July 10, 2023

Rising high school juniors and seniors participating in Photon Camp presented their final projects to friends and family in the atrium of Goergen Hall.

Dear Members of the Hajim School Community,

Dozens of high school students recently spent an immersive week on campus exploring the growing fields of optics and optical engineering. Photon Camp provided 32 rising high school juniors and seniors from across Monroe County and one from North Carolina a free opportunity to attend faculty lectures, tour the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and Monroe Community College optics labs, and work on projects in the Institute of Optics laboratories.

It’s always incredible to me how much students seem to learn throughout the course of the week, which has been a fixture of our summers since 2013. The students worked on projects related to thermal imaging, holography, solar energy, and more. The camp culminated in a poster session where they demonstrated their projects to family and friends, and I was thoroughly impressed by what they accomplished in such a short amount of time.

I want to extend a huge thank you to all the faculty and students from the Institute of Optics who made this camp possible, particularly Undergraduate Program Coordinator Dustin Newman, Senior Lab Engineer Ed Herger, and Professor Nick Vamivakas.

A VISIT FROM US REPRESENTATIVE JOE MORELLE

Demetrious Dowdell, a PhD student in optics, demonstrates a quantum eraser project he helped Photon Campers develop. Demetrious was a Photon Camper himself back in 2015 and paid it forward by assisting with this year’s camp.

US Representative Joe Morelle visited the University of Rochester at the end of June for a tour of our quantum labs. While on campus, he got to see UR Nano, the University’s Integrated Nanosystems Center, stop by Professor Nick Bigelow’s Cooling and Trapping lab, and create quantum superposition on a chip in Professor Machiel Blok’s superconducting quantum circuit lab.

While Representative Morelle was here, he also spoke with students who were here for Photon Camp and saw first-hand all the fascinating projects they were working on. One of our camp counselors, optics PhD student Demetrious Dowdell, demonstrated the quantum eraser project some of the campers had been working on.

We want to thank Representative Morelle for his constant support for the University of Rochester and our region.

QIANG LIN’S TEAM ADVANCES PHOTONIC DEVICES AND QUANTUM COMPUTING

A new system developed by Professor Qiang Lin’s research team allows them to conduct quantum simulations in a synthetic space that mimics the physical world by controlling the frequency, or color, of quantum entangled photons as time elapses. (University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw)

A team of researchers led by Qiang Lin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and optics, recently published impressive new advances in photonic devices and quantum computing.

In a new study in Nature Photonics, the team outlined an important step toward developing computers advanced enough to simulate complex natural phenomena at the quantum level. They developed a new chip-scale optical quantum simulation system that uses a synthetic space that mimics the physical world by controlling the frequency, or color, of quantum entangled photons as time elapses. Read more about the full study at the News Center.

Qiang and his team also recently published a Nature Communications study that describes a new tool for generating microwave signals that could help propel advances in wireless communication, imaging, atomic clocks, and more. They developed a new high-speed tunable microcomb, which Qiang calls “one of the hottest areas of research in nonlinear integrated photonics.” Read more about the study on the Hajim website.

Congratulations to Qiang, lead authors Usman Javid ’23 PhD and Yang He ’20 PhD, and all the students involved in the study.

HAJIM SCHOOL STUDENTS HONORED AS ALL-AMERICANS

From left to right: Megan Bell ’25 (biomedical engineering), Cole Goodman ’25 (data science), Kate Isaac ’24 (biomedical engineering), and Scott Sikorski ’23 (computer science) are Hajim School students recognized as All-Americans this year. (Rochester Athletics / Christopher Cecere)

Several Hajim School student athletes have been recognized as All-Americans.

From the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, men’s track and field team members Scott Sikorski ’23 (computer science) received All-American honors in the 1500 meters and Cole Goodman ’25 (data science) received All-American honors for the long jump and triple jump. From the women’s outdoor track and field team, the 4×400 meter relay squad including Megan Bell ’25 (biomedical engineering) and Kate Isaac ’24 (biomedical engineering) received All-American honors from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Megan and Kate were also named Academic All-Americans.

We are so proud of these well-rounded students who excel both academically and athletically. You can find more accolades on the Athletics site.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman