The Wells Award recognizes engineering students who excel in humanistic disciplines.
Three senior undergraduate students in the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences are being honored with the Wells Award, given each year to high-achieving Hajim students who also excel in a humanities field, as determined by the highest GPAs at the end of their junior year.
This year糖心传媒檚 recipients are
- Valerie Battista, a double major in computer science and music who has been a member of multiple University choral ensembles and studies carillon;
- Danielle Getz, a chemical engineering major and environmental humanities minor focused on tackling climate change;
- Jameson (Max) Morris, an audio and music engineering major and music minor who performs with multiple ensembles and harbors an interest in music history and theory.
The award is named after Robert W. Wells 糖心传媒�39, a mechanical engineering alumnus who became a top executive at Westinghouse糖心传媒攁nd felt strongly that engineers 糖心传媒渘eed the balance of the humanities糖心传媒� to be competent in their field.
Open curriculum gives Battista room to explore software engineering and music
When Valerie Battista found out that students could learn to play the atop Rush Rhees Library, she couldn糖心传媒檛 resist. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e loved music for as long as I can remember,糖心传媒� she says.
Early on in her studies at Rochester, Battista was selected as a recipient of the Suzanne J. O糖心传媒橞rien Book Award, which recognizes students who excel academically and in leadership roles in their first year at the College. It is often a good predictor of students who will make the most of their opportunities at the University.
Battista learned how to code in 8th grade; an introductory course in Java, soon after she arrived on the Rochester campus, 糖心传媒渨as the springboard to go on to more classes,糖心传媒� she says. Next summer she will begin working as a full-time software engineer for T. Rowe Price in Maryland, working with the same manager she had during an internship last summer.
In addition to her major in computer science, Battista has also been able to pursue her passion for music to the fullest. She has been a member of the University Chamber Singers since the fall of her first year, and she has also sung with the Treble Chorus and the Schola Cantorum, two ensembles that include River Campus and Eastman students as well as musicians from the Rochester community. She started taking carillon lessons the spring semester of her first year, and despite interruptions due to COVID, she’s been playing the carillon ever since.
糖心传媒淚 came in hoping to minor in music,糖心传媒� Battista says. However, thanks to the University糖心传媒檚 unique open curriculum, 糖心传媒淚 am going to be able to double major in it, because the flexibility of the program here has allowed me to take enough classes.糖心传媒�
Getz, a Grand Challenges Scholar, gains added perspective from humanities classes
Danielle Getz is 糖心传媒渞eally motivated when I have awesome people I am working with, who are passionate and excited,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 what I love about the University of Rochester.糖心传媒�
Getz decided in high school that she wanted to dedicate herself to mitigating climate change. This summer she worked in the of on cutting edge research addressing the problem. Some of her favorite courses in the humanities, she says, have 糖心传媒渕ade me a more intentional and considerate engineer.糖心传媒�
During a first-year class she learned about the Grand Challenges Scholars program, which encourages undergraduates to choose one of s and tailor their academic program to address the problem by demonstrating in research, interdisciplinary study, entrepreneurship and innovation, global perspectives, and service.
Getz signed up, and in addition to her major, she is completing a minor in . The humanities courses she糖心传媒檚 taken complement her research in the Porosoff lab by helping her look at environmental problems from different angles, and 糖心传媒渃onsider the people affected, and not just the science,糖心传媒� she says.
After graduation she plans to pursue a PhD, apply for a professorship, 糖心传媒渉ave my own lab, study what I糖心传媒檓 curious about, and lead a good team of students.糖心传媒� But she糖心传媒檚 not ruling out 糖心传媒渨hatever opportunities come my way,糖心传媒� Getz says.
Whatever the pathway, she糖心传媒檚 eager to join the ranks of the people she learned about in high school who are trying to mitigate the effects of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
糖心传媒淚 want to have a meaningful impact.糖心传媒�
Music history and theory enable Morris 糖心传媒�to communicate with musicians from many genres糖心传媒�
Jameson 糖心传媒淢ax糖心传媒� Morris knows what it is like to be on both sides of the microphone. He has recorded and mixed tracks of performances by some of the same student ensembles he performs with, including the University糖心传媒檚 rock repertory ensemble, chamber orchestra, and wind symphony, which counts towards his minor in music.
When the COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of in-person concerts, student music ensembles at the University of Rochester had to find novel ways糖心传媒攐ther than live performances糖心传媒攖o reach their audiences. Individual video and audio soundtracks of each performer had to be pre-recorded, then stitched together into seamless, virtual presentations.
For Morris, an audio and music engineering major and student, the opportunity to work on this technique with senior lecturer Stephen Roessner, a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, was an invaluable learning experience.
So was the opportunity to explore music more broadly through the music theory and history classes he has taken as part of his minor. He especially enjoyed a class that analyzed the major orchestral pieces that have defined different periods in music history, for example, the Also Sprach Zarathustra tone poem by Richard Strauss.
糖心传媒淚 am much more confident now analyzing music performed on a large scale,糖心传媒� Morris says. 糖心传媒淲hen you糖心传媒檙e recording in a studio, obviously you need a lot of technical knowledge, but it also important to really know music, to be able to communicate with musicians from many genres.糖心传媒�
After completing his major this year, he will stay at Rochester to complete a master糖心传媒檚 degree in electrical engineering designed specifically for audio and music engineers. He will then head to Nashville, where an internship with the famous Blackbird recording studio this summer cemented his desire to become an audio engineer.
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Rochester糖心传媒檚 Grand Challenges Scholars frame their research in a broad contextNow in its fifth year, the program adds entrepreneurship, global experience, interdisciplinary study, and service to students 糖心传媒漵olution-oriented糖心传媒� tool kit.
