July 13, 2020

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

I am heartened that our University – and others across the country – are registering strong concerns with our elected officials and national associations about the surprise July 6 guidance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) limiting the options of our international students for the fall semester. And I am deeply saddened at the understandable anxiety this has caused for our international students, compounding the hardships they are already experiencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To all of our international students, please be assured we will do everything we can to support you.

This is an issue that could have profound implications for all of us. International students are some of our brightest and most accomplished scholars and researchers, and they greatly enrich our University and our country with their talents. As President Sarah Mangelsdorf and Provost Rob Clark stated in their message on this issue last Friday: “We want to state unequivocally that our international students, who contribute so much to the scholarly, social, and cultural environments at the University of Rochester, are essential to our enterprise and they are core members of our past, present, and future. And we want to state unequivocally and directly to our international students: you are welcome here.”

During this rapidly evolving situation. I urge our international students – and all others interested in this issue – to check the International Services Office (ISO) COVID-19 Immigration Information page for the latest updates. The University’s Coronavirus Update page is also a good source for the University’s official response.

I encourage all members of the Hajim School community to participate in Project Imagine. Established by Provost Rob Clark, a 21-member University committee is charged with coming up with at least 10 “big and bold ideas” about how the University might change the way it operates, to better serve our students, our community, and set us apart from our peers. For example, would it make more sense to reorganize the University around interdisciplinary centers, rather than traditional departments and colleges? Should a multimodal mix of remote and in-person learning continue even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? And how might our University better connect with and serve the Rochester region? The committee is seeking ideas from the widest possible audience, and that includes all of our students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends. Submit your ideas at the Project Imagine website by this Friday, July 17.

Congratulations to Andrea Pickel, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, who is a recipient of a Doctoral New Investigator (DNI) award from the American Chemical Society. Andrea, who is also affiliated with the Materials Science Program, joined our University last summer. She specializes in developing new techniques to measure temperature, especially at the nanoscale. Andrea will apply her expertise to help resolve an ongoing debate in the scientific community: Is plasmonic catalysis a fundamentally new way to accelerate chemical reactions, or just another way to heat up a chemical reaction? The two-year, $110,000 award will support a PhD student for each year of the project and an undergraduate researcher, and also help cover costs of materials. Read more here.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman