October 7, 2024

Overhead view of a vehicle with sensors activated while turning into a crosswalk with people to illustrate the concept of improved autonomous machines.

Getty Images photo

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

With autonomous machines like self-driving cars and drones on the rise, safety and reliability are on the mind for consumers, manufacturers, and regulators. But solutions for protecting autonomous machine hardware and software from malfunctions, attacks, and other failures also increase costs. Those costs arise from performance features, energy consumption, weight, and the use of semiconductor chips.

A team of researchers led by Yuhao Zhu, an associate professor in Rochester’s Department of Computer Science, says the tradeoff between overhead and protecting machines against vulnerabilities is due to a “one-size-fits-all” approach to protection. In a paper published in Communications of the ACM, the authors propose a new approach that adapts to varying levels of vulnerabilities within an autonomous machine system to make them more reliable and control costs.

BAJA SAE TEAM OVERCOMES ADVERSITY AT OKTOBAJAFEST

Dozens of Rochester students gather around the Baja SAE car outdoors.

Congratulations to our student-run Baja SAE team for a great showing at the OktoBajaFest competition hosted by Clarkson University. We sent 24 students spanning all year levels to compete against 30 teams from 15 universities, and four alumni were also able to join the team for the weekend.

Our car was quick, earning second place in the hill climb competition and overcame plenty of obstacles over the course of the weekend. The suspension and traction event bent and cracked the frame and resulted in a significant welding and rebuild with a late night on Saturday, but the team got it back on its feet for Sunday. The obstacles took out many different components, including uprights, half-shafts, bearings, trailing links, camber and steering links, but the experience provide a great chance for the new design team to get a feel for the current car and understand the challenges of Baja competitions.

“The team worked well handling all the challenges, repairing the car and getting it back into the race,” says the team’s advisor, Professor Chris Muir from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “This competition is a great opportunity to understand practical applications of the theory in the classroom.”

Check out the team’s Instagram feed for photos chronicling the weekend.

STUDENTS TRAVEL ABROAD FOR INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE PROGRAMMING CONTEST

Three computer science students solve problems on a computer at a programming competition.

Bob Smith / ICPC

We also recently had three computer science students competing in a very different type of competition halfway across the world. Zeyu Nie ’24 (computer science and applied math), computer science master’s student Xiaoou Zhao, and Yan Zou ’27 (computer science) flew to Astana, Kazakhstan to compete in the International Collegiate Programming Contest.

The students earned a spot in the World Finals after finishing 17th in the North American Championship held at the University of Central Florida back in May. It sounds like an incredible global experiential learning opportunity and we’re proud to have these students represent us on a global stage. Special thanks to their coaches, Associate Professor Adam Purtee and Professor Daniel Stefankovic.

ANJALY GEORGE FINALIST FOR STUDENT TECH LEADER AWARD

Congratulations to data science master’s student Anjaly George, who is a finalist for the Student Tech Leader Award at the Greater Rochester Excellence and Achievements in Technology (GREAT) Awards hosted by Tech Rochester. The awards ceremony takes place Tuesday, October 15 at Casa Larga Vinyards.

The Student Tech Leader Award celebrates the exceptional achievements of a student who demonstrates excellence in the field of technology. This award is designed to acknowledge the remarkable contributions of a student who not only excels academically but also actively contributes to the broader tech community at their institution and beyond.

Anjaly was nominated by Crisandra Harrison ‘11S, an adjunct faculty member in the Simon School of Business. “Anjaly has been an amazing asset to our mental healthcare practice and her summer project was extremely impactful,” Crisandra said.

CALISKAN WEIGHS IN ON DATA ENGINEERING JOB OPPORTUNITIES

A graphic with dark blue hexagons in the background and a headshot at the forefront accompanied by the text "Cantay Caliskan, associate professor of instruction, Goergen Institute for Data Science."

Fortune Recommends recently reached out to Cantay Caliskan, an associate professor at the Goergen Institute for Data Science, for advice on the state of jobs in data engineering.

“There has been, for quite a while, a lot of opportunities in data engineering,” says Cantay. “The trend has been (upward), growth every year—better than the overall economy.”

Head to the Fortune website for Cantay’s explanation of jobs like lead data scientists and a list of the top 10 high-paying data engineering jobs right now.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman