Dear members of the Arts and Sciences community,

I am pleased to announce that in May I was appointed to a new five-year term as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. I am honored and thrilled to continue as dean as we welcome President Sarah C. Mangelsdorf to the University community. I very much look forward to working with her and to moving the School and the University forward. It is also important to reflect on our collective accomplishments of the past five years, which are the foundation of our continuing efforts to ensure our school remains an exciting and rewarding place for research, education, and artistic pursuits.

In the past five years, I collaborated with many of you on the interdisciplinary work that is a hallmark of our school and a cornerstone of the University of Rochester experience. By establishing the Humanities Center and supporting its many programs, by supporting programs that led to large National Institutes of Health funding for initiatives such as the child maltreatment studies at Mt. Hope Family Center, and by bringing the Sloan Performing Arts Center to a point where we are ready to start construction, we are creating meaningful opportunities for scholarship and discovery.

One of my top priorities in this new appointment will be to support the research—and the diversity of research—in the School of Arts & Sciences. Whether is expanding Hutchison Hall for growing work in the Natural Sciences, pursuing grants and funding for academic work following one our successes with the Mellon Foundation, hiring from a diverse pool of candidates, or developing relevant programming for the SAS community, there is incredible value in the scope, breadth, and variety of the School’s many disciplines.

However, while we can point to many successes, we must also recognize that there is still work to be done. That is why, in the next years as dean, I will focus both attention and resources on increasing the diversity of the School of Arts & Sciences community. I look forward to working with our new vice president for equity and inclusion Mercedes Ramírez Fernández as we continue our efforts to ensure a safe and respectful environment where students, faculty, and staff feel supported and rewarded for the work they do.

Here are some examples of that terrific work:

Congratulations to Morris Eaves, director of the A.W. Mellon Graduate Program in the Digital Humanities for securing a $984,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue to support graduate training in the digital humanities at the University of Rochester. Launched in 2013, the Mellon Program in Digital Humanities trains students to integrate digital technologies into innovative research programs and provides support to select PhD students from the Departments of English, Visual and Cultural Studies, History, and Philosophy. The program is based on the premise that technology and the humanities illuminate and complement one another in increasingly important ways. In addition to serving as director of the program, Eaves is a professor of English and the Richard L. Turner Professor of Humanities.

I should point out that technology is also helping us better understand how global industrialization has increased the levels of ozone near the earth’s surface. In the last few decades, scientists have traced an increase in the concentration of this ground-level ozone to rapid industrialization in the last century. Lee Murray, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences has developed computer models to determine the magnitude of the increase. To test his model, Murray recently joined researchers from France and the United States to examine rare oxygen molecules trapped in ice before the rise of the industrial era. The results showed the computer model was quite accurate, and the researchers found that tropospheric ozone increased about 40 percent during the 20th century.

Far from being trapped in a bubble, the music and artistic influence of Leonard Bernstein is being kept alive for the current generation. In March, an event sponsored by the Humanities Project, Alumni Relations, and the Department of Music brought Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein, to campus to discuss her father’s legacy. She discussed her father’s legacy and his ability to adapt his work to different audiences, particularly to television and to print. It was a wonderful event and a very successful partnership between the sponsors.

I truly believe in the power of bringing new ideas and perspectives to our campus. To that end, a new graduate student group is also looking at lecturers to speak at Rochester. The founding members of the Rochester chapter of the Alliance for Diversity in Science and Engineering want to provide a space where underrepresented graduate students in STEM fields across the University can meet, network, and discuss the issues they face. To help spark some of those conversations, the group is looking to bring underrepresented faculty from other universities to schools and units across the University. Other ADSE chapters are at the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis, the University of Central Florida, the University of Colorado, Columbia University, Drexel University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University Maryland, New York University, Northeastern University, and Texas A&M.

Rochester scholars continue to lead the way in exploration and innovation. Gregory Heyworth’s multispectral imaging lab is using different wavelengths of light to photograph and analyze cultural artifacts. This digital imagery salvages objects that would otherwise be illegible and lost to time. It’s another way digital technologies are being used to chronicle, study, and preserve lessons from the distant past.

I’ve also been fascinated by the work of Amanda Larracuente, an assistant professor of biology. Her study found that the Y chromosomes, long considered to be a genetic wasteland, are actually, in her words, highly dynamic and have mechanisms to acquire and maintain genes. Larracuente also co-led a team that unlocked one of the final puzzles of genome assembly. By sequencing the specialized region of DNA called the centromere, they are offering important new insights on how cells divide.

But even at Rochester, where teamwork and multidisciplinary studies thrive, students—especially newer students—need time to be on their own in order to succeed. That’s what Thuy-vy Nguyen, lead author of a new study, discovered. Nguyen, who received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Rochester, and her team of researchers argued that for first-year students, being alone isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, they found solitary time can be useful for detaching from social pressures, which may allow for greater success in the long run.

It is success in the long run that guides so much of what we do at the School of Arts and Sciences. In the process of my reappointment as dean, my colleagues and I talked a lot about the priorities for the School of Arts and Sciences and the strategies we would use to guarantee our continued growth and success. While those are essential elements of any long-term plan, I also recognize that we can not lose sight of the successes, challenges, and celebrations that happen in real time. With your help and collaboration, I see a very bright future for our school. It is a future that will be built on dedicated teamwork and mutual support, and I’m honored to be part of it.

Congratulations to Stewart Weaver, selected as a 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellow to continue work on the project “Climate Witness: Voices from Ladakh.” Weaver is studying the devastating effects of climate change on the Indian mountain region, which in 2010, experienced a violent cloudburst that dumped fourteen inches of rain and killed more than 250 people. I can’t imagine climate research that could be more timely and relevant.

I would also like to congratulate biologist Nancy Chen and chemist Ellen Matson, who are among this year’s recipients of the Sloan Research Fellowships. Matson is an assistant professor of chemistry, and has also been chosen as a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The honor recognizes “the very best early career teacher/scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy” for both innovative research and teaching. Chen is an evolutionary biologist who analyzes how different evolutionary forces contribute to genetic variations. One of her current projects involves working with a population of Florida scrub jays, an endangered species of wild birds.

We should also acknowledge four scholars who received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious recognition for junior faculty members. Pengfei (Frank) Huo, an assistant professor of chemistry, will develop new approaches for investigating the photochemical reactions that are crucial for solar fuel production; and Amanda Larracuente, an assistant professor of biology, will investigate the function and evolution of centromeres in fruit flies.

Two School of Arts and Sciences undergraduates expanded their horizons by taking part in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges, which are inspired by broad problems facing society in sustainability, health, security, and knowledge. Solutions to these problems often require interdisciplinary teams and years of sustained effort. This year, political science and economics major Beatriz Gil Gonzalez ’19 received that recognition in the Global competency category, and neuroscience major Michael Woodbury ’19 was recognized in the Entrepreneurial category. Congratulations to Beatriz and Michael for their exceptional work.

 

Sincerely,

Gloria Culver
Dean, School of Arts and Sciences