December 5, 2022
Ajay Anand, at left, and Chris Muir. (Photos by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
University communications officer Jim Mandelaro takes a closer look at this year’s recipients of the University’s Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, including Ajay Anand, associate professor of data science, and Chris Muir, professor of mechanical engineering.
Ajay’s goal is for students to “bring out the best in themselves” through a solid understanding of the material combined with opportunities to apply that understanding to real-world problems. Students appreciate Ajay’s approach to teaching. “Professor Anand would integrate real-world examples with the core foundational concepts to help students bridge the connection between theory and applications . . . I refer to his slides even today,” says Haoyu Chen ’21. “He goes out of his way to ensure that students can easily approach him with questions and concerns.” Learn more.
Chris rarely teaches his students anything he hasn’t already experienced in the workplace or through his research. Chris has taught more than 2,400 students during his eight years at the University, yet he strives to connect with all of them. “What I admire the most about his teaching style is how he presents his material through a lens of applicability. He has taught me many difficult subjects, but it never felt simply abstract, even when we were covering highly complex materials. He made sure to use real-life examples to allow us to understand the concept in a more realistic way,” says Lale Yilmaz ’22. Learn more.
BEST WISHES TO BRIAN MCINTYRE
After 37 years at the University, Brian McIntyre is retiring. To honor his dedication and service, URnano and the Institute of Optics are hosting a retirement event from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, December 14 in Munnerlyn (Goergen) Atrium. Hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Brian’s many contributions to the University and the Hajim School were officially recognized last year with a Witmer Award for Distinguished Service. For all of us who have been fortunate enough to work with Brian, the retirement event will be a great opportunity to thank him personally and wish him all the best. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here by this Friday December 9..
TOPICS WORTH TALKING ABOUT
Faculty, staff, and students are invited to hear interesting presentations from Zhen Bai, assistant professor of computer science, and Matt BaileyShea, professor of music and music theory, at an AS&E Community Conversation at 4 p.m. December 14 in the Hawkins-Carlson Room.
Zhen will discuss new opportunities for augmented reality and wearable technologies to help hearing parents offer American Sign Language on the fly to their deaf or hard of hearing children. This would involve just-in-time, contextual-aware, unobtrusive feedback during face-to-face interactions, such as storytelling or playing with toys. This would help lessen the risk of language deprivation at critical time for the children’s language, cognitive, and social development.
Matt will describe how lullabies aren’t solely confined to the nursery. They appear in many of our most beloved and influential genres of Western music. Matt’s talk will demonstrate how lullabies operate as a vehicle for dark and complex thoughts in classical music, Broadway shows, rock, and beyond.
The brief talks will be followed by a discussion and reception.
MEET GRAND CHALLENGES SCHOLARS
Abbey Kampel, holding a certificate of excellence from Rice University in the photo at left, and Hesham Elshafey will describe their experiences as Grand Challenges Scholars during drop-in sessions at the iZone this week.
As Abbey Kampel ’23 applies to graduate schools she can list an impressive number of internships and research experiences here and at other major universities. Rice. Dartmouth. Wake Forest. Arizona State University. The US Naval Academy. Even Oxford University—during high school no less!
The busy, hard-working biomedical engineering and psychology dual major can also point to her participation in our Grand Challenges Scholars program. The GCSP provides her a framework to “tie all of these experiences together,” Abbey says. Abbey will talk to fellow students about her experiences from 4-5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the iZone. Learn more.
Hesham Elshafey ’25, an electrical and computer engineering major, was well acquainted with grand challenges even before arriving on our campus. While growing up in Tanta, Egypt, Hesham attended Gharbiya—one of 14 Egyptian STEM high schools. The schools are unique in requiring students to work in teams to address the grand challenges that Egypt faces through hands-on, project-based learning.
Hesham is participating in our Grand Challenges Scholar program and is also finding the program a useful framework—to further develop his robotics skills. Learn more.
Hesham will describe his experiences from 1 to 3 p.m. this Thursday at the iZone.
Q&A WITH TOM BROWN
In a wide-ranging interview with Light: Science and Applications, Tom Brown, director of The Institute of Optics, talks about his ground breaking work on cylindrical vector beams and stress-engineered optics, what it’s like to be journal editor, and how a sketch he made while changing planes in Pittsburgh became an important turning point in his career. And he offers lots of sound advice and interesting insights. For example:
On giving presentations: “You should be able to say, of each slide, ‘This is important (or interesting) because …’ If it is not important or interesting perhaps you don’t need to include it.”
Why it’s important for researchers to know what it takes to solve problems in the marketplace: “Solutions involving cutting edge science make very good publications, but it is often the exquisitely simple and robust solutions that contribute the most to high quality commercial and medical technology.”
ALUMNI IN THE NEWS
Paul Muntner ’91, at left, and Marcus Gage ’94 ’96 (MS).
Electrical engineering alumnus Paul Muntner ’91, a professor of epidemiology and the associate dean for research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health, recently received the 2022 Joseph A. Vita Award from the American Heart Association. The award recognizes scientists whose research has had a major impact on the field of cardiovascular biology or cardiovascular health during the past five years.
Paul’s research focuses on identifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and improving CVD prevention and treatment. He currently has 11 grant-funded studies in progress and has published more than 650 articles in peer-reviewed journals. While at Rochester, Paul was our first squash All-American and a Garnish Scholar, earning him a place in our University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Mechanical engineering alumnus Marcus Gage ’94 ’96 (MS), a senior structural engineer at USNC-Tech, is among the latest inductees in the Athletic Hall of Fame. Marcus was a 12-time varsity letter winner, competing in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. He was a member of Rochester’s national championship cross country team in 1991 and earned a total of eight All-UAA honors across the three sports during his career.
Marcus is still active as a runner and athlete, competing in duathlon and Ironman world championship competitions. Learn more.
Have a great week,
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
