Photo Spotlights

Eight-year-old Kendall Smith of Pittsford, N.Y., left, and 9-year-old Eve Miller of Utica, N.Y., work on programming their robot at RoboCamp @ RIT. The weeklong day camp lets students design, build and program robots. This camp is enriched with mini-projects and goals that promote teamwork and creativity. Along with the mini-projects, instructors teach the students some of the fundamental aspects of robotics and programming.

The Summer Math Applications in Science with Hands-on (SMASH) Experience for Girls held at RIT the week of July 13 broke barriers to mathematics that often keep girls from entering STEM fields. From left, eighth-graders Morgan Hardy, Sarah Winfree and Mia Vena look through polarizing films during a hands-on activity.

Ten-year-old Montana Rooksby takes off on a bike with volunteer Shaan Bhamra during the annual AutismUp iCan Bike Camp, held July 13-17 at the Gordon Field House. The camp teaches individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disabilities how to ride a conventional bike without training wheels.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students from all over the country were on campus in mid-July for RIT/NTID’s Explore Your Future career exploration camp. This program provides hand-on career awareness activities for students as they begin to think about college.

Game design and development majors Jacob Westerback (left), Kyle Zarnoch and David Amata work to create Remy and the Book of Rhymes, a video game to help children learn to read. The team is working throughout the summer to bring their game to life, as part of the new Co-Up program. The MAGIC Center and Simone Center initiative allows students to earn cooperative education experience while working on projects that lead to start-up products and commercial activities.

Will Wells, right, a senior at Pittsford Sutherland High School, develops a map for gaming during Kids on Campus. Hundreds of students in grades 5-12 are attending one or two weeks of STEM-based day camps on the RIT campus. The goal is to teach students subjects that will inspire them to think about possible careers involving that subject. With him is camp instructor Mitch Dehond, left, of Gates, N.Y., who attended Kids on Campus for seven years before attending RIT, where he’s currently an industrial design major.

From left, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost Ryne Raffaelle and Program Manager for the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship (CUE) Ebony Miller gave Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul a tour of the facility’s new space. The center is located in an historic building in downtown Rochester’s business district.

Ben Grieco, left, a teacher at Queensbury High School (Queensbury, N.Y.), and Mike Stolt, a teacher at Warwick Valley High School (Warwick, N.Y.), participated in a two-week class on computer integrated manufacturing during Project Lead the Way at RIT. PLTW provides training for teachers in the engineering disciplines and the opportunity to earn undergraduate credits.

Krishna Prasad, left, a graduate student in computer science at RIT, and Nikhil Urval, a fourth-year student in computer science at Illinois Institute of Technology, are getting ready to launch Myspiderweb.com, a simple tool for users to quickly communicate across social networking services. They are one of eight teams of entrepreneurs in the Saunders Summer Startup Program—where young innovators form interdisciplinary teams to start real companies. Hosted by Saunders College of Business and the Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the summer program culminates with “Investor Night” on Aug. 12 at RIT’s Student Innovation Hall.

Kristen Hennessey, a fifth-year industrial and systems engineering student, gives a walking tour of campus facilities to visitors. The hour-long tour is offered Monday through Friday at various times.

RIT assistant professor Raja Kushalnagar, left, and Victor Ortiz, a computer science student from New York City, discuss the applications of smart glasses for accessibility. An RIT/NTID National Science Foundation grant brought hearing, deaf and hard-of-hearing students from all over the country together to conduct research on the use of computers for enhancing accessibility to learning for people with sensory disabilities.

Missy Hall, a sustainable systems graduate student, receives ice cream from Hannah Koon of Brick City Catering. The ice cream social was held June 18 to thank the RIT community for another successful Imagine RIT festival. The festival was recently named the 2015 Best Kid-Friendly Festival in Rochester by KidsOutandAbout.com.