News
Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 43: The KEEN Engineering Unleashed network is driving change in engineering education. Patti Cyr, lecturer in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and Jennifer O’Neill, assistant professor in the College of Engineering Technology, discuss what the entrepreneurial mindset is and how connections to the network are providing an edge for RIT students.

Analytical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, resiliency, and flexibility are among the top skills needed for emerging careers by 2025. Anticipating these rapid changes in the workplace—further accelerated by lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—RIT is seizing on the opportunity to guide students to “new economy majors” that are multi­disciplinary, transformative, and future-focused.

Spectrum News features George Zheng ’15 (mechanical engineering technology), co-founder of Leep Foods.

Two companies associated with RIT’s Venture Creations technology business incubator have advanced to the round two finals of the Grow-NY competition. Grow-NY is a food innovation and agriculture technology business challenge focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage and agriculture innovation cluster in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and Southern Tier regions.

Despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students at RIT are still finding ways to participate in hundreds of clubs and organizations this semester, including dancing, designing games, and even skydiving.

Brian Chontosh ’00 (mechanical engineering technology) has been nominated for the prestigious Congressional Medal of Honor, one of the oldest and continuously issued awards given to U.S. Armed Forces personnel for courage, valor, and leadership.

A study abroad experience for RIT’s College of Engineering Technology (CET) students took place over Zoom when the class connected with peers from Hochschule Mittweida University of Applied Sciences in central Germany.

Volunteers are needed for the Baja SAE virtual competitions taking place this summer. Although collegiate racecar teams cannot meet for onsite competitions, SAE International, the sponsoring organization, proposed virtual events featuring two of the main categories from the overall series—sales and design presentations.

A federal grant matched by New York state and RIT is enabling university researchers to study a competitive solution to polyethylene mulch and identify a more sustainable alternative to conventionally used plastics in farming.

In early March, RIT alumnus Corey Mack ’11 (mechanical engineering technology) received an email from the U.S. Department of Defense asking start-ups and entrepreneurs to build emergency ventilators for under $300. Within a few days, his idea became a design that complied closely with the required pieces of emergency ventilators.

Many RIT faculty, students, staff and alumni are among the collaborations here and across the nation, providing expertise to improve or create much-needed equipment and protective gear for medical personnel fighting the Coronavirus.

Jordan Darling’s career has soared as rapidly as the sleek watercraft he designs. The vice president of Nikola Powersports was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30, the prestigious designation given annually to top entrepreneurial talent in the United States and Canada.