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NBCNews.com (May 23, 2013)
People with higher IQs filter out useless info faster, study finds
What distinguishes somebody with high intelligence quotient (IQ) scores, besides the annoying habit of finding a way to inject that fact into almost any conversation?

According to a new study from researchers at the University of Rochester, it could be their ability to ignore sensory information, specifically irrelevant information we take in with our eyes.

The results, from the lab of neuroscientist Duje Tadin, were a surprise. Tadin and his co-workers were actually trying to explore another question when the results of a small pilot project with 12 people found the correlation between IQ and visual processing efficiency. (Also Reported in: BBC Radio, LiveScience.com, USA Today, UPI.com, Fox News, Latinos Post, Business Standard, Science Daily, Red Orbit, Big News Network, India4u.com)

MAA Online (May 21, 2013)
Quantitative Abilities Documented in Baboons
A new study out of the University of Rochester indicates that non-human primates can discriminate between different quantities as accurately as a human child.

Study co-author Jessica Cantlon generalizes the results of her work:

In the same way that we underestimate the cognitive abilities of non-human animals, we sometimes underestimate the cognitive abilities of preverbal children. There are quantitative abilities that exist in children prior to formal schooling or even being able to use language.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 21, 2013)
UR women's team wins Corporate Challenge champions race
The University of Rochester did its hometown proud Tuesday evening, winning the women's division in the prestigious J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Championships international road race at Rochester Institute of Technology.

"We knew that it was close so we had our fingers crossed and I mean we all had them crossed," said Jessica Snyder, who led UR's four-person team across the finish line of the 3.5-mile course in 20 minutes, 19 seconds.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (May 21, 2013)
Sandra Q. Rosado
Sandra Quinones Rosado may be a native of Puerto Rico, but the first thing she noticed about Rochester was a different kind of sunshine.

Rosado dreamed of going to college in the states, but her father, a first-generation college graduate, wanted his only daughter to stay in Puerto Rico. Fortunately, her social studies teacher nominated her for a Xerox scholarship at The University of Rochester, which she received.

Occupation: Visiting Assistant Professor of Education, Interim Director of the Urban Teaching and Leadership Program, Warner School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester; Recipient of the Visiting Scholars award for Diversity and Academic Excellence.

News-Medical.Net (May 20, 2013)
Hospitals that treat black patients provide poor care for trauma victims, study finds
Victims of trauma are at higher risk of either dying or suffering a major complication if they are treated at a hospital that serves a large population of black patients, finds a large new study in Health Services Research.

The research team, led by Laurent Glance M.D. of the University of Rochester Medical Center studied data for 191, 887 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers between 2000 and 2009. The researchers found that both black and white patients treated at hospitals with a high concentration of black trauma patients had a 45 percent higher risk of death and a 73 percent higher risk of death or a major complication when they were compared to patients of both races who were admitted to hospitals that treat low proportions of black patients.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 19, 2013)
University of Rochester grads share last hugs, memories
In a morning filled with advice - listen to your mother, find your passion, get a job - the Class of 2013 at the University of Rochester heard even more suggestions on success.

"Take some chances," Nobel laureate physicist and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu told more than 1,200 bachelor and master's candidates assembled Sunday morning on the Eastman Quadrangle at the 163rd commencement ceremony.

On a day that UR President Joel Seligman called triumphant and joyful, 22-year-old Kaci Schiavone, of Holley, Orleans County had another emotion.

"Terrified," she said. "I think we all are. But we won't admit it." (Also Reported in: YNN, WROC-TV)

WXXI (May 19, 2013)
Douglas Lowry Reappointed Eastman School Dean
Douglas Lowry has been reappointed as Dean of the Eastman School of Music. The announcement came Sunday from University of Rochester President Joel Seligman. Lowry was appointed to a second, five-year term.

Seligman called Lowry "an inspiring leader" who recognizes the school's role in shaping the future of music professions and training. (Also Reported in: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, YNN)

Inside Higher Ed (May 17, 2013)
Three universities back away from plan to pool courses online
Three top-tier universities have backed away from a partnership with their peers and the company 2U to create a pool of for-credit online courses.

But Duke's departure from the effort wasn't the first. For several different reasons, both Vanderbilt University and the University of Rochester also quietly abandoned plans to be a part of Semester Online in recent months. Another of the original 10-member group, Wake Forest, remains on the fence.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (May 17, 2013)
Canada earthquake causes rumbling in Rochester
"It's an area of persistent seismicity," said Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester. She said there had been foreshocks over the past week - smaller temblors that foreshadowed Friday's larger event.

"There are earthquakes every day. There are tsunami warnings every day. This is a dynamic planet," Ebinger added. "This is just a part of that." (Also Reported in: USA Today, Port Huron Times Herald, WROC-TV, WHEC-TV, WHEC-TV, WXXI, YNN)

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 16, 2013)
UR to dedicate new building
Raymond F. LeChase Hall, a new building that houses the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, has its dedication ceremony on Thursday.

WHAM TV ABC 13 Rochester (May 15, 2013)
Made in our Hometown: Teenager's Gift for Opera
One of the most talented young vocalists in the country is getting ready to begin a dual-major program at the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music. 18-year-old Aaron Bigeleisen will graduate from McQuaid and embark on a career that could take him to the great opera houses of the world.

"What we're projecting for Aaron is a career with an unlimited track," says Robert Swensen, the Eastman School Professor of Voice who has guided Aaron's development over the past two years. "We expect him to be able to sing anywhere -- if he chooses to be a professional opera singer, he will be singing at the great houses of the world."

Science Friday (May 15, 2013)
What Lies Beneath
Scientist J. Bianca Jackson is an art sleuth. Using a technology found in airport security body scanners, she searches for lost artwork hidden beneath layers of paint and plaster. Her technique, called terahertz imaging, has enabled Jackson to unveil an old mural behind the white wall of a Latvian cathedral, as well as ritualistic decorations, obscured by clay, from the dwellings of a Neolithic settlement in Turkey. Most recently, she helped curators at the Louvre Museum in Paris investigate the complicated history of a Roman fresco, which had been restored—and likely forged—by a 19th-century Italian art collector.

Meanwhile, Jackson continues honing her technique as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester. When she finishes, she hopes to start a consulting firm to help others investigate more mysteries using terahertz imaging.

Huffington Post (May 15, 2013)
College Seniors Designing for Seniors
Disney World is not quite the venue where you'd expect to see top engineering students facing off in an innovative design competition. But at the recently concluded Cornell Cup presented by Intel, 30 teams from 18 different engineering schools showed off prototype products all built around Intel's Atom chip. The real surprise was that fully half the inventions were targeted at the elderly and the disabled.

For the visually impaired, bringing Braille into the digital age has been a daunting challenge. There are devices that can display a single line of Braille at a time, but a team from the University of Rochester is in the early stages of creating a system it calls U-Read Braille, which will be able to display a full page of Braille text that can easily be refreshed.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 14, 2013)
Jessica Cantlon's research about math, not monkey business
Ursala, a baboon at the Seneca Park Zoo, likes a good cup of treats when University of Rochester researchers offer her a snack.

In fact, when they recently gave Ursala the choice between two small cups of peanut mix, and the difference in amounts was clear, she was likely to point at the cup with the larger quantity.

"Humans are not the only animals that think about quantities," said Jessica Cantlon, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive science at UR heading up a research team working with baboons at the zoo.

U.S. News & World Report (May 14, 2013)
Kids With Autism May Perceive Movement More Quickly
This extreme sensitivity to motion may explain why some people with the developmental disorder are highly sensitive to noise and bright lights, and it may be linked to some of the complex social and behavioral problems associated with autism, the researchers said.

"We think of autism as a social disorder because children with this condition often struggle with social interactions, but what we sometimes neglect is that almost everything we know about the world comes from our senses," study co-lead author Duje Tadin, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, in New York, said in a university news release. "Abnormalities in how a person sees or hears can have a profound effect on social communication." (Also Reported in: HealthDay, Disability Scoop, Medbroadcast, Newsday)

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 14, 2013)
Breast imaging with 3-D detection awaits approval
Holding still while getting a mammogram is usually not a problem because the medieval torture device compressing the patient's breast tends to take the woman's breath away.

"It's time we started to image the breast in the way it was designed," said Dr. Avice O'Connell, director of women's imaging in the University of Rochester Medical Center's Department of Imaging Sciences. "You manipulate the image, not the patient. The next big thing is 3-D imaging for a 3-D structure."

WROC TV CBS 8 Rochester (May 13, 2013)
New Drug Gives Hope to Late Stage Breast Cancer Patients
Oncologists at Wilmot Cancer Center here in Rochester say there are several drugs that aim to slow the growth of the disease and limit the progression. But this drug used alone or in conjunction with other drugs could prove to be more than three times as effective as some of the choices now readily available.

"This should bring a tremendous amount of hope. Drugs are constantly coming down the pipeline. And that alone can bring a tremendous amount of hope to people that. If one therapy is not as effective as we would hope it to be, than look to others. And these just keep coming and coming. And patients have something to look forward to," said Dr. Michelle Shayne, Breast Oncologist.

The British Psychological Society (May 13, 2013)
How foster care can benefit mental health
Led by Ann-Marie Conn, a general paediatric academic fellow at University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, the study looked at the mental health problems of 482 children aged three to 18 who were placed out of their homes and 281 youngsters who remained at the same house after being maltreated.

Dr Conn said the findings lend backing to the idea that out-of-home interventions can bring therapeutic advantages, while also illustrating just how important considering factors - age, for example - are when making decisions about placements.

NPR (May 10, 2013)
Kids With Autism Quick To Detect Motion
Researchers at Vanderbilt University and the University of Rochester were looking to test a common theory about autism which holds that overwhelming sensory stimulation inhibits other brain functions. The researchers figured they could check that by studying how kids with autism process moving images.

"One can think of autism as a brain impairment, but another way to view autism is as a condition where the balance between different brain processes is impaired," says Duje Tadin, a co-author of out this week in the Journal of Neuroscience. "That imbalance could lead to functional impairments, and it often does, but it can also result in enhancements."  (Also Reported in: Innovations Report, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Med India, Medical Daily, KPLU, WCBE)

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 10, 2013)
Jane Milliman: Old-growth forest, right in the middle of Rochester
Yet within Monroe County there are about 50 such areas, according to University of Rochester assistant professor of biology Justin Ramsey.

