June 21, 2022

Danielle Benoit, Marvin Doyley, and James McGrath are the latest Hajim faculty members selected for named professorships.

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Named professorships are part of a long-standing tradition to celebrate the international stature of our University’s faculty members as researchers, scholars, and teachers. I am delighted to recognize three of our Hajim School faculty who were recently honored in this way.

Danielle Benoit, professor of biomedical engineering and director of our Materials Science Program, has been selected for the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professorship, which recognizes a distinguished professor who is particularly effective in teaching undergraduates. The College Award for Undergraduate Teaching and Research Mentorship Danielle received in 2019 is a testament to her outstanding abilities as a teacher and mentor. She is also a recognized leader in the field of therapeutic biomaterials for drug delivery and regenerative medicine. Danielle has received multiple awards for her research and continuous research grants that support her multidisciplinary collaborations. Danielle is also an enthusiastic ambassador for science, who contributes to her community, her University, and her professional field.

Marvin Doyley, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering, has been named the Wilson Professor of Electronic Imaging. Marvin’s Parametric Imaging Research Laboratory develops novel imaging methods for detecting disease more quickly and for determining how well patients are responding to therapy. For example, Marvin is leading a multidisciplinary effort to detect whether pancreatic cancer tumors are responding well enough to treatment to be safely removed before they metastasize. In addition to his outstanding research, Marvin is also one of our staunchest advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion. A National Science Foundation REU (research experience for undergraduates) that he launched this year is specifically aimed at attracting women and underrepresented minorities in medical and biological imaging.

James McGrath, professor of biomedical engineering, has been named a Dean’s Professor in recognition of his research excellence. For several years Jim has been perfecting his patented ultra-thin silicon nanomembranes—less than 200 nanometers thick—for a host of applications. These have included: 1) membranes designed to detect or study COVID-19, 2) a multi-compartment, microfluidic organ-on-chip platform using human tissue samples to mimic how a disease or disorder might occur or be treated in a particular patient, and 3) a biomarker detector portable enough to be used by EMT’s to determine if an injured athlete has suffered traumatic brain injury. Jim is skilled at forming multidisciplinary collaborations here and at other universities. He is also an outstanding mentor, with his students placing well at University public speaking competitions.

RESEARCH NEWS

Images show (top left) the design of a superconductive system of cryogenic computing cores and (top right) a superconducting multi-chip module and interface design, including flexible cables for connections between temperature stages. They will be developed as part of an ambitious $15 million, National Science Foundation-supported project that includes ECE faculty members Eby Friedman, Mark Bocko, Selcuk Kose, and Roman Sobolewski.

Cloud computing that supports so much of our digital society—from Facebook to Google to Amazon—is fast but uses incredible amounts of energy.

Eby Friedman, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and three of his ECE colleagues—Mark Bocko, Selcuk Kose, and Roman Sobolewski—are key partners in an ambitious project led by the University of Southern California to develop next-generation, superconductive integrated circuits—on chips a third of an inch in size. The circuits would be at least 100 times more energy efficient and operate more than 10 times faster than the CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology currently used.

This exciting, cutting-edge research could have applications not only in cloud computing, but space programs and quantum computing, says Eby, who is the associate director of the project. Moreover, the $2.6 million share of the funding received by Rochester will enable five to ten graduate students a year to participate in the project, with 15 or more students completing their PhD. Learn more.

LUNABOTICS COMPETITION

Members of the University of Rochester Lunabotics team—Francesca Daszak, at left, and Rachael He at right—approach their automated mining robot with a member of the event staff in the competition arena at Kennedy Space Center. (Image from NASA livestream of Lunabotics MMXXII)

Our Hajim students who competed in NASA’s 2022 Lunabotics competition had to overcome one crisis after another to get their automated mining robot crawling over a replica lunar landscape at Kennedy Space Center. Despite that, the team won the project Project Management Award with a $200 prize and the Nova Award, which is a new award created for first-year teams with impressive systems engineering work.

Team co-captain Francesca Daszak ’23, a mechanical engineering major, says she’s proud of the way her teammates—competing together for the first time—responded under pressure.

On the first day they discovered mechanical issues with the digging and deposition apparatus. Then the USB ports of the main computer failed. And a bug in the coding made the robot almost impossible to control. The students overcame the problems in 24 hours, and got the robot moving during two attempts in the competition arena.

“Given the circumstances, our team did an excellent job pulling together and showing NASA what we could do,” Francesca says. The prize money will go towards next year’s competition expenses, she says. “The Nova Award came as a big surprise but is very encouraging. All of our efforts in the Systems Engineering area paid off!”

“I’m really proud of the way they worked together and applied engineering principles to field a robot,” adds team faculty advisor Thomas Howard, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. “For a first-year team I think they did quite well and learned a lot.” Learn more.

CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH

Also known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth—observed as an official University holiday for the first time this year—is an opportunity to bring together the University and Rochester communities to honor the traditions and practices of the Black community. As we continue our efforts to foster an inclusive and equitable community at the Hajim School, I encourage staff, faculty, students, and other members of our community to join Warren Crichlow ’92W (EdD) to reflect on the evolution and significance of Juneteenth. This newly minted federal holiday symbolizes the past, present, and possible futures of the African American story amid today’s politics and deepening public ambivalence. Register here for the virtual event this Thursday, June 23, at 6 p.m. EDT. This program is presented as part of the REAL Conversations series.

REMINDER

PhD students from multiple departments, including electrical and computer engineering, optics, biomedical engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, computer science, and neuroscience, are invited to apply for extra training in AR/VR through an NSF grant awarded to our University.

Participants will receive instruction and hands-on experience with high-tech equipment used across industries today. They will have the opportunity to participate in industrial internships at companies such as Meta-Facebook, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Vuzix, which support this program.

The deadline for paid fellowship applications, offered to US citizens and permanent residents only, is July 25. The deadline for the general trainee program, open to all, is Aug. 15. Apply here. More information about the program, including how to apply for a paid fellowship, is available here. Individual questions? Contact Kathleen DeFazio, program coordinator.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman