
Moniz, Schumer tour Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz (right), joined by Senator Charles Schumer, made his first visit to the Laboratory for Laser Energetics yesterday. Moniz and Schumer met with researchers and toured the facility, which is seen as a driver for regional innovation and growth.

Finding needles in chemical haystacks
Chemists have developed a process for identifying new catalysts that will help synthesize drugs more efficiently and more cheaply, by searching libraries for drugs with structure features similar to known catalysts.

100th Optical Society meeting a showcase for research
Next-generation endoscopes to diagnose cancer and high-power laser amplifiers for communications will be more feasible, thanks to University researchers whose work will be showcased at the Optical Society’s 100th annual meeting.

Director of National Institutes of Health visits Medical Center
Francis Collins met with graduate students and junior researchers to discuss the importance of communicating science to the public and policymakers, and increasing diversity in biomedical research.

‘Unconference’ stirs the pot of health care data
This November, RocHD3: Rochester Healthcare Deep Data Dive will give both students and professionals the opportunity to discuss the structure, uses, and issues in health care data analysis in an ‘unconference’ format.

‘No more magic’ in predicting how objects move through sand, other terrain
Rochester engineers have developed a simple theoretical model to calculate the force needed to move a rover across the ocean floor or through the granular terrain of other planets, for example, without having to run experiments to test those materials.

NSF grant to fund entrepreneurial growth, innovation
An award of $4.2 million from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Program will create a regional hub for research-driven commercialization and leverage the national network of I-Corps Nodes.

Turing Award winner addresses conference on parallel computing
When Leslie Valiant delivered his 2011 Turing lecture, “it was one of the most scientifically inspiring speeches I have seen,” says Chen Ding, computer science professor and co-organizer of the 29th International Workshop on Languages and Compilers of Parallel Computing.

Building a better battery, large and small
If chemical engineering professor Wyatt Tenhaeff and his students succeed, their work will help create the next generation of batteries so slim they can fit inside clothing, and so large they can power a car without risk of fire.

Protein found that initiates DNA repair
Researchers who specialize in the study of aging have identified a protein that may serve as a first responder, activating a “longevity gene” known as sirtuin 6 and setting in motion a cascade of molecular first responders to repair damaged DNA.