Science & Technology
Detecting microplastics first step in assessing environmental harm
Amid growing alarm over the plastic that pollutes our environment, biomedical and optics researchers are devising ways to quickly detect microplastics in drinking water to better understand their potential impacts on human health.
When laser beams meet plasma: New data addresses gap in fusion research
Rochester scientists at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and their colleagues in California and France have directly demonstrated for the first time how laser beams modify the conditions of a plasma.
Rochester cosmology group has all eyes on dark energy
Rochester’s newly formed cosmology group is at work to create the most detailed 3-D map of the universe ever seen.
Society & Culture
A commitment to inclusion at East
After a unique partnership with the University of Rochester, East Upper and Lower School’s special education programs have become more responsive to students, with the graduation rate for students with disabilities increasing from 26% in 2015 to 57% in 2019.
‘Absurd’ for Fed to leave its policy framework unchanged
Rochester professor of economics Narayana Kocherlakota expects to be disappointed this week, as the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee has signaled that it will make no changes to an eight-year-old policy statement for meeting inflation and unemployment goals.
Ghana field school immerses students in ancient forts—and the legacies of slavery
For the last three summers, Rochester undergraduates have worked to analyze and preserve the ancient forts along the coast of Ghana, while exploring the historical and cultural context of the structures they study.
The Arts
Michael Burritt is Eastman’s first Paul Burgett Distinguished Professor
Burritt has served as the Professor of Percussion at Eastman for eleven years. The Paul J. Burgett Distinguished Professorship was named to honor his deep appreciation for music and its power to transform lives,
Reel time: Richard Fischoff ’68 had big role in popular movies
Richard Fischoff ’68 didn’t star in Kramer vs. Kramer, Sleepless in Seattle, The Big Chill, or Fatal Attraction. But the veteran Hollywood producer and executive played a major role in those movies becoming box office hits.
Spotlight on the performing arts: Meredith Monk—visiting resident artist
Meredith Monk, the unique and influential American artist, will be at the University of Rochester for a multi-day artist residency titled “Dancing Voice/Singing Body.”
In Photos
2019: The year in pictures
As 2019 winds down, we asked University photographer J. Adam Fenster to share some of his top selections from among the many thousands of pictures he captured this year, and his thoughts about what makes each one special.
Student Life
Rochester senior, recent alumnus named Schwarzman Scholars
One Rochester graduate and one senior are among the 145 Schwarzman Scholars selected this year from a global applicant pool of more than 4,700 applicants to complete a multidisciplinary one-year master’s program at China’s Tsinghua University.
University student awarded foreign service graduate fellowship
Jin Kim ’19 (T5 ’20) is the first Rochester student to be awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship, a program designed to attract outstanding candidates from diverse backgrounds to represent the United States in the Foreign Service.
Six Rochester graduate students offered National Institutes of Health fellowship grants
Five graduate students from the University of Rochester Medical Center and one from the School of Arts and Sciences have been offered National Institutes of Health F31 fellowship grants to support their health-related research.
Voices & Opinion
The US is fighting an unwinnable war in Afghanistan
In a New York Times video op-ed, Lyle Jeremy Rubin, a history PhD candidate at the University of Rochester, and four other American veterans argue that the nation’s longest war is not winnable.
The Great Recession: The downturn that wouldn’t end
The Great Recession officially lasted through June 2009, with unemployment levels peaking in October of that year. And while unemployment is now the lowest it’s been in the last 50 years, Rochester experts say the recession is still very much with us.
Separating children from their families must be last resort
In an essay published in the American Journal of Public Health, associate professor of history and practicing hospitalist Mical Raz writes that apart from extreme cases of imminent physical harm, “suboptimal families are better for children than removal.”
University News
Steve Gonek named fellow of American Mathematical Society
Thirty percent of the 20 tenure-track faculty members in the University’s Department of Mathematics are now AMS Fellows.
DPS installs new cruise lights for greater community presence
The University’s Department of Public Safety is joining a nationwide community policing effort by installing “cruise lights” on their fleet of vehicles, adding to officers’ visibility as they provide service to the University community.
Donna Strickland appointed to Order of Canada
University of Rochester alumna Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD), who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics, has been appointed to the Order of Canada for her “extraordinary contributions to the nation.”