June 5, 2017

Dear members of the Hajim School Community,

Our Solar Splash team has high hopes as it enters its new solar-powered electric boat in competition against 15 other collegiate teams this week in Springfield, Ohio. “Everything on the boat is completely new,” says Solar Splash president Edward Ruppel ’17 of biomedical engineering. The annual five-day competition, which starts Wednesday, includes technical inspections the first day, followed by three on-the-water competitive events that test speed, maneuverability, and endurance. Click here to read more about the new boat the team built from scratch with help from a successful USEED campaign.

Two optical engineering students are doing research in Germany this summer with DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Internships in Science and Engineering. Lei Ding ’18 is working in an ultrafast laser lab at the University of Jena. Weidi Liu ’18 is working on intraocular lenses at Saarland University’s Institute of Experimental Ophthalmology in Saarbrũcken. DAAD-RISE internships give students an opportunity to work with German PhD students on projects at top research institutions.

Congratulations to Madeleine Laitz ’16 of chemical engineering, who spent this past school year at Imperial College in London, UK, on a Fulbright Scholarship, and has now received an NSF graduate research fellowship to pursue a PhD in civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

The lab of Danielle Benoit, associate professor of biomedical engineering, holds its annual fundraiser this week in support of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and its efforts to cure childhood cancer. You can donate online or drop by the lab’s lemonade stand from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Rochester Public Market, 280 Union Street North or from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at the Brighton Farmers Market, 1150 Winton Road South. I applaud Danielle’s efforts on behalf of this worthy cause!

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman