years after the Big Bang, which could explain why so many early galaxies stopped forming stars.

Sujay Konda, Ishan Raghavendra and Daniel Yuan each ranked in the top 200 out of more than 4,300 competitors in one of the most prestigious mathematics contests for undergraduates in North America.

A childhood spent following their father around the halls of UMD’s Department of Physics led twins Sylvester and Delilah Gates to scientific careers researching the brain and the cosmos.

A new UMD-led study shows that meltwater flowing off ice shelves changes the ocean in ways that drive even faster melting—and most global climate projections don’t even include it.