DC daily roundup: Photon counter wins UMD award; AI’s role in hiring; ACP stuck in committee

AI, plasma and photon innovations nab UMD awards

Anybody following the tech coming out of the University of Maryland system, especially its flagship College Park campus, knows it especially excels in life sciences, quantum computing and information sciences. UMD researchers earned special recognition for their inventions in these fields during the recent Invention of the Year awards.

Winners include a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer, a photon counter with more capabilities than its predecessors, environmentally safe plasma and an AI-generated text detection project.

➡️ Read more about the winners in DC reporter Kaela Roeder’s latest article.

Using AI to enhance — but not take over — hiring

For his latest column, Technical.ly’s Chris Wink spoke with CEO Mahe Bayreddi of HR tech company Phenom, along with others on his leadership team, about the landscape of artificial intelligence and human resources.

These senior employees of the Ambler, Pennsylvania-HQed company, which was last publicly valued at $1.4 billion in 2021, discussed how they see Phenom’s products as balancing the desire to automate tasks with the importance of interpersonal touches and interpersonal culture. Wink frames all of these reflections within a broader context of AI’s evolving importance to various fields — and what risks getting lost when we leave too much to automation.

➡️ Read more in the new Builders column.

News Incubator: What else to know today

• Bricklayer AI, a McLean-based startup aiming to plug in cybersecurity workforce deficits, raised $2.5 million to further build out its platform. [Washington Biz Journal]

• Another McLean-HQed company, the consulting giant Booz Allen, launched aiSSEMBLE Baseline, an open-source platform designed to make AI systems deployment easier. [Booz Allen]

• Twitch livestreams have become a primary way for people to follow developments on pro-Palestine campus protests and law enforcement responses. [Washington Post]

• A House of Representatives bill to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program is stuck in committee, threatening its future. [The Markup]

• Tech is changing the form and stakes of rap beef. [Wired]

🗓️ On the Calendar