蘑菇传媒

The 蘑菇传媒 is a special place where boundless opportunity awaits, and the聽 is at the core of many of the transformational initiatives laid out in the University鈥檚 .

In a landmark year for artificial intelligence, we used AI to advance fusion research, renamed our Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to showcase our deep expertise in the field, and celebrated the 50^th anniversary of our Department of Computer Science and its five decades of leadership in AI.

As one of the nation鈥檚 top engineering schools, our partnerships with the , the , and the present us with truly unique opportunities for transformational interdisciplinary research.

Throughout this newsletter, you鈥檒l see fascinating work happening in each of the Hajim School鈥檚 departments, see award-winning achievements by our faculty, students, and alumni, and learn about some of the qualities that make a Hajim School education so distinct.

蘑菇传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster

Can artificial intelligence-powered tools help enrich child development and learning?聽, an assistant professor of聽聽and the Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science at the聽, is determined to find out. From tools to help parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children learn American Sign Language (ASL) to interactive games that demystify machine learning, Bai aims to help children benefit from AI and understand how it is impacting them.

Read about her work and .

蘑菇传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster

Researchers from the used surface acoustic waves to overcome a significant obstacle in the quest to realize a quantum internet. In a聽聽published in聽Nature Communications, a team led by Associate Professor 聽describe a technique for pairing particles of light and sound that could be used to faithfully convert information stored in quantum systems鈥攓ubits鈥攖o optical fields, which can be transmitted over long distances.

Learn about the technique.

蘑菇传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster

Researchers in the are repurposing technology most often used for medical imaging as a new tool for restoring blood flow in tissue damaged from disease, injury, and reconstructive surgery.

A team led by聽, the Kevin J. Parker Distinguished Professor in聽Biomedical Engineering聽and director of the聽Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound,聽secured a new聽聽to develop in vivo acoustic patterning technologies.

See what the project entails.

蘑菇传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster

Researchers from the and the demonstrated that it鈥檚 possible to reverse age-related effects and restore the brain鈥檚 waste-clearing process. Professor聽 补苍诲听co-director of the University鈥檚聽, are lead authors of a 聽study focused on restoring the brain鈥檚 glymphatic system with a drug currently used to induce labor.

Discover more about the brain鈥檚 cleaning system.

蘑菇传媒 illustration / AJ Pow

Researchers from our聽聽are helping to develop a new system that will allow people to speak anonymously in real time through computer-generated voices to help protect privacy and avoid censorship or retaliation. The technology is intended to help intelligence officers carrying out sensitive missions, crime witnesses concerned about being identified by perpetrators, and whistleblowers who fear retaliation.

The three-year project, led by Honeywell and including collaborators from Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Dallas, is funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and part of the聽. Rochester鈥檚 contributions are being led by Associate Professor .

Explore more about the initiative.

蘑菇传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster

罢丑别听聽has a new leader who is placing an emphasis on communicating with the public about the field and the intricacies of higher education.聽, who joined the department as professor and chair in July after previously serving as dean for students at the University of California鈥擲an Diego鈥檚 Jacobs School of Engineering, thinks chemical engineering is misunderstood and is on a mission to open eyes to its potential.

鈥淐hemical engineering gets a bad rap because people associate it with developing the forever chemicals that are invading the environment, the microplastics catastrophe, global warming, and environmental degradation,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 have modern life without chemical engineering. The goal should be to make it better and part of the solution.鈥�

Meet Darren.

Photo courtesy of UR Robotics

Experiential learning is a hallmark of a Hajim School education, and members of the聽聽had an incredible experience in Florida this year during a NASA-sponsored competition against other top engineering schools from across the country. Our fledgling Lunabotics team squared off against 42 other universities in the culmination of the yearlong聽.

The teams build autonomous robots that are tasked with driving, digging, and depositing regolith鈥攖he fragmented rock material that covers the moon鈥檚 surface鈥攊n a lunar simulant. Lunabotics is in its 15th year, and Rochester joined in 2022. Despite being fairly new to the competition, our students completed all three tasks鈥攄riving, digging, and depositing鈥攁nd finished 19^th聽of the 43 teams. The team is excited to build on this strong performance in the years to come.

Read about the experience.

Our Hajim School faculty received an impressive array of accolades over the past year. Here are a select few:

• , the Tracy Hyde Harris Professor of聽Mechanical Engineering and associate director of science, technology, and academics at the聽Laboratory for Laser Energetics, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• , Distinguished Professor of聽Electrical and Computer Engineering, was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors(NAI).
• , an associate professor in the聽Department of Computer Science, was .
• , a professor in the聽Department of Mechanical Engineeringand staff scientist at the聽Laboratory for Laser Energetics, was named one of 19 researchers in the third annual cohort of the聽.
• 鈥�13, an assistant professor of聽chemical engineering,聽biomedical engineering, 补苍诲听microbiology and immunology聽,聽is one of 22 scientists selected to join the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences this year.
• , the James P. Wilmot Distinguished Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, has received a 2024 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
• , the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering and director of the聽, has been inducted to聽Augmented World Expo鈥檚 (AWE)聽.
• , an associate professor of聽mechanical engineering and a scientist at the聽Laboratory for Laser Energetics, was named the 2023 Young Engineer of the Year by the Rochester Engineering Society (RES).

The following faculty join us this academic year:

• 聽鈥�18 MS, 鈥�24 PhD joined the聽Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering聽as an assistant professor of instruction after earning his PhD here at the University.
• joined the聽Department of Chemical Engineering聽as a research assistant professor in October and tenure-track assistant professor next year after having served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware.
• 聽joined the聽Department of Biomedical Engineering聽as a professor after having served as a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP).
• 聽joined the聽Department of Linguistics聽and the聽Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence聽as an assistant professor after having earned a PhD in computational linguistics at the University of Washington.
• 聽joined the聽Department of Computer Science聽as an assistant professor after having earned her PhD in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
• 聽joined the Department of Chemical Engineering as professor and chair after having served as a professor of nanoengineering and associate dean for students at the University of California San Deigo鈥檚 Jacobs School of Engineering.
• 聽joined the聽Department of Economics聽and the Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence as an assistant professor after having earned her PhD in economics at Vanderbilt University.
• 聽鈥�17, 鈥�18 MS, 鈥�23 PhD joined the聽Department of Mechanical Engineering聽as an assistant professor of instruction after having served as a postdoctoral research associate and lecturer here at the University.
• Eileen Otte joins the聽Institute of Optics聽this spring as an assistant professor after having served as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and the Center for Soft Nanoscience at the University of Muenster.
• 聽joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor after having served as a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Irvine.

蘑菇传媒 illustration / Michael Osadciw

Our faculty have been busy developing new academic programs that can prepare students for the careers of tomorrow. Even more are in development, but some of the most recent programs we have launched include:

• 础听聽offered by the聽Department of Mechanical Engineering
• 础听聽offered by the聽Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• 础听聽offered by the聽Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
• 础苍听聽offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

See the University鈥檚 latest degree programs.

Photo courtesy of Sphere Entertainment

I am always amazed by the incredible careers that Hajim School alumni go on to pursue, and one of the coolest jobs is held by Stu Elby 鈥�82 (), the senior vice president of advanced engineering at MSG Ventures. Stu helped lead the way on technical advancements to bring to life the Sphere, the 366-foot-tall live entertainment venue in Las Vegas that is revolutionizing the concert experience.

Housed inside the world鈥檚 largest spherical structure, the performance venue features countless technical marvels. Its creative canvas spans 160,000 square feet of LED panels positioned precisely on the dome to produce a seamless image. The Sphere team even develop a one-of-a-kind camera system to record visuals for the curved display.

Go behind-the-scenes of Sphere with Stu.