December 14, 2020

Anindini Singh ’21 of data science was a members of the D’Lions, sophomores and juniors who serve as peer advisors for first-year students–answering questions about classes and helping students with registration, decorating residence halls, and sponsoring activities to help first-year students get to know and bond with each other.

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations to 12 Hajim School juniors and nine seniors who were initiated recently as members of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, the second oldest Greek-letter honor society. Engineering students of junior standing and higher are elected based on scholastic achievement and exemplary character. Our new members are:

• Biomedical engineering: John Bates ’22, Eric Chang ’21, Jacob Kelley ’22, Samuel Kuhnel ’21, Emma Mantel ’21, and Sylvia Zhong ’21.
• Chemical engineering: Kareem Abdelmaqsoud ’22, Mark Volkin ’21, and Kendra Watson ’22.
• Mechanical engineering: Ognjen Bosic ’22, Maggie Dix ’22, Jarod Forer ’22, Adam Inskip ’21, Karen Leap ’21, Peter Schaefer ’22, Helena Schreder ’22, and Delin Zeng ’21.
• Optical engineering: Suet Chan ’22, George Funkenbusch ’22, Christopher Pressimone ’21, and Yuning Xia ’22.

Congratulations as well to Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering and director of the Center for Freeform Optics, who has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The program highlights academic inventors whose work has made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Jannick, who holds more than 50 patents, is considered a pioneer in optical applications in augmented and virtual reality. She is advancing the use of lenses and mirrors with freeform surfaces to create optical devices that are lighter, more compact, and more effective than ever before. With her former PhD student Cristina Canavesi, Jannick is also cofounder and chief technology officer of LightopTech, a startup commercializing one of her inventions. Well done, Jannick! Read more here.

Previous Hajim School faculty members chosen as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors are Kevin Parker, the William F. May Professor and dean emeritus of engineering; Wayne Knox, professor of optics, and Jim Zavislan, associate professor of optics.

OUTSTANDING STUDENT

Our outstanding student this month is Anindini Singh ’21 who came to the University intending to major solely in economics. But it was also in the “back of my mind,” she says, that data science might also be worth pursuing. “It’s definitely been one of the most challenging things I’ve done so far,” Singh says. “I didn’t have any programming experience prior to coming to college, so it was a pretty steep learning curve.” But she persisted. She got help from supportive classmates and from the University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). And now it is Singh who is helping other students as a peer advisor in data science. Anindini has also taken full advantage of internships, and was able to explore her interest in acting with a role in a student production of “In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer” her first semester. Read more here .

FOR STUDENTS

The Greene Center continues to support students and young alumni as they begin planning their next chapter, and there are a number of ways you can access current opportunities, people, and resources to help you along the way. Specifically, you can:

• Schedule a one-on-one advisor meeting. Greene Center advisors are available virtually.
• Find events in Handshake. Regardless of whether you are entering the workforce or preparing for graduate or professional school, we are offering virtual programs. The Greene Center is inviting recent alumni to help provide their insights.
• Find employers that are actively hiring. This list of employers who are actively seeking students to join their companies is regularly updated and we will continue to highlight this list in our newsletters, social media, and online.
• Connect with Alumni. UR alumni are ready and willing to connect with students, and we have personally asked them to support students in any way they can this year. You can connect with UR alumni through the Meliora Collective and we will also be adding new opportunities specifically posted by UR alumni and friends of the University. You will be able to seek these out using the label “Together4Roc” in Handshake.
• Take advantage of virtual resources. The Greene Center monitors the job market on a regular basis and will continue to provide regular advice, articles, insights and updates online and through monthly AMA’s on YouTube. The Careers Unfiltered Podcast regularly features alumni interviews, and this season features an episode related to COVID and its impact on certain sectors.

ALUMNAE NEWS

Amanda Chen ’14, an alumna of Danielle Benoit’s lab in biomedical engineering, has been named to the Forbes list of 30 under 30 in science based on her recently defended thesis project at MIT on designing “micro-livers,” which could enable next-generation cell therapies that could help, or maybe even replace, organ transplants for end-stage diseases. Amanda was a Goldwater Scholarship recipient here and recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Well done, Amanda.

NEW 3D PRINTER

An advanced 3D printing system has been purchased for the fabrication studio at Rettner Hall. It will enable students and faculty to keep pace with a rapidly evolving technology that is now finding industrial applications. James Alkins, senior laboratory engineer, says the recently purchased Stratasys F270 3D printing system will provide these additional capabilities to complement two other 3D printers the studio will continue to use:

• Printing with up to four different materials. This will allow creating prototypes with movable parts.
• Increased prototype size—12 by 10 by 12 inches, compared to 8 by 8 by 6 inches with the other two printers.
• The ability to use multiple colors within a print.
• Built in camera to monitor progress of jobs remotely.
• Cloud-based software to ease scheduling and uploading of designs created by students using CAD design software.

The additional 3D printing capacity will make it easier to accommodate students working remotely because of COVID-19. “They can design the part, email it to us, and we can print it and ship it back to them,” says Jim Zavislan, associate professor of optics and director of senior design projects at The Institute of Optics, noting that students working remotely will have the same access as those on campus. Special thanks to Kelly Harris in the AS&E Dean’s Office for helping to process this important purchase. Read more here.

I urge all members of our Hajim School community, wherever you may be, to take all possible precautions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Promising vaccines are on the way; in the meantime, we must remain vigilant to help slow the alarming surge in new cases.

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman