News
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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.

NASA announced new funding for a project led by RIT alumni, faculty, and students that could power spacecraft to orbit the sun’s poles for the first time. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program will provide funding to the Diffractive Solar Sailing project led by Amber Dubill ’20, ’20 MS of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Risa Robinson was appointed to the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. Robinson, department head of mechanical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, brings extensive research in the area of fluid dynamics, particle inhalation and toxicological effects of various tobacco products and nicotine delivery devices.

Twelve alumni from RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering were honored with alumni awards during a reception at the Joseph M. Lobozzo Alumni House last month.

More than 1,500 students from 100 national and international collegiate race teams competed June 2-5 at RIT’s Gordon Field House and the Hogback Hill Motocross site in Palmyra, N.Y. Several teams aced the course, but at the end of the weekend, RIOT Racing, RIT’s Baja race team, conquered the field.

Students on the RIT men’s lacrosse team are looking to “pump up the jam” at the NCAA national championship game on May 29. Last year, RIT’s undefeated season culminated in the university’s first Division III lacrosse national championship. The team has a chance to go back-to-back, when it faces off against Union College in the 2022 championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

If it had wheels and raced, Alan Nye had a part in it. The professor of mechanical engineering, who will retire this summer, has successfully navigated 45 years of teaching and advising engineering students and RIT’s championship Formula racing team.

As the nation’s reshuffled economy rebounds from the pandemic, RIT students graduating from a university renowned for its academic rigor combined with successful internships and co-op experiences are leveraging multiple job offers into their top choices.

From pandemic response to rebuilding after natural disasters, RIT students will draw upon their foundation of community service in their careers after graduation.

What started with a go-cart at Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival morphed into an all-electric race car when Hot Wheelz began 10 years ago. On April 24, current team members and alumni will celebrate a milestone anniversary and take the next lap in its history showcasing plans for a new competition solar car.

RIT Esports is a national champion again, after a team of students came out victorious in the 2022 Hearthstone Collegiate Masters Tournament. The Tigers bested more than 200 teams to win the tournament, which is the main event for collegiate Hearthstone and is run by the game’s maker, Blizzard Entertainment.

Satish Kandlikar, professor of mechanical engineering, has been recognized by Research.com as one of the country’s top researchers in his field. This first edition of the national and international rankings of more than 3,600 mechanical and aerospace engineering scientists from around the world included Kandlikar, who ranks 31st in the U.S., and 54th in the world ranking.