April 16, 2018

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Sixteen University of Rochester students — 11 of them from the Hajim School — will work at German research institutes this summer after being offered DAAD RISE scholarships. This is a record number for our University and the largest contingent from North America. RISE scholars are matched with a host university or institute according to their area of interest and are mentored by German doctoral students for ten weeks to three months.

Congratulations to these Hajim School recipients:

Diwas Gautam ’20, a mechanical engineering major from Ilam, Nepal, who will work at the Hochschule Hannover, researching the scalability of mobile micro-CHP units for their application in electric vehicles.
Collin Gwilt ’20, a biomedical engineering major from Liverpool, New York, who will be at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, assisting personnel taking clinical samples of HIV-infected patients, and analyzing the correlation between the expression of integrin proteins and the size of the viral reservoir.
Muhammad Hadi ’19, a mechanical engineering major from Muscat, Oman, who will be at Hamburg University of Technology working on developing and implementing non-linear controls for flexible lightweight robots.
Shemmar Jackson ’20, a mechanical engineering major from St. Catherine, Jamaica, who will be at the Technical University of Dortmund, working on a research project titled “Manufacturing of Load-optimized Automotive Components by Incremental Sheet-Bulk Metal Forming.”
Yunke “Claudia” Ren ’20, a biomedical engineering major from Hefei, China, who will be working on a research project called “Biomimetic Adhesive from Lignin” at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. It will focus on imitating the adhesive properties of mussels to develop a new, non-toxic adhesive, based on a lignin backbone.
Erin Sumfleth ’20, an optical engineering major from Callicoon, New York, who will be working with polymers and solar cells at the Karlsruhe Institute of Microstructure Technology.
Aimé Laurent Twizerimana ’20, a chemical engineering major from Nyabihu, Rwanda, who will work at the Jülich Research Center on a project that involves developing innovative reactors for fuel synthesis from hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
Javon Walker ’19, a Brooklyn resident from Jamaica majoring in electrical and computer engineering, who will be at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, working on a research project titled “Novel antennas for mobile communication.”
Sifan Ye ’20, a computer science major from Shanghai, China, who will be participating in research at Saarland University in Saarbrucken that details the privacy impact of self-tracking devices.
Victor Zhang ’19, a biomedical engineering major from Lexington, Massachusetts, who will be joining a lab at Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart, working on organ-on-a-chip technologies. His project will involve further research and development of the system, and optimizing its use in future applications.
Dingzhe Zheng ’19, an optical engineering major from Wenzhou, China, who will head to Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences in Giessen, where he will research a new concept to achieve a quantitative detection of fluorescence markers.

Congratulations as well to:

Eby Friedman, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, who will receive the IEEE Circuits and Systems Mac Van Valkenburg Award in Florence, Italy, next month. The award is for outstanding technical contributions and distinguished leadership.
Gretchen Briscoe, director of graduate enrollment, Office of Global Engagement, and optics alumnus Kevin Mille ’04, director of product support at KLA-Tencor, who have received “Gwennie” awards from the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education and Connections. The awards honor partners who exemplify the Greene Center’s values—respect, collaboration, diversity and inclusion, betterment, and purpose. Read more here.
Marian Ackun-Farmmer, a PhD candidate in Danielle Benoit’s lab in biomedical engineering. Marian has been awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) grant from the National Cancer Institute. Her project is taking an unprecedented approach to treating acute myelogenous leukemia. She is using a drug delivery approach to prime the bone marrow so that AML is less likely to evade standard chemotherapy. Read more here.
Maureen Newman, a graduate research assistant in biomedical engineering. Her presentation at the annual Orthopaedic Research Society meeting was awarded the International Section for Fracture Repair Podium Award. Maureen’s presentation was titled “Development of Bone-Targeted Polymer Conjugates of Wnt/β-catenin Agonists to Stimulate Fracture Healing.”
Juvenal Ormachea, graduate student in Kevin Parker’s Medical Imaging Research Lab. Juvenal received a New Investigator Honorable Mention award at the 2018 American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) Annual Convention for “Reverberant Shear Wave Elastography: Implementation and Feasibility Studies.” Juvenal was one of 13 finalists from among more than 100 new investigators who were evaluated. Read more here.

Hajim undergraduates have until April 22 to vote for this year’s recipient of the Dottie Welch Student Enrichment Award, with the winner to be announced at Design Day, May 4. Emails have been sent to each student providing a link to the ballot; please vote only once. 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.

Students, please take full advantage of The Meliora Collective, our new online platform for alumni, students, and others in the University community to foster professional exploration. This is a great way for students to connect with more than 1,000 alumni who have joined so far. Stay tuned for more details as other groups—including faculty and staff—are added later in the year. For more information, contact Amber Graham in the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education and Connections or Michelle Cavalcanti in Alumni Relations.

A reminder for graduating seniors: Today is the deadline to make sure your name is pronounced correctly at commencement. Visit this website to hear a suggested pronunciation, and then either verify or modify it. Also, this Friday, April 20, is the deadline to let your department undergraduate coordinator know if you are not planning to participate in our diploma ceremony. Students receiving two Hajim School degrees can also arrange to cross the stage twice or receive both diplomas from one department.

Students interested in participating in the Charles and Janet Forbes Entrepreneurial Competition for Hajim School undergraduates have until 4 p.m. next Monday, April 23 to submit your business plan online. Contact Heidi Mergenthaler, program manager at the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship, with questions.

Students, faculty and staff interested in the future of the Genesee River waterfront are invited to attend a stakeholder session with the Roc The Riverway Advisory Board this Wednesday, April 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hawkins-Carlson Room. This is an opportunity to hear about plans to revitalize the city’s waterfront along the river and also weigh in with your priorities. Today is the deadline to RSVP to Tammy Mayberry at tamara.mayberry@exec.ny.gov.

I urge all members of the Hajim School community to click here to learn about the latest actions the University is taking to strengthen Rochester’s culture of respect, including progress on the White Report recommendations, an updated vision and values statement, and updated guides for sexual misconduct reporting options and resources available.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman