June 21, 2021

This image, prepared by Yiyu Zhou, PhD student in Bob Boyd’s lab at The Institute of Optics, shows a novel technique to “flip” the optical wavefront of an image for both polarizations simultaneously, so that it can be transmitted through a multimode fiber without distortion. (See Research News below.)

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations to Sandhya Dwarkadas, the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering and recent chair of computer science, who has been named interim associate vice president for research by the Provost’s Office. She succeeds Rick Waugh, the vice provost for research, and will report to Stephen Dewhurst, currently vice dean for research at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, who will serve a one-year appointment as interim vice president for research.

Sandhya, recipient of the 2020 Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award, has demonstrated superior abilities as a researcher and administrator, which eminently qualify her for this important role.

Please join me in thanking Rick for his outstanding service to our University in leadership roles over the years. He was founding chair of our Department of Biomedical Engineering, then served as interim dean of Arts, Sciences & Engineering prior to Donald Hall’s appointment. As vice provost for research, Rick has been instrumental in helping to build a community of University researchers and in finding new ways for faculty to collaborate. “He’s a true faculty scholar who has always made sure that this colleagues at the University could do their best work,” says Provost Rob Clark. Rick will return to his own research projects as a faculty member in biomedical engineering. Read more about other leadership changes.

GWENNI AWARD WINNERS

Under Joe Testani’s leadership, the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education and Connections has become an invaluable partner for the Hajim School in so many ways—getting our students to start thinking early about career preparation, connecting our students and alumni, providing networking opportunities for groups with shared interests, bringing employers to campus, and, of course, helping our students land internships and jobs.

So, I am immensely proud that so many of this year’s recipients of Gwennie awards have Hajim School connections. These awards honor partners who exemplify the center’s values and support career education efforts for students and alumni.

We include not only the award winners, but excerpts from their Greene Center nominators, to show how more of us could pitch in to support the center that does so much to support us!

• Jennifer Condit, undergraduate coordinator in chemical engineering.
  Always looking for ways to continuously improve outcomes and communications with students, Jen Condit is a true leader and connector. Need information about a student or cohort of students? Jen’s on it and will get you a response in less than a week’s time. Even with all the changes impacting the UR experience, Jen Condit is a positive and engaging member of our community who deserves to be recognized for how she is inclusive and connecting of all information for the benefit of our constituents.
• Dominick Harasimiuk ’21, a computer science and financial economics major, now starting at Virtu Financial.
  Dominick connected with our office during his first year and since then has taken advantage of many opportunities to connect with alumni and employers while advocating for other students to do the same. Once he secured his internship and then eventual full-time offer, he shifted his focus to mentoring and supporting underclass students who were hoping to follow in his footsteps.
• Jessica Bernstein ’17 of optical engineering, now engagement manager at McKinsey & Co.
  Jessica has gone above and beyond to support our students interested in consulting. She held monthly consulting calls for any students interested in banking as well as scheduled weekly calls with up to three students. That’s individualized support at scale!
• Brad Orego ’11, computer science and psychology, now head of user research at Auth0.
  Brad has been working with our office on the creation of a UX/UI (User experience/user interface) certificate for students. He helped us pull together a group of alumni working in the industry, reviewed classes that would be a good fit, offered to teach introductory classes we may be missing, and joins a biweekly meeting with faculty and our office to advocate for this. (NOTE: This certificate has been approved. Stay tuned for details!)
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
  SHPE fully exemplifies how the Greene Center values leadership, openness, and equity. Their ability to collaborate with our office for programming on telling a story and talking with people couples well with SHPE’s own leadership in career development by providing their members with uniquely curated alumni and employer connections and opportunities through their networks.
• Robert LaVaque, senior lecturer, audio and music engineering (student nominated).
  Professor LaVaque is hands-down the most career-oriented and supportive professor I have had the pleasure of learning from. He constantly works with the department to bring in guest lecturers from the audio industry and often has industry professionals join a class. He has been readily willing to integrate Greene Center resources and discussions into his class time, not to mention the connections he maintains for big-name summer internship opportunities across the country to support his students and provide opportunities for experiential learning.

RESEARCH NEWS

Here are more examples of cutting-edge research at the Hajim School:

The use of multimode optical fibers to boost the information capacity of the Internet is severely hampered by distortions that occur during the transmission of images because of a phenomenon called modal crosstalk. However, Bob Boyd’s lab at the Institute of Optics demonstrates in a paper in Nature Communications how to “flip” the optical wavefront of an image for both polarizations simultaneously, so that it can be transmitted through a multimode fiber without distortion. Lead author Yiyu Zhou, a PhD student in Bob’s lab, says the technique could potentially be used to increase Internet speed by one or two orders of magnitude, and may have applications in improving endoscopy imaging of the brain and other biological tissues. Read more here.

Marc Porosoff, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is lead investigator on a $300,000 Office of Naval Research grant to further refine his previous work to help the Navy convert seawater to jet fuel on board its ships. Aircraft carriers, for example, could refuel their planes while remaining in continuous operation, with less reliance on tanker ships. Key to the process is converting the carbon dioxide (CO₂) extracted from seawater into carbon monoxide (CO), a costly, difficult process. Marc’s lab, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, will design, synthesize, and test bimetallic, zeolite-based catalysts that selectively hydrogenate CO and create specific compounds, like olefins and heavier hydrocarbons, that can be used as fuels. “We expect the bimetallic catalysts under development to achieve increased selectivity and reduced operating temperature for reactively separating CO from CO₂,” Marc says. Read more here.

Have great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman