Campus Spotlight

5/17/2013
Alex Kipman ’01, now a Microsoft executive credited with inventing the Kinect system for Xbox 360 video game and Windows PCs, delivered the keynote address at convocation May 17.

5/16/2013
“Lines” is a film about an experimental work of art created by almost 3,000 people. Ryan Meadows, who just completed his second year as a film production major at RIT, traveled to various locations around Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y. to collect lines on canvases. Each line was painted by a different person, and Meadows says that the project connects everyone involved. The film was screened at the RIT School of Film and Animation’s end-of-quarter screenings and Meadows plans to enter it into several film festivals.

5/16/2013
Byron Conn, a fourth-year furniture design student in the School for American Crafts, enjoys some downtime on one of his creations inside the woodworking shop.

5/9/2013
Gary Behm, now director of the Center on Access Technology’s Innovation Lab at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, is testing materials to create a see-through facemask that can be used in clean rooms and hospitals.

5/8/2013
Bill McDermott, Co-CEO of SAP, renews his former Xerox-Rochester ties as keynote speaker for the Executive Leaders Network Luncheon on May 8, hosted by RIT’s Saunders College and sponsored by Toshiba Business Solutions.

5/7/2013
Professor Carl Salvaggio and his son, Phil, a doctoral student in imaging science, built a digital music player for their car because they could. They programmed a Raspberry Pi electronic interface—a $35 general-purpose computer the size of a deck of cards—to play a random selection of their favorite music from a thumb drive.

5/4/2013
The E-Durance Challenge kicked off the Imagine RIT Innovation and Creativity Festival on May 4.

5/2/2013
Rob Aldi showcased his composite material products, including turbine blades used to generate wind power, at last year’s Imagine RIT festival.

4/23/2013
Richard Doolittle, vice dean of the College of Health Sciences and Technology, has a plan to help the college define itself and move its programs forward.

4/21/2013
The College of Liberal Arts honored its students April 19 with the presentation of the 2013 Henry and Mary Kearse Student Honors Awards for excellence in writing in liberal arts coursework. Faculty members recommended students based on writing assignments done in individual classes. The awards were created in 1980 thanks to a donation from Henry J. Kearse and his wife, Mary, a longtime member of RIT’s Nathaniel Rochester Society. Pictured are (front row, from left) Douglas Strouth, Daniel Corrigan (Akyuz-Ozmen Award for Women’s and Gender Studies), Audrey DiPaola, Breanne Kisselstein (McKenzie Endowed Writing Prize), Mikaela Cornacchio Cochran. In the back row, from left, are Margaret Stockman, College of Liberal Arts Dean James Winebrake, Hanna Stoehr, Ryleigh Bullock, Stephanie Whittemore and William Hamre. Missing from the photo are John Bowers, Kate Macken, Nikolas Cairns, Eric Kasperek and Kristen Cummings.

4/18/2013
Bertin Mboko, an international studies student, has been selected as this year’s student delegate for the College of Liberal Arts.

4/15/2013
Brooke Piraino, a third-year nutrition student, makes a cake during her product development class. The students are using olive oils and vinegars provided by Flower City Olive Oil, a company co-owned by Elizabeth Olsson ’95 (nutrition management). The students will provide Olsson with recipes that the company can then give to customers. Piraino used mandarin orange balsamic vinegar in her dessert.

4/9/2013
Stephanie Rankin ’08 (marketing), right, and Danielle Raymo, an alumna of SUNY Brockport, founded Rochester Brainery as a place to make learning fun, affordable and accessible. Situated in a 1,600 square foot location in Rochester’s Village Gate complex, Rochester Brainery has two classrooms, which are available for classes as well as meetings, parties and other gatherings. Classes typically range from $15-$30 and cover a vast array of topics, from how to brew kombucha tea, to diet tips, to web design.

4/8/2013
Michael Ruhling, professor of performing arts/music in the College of Liberal Arts, conducts at a rehearsal.

3/26/2013
Librada Paz ’03 (mechanical engineering technology) received the 2012 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Paz works with Rural Migrant Ministry to make conditions better for migrant laborers. Paz is a former farmworker herself who realized as a teenager that education was the way out.

