News

The virtual Futurists Symposium featured a collection of RIT alumni tapped to present an insider’s look into the future of industry as it relates to technology, art, and design. The symposium was held via Zoom during the May 1 Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

A highlight of the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival on May 1 features the virtual return of a collection of alumni who will explore the latest innovations in technology, art, and design. The Futurists Symposium is from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Zoom. Registration is now open.

Multidisciplinary Senior Design is a required, two semester, design-based course for engineering students. Currently, more than 400 students are working on 80-plus projects.

Alumnus Nick Conn’s vision for a one-of-a-kind smart toilet seat that will improve the health of people around the world has made giant leaps toward becoming a reality with the help of one of RIT’s most generous patrons, Austin McChord.

More than a dozen RIT alumni have tapped into the craft-beer boom that has swept across the country. In the past 12 years, the number of craft breweries has more than quadrupled.

For two years, RIT student Matt Ryan has worked with RIT’s FoodShare program, which is dedicated to serving and supporting the RIT community by providing free food to students in need.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented annually by each of RIT’s nine colleges and the School of Individualized Study to alumni who have performed at the highest levels of their profession or who have contributed to the advancement and leadership of civic, philanthropic, or service organizations.

WROC-TV features Zac Bittner ’11 (microelectronic engineering), ’11 MS (materials science), ’19 Ph.D. (microsystems engineering); Nicholos Mackos ’08 (mechanical engineering); Chelsea Mackosm ’09 (microelectronic engineering), ’11 MS (materials science); and Joseph Hunt ’19 (chemical engineering).

This year’s recognition of RIT’s Alfred L. Davis Distinguished Public Service Award winners will be a double celebration, as faculty and student recipients from 2020 and 2021 are honored April 13. Luane Davis Haggerty will receive the 2021 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award, and Bhuvish Mehta will receive the 2021 Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award. Thomas Warfield was awarded the 2020 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award, and Çlirim Sheremeti was awarded the 2020 Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award.

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.

Researchers at RIT are using augmented and virtual reality as part of a modern training platform to help address the skilled labor shortage in manufacturing. Using artificial intelligence and augmented or virtual reality applications as a training strategy can support novice trainees and retain the knowledge of master machinists and manufacturing engineers.

RIT graduate programs are among the best in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report annual statistical survey of graduate programs.