Photo Spotlights

Professor Luis A.N. Amaral of Northwestern University is the keynote speaker for the spring Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking Lecture. He will discuss “A Matter of Life and Death: When Thinking is Critical,” at 4 p.m. April 5 in Webb Auditorium. On April 4, Amaral led a class on “Thinking Critically: The Complexity of Climate Change.”

Members of Alpha Sigma Alpha coordinated the Heel Violence walk on April 3. First-year students, from left, Mario Hanna, Christa Cerosimo and Hayes Shannon walked the mile in heels for the fundraiser. The proceeds from the mile-long walk benefit the Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims (ASADV) and will be donated through the RIT United Way Campaign. ASADV is a local organization that provides free services to people who are deaf and hard of hearing who have experienced domestic violence or sexual abuse.

More than 60 RIT students worked in teams to develop products and service solutions for Rochester Regional Health, as part of the annual RIT Idea Lab event, April 2-3. Six projects were presented to sponsors.

RIT improv teams performed April 1 and 2 during the Improvamonium festival in Ingle Auditorium. Work in Progress was one of the teams doing a 30-minute skit. The free festival, now in its eighth year, features all of RIT’s improv groups as well as other college and professional teams.

Accepted students and their families participated in the Engineering Diversity Retreat on April 1 at the university. The future RIT Tigers met with campus representatives from Co-op and Placement, the McNair Scholars program, Alumni and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion prior to spending the afternoon touring the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and talking to faculty about degree programs. As part of the retreat, the accepted students were also hosted overnight in campus dorms by student-leaders of the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers.

Chemistry for a Cause is one of the projects competing in this semester’s Tiger Tank new business competition, hosted by the Albert J. Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Here chemistry students Jacky Lim, left, and Ryan Le Tourneau run tests in the lab. Chemistry for a Cause offers targeted molecular imaging agents designed for photoacoustic imaging— an inexpensive and non-invasive method for the detection of cancer. To read more about the competition and the other teams, go to rit.edu/news/story.php?id=55129.

U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter visited RIT on March 30 to celebrate RIT’s contribution to the first detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes earlier this year by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. Slaughter presented researchers in RIT’s Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation with individual copies of her Congressional Record statement, from Feb. 25, commending their role in the discovery. In turn, Manuela Campanelli, right, director of the center, presented Slaughter with an RIT poster that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education celebrating the RIT team, and a signed copy of the landmark discovery paper that published in Physical Review Letters on Feb. 11.

Third-year management information systems student Jake Benabe from Queens, N.Y., decides on a T-shirt at the Student Government event to unveil its new logo. Student Government Vice President Andrea Shaver, a third-year graphic design major, designed the logo that will be used on all SG materials.

The men’s hockey team salutes the Corner Crew after falling to Quinnipiac 4-0 in the NCAA East Regional Semifinal on March 26. The Tigers are 28-13 all-time in the postseason at the Division I level, including a 3-3 mark in NCAA Tournament contests. It was RIT’s second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, third in the last seven seasons and 16th overall in program history. Saturday’s contest was the final game for seniors Alexander Kuqali, Greg Amlong, Andrew Miller, Josh Mitchell, Dan Schuler and Brad Shumway.

A Cuban (r)evolution, an exhibition of students’ photographs of Cuba, runs in the University Gallery through March 30.

Woodie Flowers, one the founders of the FIRST Robotics Competition, visited the Finger Lakes Regional on March 25. The professor of engineering from MIT and lead designer of FIRST’s game challenges, helped launch STRONGHOLD, the 2016 competition, based on a medieval theme where robots defended castles and challenged opponents with lightweight “boulders” the size of volleyballs. More than 40 high school robotics teams from the U.S. Northeast and Canada competed. Here, students sign Flowers’ shirt, a tradition he has for each season.

Men’s hockey player Josh Mitchell celebrates with fans after the Tigers defeated top-seed Robert Morris, 7-4, in the Atlantic Hockey Championship on March 19. The men’s hockey team is going to the NCAA Tournament for the third time as a Division I program and for the 16th time in program history. RIT will play Quinnipiac University in Albany, N.Y., on March 26. For ticket information, go to rit.edu/news/story.php?id=55029. For information on transportation from campus and a viewing party, go to rit.edu/news/story.php?id=55034.