August 1, 2022
Molecular model of multiphase H2O (Blue: Ice VI and Red: Ice HDA) designed by Ali K. Shargh.
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
Ice occurs in at least 15 different “phases”—each with differing molecular geometries and densities. A form of amorphous ice called HDA—created at room rather than cryogenic temperatures—is especially exciting to researchers because of its possible use in imaging biological tissues with increased sharpness and less damage to samples.
However, researchers from six institutions, including Niaz Abdolrahim, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Ali Shargh, a PhD student in her lab, raise flags of caution in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
They discovered that the amorphous HDA ice they created at room temperature also included varying amounts of a crystalline ice, which could be detrimental to biological samples. Moreover, neither of the imaging techniques used in studying amorphous ice can, on its own, accurately determine the exact mix of HDA and crystalline ice. “If you stick with just one of these methods—either XRD or Raman spectroscopy—you end up with questionable results,” says Ali, one of the lead authors. Ali’s molecular dynamics simulations confirmed the findings. Learn more.
OUTSTANDING STUDENT
Ellen Meyer ’23 is doing an internship at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, this summer.
When Ellen Meyer ’23 takes a break from classes and teaching assignments at the University of Rochester, she likes to socialize with fellow students at a card table. Ellen, a mechanical engineering major and vice president of the 200-member student Cards Club, especially enjoys playing pitch. It requires her to concentrate on how to make the most of the cards in her hand, Ellen says. She has taken a similar approach to making the most of the wide range of learning experiences available to her since enrolling at our University.
Ellen is the co-recipient of this year’s Emil L. Kuichling Prize, awarded by the Department of Mechanical Engineering to a junior who has shown the highest academic performance in the core courses. She was recently chosen for the University’s unique Take Five Scholars Program, which provides select students an additional semester or year, tuition-free, to pursue a special academic interest that falls outside their major. Ellen will explore the connections between literature and history.
She has learned design and manufacturing skills as a member of the UR Robotics club, and spent two summers interning at an Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Defense Company plant in her hometown of Simsbury, CT. This summer she is interning at Sandia National Laboratories.
“I welcome each new piece of knowledge eagerly, and I am grateful that the world is so endlessly interesting,” Ellen says. Learn more about Ellen’s background and future plans.
NEEDED: ALUMNI REAL READERS
WRTG 273 “Communicating your Professional Identity in Engineering” gives our students a huge advantage when they apply for internships, jobs, and graduate school. How? By teaching our students “real life” skills in preparing resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, elevator pitches, and being interviewed.
A key component of this course is the feedback provided by our volunteer Real Readers—alumni with three or more years of work experience. We need additional engineering, computer science, and data science alums to volunteer for this fall. The time commitment is only about 5 hours over the course of the semester. You can engage with students remotely. No special expertise in writing is required; you will be supplying the audience, not the instruction, as students practice their pitches and show their resumes. Please contact Michelle Marks-Hook by August 15 if you would like to apply.
Have a great week!
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
