Student Spotlights

Student Spotlights
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Students in the Honors Program regularly earn the top awards at RIT, and are internationally recognized for their work and studies. We are excited to celebrate the hard-earned accomplishments of our Honors community members, shared below.
Featured Student Spotlight
Emma Kane
Honors student Emma Kane has worked at the Deaf Health Laboratory, led by the mentors at the Deaf Health Care and Biomedical Sciences Hub (Deaf Hub) at RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf. A third-year public policy major, Emma has been involved with the Deaf Hub since 2023 as a Summer Healthcare Academic Research Program scholar, a Deaf Health Laboratory research assistant, and is now one of the chief research assistants. She has presented at national conferences and local research symposiums about her work. Her research is primarily centered around reducing barriers in sex education for Deaf and hard-or-hearing young adults, improving access to sexual health resources through policy solutions, and reproductive health experiences and resources.
RIT Awards and Recognitions
Fram Chair Award for Excellence in Applied Critical Thinking
The Fram Chair Award comes from Gene Fram's philosophy of encouraging students to engage with interdisciplinary and deeper thinking. Honors Student Sam Hebbar, KGCOE, was part of the winning Large Group team for their presentation: BEEBO - Robotic Arm for Education. The BEEBO provides an example of control systems that Biomedical Engineering students can watch, manage, and edit to better understand how Control Systems can be set up and applied in a Biomedical setting. A robotic arm is one of many examples of rehabilitative assistive devices.
Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars
The Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award celebrates the top 1% of undergraduate students who achieve academic excellence while also giving back to the community through civic or volunteer work, by conducting research, or being engaged in a co-op or work in their field of study.
Learn more at the Office of the Provost's Website! Please see the list below for this year's Honors Students Scholars.
The 2024-2025 Cohort includes:
- CAD: J.X. Chen, Jessica Hall, Carina Johnson, Lucy Nguyen, Valentina Ada Scottini, Hannah Slate, Troa Vimahi
- CET: Oran Betz, Rachael Tobey, James Warren
- CHST: Sammy Deol, Zahra'a Ghazle
- COLA: Ava Douglas, Sam Marino, Riley Mason, Adrienne Sanza
- COS: Abigail Broscius, Madeline Mariano
- GCCIS: Kaelyn Beeman, Aemilia Blais, Peter Catalano, David Cho, Melanie Couillard, Veronika Kirievskaya, Angie Li, Kora Lovdahl, Gavin Monick, Rina Peshori, Ty Platow, Alyssa Rios, Sherry Robinson, Garrit Witters
- KGCOE: Adheesh Ankolekar, Antar Chowdhury, Jolie Crunelle, Madison Dziulko, Paloma Hamilton, Tomasz Mazur, Michael Oldziej, Carley Visser
- SCB: Aeriana Brentlinger, Ericka Chen, Tira Heiss, Hunter Hodge, Olivia McDonald
- SOIS: Kylie Aquaro
2023 Community Impact Award
The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement coordinates the application and/or selection process for the Community Impact Awards, awarding scholarships to students for serving and leading in their communities.
2023 Honors Award Recipients:
- Alfred L. and Ruby C. Davis Scholarship: Buyi Owo-Odusi
- Frederick Douglas Scholarship: Victoria Newson
- Walls Olson Memorial Scholarship: Elissa Sainthil
2023 Excellence in Student Life Award
Since 1964, Excellence in Student Life Awards have celebrated undergraduate students who represent the guiding principles of engagement, scholarship and leadership and demonstrate a healthy balance of academic success and student engagement. Students selected for this honor have a high GPA and hold significant leadership positions within RIT-related activities.
2023 Honors Award Recipients:
- CAD: Rachel Kogut, Serina Lin, Michael Perez-Gelinas
- CET: Griffin Warntz
- COLA: Shane Lockhoof
- KGCOE: Ann Byerley
- COS: Gabby Orfanides, David Prichett
- SCB: Michael Penna
2023 Annual Student Writing Awards
Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Liberal Arts honored student achievements in writing which recognize exceptional student writers in our RIT community each year.
2023 Honors Award Recipients:
Henry and Mary Kearse Writing Award
- Jenna Warren (COLA - Communication)
- Emma Eagan (COLA - International and Global Studies with Sociology and Anthropology)
Stan McKenzie Endowed Writing Award
- Abigail Block (NTID - ASL English Interpretation)
- Raina Freeman (GCCIS - Computing Science)
External Awards and Recognitions
Fulbright Awardees
Established in 1946, the Fulbright prize is one of the most prestigious in academic circles and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, promoting cultural exchanges with more than 140 countries. Approximately 1,900 US students earn this award each year from around the country.
Past Honors Awardees:
- Matthias Hausman (Mechanical Engineering and International Global Studies)
- Victoria Scholl (Imaging Science)
- Kaylin Beiter (Biomedical Sciences)
- Rose Rustowicz (Imaging Science)
Goldwater Scholars
The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious national award for undergraduate students in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The award is based on academic merit and research experience, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their highest degree.
Aidan Miller (Biochemistry) is a 2024 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Miller, who is from Rochester, N.Y., is one of 438 recipients out of 1,353 nominees and has engaged in research in the laboratories of Lea Michel, professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, and George Thurston, professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Most recently, Miller has studied the biochemical and biophysical analyses of cataract-causing mutations in certain proteins through NMR spectroscopy and light-scattering, presenting his research at the national meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2024.
Emily Mahoney (Chemistry BS) is a 2021 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Mahoney, who is from Cazenovia, N.Y., conducted research in the laboratory of Hans Schmitthenner, research faculty in RIT’s School of Chemistry and Materials Science, since her freshman year. The research focuses on synthesizing targeted molecular imaging agents for the detection of various cancers, including a dual-dye system for use in enhanced photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer.
