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Alyssa Owens is contributing new ways to diagnose breast cancer and Poornima Kalyanram has discovered how fluorescent molecules might help to identify diseased cells. Karen Soule and Fatemeh Shah-Mohammadi are part of breakthrough work in developing carbon nanotubes and cognitive radio networks—advances in technology that will power tomorrow’s electronic devices. All four are on track to graduate with a Ph.D. in engineering.

Keynote speaker John Seely Brown, former chief scientist of Xerox Corp. and director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), told graduates during this morning's convocation ceremony that they are entering “the Imagination Age, an age that calls for new ways to see, to imagine, to think, to act, to learn and one that also calls for us to re-examine the foundations of our way of being human, and what it means to be human.”

Elena Zambito will graduate this May from RIT’s diagnostic medical sonography program, and she is already finding ways to enhance her new field. Her goal is to land a cardiac sonographer position at a leading research hospital like the Mayo Clinic and discover ways to reduce the high rates of injury among sonographers.

This year, more students will graduate from RIT’s international campuses than ever before. RIT’s campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo are expected to award degrees to more than 500 students, up from 369 degrees granted in 2017-18.

Samuel Lum found several things in common with his faculty mentor, Robert Osgood, including excitement about research and a project that could save lives. Lum’s background in mechanical engineering technology and Osgood’s microbiology expertise in studying biofilms would be the kind of multidisciplinary approach that could lead to identifying the genes most likely responsible for hospital-associated catheter infections.

When RIT student Austin Obiora Okwudili accepts his diploma on May 11 in front of family and friends, he says that he will fondly remember his late father and the legacy he left behind—always encouraging his children to work hard, be positive, persevere and, most importantly, keep the faith.

The main topic of conversation during Scott Brink’s co-op interviews was almost always about cybersecurity competitions. Luckily, Brink has thousands of hours invested in hacking competitions from his time at RIT. Brink, a 2019 graduate of RIT’s computing security program, credits those cybersecurity competitions and student clubs with helping him succeed in the major.

Aditi Khazanchi came to RIT with three goals in mind. “I wanted to learn how to design inclusive experiences that empower people around me; gain industry experience; and learn from cultures outside of my own,” said Khazanchi, who grew up in New Delhi, India. Check, check and check.

Before Elyse Rood started working on her senior physics capstone project, she didn’t envision herself working for a software company. But after the commencement ceremony on May 10, she is moving to Madison, Wis., to start a career as a technical solutions engineer at a healthcare software company called Epic Systems.

Emma Sarles ’17 (industrial design) has taken the road less traveled to become an engineer. Without ever earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Sarles has spent the last two years working toward a customized professional studies master’s degree that specializes in medical device engineering and applied biomaterials.

Growing up in Youngstown, N.Y., near Niagara Falls, Alessandra Santarosa always had the urge to explore. As she readies to graduate this month from RIT with a bachelor’s degree in political science and minors in German, and sociology and anthropology, Santarosa is ready for more adventures: joining the Peace Corps and teaching English in Kosovo for two years.

Abraham Glasser, a fourth-year computer science major from Pittsford, N.Y, wasn’t certain where he would land after graduation. But he credits his co-op experiences at Microsoft and NASA for helping him determine that he didn’t want a typical 9-to-5 job. Instead, he realized that a career developing accessible technologies for deaf and hard-of-hearing people would fulfill a passion for research.