Former students from the RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf were featured in a Pepsi commercial during the Super Bowl’s pre-game show Feb. 3. There was no sound during the 60-second ad, but the sign language used was captioned. The commercial is a take on a popular joke in the deaf community and features Darren Therriault ’89 (electrical engineering), left, an application configuration specialist for Pepsi. Wayne Betts Jr., a former RIT/NTID student who studied at the School of Film and Animation, was a production assistant during filming. In case you missed it, visit www.pepsi.com/bobshouse.

Photo courtesy of Pepsi

An RIT multidisciplinary senior design team, pictured at right, was featured in a clue that appeared on the nationally syndicated game show Jeopardy last month. The team was filmed by a Jeopardy crew at the Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 conference in Washington, D.C., last April. A solar- powered pasteurizer, the student’s team project, was featured as the $2,000 clue in a Double Jeopardy category devoted to the P3 conference.

Submitted photo

G. Peter Jemison addressed the crowd in RIT’s Ingle Auditorium Jan. 15. Jemison was this year’s keynote speaker for RIT’s Martin Luther King celebration. Performances by the RIT Gospel Ensemble and Thomas Warfield, chairperson of RIT’s Commission for Promoting Pluralism, were part of the program.

A. Sue Weisler | photographer

RIT hosted a mock presidential debate the week before Super Tuesday–the 24 state primary/caucus bonanza on Feb. 5–featuring representatives from two of the 2008 presidential candidates. Brighton Supervisor Sandra Frankel, shown above at left, represented Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign and University of Rochester student John Pellito, second to left, debated on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama. Members of the RIT Debate Team–shown above third from left to right, Matthew Colaprete, Kevin Tierney, Chris Tosswill and Pat Ryan–stood in for the various Republican campaigns, all of which declined the invitation to attend. RIT students from Introduction to Public Policy, taught by William Johnson Jr., distinguished professor of public policy, asked hard questions about health care reform, offshore outsourcing, the war in Iraq, education and campaign funding.

A. Sue Weisler | photographer

Richard DeMartino, associate professor at the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, and Gina O’Connor, associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received an award for “Best Journal Article of the Year” in PDMA’s Journal of Product Innovation Management. PDMA’s vice chairman Rich Notargiacomo presented the award Jan. 10.

A. Sue Weisler | photographer