Last week I set out with a group led by Dr. Ramsey and his wife, Dr. Tara Ramsey, also an assistant professor in the department, to explore the area.

England Daily Mail (May 9, 2013)
Autistic children see movement TWICE as quickly as those without condition
Children with autism see simple movement twice as quickly as other children their age, according to a new study.

'Abnormalities in how a person sees or hears can have a profound effect on social communication,' says Duje Tadin, one of the lead authors on the study and an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

The findings were reported in the Journal of Neuroscience by Tadin, co-lead author Jennifer Foss-Feig, a postdoctoral fellow at the Child Study Center at Yale University, and colleagues at Vanderbilt University.
 (Also Reported in: NetIndia123.com, dnaindia.com, New-medical.net, Examiner.com)

Rochester Business Journal (May 9, 2013)
URMC named NIH Center for AIDS Research
The University of Rochester Medical Center has been named a National Institutes of Health Center for AIDS Research.

The NIH designation - bestowed on 18 research centers nationally - adds $7.5 million in NIH funding over the next five years to URMC's AIDS funding, which last year totaled $15.3 million.

"This award ... will make the research we're doing now even better and will allow us to take our work in many new directions," said Stephen Dewhurst, URMC vice dean for research, who will head the AIDS research center.  (Also Reported in: YNN, WXXI, News-Medical.net)

Washington Post (May 7, 2013)
Prizes of $5,000 awarded for translated Hungarian fiction, Romanian poetry
An experimental Hungarian novel and a collection of Romanian poetry have won prizes for best English language translations.

The awards were announced Monday by Three Percent, a resource for international literature that is based at the University of Rochester. The project is named for a widely reported statistic that only 3 percent of books published in the U.S. are works in translation.  (Also Reported in: ABC News, NPR, Huffington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Findlay Courier, WHEC-TV)

MIT Technology Review (May 7, 2013)
Has Big Data Made Anonymity Impossible?
The greater the amount of personal data that becomes available, the more informative the data gets. In fact, with enough data, it's even possible to discover information about a person's future. Last year Adam Sadilek, a University of Rochester researcher, and John Krumm, an engineer at Microsoft's research lab, showed they could predict a person's approximate location up to 80 weeks into the future, at an accuracy of above 80 percent. To get there, the pair mined what they described as a "massive data set" collecting 32,000 days of GPS readings taken from 307 people and 396 vehicles.

Sadilek and Krumm called their system "Far Out." That's a pretty good description of where personal data is taking us.

WHAM TV ABC 13 (May 7, 2013)
Monkey Math: Zoo's Baboons Show Human-Like Abilities With Numbers
"On average they were choosing the greater amount and that indicated to us that they could discriminate between different kinds of numbers," said Kelly Hughes, a researcher at the University of Rochester and co-author of the study.

"There's always this really large question out there about what makes humans unique," said Hughes. "What we're finding is some of the more basic things, like representing numbers, that we do have in common."

WXXI (May 6, 2013)
Upstate researchers tackle toilet training for autistic children
Researchers in upstate New York have developed a wearable sensor system that will help toilet train autistic children. The device, created at the University of Rochester, involves a moisture pager that can connect to a smartphone app and alert caregivers to accidents.

"It seems like something that you would think already exists, and it doesn't," says Stephen McAleavey, a biomedical engineering professor, and part of the team that developed the technology.

University of Rochester student Dan Hassin developed the app. He says it allows caregivers in a classroom setting to monitor several devices separately on their phone.

Newsday (May 6, 2013)
Prizes awarded for translated fiction, poetry
An experimental Hungarian novel and a collection of Romanian poetry have won prizes for best English language translations.

Laszlo Krasznahorkai's (LAHZ'-lo krahs-na-HOAR'-kay's) "Satantango," translated into English by Georges Szirtes (ZUR'-tes), won the Best Translated Book Award for fiction.

The awards were announced Monday by Three Percent, a resource for international literature that is based at the University of Rochester. The project is named for a widely reported statistic that only 3 percent of books published in the U.S. are works in translation. (Also Reported in: Daily Astorian, KRIS)

UPI (May 3, 2013)
Baboons in U.S. study show human-like abilities with numbers
Ape and human shared traits -- opposable thumbs, expressive faces, social systems -- are joined by the ability to understand numbers, U.S. researchers say.

Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York say a study with a troupe of zoo baboons indicates number abilities are shared by humans and their primate cousins.

"The human capacity for complex symbolic math is clearly unique to our species," brain and cognitive sciences Professor Jessica Cantlon said. "But where did this numeric prowess come from?  (Also Reported in: 1180 WHAM, NewKerala.com, Zee News, E-Science News, Nature World News, Red Orbit, io9, Science Daily, News-Medical.Net, Big News Network)

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (May 2, 2013)
College Town holds groundbreaking; Moe's, Saxbys, Corner Bakery among lessees
College Town, the long-imagined $100 million project connecting University of Rochester with the city's Mt. Hope neighborhood, came into clearer focus Thursday as developers revealed a slew of businesses that have already signed leases.

UR President Joel Seligman gave special praise to Ronald Paprocki, UR's senior vice president for administration and finance. Calling Paprocki "the quarterback" of the project, Seligman noted: "He was the one who galvanized the plan."  (Also Reported in: RBJ, WROC-TV, WHEC-TV, YNN, WXXI)

WXXI (May 2, 2013)
UR Engineering Students Show Off Designs To Solve
Seniors at the University of Rochester's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have teamed up with local companies to solve real world engineering problems in the fields of medicine, alternative energy, optics and communications.

Today is Design Day at the school, where the public was invited to view the completed projects. One of the projects is a portable turbine that provides power via a USB connection. "Clearly, it's one of those projects that goes across the boundaries of mechanical and electrical engineering," said Wayne Knox, Associate Dean of Education and New Initiatives. "It's a very challenging little thing. Imagine if you had your cell phone and you were on the beach and there is a lot of wind. You could charge your cell phone up. It would be a nice thing to have."

Optics.org (May 1, 2013)
OCT measurement offers route to improved optical lenses
Researchers at the University of Rochester have applied a sophisticated imaging technique to obtain the first 3D, high-resolution pictures of a recently-developed type of optical lenses, known as S-GRIN lenses. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) during the manufacturing process allows them to significantly improve the quality of these new and promising lenses.

The Scientist (May 1, 2013)
Big-Bird Brain
Between 2009 and 2011, cognitive neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon invited 27 children to come to her lab at the University of Rochester in upstate New York to watch a 20-minute segment of Sesame Street, with clips on math, reading, life, and more. The only catch was that the children, aged 4 to 11 years, had to watch this show inside of the big "space ship" - and they had to hold still.

The new approach may also yield more relevant data. In recent years, neuroscientists have been arguing "that we need to bring more naturalistic stimuli into the scanning environment," says developmental cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Ansari of the University of Western Ontario. The data generated from such studies could more accurately reflect the way our brains work in real life. "As far as I know," he adds, "this work is the first to apply this approach to children."

WXXI (April 30, 2013)
Local Study Considers Link Between War Injuries and Alzheimer's
Can injuries sustained in war - traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -increase the likelihood of Alzheimer's Disease? That is the central question of study being launched at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Since 2001, more than two million service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and studies show nearly a third of them have suffered TBI, PTSD, or both. Geriatric psychiatrist Anton Porsteinsson, M.D. is overseeing the study at URMC. He says both types of injuries cause changes to the brain that may lead to Alzheimer's Disease later in life. "We are particularly interested in the interaction between aging and these two conditions. We know that in the Afghan and Iraqi theater war veterans who have been exposed to blast injuries, have had brain injuries or PTSD, that there are changes in the brain, on imaging."

Scientific American (April 28, 2013)
How to Be a Better Friend
#2 Treat him like a grown-up. When a pal is struggling, it can be awfully tempting to grab him by the scruff of his neck and just tell him exactly what he should do. After all, isn't giving good advice part of being a good friend? Perhaps not, according to researchers who study self-determination. Edward Deci, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, has found that supporting a friend's autonomy - that is, making him feel as if he can make his own choices - creates a better relationship and may even improve his mental health. In one study, Deci and his colleagues did in-depth interviews with pairs of friends and found that the more of this type of support there was from a friend, the more satisfied the partner was with the friendship and the higher self-esteem the person had. "When people are relating to you and acknowledging your sense of importance, your sense of competence, you feel better about yourself," Deci adds. In other words, treating a friend like he's got his act together could actually help him get there.

Education Week (April 26, 2013)
Why Students Go to College Matters to Their Success
A new study by University of Rochester researchers examines the reasons for attending college and the impact that motivation can have on academic outcomes. It found that students are more likely to earn higher grades and get a degree if enrolling was motivated by intrinsic needs for autonomy and competence.

Inside Higher Ed (April 25, 2013)
New study links student motivations for going to college to their success
Why did you decide to go to college?

Asking that question of new students in a more formal way might help colleges find ways to encourage more students to complete their programs, according to a new study from University of Rochester education researchers published in The Journal of College Student Development.

Doug Guiffrida, associate professor of counseling and human development at Rochester, said that this finding suggests that those advising low-income students should be encouraged to reinforce -- for those who place a high priority on economic advancement -- the relationship between their studies and their later likely economic success.  (Also Reported in: 13WHAM-TV)

Fox News (April 25, 2013)
Mom's anxiety may suppress baby's immune system
"It's not as if the experience of stress is going to be more powerful than an immunization," said study researcher Tom O'Connor, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "At non-optimal levels of protection from immunization, we do see the effect of prenatal anxiety."

Anxiety and the immune system

Thus, anxious moms need not fear that their vaccinated babies are more prone to infectious disease. What the study does show, O'Connor told LiveScience, is that the human immune system is similar to other animals in its response to prenatal stress.

"Both in rat and in monkey studies, stress in pregnancy is associated in the offspring with reduced immune competence," O'Connor said.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (April 25, 2013)
University of Rochester rings out songs for Boston
At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the bells in the tower atop the University of Rochester's Rush Rhees Library rang 10 times, followed by tunes on the carillon close to any Bostonian's heart.

