University News

Bill Murphy, vice president for University Communications, is retiring in June 2015, President Joel Seligman announced today. A national search is underway to identify his successor.

High Tech Rochester (HTR) will expand its operations to the center of Rochester, creating $24 million business incubator facility will be located in the Sibley Building and serve as the cornerstone of the city’s new innovation zone.

President Seligman issued a statement in response to the fiscal year 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill released by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Dec. 9. The House of Representatives is planning to vote as early as Thursday on the measure, which would then go to the Senate. Current government funding runs out on Dec. 11.

The literary translation press recently received one of this year’s largest Arts Works grants in literature. The $60,000 grant will support the publication and promotion of several books in 2015, including Rochester Knockings, a novel based on the Rochester-based religious movement of Spiritualism and the famous Fox Sisters.

University photographer J. Adam Fenster selects his favorite photos from a memorable year.

Qiang Lin, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of optics, has been named the first Leonard Mandel Faculty Fellow. The award, which includes a two-year, $25,000 stipend, recognizes exceptional achievement by a junior faculty member in coherence and quantum optics.

An associate professor of musicology at the Eastman School of Music, Esse received the award honoring an article of exceptional merit published by a scholar in the early stages of his or her career for her study of female improvisation in 19th century Italian opera.

The AMS awards fellowships to recognize “members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics.” Greenleaf is being singled out for his “contributions to inverse problems with applications to cloaking, as well as for service to AMS.”

Esther M. Conwell, research professor of chemistry, pioneer in the field of semiconductor research, and recipient of the National Medal of Science, died in a motor vehicle accident Sunday at the age of 92.

"The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is currently conducting a review on grants issued by the agency for some 60 merit-reviewed projects, including one from the University of Rochester. Scientific research awarded through peer-review process should not be subject to political or ideological interference."

Seven University departments and offices -- including some offices within Human Resources and University IT -- will transition from their current spaces into the new second and third-story office space in Building 3 of College Town, located on Celebration Drive, beginning in November.

Since 2001, Gerald L. Pickering has served as Webster police chief, overseeing a force of 32 sworn officers and 10 civilian professionals. Pickering will start in the new position at the University on Jan. 5.