November 26, 2018

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers are the most prestigious awards given by our government to outstanding researchers beginning their independent careers. So please join me in congratulating Ehsan Hoque, assistant professor of computer science, Asaro Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science, and interim director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science, for being selected for an ECASE award from the Army Research Office!  This prestigious award will enable Ehsan to build on his lab’s recent work involving lie-detecting technologies. Specifically, his lab will develop machine learning algorithms to help interrogators be more objective in determining whether someone is lying. His lab will also explore ways to avoid misuse of the technology. Read more here.

Congratulations as well to:

  • Six Hajim School sophomores who are among 14 recipients of this year’s Suzanne J. O’Brien Book Awards, formerly known as the Iota Book Awards. The awards recognize students who excelled academically and in leadership roles as first-year students in the College. This year’s recipients from the Hajim School are Sofia Guarnieri (biomedical engineering), Dominick Harasimiuk (computer science and financial economics), Paul Irving (chemical engineering), Karen Leap (mechanical engineering), Nathan Morse  (mathematics and optics) and Alexander Pavlicin (engineering science). You can read more about the award and other recipients here.
  • Nasrin Mostafazadeh ’17 PhD, an alumna of the Department of Computer Science, who has been listed among Forbes 30 under 30 in Science. Her research as a senior AI research scientist for Elemental Cognition in New York City is focused on “getting AI to understand language through storytelling, so that programs understand not just what stories are, but also the structure and reasoning behind them,” Forbes notes. “This has enabled her to build artificial intelligence programs that are better able to understand language and collaborate with humans.” Nasrin says her work in this area “all started” with her PhD work under James Allen, professor of computer science.
  • Two PhD students in Associate Professor Catherine Kuo’s lab in biomedical engineering who won awards at the recent Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Tendon Conference in Portland, Oregon. Phong Nguyen won one of four poster awards presented among 60 posters for “Characterization of tendon cell proliferation rate and development of senescence in vitro.” He also won one of four ORS travel awards presented among more than 100 attendees. Jose Suarez Loor also won a travel award.
  • Erik Patak ’19 of biomedical engineering, who was among three finalists out of 96 entrants in this year’s IES Abroad Film Festival. Erik’s video, “Happiness only real when shared,” chronicles his adventures as a study abroad student in New Zealand last fall. Thanks, Erik, for helping to show how a global experience can make such a difference in how we look at life and those around us. Read more about Erik’s semester abroad here.

Scott Carney, director of the Institute of Optics, and Jim Zavislan, our associate dean for education and new initiatives, will teach a new course for first-year students and sophomores next semester: EAS 144: Innovation and Engineering Design. Students will identify a project, build a team, and study the engineering design process in detail. The course will explore the intellectual underpinnings of engineering, the discipline that has built the modern world, and give students the framework to tackle innovative projects like senior design.

How about that men’s varsity soccer team! With a record of 16-2-2, the Yellowjackets are headed into the Final Four for the first time in school history. They’ll play Tufts University this coming Friday, November 30, in Greensboro, NC. It’s worth noting that half the team’s roster are Hajim students. Best wishes to:

Cristian Baltier ’20, Josh Cooley ’20, Will Eisold ’22, and Ryan Aspenleiter ’19 of biomedical engineering; Lucas Loecher ’19, Nik Angyal ’19, Rio Kehe ’22, Jr Eisold ’20, and Mitch Volis ’20 of chemical engineering; Patrick Conway ’19, Patrice Douge ’19, and Caden Dowd ’22 of computer science; and Bryce Ikeda ’19, Aidan Miller, ’20, Milan Fatschel ’19, and Colin Canning ’22 of electrical and computer engineering.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
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