[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 1996

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we in Maryland are a proud lot. We take pride 
in the natural beauty of our State, in its diverse and flourishing 
business community, and in the variety and character of our citizens.
  It is with this deeply instilled pride that I rise today to report 
the recent outstanding successes of one of the crown jewels in our 
State's educational system, the University of Maryland.
  The University of Maryland at College Park is consistently noted as 
one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the country. To 
bolster this widely held view, the U.S. News and World Report's 
``Graduate Rankings Issue'' hit the newsstands this spring to announce 
that an impressive number of the University of Maryland's graduate 
programs were ranked in the top tier. In fact, no university--public or 
private--in the mid-Atlantic region and few public universities in the 
country scored as consistently high as the University of Maryland in 
fields ranging from journalism, business, economics, and computer 
sciences to mathematics, physics, education, and engineering.
  Specifically, the U.S. News and World Report survey ranked the public 
relations program in the college of journalism No. 1 in the Nation. The 
college of business and management was ranked in the top 25 in the 
country. The college of education and the A. James Clark School of 
Engineering, as well as the departments of computer science, 
mathematics and physics, were also highly ranked.
  These achievements in excellence speak highly of the students and 
faculty thriving to achieve greatness and advance the threshold of 
knowledge.
  But the excellence does not end there. It was nothing less than the 
national championship for the University of Maryland mock trial team. 
Competing with prestigious schools from across the country, including 
Yale, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, and Carnegie Mellon, the Terps took 
home the top prize.
  Not to be outdone, a team from the University of Maryland took top 
honors at this year's Texas Instruments DSP--digital signal 
processors--Solutions Challenge. The team of three beat out teams from 
MIT, Princeton, and the University of California-Berkley, among other 
schools to grab first prize. The team's successful design used a video 
compression system that compresses the large volume of data needed for 
the representation of video signals, making it possible to transmit 
video signals over communication channels, such as telephone lines.
  And if Marylanders weren't already bursting with pride over these 
accomplishments, the Terps became the first ever back-to-back champions 
in women's division I lacrosse by defeating our neighbors, the Virginia 
Cavaliers. The win also extended their NCAA record for consecutive wins 
to 36.
  Mr. Speaker, the University of Maryland is truly committed to 
excellence, both in the classroom and on the athletic field. These 
achievements make me extremely proud to have this fine institution in 
my district. I look forward to reporting further their scholastic and 
academic successes in the near future.

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