News
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Ph.D.

Brian Landi and Katie McConky have been named department heads of the chemical engineering and industrial and systems engineering programs in the college. Both bring extensive teaching, research, and company experience to the academic leadership positions in the engineering college.

Samantha Sorondo, a fifth-year student in the mechanical and industrial engineering Ph.D. program from San Juan, Puerto Rico, has taken on leadership roles in the graduate student community in addition to her research on metal 3D printing.

Next-generation manufacturing tools provide engineering students hands-on experience with the equipment used in real-life production processes.

Prosthetic devices can be symbolic of loss or they can represent challenges being overcome. Jade Myers’ focus on designing prosthetics for individuals who have lost limbs is a way to give them the second chance that can make all the difference in the world.

Will Zhang, assistant professor in industrial and systems engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology talks about immersive technology on The Peggy Smedley Show. He says immersive technologies include several technologies such as AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), XR (extended reality), and the metaverse—and discusses the connections between each and how they are different.

Dr. Dennis Cormier, Earl W. Brinkman professor in the department of industrial and systems engineering, recently discussed 3D printing, what it is, how it works, how it is used, and how it should be used on the Peggy Smedley podcast. He says everyone is familiar with printing—3D printing builds up thickness, which is the third dimension.

Adam Foster, a Ph.D. student in mechanical and industrial engineering from Villennes-sur-Seine, France, is a team member on PrisAM, a student-owned business.

Ph.D. student Jade Myers, who uses 3D print technology to develop upper and lower limb prostheses for amputees, was a top three winner of the nTopology-EOS 2022 Responsible Part Challenge, an international design competition.

As one of the leading causes of death in hospitals, sepsis becomes more complicated with the rise in bacteria most resistant to some of today’s antibiotics. If physicians can detect onset earlier, treatments could begin sooner. Ke Du, a mechanical engineering faculty-researcher, will be developing a microfluidic device to improve detection of drug resistant bacteria in blood.

As part of new faculty orientation, RIT’s College of Engineering Technology and Kate Gleason College of Engineering hosted a pilot workshop to introduce KEEN: Engineering Unleashed and its entrepreneurial mindset—a national initiative to advance engineering education.

RIT faculty-researchers will develop a game-design training system that could help astronauts maintain balance, motor skills, and other cognitive functions while in space. NASA, in partnership with the National Space Grant Foundation, has selected six university teams, including RIT, to develop innovative design ideas that will help NASA advance and execute its Moon to Mars exploration objectives.

The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers has named Nabil Nasr, associate provost and founding director of RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, and Iris Rivero, head of RIT’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, as Fellows, an honor that recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering.