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

 

Carl Chiarenza, an artist-in-residence and a professor emeritus in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Rochester, is being remembered as a notable American photographer and an erudite scholar.

Chiarenza, who died in May at the age of 90, was the Fanny Knapp Allen Professor of Art and Art History from 1986 until he retired in 1998. After retirement, he was named artist-in-residence and remained available for critiques and classroom visits.

Internationally known as a photographer specializing in abstract imagery, Chiarenza created photographs featured in more than 90 one-person and more than 280 group exhibitions since 1957.

“The multitude of things that distinguish Carl as a scholar and as an artist are all secondary to the fact that he was a fine human and a generous citizen,” says Allen Topolski, a professor of art and the chair of the Department of Art and Art History.

Read more about Carl Chiarenza

School of Arts & Sciences experts and alumni in the media spotlight:

• “What you’re getting wrong about feeling loved, according to relationship expert” was published on CNN. In their recent book, How To Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most, Sonja Lyubomirsky, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, and Harry Reis, a Dean’s Professor in Arts & Sciences and a professor of psychology at URochester, offer evidence-based strategies for forging meaningful, loving ties—quality connections that studies show have an impact on both sickness and health.
• Hany Farid ’88 discusses his work to identify deep fakes and disinformation in The New York Times. “The World’s Leading Deepfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes” was published recently.  Farid received an Honorary Doctor of Science at Commencement in May.

 

From left: Hannah Swerbenski, Jennie Noll, Rep. Nate Davidson, Emma VanLuven, Jack Chen.

Representative Nathan Davidson of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently invited Jennie Noll, executive director of the Mt. Hope Family Center and a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology, to deliver witness testimony on Pennsylvania House Bills 462 and 464, which propose a revival window to extend statutes of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.

To assist Noll, URochester student interns Jack Chen ’27, and Emma VanLuven ’26 conducted rigorous academic literature searches, integrating legal and scientific frameworks, and designed effective figures for science communication that resulted in successful interface with lawmakers.

 

The American Ornithological Society (AOS) has awarded Al Uy, Dean’s Professor of Biology and chair of the Department of Biology, the 2026 Elliott Coues Award. The AOS annually recognizes individuals and groups whose ornithological research, contributions to the science and practice of ornithology, and service to the AOS merit special distinction.

The Coues award from the AOS recognizes outstanding and innovative contributions to ornithological research with no limitation to geographic area, sub-discipline(s) of ornithology, or the time course over which the work was done.

Uy was honored for his research exploring the origin of species, combining genomic approaches with field data to uncover the molecular basis of reproductive isolation. In announcing the award, the AOS highlighted the research by Uy and his team on Darwin’s finches of Galápagos, seedeaters, tanagers and hummingbirds of the Neotropics, and honeyeaters and flycatchers of the Solomon Islands.

Read more about Aly Uy’s work in the Solomon Islands

 

Pengfei “Frank” Huo, the Dean and Laura Marvin Endowed Professor in Physical Chemistry and an associate professor of optics, has received the 2026 Emily A. Carter Early Career Award in Theoretical Chemistry by the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions in theoretical physical chemistry by researchers who are in the first 10 years of their career as independent researchers.

 

Alex Iosevich, a professor of mathematics, has been named a 2026 Simons Fellow in Mathematics by the Simons Foundation’s Mathematical & Physical Sciences. The Simons Fellow Program extends academic leaves to a full academic year, allowing more time to focus on research.

Simons Fellows are selected based on their scientific accomplishments in the five years preceding the application and on the potential scientific impact of the work to be done during the leave period.

 

The National Science Foundation has granted its most prestigious award for early-career faculty, the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, to Agnes Thorarinsdottir, an assistant professor of chemistry.

In her CAREER project “Elucidating Structural and Physical Factors that Govern the Temperature Dependence of the Redox Potential in Molecular Compounds,” Thorarinsdottir is developing transition metal coordination compounds with highly temperature-sensitive electrochemical properties.

 

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is more than a competition between soccer teams from across the globe.

“The World Cup is never just 22 players kicking a ball,” says Pablo Siera Silva, associate professor of history, who teaches HIST 145: World History Through Soccer every men’s World Cup cycle. “You’re seeing empire, migration, nationalism, labor, religion, commercialization, and identity all unfolding in real time.”

This year’s tournament marks the largest World Cup in history. And watching like a historian, argues Sierra Silva, means paying attention to more than the scoreline. It means noticing the crowd noise, the flags, the chants, the rosters, the rivalries—and even the collectible sticker albums—to reveal something deeper happening beneath the surface.

Read more about the World Cup as world history

 

Send your SAS in Focus news tips to Sheila Rayam, director of communications, 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.