November 23, 2020

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

As the on-campus part of the fall semester ends–and most of our students return home–I urge everyone to please follow closely @Rochester, Read This, and the University’s COVID-19 Resource Center for guidance and updates regarding holiday and other travel, student pre-departure testing, and what facilities will or will not remain open on campus.

We’ve done a great job of adhering to the safety protocols that have kept positive cases well within acceptable limits and allowed us to keep our campus open as planned. We can all take pride in that. However, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Monroe County and many other places in the country, we face a very fluid situation. I urge everyone to continue social distancing, mask wearing, and hand sanitizing–wherever you are in the coming weeks, for your own safety as well as those around you–as we navigate this critical stage of the pandemic.

Not all students will be leaving. The Food Pantry on the River Campus will conduct a food drive to support students who will be staying on campus this winter and may be facing food insecurity. Donations can be dropped off through December 18 at any of the collection sites: outside the Hillside Market, Wilson Commons Common Connection, Genesee Hall third floor public lounge, and Valentine Tower lobby. Nonperishable food items are always in need, but holiday-related nonperishable food items are greatly appreciated. Donations can also be made online via the pantry’s Amazon Wish List.

RESEARCH NEWS

Continuing our look at recent research funding received by Hajim School faculty members, illustrating the depth and breadth of research being done at our school:

Too often, promising therapeutic drug candidates that are developed as a result of expensive animal studies prove ineffective—or even dangerous—when tested in humans. Although lab animals may have similar anatomical features to humans, their physiology, metabolism, and genetic diversity can be quite different.

Three of our biomedical engineering faculty members–Hani Awad, James McGrath, and Benjamin Miller--are addressing the problem through a novel form of personalized medicine. They are developing an alternative “organ on a chip” technology that uses tissue samples from an individual human patient to mimic how a disease or disorder might occur in that patient—in this case, scarring from a tendon injury, especially after surgery to repair the damage.

The research is supported by a $3.8 million grant—one of 10 nationwide—from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), which is charged with improving and streamlining the processes by which new treatments and cures can be delivered to patients.

“This technology is likely the future of medicine. You can now think about personalized medicine in a chip,” Hani says. The collaboration represents “an exquisite blend of biological science and engineering,” he adds. “The team outside the three of us includes sensor scientists, orthopedic surgeons, and immunologists. It’s a very multidisciplinary approach.” This is another exciting example of the rich opportunities for collaborative research that result from the close proximity of the Medical Center to our River Campus! Read more here.

FOR STUDENTS

Reminder: The Rochester Engineering Society administers multiple $1,500 scholarships that Hajim School juniors are eligible to apply for. Visit the society’s website to learn more about available awards and how to apply. The deadline is December 11.

ANTI-RACISM WORKSHOPS

I encourage our Hajim School staff members to participate in Fostering an Anti-Racist Campus – Opening the Door, a workshop sponsored by AS&E Dean for Diversity Beth Olivares. It will be offered from noon to 1:30 p.m. on two different dates, December 4 (register here) and January 22 (register here). Topics will include the language of race and racism, the origins of race, and the history of race here at the University. Participants will review contemporary language, and gain understanding of its importance as part of the struggle for equity and when discussing race and racism. Participants will also leave with an overview of power dynamics as interwoven with the history of race and racism in the US and on campus. Finally, participants will develop a growing sense of how who we are as people — our identities — impact how we interact with each other.

I hope all of you can safely connect with family, friends, and loved ones this Thanksgiving holiday–and in doing so, find that even in this most trying of times, we can still be thankful.

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman