Posts Tagged School of Arts and Sciences

University Research Awards for 2018-19 have been awarded to 15 projects ranging from an analysis of the roles of prisons in the Rochester region, to a new approach to genome editing, to new initiatives for advanced materials for powerful lasers.

Each year Arts, Sciences & Engineering and the School of Medicine and Dentistry recognize outstanding research and dissertations by PhD students.

As a computer science major minoring in philosophy, Josh Pachter was ideally suited for developing concepts for programming self-driving cars that behave ethically. His idea: create ethical machines through a process similar to how we raise children.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Matthew Lyskawa ’18 saw no purpose in school. But a teacher saw a spark and lit the fire that set Lyskawa on his journey, first to community college, then Rochester, and now to begin a doctoral program in philosophy at Harvard.

Four Rochester students saw the beauty of graffiti art in abandoned city subway tunnels. Banding together as the ExSpace Artist Collective, they designed an augmented reality project to share that beauty with others.

Rochester native Cherish Blackman has always had a knack for languages. “I wanted to study languages that weren’t very close to English,” she recalls. The double major in Russian and East Asian studies is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.

Anya Khalid came to the University without having ever coded in her life—but she was eager to get in on the ground floor of the new undergraduate major in data science. Now the Washington, D.C., resident is graduating with degree in economics as well, bound for Seattle and a job as a data analytics consultant.

Pianist Kazarzyna Musial will perform music by Polish composers, including including Ignacy Jan Paderewski—Poland’s first prime minister—in a celebration of 100 years of Polish independence.

From saxophonist to student government treasurer, to internships at BASF, SpaceX, and Ernst & Young, C.J. Van Huben has packed a lot into four years. “I had a feeling I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to be put in a box,” the financial economics major says. “The open curriculum was perfect for me.”

For Ian Manzi, a photo of Rush Rhees Library left behind in an office at his Rwandan high school changed his life. “It looked so beautiful, a representation of college,” he says.