3/7/2013
Workers install plants to the green wall near the west entrance of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability March 7. The wall contains 1,776 green plants, contributing to air quality as well as aesthetics. The space measures 8 feet wide and 38 feet tall.

3/1/2013
Students from 50 high school teams across the Northeast and Canada participated in Ultimate Ascent, the 2013 game in the annual FIRST Robotics competition held in RIT’s Gordon Field House March 1 and 2. Here, Victoria Dinoto, center, cheered for the East Rochester High School Robotics Team, #3157.

2/25/2013
Professor Dina Newman is improving the way undergraduates learn to be biologists. Newman is developing resources and outreach activities for BioSciEdNet, a digital library of biology educational materials managed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

2/20/2013
Martha Morgan, assistant professor of archaeology in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, studies garbage as a way to understand human behaviors in both the present and past. In her course, Garbage Archaeology, Morgan’s students learn about their immediate environment of Rochester through the collection, sorting and processing of garbage in their neighborhoods.

2/19/2013
Sam Rinaldo, a fourth-year civil engineering technology/emergency management and safety student, is part of CAST professor Jennifer Schneider’s research team developing plans for emergency preparedness. He saw firsthand how important community plans are for disaster recovery when he spent part of the fall in New York City helping residents affected by Hurricane Sandy. Rinaldo went as part of his service in the U.S. Naval Reserves and worked in lower Manhattan, one of the areas hardest hit by the hurricane, supporting residents without food, water and electricity.

2/6/2013
World-renowned RIT School for American Crafts Artist-in-Residence Wendell Castle, center, leads an experimental design and execution session with glass program majors on Feb. 5. Castle spoke to students in the “hotshop” before guiding three teams of students in creating martini glasses based on his designs.

2/1/2013
Jeff Culver ’82 (criminal justice), director of security for the World Bank Group and the 2013 distinguished alumnus of the year from RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, leads a breakout session with students during the Conable International Career Development Seminar Feb. 1. The seminar was created to engage students in researching careers with international opportunities. Other seminar presenters included representatives from the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, the Democracy Program from The Carter Center, and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. State Department.

2/1/2013
RIT encouraged students to come out and celebrate winter’s arrival by participating in the annual FreezeFest celebration on campus Feb. 1-3. First-year students Samantha Miller and Kyle Laidlaw check out their snow globe paperweight with their photo inside.

1/29/2013
Artist Alec Hazlett ’71, ’72 sells his pottery in Shop One2 on the RIT campus. Shop One2 is a fine art and craft gallery in RIT’s Global Village which features hand-made, one-of-a-kind artwork by RIT affiliated artists including students, faculty and alumni.

1/16/2013
The RIT cycling team, which has about 30 racing members, is split into three main components: a mountain team, a road team and a cyclocross team. The cyclists compete in races throughout the school year across the northeastern U.S. as part of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference of USA Cycling Collegiate.

1/14/2013
Cory Barber is vice president of RIT’s bowling club and has bowled three perfect (300) games. The presence of a bowling team at RIT had an impact on Barber’s decision to come here for college.

1/1/2013
Alva Redfield ’41 (chemistry) started his co-op at Eastman Kodak Co. on his 18th birthday in 1939. After graduation he landed a full-time job in the pulp-testing laboratory at Kodak and retired there in 1982.

12/10/2012
If you haven’t had the chance to get your family’s holiday portrait taken yet, RIT is offering portrait sittings Dec. 15-16 as a fundraiser for the university’s annual Big Shot photography project. The portrait location is the Crossroads building on the RIT campus (please park in S Lot). Only cash or checks accepted as payment. Props are not available at the site but participants are welcome to bring their own. For more information, call 585-475-2716.

12/10/2012
Anna Ross ’10 (advertising photography) landed her dream magazine job at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She had just finished working there as a photography intern. Now, Ross is an assistant of photo research and special issues photo editor.

12/5/2012
RIT students were treated to a holiday-themed dinner at Grace Watson Dining Hall on Dec. 4. The meal included roasted turkey, steak, salmon, ham, quinoa and eggplant and a variety of desserts. Music was by Me & The Boyz and the Magic Guy provided some tableside tricks.











































































































