September 8, 2025
Dear members of the Hajim School community,
Football is back, and a team of our biomedical engineers recently used high-tech methods to take a closer look at the injury risk of one of the NFL’s most controversial plays—the “tush push.”
Assistant Professor Cherice Hill from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and her students and postdoctoral researchers study joint biomechanical function. Working with players from the University of Rochester football team, they applied motion capture technology, pressure insoles, and data analysis techniques to try to understand the joint motion, angles, moments, power, and work that affect the lower body during the play.
Watch this highly entertaining video that shows what they found.
NROTC CELEBRATES 80TH ANNIVERSARY DURING MELIORA WEEKEND
University of Rochester photo / J. Adam Fenster
When the University of Rochester community gathers for Meliora Weekend next week, among the many alumni reunions, inspiring academic lectures, athletic competitions, and other events, there will be a special celebration of a fixture of the University for eight decades. The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program will mark its 80th anniversary.
Part of the post–World War II cohort of universities selected for the college-based program for aspiring commissioned officers in the US Navy and Marine Corps, Rochester is home to one of the longest-running units in the country. Over the summer, the NROTC program joined the Hajim School and we now provide advising and administrative support to the program’s students, faculty, and staff.
On Friday, September 19 from 4-5:30 p.m., NROTC alumni, current leadership, and midshipmen will gather to reconnect with old friends, share stories from the unit, and hear exciting updates about the program’s current direction. Tours of the unit will be offered, providing a firsthand look at today’s training spaces and facilities. Learn more about this and other events on the Meliora Weekend website.
IN THE NEWS: ABDELRAHMAN ABDELKADER DISCUSSES PARKINSON’S SCREENING
Computer science master’s student Abdelrahman Abdelkader recently spoke with WXXI News about the Rochester Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory’s work to develop an AI-powered, speech-based screening tool to detect signs of Parkinson’s disease. Under the leadership of Professor Ehsan Hoque, the lab developed a web-based test that asks users to recite two short sentences and within seconds, AI analyzes the voice recordings for subtle patterns linked to Parkinson’s.
“These acoustic models are trained on millions of recordings. They have access to a lot of the recordings available online, not specifically of people with Parkinson’s, but of speech generally,” said Abdelrahman, one of the two lead authors of a study on the tool.
Read the full story on the WXXI website.
FOR STUDENTS: GET TUTORING FROM TAU BETA PI
Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, is now hosting drop-in tutoring hours every Sunday from 1-4 p.m. in Genesee 308. Engineering students can stop by to get homework, project, or general help for engineering and related classes such as math, physics, programming, or chemistry, from upper-class engineering students. From 1-2 p.m., the focus will be on audio and music engineering and electrical and computer engineering; 2-3 p.m. will focus on biomedical engineering and chemical engineering; 3-4 p.m. will focus on mechanical engineering and optics. For questions, email the student organization or message them on Instagram.
FOR FACULTY: SPONSORED RESEARCH ESSENTIALS
The Office of the Provost is offering a series of workshops offering practical knowledge and expanded alliances that link faculty to research and scholarship resources, clarify the path to promotion and support faculty progress. A virtual workshop called Sponsored Research Essentials: A Guide to Resources, Compliance, and Funding will take place from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 16.
This session, led by Vice President for Research Steve Dewhurst and leaders from collaborating offices, will provide an overview of the research landscape and the resources available to faculty conducting research. Topics covered in the overview will include sponsored research administration, research involving human subjects or animals, research integrity, sponsored research accounting, technology commercialization, patents and IP, research security, and more.
RSVP on the Office of the Provost website.
FOR FACULTY: DIVERSIFYING RESEARCH FUNDING SERIES
The Hajim School and the School of Arts and Sciences are offering a series of workshops for faculty on diversifying research funding sources. At 4 p.m. on Thursday, September 25 in the Feldman Ballroom, we will spotlight working with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
A panel of speakers will discuss meeting with program managers, attending proposer days, and creating and submitting a white paper. Panelists include Associate Professor Will Renninger from the Institute of Optics, Associate Professor John Nichol from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Ellen Matson, the Marshall D. Gates, Jr. Professor of Chemistry.
To RSVP, email sasresearch@rochester.edu.
NEWLY FUNDED RESEARCH
Congratulations to Associate Professors Mark Buckley and Whasil Lee from the Department of Biomedical Engineering for receiving $589,176 from the National Science Foundation for a grant titled “Unraveling the Distinction Between Healthy and Harmful Tendon Impingement.”
Have a great week!
Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman
