School of Arts and Sciences

Imagine if, many millions of years ago, dinosaurs drove cars through cities of mile-high buildings. A preposterous idea, right? In a compelling thought experiment, professor of physics and astronomy Adam Frank and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Gavin Schmidt wonder how we would truly know if there were a past civilization so advanced that it left little or no trace of its impact on the planet.

Ronald Grigor Suny, one of the preeminent historians of the Soviet Union, ethnic conflict, and nationalism, will speak as part of the Russian Studies program’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

The Early Worlds Initiative—an interdisciplinary research project at the University of Rochester—connects faculty researching social and cultural developments worldwide from medieval times to the early modern period.

“One of the greatest threats to democracy is the idea that it is unassailable.” That’s the tagline of Bright Line Watch, which neatly sums up the group’s motivation. Made up of four political scientists including University of Rochester professor Gretchen Helmke, the non-partisan initiative has set out to monitor democratic institutions in the United States and potential threats to those practices.

How can high school students inspire political and social change with the instuments of dance, theater, and visual art? University of Rochester students in the Program of Dance and Movement are working with local high schools to answer that question.

More than a dozen researchers—from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and other major institutions around the country—presented at the two-day symposium, aimed at addressing dearth of research data on gun violence.

The University's annual Three Minute Thesis competition challenges graduate students and postdocs to summarize their research with just three minutes and one slide.

“We need to take a look at the bigger picture here, which is that this bill does nothing to deal with our long-term budget challenges,” says Rochester political scientist David Primo. “Whether you are on the left or the right, that should be a big concern.”

“The Social Life of Guns” symposium brings researchers from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke, and other universities and institutions to the University of Rochester for two days to spur more research on guns and gun violence.

As dean of the faculty of AS&E, Hall will be responsible for academic, administrative, and financial aspects of School of Arts & Sciences, the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the undergraduate College. Interim Dean of Faculty Richard Waugh will rejoin the Office of the Provost as vice provost for research.