Recent News
See the University Newscenter for more news from the School of Arts & Sciences.
Multispectral imaging unlocks a Smithsonian treasure’s secrets
Thu, 23 Jan 2020
This tiny book was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1925. It’s made up of 147 folios of parchment, or treated animal hide, stitched together. The “over text”—the visible text—is of an Armenian prayer book, suspected to date from the 15th century. But there is also an “under text”—a work that was erased to recycle the parchment for the over text. The Smithsonian has turned to University of Rochester professor Gregory Heyworth and his Lazarus Project to help solve the mystery of what that long-ago effaced text might be.
New research unlocks clues about Earth’s magnetic field
Wed, 22 Jan 2020
Professor John Tarduno has analyzed zircon crystals collected from sites in Australia—the oldest known terrestrial materials—to construct a timeline of Earth's magnetic field, finding that the field was stronger than previously believed.
Online trolls keep largely mum for latest Star Wars movie
Tue, 21 Jan 2020
With a fast-paced plot and more conservative themes, The Rise of Skywalker avoided the online trolling that greeted its predecessor, argues associate professor of political science Bethany Lacina in the Washington Post.
Robert Alexander to join University of Rochester as dean of admissions, financial aid, and enrollment management
Tue, 14 Jan 2020
Alexander is vice president for enrollment and communications at Millsaps College, a nationally ranked private liberal arts institution in Jackson, Mississippi. He will begin at the University on June 1.
Steve Gonek named fellow of American Mathematical Society
Mon, 13 Jan 2020
Thirty percent of the 20 tenure-track faculty members in the University's Department of Mathematics are now AMS Fellows.
Parents aren’t powerless when it comes to sleep-deprived teenagers
Wed, 08 Jan 2020
Teenagers in the US don’t get enough shut eye, and the consequences of this epidemic of sleep deprivation are extensive. But researchers at the University of Rochester have found that a simple solution yields solid results: setting a bedtime and sticking to it.
Baseball in December? Absolutely.
Tue, 10 Dec 2019
Rachel Waddell, musical director for the Department of Music, joins Mittsy the Rochester Red Wings mascot for a community concert celebrating “150 Years of Baseball.” The University’s Chamber Orchestra and Concert Choir joined students from Rochester’s Roberto Clemente School No. 8 for a concert mimicked at night at the stadium.
‘Absurd’ for Fed to leave its policy framework unchanged
Mon, 09 Dec 2019
Rochester professor of economics Narayana Kocherlakota expects to be disappointed this week, as the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee has signaled that it will make no changes to an eight-year-old policy statement for meeting inflation and unemployment goals.
How do you bring a castle home with you?
Tue, 03 Dec 2019
How do you convey a 91,000-square-foot castle with more than 160 rooms on the Ghana coast, back to Rochester, so at any time you could take a virtual tour as if you were really there? Or study the castle’s structure brick by brick?
When laser beams meet plasma: New data addresses gap in fusion research
Mon, 02 Dec 2019
Rochester scientists at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and their colleagues in California and France have directly demonstrated for the first time how laser beams modify the conditions of a plasma.
