August 28, 2017,
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
Thanks to all of our staff and faculty who helped welcome our new and returning students. They’ve been the center of our attention this past week, and appropriately so.
But I want to also recognize several new faculty members who are joining us this school year.
We’ve already mentioned Scott Carney, who joined The Institute of Optics as its new director and professor on July 1.
We also extend a warm welcome to:
Marc Porosoff, who joins the Department of Chemical Engineering as an assistant professor after serving as an NRC postdoctoral research associate at the US Naval Research Laboratory. Marc, who received his PhD from Columbia University in 2015, will investigate new catalysts for converting abundant carbon resources into chemicals and fuels.
Sreepathi Pai, who joins the Department of Computer Science as an assistant professor after serving as a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Sreepathi, who received his PhD in 2015 from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, is interested in compilers, computer architecture, and programming systems for heterogeneous architectures that contain accelerators, such as graphic processing units (GPUs).
Yuhao Zhu, who will join the Department of Computer Science as an assistant professor next semester after finishing an appointment as visiting researcher at ARM Research. Yuhao, who received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin this year, is interested in computer architecture and systems, especially creating better software and hardware to make next generation client and cloud computing fast, energy-efficient, intelligent, and safe.
Müjdat Çetin, who joins the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an associate professor after serving as a faculty member of Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey, since 2005. His research interests are in broad areas of data, signal and imaging sciences, with cross-disciplinary links in electrical engineering, computer science, and neuroscience.
Ranga Dias, who joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor after a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physics at Harvard. Ranga, who received his PhD at Washington State University in 2013, focuses on materials at extreme pressure and temperature conditions, especially high temperature superconductivity, magnetism, and superfluidity in the vicinity of quantum phase transitions.
William Renninger, who joins The Institute of Optics as an assistant professor after serving as an associate research scientist and postdoctoral associate in the Department of Applied Physics at Yale University. William, who received his PhD at Cornell University in 2012, studies experimental nonlinear optics to explore the ways in which light and matter interact, as well as to identify and develop successful commercialized technologies.
Congratulations as well to:
Hesam Askari, who has been promoted to tenure track assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Hesam joined the department in 2016 as a teaching faculty member. His lab is interested in three main tracks of study: mechanics of granular media and soft materials, Integrated Computational Mechanics of crystalline materials, and data analytics in mechanical systems.
Jacob Kallenbach, a PhD student in biomedical engineering, who was awarded the prestigious Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Jacob was nominated by Professor Ian Dickerson for his service as a teaching assistant for Ian’s Cell and Molecular Biology course last fall. “Jacob was always well prepared with the course material, had a friendly manner, and was able to engage the students and help them learn the material,” said Ian. “He ranks as one of the best TAs I have worked with over the past 20 years.”
Duncan Moore, our vice provost for entrepreneurship and Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor in Optical Engineering Science, who gave a toast to the Emperor and Empress of Japan on Monday during a reception at the start of the 24th Congress of the International Commission for Optics (ICO) in Tokyo. Duncan, who was ICO’s president from 2011-14, even had a moment to chat one on one with the Emperor. “We talked about the fact that when he was prince he played tennis with Jay Rockefeller,” Duncan said. “He told me that when he met the future empress, they played tennis and he lost to her. She confirmed.”
Thanks again to Jim Zavislan, our associate dean, and students with the SPIE chapter who provided solar telescopes and pinhole viewers so people could safely observe Monday’s partial eclipse of the sun. The long lines that formed on the Hajim Quad testified to the excitement the eclipse created on campus.
Engineering alumni, please take note: The Gwen M. Greene Career and Internship Center, which has been doing an outstanding job serving our students under executive director Joe Testani, is looking for employers to visit campus and connect with our talented students at our Engineering, Tech, & Data Science Expo on October 3. This is an invaluable opportunity for our students to learn networking skills and, above all, to learn about internship and job opportunities. If you or your employer would be interested in a table, please contact Christina Pero at christina.pero@rochester.edu or call (585) 276-3071.
Because of the Labor Day holiday, the next issue of Hajim Highlights will be Tuesday, September 5.
This has been an exciting start to the new academic year! Classes begin Wednesday.
Have a great week!
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
