April 9, 2018

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations to three of our promising young faculty members who have just received CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) awards from the National Science Foundation. These are NSF’s “most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”

Ehsan Hoque, assistant professor of computer science and the Asaro-Biggar (’92) Family Fellow in Data Science, will explore developing a virtual assistant to help groups conduct meetings, providing live or post-meeting feedback that helps participants stay on topic, take part equally, and listen closely to one another, while also generating analytics about the process. Read more here.
Gonzalo Mateos, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, will investigate how to use information available from graph signals that represent measurements from distributed network processes, to learn the underlying graph topology. This would advance our understanding of the inherent complexities of strongly coupled systems such as the brain. Read more here.
Andrew White, assistant professor of chemical engineering, will combine state-of-the-art computer simulations with a novel way to use experimental data as an extra input, to model and predict how various peptides, including one associated with Alzheimer’s disease, self assemble into macroscopic structures. This could have applications not only in treating disease, but in materials science as well. Read more here.

We now have 17 CAREER recipients among our current faculty members.

Congratulations as well to two Hajim School PhD students, Parker Riley of computer science and Marian Ackun-Farmmer of biomedical engineering, who have advanced to the finals of this year’s Three Minute Thesis competition. The competitors have that amount of time – and one slide – to summarize their research in language that is understandable to a general audience. It is vitally important that we be able to clearly communicate our work, not only to the public but to colleagues in other disciplines. (Read more here.) So if you have an opportunity, please support Parker and Marian – and witness some good communicating! – by attending the final competition at 4 p.m. this Thursday, April 12, at the Class of ’62 Auditorium.

The search for a new director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science has now started. Candidates should have an exceptional research record in data science or related fields; scientific leadership and vision; experience and capability to manage an academic unit, including developing new projects and programs, mentoring junior researchers, and administration of the Institute; and an ability to connect to a wide range of constituents in academia, industry, foundations, and government. Candidates could come from a wide range of professional backgrounds that involve data science. Click here for a complete job description.

The search will remain open until the position is filled. Nominations should be sent via e-mail to the University’s consultant, Dr. Jonathan Fortescue of Park Square Executive Search, at 92325@parksquare.com.

The Hajim School has rolled out new and revised “clusters” of introductory courses that we hope will entice non-STEM majors to at least sample what engineering is all about, and perhaps double major or minor in our field. Even if they don’t pursue a degree, students who take one of these clusters will better understand the important role that engineers and the applied sciences will play in addressing many of the key challenges of the 21st Century. Special thanks to Lisa Norwood, our assistant dean of undergraduate studies, for leading the charge to get the clusters set up and approved. Read more here.

Back in January, Shaneishka Rivera helped her 2-year-old daughter Jeneishka pick out a Tickle Me Elmo toy to take home with them. It had been specially adapted by our Toys for All Tots student project, so that Jeneishka could play with it despite the cerebral palsy that severely limits her movements. Now her mother and grandmother will be able to keep Jeneishka well supplied with such toys, after learning how to adapt the toys themselves at a recent Toys for All Tots workshop. Thanks to the students and to Rachel Monfredo, lecturer and senior technical associate in chemical engineering, for arranging and conducting the workshop. And to Gary Smith – the Happy Pirate of the local Pirate Toy Fund – for donating 20 toys for this event. Read more here.

Three public lectures on archaeology and cultural heritage research in Ghana, including a report on last summer’s Ghana Field School by Renato Perucchio, professor of mechanical engineering and program director, Archaeology, Technology, and Historical Structures, will be given starting at 3:30 p.m. this Wednesday, April 11 in the Gamble Room at Rush Rhees Library. Samuel Amartey of the University of Syracuse and Samuel Nkumbaan of the University of Ghana will also present.

Seniors in our Grand Challenges Scholars program will present posters at the Undergraduate Research Expo, 2 to 3 p.m., Friday, April 20, in the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Flaum Atrium. This is a great way for students who are interested in the program to talk to students who have completed a Grand Challenge and to see how they addressed it. Emma Derisi, our coordinator for undergraduate global initiatives, will also be there to give information and answer questions. Students can also contact her at Emma.Derisi@Rochester.edu if they are unable to attend but want more information.

Reminder: Computer science alumnus Rick Rashid (’77M, ’80PhD), founder of Microsoft Research and former professor at Carnegie Mellon, will be here April 16 to talk about how data science and techniques like deep neural networks are transforming basic research within academia and at companies like Microsoft. The talk, from noon to 1 p.m. in Wegmans Hall 1400, is in conjunction with the dedication of three conference rooms in recognition of a gift by Rick. Read more here.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman