George Eastman Hall Suite 2210
31 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623
585.475.2234 - cms@rit.edu
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Mon, Thurs, Fri: 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tue, Wed: 8:30am - 5:30pm
George Eastman Hall Suite 2210
31 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623
585.475.2234 - cms@rit.edu
Mon, Thurs, Fri: 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tue, Wed: 8:30am - 5:30pm
Sean Petterson and Justin Hillery, inventors of the Strong Arm Ergonomic Lifting Safety System, placed first overall at the recent Open Minds Competition, part of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance 16th annual conference. The fourth-year students from Rochester Institute of Technology were part of the 
national showcase of collegiate student innovators, projects and prospective business ventures, held March 22–24 in San Francisco.
Their video about the Strong Arm device received the most votes in the Open Minds video competition and received a $1,000 award. The video competition is co-sponsored by NCIIA and Inventor's Digest magazine. They also won the award for People’s Choice for Best Innovation. In that award, investors, professors, NCIIA participants and others voted on the best invention.
I began RIT as a photography major in 2004. Prior to enrolling at RIT, I grew up involved heavily in the arts. I expected I would build a career in a field that was art-related. I spent my pre-college years in art classes (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) and also took dance and music lessons. I attended a creative and performing arts high school for visual arts. High school is where I encountered photography and became 
passionately involved in the field. My initial career plan was to become a fashion photographer.
My pursuit of a photography career changed during my first two years at RIT. At the end of my freshman year my focus changed. I had conflicting feelings about my career path. My next decision was to participate in a co-op with a sports photography company after my second year at RIT to test the waters. After my co-op ended I decided to leave RIT. Losing my initial focus while in college made me feel like my world was falling apart. After this realization, I went on a path to discover my next focus. I never realized that it was okay to be interested in more than one thing.
CMS is a realistic college program – it’s flexible, adaptable, and challenging. I was afforded opportunities and
networking via the multidisciplinary program that I would not have received had I stayed locked into a rigid curriculum elsewhere. As someone who has an intense love of learning, CMS allowed me to expand that love into several different interests.
Had I not broadened my horizons and opened so many doors through the multidisciplinary program, I would most likely not have spent the past three years exploring four foreign countries, working in several different marketing positions, and completing my Masters. What’s more, I may not have ended up being fortunate enough to absolutely love my full-time job with the Finger Lakes Visitors Connection - so much so, that it’s tough to call it a job in the first place.
Kaltrina Ademi, who is in the capstone phase of her MS in Professional Studies at the American University in Kosovo, has received a Hope Fellowship for the summer of 2012 in Washington, D.C.
Spring Term at RIT: We have two students from the American University of Kosovo and two from ACMT on the RIT campus for the spring 
quarter as a part of the Spring Term at RIT program. The students are taking courses from across the RIT campus that they do not otherwise have access to at their home campuses. They are also enjoying many RIT club and extracurricular activities. The students are: Rita Saraci and Nart Orana from the American University of Kosovo and Jasenka Vucetic and Kristina Zalac from ACMT.
Tom Moran had the third volume in his e-book series, Writing for Success – An Engineer’s Guide,
published by IEEE-USA. The third installment is titled The End Products of Engineering Writing and can be purchased through ieee.org
Tom Moran also had his essay titled “Pointing Toward the Moon – An Engineer’s Path” appear in Stone Canoe 6: A Journal of Arts, Literature and Social Commentary published at Syracuse University.
Samuel McQuade III was the keynote speaker at a forum on bully abuse held May 3 at Baywinde in Penfield, NY. The forum was geared to families and focused on cyber-bullying and bully abuse.
Welcoming Xerox in June: This June will mark our 5th series of summer sessions for professionals enrolled in 
our BS degree program partnership with Xerox Corporation. We look forward to welcoming over 40 students this year - especially those who are presenting their capstone projects. Congratulations to those who are graduating!
Master Designer Workshop with Massimo Vignelli: We are honored to announce that Massimo Vignelli once again plans to lead RIT’s Master Designer Workshop on the RIT campus from July 22 – 28, 2012. For additional information including registration, please log onto www.rit.edu/outreach
CMS Commencement Reception: Saturday, May 26th at 2:30. The reception will be held at the Radisson Hotel located adjacent to campus at 175 Jefferson Road.
