Vladimir Putin “made a tragic mistake” by embarking on war with Ukraine, says Randall Stone, professor and chair of political science and director of the University’s Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies.

At the same time, Stone, an expert on Russian and Eastern European politics, stresses that the West must be careful to avoid escalation; in particular, NATO must not send air forces into Ukraine.

“It appears credible that Putin would be willing to escalate,” he said in an interview. “Why? Because he was willing to take the risk of the invasion in the first place. He has chosen to put himself in a position where if we intervened, he loses, and probably loses everything, not just Ukraine, but his regime, maybe his life.” Learn more in this Q&A with Sandra Knispel.

How far-reaching might a person’s data be?

Gourab Ghoshal, an associate professor of physics, mathematics, and computer science, along with colleagues at the University of Exeter, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Northeastern University, and the University of Vermont, applied techniques from information theory and network science to find out.

The researchers discovered that even if individual users turned off data tracking and didn’t share their own information, their mobility patterns could still be predicted with surprising accuracy based on data collected from their acquaintances.

“Worse,” says Ghoshal, “almost as much latent information can be extracted from perfect strangers that the individual tends to co-locate with,” says Ghoshal, who is also the Stephen Biggar ’92 and Elizabeth Asaro ’92 Fellow in Data Science.

The researchers published their findings in Nature Communications. Learn more here.

Left to right: Tara Vrooman, Courtney Kellogg, Uday Chockanathan, and Raquel Ajalik were the award winners at the Three Minute Thesis Competition.

Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal, with a five-year survival rate of only 10 percent. Surgical removal of the tumor is the only known cure, but in 80 percent of patients, the tumors recur.

Tara Vrooman, a PhD candidate in the lab of Scott Gerber, associate professor of surgery and radiation oncology, won top prize at this year’s Three Minute Thesis competition with her description of a novel treatment being developed by the lab to combat the disease without removing the tumor.

The annual competition challenges doctoral students to describe their research within three minutes, using a single slide, in terms that can be understood by a general audience. A panel of judges selected the first-place winner ($750) and runner-up ($500). More than 100 audience members in attendance at the Class of ’62 Auditorium chose the recipient of the People’s Choice Award ($250).

Vrooman described a treatment that combines stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with immunotherapy in the form of Interleukin 12, a potent anti-tumor cytokine injected directly into pancreatic tumors. Vrooman’s follow-up of the treatment used with mice shows “100 percent survival as well as tumor eradication and protection from tumor metastases,” she says. “These results are very promising in light of such a deadly cancer.”

Uday Chockanathan, neuroscience, who presented “Population coding deficits in Alzheimer’s disease,” and Courtney Kellogg, cell biology of disease, who presented “Are your Hair Cells there?” were co-recipients of runner-up awards. The People’s Choice award went to Raquel Ajalik, biomedical engineering, for “About time we start a-tendon-clinical trials-on-a-chip.”

You can view all the finalists’ presentations here.

The event was sponsored by myHub in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the AS&E Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs Office, the Graduate Student Society, the Graduate Student Association, and the International Services Office.

Eleven University students who have been selected as recipients of the Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student.

This award was established by former life trustee Edward Peck Curtis in 1984 and recognizes graduate students who excel in advancing the teaching mission of the University by providing highly skilled and innovative instruction to Rochester’s undergraduates.

This year’s recipients are:

• Shoeib Ahmed Chowdhury (mechanical engineering)
• Zach Barber (philosophy)
• Michael Chavrimootoo (computer science)
• Dillion Dzikowicz (nursing)
• Andrew Hahn (electrical engineering)
• Marianne Kupin-Lisbin (history)
• Ying Lin (brain and cognitive sciences)
• Kevin Ling (biomedical engineering)
• Derek Myler (music theory)
• Lynn Sidor (biology)
• Neal Shah (neuroscience)

Keynote speaker Peter Walter, distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, will give the Fred Sherman lecture, “Targeting the Cell’s Stress Pathways for Therapeutic Benefit,” at the Genetics Day Symposium from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 16, in the Class of ’62 Auditorium and Sarah Flaum Atrium.

This scientific symposium will feature University faculty speakers and a poster session. Abstracts are due Monday, May 2.

Learn more.

The Genomics Research Center is hosting an informatics workshop series titled “Introduction to Single-Cell RNAseq Analysis.”

The four-session series begins Monday, May 2.

Each session will be split into a 45-minute lecture followed by a hands-on computational workshop that builds on the information covered in the lecture. Attendance at the lecture is a prerequisite for the hands-on workshop that day. Find more information on the training event and register here.

The Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) is soliciting proposals from full-time faculty  or other principal investigators interested in promoting technology transfer from our University to New York companies. The center’s Collaborative Innovative Research Program for the 2022/23 program year provides awards that support a broad range of optics, photonics and imaging interests, including ophthalmic and vision science, fiber optic communications, biomedical imaging, geospatial imaging, precision optics, consumer imaging and displays. Proposals in other technical areas will be considered as well.

Proposed projects must involve a NY industry partner that is actively engaged with the research, financially sponsoring the research, and willing to provide ongoing economic impact reporting for the project. The scientific and technical quality of the proposed fundamental or applied research or development activities is assessed by external expert reviewers. Ranking also is dependent upon the potential jobs and revenues that will result from the proposed projects. PIs are strongly encouraged to work closely with their industrial sponsors to provide realistic quantitative estimates of the expected economic impact.

All proposals must be submitted by email as attachments using the forms on the CEIS web site at http://www.ceis.rochester.edu/funding/CIRP.html. Documentation of company commitment must accompany the proposal. Proposals must be received by Cathy Adams no later than May 16. She can also answer questions about the proposals or the CIR RFP process.