March 20, 2023

Photos of Hajim School students in the Dominican Republic, making adjustments to a water purification system that fellow members of the Engineers Without Borders student chapter installed on previous visits.

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Six Hajim students who are members of the Engineers Without Borders student chapter were in Don Juan, Dominican Republic, during January break. They were making adjustments to a water purification system the EWB chapter installed for an elementary school during previous trips.

The team members included EWB chapter president Hannah Rickert ’25 of biomedical engineering, past president Andrew Rojnuckarin ’23 of chemical engineering, and Katie Lambright,’26, Rosemary MacLean ’23, Bridgit Nguyen ’26, and Hong Zhang ’25, all of biomedical engineering.

This was the first trip back since the pandemic.

“The goal of an engineer goes beyond just building something,” Rickert says. “Being able to take these trips and see how what we design and monitor can impact a community firsthand is a gratifying experience.” The project “really shows how engineers can truly make a difference, not just in designing something that works, but by providing access to needs like clean water,” she adds. Learn more about their trip here.

NOMINATIONS FOR DOTTIE WELCH AWARD

Seniors: Has a Hajim School staff member had a positive impact on your experience as an undergraduate? Now is your chance to recognize that person’s hard work and dedication. Nominations for our Dottie Welch Student Enrichment Award are being accepted until April 3. The award recognizes a staff member whose performance and dedication enriches the student experience in the tradition exemplified by Dottie, the former undergraduate coordinator of biomedical engineering, during her 25-plus years of service to students.

Here’s the list of eligible staff members. Please email the Hajim School Dean’s Office (hajimschool@ur.rochester.edu) with the name of the staff member you are nominating and a few sentences explaining why you think that person is deserving of the award.

OUTSTANDING STUDENT

In addition to learning about assistive technologies, Adira Blumenthal has enjoyed the opportunity to be a lighting designer, set designer, and stage manager, and to serve on the executive board of ROC Players.

“What I find fascinating is how we can type some code and fundamentally change people’s lives for the better,” says Adira Blumenthal ’23 (T5).

The computer science major knows firsthand how important that can be. Adira has migraines and a processing speed disorder. “Basically, I don’t read with my eyes anymore,” she explains. “Since middle school, I’ve been using text-to-speech to read essentially everything.”

As part of understanding her place in the broader disability community, Adira has immersed herself in learning more about other assistive technologies for a range of disabilities. The University’s flexible curriculum has given her plenty of opportunities to do so—and also pursue her passion for art.

She’s been involved every semester with ROC Players. She has worked as a research assistant in the Rochester Human-Computer Interaction lab. A paper she coauthored received a Best Paper nomination and she also received an honorable mention in the Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award program for 2023.

After interning at GoodMaps this summer, she will be back on campus, finishing her degree and taking advantage of the University’s unique Take 5 program to spend an additional year, tuition free, studying American Sign Language and Accessibility.

Learn more about Adira’s experiences and plans for the future.

RESEARCH UPDATE

This tapered optical fiber, created in the lab of William Renninger, assistant professor of optics, achieves strong optical-acoustic interactions with long-lived acoustic waves. (Illustration by Wendao Xu)

When optical beams, consisting of photons, travel through fibers, they cause vibrations that generate acoustic waves, consisting of phonons. The phenomenon, called Brillouin scattering, has been harnessed by researchers to optomechanically “couple” acoustic waves with light waves. This coupling allows information carried by photons to be transduced, or converted, to the phonons, which travel nearly a million times more slowly than light waves, so the information can more easily be read and manipulated.

To date, however, many of the Brillouin scattering techniques researchers have used rely on standard fiber geometries that cause acoustic waves to die out quickly. This limits the efficacy of the coupling.

Now, using an optical fiber with a micron-sized waist, Wendao Xu, a PhD candidate in the research group of William Renninger, assistant professor at the Institute of Optics, has demonstrated how to couple propagating optical waves and long-lived acoustic waves, with strong optical-acoustic interactions.

“This is a unique and desirable combination that has not previously been achieved,” says Wendao, the lead author of a paper in Optica describing the breakthrough. The research received Best Presentation Award at the WOMBAT 2022 Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin Scattering at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, where it was presented by coauthor Arjun Iyer, also a PhD candidate in Will’s lab.

The breakthrough enables information carried by a light pulse to be temporarily stored in slowly propagating acoustic waves long enough for a second pulse of light to “read” the information. The achievement could have applications for light storage, radio-frequency photonics filtering, and optical delay lines. Learn more about the research.

HAJIM ALUMNUS LEADS WORKSHOP ON LEADERSHIP

Bob Wheeler ’88—the president and CEO of Airstream Incorporated, makers of the iconic “silver bullet” travel trailers—is hosting an online workshop later this month for students titled “Leadership for the Modern Age: How Humility and Authenticity Foster Positive Company Culture.” Bob, who studied mechanical engineering while at the Hajim School, will share strategies and stories of Airstream’s values-led leadership approach to show how positive workplaces that are inclusive, collaborative, and supportive not only exist but are also thriving. This is a terrific opportunity to hear firsthand from an alumnus who has charted a fascinating career in industry. The workshop takes place on Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m. EDT and is open to all undergraduate students. Register online today.

GREAT ADVICE FROM AN UNDERGRAD

Christopher Lu ’23 of biomedical engineering was featured recently by the University’s Office of Undergrad Research in the Student Research Corner. Each month featured students describe the research they are doing and give their peers advice on starting their own research experience.

Christopher, who currently works in the labs of both Jim McGrath and Whasil Lee, shares these lessons:

Building well-controlled, scientifically rigorous experiments will provide information in results no matter the outcome and is 99 percent of the journey in generating cutting-edge research experiments.
The research process is long, can be tiring, and is often filled with failures, but think of every failure as an opportunity to learn and approach the problem from a different direction. This is where the novelty in research comes from.
Success in research is how you define it, says Christopher, who has not presented his research at a conference, does not have an authored paper, and has been in positions and roles that made him not like research at times. “Success for me is gaining the necessary soft and hard skills that will serve me well during graduate school,” Christopher says.
Don’t give up, the path to finding a research position you “love” will take time, he adds, but enjoy the process because it only happens once!

Now, that’s advice worth heeding! Learn more about Christopher’s research experiences.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman