A quartet of groundbreaking new centers receives $8.5 million in institutional funding.
Transdisciplinary research is more than academic jargon—it’s arguably URochester’s superpower. With world-class resources across the River Campus, the Eastman School of Music, the Medical Center, and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics—and a community of faculty and students committed to solving humanity’s most complex challenges—URochester is uniquely positioned to foster innovation and collaboration that can not only reshape existing fields but also create entirely new ones.
To make this vision a reality, in April 2024 the provost’s office launched a first-of-its-kind process to identify teams to receive multi-year funding to establish fully realized transdisciplinary centers. After an anonymous faculty committee selected 10 out of 42 proposals to receive one‑year planning grants, a total of 13 teams submitted comprehensive proposals to be evaluated by faculty, administrators, and more than 60 external reviewers.
Out of this rigorous process emerged four new centers with transformative potential—and a combined $8.5 million investment that drew admiration from the external reviewers themselves. “I can’t overstate what a wonderful idea this is,” said John Aldrich ’75 (PhD), the Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science at Duke University, when the awardees were announced in June. “The courage and commitment of the leadership team to do something bold in research right now is inspiring.”
SoundSpace
Award: $4 million over five years
By combining strengths across multiple fields, SoundSpace aims to put URochester
at the frontier of music and technology. Its team—drawn from biomedical and chemical engineering, composition, digital media studies, computer engineering, musicology, and more—will focus on developing a best-in-class hub for research, education, performance, and public engagement. “We have advantages no one else has,” says the center’s lead, Mark Bocko ’84 (PhD), a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Center for Extended Reality
Award: $2 million over five years
CXR seeks to awaken the potential of AR/VR by focusing on how we perceive and experience the world. This involves pulling from optics, engineering, natural sciences, humanities, and medicine to develop platforms that create a seamless connection between hardware and user. “The idea is that the person isn’t using the device as much as the device becomes part of the user,” says CXR co-lead Nick Vamivakas, the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics. “I don’t know of any other places this is being done.”
University of Rochester Resilience Research Center
Award: $2 million over five years
Why doesn’t stress, trauma, and adversity affect everyone the same? Why are some people able to bounce back faster than others? UR³C’s mission is to identify the factors that perpetuate stress-related health issues to develop ways to prevent and even reverse them. “We’re injecting hope,” says Jennie Noll, a professor of psychology and UR³C co-lead. “We’d like to build on existing research to provide optimism and sustainability that hasn’t previously been available to communities facing dire circumstances or families with generations of adversity or trauma.”
Center for Coherence and Quantum Science
Award: $500,000 over two years
URochester is the birthplace of quantum optics and key elements of quantum coherence. Soon, it may also become the birthplace of the first circuit boards for quantum computers. Combining experts in physics, optics, chemistry, and more, CCQS intends to make the University a major national player in this space. “This is a win-win proposition,” says team lead and Associate Professor of Physics John Nichol. “The research we’re proposing will have major implications for both understanding how the universe works and harnessing this knowledge for useful technology.”
A version of this story appears in the fall 2025 issue of Rochester Review, the magazine of the University of Rochester.
