Adam Porter has been appointed co-executive director of the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC), effective July 28, 2024. Porter is a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and, since 2015, has served as executive director of the Fraunhofer USA Center Mid-Atlantic, an applied research center affiliated with UMCP.
Adam Porter
In his new role, Porter will co-lead UM-IHC, an academic medical research institute in North Bethesda, Maryland, that will serve as a hub for medical computing innovation and collaboration for Montgomery County. When established in November 2022, UM-IHC will bring together the computational expertise, clinical expertise, biomedical innovation, health data and academic resources of UMCP, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland Health System to support Montgomery County’s life sciences ecosystem. Funding support for UM-IHC comes from Montgomery County, the MPowering the State initiative and the State of Maryland.
“Dr. Porter will be a strong, collaborative leader who will help achieve the institute’s primary objective of economic development in Montgomery County,” said Amitabh Varshney, dean of UMCP’s School of Computer, Mathematics and Natural Sciences. “His decades of experience working with industry partners on cutting-edge algorithms and high-performance computing will help UM-IHC partner with life sciences companies to translate the latest computational medicine innovations into economic development.”
Mr. Porter has over 35 years of experience in computer science and software engineering, with an emphasis on the development of algorithms, methods, and tools for software specification, development, and verification. He holds a joint appointment with the Institute for Advanced Computer Research at the University of Maryland, and is affiliated with the University’s Systems Research Laboratory and the Applied Research Institute Intelligence and Security Laboratory.
“I am honored to have been selected to lead this unique institute,” Porter said. “I think every researcher dreams of their research helping someone in a meaningful way. The research at UM-IHC has the potential to lead longer, healthier lives for people around the world. I can’t think of a more exciting or rewarding challenge.”
Porter’s research has been supported by a variety of funding agencies and companies, including the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, AT&T, Motorola, Sun Microsystems, Apple, IBM, and Microsoft. His current research focuses on software and systems engineering for artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems and AI applications for software and systems engineers.
He has published more than 150 technical articles.,Prior to joining the UMCP faculty in 1991, Porter,received his MS degree in computer science from the,University of California, Irvine in 1988 and his PhD degree in 1991,,and his BS degree in computer science from California State,University, Dominguez Hills in 1986.
Porter will succeed Sujal Vista, who will serve as interim co-executive director and lead UM-IHC’s Immersive Visualization Research Center starting in January 2023. During Vista’s tenure, he organized workshops and events aimed at strengthening Montgomery County’s biotech community, provided critical input that led to permanent state funding for UM-IHC, secured UM-IHC’s first corporate partnership, and hired key personnel to help launch the institute.