Quinn Kolt (double major in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science) is a 2021 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Kolt, who is from Solon, Ohio, has worked on a variety of mathematical research, including projects on an upper bound for a cyclic sum of probabilities with mentor Professor James Marengo, methods for stochastic inverse problems with mentor Professor Akhtar Khan, direct methods for the time-harmonic viscoelastic scalar wave inverse problem with mentor Assistant Professor Olalekan Babaniyi, and Legendre transformations with mentor Professor Emeritus David Farnsworth.
Community Engagement
Honors Student Government Members
CHST Senator: Sammy Deol
Cross-Registered Senator: Emma Kane
ACA President: Guerline Guerrier
Gavin Palmer
Honors Student and Electrical Engineering major Gavin Palmer was a co-winner of the 2024 Ovation Performing Arts Showcase! Paired with Brandon Faunce, the two performed a cello rendition of "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.
Anh Nguyen
Computer Science Student Anh Nguyen was selected for the 2024 DAAD RISE Germany Scholarship, which landed him a research position at the Dusseldorf University of Applied Sciences this past summer. He spent 10 weeks researching data analysis and explainable AI, particularly dimensionality reduction.
Siobhan Gannon and Eryk White
Honors students Siobhan Gannon and Eryk White (Film and Animation) won special recognition for their short film, Limelight, at the Ithaca Short Film Festival (Best Animation) and at the Virginia Emerging Filmmakers Festival (Official Selection) with many festivals still to be decided. This work, created as a senior animation capstone, depicts a retired game show host struggling to let go of his glory days gone by. In an allegorical journey through the game show’s sound stage, Siobhan and Eryk address the challenge of what to do when the limelight fades away.
Elena Fuentes Solano, Guerline Guerrier, and Buyi Owo-Odusi
Three Honors students attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS), which focuses on undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, graduate students and postdoctoral scientists in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), accompanied by CHST Professor Bolaji Thomas. All travel arrangements were funded through their respective programs and some students had an opportunity to present their research conducted at RIT. Honors students in attendance include McNair Scholars Elena Fuentes Solano (third-year) and Buyi Owo-Odusi (fourth-year), and CSTEP student Guerline Guerrier (fourth-year), all majoring in biomedical sciences. Be sure to congratulate them on their achievement!
Chris Baron, Lucy Nguyen, and Valentina Scottini
Metaproject is an annual design initiative that pairs students with industry partners to develop products consistent with the Vignelli “Design is One” philosophy.” Students collaborated with Icon Design and alumni-owned ARBR Studios to create unique furniture solutions, and the results are showcased in a global venue Three Honors industrial design students: Chris Baron, Lucy Nguyen, and Valentina Scottini participated this year and will have their half-scale models the students created will be displayed during the annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City in May 2025. Designs by Chris Baron and Valentina Scottini were selected among the six to prototype at full-scale for display at ICFF.
Guerline Guerrier
Guerline Guerrier, a fourth-year biomedical sciences major Honors student, and Natalie Robinson, Assistant Director for Leadership Development in the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, were featured in a Democrat and Chronicle article about Unity House's annual Soul Food Sunday. The event celebrates cultural significance and community, drawing over 100 ALANA students annually.
Competitions
Albert Hynes and Ashley Alt
Honors students Albert Hynes and Ashley Alt were part of a team of eight RIT CyberScholars from the NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program placed first and 11th at the University of Arkansas's RazorHack cybersecurity competition on the weekend of Oct. 27. The competition tested their skills in penetration testing, cryptography, steganography, buffer overflow attacks, web attacks, and physical security. The CyberScholars also presented on topics such as covert communications and AI ethics, earning high praise for engagement from the University of Arkansas’s CyberHogs club. Albert was a member of the first-place team, and Ashley was a member of the eleventh-place team.
Asa Horn and Massimo Marino
Asa Horn and Massimo Marino were part of a team of cybersecurity students that placed third in the Hivestorm collegiate cyber defense competition on Oct. 16. Teams compete by securing provided virtual machines, accumulating points for removing malware and other infections, correcting misconfigurations, mitigating vulnerabilities, and disabling vulnerable services.
Patrick Dwyer
Honors student Patrick Dwyer competed in the 2024 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Competition. This competition is a thirty minute head-to-head debate style tournament. Teams of two will assume one of two sides in a predetermined case that balances ethics, engineering, and business. In 2024, the case was concerning a NASA near earth orbit asteroid detection system that was having technical issues prior to launch. Patrick partnered with fellow student Adrian Ricketts and faculty advisor Dr. Mario Gomes. They finished as semifinalists among over 70 competing schools.
Ariel Cthwe and Leah Torregiano
Honors students Ariel Cthwe and Leah Torregiano were part of a team of Game Design and Development students that won the Nexus Award in the November WolfJam. Their team, Hook Car Man Fan Club, was recognized for the best project that features a strong connection or theme related to influencers. Their game, Scare Parts, was inspired by a 4chan Tumblr repost story where the original author wrote a horror short story. Gameplay involves two roles–Driver and Support–and both must trust each other to escape through the woods from the cursed Hook Hand Car Man.
Carter Ptak
Honors student Carter Ptak, a third-year software engineering student, was the captain of the winning "Tigers Trading" team for the 2024 Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge. The team outcompeted 2,453 teams from 396 universities in 46 countries conducting simulated investing over six weeks. The team, supported by faculty adviser and finance professor Hao Zhang, came together in 2023 as members of the Saunders College of Business club: Financial Management Association. A winning strategy for the team centered around foreign stocks, allowing them to rank at the top of standings for five out of the six weeks, earning a relative profit of $1,676,618 from a starting budget of $1,000,000.