November 6, 2017

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Congratulations to:

  • Chunlei Guo, professor of optics, who has received an additional $1.5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his exciting research developing superhydrophobic (water repellent) surfaces. Guo and his team use a powerful laser-patterning technique to create an intricate pattern of micro- and nanoscale structures, giving the metals their new properties. As the water bounces off the superhydrophobic surfaces, it also collects dust and other particles. One application — of particular interest to the Gates Foundation — is creating latrines that are cleaner and healthier to use in poor nations.
  • Edmund Lalor, associate professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience, who is co-PI with Rajeev Raizada, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences, on a project to determine whether electroencephalogram (EEG) responses to natural speech can be decoded based on the semantic content of that speech. The goal is to develop an inexpensive, interpretable, and easily acquired neurophysiological measure of the semantic processing of natural speech. This could have enormous impact on research on language development in healthy infants as well as in children with intellectual and developmental disorders in which language processing is impaired. It would also have great potential as a biomarker for presymptomatic cognitive decline in older persons. The project is funded by the Schmitt Program on Integrative Neuroscience.
  • Danielle Benoit, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Her work on preventative treatments for salivary gland radiation damage with associate professors Catherine Ovitt and Lisa DeLouise at the Medical Center recently received $3.8 million from the National Institutes of Health. The team is using a microbubble technique developed by DeLouise that gives salivary gland cells niches in which to proliferate so their reaction to various drugs can be tested. Danielle’s lab has produced hydrogel materials that can be placed inside each microbubble, further allowing the cells to maintain structure and function. Read more here.
  • Xi-Cheng Zhang, our M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics and former Institute of Optics director, who is in Australia on a Selby Fellowship through the Australian Academic of Science. This is quite an honor, and it highlights both his research on terahertz waves and the University of Rochester to a large audience across Australia.

Rebecca Gillie ’17, a magna cum laude graduate of audio and music engineering, recently contacted Carla Gottschalk and Ted Pagano in the Center for Education Abroad to let them know she is doing well starting her master’s degree in sound and vibration at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The classes are in English. Rebecca is recipient of a scholarship that covers the cost of tuition. She’s enjoying Chalmers, and wants Hajim students to know that three full-tuition scholarships will be awarded to US students for master’s programs this year. Click here to read an article about the scholarships and Rebecca’s experiences so far.

Hajim alumni: if you’ve been in the workforce for at least three years and have an interest in working one-on-one with a Hajim student on resumes, cover letters, spoken communication skills, and more, please consider joining the Real Reader program. Our more than 200 Real Reader volunteers serve as an integral part of WRT 273, a required course in professional communication for engineering and computer science students. We’re currently seeking volunteers in all fields for the Spring 2018 semester. Contact michelle.marks-hook@rochester.edu for more information.

Students, faculty, staff, and recent alumni interested in exploring the market potential of their work and learning entrepreneurial skills can apply to the University’s NSF I-Corps Site program for the Spring 2018 cohort. This program provides entrepreneurial training (two required workshops and biweekly meetings over the course of the semester) and up to $3,000 to enable teams to explore the market potential of their ideas through customer discovery interviews and the completion of a Business Model Canvas. Download the I-Corps application and submit by Monday, November 13. Contact Senior Program Manager Matt Spielmann at the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship with any questions.

Have great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
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