Research News

Ricky Figueora taking over as the new director of RIT's School of Film and Animation headlines exciting promotions and additions to the College of Art and Design faculty.

The new MAGIC Spell grants, earmarked for digital media projects in art, games, interactivity, and creativity, provide RIT researchers in any college with funding up to $5,000 to help in their pursuits to secure additional external grants in their fields.

The Character Mosaic Project is a recently revived initiative that aims to build a library of 3D characters — diverse in their ethnicities and backgrounds — that are open source for animators to seamlessly use as a broader range of subjects in their films. The project is led by Kevin Bauer, graduate director of the film and animation MFA program.

A New Year's Resolution turned into a staunch commitment to research for Associate Professor David Schnuckel, whose solo exhibition "redundancies" is on view at the Museum of American Glass through Dec. 28.

RIT researchers are pushing the boundaries with immersive technologies, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), and mixed reality (MR).

Students developed Spotlight Creators, a startup meant to filter out ubiquitous, trend-chasing social media content in favor of original artwork. The goal of the site's co-founders is to create a welcoming online community for creatives to share more authentic work.

The inaugural Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies symposium, hosted on March 28, will feature original work by individuals from across the RIT community.

Associate Professor Meredith Davenport’s personal memoir history project, recognized by The Aftermath Project, is a tapestry of historical research, photography, poetry, and fine art used to explore her family’s role in enslavement dating back to the late 1700s.

The Albert Paley Collection in the RIT Archives preserves the legacy of a celebrated working artist, entrepreneur, and educator. Paley is known around the world for his large-scale municipal works, sculptures, gates, architectural pieces, furniture design, and decorative arts.

An electrical engineer turned creative technologist, Ricky Figueroa is invigorated by working at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research has led to success for both Figueroa and the students who pass through his classroom.

RIT’s interdisciplinary collaborations enrich research across the university and beyond. Two of these collaborative projects recently received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of a total $22.6 million in grants given to support humanities projects across the nation.

The dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering is praised for his research credentials, success in global partnerships and entrepreneurship, and strong student engagement. He starts at RIT July 1.