Science & Technology
Spiders and ants inspire metal that won’t sink
University of Rochester researchers, inspired by diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants, have created a metallic structure that is so water repellent, it refuses to sink—no matter how often it is forced into water or how much it is damaged or punctured.
Pioneer urges women audio engineers to ‘raise your hands’ at every opportunity
During a recent master class, four-time Grammy Winner and Skywalker Sound director Leslie Ann Jones was impressed to find that nearly half of the University of Rochester students gathered were women.
‘Lasers are everywhere’
In a video for WIRED University alumna and Nobel Prize recipient Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) explains the inner-workings of lasers to five different people: a child, a teenager, a college student, a graduate student, and, finally, to an expert: Mike Campbell, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.
Society & Culture
When do alcohol-dependent mothers parent harshly?
New Rochester research makes considerable progress towards understanding what triggers mothers with substance use disorders to treat their children harshly, and how parents and medical care providers can predict parenting difficulties.
How much do we lie when sex is on the brain?
A new study shows the extent to which people will change their own opinions to conform to a stranger’s, or lie about their number of past sexual partners, when the sexual systems of the brain have been activated.
Do open relationships work?
Past studies have attempted to gauge the success of nonmonogamous relationships. Now a Rochester team has studied the distinctions and nuances within various types of nonmonogamous relationships and found that solid communication is key.
The Arts
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.”
Spotlight on the performing arts: Visiting theater director opens 30th anniversary season
Kate Eminger—a director and filmmaker based in New York—is visiting guest director of the International Theatre Program’s production of The Grown-Up, a play that, as she says, “captures this idea that there’s magic in everyday life.”
In Photos
Science meets art
Artist Allison Newsome recently approached Anne S. Meyer, an associate professor of biology, about incorporating Meyer’s sustainable, artificial nacre materials into a new art piece. The artificial nacre produced in her lab mimics natural nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl.
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
Caterina Caiazza, Marc Seigfred selected new Genesee Staff Council co-chairs
The first co-chairs of the University’s new Genesee Staff Council share two main goals: better communication in the present, and a solid foundation for the future.
Two Rochester scientists named AAAS fellows
Todd Krauss, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, and Benjamin Miller, Dean’s Professor of Dermatology, are being recognized this year for their “efforts toward advancing scientific applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.”
Adrienne Morgan named associate vice president in Office of Equity and Inclusion
Adrienne Morgan, assistant dean for medical education diversity and inclusion in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, will begin her new role as associate vice president on December 2.