RIT Hosts Interactive Computing Workshop for Visually Impaired Teenagers

Middle and high school students with visual impairments are using their imaginations, creativity and critical thinking skills to solve computing problems during a unique summer program at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The ImagineIT Program is an interactive four-day workshop hosted by RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. In a team-based hands-on learning environment, students from all over the country will tackle ‘real world’ computing applications and learn about career opportunities in the computing field.

The program is made possible by a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Some of the activities include building and programming robots, designing a computer game and building a computer. Parents are also invited to participate in the activities with their children.

On Tuesday, July 17, from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 2:30 p.m. students will be testing robots they’ve built and programmed. The robots will attempt to navigate a maze and locate a sound source. The event will take place on the RIT campus in Building 70, room 1570.

For more information, contact Stephanie Ludi, program director and RIT professor of software engineering at (585) 475-7407 or visit www.se.rit.edu/~imagine-it.

MEDIA NOTE: Students, parents and RIT program directors are available for interviews.