We celebrate University of Rochester faculty, scholars, artists, alumni, and students who are revolutionizing their fields, discovering ways to address the world's biggest challenges, and making our lives ever better.
2020
Physiology or Medicine
Harvey J. Alter ’56, ’60M (MD)
2018
Economic Sciences
Paul Romer
Former assistant professor of economics
2018
Physics
Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD)
Gérard Mourou
Former Laboratory for Laser Energetics faculty member and senior scientist
2017
Economic Sciences
Richard Thaler ’74 (PhD)
2002
Physics
Masatoshi Koshiba ’55 (PhD)
1997
Physics
Steven Chu ’70
1993
Economic Sciences
Robert Fogel
Member of the economics faculty in the 1960s and 1970s
1976
Physiology or Medicine
Carleton Gajdusek ’43
1959
Physiology or Medicine
Arthur Kornberg ’41M (MD)
1955
Chemistry
Vincent du Vigneaud ’27 (PhD)
1943
Physiology or Medicine
Henrik Dam
Senior research associate 1942–45
1934
Physiology or Medicine
George Whipple
Founding dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry
2012
Music
Kevin Puts ’94E, ’99E (DMA)
Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts
2004
History
Steven Hahn ’73
A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration
1996
Music
George Walker ’56E (DMA)
“Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra”
1993
Music
Christopher Rouse (Eastman School faculty)
“Trombone Concerto”
1983
Poetry
Galway Kinnell ’49 (MA)
1979
Music
Joseph Schwantner (Eastman School faculty)
1975
Music
Dominick Argento ’58E (DMA)
1968
Poetry
Anthony Hecht (Department of English faculty)
1962
Music
Robert Ward ’39E (BM)
1960
Drama
George Abbott ’11
1959
Music
John La Montaine ’39E (BA)
1952
Music
Gail Kubik ’34E (BM)
1944
Music
Howard Hanson (Eastman School faculty)
2025
Political science
Gretchen Helmke
Thomas H. Jackson Distinguished University Professor and Faculty Director of the Democracy Center
2021
Architecture, planning and design
Peter Christensen
Associate professor of art history
2017
Poetry
Jennifer Grotz
Professor of English
2006
John Tarduno
Professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
2002
John P. Huelsenbeck
Associate professor of biology
2001
Hugo Hopenhayn
Associate professor of economics
2000
Alice L. Conklin
Associate professor of history
2000
H. Allen Orr
Associate professor of biology
1999
Janet Catherine Berlo
Professor of art history and of visual and cultural studies
1997
Joan Shelley Rubin
Professor of history
1997
David R. Williams
William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics and director of the Center for Visual Science
1996
Morris Eaves
Professor of English
1996
Shaul Mukamel
Professor of chemistry
1995
James Longenbach
Joseph H. Gilmore Professor of English
1994
Linda Levy Peck
Professor of history
1993
John H. Thomas
Professor of mechanical and aerospace sciences and of astronomy
1993
Janet Wolff
Professor of art history and of visual and cultural studies
1992
R. J. Dwayne Miller
Professor of chemistry and of optics
1992
Paul F. Slattery
Professor of physics
1992
Douglas H. Turner
Professor of chemistry
1991
Kenneth Gross
Professor of English
1990
Christopher C. Rouse
Professor of composition, Eastman School of Music
1988
Joanna Scott
Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English
2017
Derek Peterson ’93
Historian with a focus in African history
1992
Joanna Scott
Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English
The Rochester environment fuels innovations and fosters collaborations to take on the world’s biggest challenges.
Amazon, Ernst & Young, Google, Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft are some of the top employers of recent University of Rochester graduating classes. (Source)
The University’s Institute of Optics was the nation’s first optical science, engineering, and design program and has granted over half of all degrees in optics awarded in the United States.
The Laboratory for Laser Energetics is the largest university-based US Department of Energy program in the nation and home to the largest and most powerful laser systems found at any academic institution in the world.
Referred to as the “mini MET,” the Memorial Art Gallery’s permanent collection of more than 12,000 objects has been called the state’s best-balanced collection outside New York City.
The University has launched 62 high-technology startup firms since 1996 based on advances such as the “dithering” algorithm used for image rendering on virtually every printer and computer screen and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protecting against cervical cancer.
Our researchers have helped conduct pivotal trials leading to four FDA-approved treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
