Departmental News
Recent departmental news items will be posted here. For more news see our news archive or the news from the University of Rochester Newscenter.
Lunabotic’s Team Shows Growth at National Challenge
At the end of the academic year, one of our newer student teams had a strong showing at a national competition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The UR Lunabotics Team sent a contingent of 14 students to the Lunabotics Challenge, up from the seven who went last year for their first time competing in the national event.
SoundSpace
Last year, the University put out a call for proposals for new transdisciplinary centers and institutes and 42 teams of Rochester researchers submitted proposals. Ten were selected to receive planning awards and are now refining their plans for final proposals for full-scale funding.
Technology Women of the Year Awards
Congratulations to the 2025 finalists and winners of the Technology Woman of the Year Awards presented by TechRochester. The awards, which celebrate the achievements of women in high technology fields, were presented last week. Juniyali Nauriyal ’22 PhD (electrical and computer engineering), the CEO and co-founder of Photonect Interconnect Solutions, received the Emerging Technology Woman of the Year award.
NYASHA GWAZA ’26 RECEIVES PROJECTS FOR PEACE GRANT
Congratulations to electrical and computer engineering student Nyasha Gwaza ’26 for receiving a Projects for Peace grant. Projects for Peace is a global program that encourages young adults around the world to develop innovative, community-centered responses to the world’s most pressing issues.
OMAR ZAKARIA ’25 WINS AT PRO-AM SQUASH TOURNAMENT
Omar Zakaria ’25 (electrical and computer engineering), a standout member of the men’s squash team, joined several top players, including several ranked in the world top 200, for an exceptional display of squash in the PSA Challenger tournament at the University’s Lyman Squash Courts.
Professor Benjamín Castañeda ’09
Throughout his career, Professor Benjamín Castañeda ’09 (PhD EE - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) has focused on bringing medical technology to people who would otherwise not have access.
Open Scholarship Awards
The Open Scholarship Community Rochester recently presented its annual awards to several Hajim School students. The Open Scholarship Awards celebrate early career scholars who have demonstrated exemplary efforts in making their research open and accessible to the wider community. Congratulations to the following Hajim School PhD students who received awards in the engineering category:
Emmy Winning Alumna
Grace Stensland ’23 helped earn an Emmy for her work as sound editor on “Orion and the Dark,” a Dreamworks feature streaming on Netflix. Grace was a Film and Media Studies Major, with an AME Minor.
ECE Students Awarded Scholarship by the Rochester Engineering Society
Congratulations to our ECE students who were recently awarded scholarships by the Rochester Engineering Society:
Newly Funded Research
Congratulations to ECE faculty members who recently secured funding for new sponsored research projects:
Newly Funded Research - Gaurav Sharma and Irving Barron
Professor Gaurav Sharma and Assistant Professor Irving Barron from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are receiving $50,000 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled, “I-Corps: Translation Potential of Enhanced Barcode Technologies.”
Neil Zhang Named 2024 IEEE Signal Processing Society Scholar
Congratulations to You (Neil) Zhang, an electrical and computer engineering PhD student advised by Associate Professor Zhiyao Duan, for earning an IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Scholarship. The SPS Scholarship Program recognizes students who have expressed interest and commitment to pursuing signal processing education and real-world career experiences.
Qiang Lin Appointed Dean’s Professor
Qiang Lin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and optics, has been appointed Dean’s Professor. These distinguished faculty appointments are assigned to individuals of outstanding research accomplishment in the School of Arts & Sciences and the Hajim School
Electrical and Computer Engineering Ranked 10th – Best College for Women in STEM
The electrical and computer engineering program ranked in the top 10 nationally in Washington Monthly’s a list of America’s Best Colleges for Women in STEM. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the publication compared the gender distribution of every STEM program at 1,027 U.S. colleges and universities, then ranked the 20 undergraduate programs with the highest and lowest percentage of recent graduates who are female in 10 popular STEM fields.
Tau Beta Phi Engineering Honor Society 2024
Rochester’s chapter of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society recently initiated 30 new members. Throughout the academic year, our chapter hosts a variety of activities including community service, social events, corporate information sessions, and study sessions to help other engineering students succeed.
EDGE SCHOLARS VISIT AUSTIN
Five Hajim School students visited state-of-the-art tech facilities earlier this month as part of the EDGE Scholars program. Rochester is a founding member of the new Education Group for Diversification and Growth in Engineering (EDGE) Consortium, an alliance of schools and industry/government partners that seeks to transform the semiconductor industry, and education pipelines, to meet national demand.
Best Student Paper Award at the 2024 AES Convention
Congratulations to electrical engineering PhD students Benjamin Thompson and Jenna Rutowski for winning the Best Student Paper Award at the 157thAudio Engineering Society convention. They were recognized for their paper “A Survey of Methods for the Discretization of Phonograph Record Playback Filters,” which they authored along with recent alumnus Tre DiPassio ’23 and Associate Professor Michael Heilemann.
Congratulations to Paul Berggren’25 ECE- Receives Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society award
Paul received a Stabile Scholarship, named for Vincent A. Stabile, NY L ’40, whose gifts to the Association have permanently endowed scholarships.
ECE Participates in the BEST Program at LLE
ECE participated in the LLE’s 2024 Broad Exposure to Science and Technology (BEST) Research Program, which engages underrep-resented Rochester Central School District high school students and teachers in various aspects of STEM. Prof. Heilemann and Tre DiPassio (PhD ’23) organized two days of ECE programming. On the first day, Heilemann, DiPassio, ECE PhD students Ben Thompson and Jenna Rutowski, and Yunji Kim (AME ’25) traveled to East High School to give lectures and demonstrations on audio, acoustics, and signal processing. The next day, the BEST students headed to the River Campus to learn about cutting edge research in the AME labs/studios, the Howard lab, and the Doyley lab. The BEST students were also able to connect with the ECE REU students over lunch and learn about this valuable program. ECE’s first year of collaboration with the LLE BEST program was hugely successful. We are excited to have kicked off this community outreach and look forward to expanding our participation next summer. Marco Romo-Gonzalez, LLE engineer and deputy diversity manager, commented “Though it was not a competition, many of the students ranked your demos as the best, or as the highlight of the program! We all just really enjoyed your contributions.” Many thanks to all involved!
Congratulations to our faculty members who recently secured funding for new sponsored research projects
Tong Geng, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, received $50,000 from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for a project titled “Emerging-Architecture-Aware Quantization for Generative AI with Hybrid Data Precision.”
Yerzhan Mustafa Awarded the 2024 IEEE Council on Superconductivity Graduate Study Fellowship
The IEEE Council on Superconductivity and its Awards Committee awards this fellowship annually to a full-time graduate student pursuing a PhD (or equivalent) degree in the area of applied superconductivity, at an accredited college or university of recognized standing worldwide. The intention of the award is to encourage students to enter and contribute to the field of applied superconductivity.
Riley Laygo Represents UR on Softball All-America Team
Softball player Riley Laygo ’27 (audio and music engineering) was honored as a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III All-American, as announced by the organization on Wednesday evening. A Second Team All-American, Riley becomes the eighth All-America honoree in program history and is just the second first-year to earn the distinction.
Streamlined microcomb design provides control with the flip of a switch
Rochester researchers led by Qiang Lin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and at the Institute of Optics, created a chip-scale microcomb laser with an innovative design that allows users to control the optical frequency comb simply by switching on a power source.
The Class of 2024 Celebrate with an Ice Cream Social
On Friday, May 10, 2024, seniors and graduating master’s students celebrated with their fellow graduates and faculty at our Ice Cream Social. Lugia’s Ice Cream on Wheels provided the delicious treat.
Eby Friedman Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Eby Friedman, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the Hajim School’s top annual faculty award for his tireless efforts and groundbreaking scholarly achievements. The Hajim School presented Eby with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes faculty for outstanding achievements in research, teaching, and leadership over the course of their career.
First Generation Students Move on to Exciting Next Chapters
The David T. Kearns Center profiled Hajim School graduates who are off to exciting next steps.
Rocky Award - Eli and Mildred Sokol Prize
Congratulations to ECE student, Jacob Greenberg ’26!
Rocky Award - Award for Campus Contributions – Junior & Senior
Congratulations to ECE student, Madison King ’25! Madison received the Award for Campus Contributions – Junior & Senior.
Mujdat Cetin and Mark Bocko – Seed Funding for New Transdisciplinary Centers and Institutes
A key pillar of the Boundless Possibility strategic plan is that the University aims to launch five new transdisciplinary centers or institutes aimed at supporting scholarship in areas that will bring the University even more distinction and reputation. The University launched a planning funding competition in which teams of scholars from multiple units across the institution proposed ideas for new centers and institutes.
Thomas Howard – UR Robotics Club Faculty Advisor
UR Lunabotics is a brand-new competitive team with the goal of competing and succeeding in the NASA Lunabotics competition. Lunabotics is an international, university-based competition being run and sponsored by NASA. Teams typically develop one large robot (1.0m x 0.75m x 0.75m). This robot will compete by performing various autonomous and controlled tasks to gather points on a simulated lunar surface. Our goal is to compete this year in-person at NASA Kennedy Space Center using a fully autonomous robot. Lunabotics is open to all members regardless of skill level.
Newly Funded Research for Qiang Lin
Congratulations to Professor Qiang Lin from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and for receiving $500,000 to collaborate with Winston-Salem State University and Clemson University on a project funded by the National Science Foundation. The project is titled, “Expanding Quantum Research and Education at Winston-Salem State University with Research on Hybrid Microwave-Optical Quantum Devices.”
Congratulations Christiano Tapparello who recently secured funding for new sponsored research projects.
Cristiano Tapparello, an associate professor of research in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received $113,879 from the National Institutes of Health for a project led by his collaborators at Stanford University titled, “A facial expression-based personalization engine (FPE) for monitoring and modulating real-time effective engagement in cognitive training in older adults at risk for AD-ADRD.”
Congratulations to ECE PhD student, Frank Cwitkowitz, a Graduate Research Symposium Winner!
The Hajim School’s graduate students did a terrific job showcasing their scientific findings last week at the third annual Graduate Research Symposium. The event, hosted by the office of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, featured a poster session with $300 awards for the best presentations in four disciplines.
ECE UG Velma Ayona - EDGE Scholar
Two Hajim School students recently visited Micron Technology’s state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication facility in Boise, Idaho, last week as part of the new EDGE Scholars program. On February 26, Velma Ayona ’24 (electrical and computer engineering) and Atlas Kiewel ’27 (optics) toured Micron’s manufacturing facility, the only one for DRAM semiconductor memory chips in North America.
Five from the Hive: Omar Zakaria Khalil
The University of Rochester Instagram account’s Five from the Hive series provides a behind-the-scenes peek into the lives and experiences of our students through five photos from their camera roll. They recently featured Hajim School student Omar Zakaria Khalil ’25 (electrical and computer engineering).
Marvin Doyley Receives the Advocacy and Action Award
Marvin Doyley, the Wilson Professor of Electronic Imaging and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the Advocacy and Action Award during last week’s Presidential Stronger As One Diversity Awards ceremony.