News
Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology

When his brother’s horse died suddenly from colic in 2013, Michael Schab ’09 (computer engineering) saw an opportunity to create something that would prevent other equestrians from losing their beloved animals to this preventable affliction.

If the old saying, “couples who play together stay together” is true, Jon Podeszek ’10, ’12 MS and Danielle Furman Podeszek ’11 have it made. The two are ultramarathoners who spend their free time training to run 50-plus-mile races.

The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor took first place overall at the 2019 Baja SAE Rochester challenge, an international student-design competition that challenges students to apply classroom knowledge with real-world applications. RIT placed 10th overall among 100 collegiate race teams that took on a daunting motor cross field and four challenging days of competition.

RIT Racing and teams from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, India and the United States will field race cars, built by student-engineers, and test them on a track that will challenge not only the durability of the cars but the problem-solving capabilities of the teams during the 2019 Baja SAE Rochester World Challenge June 6-9.

Engineering News-Record talks to Martin E. Gordon, a forensic engineer and professor in the Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Engineering Technology.

Samuel Lum found several things in common with his faculty mentor, Robert Osgood, including excitement about research and a project that could save lives. Lum’s background in mechanical engineering technology and Osgood’s microbiology expertise in studying biofilms would be the kind of multidisciplinary approach that could lead to identifying the genes most likely responsible for hospital-associated catheter infections.

Teams from universities in the United States as well as Canada, India, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela will compete for the Mike Schmidt Iron Team Trophy, an award given to the overall season champion. More than 1,300 student-engineers, who designed and built off-road vehicles, are expected for the event that will consist of hill and rock climbs, acceleration and maneuverability challenges and a four-hour endurance race.

Five alumni from RIT’s College of Engineering Technology were honored with Rising Star awards during a campus reception last month. Given to alumni who graduated from CET within the past five to 10 years, the awardees were recognized for outstanding achievements early in their careers, for significant public service contributions and in helping to advance the careers of new professionals.

A uniquely designed magnetic coil piston that will improve suspension systems in on- and off-road vehicles took first place in RIT’s semi-annual Tiger Tank entrepreneurship competition. Sponsored by RIT’s Saunders College of Business and hosted by RIT’s Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tiger Tank gives students the opportunity to pitch a business idea to a panel of judges with a chance to win cash prizes.

Mahany Welding Supply donated two gas metal arc welding cells and two gas tungsten arc welding cells to be used within an advanced manufacturing degree program in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology to provide needed workforce skills.

Off-road racing is back at RIT as the university will host, and compete against, 100 collegiate racecar teams from around the world at the 2019 Baja SAE Rochester World Challenge June 6-9.

More than 250 student projects, representing all nine colleges, were on display at the 27th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on Aug. 3 at RIT.