August 20, 2018

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Welcome to the start of another academic year! I look forward to officially greeting our Class of ’22 at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Feldman Ballroom and our transfer students at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the Gowen Room.

I urge our new students to take full advantage of Orientation Week; it is a great way to learn about the wealth of opportunities at the Hajim School and our University. Any student interested in engineering, for example, can attend a Q&A session on program offerings in math, computer science and engineering at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Wegmans 1400. And they can meet with engineering students from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Goergen Atrium to hear firsthand what it’s like to major in this field.

Please join me in helping our new students settle in and feel at home.

One of our top priorities at the Hajim School is to tell multiple audiences about our outstanding faculty, students, and programs. So it is gratifying to see the excellent new video, “Meet our Hajim Students,” which was recently produced by Advancement.  Fiona Jones, a computer science and studio arts major, MaryAnne Achieng of biomedical engineering, and Kaia Williams of optics describe how the Hajim School and its faculty enabled them to cultivate their passions, interact across disciplines on interesting projects and research, and still find time to pursue other interests. Special thanks not only to those students, but also to the Advancement team of Isaiah Pule, Zach Bokuniewicz, and Margaret Bogumil who produced the video; to Derek Swanson, our associate director of advancement, who helped coordinate the project; and to Eric Brandt, our executive director of advancement, for helping this come to fruition.

Congratulations to two of our faculty members at The Institute of Optics who have new books coming out this month. Julie Bentley, associate professor, is co-author of Designing Optics Using Code V with Donald O’Shea, professor emeritus of Georgia Institute of Technology. And Jennifer Kruschwitz, an assistant professor, is author of Field Guide to Colorimetry and Fundamental Color Modeling. Both are being published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Read more here.

The high regard and deep affection for Emil Wolf, one of the most recognized optical scientists of his generation, was apparent last Tuesday when 17 researchers who worked directly with the late Wilson Professor of Optical Physics, or were influenced by him, spoke at a symposium attended by more than 60 people in the Hawkins-Carlson Room. Afterward, about 120 people attended a memorial service and reception. “He was my mentor and my friend and my measuring stick for what is good and what is decent,” writes Scott Carney ’99 (PhD), director of The Institute of Optics and one of Wolf’s students, in a tribute in Rochester Review.

Thanks to our department chairs and Mike Campbell from the Laboratory for Laser Energetics for joining my staff and me at our annual summer retreat on Friday to discuss our goals in several areas, including equity/climate/diversity, research, education and student engagement, communications, and advancement. I’ll address these themes in more detail in my state of the school presentation this fall.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman