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January 15, 2026Welcome to the latest SAS in Focus, a newsletter that reports what’s happening in the School of Arts & Sciences.
In this edition, we will share a message from the Dean, highlight recent research, and more.
A message from the Dean
Dear School of Arts & Sciences Community,
As we begin the Spring semester, I wish you a happy and healthy new year. 2026 brings opportunities to learn and teach, to collaborate and innovate, and to enrich our communities in Rochester and beyond.
In my new role as Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, I look forward to working with you to make the world ever better.
All best wishes,
Sam Thomas
Spring Welcome Week is hereSpring Welcome week, in-person orientation for incoming first-year, transfer, and exchange undergraduate students, will take place Thursday, January 15 through Saturday, January 17.
Workshops and events are scheduled for Friday, January 16 and Saturday, January 17. Spring Welcome Week, managed by the Office of Orientation and New Student Programs (ONSP), helps students get to know Rochester and one another before the semester begins on January 20. View the full schedule of Welcome Week events on the ONSP website. Contact orientation@rochester.edu with questions.
Anthropology students featured at conference
Congratulations to students Joshua Jung ’26 and Gabriel Plata ’27 who presented their research at the 2025 in New Orleans, LA.
The annual meeting is the largest gathering of anthropologists, attracting professors, researchers, and students from around the world, says , chair of the anthropology department.
“Both Josh and Gabriel were recipients of our Undergraduate Research Grant that enabled them to conduct independent field research over the summer,” adds Osburg.  “Their projects show the range of topics students can study in anthropology—from online R&B producer communities to the politics of memory on the Spanish island of Menorca.”
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Understanding the complexities of musicThere is a long-standing debate in the field of music cognition about the impact of musical training and whether formal training is needed to pick up higher-order tonal structures—the overarching harmonic framework of a piece of music.
New research from the Ģą˝´«Ă˝, published in , offers fresh insight into that discussion. Some listeners—regardless of formal musical training—can track complex tonal structures, offering a unique look at how the brain processes context.
Read more about how nonmusicians have a surprisingly sophisticated ear.
Supporting human life on the moon
The moon’s surface may be more than just a dusty, barren landscape. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth’s atmosphere have landed in the lunar soil, creating a possible source of life-sustaining substances for future astronauts.
Nature Communications Earth and Environment recently published new that suggests Earth’s magnetic field may actually help guide atmospheric particles—carried by solar wind—into space, instead of blocking them. Because Earth’s magnetic field has existed for billions of years, this process could have steadily moved particles from Earth to the moon over very long periods of time.
Read more about how earth’s atmosphere may help support life on the moon.
Newly funded researchCongratulations to faculty members who recently secured funding for new research projects:
- , assistant professor of and director of , received $10,000 from the Rochester Area Community Foundation for the project “Puerto Rican Rochester Retrospective: Mapping and Sharing Historical Community.”
- , associate professor of Physics and Chair of the , received $50,000 from the University of Maryland for project “WoU-MMA: IceCube Data Analysis in the U.S. 2025-2028.”
- , associate professor of , received $553,901 from the Department of Energy for project “Structure- Function Relationships that Dictate the Mechanism of Small Molecule Activation on the Surfaces of Ternary Spinel Oxide Electrocatalysts.”
- , associate professor in the , received $79,077 from New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) for project “Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Network Data Verification.”
- , associate professor of and , received $96,994 from Carnegie Institution of Washington for project “AEThER II: Atmospheric Empirical, Theoretical, and Experimental Research II.”
Faculty achievements 
, the Richard L. Turner Professor of Humanities and professor of and , has been awarded a visiting fellowship for Spring 2026 at the for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the University of East Anglia.
During the fellowship, Foster will research the popularization of “primitive art” from New Guinea during the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. He will focus on a series of exhibition sales held at May Company department stores in eight cities across the country.
Have news to share? Send it our waySend your SAS in Focus news tips to Director of Marketing and Communications Sheila Rayam at sheila.rayam@rochester.edu. Let her know about unique research, awards, publications, community collaborations and other interesting news. Please put “SAS in Focus” in the subject heading.
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