Welcome to the latest SAS in Focus, a newsletter that reports what’s happening in the School of Arts and Sciences.

In this edition, we’ll spotlight community engagement, recently published news, information on the latest research awards, and more.

 

The University of Rochester will join the prestigious ranks of Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, elevating its work to uncover biological mechanisms of aging and finding answers to leading longer, healthier lives.

The National Institutes of Health Division of Aging Biology awarded Rochester a five-year grant to establish the Upstate NY Comparative Biology of Aging Nathan Shock Center. Rochester will receive nearly $1 million annually beginning in 2025 to fund the center.

“There are only eight centers like this in the country, so receiving this grant really puts us on the map in a more prominent way,” says Vera Gorbunova, the Doris Johns Cherry Professor in the Department of Biology and currently co-director of the Rochester Aging Research (RoAR) Center, which will officially become the Upstate NY Comparative Biology of Aging Nathan Shock Center. Gorbunova will be the director of the center.

Read more about the Upstate NY Comparative Biology of Aging Nathan Shock Center.

 

Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize computing by solving complex problems that stump even today’s fastest machines. But building efficient quantum computers isn’t just about developing faster chips or better hardware. It also requires a deep understanding of quantum mechanics—the strange rules that govern the tiniest building blocks of our universe such as atoms and electrons—and how to effectively move information through quantum systems.

In a paper published in Physics Review X, a team of physicists—including graduate student Elizabeth Champion and assistant professor Machiel Blok from the University of Rochester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy—outlined a method to address a tricky problem in quantum computing: how to efficiently move information within a multi-level system using quantum units called qudits.

Read more about the latest quantum research discovery.

 

Welcome to Tilar Mazzeo, who has been named the co-editor of Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to William Blake (1757–1827) and his circle.

Published by the Department of English, Blake has been produced at Rochester since the 1980s. The quarterly contains articles, notes, and book reviews. It also includes annual features including a review of sales of works by Blake and his followers, and checklists of publications and discoveries, music, and exhibitions. Mazzeo replaces English professor and former co-editor Morris Eaves, who died in February 2024.

 

Pre-college summer seminar Experiencing Civic Life, a two-week residential program that teaches current high school students about the role they can play in shaping their community, was held June 28 through July 12 at the University.

Seven high school students participated in the program that also included four University undergraduate and graduate mentors. Professor of History Joan Rubin, Dexter Perkins Professor in History, began the ECL program five years ago.

“There is intelligence and experience everywhere one looks,” says Program Director Ruben Flores, associate professor of history and chair of the Department of History. “But how do we nurture those things rather than ignore them amid the inequities that are pervasive in our society?”

Programming will continue through the 2025-2026 academic year and students will be invited back to campus at regular intervals.

“I want to thank my colleague, historian Joan Rubin,” says Flores. “Her commitment is unmatched. I also want to thank professors Jeffrey Allen Tucker, Katherine Mannheimer, Richard Feldman, and Zeynep Soysal, for their commitment to the humanities. Time and again, they showed our students that life is more complicated than we often want to believe. That is a real testament to a UR education.”

 

 

Congratulations to faculty members who recently secured funding for new sponsored research projects:

• Karl Glastad, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, received $1,898,564 from the National Institute of Health for a project titled “Regulation and evolution of extreme metabolic plasticity in eusocial animals.”
• Alex Iosevich, a professor of mathematics in the Department of Mathematics, received $301,542 from the National Science Foundation for research on “The uncertainty principle, restriction theory, signal recovery and sampling on manifolds.”
• Kelly Douglass, associate professor of physics & astronomy (instructional), director of the C.E.K. Mees Observatory and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received $415,240 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “REU Site in Physics, Astrophysics, and Optics at Rochester.”
• Sadhika Bagga, an assistant professor of economics in the Department of Economics, received $7,500 from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Early Career Research Award, for the project “Internal and External Job Ladders in the US Labor Market.”
• Luis Rafael Guntin Wernik, an assistant professor economics in the Department of Economics, received $13,381 from Structural Transformation and Economic Growth (UK), Research Grants. to explore the question “Do Crises Shape the Economic Structure?”

 

The Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Science was held June 22-26 at the University of Rochester. The 172 people in attendance included guests from across the United States and countries including India, Denmark, Japan, Austria, Romania, Italy, England, and Australia.

 

Send your news tips to Sheila Rayam, director of marketing and communications for the School of Arts and Sciences, 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.