Rochester Institute of Technology News
Cognitive Science Ph.D.

RIT is hosting four Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program sites this summer, which are designed for students to develop a passion for research and receive guidance for pursuing graduate careers. The university has a longstanding history hosting REU sites, which are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation.

RIT’s new Research Building officially opened its doors Dec. 2, and inside, faculty and students are gearing up to usher in a new era of discovery on campus.

Researchers will soon use eye-tracking to show how deafness impacts vocabulary knowledge and reading as well as how deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who have historically shown lower than average reading outcomes, develop into highly skilled readers.

Linguists face a resource gap for studying visual prosody and its grammatical and emotional functions in sign languages, and for creating AI systems capable of processing visual prosody. Faculty members affiliated with RIT’s Ph.D. program in Cognitive Science aim to fill that gap through Deaf scientist-centered research.

A new National Science Foundation grant will allow 18 RIT students to travel to Sweden and conduct artificial intelligence (AI) research that enhances the industrial workplace. The students will take part in a program of AI research, professional development, and mentorship, which includes eight weeks at University West, near Gothenburg, Sweden.

As the final phase of the new research building is completed, faculty-researchers from three of RIT’s colleges are preparing to be its first residents. They expect to move into the 39,000-square-foot building in the spring semester.

The university’s two newest Ph.D. programs in cognitive science and physics offer diverse research opportunities for students and help them gain the skills and abilities needed to analyze data and grasp complex concepts. The new programs bring RIT’s total doctoral programs to 15.

RIT will confer a record 69 Ph.D. degrees during commencement May 12, marking a 53 percent increase from last year.