Scientists around the world have attempted for decades to solve the mystery of dark matter, which accounts for about 85 percent of all matter in the universe. Proof of dark matter particles would fundamentally change our understanding of the makeup of the universe. However, researchers have so far only inferred dark matter indirectly by observing gravitational effects that cannot be explained by standard theories of gravity.

University researchers are involved in an international collaboration of about 250 scientists from 37 institutions assembling an innovative underground dark matter-search experiment called LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ). When it is completed, LZ will be the largest, most sensitive U.S.-based experiment designed to directly detect dark matter particles.

Many of the components needed to fully assemble LZ—including digital electronics developed at Rochester—arrived at LZ’s home recently at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. Compiling the various pieces brings researchers one step closer to their goal of completing the installation of the experiment later this year and beginning to collect data in 2020.

The digital electronics designed, developed, delivered, and installed at SURF in June by Rochester researchers are an integral piece of the puzzle in detecting dark matter; the electronics will enable the readout of signals from particle interactions.

“All of our electronics have been designed specifically for LZ with the goal of maximizing our sensitivity for the smallest possible signals,” says Frank Wolfs, a professor of physics and astronomy, who is overseeing Rochester’s efforts.

LZ is particularly focused on finding a type of theoretical particle called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, by triggering sequences of light and electrical signals in a tank filled with 10 metric tons of highly purified liquid xenon, which is among Earth’s rarest elements. The properties of xenon atoms allow them to produce light in certain particle interactions.

Assembly of the liquid xenon time projection chamber for LZ is now about 80 percent complete. When it is fully assembled, this inner detector will contain about 500 photomultiplier tubes. The tubes are designed to amplify and transmit signals produced within the chamber. More than 28 miles of coaxial cable will connect photomultiplier tubes and their amplifying electronics to the digitizing electronics developed at Rochester.

Read more here.

A trip to the emergency department can be disruptive for older adults with dementia as they are at greater risk for delirium and other hazards. A recent Medical Center trial found that telemedicine can be an effective tool for providing timely care while reducing emergency department visits for this growing population.

Led by geriatrics experts Suzanne M. Gillespie and Dallas Nelson, “High-Intensity Telemedicine Reduces Emergency Department Use by Older Adults with Dementia in Senior Living Communities” was published online in JAMDA, the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.

The study resulted from a project launched several years ago to offer telemedicine evaluations for urgent health concerns in Rochester-area senior living communities. Established protocols for common conditions—such as pain, shortness of breath, or skin issues—allowed for prompt evaluations and referrals as needed.

“This study took our existing program a step further, to see if telemedicine could make a difference for individuals in those communities who have dementia and need care urgently,” Nelson says.
Researchers looked at 22 senior living centers in Greater Rochester served by URMC’s geriatrics group, selecting six of them as intervention facilities. As urgent care needs arose, older adults living in those centers and receiving primary care from the geriatrics group could contact the geriatrics practice and have access to urgent care via telemedicine. Information was tracked to determine whether or not access to telemedicine reduced their need to use an emergency department.

During the study, 220 participants had access to telemedicine care and 201 telemedicine visits were conducted. Results showed that a year of access to telemedicine was associated with a 24 percent reduction in ED visits.

Read more here.

John Tarduno, the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor, professor of geophysics, and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been named dean for research in Arts, Sciences & Engineering.

Tarduno succeeds David Williams, the University’s William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics, who recently returned full time to his research and his role as director of the Center for Visual Science.

A respected scientist and educator, Tarduno’s own research focuses on detecting the past geomagnetic field, and applications to the evolution of Earth’s surface and deep interior. His recent research is on the very origin of the geodynamo, the mechanism within Earth’s core that generates the field. To investigate the magnetic field of the early Earth, Professor Tarduno and his research group have developed a method to derive information on past field strength from single silicate minerals. In his works published in Science and Nature, Tarduno asserts that the geomagnetic field is essential for the development and sustainability of a habitable planet.

As dean in one of the University’s largest research units, Tarduno will help lead efforts to increase research production at Rochester and improve public awareness of the innovative work being conducted by its scientists and scholars. Read more here.

Danielle Benoit, professor of biomedical engineering, is the new director of the Materials Science Program.

“Danielle’s strong background and outstanding research in materials science eminently qualify her for this position,” says Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Benoit’s lab uses synthetic hydrogels for tissue regeneration and polymers to target drug delivery to specific tissues, minimizing harmful side effects in other parts of the body.

