March 20, 2017

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Welcome back from Spring Break!

A series of articles about data science at our University, prepared by the Communications Office, has been a great platform for highlighting some of the exciting research being done by Hajim School faculty members and their teams. Lindsey Valich’s story “The mysteries of music — and the key of data,” for example, describes how Mark Bocko, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering, is using computers to analyze digitally recorded music files, with applications not only in settling copyright disputes, but also in training musicians, studying trends in the development of musical styles, and improving music recommendation systems. The story also looks at how Zhiyao Duan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, together with PhD student Andrea Cogliati, has been working with David Temperley, professor of music theory at the Eastman School, to extract data from songs and use that data to produce automatic music transcriptions—in effect, feeding audio into a computer and allowing the computer to generate the music score.

Another of Lindsey’s stories, “Machine Learning Advances Human-Computer Interaction,” includes the work being done by Thomas Howard, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, and PhD student Jacob Arkin with a Baxter Research Robot. They are developing mathematical models so the robot can understand complex natural language instructions. The same story describes research by Jiebo Luo, associate professor of computer science, and his students to train artificial neural networks—a technology of machine learning—so that computers can sort online images and determine, for instance, emotions in images, underage drinking patterns, and trends in presidential candidates’ Twitter followers. The story also describes how Ehsan Hoque, assistant professor of computer science, and his students have developed computerized assistants that can sense a speaker’s body language and nuances in presentation and use those to help speakers improve their communication skills.

You can see all the stories in the series so far by clicking here.

The Institute of Optics will host the 2017 Spring Industrial Associates meeting starting Sunday, March 26.  This is a great opportunity for industry partners to showcase what they’re doing, to interview optics students for jobs and internships, and to hear about the research being done at the Institute. Read more here.

The 2017 Forbes Entrepreneurial Competition is an opportunity for Hajim School undergraduates to submit a business plan proposal — which may be based on a senior design project — and win cash prizes. The deadline for submissions is April 24. Qualified teams will be invited to present their ideas at an event on May 4. Learn more here or contact heidi.mergenthaler@rochester.edu.

Many of you will remember Michael R. King, a ’95 alumnus of chemical engineering here, who later served as an associate professor in our Department of Biomedical Engineering. Michael was recently appointed chair of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt. Read more here.

There are only 11 more days for students, faculty, and staff to submit entries to the Hajim School Art of Science Competition. Digital images, illustrations, posters, and videos that incorporate the imaginative use of science, art, and technology will be accepted through March 31. Cash prizes of $500, $300, and $200 will be awarded, based on visual impact, effective communication, and freshness and originality. Click here for more details; contact Sandra Turner with questions and to submit an entry. She can also be reached at 275-4151.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman