May 20, 2019

Proud Hajim School graduates, top to bottom, left to right: Chantelle Lim of biomedical engineering with Taimi Marple, BME undergraduate program coordinator; Sheilah Kirui of engineering science; Muhammad Miqdad, Sarah Alsawaf, and Rayan Alaufey of chemical engineering; and Paul Steve of CHE with Jennifer Condit, CHE undergraduate program coordinator.

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations again to all of our graduates!

We celebrated a wonderful Commencement this past weekend.

At our diploma ceremony:

  • Jennifer Condit, the undergraduate program coordinator for the Department of Chemical Engineering, received the 2019 Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Staff Award. Jennifer advises 240 undergraduate students amidst a host of other duties essential to the department’s operation, yet manages to “make things happen seamlessly and professionally,” says department chair Mitchell Anthamatten. “What impresses me most about Jen is her absolute professionalism,” he adds. Jennifer’s Dottie Welch award four years ago is a testament to the respect her students have for her.
  • James McGrath, professor of biomedical engineering, received the 2019 Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award. Jim leads a highly productive research laboratory dedicated to advancing novel technologies for fabricating nanomembranes for engineering applications in biosensing and separations processes. As founder and past-president of SiMPore, Jim has pioneered silicon- based nanomembrane and lab-on-a-chip technologies for biomedical engineering applications including hemodialysis, biosensing, and protein separations.
  • Daniel Sabbah ’74 ’78 (MS) ’81 (PhD) received the 2019 Hajim Distinguished Alumnus Award. Danny, who received his masters and PhD degrees from the Department of Computer Science, is the former chief technology officer and general manager of the Next Generation Platform at IBM Corporation, where he was responsible for overhauling IBM’s direction for cloud computing and mobility into a coherent architecture and product portfolio. He is a proud member of the Arts, Sciences and Engineering National Council, the Hajim Dean’s Advisory Committee, and the George Eastman Circle.

I greatly appreciated Daniel’s advice to our graduates to not “go blindly forward in applying what you have learned . . . learn, refine, and apply, but also take into account societal impacts. Don’t blindly think that just because you have a great idea, it will be used that way.”

No Hajim diploma ceremony would be complete without our esteemed benefactor Ed Hajim ’58 at the podium, sharing the four P’s — passions, principles, partners, and plans — as a framework to help our graduates throughout their lives. Thanks, Ed!

Thanks as well to all who turned out Friday afternoon to be with Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) when President Richard Feldman unveiled a plaque in the Munnerlyn Atrium at Goergen Hall to honor her and Gerard Mourou as co-recipients of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. What a great way to start a memorable weekend! It was incredibly gracious of Donna to be here throughout Commencement, giving several talks and providing opportunities for our students to meet her.

And special thanks to Lisa Norwood, our assistant dean for undergraduate studies, for once again doing a superb job of organizing our commencement activities, and to the several staff members who were on hand to help ensure everything went smoothly. My thanks as well to the faculty members who joined us on the stage at Kodak Hall for our diploma ceremony.

I am especially pleased to recognize the recipients of these Hajim School student awards:

  • Charles L. Newton Prize. Awarded to students who show special proficiency in some subject connected with engineering, and who have conducted research, given a presentation, or published a paper.
    • Jackson Abascal, computer science and math; Andrew Howard, optical engineering; Chantelle Lim, biomedical engineering, and Reem Mislati, electrical and computer engineering.
  • Donald M. Barnard Prize. The winners of this prize have all been accepted into graduate programs at the University of Rochester. They show high achievement and good personal qualities.
    • Robert Crews, biomedical engineering; Mattie Eckerstrom, chemical engineering; Muhammad Hadi, mechanical engineering; Tasneem Khan, electrical and computer engineering; Anna Olsen, biomedical engineering; Jake Rosvold, optical engineering; Ben Schmitz, audio and music engineering, and Tianyu Shou, electrical and computer engineering.
  • Richard Eisenberg Engineering Award. Recognizes a hard-working undergraduate with an interest in metallurgy.
    • Alec Tapia, mechanical engineering.
  • G. Harold Hook Prize. Awarded to students who have demonstrated an above average interest in engineering, and who have conducted research, given a presentation or published a paper.
    • James Savino, chemical engineering, and Seth Schaffer, mechanical engineering.
  • Robert L. Wells Prize. Awarded to senior engineering students for demonstrated competence in both engineering and the humanities.
    • Andrew Howard, optical engineering; Yiting Zhang, audio and music engineering, and Oliver Xu, computer science and music.
  • Tau Beta Pi Prize. Awarded to a senior who, through academic achievement, proven leadership, and character has excelled and inspired fellow students.
    • Chantelle Lim, biomedical engineering.
  • National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges are inspired by 14 broad problems facing society in sustainability, health, security, and knowledge. Hajim School Grand Challenges Scholars design a personalized program that explores a selected Grand Challenge.
    • Beatriz Gil Gonzalez, political science and economics; Emma Luke, biomedical engineering; Muhammad Miqdad, chemical engineering; Nicole Naselaris, optical engineering; Haley Wohlever, mechanical engineering; Michael Woodbury, neuroscience, and Jing Tian Ngiaw, education and musical arts. Click here and scroll down to read more about the challenges they tackled.

