{"id":269212,"date":"2017-09-19T10:42:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T14:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=269212"},"modified":"2017-09-19T10:42:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T14:42:25","slug":"alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science"},"content":{"rendered":"

University Trustee Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992, have made a leadership gift to support athletics and data science, two leading priorities at the University of Rochester.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key element of the University\u2019s strategic plan, data science is transforming knowledge and discovery worldwide,\u201d says Joel Seligman, University President, CEO, and G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor. \u201cWe are also committed to athletics as a vital piece of the student experience. The Biggars\u2019 exemplary generosity helps fulfill both of these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recognition of their gift, the entryway to Genesee Hall and the Boehning Varsity House<\/a> will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium. The Varsity House contains new locker, sports medicine, and equipment rooms, and the atrium serves as a central gathering space as part of this latest addition to the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex<\/a>. The projects reflect an ongoing effort to improve the University\u2019s athletic facilities, which began with an extensive renovation of the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center in 2000.<\/p>\n

As former varsity soccer players, Biggar and Asaro-Biggar are firm believers in the value of college athletics. \u201cLiz and I were fortunate to experience the remarkable sense of community that exists at Rochester, both on and off the field,\u201d says Biggar. \u201cWe are thrilled to help provide students with a new, modern space and hope it fosters an even greater sense of pride on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biggars\u2019 support also bolsters the University\u2019s robust efforts in data science. Wegmans Hall<\/a>, an interdisciplinary hub for data science, opened its doors this past spring and houses the Goergen Institute for Data Science<\/a>, a University-wide center for data science research.<\/p>\n

The Biggars\u2019 gift helps the University recruit and retain the best talent in the rapidly growing and competitive field by funding fellowships for junior faculty and professorships for senior faculty. In August, Amanda Larracuente, assistant professor of biology, was appointed the Stephen Biggar \u201992 and Elizabeth Asaro \u201992 Fellow in Data Science, and Ehsan Hoque, assistant professor of computer science, was named the Asaro Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science. The fellowships carry a term of three years and allow the University to honor and encourage outstanding faculty early in their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcademic programs like these require the best people behind them,\u201d says Biggar. \u201cWe saw this as an opportunity to help build the data science program at an important, formative stage. With top faculty, Rochester can be at the forefront of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

A partner at an investment firm in New York City, Biggar is a University trustee. Asaro-Biggar is a professional musician and will release her debut album this fall. Both are members of the Athletic Campaign Committee and the Friends of Rochester Athletics, and are active volunteers for the University. They reside in New York City with their children.<\/p>\n

A dedication ceremony for the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium, Boehning Varsity House, and Genesee Hall will occur on October 12 during Meliora Weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recognition of a gift from University trustee Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992\u2014both former varsity soccer players\u2014 the entryway to Genesee Hall and the Boehning Varsity House will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":972,"featured_media":269452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18612,9776,11716,11316,25592],"class_list":["post-269212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-announcements","tag-athletics","tag-data-science","tag-gift","tag-goergen-institute-for-data-science-and-artificial-intelligence"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlumni gift strengthens athletics and data science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Bogumil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margaret Bogumil\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Bogumil\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c\"},\"headline\":\"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":491,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"announcements\",\"athletics\",\"data science\",\"gift\",\"Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence\"],\"articleSection\":[\"University News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c\"},\"description\":\"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"The Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium, the entryway to Genesee Hall and the Boehning Varsity House, is named after University trustee Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992, in recognition of their leadership gift to support athletics and data science. (University photo \\\/ J. Adam Fenster)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c\",\"name\":\"Margaret Bogumil\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/mbogumil\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science","description":"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science","og_description":"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Margaret Bogumil","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Margaret Bogumil","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/"},"author":{"name":"Margaret Bogumil","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c"},"headline":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science","datePublished":"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/"},"wordCount":491,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg","keywords":["announcements","athletics","data science","gift","Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence"],"articleSection":["University News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/","name":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-19T14:42:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c"},"description":"The entryway to Genesee Hall will be named the Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium in recognition of a gift from Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/fea-biggar-atrium.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"The Big \u201cR\u201d Atrium, the entryway to Genesee Hall and the Boehning Varsity House, is named after University trustee Stephen Biggar \u201992 and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro-Biggar \u201992, in recognition of their leadership gift to support athletics and data science. (University photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/alumni-gift-strengthens-athletics-data-science-269212\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alumni gift strengthens athletics and data science"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/87aecbf293de5edf4e552b53c5effb0c","name":"Margaret Bogumil","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/mbogumil\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269212"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269472,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269212\/revisions\/269472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}