Many of an organism’s traits are influenced by cues from the organism’s environment. These features are known as phenotypically plastic traits and are important in allowing an organism to cope with unpredictable environments.

But what are the genetic mechanisms underlying these traits?

Jennifer Brisson, an associate professor of biology, and her former postdoctoral student Benjamin Parker, now an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Tennessee, studied phenotypically plastic traits in pea aphids and uncovered, for the first time, genes that influence whether aphids produce wingless or winged offspring in response to their environment. In a new paper in the journal Current Biology, the researchers shed light on how phenotypically plastic traits evolve and address critical questions about the evolution of environmentally sensitive traits.

As many gardeners know, aphids can quickly overwhelm and kill the host plants on which they live and feed. When an environment becomes too crowded with other aphids, the females begin producing offspring that have wings, rather than the typical wingless offspring. The winged offspring can then fly to and colonize new, less crowded plants.

The researchers used techniques from evolutionary genetics and molecular biology to identify genes that determine the degree to which aphids respond to crowding. Surprisingly, the genes they uncovered are from a virus that then became incorporated into the aphid genome. The virus, which is from a group of insect viruses called densoviruses, causes its host to produce offspring with wings. Researchers believe the virus does this in order to facilitate its own dispersal.

Read more here.

David R. Williams, dean for research in Arts, Sciences & Engineering since 2011, stepped down on July 1 and has returned full time to his research, his position as the University’s William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics, and his role as director of the Center for Visual Science. Donald Hall, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences & Engineering, says that a search for a new dean for research for AS&E is underway and the position will be filled in the coming weeks.

Williams created and supported initiatives and events designed to catalyze cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations throughout the University. For example, he established regular meetings for strategic research thrusts in high-energy-density physics, plus several meetings around the quantum science initiative, the prison decarceration initiative, a conference on advanced materials for powerful lasers, an early worlds (humanities) conference, and a biological imaging initiative.

Williams also played a major leadership role in the AR/VR initiative, which now includes more than 50 faculty at the University of Rochester, as well as faculty at RIT, seeking multi-investigator research funding. Several University faculty have successfully obtained corporate contracts from companies with interests in AR/VR technology.

Federal funding for research has declined or remained flat in recent years and competition for research dollars has increased. And yet, AS&E increased its funding awards from $48.95 million in FY2015 to $67.47 million in FY2018 (excluding the LLE)—a 38 percent increase—during Williams’ tenure as dean for research.

In addition to being responsible for research policy, compliance, and oversight on research conduct, Williams expanded the focus of the dean’s position to include service and training. He established a team of multifaceted research development professionals in the AS&E Deans’ Office who are dedicated to helping faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and departments realize their research and scholarly aspirations. He sponsored numerous workshops for new and early career researchers, as well as grant management staff. Williams introduced the use of research productivity tools and analyses for self-study, comparative metrics, and benchmarking to drive the research enterprise. He also instituted an AS&E seed-funding program, PumpPrimer, to help faculty secure extramural support for bold new research directions.

Read more here.

Violent political events, rooted in ethnic conflicts, have plagued sub-Saharan Africa since independence, causing millions of deaths and hampering economic development. Yet, nearly 80 percent of the continent’s major ethnic groups have never participated in any civil war.

Why, for example, have civil wars and insurgencies occurred in Sudan and Uganda, but not Kenya? Why did Benin experience several coups and coups attempts after independence but not Côte d’Ivoire?

Jack Paine, an assistant professor of political science, explores why civil wars and coups d’état occur more frequently in some sub-Saharan African countries than others, in a recent paper, “Ethnic Violence in Africa: Destructive Legacies of Pre-Colonial States,” published in International Organization.

Much previous research has looked to the postcolonial period for answers. Taking a longer term perspective, Paine found the origins in precolonial political organization. In short, African countries that include ethnic groups that were organized as states prior to European colonization are at much higher risk for violence.

Essentially, authoritarian rulers face similar tradeoffs: If they try to buy off potential enemies by including them in the ruling coalition, they risk elevating opponents to positions of power where they can overthrow the ruler in a coup. However, if rulers deny rivals important cabinet posts, the excluded groups may launch an outsider rebellion to try to topple the government.

According to Paine, in many African nations, insecure postcolonial leaders decided against inclusive coalitions for fear of an insider putsch. That was especially the case in countries that incorporated an ethnic group with a precolonial state, given the general absence of interethnic political parties and the corresponding inability to commit to bargains.

“Distinct states and identities created privileged subsets of the population that, when independence became imminent in the 1950s and 1960s, were unwilling to forge organizational ties with other ethnic groups,” Paine says.

He also discovered a direct spillover effect: ethnic groups organized as a precolonial state—so called PCS groups—increased the likelihood of conflict for all groups in that country.

Read more here.

Qiang Lin, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, who is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Lin’s research in integrated quantum photonics is aimed at reducing the complexity and increasing the capacity of quantum information processing for secure communication, metrology, sensing, and advanced computing. Read more here.

Yeates Conwell, a professor and vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Office for Aging Research and Health Services, who will be awarded the Morselli Medal by the International Academy for Suicide Research. The Morselli Medal is awarded every two years to an individual who has made an outstanding and important lifetime contribution to the study of suicidal behavior and suicide prevention.

John Kapusta has been appointed a tenure-track assistant professor of musicology at the Eastman School of Music after serving two years as an assistant professor of teaching. Kapusta’s research focuses on voice and opera studies and musical life in the twentieth-century United States. His essays and reviews have been published or are forthcoming in the Journal of the Society for American Music and American Music. He is currently writing a new musical history of the U.S. counterculture. Kapusta received his PhD in music history and literature from the University of California, Berkeley and his AB from Harvard College. Before completing his PhD, he studied voice at the New England Conservatory, was a National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and performed solo roles with the Houston Grand Opera, the Washington National Opera, and other companies. Read more here.

A Japanese silent film – inspired by a classic O. Henry story and restored by a University of Rochester researcher and her collaborators – can be streamed for free from the curated streaming site “Le Cinéma Club” during the week of July 19-25.

Tokkan Kozo, a 1929 film about a child kidnapping gone comically awry, was believed lost until partial 9.5 mm versions surfaced in 1988 and again in 2015. It was restored as an English language Digital Cinema Package (DCP), thanks to a collaboration involving Joanne Bernardi, professor of Japanese and film and media studies; Josh Romphf and Clara Auclair at the Digital Scholarship Lab at River Campus Libraries; the George Eastman Museum; and the Toy Film Museum in Kyoto, Japan. It was screened for the first time at last year’s Pordenone International Silent Film Festival. Read more here.

Ninety percent of the world’s data is only two years old, and the tools, methods, and platforms to explore and use it are continually evolving. The overwhelming pace at which information and technology are created is making digital and data literacy both a high priority and a daunting task for librarians.

These literacies are increasingly becoming a requirement for research, education, and civic participation. And the growing demand for training in public libraries, as well as those in schools, at all levels, is often at odds with available funds.

Librarians across central and western New York now have a champion for their challenge.

The New York Data Carpentries Library Consortium (NYDCLC), composed of the University of Rochester, Colgate University, Cornell University, and Syracuse University, is developing plans for a much-needed support system.

With planning grant funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21), the NYDCLC is building a scalable skill-sharing program for regional universities and public libraries.

Emily Sherwood, director of the University’s Digital Scholarship Lab and principal investigator for the LB21 grant, says it was important to start with a planning grant, which provides the time to build a sustainable structure and meet the needs of the consortium’s institutions and their respective regional library councils.

“In a year, we will go after a three-year project grant,” Sherwood says. “But this planning grant will help us complete a needs assessment, run initial skill-building workshops, and complete pedagogy training for 15 instructors throughout the region. We will end the year with a public symposium to talk about what we learned and our plans moving forward.”

Read more here.

Postdoctoral appointees are invited to test their communication skills by participating in the Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research. Finalists will compete for a $1,000 top prize by demonstrating how well they can summarize their research in a five minute-presentation that can be understood by a non-scientific audience.

The competition is open to all School of Medicine and Dentistry and Arts, Sciences & Engineering postdoctoral appointees whose fields of study bridge at least two areas of the humanities, science, mathematics, engineering, and medicine.

Applications, due July 31, should include a current curriculum vitae and a two-page, single spaced summary of how your research crosses disciplinary boundaries, including implications for science and future objectives. The summary must be written for a general, non-scientifically-trained audience. Applications should be submitted by email to gretchen.briscoe@rochester.edu.

Final presentations will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Sept. 20 in Goergen Hall Room 101 (Sloan Auditorium) during Meliora Weekend. In addition to the $1,000 first prize, $750 and $500 will be awarded for second and third place, and $250 for the audience choice winner. Questions? Contact gretchen.briscoe@rocheester.edu.

The competition reflects the growing importance for researchers to be able to communicate with potential collaborators in other fields, and to explain the importance of their work to the general public.

Read about last year’s competition and first place winner here.

Xiaowan Dong, computer science, “Toward Efficient and Protected Address Translation in Memory Managment.” 2 p.m. July 15, 2019. 2506 Wegmans Hall. Advisor: Sandhya Dwarkadas.

Benjamin Feinberg, electrical and computer engineering, “Reducing Data Movement Energy on Dense and Sparse Linear Algebra Workloads: From Machine Learning to High Performance Scientific Computing.” 2 p.m. July 17, 2019. Computer Studies Building 601. Advisor: Engin Epek.

Michelle Alto, psychology, “The Effect of Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Maternal Depression on Maternal Sensitivity, Toddler Attachment, and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior.” 3 p.m. July 18, 2019. Meliora Hall 366. Advisor: Sheree Toth.

July 17: Demonstration of Embark initiative software for study coordinators. SCORE (Study Coordinators Organization for Research and Education) meeting, 3-4:30 p.m., SRB Room 1416.

July 17:  “Aging & Engaging: Development of a Web-based Communication Coach for Older Adults” with Kimberly Van Orden, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. 2019 Summer Colloquium Series, Goergen Institute for Data Science. 12 noon to 1 p.m.,1400 Wegmans Hall. Free to all faculty, staff, students and community members. Lunch sponsored by the Goergen Institute for Data Science. Pre-register here.

Aug. 8-9: “Navigating Deaf and Hearing Collaborations in Science.” Second biennial Deaf-Engaged Academic Forum (DEAF-ROC Conference). Keynote speakers, short talks, breakout sessions, panel discussion and a poster session highlighting the research carried out by undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and staff attending the conference. Register for the conference (for free) and submit a poster abstract by July 1.

July 31: Deadline to apply to participate in the Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research. Finalists will compete for a $1,000 top prize by demonstrating how well they can summarize their research in a five minute-presentation that can be understood by a non-scientific audience. Open to all School of Medicine and Dentistry and Arts, Sciences & Engineering postdoctoral appointees whose fields of study bridge at least two areas of the humanities, science, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. Questions and applications should be submitted by email to gretchen.briscoe@rochester.edu. Final presentations will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Sept. 20 in Goergen Hall Room 101 (Sloan Auditorium) during Meliora Weekend.  $750 and $500 will be awarded for second and third place, and $250 for the audience choice winner.

Aug. 30: Entry forms due for a new annual student competition promoting awareness of Tobacco Regulatory Science. Each team (either an individual or up to four students) develops and presents a proposed solution — a well-developed and researched thought experiment  — to address one or more identified Tobacco Regulatory Research Priorities. Winning team will travel to DC/MD to present their solution to the FDA and NIH. Read more here.

Sept. 11: Deadline for students, junior faculty, early career researchers, and entrepreneurs to apply for this year’s Falling Walls competition. Complete the online application here. By Friday, September 27 email a three-panel slide presentation. Then pitch your innovative idea — highlighting a breakthrough that creates a positive impact on science and society — in just three minutes on October 8 at Feldman Ballroom. The winner will represent the University at the International Falling Walls Finale in Berlin. Contact Adele Coelho for questions.