Read more here about all of our recipients of Hajim School and department awards.

Be sure to take a look at the University Communications “Making their Mark” series about the Class of ’19 members who made the most of their experiences here. It includes these Hajim School students:

  • Kharimat Alatise of biomedical engineering, a first-generation student from Hartford, Connecticut, who is ready to pursue her doctorate and become a professor. “I’ve had many great professors, but none that look like me. I want to be a role model to first-generation and minority students.”
  • Suman Kumar who attended a half dozen international development conferences; met several influential world leaders, diplomats, and Nobel laureates; rebuilt two schools destroyed by an earthquake in his native country of Nepal, and still managed to complete a rigorous curriculum in mechanical engineering.
  • Nik Angyal of chemical engineering who had two passions in high school: chemistry and soccer. He graduates from Rochester at the top of his class in both.
  • Muhammad Miqdad who is graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, but his four years at Rochester are leading him to a future focused on connecting the dots between technology, business, and social good.

The series also included stories about student capstone projects, including:

  • Rebekah Abrams, Hannah Goldring, Taryn Milnes, and Olivia Uttamsingh of biomedical engineering who are the first all-female engineering team to compete in a state-wide competition to bring assistive technologies to New Yorkers in the workplace.
  • Ben Schmitz, Daniel Fine, Josh Hyde, and Kyle Ohlschlager of audio and music engineering whose senior design project is a plug-in that adds a vintage feel to modern audio recordings.
  • Ryan Walton, Benjamin Larson, and Dingzhe Zheng of optics whose interactive exhibit for the Rochester Museum and Science Center celebrates the Nobel Prize-winning laser technology developed by Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD).
  • Jack Billings, Mira Bodek, Mohammed Alzahrani, Obed Badillo Moreno, Nicholas Lawlor, Jordy Mendez, Timothy Schuler, and Zhenkun (Mickey) Wen of mechanical engineering who took their Human Powered Vehicle on the road for a national competition.

You can find photos and stories about other senior design projects at our website.

In addition, Maureen Newman, PhD candidate in biomedical engineering, is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award for the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Arts, Sciences and Engineering. Maureen’s dissertation is “Bone-targeted Polymer Delivery of Osteoanabolics for Bone Regeneration.” Maureen, now a formulations scientist with Surrozen, investigated a novel therapeutic strategy for osteoporosis treatment under the mentorship of Danielle Benoit. This strategy combined a bone-building drug and a bone-targeting polymer delivery vehicle to reverse the reduction of bone volume and bone strength in patients with osteoporosis. Rui Luo of optics, a graduate research assistant, received a commendation for his dissertation on “Nonlinear Nanophotonics in Lithium Niobate.” His thesis research has focused on the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing for integrated photonic applications based on the lithium niobate-on-insulator platform. Rui’s advisor is Qiang Lin.

Yangyang Shao ’19 and Jonathan Yakubov ’19, both of the Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM) master’s program, and their Successful Heart Solutions teammates Vincent Costantino ’19S (MBA) and Joseph Geiger ’19S (MBA) added to their laurels by winning first place and $10,000 each in the Mark Ain Business Model Competition. The team reduces the cost of treating heart failure through comprehensive, in-home monitoring. The team also took first place and $10,000 in the “MedTech and Well-Being” track of the recent New York Business Plan Competition.

Seven optics students were awarded Certificates in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering this year:  Jaren Ashcraft ’19, Yu Hui Du ’19,  Kyle Guzek ’19, Nikita Makarov ’19, Jack Myers ’19, Liam Young ’20, and Jingkai Zhang ’19.  From 2015 to May 2019, 34 undergraduates from different departments of the Hajim School were awarded this certificate after taking two classes on nanoscience/nanotechnology, carrying out a one semester research or design project in this field, and taking a new class OPT 254/PHY 371 Nanometrology Laboratory.

David Butler ’78 (MS’ 80), an electrical engineering alumnus, now director of the Office of Military and Veterans Health for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, will be here Thursday to speak on “Effective Science and Risk Communication for Environment and Health” from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in 110 Goergen Hall. His talk is co-sponsored by the Environmental Health Sciences Center and the University Cluster in Interdisciplinary Studies (Sustainability). RSVP to Karen Berger, karen.berger@rochester.edu

The Institute of Optics is looking for rising high school juniors and seniors with a strong background in math and science to attend their free, one week Photon Camp from July 8 to 12. Students attend faculty lectures, do lab projects and visit local optics industries. The deadline to apply is this Friday. Read more here.

Have a great week!

Your dean
Wendi Heinzelman
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