December 2, 2024

A jigsaw puzzle made by engineering students featuring aircraft and spacecraft.

One of the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s annual traditions helped celebrate exciting new beginnings at the department—a recently launched minor in aerospace engineering!

Each year, students in Professor Chris Muir’s ME204 Senior Design class fabricate a unique puzzle piece using one of the computer numerical control (CNC) machines in Rettner Hall. The puzzle is designed by Chris and the students don’t know what it will reveal until they all complete and place their pieces.

This semester, Chris designed it to celebrate the department’s introduction of the new aerospace engineering minor. Watch a time lapse video of the students assembling the final product.

And for more details about the aerospace engineering minor, including majors that pair well with it and testimonials from recent alumni working in aerospace, go to this new informational page.

SAVE THE DATE: COMMENCEMENT WEEKEND 2025

A blue, white, and gold graphic with a photo of three students in graduation regalia that says "University of Rochester Commencement Weekend Save the Date!"

Families, friends, and alumni are invited to celebrate Rochester’s Class of 2025 and honorary guests at Commencement Weekend, Friday, May 16, through Sunday, May 18. The 175th Commencement Ceremony starts at 8:45 a.m. on May 16 in Fauver Stadium at the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex on the River Campus.

Explore the Commencement website for schedules, registration details, FAQs, celebration toolkit, updates, and more. Details about Hajim department ceremonies will be available when registration opens in February.

OPTICS FAMILY NIGHT TAKES PLACE DECEMBER 7

A graphic featuring a child wearing glowing orange glasses and text that says "Family night Saturday, December 7th, 4-7 PM."

The Institute of Optics is hosting their annual Family Night from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, December 7 in Goergen Hall. There will be optics-related games, exciting demonstrations, and snacks. The event is open to the community and all experiments, activities, and demonstrations are geared towards children. The event is free but attendees should register in advance. Email Dustin Newman with any questions.

MYURHR AND STUDENT EMPLOYMENT

The current human resources system, HRMS, will be retired and replaced by two systems: UKG and Workday. Starting Sunday, December 15^th, 2024, students will use UKG to log their time and utilize Workday for human resources and pay-related actions, such as enrolling for direct deposit or viewing their paycheck.

Are you a current student employee?

The most important action item to complete before December 15 is your training! System trainings are available via MyPath. Please contact your supervisor for more information on these trainings, and to coordinate time to complete the trainings on-shift.

For more information, search your email inbox for an email sent by the Student Employment Office on November 11 titled, “Upcoming Changes for Student Employees.”

Are you the manager or administrator of student employees?

While there are many changes coming to campus with the myURHR rollout, students need to know about changes to timekeeping and the new home for important documentation such as paychecks, etc. Students must complete MyPath training, which covers new UKG timekeeping procedures, and an overview of key features in Workday. This training should be completed on shift as it is compensable time.

For more information, search your email inbox for an email sent by the Student Employment Office on November 13 titled, “Upcoming Changes for Student Employees – What Managers Need to Know”.

GABRIEL PIERCE ’25 TO APPEAR IN GEVA PRODUCTION OF ‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’

A gray and blue graphic with geometric shapes featuring a headshot of Gabriel Pierce and text that says "Gabriel Pierce '25 biomedical engineering and theater major."

It always amazes me how our Hajim School students are able to thrive in both engineering and the arts. One of the latest examples is Gabriel Pierce ’25, a double major in biomedical engineering and theater who is appearing in Geva Theater’s production of A Christmas Carol.

Gabe is performing as a Londoner/ensemble in the holiday classic, which began November 23 and runs through December 29. Read about Gabe on page 16 of the playbill and learn more about the production on the Geva website.

NEWLY FUNDED RESEARCH

Side-by-side headshots of Benjamin Castaneda and Zhen Bai

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

Professor Benjamin Castañeda from the Department of Biomedical Engineering is receiving $450,000 from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú for a collaborative research agreement titled, “Development of artificial intelligence algorithms applied to the VSI-ultrasound for the diagnosis of breast cancer.”
Zhen Bai, an assistant professor of computer science and the Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science at the Goergen Institute for Data Science, received a $6,080 to NSF Student Travel Grant to help eight students attend the 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) Doctoral Consortium

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman