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School of Information

More than 30 employers returned to the RIT/NTID campus since the start of the pandemic to recruit a new cohort of talented deaf and hard-of-hearing students and alumni for open co-op or full-time positions.

When RIT’s Computer Science House put out a call for hardware donations last year, Fred Oettinger—an alumnus and staff engineer at Wayfair—got an idea. He knew that Wayfair had just what they needed. Wayfair, one the world’s largest destinations for the home, has gifted RIT’s Computer Science House (CSH) about $850,000 in server equipment.

The Center on Access Technology at NTID, in partnership with Google and Georgia Institute of Technology, is creating PopSign, a mobile app that will enable parents of deaf children to more easily learn American Sign Language.

RIT students have more than 300 clubs and organizations to choose from today. There are also 24 varsity athletics teams and numerous intramural sports, among other groups. For many students, these extracurricular activities are a great way to try something new, find a niche, and build lasting relationships.

The New York Times interviews RIT/NTID faculty researcher Wendy Dannels and human-computer interaction graduate student Roshan Mathew about assistive technology for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

RIT received a nearly $1 million National Science Foundation grant that will provide scholarships for computing students and help researchers explore new ways to improve computing education. Sharon Mason, a professor in RIT’s School of Information, is principal investigator of the project.

In 2001, the dot-com bubble was bursting and investors had lost confidence in internet companies. Twenty years later, data has become a new currency, and people can access just about anything from their smartphones. Throughout all these changes, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences has evolved into the largest college at RIT, with more than 4,600 students this year. Since its creation 20 years ago, GCCIS has awarded more than 14,000 degrees—in a growing number of computing disciplines.

To help bridge new technology with current health care practices, organizations are recognizing the need to hire more health informatics professionals than ever. In an effort to help more qualified people step into this field, RIT has revised its health informatics master’s degree program and partnered with Rochester Regional Health.

RIT students hoping to enter the healthcare IT workforce now have a jumpstart, as the university joins with the New York state chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

Analytics India Magazine mentions the RIT and NTID developed TigerChat app, aimed at helping improve communication for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Elissa Weeden, associate professor, and Michael McQuaid, senior lecturer, each received a Teach Access Curriculum Development Award of $5,000. The awards will be used to develop educational materials and drive curriculum enhancements to introduce key concepts and skills on accessible design and development in university courses.

Essay by Kristen Shinohara and Garreth Tigwell, assistant professors of computing and information sciences, published by The Conversation and republished in The News & Advance, Communications of the ACM, and NextGov.