News
Imaging Science Ph.D.

RIT’s strategic plan calls for adding six to 12 new Ph.D. programs and conferring 50 doctoral degrees every year by 2025. The university already reached the latter goal with 51 Ph.D. degrees conferred in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Three faculty members who chose to start their research careers at RIT received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards in 2021. Their research aims to advance the foundations of machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, and clean energy.

RIT has an emerging new hotspot for interdisciplinary research about 25 minutes from the main campus. The Tait Preserve includes a 60-acre lake and a private mile of Irondequoit Creek adjacent to Ellison Park, offering endless opportunities for research, education, and conservation activities.

New machine learning techniques developed by scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology are revealing important information about how pulsars—rapidly rotating neutron stars—behave. In a new study published by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers outlined their new techniques and how they applied to study Vela, the brightest radio pulsar in the sky.

Haverford College features Roger Easton, professor, and Tania Kleynhans, researcher/engineer II, both in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is funding a team of RIT imaging scientists to study the limits of spectral remote sensing imaging systems. The team received a grant of up to $1 million to conduct fundamental research on imaging systems over the next two to five years.

Undergraduates aren’t the only students taking advantage of RIT’s co-op and internship program. Across the university, Ph.D. students are securing prestigious work experiences to provide important gateways to careers in industry, foundations, and government.

Move over, Silicon Valley. Rochester, N.Y., can be the next great American technology hub.

A team of researchers that develops artificial intelligence systems is putting its work to a unique new test: creating machines capable of playing the popular video game Starcraft II. Researchers think it could be an important stepping stone to advancing practical solutions such as self-driving cars, service robots, and other real-world applications.

An RIT faculty member is creating new artificial intelligence systems that could empower agricultural researchers, breeders, nurseries, and other users to analyze the roots of their crops with the power of their smartphones. Assistant Professor Guoyu Lu is receiving a $450,000 New Investigator grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct the research.

Several School of Physics and Astronomy faculty secured large grants as principal investigators during a banner summer.

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.