In this edition of Research Connections, find links to researchers in the news, updates on important deadlines, and more news for University of Rochester researchers. Email not displaying correctly?
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The VISTA Collaboratory in Carlson Science and Engineering Library consists of an array of 24 monitors. It is 20 feet wide and 8 feet tall and has a resolution (50 megapixels) that approaches that of IMAX theaters. It also has a direct high speed fiber optic connection to the University's Data Center.

HSCCI data visualization winners will be showcased at collaboratory

The Health Sciences Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI) is hosting a contest to identify spectacular examples of data visualization to showcase on the new display wall at the heart of the VISTA Collaboratory, a facility that is being managed by the technical staff at the Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC). Investigators from all schools at the University of Rochester are eligible to enter the contest. All forms and types of research data are welcome, including medical and non-medical imaging, simulation, and high-dimensional data representation and analysis. Technical questions about the VISTA's capabilities can be addressed to Jonathan Carroll-Nellenback, a computational scientist at the CIRC.

Prizes: Winners will receive priority, no-cost access to the VISTA Collaboratory and technical support. Their work will also be showcased at a series of events when the facility is opened to the public this fall.

How to Enter: Please submit a one-page description of the data visualization to Samantha Singhal by Sept. 5. The highest scoring proposals will be asked to present examples of their work to the review committee for final consideration.

Click here for more information.

Do you have an interesting photo or other image that helps illustrate your research? We would like to showcase it. Send a high resolution jpg or other version, along with a description of what it shows, to bmarcotte@ur.rochester.edu.



Bennett discusses CTSI's community health pillar

"A critical part of population health is informatics," said Nancy M. Bennett, co-director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, during a recent interview about the CTSI's community health pillar with Sean Dobbin, CTSI communications manager. "We can only think about the health of populations if we have the data. So a central part of the transformation of the CTSI is the growing strength of our informatics capacity.

"Now we are preparing to be able to use clinical data to more completely define the health of a population -- combining it with more traditional public health data -- survey data, reportable conditions, etc. -- trying to think of ways that we can collaborate with the other health care systems in the area over data, and not have data be a competitive entity," Bennett added.

She outlined four specific objectives for the near term: 1) Develop methods to measure and demonstrate improvements in population health; 2) Increase capacity to make use of population health data; 3) Increase the institutional capacity to conduct community-engaged population health research; and 4) Increase early-career training opportunities in population health and population research.

Read more of her comments at CTSI Stories.


Grad students, postdocs invited to workshops about fellowships

1. Fellowships Workshop, 10 a.m. to noon, Friday, Sept. 5, Computer Studies Building Room 209. This is a great opportunity for students to learn about the resources the University offers as they search for and apply for external fellowship opportunities. A panel of students who have received fellowships will offer their thoughts and advice. Read more . . .

2. NSF Fellowships Workshop, 4 to 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, Dewey Hall, Room 1-101. This workshop, targeted specifically at the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), will inform students about the merit review criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact), and will consist of a panel of faculty who have reviewed applications for the GRFP as well as students who have been awarded the GRFP. Read more . . .

3. NAS Grantsmanship for Graduate Students and Postdocs, 6 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, at the New York Academy of Science in New York City. An evening seminar by Jamie Rubin at the New York Academy of Science in New York City will focus on best practices for effective grantsmanship, specifically applied to individual pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowship applications. Read more . . .


Deadline nears to apply for grant-writing course

The Office of Graduate Education and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute are accepting applications until Sept. 2 for a yearlong course, Scientific Writing for Mentors and Proteges, in which students will learn the fundamentals of good writing and draft grant applications. Read more . . .


A person with answers at CTSI

Connecting with researchers either by email or in person, Cindy Doane, administrator of the Research Navigator Program at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, assists with a wide variety of research-related requests. "E-record, vouchers and financial assistance, REDCap, access policies, needing to know when certain patients are admitted to the ER -- it's really any research-related question," says Doane.

"If I can't help them, I connect them," she adds.

An experienced information analyst, study coordinator and senior project coordinator at the University, she joined CTSI in March.

In addition to her work with the Research Navigator Program, Doane runs the ClinicalTrials.gov Consultation Clinics, which take place monthly in Saunders Research Building, and administers the Voucher System that helps researchers obtain small amounts of funding quickly and easily. Learn more at the CTSI Stories blog.


Skill-building series focuses on clinical research

"Good Advice: Case Studies in Clinical Research, Regulation, and the Law," a new series of CTSI Skill-Building Workshops, begins on Oct. 22. The series will focus on opportunities, challenges and obstacles that face researchers working on clinical research for which legal and regulatory counsel are essential. Click here for a link to the full schedule.


Introducing a new faculty member

Segev BenZvi has joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy as an assistant professor from the University of Wisconson-Madison, where he was a postdoctoral researcher and assistant scientist at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center. He is an experimental physicist specializing in astroparticle physics, which is the study of cosmic rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos from extraterrestrial sources. His focus is the study of charged cosmic rays and gamma rays above 1 TeV, an energy range that allows us to indirectly observe high-energy particle acceleration in supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. At these energies, observations of TeV gamma rays are also very important for cosmology, because the gamma rays interact with primordial radiation fields (the cosmic infrared background) that are very difficult to observe directly. In addition, TeV gamma rays can be used as possible tracers of dark matter annihilation. He received his PhD in physics from Columbia in 2007.


Congratulations to . . .

Medical student Amanda Croasdell and PhD candidate Daniela Geba who are recipients of 2014 Pilot Program Trainee Awards from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Croasdell's project is "Specialized Proresolving Mediators Act as a Novel Therapeutics Against Infection"; Geba will be working on "Comparative effectiveness of screening methods for type 2 diabetes: a pilot study." The CTSI pilot grant program provides seed funding to facilitate new research and future funding. Multidisciplinary research is strongly encouraged, as well as translational and clinical research that moves new discoveries along the translational continuum to humans and the community. The CTSI Pilot Studies program is currently accepting applications with abstracts due on Sept. 2. The full RFA can be viewed here.


UR research in the news

The University of Rochester is among the three research institutions whose applicants for Fulbright scholarships had the highest rate of success during 2013-2014, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The other two institutions were the University of California at San Diego and Arizona State University. Read more . . .


PhD dissertation defenses

Andreas Liapis, Optics, "Optical Time Delays in Structured Media." 4 pm., Sept. 8, B&L 109. Advisor: Robert Boyd.


Mark your calendar

Sept. 1: Applications due for pilot grants for aging research, offered by The Rochester Aging Research Center and the Office for Aging Research and Health Services. Send to to Daina_Bullwinkel@URMC.Rochester.edu. Contact Dirk Bohmann, Yeates Conwell, or Vera Gorbunova with questions. NOTE: New funding for projects that are related to HIV and aging has become available from the Center for AIDS Research. See the updated request for applications.

Sept. 2: Deadline to submit abstracts for Clinical and Translational Science Institute's Pilot Awards program, its Incubator program and for SMD Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) "superpilot" awards.

Sept. 2: Deadline to apply for a yearlong course, Scientific Writing for Mentors and Proteges, in which students will learn the fundamentals of good writing and draft grant applications. Offered by the Office of Graduate Education and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Read more . . .

Sept. 3: Deadline to submit proposals for the disabilities studies cluster symposium, "Complicating Normalcy: Disability, Technology, and Society in the 21st Century." The symposium will be held Nov. 14. Click here to learn more.

Sept 4: Writing a Successful Data Management Plan. Noon to 1 p.m., Carlson Library, Room 310. This workshop will cover the basics of writing a data management plan, as well as introducing the DMPTool, an online tool that helps you draft DMPs tailored to specific funders' requirements. Feel free to bring your lunch. Questions? Contact kfear@library.rochester.edu.

Sept. 5: Deadline to submit spectacular examples of data visualization to a Health Sciences Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI) contest. Winners will receive priority, no-cost access to the VISTA Collaboratory and technical support. Their work will also be showcased at a series of events when the facility is opened to the public this fall. Submit a one-page description of the data visualization to Samantha Singhal. Click here for more information.

Sept. 5: Fellowships Workshop, 10 a.m. to noon, Computer Studies Building Room 209. Resources the University offers students as they search for and apply for external fellowship opportunities. A panel of students who have received fellowships will offer their thoughts and advice. Read more . . .

Sept. 11: NSF Fellowships Workshop, 4 to 5:30 p.m., Dewey Hall, Room 1-101. To inform students about the merit review criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact) for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), with a panel of faculty who have reviewed applications for the GRFP as well as students who have been awarded the GRFP. Read more . . .

Sept 15: Electronic Lab Notebook Interest Group, 2 p.m., Carlson Library Room 313. Are you using an electronic lab notebook (ELN), either in your research or your teaching? Are you interested in trying one out? Join the River Campus Libraries for a roundtable discussion about ELNs. Please RSVP to kfear@library.rochester.edu. Light refreshments will be served.

Sept. 15: Deadline for initial abstracts for CTSI Novel Biostatistical and Epidemiologic Methods pilot projects. Click here to learn more.

Sept. 26: Deadline for letters of intent for CTSI KL2 Mentored Career Development program proposals, which provide two years of support for new investigators interested in a career in clinical or translational research. Click here for more information.


Please send suggestions and comments to Bob Marcotte. To see back issues, click here.




Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.
Rochester Connections is a weekly e-newsletter for all faculty, scientists, post docs and graduate students engaged in research at the University of Rochester. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you are a member of the Rochester community with an interest in research topics.