March 11, 2014
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
Each year, a fund created in honor of Wadsworth C. Sykes ’20, a mechanical engineering alumnus, enables faculty members to improve their classes, labs, and other learning experiences for students in significant ways.
This year two worthy projects will receive Sykes funding.
Zhen Bai, assistant professor of computer science who joined our faculty last fall, will develop a new course “AR/VR Interaction Design.” The course, which will be offered this fall, will provide an introductory overview of the concepts, principles, technologies, and special topics of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
Nick Vamivakas, associate professor of quantum optics and quantum physics, and Ted Pawlicki, associate professor of computer science, will build a mobile quantum computing experiment on an optical breadboard, providing an entry point for undergraduates to appreciate the power of quantum computing. It will be used in four optics courses and a computer science course and will “give a much more hands on and real world understanding of the practical challenges associated with quantum computing.”
Congratulations as well to graduate students Kenneth Sims, Marian Ackun-Farmmer, and Clyde Overby of Danielle Benoit’s lab in biomedical engineering. They have been recognized for their contributions to the Biomaterials 2019 Annual Meeting to be held in Seattle next month. Kenneth received a Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) award, which recognizes research excellence and helps to develop future leaders within the Society for Biomaterials. Marian and Clyde received Honorable Mentions.
Students participating in — or interested in — our Grand Challenges Scholars program, please take note: Arizona State University has a fully funded spot they would like to offer to one of our students to participate in a sustainability program this summer that is geared specifically to Grand Challenges Scholars. If you are interested, please contact Emma Derisi.
It is important that the exciting new technologies we develop find applications solving problems in the real world. The Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) and the Center of Excellence (COE) in Data Science both help make that happen. They are currently seeking proposals from University principal investigators for funding to promote technology transfer from our University to New York companies.
COE provides funding directly to researchers for projects that involve artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, data mining, statistical and computational methods, and multimodal analysis in applications including, but not limited to image and video understanding, sensors and mobile technologies, and multimodal data analytics. Proposals are required to have an industry partner who is able to document economic benefits associated with the project. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis through December 31, 2019. See the Center website for more information. Proposals should be sent to Cathy Adams.
CEIS funds projects in which a NY industry partner is actively engaged, financially sponsoring the research, and providing assessment of the project’s economic impact. Projects will be considered over a broad range of optics, photonics, and imaging interests, including ophthalmic and vision science, fiber optic communications, biomedical imaging, geospatial imaging, precision optics, consumer imaging, and displays. See the CEIS website for more information. Proposals should be sent to Cathy Adams no later than May 23.
Be sure to mark your calendar for two interesting talks.
Graduate students and alumni are invited to “Empowering Working Women: Salary Negotiation Workshop” with Rachel Roberts ’03E on March 25. The workshop, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Feldman Ballroom, will help you learn to identify and articulate your personal value, develop negotiation strategies, and conduct benchmarking to find your target salary. The workshop is preceded by a buffet dinner from 5:30-6 p.m. Register here.
Chemical engineering alumnus Shawn D. Rochester ’97 will give a talk and answer questions on “The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America” as part of the AS&E Discussions on Topical Challenges lecture series at 3 p.m. April 5 in the Hawkins-Carlson Room. Shawn, CEO of Good Steward LLC, has spoken on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, at leading universities, and at the United Nations about the staggering financial cost of discrimination against black people in America — and about a new economic framework to help black communities. This talk is free and open to all students, staff, faculty, and community members.
Have a great week!
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