“Her track record of collaborations with Medical Center, Hajim School, and Department of Chemistry faculty will enable her to pull together PIs from multiple disciplines to bring exciting new research focuses to the Materials Science Program and generate new collaborative, multidisciplinary projects,” Heinzelman says.

The Materials Science Program, established in 1966, offers master’s and PhD degrees to students interested in research activities in which advanced materials are tailored for specific uses. About 50 faculty across several departments are affiliated with the program, which currently enrolls 20 PhD and 16 master’s students.

Benoit says her top priorities include:

• Improving the program’s communication and marketing internally and externally.
• Recruiting additional faculty affiliates across multiple disciplines.
• Building multidisciplinary collaborations in Materials Science to compete for major funding through programs such as NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF).
• Working with the UR Materials Research Society student chapter to build a strong sense of community and identity among Materials Science students.

“I hope to make participation in the program as rewarding as possible for faculty and students alike,” Benoit says.

Sharad Goel, this year’s G. Milton Wing lecturer, will describe several interrelated threads of research that seek to define, detect, and combat bias in human and machine decisions, drawing on new and old  ideas from statistics, computer science, law, and economics.

Goel, an assistant professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University and former researcher at Microsoft and Yahoo!, will give these talks:

• a public lecture on “The Myth of Double Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections” from 4:50 to 6:05 p.m. Monday, September 9, in Sloan Auditorium of Goergen Hall. Goel will discuss a method to develop and apply estimates of how many people voted twice in the 2012 presidential election. He estimates that about 1 in 4,000 voters cast two ballots. He finds that one suggested strategy to reduce double voting by removing older registrations could impede approximately 300 legitimate votes for each double vote prevented.
• a two-part talk on “Quantifying Bias in Human and Machine Decisions” from 4:50 p.m. to 6:05 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10 in Sloan Auditorium and 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 in Lander Auditorium, Hutchison Hall. He will demonstrate that the most popular statistical tests for discrimination can, in practice, yield misleading results, and propose two new methods. In the second part he will focus on bias in machine decisions, and similarly show that the most popular measures of algorithmic fairness suffer from deep statistical flaws.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics.

George Milton Wing left a very generous bequest to the Department of Mathematics to endow a lecture series presenting mathematics of interest to the larger scientific community and to the general public. Each Wing lecture series brings a speaker to the campus for two or three days to give two or three lectures. Typically the first lecture is meant for a general audience while successive lectures may be more specialized.

All of the lectures are open to the public. Read more here.

The Humanities Center announces these Rosenberger Work-in-Progress lectures this semester:

• 9/11/19 – Cilas Kemedjio, professor of French and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies – “The Humanitarian Misunderstanding: Remembering Globalization.”
• 9/26/19 – Ryan Prendergast, associate professor of Spanish – “The Picaresque and Early Modern Madrid in Guia y avisos de forasteros que vienen a la Corte [A Guide and Warnings for Outsiders who Come to Court] (1620).”
• 10/10/19 – Brianna Theobald, assistant professor of history – “Bringing Back Woman-Knowledge: Indigenous Women and the Modern Midwifery Movement.”
• 10/23/19 – Eduardo Herrera, Humanities Center fellow – “Making a Jewish Neighborhood: In-group/Out-group Sonic Dynamics in an Argentine Soccer Stadium.”
• 11/7/19 – Chun Yi Sum, visiting assistant professor of anthropology – “Toast to Adulthood: Alcohol Consumption and Moral Personhood in Postreform China.”
• 11/20/19 – Alex Lindgren-Gibson, Humanities Center fellow.
• 12/5/19 – David Holloway, assistant professor of Japanese.

The lunchtime lectures, which include  presentations by the Humanities Center’s junior faculty fellows, are held in the center’s Conference Room D in Rush Rhees Library.

For more information on the Work-in-Progress Seminar Series, including start times, click here.

Sebastian Rojas Villa, biology, “Characterization of Zfh2 Dependent Cell Activation in the Adult Drosophila Intestinal Progenitor.” 12:45 p.m. Sept. 10, 2019. Med Center K-307 (3-6408). Advisor: Benoit Biteau.

Sreyoshi Sur, chemistry, “Membrane Selectivity of Fengycin, an Antimicrobial Lipopeptide.” 9:40 a.m. September 12, 2019. 101 Goergen Hall—Sloan Auditorium. Advisor: Alan Grossfield.

Qibin Shen, mathematics, “v-adic Multiple Zeta Values over Function Fields.” 3 p.m. September 13, 2019. Hylan 1106A. Advisor: Dinesh Thakur.

