News

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.

Dr. Christopher Tanski, who graduated from RIT in 2000, is overseeing every medical professional treating coronavirus patients on the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort and at the Javits Convention Center field hospital in New York City. Tanski, who started on April 9, is an attending physician and assistant professor of emergency medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Elan Lee ’98 (computer science) decided one day that he no longer wanted to do what he was doing for a living. He quit his job at Microsoft and embarked on a one-year break to figure out what was next. But a few weeks later, he spent a weekend with friends building a card game around the idea of Russian Roulette. Before they knew it, they had created the wildly popular Exploding Kittens.

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.

The Democrat and Chronicle talks to RIT trustee and alumnus Ron Ricotta '79 (accounting), CEO of Century Mold, a Rochester-based manufacturing company.

When new students come to RIT, they join the ever-growing Tiger family. For John B. Lawrence and his younger brother, Jared Lawrence, the Tiger family is more than just a proximal community; it’s also based on actual bloodlines.

Entrepreneur Reuben Zielinski ’85 (electrical engineering) ’96 (EMBA) believes that generating a great idea is actually the easiest part of the product development process. The hardest part? Convincing other people that what you have is a great idea and getting them to buy what you have developed.

Charles Gaines ’67 MFA (art and design) made his name working outside of the boundaries of traditional western art practices. Now, he’s on a list of artistic legends as the 60th recipient of the Edward MacDowell Medal.

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.

Karen Braun had a clear picture of what she wanted to do with her life at a young age. As Braun grew up, she developed a wide variety of interests including photography, psychology, and physics. She ultimately found a new cross-disciplinary Ph.D. program in imaging science at RIT that let her pursue those interests all at once.

Chrysa Charno ’03, MBA ’09, is the owner/operator of AcuteKids pediatric urgent care in Webster, NY. As a healthcare professional, Chrysa is on the front lines of the Covid-19 epidemic, and has experienced the supply issues for protective gear first hand.

Many RIT alumni have tapped into the craft-beer boom that has swept across the country in the past 10 years.