RIT Student Wins Premier Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America

Dan Bolinski, a fourth-year industrial design student at Rochester Institute of Technology, has won the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) National Student Merit Award, one of only five awarded in the U.S. each year.

Bolinski presented his portfolio of student work to more than 350 professional designers and students at IDSA’s annual Northeast District Conference held April 21 and 22 at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I. Upon reviewing the portfolios of top design students, a jury of seven IDSA members selected Bolinski as the winner. Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, Syracuse University and Massachusetts College of Art were among the eleven universities and colleges participating in the competition.

Bolinski will represent RIT at the national IDSA conference in San Francisco, Calif., in October. He also receives three years of professional membership to IDSA upon graduation. Bolinski will graduate in May with a bachelor of arts in industrial design and an associate’s degree in illustration.

“My educational experience at RIT has been great,” says Bolinski. “Between my professors and my peers, they all have pushed me to do my best and it’s obviously paid off.”

Bolinski’s win marks the third time in the four-year history of the IDSA National Student Merit Award that an RIT student has taken top honors in the Northeast. Sam Aquillano was the award recipient in 2004 and Mark Palmer won in 2006.

“In winning this award for the third time in the award’s four-year existence, RIT has clearly established the standard for student achievement in the industrial design field,” says Alan Reddig, IDSA Student Chapter Faculty Advisor at RIT.