December 6, 2021

Left to right, Marvin Doyley, Reem Mislati, and Irteza (Enan) Kabir are collaborating with Medical Center surgeons and immunologists on a novel way to capture images of pancreatic cancer tumors (inset). (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

The insidiousness of pancreatic cancer is how it develops without showing any definitive symptoms. In most cases, by the time it is diagnosed, it is beyond cure. And yet, for 10 to 20 percent of patients, pancreatic cancer is caught soon enough, before it has metastasized. This provides surgeons a narrow window of time to try to treat the tumors, shrinking them enough to safely remove them.

Marvin Doyley, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering, and PhD students Reem Mislati and Irteza (Enan) Kabir in his lab are collaborating with Medical Center surgeons and immunologists on a novel imaging technology to make the most of that narrow time frame. A $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering will help them determine whether pancreatic cancer tumors should be examined not just for their size, but also their elasticity and ability to be perfused, or permeated, with blood and other fluids. This is another example of how the close proximity of our world-class Medical Center to the River Campus leads to exciting opportunities for collaboration. Congratulations to the Doyley team! Read more.

O’BRIEN BOOK AWARD WINNERS

Congratulations to four sophomores who have received the Suzanne J. O’Brien Book Award, which recognizes excellence at the very beginning of a student’s college experience. Awardees are selected for their scholarly achievement, humanistic values, co-curricular activity, and leadership potential. This year’s recipients include:

Calista “Cali” Courtney of chemical engineering, who comes to us from Berwyn, PA, where she graduated from Conestoga High School.  Cali captained the varsity soccer team for her high school and also played club soccer in her community. Cali was active in her religious community, was a member of the track team, participated in spirit club, and had a job in a senior citizen residence. On campus, Cali is a member of the women’s varsity soccer team, and she volunteers with the Rochester City Soccer League which connects young girls in the community with soccer.

Madeleine “Maddy” Lachance of optical engineering, who is from Belchertown, MA. The graduate of the MacDuffie School played flute in the Springfield Youth Orchestra, was President of the National Dance Education Organization, and was a member of her school’s cross-country team.  Maddy was also a prefect at her school and was active in community service and her school’s musicals.  At Rochester, Maddy is a member of the women’s rowing team, an officer in Ballet Performance Group, and a tutor in Latin and Greek at the campus language center.

Santino Lupica-Tondo of mechanical engineering, who is from Weston, FL. A graduate of Cypress Bay High School, Santino was the starting goalkeeper at his local soccer club, was active in many community service groups, and was a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Here’s an interesting personal fact–Santino is a triplet.  At Rochester, he is a member of the Men’s Varsity Soccer team.

Ruihan Xu of electrical and computer engineering, who is from Jiangsu, China, and is a graduate of the United World College.  In high school, Ruihan was active in robotics. He developed a website for his school, was a participant in the TechX summit, and developed a device to help remind people when their laundry was ready.  Ruihan was also a member of his school’s tech crew and played bass at school and community events.  At Rochester, Ruihan is involved in the UR Lunabotics team, the badminton club, and the UR Student Association at Wuhan University.

Well done, Cali, Maddy, Santino, and Ruihan!

OPTICS UPDATE

Great research, illustrated with a great drawing or photo, can generate a lot of great attention. A wonderful example can be seen on the cover of this month’s special Optics in 2021 issue of Optics and Photonics News. The research by Daniel Nikolov, Aaron Bauer, Jannick Rolland and Nick Vamivakas, which is also described in the issue, involves an exciting new optical component–a metasurface written on a freeform optical surface–targeted at imaging for augmented reality. The illustration, by Michael Osadciw, creative and design manager with University Communications, is one of a series of illustrations Mike has done over the years to grace the covers of research journals and illustrate the University’s press releases. Mike’s eye-catching illustrations have helped convey the exciting research done here to a wide range of audiences. Congratulations to all involved!

SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS

Our student professional societies do a lot of wonderful, worthwhile projects that also provide our students with opportunities to do outreach. A great example is the recent Girls Workshop sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers, which was attended by 50 kindergarten through sixth grade students who participated in STEM-related activities with a theme of Rain Forests.

SWE president Catherine Milas ’23 of chemical engineering, says the activities included:

• Using computer science concepts to navigate a monkey through a rain forest maze to reach bananas.
• Using mechanical engineering fundamentals such as brainstorming and testing solutions to conceptualize and build a bridge for animals to cross a river safely.
• Using optics concepts for a demo about rainbows.

“We had volunteers from 9 different clubs, and our cosponsors were: Engineers without Borders, the Optical Society, She’s the First, Tau Beta Pi, AIChE (chemical engineering), and the Society of Women in Astronomy and Physics,” Catherine says.

Thanks so much to all involved! This is a great way to interest girls in STEM at an early age, and to start building a pipeline that could lead to careers in fields where women remain underrepresented.

SEMINAR ON FDA REGULATORY SCIENCE

JOB TIPS FOR SENIORS

Jobs for recent college graduates are relatively plentiful. Joe Testani, assistant dean and director of the Greene Center for Career Education and Connections, offers advice to seniors on how they can make the most of this year’s unusual job market.

NEEDED: REAL READERS

A reminder to our alumni: Please consider volunteering to serve as Real Readers next spring. Real Readers–alumni with three or more years of work experience–are an integral part of WRTG 273 “Communicating your Professional Identity in Engineering” by giving our students “real world” feedback as they learn how to apply for internships, jobs, and graduate school. Here’s a video with more details. Please contact Michelle Marks-Hook by December 31 if you would like to apply.

ALUMNI NEWS

Bob Cutting ’87, a chemical engineering alumnus, was recently appointed chief operating officer of Lumeo, a designer of computer vision solutions. Bob, who also has an MBA from George Washington University, served as a submarine officer with the US Navy for more than six years after graduating from Rochester. He previously served as vice president for Kastle Systems and as an executive consultant for product management, solution deployment, and operations for technology-based start-ups. He is co-founder of Prism, a cloud service that transformed video cameras into Internet of Things-based visual merchandising and business intelligence devices for global retailers. He first cut his teeth in video analytics as the vice president of product management for ObjectVideo, an early pioneer and provider of intelligent video software. Read more.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman