Planning Fund Recipients 2024-2025
A key pillar of the University of Rochester’s Boundless Possibility strategic plan is that we aim to launch five new transdisciplinary centers or institutes aimed at supporting scholarship in areas that will bring the University even more distinction and reputation.
The University launched a planning funding competition in which we asked teams of scholars from multiple units across the institution to propose ideas for new centers and institutes.
Selected recipients will receive a funding of approximately $40,000 to spend a year developing what they think will be the best prospect for the University to advance our scholarly prominence. It is expected that one or more of these centers or institutes will be awarded larger-scale funding beginning in the 2025-2026 academic year. As always, the University welcomes outstanding proposals, regardless of process, from groups of faculty with ideas for how the University can attract, retain, and support extraordinary faculty and students and further our global reputation.
All but one of these proposals crosses multiple schools, and six different schools are represented. Out of 42 submissions received, these ten potential transdisciplinary centers and institute ideas have been selected to receive planning funding for the 2024-2025 academic year:
AI Horizons Institute
Engaging synergistically in both foundational and use-inspired AI research to advance the state-of-the-art in generative AI, while striving to overcome the limitations of current technology by taking inspiration from neuroscience and psychology. Primary focus includes education and understanding the ethical and societal implications of advanced AI.
Lead:
Christopher Kanan, Associate Professor, Computer Science, Center for Visual Science, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
Co-leads:
Raffaella Borasi, Frederica Warner Professor; Director Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Jonathan Herington, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics; Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Jens Kipper, Associate Professor, Philosophy
Michael Hasselberg, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Geriatric/Psychiatry; Associate Professor of Clinical
Karl Rosengren, Professor, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Psychology
Jiebo Luo, Professor, Computer Science; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Zhen Bai, Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Center for Applied Biopsychosocial Research
Bringing together visionaries across departments and schools to accelerate biopsychosocial discovery, while inspiring nascent visionaries whose research requires highly transdisciplinary mentorship. Attention will be placed on increasing research funding by opening new avenues at the intersections of science, engineering, education, business, and the humanities.
Co-leads:
Benzi Kluger, Professor, Department of Neurology; Julius, Helen, and Robert Fine Distinguished Professor in Neurology, Department of Neurology; Professor, Center for Health and Technology; Professor, Department of Medicine, Palliative Care
Kathi Heffner, Professor, School of Nursing; Professor, Department of Medicine, Geriatrics/Aging; Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral/Psychosocial Medicine
Center for Emergent Complexity in Biomaterials
Building a well-organized, central hub where interested scholars can learn about others’ research interests, identify funding opportunities, and build community to better understand how natural systems build complex materials, and then leveraging that understanding to build synthetic materials that will have positive impacts on health, energy, and the environment.
Co-leads:
Anne Meyer, Associate Professor, Biology
Brad Nilsson, Professor, Chemistry; Director, Materials Science Program
Benjamin Partridge, Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Center for Human Centric Augmented and Virtual Reality
Catalyzing fundamental research, hardware advances, technology translation, computing, and the application of AR/VR systems to focus on human-centric engineered systems and recognize how cognitive, perceptual, and oculomotor signals can control AR/VR. A fundamental focus will be on understanding perceptual capabilities and limitations, as well as cognitive and social functions, in the context of AR/VR technology.
Co-leads:
Nick Vamivakas, Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics; Professor of Optics; Professor of Physics; Dean of Graduate Education and Post-Doctoral Affairs
Duje Tadin, Professor, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Ophthalmology, Neuroscience, Center for Visual Science; Chair, Brain & Cognitive Sciences; Director of Training, Center for Visual Science
Emily Sherwood, Director, Digital Scholarship & Studio X
Mujdat Cetin, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Professor, Computer Science; Robin and Tim Wentworth Director, Goergen Institute for Data Science; Director, New York State Center of Excellence in Data Science
Jannick Rolland, Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering; Professor of Optics; Professor of Biomedical Engineering: Professor in the Center for Visual Science; Director, NSF/IUCRC; Center for Freeform Optics; Director, R.E. Hopkins Center for Optical Design and Engineering
Susana Marcos, Professor, Department of Ophthalmology; Nicholas George Endowed Professor in Optics; Professor, Optics and Ophthalmology; Professor in the Center for Visual Science; David R. Williams Director, Center for Visual Science
Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience; Associate Professor, Center for Visual Science
Center for Stress Resilience Science
Harnessing a multitude of University expertise to become a global leader in understanding the impact of stress on health and well-being. A primary focus is to develop much-needed interventions for those bearing the brunt of stress by identifying underlying sociocultural factors and other mechanisms that perpetuate stress-related poor health and other disparities across the lifespan.
Lead:
Kathi Heffner, Professor, School of Nursing; Professor, Department of Medicine, Geriatrics/Aging; Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral/Psychosocial Medicine
Core leads:
Jennie Knoll, Professor, Psychology; Co-director, Mt. Hope Family Center
Lisa Starr, Associate Professor, Psychology
Co-leads:
Silvia Sörensen, Associate Professor, Counseling & Human Development
Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience; Associate Professor, Center for Visual Science Jennie Noll; Executive Director, Mt. Hope Family Center, Professor of Psychology
John Ashton, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Genetics
Patrick Davies, Associate Chair of Psychology; Professor, Psychology
Frontier Center for Exploring the Multiscale Dynamics of Fluids
Fostering creative transdisciplinary fluids research that addresses fundamental, frontier questions about our world by providing postdoctoral fellowships that foster collaboration between departments, lecture series, research symposia. A focus will be on making the University a national hub in interdisciplinary fluids research by creating opportunities to overcome barriers between fields, and by encouraging collaborative research and proposals.
Co-leads:
Rachel Glade, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences; Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Jessica Shang, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Petros Tzeferacos, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy; Senior Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Hussein Aluie, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Staff Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Eric Blackman, Professor of Physics and Astronomy; Distinguished Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Erin Black, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Thomas Weber, Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Douglas H. Kelley, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Staff Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Institute for Public Humanities and Creative Scholarship
Creating a collaborative, transdisciplinary environment to foster the development of research in innovative, public-facing formats. Attention will be placed on providing education and training for faculty and students in tools and techniques for computation and media production, as well as enabling public engagement in a variety of formats such as books, podcasts, documentaries, and AR/VR experiences.
Leads:
Peter Christensen, Arthur Satz Professor of the Humanities; Professor of Art and Art History; Associate Dean, School of Arts and Sciences; Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director, Humanities Center; Director, Andrew W. Mellon Program in the Digital Humanities
Jason Middleton, Associate Professor of English and Visual and Cultural Studies; Director, Film and Media Studies Program
Co-leads:
Rachel Glade, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Jonathan Herington, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics; Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Anna Rosensweig, Associate Professor of French and Visual and Cultural Studies; Director, Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies
Yuhao Zhu: Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute
Integrating shared expertise in research innovation, clinical and community service, interdisciplinary training, and authentic community partnership to support outcomes and full inclusion of individuals with autism and IDD. A focus will be on creating a dynamic environment where faculty, staff, trainees, and community members collaborate, and where research and clinical practice mutually inform one another to advance the understanding of IDD.
Co-leads:
John Foxe, Professor, Department of Neuroscience; Chair, Department of Neuroscience; Kilian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Chair in Neuroscience; Research Director, The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience; Professor, Center for Visual Science; Professor, Department of Neurology; Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Suzannah Iadarola, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics; Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences
Ania Majewska, Professor, Department of Neuroscience; Dean’s Professorship, Department of Neuroscience; Professor, Center for Visual Science
Laura Silverman, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
Rochester Music and Sound Institute
Exploring the myriad applications of sound in fields ranging from music and media to the natural and built environments. A focus will be on creating a hub for technical creativity, research, scholarship, education, performance, and outreach where the art, technology, and science of sound, conventionally pursued in disparate disciplines, can flourish together through symbiotic exploration.
Co-leads:
Mark Bocko, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Director, Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences
Mikel Kuehn, Professor, Composition Department, Eastman School of Music
UR Quantum
Accelerating transdisciplinary research on quantum light-matter interactions to harness the exotic properties of quantum systems like superposition and entanglement. Primary attention will be placed on supporting transdisciplinary research; recruiting students, postdocs, and faculty; advertising and promotion to enhance the University’s reputation; and creating a structure for catalyzing new collaborations in this space.
Co-leads:
John Nichol, Associate Professor, Physics
Nick Vamivakas, Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics; Professor of Optics; Professor of Physics; Dean of Graduate Education and