October 31, 2022

I’m very excited about the wide range of collaborative projects we are able to support this year,” says Mujdat Cetin, the Robin and Tim Wentworth Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science. “These projects tackle important and timely problems on data science methods and applications, and I am confident they will lead to significant research contributions and attract external funding.”

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

The close synergy between the Hajim School and the Goergen Institute for Data Science is reflected in the seed funding the institute has invested this year in promising, cutting-edge research. Nine of the 10 projects involve Hajim School faculty members.

The awards, approximately $20,000 each, help researchers generate sufficient proof-of-concept findings to then attract major external funding.

• Ising Boltzmann Substrate for Energy-Based Models.
  Co-PIs: Michael Huang, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science, and Gonzalo Mateos, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science and the Asaro Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science.
• A Data-Driven, Virtual Reality-based Approach to Enhance Deficient Color Vision.
  Co-PIs: Yuhao Zhu, assistant professor of computer science, and Gaurav Sharma, professor of electrical and computer engineering, of computer science, and of biostatistics and computational biology.
• Audiovisual Integration in Virtual Reality Renderings of Real Physical Spaces.
  Co-PIs: Duje Tadin, professor and chair of brain and cognitive sciences and professor of ophthalmology and of neuroscience, Ming-Lun Lee, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Michael Jarvis, associate professor of history.
• Personalized Immersive Spatial Audio with Physics Informed Neural Field.
  Co-PIs: Zhiyao Duan, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science, and Mark Bocko, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of physics and astronomy.
• Computational Earth Imaging with Machine Learning.
  Co-PIs: Tolulope Olugboji, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Mujdat Cetin, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science, and the Robin and Tim Wentworth Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science.
• Building a Multi-Step Commonsense Reasoning System for Story Understanding.
  Co-PIs: Zhen Bai, assistant professor of computer science, and Lenhart Schubert, professor of computer science.
• Versatile and Customizable Virtual Patients to Improve Doctor-Patient Communication.
  Co-PIs: Ehsan Hoque, associate professor of computer science, and Ronald Epstein, professor of family medicine and palliative care.
• Machine Learning Assisted Femtosecond Laser Fabrication of Efficient Solar Absorbers.
  Co-PIs: Chunlei Guo, professor of optics, and Jiebo Luo, Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering.
• Rhythm-Aware and Emotion-Aware Video Background Music Generation.
  PI: Jiebo Luo, Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering.
  
• Improving Deconvolution Estimates through Bayesian Shrinkage.
  PI: Matthew McCall, associate professor of biostatistics.

Find more information about each of the 2022–23 funded projects.

GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

Michael Chavrimootoo, Samantha Cox, and Seungju Yeo.

Three Hajim School students were among the award recipients at the recent AS&E Graduate Student Research Symposium hosted by GEPA (Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs). Students gave 10-minute presentations to audiences that included students, faculty, and staff. Awardees were chosen based on their ability to effectively communicate their research to a mixed audience.

Congratulations to:

• Michael Chavrimootoo, computer science, “Separating and Collapsing Electoral Control Types.” Michael is advised by Lane Hemaspaandra.
• Samantha Cox, chemical engineering, “Symmetric Molecular Dynamics.” Sam is advised by Andrew White.
• Seungju Yeo, mechanical engineering, “Variability Estimation in a Crack Growth Simulation Model Using Design of Experiments.” Seungju is advised by Hesam Askari.

We are also proud of the 12 other Hajim School participants, Jie An, Masum Hasan, Hanjia Lyu, Wesley Smith, and James Spann of computer science; Reem Mislati and Abdelrahman Qoutb of electrical and computer engineering; Max Friedman, Anes Macic, Peter Miklavcic, and Anna Remus of mechanical engineering, and Brandon Ruszala of biomedical engineering and neuroscience. Their presentations also reflect the outstanding breadth and quality of research being done by our graduate students. You can find abstracts of all the symposium presentations here.

PATRICK LEE SCHOLARS

The Patrick Lee Foundation provides scholarships to offset the cost of a college education for outstanding students in engineering and technical fields at nine colleges and universities.

“Our scholars are entrepreneurial and embrace innovation,” the foundation states. “They understand the importance of public service and are leaders in and out of the classroom.”

