RIT collaborates with 13 other universities to understand climate change and ecosystems
Rochester Institute of Technology is one of 14 universities from around the globe that have collectively been awarded $12.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to launch a new Biology Integration Institute (BII). It will focus on better understanding ecosystem and climate interactions—like the thawing of the Arctic permafrost—and how they can alter everything from the landscape to greenhouse gases.
RIT’s College of Science awarded NSF grant to train emerging STEM education researchers
The National Science Foundation awarded Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Science a three-year, $587,000 Building Capacity in STEM Education Research grant. The grant is part of a $1 million collaborative project that aims to extend the impact of the Professional development for Emerging Education Researchers (PEER) field school model to hundreds of emerging education researchers.
New mathematical method shows how climate change led to the fall of an ancient civilization
A Rochester Institute of Technology researcher developed a mathematical method that shows climate change likely caused the rise and fall of an ancient civilization. In an article recently featured in the journal Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, Nishant Malik, assistant professor in RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences, outlined the new technique he developed and showed how shifting monsoon patterns led to the demise of the Indus Valley Civilization, a Bronze Age civilization contemporary to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt.
Niantic donates $400,000 to create Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab
Niantic has donated $400,000 to create a new research lab at Rochester Institute of Technology that’s focused on location-based games.
In the Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab, researchers will work to better understand how people interact with location-based games and how they can be used for good. The donation will also fund scholarships for three students in RIT’s computing and information sciences Ph.D. program.
RIT professor joins $20 million NSF project to advance chemical synthesis using AI
As part of a new $20 million National Science Foundation grant, RIT computer science professor Richard Zanibbi is using artificial intelligence to accelerate experimentation in chemistry, including finding more efficient ways to create solar cells.
Team develops model to determine stability of gas hydrates
Natural gas-hydrates—crystalline compounds of gas molecules—are found in permafrost and marine sediments. While these gas hydrates can be used as alternative energy resources, they also pose a danger in terms of global warming, if catastrophic release of gas into the atmosphere was to take place.
RIT joins University of Rochester in NSF-funded study about the future of creativity
RIT is joining University of Rochester and others in a National Science Foundation-funded project to learn about the different creative skills that tomorrow’s workforce needs.
The study is centered on the idea that intelligent machines are replacing the routine tasks that people do and creative skills will become even more valuable for future workers.