Fourth-year Hotel and Resort Management major Dana Pierce has embarked on what she excitedly calls a "once in a lifetime opportunity." She is the first RIT student selected to participate in J.W. Marriott's co-op program at its Marriott International Dubai Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Pierce will be in the Middle Eastern capital for six months, from May through October 2007.

Pierce was nominated by an RIT faculty member, and then passed an intensive interview process. She will be working closely with the hotel's management team to develop and report on various projects. Pierce's other duties in Dubai will include researching and presenting ideas for process improvement, as well as assisting with a three-day event at the hotel for 120 Marriott managers from around the world. In addition to saving up for the trip, Pierce has been busy researching Dubai, regarded by many as the newest and biggest boomtown in the world.

Currently, Pierce works as a co-op event assistant in the Saunders College of Business. She also is a winner of several scholarships and is a member of the New York Hotel and Motel Association.

Kevin Rollins had just completed his second quarter at RIT when he was severely injured in a March 1, 2001, car crash. Even after a two-week induced coma and several months of brain injury therapy – and plenty of frustration – Kevin refused to give up on his lifelong dream of being an engineer. In fact, Rollins proudly graduated from RIT in May 2007 with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering technology. "One of the best parts about learning is being discouraged. You're not going to learn anything if you think you know everything or if you give up," he says. Rollins plans on working for a few years and then returning to RIT to pursue a master's degree in computer engineering.

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David Peretz, from Wynnewood, Pa., is a 2007 CAST graduate with a B.S. in mechanical engineering technology. A member of the RIT Honors Program and recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship Award, Peretz completed several co-ops, including one with EMPA in Dubendorf, Switzerland, and served as a member of the aero-design team. He has extensive engineering project experience in bioengineering, robotics, mechanical and materials testing, and failure analysis. Peretz also served as a CAST student delegate, and was a speaker at the CAST commencement ceremony. Peretz will continue pursuing his passion to design, develop and invent in his new position as a product development engineer with famed Segway creator Dean Kamen's company, DEKA. Peretz toured the "fantastic" DEKA facility during his interview and says, "It's the best job I could hope for!"