Congratulations to 10 current students who have received these scholarships. They are:

• Hannah Bushey ’24, Delainey Hebble ’24, and Ethan Hunt ’23 of biomedical engineering.
• Charles Fleischmann ’23, Elyse Jones ’23, and Dalton Moore ’24 of mechanical engineering.
• Kevin Fobare ’24 of electrical and computer engineering.
• Peri Fogel ’24 and Madeline Smith ’23 of chemical engineering.
• Seth Roberts ’23 of audio and music engineering.

They met with foundation representatives and fellow scholars from Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Monroe Community College at a recent celebration and networking event held on our campus.

EDMUND LALOR SPEAKS ON AUTISM

The Skirboll Family Autism Conference this Thursday through Saturday, November 3-5, offers interactive webinars by national experts on topics related to autism spectrum disorder, in collaboration with individuals with ASD, families, agency representatives, and community members. One of the presenters is Edmund Lalor, associate professor of biomedical engineering and of neuroscience. Edmund’s lab examines sensory perception in naturalistic environments, and how differences in such processing might relate to the symptomatology of developmental and psychiatric disorders. One focus is on how people with and without autism predictively process natural speech. Register here to attend any or all of the sessions.

BIOMEDICAL ULTRASOUND SYMPOSIUM

Kathy Nightingale, the Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and BME alumnus Manoj Menon ’04 ’10 (PhD), director of clinical science and innovation at Philips Ultrasound, will be the distinguished lecturers at the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound annual Symposium Day, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, November 10 in the Feldman Ballroom at Frederick Douglass Commons.

The day’s events will also include graduate student presentations, a poster session, lunch, and networking. Contact Carla Boff (carla.boff@rochester.edu) to register (please include any dietary restrictions) or if you will be presenting a poster.

CONDOLENCES

Sidney Shapiro, former chair of electrical and computer engineering, passed away recently at the age of 90. During his career, Sidney made several discoveries that helped confirm the theory of superconductivity and the Josephson Effect. He also played an important role in proposing our University’s “Take Five” program, which The New York Times described as “one of the more innovative liberal arts programs in the country” after the program was launched in 1986.

Tim Talley ’88 recalls how Sidney made him confront some hard choices, then took him under his wing when Tim was struggling as an undergraduate. “Over the course of Professor Shapiro working with me and picking classes for me, my grades went up,” Tim says. “I started getting A’s in classes with PhD students.”

Our condolences to Sidney’s family, friends, and colleagues.

ALUMNI IN THE NEWS

Wen-Chang Chen and Donna Strickland.

Chemical engineering alumnus Wen-Chang Chen ’93 (PhD) has been named president of National Taiwan University (NTU). After earning a BS at NTU, Wen-Chang did his PhD work here under Samson Jenekhe, a professor of chemical engineering, chemistry, and materials science. He then returned to join the faculty at NTU, eventually becoming dean of the college of engineering. In 2021, he was awarded a National Chair Professorship in engineering and applied science. Wen-Chang is also the chair of NTU’s Optoelectronic Polymer Laboratory, which studies the electronic and optical properties of donor-acceptor polymers through chemical structure design, charge transport, band gaps, and light-emitting characteristics. Learn more.

Institute of Optics alumna and Nobel Laureate Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD), professor of physics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, continues to receive recognition.

Optica (formerly OSA), has named Donna an Optica Honorary Member, the most distinguished of all Optica member categories, awarded by a unanimous vote of the Optica Board of Directors to individuals who have made seminal contributions to the field of optics. Their number is limited to two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the society. Donna is recognized for her major contributions to the society and to the optics and photonics community through pioneering innovative research, exemplary leadership, and exceptional service as a role model for young scientists and engineers.

Donna has also been named the inaugural recipient of the Rev. Joseph Carrier, C.S.C., Science Medal by the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. The award recognizes sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science. Donna will accept the award this Thursday when she gives a public lecture at Notre Dame as part of the presentation.

Donna was co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for her work with Gérard Mourou, her doctoral supervisor at the time. They developed “chirped pulse amplification,” a technique that ultimately opened the door to new medical, scientific, and commercial applications for lasers.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman