• University faculty and alumni include approximately ten Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer winners each.
• In research productivity, the University ranks in the top 20 among leading private universities nationwide in a study that accounts for differences in institutional size.
• In fiscal year 2009 the University of Rochester ranked 32nd in federally financed research and development expenditures and 35th in industry-sponsored research and development expenditures.
• The Institute of Optics was founded in 1929 as the nation's first educational program devoted exclusively to optics. It is widely considered one of the nation's premier optics schools and is a leader in basic optical research and theory.

Among UR's Research Strengths:

• The Center for Visual Science, one of the best research groups in the world dedicated to the study of vision.
• The Laboratory for Laser Energetics, home to the world's largest laser, Omega, which is used in fusion experiments.
• One of the world's premier environmental health and science programs, with major research centers funded by both the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency. Current topics include the possible health dangers of asbestos, lead, mercury, pesticides, and nanoparticles.
• The Center for Optics Manufacturing, which is automating and revolutionizing the manufacture of precision optical components.
• Electronic imaging, which, in conjunction with Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and others, has made the University one of the nation's leading research centers in printing, digital photography, and image processing.

Notable Achievements:

• Scientists have brought about a quality of human vision previously thought impossible, by discovering previously unknown aberrations in the human eye and developing new ways to correct for those imperfections.
• Engineers designed the "Blue Noise Mask," which greatly improved the look of printed or faxed images, and became a staple of printing technology.
• The James P. Wilmot Cancer Center is home to the nation's leading program aimed at helping cancer patients cope with the side effects of cancer treatment.
• Researchers help lead the world's foremost research group on age-related hearing loss.
• University research laid the groundwork for the radiation treatment of human cancers, which is now used in more than 80 percent of cancer cases.
• Linguistic researchers here produced the first written form of sign language.
• Researchers were the first to synthesize morphine in the laboratory. This paved the way for the development of other synthetic painkillers and anesthetics, and ushered in a "golden era" of organic synthesis.
• Artificial intelligence experts have created a computer system that is the best in the world at carrying on an ordinary conversation with a human.
• Pioneering research into the use of radioactive isotopes as tracers improved doctors' abilities to diagnose disease, leading to the development of brain and bone scans, cardiac imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging.
• Researchers were the first to administer lung surfactant to premature infants, dramatically improving their survival rates. Surfactants are now used around the world.
• Astronomers at the University were the first to train an infrared telescope at the sky, and have since helped develop the infrared "eyes" of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
• Research paved the way for the modern cancer treatment of hyperthermia, which is now delivered by microwaves. University scientists were the first to show that elevating body temperature is an effective treatment against some tumors.
• Researchers first demonstrated the connection between the mind and the body, leading to the establishment of a new field of study, psychoneuroimmunology.
• The Experimental Therapeutics program is held up by NIH as a model for training young physicians how to do research.
• Scientists developed a vaccine against bacterial meningitis. As a result, the disease has been cut by 95 percent in small children.
• Technology developed by University physicians is key to vaccines against human papillomavirus, which causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer in women. The vaccines are currently in the final stages of testing.