Sept. 9-11: Annual Wing Lectures. Sharad Goel, an assistant professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, will give a public lecture — “The Myth of Double Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections” — from 4:50 to 6:05 p.m. Monday, September 9, in Sloan Auditorium of Goergen Hall. He will give a two-part talk — “Quantifying Bias in Human and Machine Decisions” from 4:50 p.m. to 6:05 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10 in Sloan Auditorium and 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 in Lander Auditorium, Hutchison Hall. Sponsored by the Department of Mathematics.

Sept. 11: Humanities Center Rosenberger Works-in-Progress lecture. Cilas Kemedjio, professor of French and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies – “The Humanitarian Misunderstanding: Remembering Globalization.” 12:30 p.m., Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library. Lunch provided.

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. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho.

Sept. 12: CHeT (Center for Health + Technology) Innovates showcase. Discussion on research participants from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Helen Wood Hall auditorium (1W304). Innovation showcase  (including wearable sensors, smartphone applications, and telemedicine) plus wine and cheese reception from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. in the Saunders Research Building Atrium. Free and open to all. Register by September 9.

Sept. 13: Symposium on novel applications of technology to accelerate the development of new therapeutics for patients with rare neurological disorders. Hosted by the University and sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI). Featuring industry leaders in rare diseases, health technologies, and clinical trials. Registration information and agenda available on the TRNDS website.

Sept. 17: Training workshop for the TriNetX cohort discovery tool that will replace the current i2b2 tool. With TriNetX investigators can search a limited set of electronic medical record data to determine the feasibility of their clinical trials. Participants should have a basic understanding of the TriNetX interface and be able to build simple queries. 2-4 p.m. SRB 1404. Register now. Learn more about TriNetX here.

Sept. 23: Deadline for next-generation optics, photonics, and imaging-enabled startup companies to apply for the next cohort of the Luminate business accelerator. Each cohort company receives a $100,00 investment to begin the program. At the end of six months, $2 million in additional seed money is distributed among four winning teams at Demo Day. Learn more.

Sept. 26: Humanities Center Rosenberger Works-in-Progress lecture. Ryan Prendergast, associate professor of Spanish – “The Picaresque and Early Modern Madrid in Guia y avisos de forasteros que vienen a la Corte [A Guide and Warnings for Outsiders who Come to Court] (1620).” 12:30 p.m., Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library.

Oct. 10: Humanities Center Rosenberger Works-in-Progress lecture. Brianna Theobald,assistant professor of history – “Bringing Back Woman-Knowledge: Indigenous Women and the Modern Midwifery Movement.” 12:30 p.m., Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library.

Oct. 16: Training workshop for the TriNetX cohort discovery tool that will replace the current i2b2 tool. With TriNetX investigators can search a limited set of electronic medical record data to determine the feasibility of their clinical trials. Participants should have a basic understanding of the TriNetX interface and be able to build simple queries. 2-4 p.m. SRB 1416. Register now. Learn more about TriNetX here.

Oct. 22: Deadline to apply for AS&E PumpPrimer II seed funding, typically up to $50,000 for up to one year, for innovative research projects to help the applicant establish a novel research direction and secure extramural funding. Submit proposal via the application portal. All eligibility criterion is enumerated in the guidelines. Direct questions to your respective AS&E assistant dean: Arts and Sciences – Debra Haring, debra.haring@rochester.edu; Engineering – Cindy Gary, cindy.gary@rochester.edu.

Oct. 23: Humanities Center Rosenberger Works-in-Progress lecture. Eduardo Herrera, Humanities Center fellow – “Making a Jewish Neighborhood: In-group/Out-group Sonic Dynamics in an Argentine Soccer Stadium.” 12:30 p.m., Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library.

Oct. 25: Conference co-sponsored by UNYTE on opportunities and challenges in research and clinical collaboration, including regional clinical, biomedical and translational research and advances in psychosocial care in pediatric hematology/oncology. 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Flaum Auditorium. Learn more.  Register now.

Nov. 7: Humanities Center Rosenberger Works-in-Progress lecture. Chun Yi Sum,visiting assistant professor of anthropology – “Toast to Adulthood: Alcohol Consumption and Moral Personhood in Postreform China.” 12:30 p.m., Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library.

Nov. 20: Training workshop for the TriNetX cohort discovery tool that will replace the current i2b2 tool. With TriNetX investigators can search a limited set of electronic medical record data to determine the feasibility of their clinical trials. Participants should have a basic understanding of the TriNetX interface and be able to build simple queries. 2-4 p.m. SRB 1412. Register now. Learn more about TriNetX here.