January 18, 2021

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations to Dustin Froula, Distinguished Scientist and Plasma and Ultrafast Physics Group Leader at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, who has been awarded the prestigious Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award by U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. This award recognizes mid-career scientists and engineers showing exceptional contributions in research and development supporting the Department of Energy and its mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States. Dustin, who is also an associate professor of physics, is being recognized for “seminal and creative contributions in fundamental laser-matter interaction physics, and laser-driven plasma accelerators that have significantly advanced the Department of Energy’s mission, including pioneering spatiotemporal pulse shaping techniques, focused laser plasma instability research, and novel high-resolution Thomson scattering methods. Together, these achievements have addressed long-standing questions in plasma physics, led to many first-of-their-kind measurements, and represent development of new, cutting-edge concepts in plasma optics which will shape the field in years to come.” Previous LLE recipients are Mike Campbell (1994) and Riccardo Betti (2011). Well done, Dustin! He and seven other recipients will be honored at a virtual presentation ceremony, open to the public, at 1 p.m. EST tomorrow. Read more here.

Congratulations as well to these students and faculty members in the Department of Computer Science:

Boyu Zhang ’21 was a finalist, and Yipeng Zhang ’21 and Ashely Tenesaca ‘21 received honorable mention from the Computing Research Association (CRA) when it recently announced its Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awards. Over the past two years, Boyu has helped collect longitudinal private Google Platform history and clinically validated mental health assessments from more than 200 volunteer participants to detect past suicidal ideation and predict anxiety levels. His first coauthored paper extended this framework to COVID-19. Yipeng, who started working with Jiebo Luo’s team his sophomore year, has two authored papers to his credit, including one based on a deep learning model he developed that automatically diagnoses teeth cavity severity and affected locations from RGB imagery. Ashely, a McNair Scholar, was a contributing author to a recent paper by Ehsan Hoque’s team, demonstrating that for your creative ideas to stand out, it matters not only who is inspiring you, but also who is inspiring your “peers” in temporal social networks. Read more here.

The department was ranked in the Top 10 again last year for its work in computer vision, and was also ranked in the Top 10 for computer vision and artificial intelligence by CSRankings. The number 8 ranking in computer vision was based on 20 publications, including 11 by Jiebo Luo, 6 by Chenliang Xu, 2 by Ji Liu, and one by Yuhao Zhu. The number 9 ranking in computer vision and artificial intelligence was based on 31 publications, including 19 by Jiebo, 7 by Chenliang, 2 by Ji, and one each by Yuhao, Henry Kautz, and Kai Shen. CSRankings is a metrics-based ranking of top computer science institutions around the world. This is very impressive given the department’s relatively small faculty size — and the fact that these are some of the most active areas of research in the field.

RESEARCH NEWS

Ben Miller, the Dean’s Professor of Dermatology with joint appointments in biomedical engineering and optics, also affiliated with the Materials Science Program, is leading a $1.7 million project to develop an optical chip on a disposable card that can detect exposure to multiple viruses within a minute—including the coronavirus that causes COVID-19—from a single drop of blood. The card will enable clinicians not only to detect and study COVID-19, but also to better understand potential relationships between COVID-19 infection and previous infections and immunity to other respiratory viruses, including circulating coronaviruses that cause the common cold. “One of the attractive aspects of this is there’s a pathway for this technology to eventually be used in a doctor’s office or a pharmacy,” Ben says. This is another great example of the work that researchers associated with the Hajim School are doing to combat COVID-19. Read more here.

ALUMNI NEWS

Congratulations to Marian Ackun-Farmmer ’20 PhD of biomedical engineering, now a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Christopher Jewell, professor of bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Marian has been selected to receive the 2021 Student Award for Outstanding Research from the Society for Biomaterials, a singular, national award for all PhD level research. Marian, an outstanding student in Danielle Benoit’s lab, did her thesis on “Engineering Drug Delivery Systems to Improve Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatments.” She was an active member of the Rochester Chapter of the Alliance for Diversity in Science and Engineering, an initiative that encourages more people of color to pursue STEM-related majors and professions.

FOR FACULTY

FOR STUDENTS

The University is preparing to welcome students for in-person academic and residential experiences this spring semester. Similar to the beginning of the fall semester, there are some specific COVID-19 testing and quarantine requirements that many students will need to fulfill before they can begin their in-person academic program, and in the case of residential Arts, Sciences & Engineering and Eastman School of Music undergraduates, before they can move into their on-campus living space.

SCHOLARSHIP REMINDER

The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York is offering a number of scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 for engineering students intending to become consulting engineers. Applicants must be students completing the third year of a four-year program or fourth year of a five-year program. (A total of $80,000 was awarded to students in NYS last year.) The application deadline is this Friday, Jan. 22.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman