October 20, 2025

An emerald ash borer on a leaf.

Getty Images photo

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Students from the Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are helping New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric track down trees infected by one of the most problematic invasive species in the region, the emerald ash borer. For their capstone project, data science students are using AI and machine learning techniques to help the power companies spot infected trees before they fall and cause power outages.

I love seeing our students work with companies and nonprofits to solve real-world challenges as part of their coursework. You can read more about the collaboration in the Democrat & Chronicle and Fingerlakes1.com.

JIE AN ’25 (PHD) RECEIVES SIGMM AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PHD THESIS

A graphic with blue geometric shapes, a headshot, and text that says "Jie An '25, outstanding PhD thesis in multimedia computing, communications, and applications, Association for Computing Machinery SIGMM Group."

Congratulations to recent computer science alumnus Jie An ’25 PhD, who was selected by the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group on Multimedia’s award for outstanding PhD thesis in multimedia computing, communications, and applications. Jie’s advisor is Jiebo Luo, a professor of computer science and the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering, and his thesis is titled “Text-to-Video Generation Based on Diffusion Models.”

Jie now works as a research scientist at Meta’s Reality Labs and is the second student from Jiebo’s research group to win the award, following Zhengyuan Yang ’21 PhD, who received the award in 2022. Jiebo’s lab is the only group in the world with more than one student to have won the award.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH THE BAJA SAE TEAM

The University of Rochester's Baja SAE car drives on a road course marked by hay bales and traffic cones.

Fresh off their success at a competition in South Carolina, our Baja SAE team provided a behind-the-scenes overview of what the club is all about. Optical engineering student Aidan Dubyn ’27, the team’s chief mechanic, describes how the team designs, builds, and races their cars and invites students from any and all majors to join. Watch the video on Instagram.

NATIONAL TRANSFER STUDENT WEEK

A composite of headshots of Tim Loftus and Newt Perlman.

October 20-25 marks National Transfer Student Week, a chance to celebrate transfer students and acknowledge the challenges that come with switching universities. We’d like to extend our praise to both new and returning transfers at the University of Rochester!

Two academic advisors (Nate Trieste in Hajim and Katie Gardner in CAS) will be tabling at the Academic Open House today from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Feldman Ballroom, to celebrate our transfer students, so please come by and chat with them.

Two Hajim School students— Tim Loftus ’25, ’26 (computer science) and Newt Perlman ’26 (electrical and computer engineering)—were featured in a story about how transfer students thrive at the University of Rochester. Read about them at the News Center.

JIM MCGRATH TO DISCUSS TISSUE CHIPS AT EVENTS IN SEATTLE, SAN FRANCISCO

A blue and yellow graphic featuring an illustration of the Seattle skyline that says "Experience Rochester Seattle 10/30/25."

Our West Coast alumni and friends will soon have in-person opportunities to hear Jim McGrath, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biomedical Engineering, discuss his groundbreaking work advancing drug discovery with tissue-on-a-chip technology. Jim will be a featured guest at the following events:

The Huang Speaker Series in Technology and Innovation co-presented by the George Eastman Circle at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28 in San Francisco. Register
The Experience Rochester event at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 30 in Seattle. Register

We hope to see lots of Hajim School alumni at these insightful and engaging events!

HAJIM STAFF AND PARTNERS RECOGNIZED AS UR STARS

A blue, yellow, and white graphic that says "We See How You Shine."

Congratulations to the Hajim School staff members and partners who were recently recognized by others at the University as UR Stars who embody Meliora values. UR Stars is a University-wide employee recognition platform designed to reinforce a culture of appreciation and collectively celebrate achievements together across the University, strengthening our shared values as “One University.”

The individuals recognized from August through October include Meir Brea (Institute of Optics), Kathy Buckwell (Research), Nicholas Chodak (GEPA), Michele Foster (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Evelyn Goldman (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Cindy Gary (Hajim Dean’s Office), Jessica McFadden (Human Resources), Marylou Luciano (Institute of Optics), Adrienne Snopkowski (Institute of Optics), Margaret Urzetta (CEIS).

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman