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

The 2026-2027 academic year is in full swing. In case you missed it, check out the Welcome Week video.

 

A BA in medical anthropology and an MS in psychological science are among the 11 new academic programs added at URochester. Learn more about the new BA in medical anthropology and MS in psychological science programs.

Read the full article about new academic programs at URochester.

 

Jess Gale ’04 opened Rochester’s The Siren and the Sea: Books and Coffee to give people a place to connect. “It’s important to me that we offer a place where people can feel at home, where they can connect and explore ideas,” says Gale, who majored in Anthropology at URochester.

Read more about Gale

 

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

• Brandon Barnett, assistant professor of Chemistry, has received an American Chemical Society award for project “Designing Cooperative Order-Disorder Transitions in Metal–Organic Frameworks for Natural Gas Storage.”
• Segev BenZvi, professor of physics and chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, has received two National Science Foundation awards for projects “Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Optimizing the Design of the Next Generation Gamma-ray Observatory in Chile – SWGO” and $ “Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: IceCube Data Analysis in the U.S. 2026-2029.”
• Sean Crowell, assistant professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has received a NASA award for project “Developing Modern Machine Learning Methods to Retrieve XCO2 with Associated Uncertainties from OCO-2 and OCO-3 Solar Absorption Spectra.”
• Sina Ghaemmaghami, George Y. and Catherine H. Wu Professor in Chemistry and professor of Biology, has received an award from the National Science Foundation for project “Collaborative Research: EAGER: A LiP-MS consortium to create MisFold-DB and determine the sequence, structure, and evolutionary determinants of protein misfolding.”
• John Kessler, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has received an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) OCE Division of Ocean Sciences for project “Collaborative Research: Development of an instrument for the continual analysis of dissolved methane in surface waters with minimal user interface.”
• Ellen Matson, Marshall D. Gates, Jr. Professor of Chemistry, has received an award from the Department of Energy for project “Molybdenum Chalcogenides as Redox Active Supports for Actinides” and an award from the American Chemical Society for the project “Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes using Heterometal-Substituted Thiomolybdate Clusters.”
• Rush Stewart, associate professor in Philosophy, has received an award from the UNC Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society for the award titled “How Social Norms Promote and Constrain Freedom.”
• Petros Tzeferacos, professor of Physics and Astronomy and LLE senior scientist, has received an award from the Pacific Fusion Corporation for “PFC-UR Collaboration 2026.”
• Zhoujian “ZJ” Zhang, assistant professor of Astronomy, has received an award from the Space Telescope Science Institute for project “Probing the chemical (in) homogeneity of free-floating brown dwarfs and planets in the Upper Scorpius star-forming region.

 

The International Society for Self and Identity (ISSI) awarded the 2026 Distinguished Lifetime Career Award to Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology.  The annual honor recognizes a scientist who has made sustained and important contributions to our understanding of self and identity throughout their academic career.

 

Books recently released by faculty include:

• Strangers & Settlers: Migration in a Local’s World (Oxford University Press, 2026) by Bethany Lacina, associate professor of Political Science. The book delves into the topic of immigration and nativism.
• Multinational Order: US Firms and International Organization (Cambridge, 2026) by Randall Stone, professor of Political Science and Director of the Skalny Centerfor Polish & Central European Studies. The book explores the influence of multinational firms over US foreign policy and the rules of the global economy that have arisen over the last eighty years. Stone is scheduled to hold a talk and book signing at 7:30 p.m. today, Sept. 10, in the Hawkins-Carlson room Rush Rhees Library.
• Warscapes: Mediating Militarized Environments (Rutgers UP, 2026), edited by Cortland Rankin and Brady Fletcher, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of English. The collection explores how war, the environment, and media connect.

 

Send your SAS in Focus news tips to Sheila Rayam, director of marketing and communications for the School of Arts & 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.