Lenses and mirrors with freeform surfaces enable designers to focus light within optical devices that are lighter, more compact, and more effective than ever before.

But until now, determining which freeform surfaces will work best – if at all – in a given configuration of mirrors and lenses has been a time-consuming and often expensive process of trial and error.

It doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

In a paper in Nature Communications, lead author Aaron Bauer, a senior research engineer at the Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO), combines theory and practice in a step-by-step method that eliminates much of the guesswork.

“Aaron has developed a process to design with freeform surfaces that can be applied very generally,” says coauthor Jannick Rolland, CeFO director and Brian F. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering. “It’s really beautiful and even at times feels like magic.”

She believes the findings will help accelerate the adoption of freeform optics in industry. “People will no longer say ‘Oh, it’s too expensive to build with freeform optics,’” she says. “Because now you can make something that may cost a tenth of what it would have cost otherwise.”

The method Bauer came up with starts with the initial “folding geometry” (alignment of mirrors and lenses) contemplated for a design, and then, based on an analysis of the various aberrations produced by that alignment, predicts:

• whether freeform surfaces could minimize those aberrations and, if so,
• which freeform surfaces should be used for maximum effect.

“Freeform surfaces are not a universal solution for correcting every aberration,” Bauer notes. “So, what our method does is to allow designers  to analyze all of these geometries ahead of time, in order to predict whether or not there would be a good solution.”

That’s far better than the “brute force” approach where “people heuristically try various freeform surfaces into a design,” Rolland says. “Even if it eventually works, you could end up with a system where the departure of the surfaces are much larger than they would be otherwise, because all those freeform surfaces may be fighting each other. And if it does not work, there is nowhere to go as a designer.”

By using Bauer’s method instead, she says, “you will be able to design something that is a lot simpler, and that will be easier to manufacture and test. Furthermore, the method will quickly and unequivocally provide insight into why a given geometry might be intrinsically limited, which is essential for designers.”

Read more here.

The following students are recipients of Arts, Sciences & Engineering’s Outstanding Dissertation Award for 2017–18.

Engineering: Chitraleema Chakraborty, Materials Science, “Flatland Nanophotonics: A Study of Quantum Confined Excitons in 2D Materials.” Joseph Izraelevitz, Computer Science (commendation), “Concurrency Implications of Nonvolatile Byte-Addressable Memory.”

Humanities: Jenevive Nykolak, Visual and Cultural Studies, “Painting in Question, 1967-1981: ‘BMPT,’ Supports/Surfaces, and ja-na-pa.” Kyle Robinson, History (commendation), “Body and Soul of Enlightenment: John Wesley, Methodism, and the Age of Reason.”

Natural Sciences: Frank Garcea, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, “The organization of manipulable object concepts in the human brain.”

Social Sciences: Brett Peters, Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, “The Consequences of Having an Insecure Partner: A Pre-Emptive Buffering Model.”

The following students are recipients of School of Medicine and Dentistry Commencement Awards for 2017–18.

Vincent du Vigneaud Award: Anthony DiPiazza, Microbiology and Immunology, “Insights into CD4 T Cell-Mediated Immunity to Influenza Viruses.” Conferred by the Office of Graduate Education to a graduating student whose thesis is judged superior and unique in potential for stimulating and extending research in the field.

Wallace O. Fenn Award: Benjamin Plog, Pathology, “Novel Insight into Regulation of Glymphatic Flow with Implications for Traumatic Brain Injury.” Given annually to a graduating student judged to have performed especially meritorious research and who presented a Ph.D. thesis suitable to honor the name of Wallace Fenn, former professor and chair of physiology.

Marvel-Dare F. Nutting Award (recognizing an outstanding biochemistry PhD): Amber Cutter, whose PhD dissertation was on “Molecular Characterization of Nucleosome Recognition by Linker Histone H1.0.”

There is a dearth of research on the education of refugees, and much of the research that has been done focuses on young learners in primary grades. Mary Jane Curry, associate professor at the Warner School, and two co-editors address these gaps in the literature in Educating Refugee-background Students: Critical Issues and Dynamic Contexts (Multilingual Matters, 2018).

The volume focuses specifically on what happens to adolescents and adults who have been forced to flee their native country, find temporary asylum in one country, and ultimately are relocated permanently to a third.

The educational background of these refugee-background students may vary widely, and the psychological and social effects of experiencing civil conflict, forced migration, and long term residence in refugee camps “can linger for decades after resettlement,” writes co-editor Shawna Shapiro, an associate professor at Middlebury College, in the introduction.

“Perhaps most important, educational research has rarely engaged directly with the question: To what extent do the educational needs, experiences, and assets of refugee-background students differ from those of other immigrant groups?”

The books addresses two themes: language and literacy, and access and equity. It includes opportunities modern technology offers for refugee-background students to stay connected to their heritage, but also forge bonds in their new communities.

The other co-editor is Raichle Farrelly, assistant professor of applied linguistics at Saint Michael’s College. (Read more here.)

(This is part of a monthly series to help principal investigators understand their role in ensuring that human subject protection requirements are met in their studies.)

Department of Health and Human Service and Food and Drug Administration regulations (45 CFR 46; 21 CFR 56) define specific criteria that human subject research must meet in order for an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to approve the research.  A critical, yet often overlooked step in the protocol development process is to objectively evaluate study protocols against these criteria prior to IRB submission.  Doing so will help facilitate IRB review of the proposal, with the intent of minimizing IRB stipulations.

Over the upcoming months, as part the “PI Oversight Tip of the Month” series, each criterion for IRB approval will be reviewed. This month we will look at approval criteria #6: “when appropriate, the research plan makes adequate provision for monitoring the data collected to ensure the safety of subjects.”

In evaluating this criterion, the IRB will consider:

• Are adverse events and unanticipated problems defined in the protocol? How will they be monitored?  What information will be collected pertaining to these events?  Who will be responsible for reviewing and managing the events and do they have the necessary experience and training to do so?
• For research involving greater than minimal risk, does the protocol include a data and safety monitoring plan commensurate with the complexity of the research and the nature of the risks?
• If a Data and Safety Monitoring Board or Data Monitoring Committee will be used, is the board’s composition appropriate/adequate? Should the board or committee be completely independent from the research team? How often will they meet?  What will they review?  How will their determinations be communicated back to the study and IRB, as applicable?

Stay tuned for criteria #7: “when appropriate, are there provisions to protect the privacy of subjects and maintain the confidentiality of the data?” which will be highlighted next month. For previously highlighted criteria, see the 11/10/2017, 1/5/2018, 2/9/2018, 3/23/2018, and 4/20/2018 editions of Research Connections.

The Center for Health + Technology (CHeT), in conjunction with the Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, announces the availability of pilot and feasibility awards (up to $50,000 per award) for clinical research projects.

Competitive proposals will focus on innovative applications of technology (e.g. novel use of electronic health record data, wearable sensors, digital tools, human-machine interfaces, etc.) in research with human participants to yield new insights into clinical neuroscience.

For more information and to download the RFA, click here.

The application deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, June 22.

The Arts, Sciences & Engineering Deans’ Office will host a STEM Young Investigator Workshop on Thursday, June 7, from noon to 2 p.m. in Douglass Commons, Room 403.

The session will include an overview, resources, and tips for successful proposal development and submission to multiple funding sources, including foundational and federal sponsors’ most prestigious programs for junior faculty.

Space is limited. RSVP by May 31 to antonia.heininger@rochester.edu

Amanda Pogue, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, “Talker-specific adaptation and generalization of pragmatic expectations.” 10:30 a.m. May 23, 2018. 269 Meliora Hall. Advisors: Chigusa Kurumada and Michael Tanenhaus.

Yesim Demiroglu Karabulut, Mathematics, “Applications of Spectral Graph Theory to Some Classical Problems in Combinatorics and Number Theory.” 11 a.m. May 29, 2018. Hylan 201. Advisor: Jonathan Pakianathan.

Mingcong Zeng, Mathematics, “Mackey Functors, Equivariant Ellenberg-Mac Lane Spectra and Their Slices.” 1 p.m. May 30, 2018. Hylan 1106A. Advisor: Douglas Ravenal.

Collin Stillman, Physics and Astronomy, “High-Energy-Density Radiative and Material Properties Studies using Picosecond X-Ray Spectroscopy.” 2:30 p.m. May 30, 2018. LLE (Laboratory for Laser Energetics) Seminar Room. Advisor: Dustin Froula.

Yun Zhang, Statistics, “Novel Statistical Methods for Gene Set Enrichment Analysis with Empirical Memberships for Overlapping Genes.” 2 p.m., May 31, 2018. Saunders Research Building/1416. Advisor: Xing Qiu.

Today: Hypoxia and Stroke. Discussion of current stroke research at the University with expert faculty panelists Marc Halterman, G. Edward Vates, and Ania Busza.  Noon, Med Center Specialty Room (2-7544). Refreshments provided. PONS Luncheon Roundtable Series.   For more information on upcoming neuro-related events, go to http://blogs.rochester.edu/pons/

May 21: Mini-symposium sponsored by the UCIS Cluster in Epigenetics and Genome Stability, 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Medical Center’s Whipple Auditorium (2-6424). Short talks by University researchers, and two invited speakers: Benjamin Garcia (University of Pennsylvania) and Yingming Zhao (University of Chicago), who use cutting-edge proteomics to investigate epigenetics. Open to all.

May 25: 5 p.m. deadline to apply for pilot projects from the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute. Submission Guidelines.  Email applications to Chelsea Costanzo.

May 25: 5 p.m. deadline to apply for a grant from the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program promoting recovery from chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). Submission Guidelines. Email applications to Chelsea Costanzo.

June 1: Deadline to submit applications as supplements to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s CTSA U01 grant. To learn more, contact the Research Help Desk.

June 1: Deadline to apply for pilot funding (up to $50,000 per award) from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience for basic science and translational projects that advance understanding of both normal and abnormal brain functioning and for basic, clinical and translational projects that specifically support research on Autism Spectrum Disorder. For more information and to download the RFA, click here.

June 1-3: “Frontiers in Virtual Reality,” the 31st Center for Visual Science Symposium. Memorial Art Gallery. Click here for a list of speakers, and details about registration.

June 2: “An ‘Un-Meeting’: Addressing the Opioid Crisis through Translational Science.” 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saunders Research Building Atrium. Hosted by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration. There is no cost to attend. Register here by Wednesday, May 23.

June 7: AS&E workshop for young investigators. Overview, resources, and tips for successful proposal development and submission to multiple funding sources. Panel discussion with University faculty who were recently awarded young investigator/early career awards or served on panels.  Noon to 2 p.m. Room 403 Frederick Douglass Building. Lunch provided. Space is limited. RSVP by May 31 to Toni Heininger at antonia.heininger@rochester.edu

June 22: Deadline to apply for pilot and feasibility awards of up to $50,000 for innovative applications of technology (e.g. novel use of electronic health record data, wearable sensors, digital tools, human-machine interfaces, etc.) in research with human participants to yield new insights into clinical neuroscience. The Center for Health + Technology (CHeT), in conjunction with the Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. For more information and to download the RFA, click here.