"We are playing memorial songs and strong Boston pride songs," said Kara Morse, a University of Rochester music student from the Boston area. "Boston is about yelling about how proud we are to be from Boston, that's why we love loud music that you can sing to." (Also reported by Rochester City Newspaper)

Parenting.com (April 25, 2013)
Study: Pregnancy Stress Could Weaken Baby's Immune System
Stressed out and expecting? Better schedule a spa day — or two or three!

New research out of the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that babies born to moms who were highly anxious while pregnant had suppressed immune system responses to vaccinations at 6 months old.

Don't panic more if you're already worrying your way through your 40 weeks, says study researcher Tom O'Connor, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Once the high-stress babies received their full dosage, the immune system effect disappeared. "It's not as if the experience of stress is going to be more powerful than an immunization," O'Connor told LiveScience.  (Also Reported in: Psych Central)

CNBC (April 24, 2013)
Stealth Sequester? Where It's Really Being Felt
So, people are feeling the sequester, but it may be that the impact on them is not making its way through the halls of Congress, said Mark Zupan, dean of the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.

"Their voice hasn't been sufficient enough to get Washington to the bargaining table," Zupan said. "It's very muted right now. Until everyone gets heard, I doubt anything will get done in Congress on reaching a budget settlement. Even then, I'm not sure a deal will be reached."

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (April 23, 2013)
UR revamping research commercialization
Each stage of Scott Catlin's career has taken him in a slightly different direction, but, as a whole, it amounts to an ideal path leading to his new role as vice president for innovation and technology commercialization at the University of Rochester.

"Even though I did it originally for financial reasons, I got so much out of it from a leadership and management perspective. If I had known then what I know now, I probably would have done it even if they didn't pay for school," said Catlin, who earned a bachelor's degree in optical engineering at UR in 1992. (Also Reported in: )

Fox News (April 23, 2013)
5 Questions Every Patient Should Ask When Getting a New Prescription
Just because you've received doctor's orders, that doesn't mean you can't ask follow-up questions. When receiving a new prescription, experts urge patients to start a discussion with their physician to make sure the treatment is the best option.

"Many studies have shown that compliance with medications is tightly tied to the relationship between the patient and the physician," says Paul Griner, an internist and professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. "Patients need to relate easily with their doctor in terms of what medication they are taking and why."

BBC Radio (April 22, 2013)
Higgs boson: Call to rename particle to acknowledge other scientists
Carl Hagen believes the name should acknowledge the work of others - not just UK physicist Peter Higgs.

American Prof Hagen told BBC News: "I have always thought that the name was not a proper one.

"To single out one individual marginalises the contribution of others involved in the work. Although I did not start this campaign to change the name, I welcome it."

Prof Hagen, who is affiliated to the University of Rochester, New York, suggests that it be called the Standard Model Scalar Meson, or SM Squared. (Also Reported in: NetIndia123.com)

Huffington Post (April 21, 2013)
Reframing Stress Could Help People Overcome Public Speaking Phobia, Study Suggests
Overcoming stress experienced from common phobias could be as simple as reframing it, according to a new study.

"Those feelings just mean that our body is preparing to address a demanding situation," study researcher Jeremy Jamieson, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a statement. "The body is marshaling resources, pumping more blood to our major muscle groups and delivering more oxygen to our brains."  (Also Reported in: NBCNews.com, Men's Health News)

The New York Times (April 20, 2013)
An Instant Path to an Online Army
VizWiz, a free iPhone app developed by Jeffrey P. Bigham of the University of Rochester and colleagues in its Human Computer Interaction program, gives real-time help to blind users.

VizWiz users take a photograph as best as they can - it may take several tries before the desired object is properly framed - and then record one question about it ("What is on the label of the can?"). Besides needing help identifying food labels, they may want to know the denomination of paper currency, say, or whether a baby's head shows signs of a rash.  (Also Reported in: Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

New York Times (April 20, 2013)
The Tangle of the Sexes
By BOBBI CAROTHERS and HARRY REIS

MEN and women are so different they might as well be from separate planets, so says the theory of the sexes famously explicated in John Gray’s 1992 best seller, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus."

Bobbi Carothers is a senior data analyst at Washington University in St. Louis. Harry Reis is a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.

Womens Health Magazine (April 18, 2013)
How to Be a Great Public Speaker
Pre-presentation butterflies might make you want to heave... but that might actually be a good thing, if you think about it the right way. Reframing stress as something positive can help boost your performance, according to a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science.

"Simply changing your mindset about what stress is can improve your stress response," says lead author Jeremy Jamieson, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Rochester. If you think you have the resources to cope with a demanding situation, your body will see it as a challenge instead of a threat. This triggers the release of hormones that tell your heart to pump more blood to your body and brain, where it can help boost your performance, he says.

WXXI (April 17, 2013)
The New Generation of Asteroid Hunters is Here
A new sensor developed by researchers at the University of Rochester could help detect asteroids close to Earth. The infrared-light detector is designed to improve the performance of space-based telescopes, and it could increase our ability to see hazardous objects in outer space.

Judy Pipher is a professor of astronomy and one of the team that developed the sensor.

She says asteroids aren't easy to spot because they don't emit visible light. But, they do emit infrared radiation and that's what their sensor picks up. (Also Reported in: Science Daily, ZeeNews.com, Geek.com, PhysOrg.com, Red Orbit, AZoOptics.com)

WHEC TV-10 (April 17, 2013)
Mom knows best
We've all heard the saying, "Listen to your mother." Eastman School of Music junior Keenan McKoy is glad he did. Her advice propelled him into the spotlight.

McKoy said, "She said learn how to play the saxophone then you can learn to play other instruments because the fingering is similar. I am not sure how she knew because she is not musically inclined, but mama knows best!"

Lately, he has been putting in extra hours of study with Professor Chien-Kwan Lin and for good reason. McKoy is the 2013 Search for Excellence Scholarship winner. For more than a quarter of a century, the Rochester NY Chapter of The Links, Inc. has given tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship monies to Eastman students for artistic excellence and presents the winner in recital. This year, it is McKoy.

Rochester City Newspaper (April 17, 2013)
ART EVENT | ArtAwake
Fifteen local musicians. More than 150 works of art. A drag show, a dance show, and a crafts table. All in just 10 hours. Plan your day accordingly, because ArtAwake has returned.

The festival, organized by University of Rochester students and now in its sixth year, will commandeer the Sibley Tower Building (25 Franklin St.) on Saturday, April 20, for a plethora of Rochester art, music, and culture. From 2 p.m. to midnight, there will be a slew of local musicians to hear, local art to see, and locally made hors d'oeuvres to munch on (courtesy of Aladdin's Natural Eatery, Java's Café, Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, and Tasteful Connection). There will also be special performances throughout the day, including a drag show from UR's Pride Network, and a 15- to 20-minute performance by the dance troupe One Dance Co. (performances times to be announced).

Environmental News Network (April 16, 2013)
How Can You Find and Track Asteroids Near Earth?
It seems that every now and then we are surprised to learn that an asteroid is passing near the earth. Sometimes these are asteroids that NASA and others have been tracking for some time, but in other cases, they are newly discovered. The consequences of an asteroid hitting our planet range from relatively insignificant to catastrophic. At the University of Rochester, a team has developed a special type of camera that is capable of detecting and tracking asteroids.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (April 12, 2013)
Civil rights lawyer discusses diversity at UR
The keynote speaker at the University of Rochester's annual diversity conference on Friday expressed concerns about whether an upcoming Supreme Court decision would continue to permit race to be a factor in college admissions.

Lani Guinier, a prominent civil rights lawyer who is the first African-American woman to hold a tenured position at Harvard Law School, said that the Supreme Court does not seem eager to have race in the equation for achieving diversity.

UR President Joel Seligman, who previously was a law professor and law school dean, said in his introductory remarks that diversity is a fundamental value for a university.

"We meet, however, at a time of enormous anxiety," said Seligman about the concerns he shared with Guinier about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling.

Broadway World (April 11, 2013)
Theatre for a New Audience's OPEN BOOK SERIES to Begin with Kenneth Gross, 4/25
Kenneth Gross - Thursday, April 25, at 6:00pm

In the first offering of the series, Kenneth Gross discusses the fascination of the puppet, its power to tap into the child's imagination and to find out and release instincts often hidden in adults; he explores how the puppet asks us to accept the dangerous and restorative gift of finding life and voice in objects, and to allow the puppet to awaken play in all of us. Mr. Gross's work takes up traditional and experimental puppet theatres from many cultures, as well as the puppet's place in our literature. Mr. Gross will read from Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life.

Kenneth Gross is professor of English at the University of Rochester. He is the author of five books, including The Dream of the Moving Statue, Shakespeare's Noise, and Shylock is Shakespeare. Mr. Gross was awarded the prestigious George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism - the highest award one can receive in the field of theatrical criticism - for Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life.

BBC (April 11, 2013)
Airport tech reveals hidden artwork
A technique based on the same kind of technology used in airport scanners has revealed images beneath a fresco held at the Louvre museum in Paris.

Trois Hommes Armes de Lances was known to be a fresco forged by Giampetro Campana on a wall from Roman times. The new research suggests that under that forgery lies a real Roman fresco.

The discovery was announced at the American Chemical Society meeting by Bianca Jackson of the University of Rochester in the US.

"It's very desirable for cultural heritage conservation because with a lot of other techniques like X-ray or ultraviolet, there is some molecular breakdown in the materials," Dr Jackson told the meeting. "So even though you're using the equipment to get information to conserve it, you're at the same time risking some deterioration of the object." (Also reported by LiveScience.com, French Tribune, Scientific Computing)
 (Also Reported in: French Tribune, Live Science, Scientific Computing)

ABC News (April 10, 2013)
Nominees Announced for English Translation Prize
Ten fiction works and six poetry books were announced Wednesday by Three Percent, a center for international literature that's based at the University of Rochester in New York. Winning authors and translators each receive $5,000, prize money donated by Amazon.com. Winners will be announced next month.  (Also Reported in: NPR, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsday, Winnipeg Free Press, Racine Journal Times, Seymour Tribune, WNYT, WHEC-TV)

Webster Post (April 10, 2013)
'It really is a privilege to be here - and to be alive'
Maggie Maloy walks around with three bullets in her body. A fan of Rice Krispies as a kid, she calls them "Snap," "Crackle" and "Pop" after the three elf characters used in their advertisements. She's made peace with the bullets - acknowledging their presence, acknowledging the attack that led to them - and shares her story both to give others hope, and to help herself heal.

Maloy addressed a group of about 80 people during the University of Rochester's two-day Survivor to Thriver: Confronting Sexual Assault on Campus conference.

The conference came out of a conversation between Morgan Levy, the university's equal opportunity compliance officer, and Harriette Royer, its intercessor. "We thought it imperative to create a space where members of the UR and Rochester could come together to have transparent conversations about the impact of gender violence and the resources available to those who have been impacted by it," Levy said.

Red Orbit (April 9, 2013)
Overcome Stage Fright Just By Thinking About It
Rewiring how you think about public speaking may be the key to overcoming your fear of it, according to research published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.

Researchers found learning to rethink the way you see your shaky hands, pounding heart and sweaty palms can help you perform better mentally and physically. Encouraging yourself to reframe the meaning behind these signs of stress could be an effective way of helping many people cope with and even master stage fright.

Participants who received no stress preparation literature experienced a threat response that was captured and recorded by cardiovascular measures. Physiological responses of the group that was prepped, however, displayed evidence they were able to cope better with their public speaking task.

"The problem is that we think all stress is bad," explains Jeremy Jamieson, lead author on the study and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. "We see headlines about 'Killer Stress' and talk about being 'stressed out." (Also Reported in: ThirdAge, Counsel & Heal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Innovation Trail (April 8, 2013)
Afraid of public speaking? Your problem may be solved
A new study from the University of Rochester has found a way to help people perform better both mentally and physically when faced with public speaking.

The research shows that learning to rethink our body's stress signals, and view a pounding heart and sweaty palms as good signs and not omens, can increase performance and ability to cope.

"The problem is that we think all stress is bad," explains Jeremy Jamieson, lead author on the study.

He says that people interpret feelings of stress before speaking in public, like butterflies in the stomach, as a sign that something bad is about to happen. It is this interpretation that needs to change, says Jamieson. (Also Reported in: Science Daily, Medical Xpress)

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (April 8, 2013)
Students protest outside Landsburg's class
Holding signs with such statements as "Rape is not Hypothetical," about 25 University of Rochester students protested Monday outside the building where economics professor Steven Landsburg was teaching a course.

The peaceful protest was the latest criticism against Landsburg for comments he wrote on his blog about a rape case in Steubenville, Ohio, where two high school students were convicted of raping a female acquaintance who was unconscious, incapacitated by alcohol.

"We think that it is essential that we demonstrate our fundamental outrage at his blog post," said Amy Negley, 25, who is a graduate student in history.  (Also Reported in: WHEC-TV, YNN)

Huffington Post (April 8, 2013)
Oladoyin Oladeru: Memoirs of a Mentor: A Call for Black Men in College to Come Back to School
by Oladoyin Oladeru
Clinton Global Initiative University 2013 Commitment-Maker; Epidemiology Major at University of Rochester.

Growing up in the Bronx, violence was inescapable, with age offering no immunity. When I was in sixth grade, Gang members shot and killed two of my closest friends as we walked home from school one day. We were only 20 minutes from home.

I am motivated by my backstory -- and my current success as an epidemiologist-in-the-making at the University of Rochester, a participant at Clinton Global University 2013 (CGI U), and a Gates Millennium Scholar -- to call other college-educated black men to action.

MPNnow.com (April 7, 2013)
Doctor
I'm so glad I'm not a doctor.

Now more than ever I'm utterly relieved I'm not the person who has to find bad things on an x-ray, read devastating results on a lab report, and take that chilling walk back to the exam room to deliver life-altering news. I'm profoundly grateful I'm not the one who has to look into the eyes of a patient and reveal a reality that will knock them to the ground and change their life forever.

I'm also deeply indebted to the doctors who are called to do what I will never have the guts to do. I am mightily impressed.

Recently I had the great fortune/misfortune/education of sitting in on an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Peters, Thoracic Surgeon and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center. (Yeah, he's an articulate genius who could expound until the end of time on subjects far, far beyond my reach. Even more remarkable is his calm, thoughtful, and humble demeanor.)

WHAM TV ABC 13 Rochester (April 6, 2013)
Yellowjackets Concert Helps In Fight Against Rare Disease
A University of Rochester student is calling on her school's famed A cappella group to help out with a cause dear to her heart.

Sarah Gelbard's best friend, Laura, lost her sister to a rare disease called Friedrich's Ataxia.

Laura herself is now battling the disease. (Also Reported in: Greece Post)

Fox News (April 6, 2013)
New York professor apologizes for 'hypothetical' questions about rape
A University of Rochester professor has apologized for a personal blog post in which he questions whether the rape of unconscious victims should be illegal.

"I am both sad and sorry that my recent blog post has distressed so many people so deeply, both on campus and off," economics professor Steven Landsburg said in a statement released Friday. "I am particularly sad because many readers got the impression that I was endorsing rape, while my intent was to say exactly the opposite - namely that the horror of rape is so great that we should rethink accepted principles of policy analysis that might sometimes minimize that horror." (Also Reported in: Chronicle of Higher Education, NPR, New York Daily News, Newsday, Yahoo! Voices, Steubenville Herald Star, Southern Pines Pilot, 1170 WWVA)

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (April 6, 2013)
Erica Bryant: Other UR men's thoughts about rape
Consider three scenarios in which University of Rochester men turn their intellectual powers to the subject of rape.

If only more people had heard Professor David Bleich's lecture and read UR junior Adam Ondo's essays.

These should not be seen as isolated acts committed by disturbed individuals, but as a part of a global societal ill. "Every time a rape happens, the male perpetrator assumes he is in a collective situation that will protect him," Bleich said in a lecture that discussed how society and its institutions insulate perpetrators of sexual violence. It was delivered Wednesday, during UR's conference on preventing sexual assault.

WXXI (April 5, 2013)
University of Rochester River Campus Culture
What role do the arts play at a liberal arts college and research institution? What role does artistic creation and appreciation play in people's lives, even when it isn't one's career or college major?

Nigel Maister and Missy Pfohl Smith of the University of Rochester spoke with WXXI's Mona Seghatoleslami about arts initiatives at the University of Rochester and the broader role of arts in our lives and community. They were also joined by several callers as part of this midday talk show recorded live on April 5, 2013.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (April 4, 2013)
Conference at UR addresses sexual assaults
Maggie Maloy drew from her personal experience - a victim of a brutal sexual assault and her will to survive - as the keynote speaker at the University of Rochester's conference Wednesday on Confronting Sexual Assault on Campus.

In his introductory remarks, UR President Joel Seligman cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control's 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Survey, which reported that nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped some time in their lives.

"The trauma that rape victims feel can affect their lives for decades in ways that can be emotionally devastating not only to the victim but to those who love her or him," Seligman said. (Also Reported in: WHEC-TV, YNN)

The Wall Street Journal (April 4, 2013)
Students: Censure NY college prof for rape blog
A University of Rochester professor's hypothetical question about whether the rape of an unconscious person should be illegal has led to demands he be censured or fired.

University President Joel Seligman indirectly referred to the outcry Wednesday while addressing a previously planned conference on confronting sexual assault.

"Academic freedom is a core value of our university and vital to provide assurance that one can hold unpopular or provocative views in safety," Seligman said, according to a transcript of his remarks. "This is not always an easy balance, but it is a balance vital to uphold in a university that both values respect for all of our students, faculty, staff and visitors and intellectual freedom." (Also Reported in: ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, NBCNews.com, England Daily Mail, USA Today, Washington Post, Chronicle of Higher Education)

Los Angeles Times (April 4, 2013)
Fast-food workers again protest for higher wages
It's true that wages have not always kept pace with inflation, and that cities such as New York are extremely expensive places to live. But economists such as Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business, say that raising the pay of minimum wage workers isn't the way to help low-wage workers out of poverty.

In the first place, many of the people making minimum wage are high school students and others who don’t support families, and are just working at McDonald's while attending school. And secondly, wages should be determined by supply and demand, he argues, not by how much someone needs to survive. (Also Reported in: WSBT)

Rochester Business Journal (April 3, 2013)
URMC researcher named to national post
University of Rochester Medical Center pediatric researcher Kate Ackerman M.D. has been named secretary-treasurer-elect of the Society for Pediatric Research.

Ackerman's research concentrates on identifying genes involved with lung and diaphragm development. She is concerned with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a birth defect that occurs in one of every 2,000 to 3,000 live births and results in death or illness in 40 percent to 62 percent of affected infants.

The Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2013)
Disclosure Rules Were a Long Time in Coming
For most of its history, the Securities and Exchange Commission had few if any rules on how companies can disclose information. Executives had to rely on decisions at the SEC and in the courts to know.

In practice, the rules meant corporate insiders couldn't trade until information had been widely disseminated, says Joel Seligman, president of the University of Rochester and a historian of the SEC. For thinly traded stocks, that sometimes meant waiting days before trading, Mr. Seligman says. (Subscription required)

Innovation Trail (April 3, 2013)
Images of the brain could unlock learning difficulties
Jessica Cantlon is a 2013 Sloan Research Fellow, and one of the lead researchers in a team of brain and cognitive scientists at the University of Rochester who are looking for answers in neural imaging.

She says the data they're able to collect from children’s brain scans could be used to determine the probability of children encountering problems with subjects like math later in life.

"It might be the case that brain scans from a four-year-old-child could reveal that they are going to, in the future, potentially have some mathematical difficulties, so that’s one advantage of having this neural imaging data," says Cantlon.

WXXI (April 1, 2013)
Students at the University of Rochester Design Tricycle for Disabled
Five students at the University of Rochester have designed a tricycle control system that allows some people with disabilities to steer, brake and shift gears with one hand.

The project is getting international recognition and is a finalist for a da Vinci Award this month. Martin Szeto is one of the students behind the MonoMano system. They worked under the guidance of Professors Laurel Carney and Amy Lerner at the U of R's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.