Recent News
Explore our news archive and the University of Rochester Newscenter for news from previous years. Be sure to check out our upcoming events page for what's happening next, and connect with us on your favorite social media platforms!
Jannick Rolland receives 2025 Hajim School Lifetime Achievement Award
Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering, has been awarded the 2025 Hajim School Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding career in research, teaching, and leadership. Her impact at the University extends across multiple disciplines—she directs the Robert E. Hopkins Center for Optical Design & Engineering and holds joint appointments with the Center for Visual Science and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. “For pioneering accomplishments in freeform optics and for her mentoring of generations of graduate students, she is well deserving of a Hajim Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Thomas Brown, director of the Institute of Optics.
Melisanda Feliz Wins Fulbright Student Grant
Melisanda Feliz earned both her BS (2022) and MS (2023) in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester, completing her master’s through the Center for Medical Technology Innovation (CMTI) program. We are proud to share that she was recently awarded a Fulbright student grant for the English Teaching Assistant (ETA) program in La Rioja, Spain, where she will help Spanish children strengthen their English communication skills.
Diane Dalecki Receives AIUM Joseph H. Holmes Basic Science Pioneer Award
Related Links...
Design Day 2025
Design Day 2025 was a huge success! Our BME Senior Design and CMTI teams once again impressed us with their innovation, dedication, and professionalism. We’re incredibly proud of all their accomplishments and grateful to the mentors, sponsors, and supporters who helped make the day so memorable.
Taimi Marple Receives Dottie Welch Award For The Second Time
Taimi Marple, Biomedical Engineering (BME) Undergraduate Coordinator, has been recognized as the first two-time recipient of the Hajim School’s Dottie Welch Student Enrichment Award. Marple, who recently retired on May 2 after 45 years of dedicated service to the University of Rochester, was previously honored with the award in 2018. She was presented the 2025 award by Dean Wendi Heinzelman at this year's Design Day on May 5.
Rochester Engineers Serve the Community Through Design Capstone Projects
Making metered dose inhalers more convenient
2025 BME Undergraduate Awards
Several exceptional biomedical engineering majors have been recognized with awards from the University of Rochester College, the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
BME Students Win Top Honors at the 2025 Forbes Competition
We excited to highlight the exceptional achievements of our Biomedical Engineering (BME) students at the 2025 Charles and Janet Forbes Business Pitch Competition, hosted by the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester. This year, our BME students stood out among the competition, earning both First and Third Place honors.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Awarded to BME Alum Christopher Lu
Christopher Lu, a 2023 graduate of the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering BS program, has been awarded the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP). The fellowship recognizes outstanding graduate students pursuing full-time research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), or STEM education. Fellows are selected for their demonstrated potential to make significant contributions to research and are provided with three years of financial support, including an annual stipend.
Hanna Rickert and Allie Tay Win Professor’s Choice Awards
Congratulations to Hannah Rickert ’25 and Allie Tay ’25 for receiving Professor’s Choice Awards at the Undergraduate Research Expo during Celebrating Research Week—a University-wide showcase of student innovation across all disciplines.
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:
Breathing life-saving services into rural communities
Professor Benjamín Castañeda ’09 (PhD) leads a global effort to meet critical needs for medical technology. The project is emblematic of Castañeda’s career: bringing medical technology to people who would otherwise not have access.
Gaofei Jin Wins SPIE Medical Imaging 2025 All-Conference Best Student Paper Award
Gaofei Jin, a second-year BME Ph.D. student in the Mehr Lab, was selected as a finalist for the SPIE Medical Imaging 2025 All-Conference Best Student Paper Award. He earned this recognition by winning the Best Paper Award at the "Ultrasonic Imaging and Tomography" conference.
Susana Marcos receives the 2025 Edgar D. Tillyer Award
Susana Marcos, the David R. Williams Director of the Center for Visual Science, the Nicholas George Professor in Optics, and a professor of ophthalmology at Rochester, was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Edgar D. Tiller Award by Optica. The award is presented to an individual who has performed distinguished work in the field of vision, including but not limited to the optics, physiology, anatomy, or psychology of the visual system.
Hannah Rickerts ‘25 wins award from AbbVie for migraine sufferers
Hannah Rickert is a senior at the University of Rochester who experiences chronic migraines. She is also a winner of the first-ever AbbVie Migraine Career Catalyst Award contest, which awarded 20 individuals up to $2,500 to help support their career aspirations.
Tissue-on-chip technology holds promise to reduce animal testing
Can computers take over and put an end to animal testing? James McGrath, William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of biomedical engineering, examines this question.
Kaihua (Chloe) Chen Receives Funding from the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER)
Kaihua (Chloe) Chen, a biomedical engineering PhD candidate, recently received a spotlight from the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER). Chloe, who is a member of the McGrath Lab, received a IFER Graduate Fellowship to pursue her groundbreaking project, “In Vitro Studies of Biophysical and Molecular Determinants of the Blood-Brain Barrier During Sepsis and Systemic Inflammation.” The fellowship is aimed at helping advance human-relevant research practices that reduce reliance on animal models.
Loralai Crawford ('24/Take5 '25) Featured Researcher Ambassador
Loralai Crawford (‘24/Take5 '25), BME major, has been featured by the University Office of Undergrad Research in their Student Research Corner. Each month they feature a few students so that you can learn about what types of research they are doing and give their peers advice on starting their own research experience.
Researchers Seek New Treatments for a Common Surgical Complication: Abdominal Adhesions
University of Rochester researchers Alayna Loiselle, PhD, and Nicole Wilson, PhD, MD, have earned a $3 million grant to investigate a complication that befalls more than half of all abdominal surgery patients: post-operative adhesions that can cause serious and sometimes lifelong health problems.
Jannick Rolland receives SPIE A.E. Conrady Award
Jannick Rolland, Director of the Center for Freeform Optics and the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering, is the recipient of the A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
Allison Lopatkin receives NSF CAREER Award
Allison Lopatkin ’13, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and microbiology and immunology, has received a 2024 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation.
Mark Buckley: Biomedical engineering as a passion worth sharing
The innovative professor prioritizes inclusiveness in the classroom.
How does the brain cut through noise to understand speech?
Rochester researchers investigate how visual cues enhance the brain’s ability to understand speech in noisy environments.