News Stories

RIT is renaming Nathaniel Rochester Hall after Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry, granddaughter of Frederick Douglass and a former student of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, which later became RIT.

What began as an idea for an alumna eight years ago has turned into an important option—two options now, actually—for families in need of healthcare in Western New York.

Joel Kastner, a professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science and School of Physics and Astronomy, and a team of researchers with the European Southern Observatory have discovered new evidence of how planets as massive as Jupiter can form.

Despite overcoming health challenges from a car accident, Bobby Kovach, who recently graduated from RIT, managed to earn two degrees in four disciplines at the same time.

Cybersecurity is no longer a buzzword—it’s the dominant industry term. That’s why RIT’s computing security degrees and department have adopted new names. The transition from “computing security” to “cybersecurity” will help RIT align with the ever-changing demands of the cybersecurity industry.

Wayne Plourde was recently appointed director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office at Rochester Institute of Technology. With a diverse background in academia, law, and in industry, he will administer RIT’s intellectual property assets and manage its campus-wide entrepreneurial initiatives.

To meet the ever-changing needs of the hospitality industry, the Department of International Hospitality and Service Innovation (IHSI) at RIT’s Saunders College of Business is adding and revamping minors to deliver on employer requests.

Recent graduate Mikey Gambino ’23 (ceramics and industrial design) has been named as one of the 2023 Windgate-Lamar Fellows and received a $15,000 grant to fund his studio ceramic practice. Every year, the Center for Craft’s Windgate-Lamar Fellowship selects 10 graduating college seniors with exemplary skill in craft for the fellowship award.

Professor Bruce Smith has made a career of innovations in nanolithography—the process of etching complex patterns on semiconductors—and in preparing a long line of graduates for work in organizations around the globe. Celebrating 35 years as a faculty member, his retirement from RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering is a significant milestone that comes after many years of collaborating with leading semiconductor groups around the world.

Jennifer Schneider, a faculty-researcher at RIT and expert in hazardous materials and community resilience, recently joined two national organizations to investigate and guide improved standards for use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and technologies. 

Kathleen Davis has been named vice president for Enrollment Management at RIT. Davis begins her duties at RIT on Sept. 1. She has served as vice president for enrollment and retention management at Saint Louis University, a private Jesuit research university in Missouri, since 2018.

RIT Certified, the university’s professional training and workforce development division, is marking a year since the organization’s launch last summer. Dennis Di Lorenzo, executive director, provides an update on RIT Certified’s growing number of program offerings and where the future of workforce and professional education is headed.