June 24, 2019
Ching Tang, emeritus professor of chemical engineering.
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
Barring a Nobel Prize, it would be hard to receive a greater distinction than the Kyoto Prize, Japan’s highest private award for global achievement in advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. Ching Tang, emeritus professor of chemical engineering, joins a distinguished list of Kyoto Prize recipients “who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of mankind.” Ching is being recognized for his “Pioneering Contributions to the Birth of High-Efficiency Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and Their Applications.” OLEDs use luminescent organic materials to make their own light. As a result, they are thinner, lighter, more energy efficient, and provide superior brightness and color compared to traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs). They have helped spawn a multi-billion-dollar industry for advanced lighting and displays; the technology is now widely used in computers, smartphones, and televisions. Congratulations, Ching! Read more here.
The Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM) master’s program, offered jointly by the Hajim School and Simon Business School and administered by the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship, received the Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award at the eighth annual Deshpande Symposium for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, held recently at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. This is another boost to the stature of this outstanding program, which last year was ranked ninth by the London Financial Times and 17th by Princeton Review among top US graduate programs for entrepreneurship studies. TEAM is designed for students with an engineering, science, or mathematics undergraduate degree, who wish to pursue a master’s level technical education in combination with business and leadership courses.
Congratulations as well to:
- Taylan Sen and Kurtis Haut, PhD students in Ehsan Hoque’s Computer Augmented Social Engagement lab. They have advanced to the finals of the Credibility Assessment Standardized Evaluation (CASE) Prize Challenge. The challenge, sponsored by IARPA, the research arm for the U.S. director of national intelligence, seeks novel methods to measure the performance of credibility assessment techniques and technologies used to evaluate how credible a source of information is and/or the credibility of specific information or claims. Taylan and Kurtis have developed SPIDER² — Scalable Protocol for Interview-based Deception-technology Evaluation with Realism and Repeatability. They will compete against proposals developed by two other researchers at a CASE Challenge Workshop on July 18 in Washington, D.C.
- Danielle Desa, a third-year PhD student in the lab of Edward Brown, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Danielle has received a $25,000 Pre- and Post-Doctoral Research Initiative grant to support her proposal, “Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying a Novel Predictor of Metastasis.” Fibrillar collagen is a protein in the space between healthy cells through which tumor cells move. Danielle will investigate how light scattering off the protein helps predict metastasis in certain breast cancers. Read more here.
- Harleigh Kaczegowicz ’19 of mechanical engineering, who has cemented her legacy as an outstanding student-athlete. She received Google Cloud Academic All-American honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America. Harleigh was selected to the 3rd team, and becomes only the second Yellowjacket softball player to earn Academic All-America recognition. Read more here.
If you know graduate students who are nearing the completion of their studies or early career postdoctoral scholars – particularly from underrepresented groups in STEM – please let them know about a Post-Doctoral Career Advancement Program that will be offered at the University of Rochester Sept. 18-20, 2019. RocDocs, sponsored by the Office for Faculty Development and Diversity, is an opportunity for attendees to establish networking connections, as well as to participate in career advancement and professional development workshops. Attendees will gain insight about research and teaching opportunities at the University of Rochester and connect with faculty who may have a postdoctoral fellowship position available in the coming year or by fall of 2020. The deadline to apply is Aug. 5. Read more here.
If you have a chance, be sure to check out the Light and Sound Interactive Conference in downtown Rochester, starting tomorrow. This is a great showcase of Rochester’s strengths in imaging, optics, and innovation, and several of our faculty members will be among the presenters. Read more here.
Meliora Weekend will be a special one this October, featuring the inauguration of the University’s eleventh president, Sarah C. Mangelsdorf. There will also be a stellar lineup of headliners, including a performance by acclaimed musician and late-night band leader Jon Batiste, a conversation with renowned author Ann Patchett, and stand-up comedy by Emmy-nominated comedian and actress Vanessa Bayer. For more information, visit rochester.edu/melioraweekend.
Have a great week,
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
