September 19, 2022
Clockwise from upper left, Jim and Tammy Wyant, Tom Brown, and Donna Strickland.
Dear members of the Hajim School Community,
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our distinguished alumnus James Wyant ’67 (MS) ’69 (PhD) and his wife Tammy, our Institute of Optics has an opportunity to increase its faculty by 50 percent, helping ensure that it retains its preeminent position as it prepares to enter its second century. The Wyants’ $12 million challenge gift, announced today, will cover 60 percent of the cost of 10 new endowed professorships—five distinguished professorships for renowned faculty and five professorships for early career faculty.
The first distinguished professorship will recognize Nobel Prize recipient Donna Strickland, one of the most notable alumni of the Institute. An $800,000 gift from Optica (formerly OSA), a leading society in optics and photonics, will be matched with $1.2M by the Wyant Challenge.
The increase in faculty will help meet an increasing demand, both in the Rochester area and nationwide, for trained optics graduates. It will also “create a much-needed pipeline of diverse, creative, and committed young faculty whose new ideas and work as educators and researchers will drive and shape not only the Institute’s future but the optics industry as a whole,” Institute Director Tom Brown says.
So, not only our University but the optics field at large is indebted to the Wyants and to Optica for setting this remarkable challenge in motion. I would also like to give a big shout out to University Advancement and to Tom Brown. A key part of the gifting process was Tom’s phenomenal work in creating a compelling vision for the Institute in consultation with faculty, students, staff, alumni, and industry partners. Read more.
CONGRATULATIONS TO . . .
Left to right: Thomas Howard, Ross Maddox, and Chenliang Xu.
Congratulations to three of our faculty members recently promoted from tenure-track assistant professors to tenured associate professors. This is an important milestone in a faculty member’s career, requiring excellence in three areas: teaching, scholarship and research, and service. Tom Howard of electrical and computer engineering, Ross Maddox of biomedical engineering and neuroscience, and Chenliang Xu of computer science have demonstrated outstanding abilities in these areas.
Our University’s Faculty Handbook also notes that, “a central concern in tenure is with future expectations, and the primary use of the record of the past is to answer affirmatively the question ‘Is this individual likely to be an important teacher, scholar (or artist), and contributor to the University’s work for the many years ahead?'” I have no doubt that Tom, Ross, and Chenliang will fulfill our highest expectations!
WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Our University’s Institutional Office of Equity and Inclusion is hosting a HIGHER Conference for Women in Higher Education from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. September 22 in the Feldman Ballroom. This free event is designed to create space for conversations and connections that empower women in higher education to push through barriers to advancement, pay equity and other rights, to reach their career goals and to pull other women up along the way. I encourage faculty, administrators, healthcare professionals, alumni, grad students, and post-docs to attend this event, which is facilitated by the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University and sponsored by the EAB consulting firm. Register here.
CELEBRATING GLOBAL DIVERSITY
What is the best way to honor our international students, both graduate and undergraduate, while also celebrating the global diversity of the broader University community?
Miraz A. Sadi ’24, a chemical engineering and biological sciences double major from Bangladesh, and Hani Awad, the Donald and Mary Clark Professor of Orthopedics and professor of biomedical engineering, are interested in hearing your ideas.
They are part of a committee charged by President Sarah Mangelsdorf with developing an installation or celebration that unifies all University campuses. The committee was created after the international flag display in Wilson Commons was permanently discontinued.
“I think it’s very important for us to come up with smart and innovative ideas and resolve this,” says Miraz, who is also a senate member in the Students’ Association (SA) government. “We want to give students something they’ll appreciate at Rochester for the next 100 years.”
The global diversity of our University is one of its greatest strengths. So please give this some thought and submit ideas here by October 31.
DROP BY STUDIO X
Every Friday at 1 p.m. (except Meliora Weekend), Studio X — our University’s hub for immersive technologies—will host Drop-In Fridays. The sessions feature informal workshops, talks, and demos to help students, faculty, and staff learn more about the digital world of extended reality (XR). All levels welcome. No experience necessary!
This Friday, September 23, the series kicks off with Immersive Mozart: VR Music Composition in Unity, during which instructor Noah Viso ’23 of computer science will help you create your own music and sound design with Tracktion, then import your creation into Unity to experiment with immersive sound. Register here.
APPLY NOW FOR GRADUATE RESEARCH DAY
Our master’s and PhD candidates are invited to present their work during the AS&E Graduate Research Day on Wednesday, October 19 in the Feldman Ballroom.
Throughout the day, participants will present short research talks of 10 minutes plus 5 minutes of Q&A time, on any topic, including completed research, works in progress, small group research projects, etc. The event culminates with an awards ceremony and networking reception from 4 to 5 p.m.
Several $300 cash prizes will be awarded by AS&E staff and faculty judges. To help prepare students for their talks, the GEPA office, Greene Center, and the River Campus Libraries will be sponsoring workshops on talking about your research and networking, so look for more information coming soon.
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION HERE by 5 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20. Submissions will be reviewed and applicants notified no later than this Friday, September 23. If you have any questions contact Katie Ferruzza.
ALUMNAE IN THE NEWS
Susan Houde-Walter, at left, and Alison Christopherson
Susan Houde-Walter ’83 ’87PhD—the first woman tenured faculty member of The Institute of Optics, a former OSA (now Optica) president, and the CEO of LMD Power of Light Corp.—is the new director of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. Susan has excelled in both academia and industry, and she serves as an outstanding role model for women. We look forward to working closely with Susan in her new position. Read more about Susan’s many contributions.
Alison Christopherson ’20PhD, a mechanical engineering and Laboratory for Laser Energetics alumna, will receive the 2022 Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award from the American Physical Society. Alison, now a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was advised by Riccardo Betti and supported by a Horton Fellowship. She is the first Rochester student and only the sixth woman in 36 years to receive this award. Alison’s thesis, “Effects of Charged Particle Heating on the Hydrodynamics of Inertially Confined Plasma,” offers “impactful theories of fusion alpha heating and metrics to assess proximity to thermonuclear ignition in inertially confined plasmas,” and a “novel measurement of hot electron preheat and its spatial distribution in direct-drive laser fusion,” APS notes. Read more.
THANKS, NEW REAL READERS!
I am grateful to all of you who volunteered to become Real Readers to meet our needs this semester. Real Readers play an invaluable role in providing our students feedback as part of WRTG 273: “Communicating your Professional Identity in Engineering.” The course teaches our students “real life” skills in preparing resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, elevator pitches, and being interviewed for internships and jobs. Your help in preparing our students is greatly appreciated!
Have a great week!
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
