March 26, 2018

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

The FY18 omnibus spending package approved by Congress last week includes $75 million for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a $7 million increase over FY17, and $545 million for the Inertial Confinement Fusion program. As President Richard Feldman notes, this is “welcome relief given our recent concern about the future funding of the national security and energy research conducted there.” We are grateful to Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Representatives Chris Collins, Tom Reed, John Katko, Elise Stefanik, and the other members of our delegation for their strong bipartisan support. And, as President Feldman notes, “we are especially grateful to the late Louise Slaughter, our U.S. Representative who lent tremendous support to this issue, and who was one of our institution’s greatest champions for more than 25 years.” We mourn her passing and offer condolences to her family.

Congratulations to Riccardo Betti, the Robert L. McCrory Professor of mechanical engineering and of physics, who has been appointed chief scientist at the LLE. Riccardo is an internationally recognized leader in fusion energy research. In his new role, he will work with Gilbert “Rip” Collins and other LLE leaders, staff, and students to ensure the quality and impact of ongoing LLE research. Read more here.

Congratulations as well to Mohammad Kazemi, a PhD student in Mark Bocko’s lab, whose paper in Scientific Reports – Nature describes an electrically reconfigurable logic gate that could solve the “Dark Silicon” phenomenon that restricts the ability to use microprocessors to their full capabilities. Mohammad has proposed a new architecture that combines processing and memory functions in individual magnetic nanodevices, instead of separating the functions between different pieces of hardware. That separation causes energy dissipation and overheating. Read more here.

Amy Lerner, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is serving as co-chair of the University’s Commission on Women and Gender Equity in Academia, which was established to investigate the University’s sexual harassment policies and procedures that affect women and individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or intersexed (LGBTQI). Among its other action items, the commission was also tasked with offering recommendations on practices that would help promote a culture that embraces respect, inclusion, and equal opportunity. You can read more here about the commission’s work. Thanks, Amy, for serving in this important role.

Four Hajim School students have been chosen Orientation leaders to help welcome students to campus this fall, and to assist with a multitude of events in the week before classes begin. Each volunteer is also assigned to a first-year hall, to work with first-year students one–on–one and show them what UR is all about. They are: Peter Dean-Erlander ’21 of optics, Tiffany Nicholas ’19 of biomedical engineering, Julia Norwood ’20 of computer science, and Adeel Qayum ’20, a dual computer science and applied math major. The other Orientation leaders are Xinyuan (Tom) Yi ’20, Melissa Lane ’20, and Karina Vasquez Moscoso ’21, all of psychology; Elizabeth Priore ’19 , a business major; and Sekelile Mkhabela ’21 of political science.

Hajim School undergraduates, take note! Now is your chance to submit nominations for our Dottie Welch Student Enrichment Award, named in honor of BME’s outstanding former undergraduate coordinator. The award is given annually to a Hajim School faculty or staff member “whose performance and dedication enriches the student experience” in the tradition exemplified by Dottie during her 25-plus years of service. Nominations can be made through April 8 by email to hajimschool@UR.rochester.edu.The nominations will be compiled into an online ballot that will be available April 12 to 22.

The Hajim School is well represented by its students, faculty, and one of its alumni in the latest issue of Rochester Review.

The Discover section includes the novel nanomembrane device developed by James McGrath, professor of biomedical engineering, and PhD student Greg Madejski to detect DNA biomarkers affiliated with disease.
Nik Angyal ’19 of chemical engineering — Rochester’s 100th Academic All-American — shares his thoughts on maintaining a 4.0 GPA and starting 20 of 21 games for the men’s soccer team, which made it to the Elite 8 in the Division III championships last fall.
You can see the amazing images captured by this year’s winners of the Education Abroad Photo Contest. They include honorable mentions for Gina Bolanos ’18 of mechanical engineering, Azmayeen Fayeque Rhythm ’19 of computer science, and Elizabeth Stanitz ’18 of mechanical engineering.
Kedar Shashidhar ’15 ’16 (KEY), one of our first audio and music engineering graduates, is designing audio-only games at his own studio and developing three-dimensional audio headphones for a Kickstarter-funded company in San Diego. He discusses cutting edge audio technologies in a Q&A.
And the back cover features a delightful photo of Rachel Monfredo, a lecturer and senior technical associate in chemical engineering, listening to a stuffed animal during a Toys for All Tots workshop to adapt toys so they can be enjoyed by children with disabilities.

The Spring 2018 Full Spectrum newsletter is fresh off the press. Click here to read about the NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program, interdepartmental majors, our instructional-track faculty, faculty awards, and the first in a series of Meet the Team profiles, featuring Cindy Gary, our assistant dean for grants and contracts.

The Ain Center for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program continues with Robert Arnold, president and principal of RHA Results LLC, who will hold virtual office hours on Thursday, March 29, from 1 to 4 p.m. Advance scheduling is required. Book an appointment online or call 585-276-3500.

Aaron Newman, co-founder and CEO of CloudCheckr, will talk about his company’s rapid growth and the lessons he’s learned as a serial entrepreneur in the tech space from 5 to 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, in Wegmans Hall, Room 1400. Walk-ins are welcome. Sponsored by the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and the Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM) MS degree program.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman