Research News

Faculty researchers received a new grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a system that improves passage of tacit knowledge from skilled machinists to those coming into the field.

Ph.D. student Saad Hassan believes that accessibility should be a primary focus of technological innovation, not an afterthought. He recently received a grant from language-learning company Duolingo to fund his doctoral thesis on look-up systems for unfamiliar signs in languages like American Sign Language.

Yidan Hu and Ivan De Oliveira Nunes have each won Meta Research Awards for their cutting-edge cybersecurity research. The assistant professors of computing security are working to protect people’s safety on their augmented reality and smart devices.

RIT President David Munson welcomed the community for the start of a new academic year with a call to re-energize the campus’s atmosphere to its pre-pandemic level. During his annual President’s Address in Ingle Auditorium this morning, Munson encouraged all RIT faculty, staff, and students to make a new academic year resolution to spend more time face-to-face with one another.

A team of faculty and student researchers at RIT are helping create a more accessibility-literate and empathetic software engineering workforce. The researchers, led by Daniel Krutz, assistant professor of software engineering, are developing free online lessons on how to create software that is accessible for those with visual, cognitive, hearing, dexterity, and other disabilities.

More than 1,000 openings in the Finger Lakes region for skilled machinists are projected in the coming years. Local academic researchers and industry partners are developing new training options to fill the expected gaps—integrating gaming and virtual reality to appeal to a younger generation of manufacturing professionals.

Matt Huenerfauth has been named dean of the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Huenerfauth, who is an expert in computing accessibility and served as chair of RIT’s School of Information (iSchool) for the past two years, was chosen after an international search.

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.

After going virtual for 2021, thousands of people came to the RIT campus on Saturday for an in-person Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, which featured more than 250 exhibits throughout the campus from more than 1,800 students and faculty.

From robot waiters to river otters, RIT’s Graduate Showcase will cover a wide variety of topics representing graduate scholarship from the university’s Henrietta and global campuses. The symposium, held April 7, will feature oral presentations in the morning and poster presentations, demonstrations, and visual exhibitions in the afternoon.

Three faculty members who chose to start their research careers at RIT received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards in 2021. Their research aims to advance the foundations of machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, and clean energy.

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.