News
Computing and Information Technologies BS

Rochester Business Journal reports on Wayfair's gift of roughly $850,000 in server equipment to RIT’s Computer Science House. The donation was facilitated by RIT alum Fred Oettinger, who works at the company.  

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.

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.

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).

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.

WROC-TV talks to Ian Mikutel '10 (information technology), principal product manager at Microsoft and co-founder of VacSeen.

A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology has helped come up with VacSeen, an easy way to show others who may have received a COVID-19 vaccination.

Matt Huenerfauth, a professor and expert in computing accessibility research, has been named director of RIT’s iSchool (School of Information). Huenerfauth takes the helm Aug. 1 from Stephen Zilora, who is stepping down after eight years of leadership.

Two visionaries in the fields of advertising, marketing and communications have been named co-recipients of the 2020 Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award, presented by RIT’s Saunders College of Business. Sue Butler and Tracy Till are the first joint female recipients in the award’s 35-year history.

Alumnus Christian Rahl ’13 (applied networking and systems administration) knows a little bit about social distancing. He’s stationed at a National Science Foundation site at the South Pole, working as a senior network engineer.

Fourth-year computing and information technologies student Andrew Bentkowski has become the voice of the RIT women’s hockey team on the radio. Announcing the play-by-play action as it happens, he never gets tired of the excitement that it brings him as a fan.