Photo Spotlights

RIT professor Bob Rothman is an expert on the wildlife and the geology that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. This January will mark Rothman’s 25th visit to the Galapagos and his 20th tour for RIT students, faculty and staff, where they will have a chance to swim with green sea turtles.

Not wanting to disturb students preparing for finals during quiet hours, James Kane, a first-year fine arts and photography student, practices drums on the grassy knoll near his residence hall.

Positive/Negative is a student-run annual publication created by senior photography and graphic design students. This year, the magazine used RIT’s crowdfunding platform to raise money to produce it. The magazine was released during a reception in the University Gallery Dec. 16.

Students had their photos taken with Star Wars characters in the Fireside Lounge on Dec. 15. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Space Time Adventures at RIT (STAR) set up a photo booth with some favorite personalities from the films. The latest segment in the series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will be released Dec. 18.

Model train enthusiasts visited dozens of vendors and saw several train layout displays during Rochester’s largest toy train event, RIT Tiger Tracks Train Show and Sale, held Dec. 12 and 13 in the Gordon Field House. The show, in its 10th year, is the primary fundraiser for the RIT Model Railroad Club. Proceeds enable them to repair and add to their layouts. New and vintage trains and parts were available for sale and elaborate settings were on display with moving trains.

The second annual Congressional App Challenge Workshop was held Dec. 12 at RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction and Creativity. U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter officially announced the challenge that encourages local high school students to create software applications, or apps. In addition to Slaughter’s announcement, students were able to engage with game and software developers and learn about education and careers in the industry. Challenge winners will be announced in January.

The RIT Orchestra, led by conductor Michael Ruhling, teams up with members of the New York State Ballet this weekend for several performances of “The Nutcracker” in RIT/NTID’s Robert F. Panara Theatre.

The University Gallery will host Milton Glaser: Posters from the Vignelli Center for Design Studies Archive from Nov. 30 through Feb. 26. Glaser is considered among the most celebrated graphic designers in the United States.

The RIT Orchestra, lead by conductor Michael Ruhling, teams up with members of the New York State Ballet for weekend performances of “The Nutcracker.”

Edwin Gomez, second-year graduate student in the School of Individualized Study from Dominican Republic, takes a selfie with Roarie at the FreezeFest kickoff on Dec. 9. The 7th Annual FreezeFest weekend celebrating winter activities is scheduled for Feb. 18-21 and features comedians John Mulaney and Nick Kroll on Feb. 20.

Third-year graphic design students Megan Olexa, Emma Echol and Jennifer Dami test prototypes of tactile icon systems for home appliances intended to support individuals with vision impairment with guest evaluator Kay Rhinebeck. The Tactile Icons Project is a collaboration between Professor Deborah Beardslee’s Information Design Class and Anne DeWitte of Tangible Surface Research. Beardslee and DeWitte initially connected at RIT’s Effective Access Technology Conference in early November and swiftly created this unique opportunity for the graphic design students.

Meg Lindsay, a fourth-year student from Wellsville, N.Y., gives an advertising pitch in her campaign management class, taught by Professor David Neumann and Lecturer Barry Strauber in RIT’s School of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts. The students, all either advertising and public relations majors or minors, came up with a campaign to help market Nalgene water bottles to college students for their capstone projects. Lindsay talked about incorporating more social media, including Snapchat. Nalgene’s marketing director, Eric Hansen, said all four teams had good ideas, but Lindsay and her team, called Meraki, gave the best pitch.