Photo Spotlights

Visitors packed RIT’s Sustainability Institute Hall on Aug. 7 to hear presentations on groundbreaking research during the university’s 24th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Students presented on a wide variety of research themes including biomedical and life sciences; optics, photonics and imaging; energy and sustainability; chemistry and materials sciences and engineering; computer modeling, design and simulation; ecology; and social sciences and humanities. The keynote address was delivered by Andrew Phelps, founder and director of RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction and Creativity (MAGIC).

RIT assistant coach Dave Insalaco instructed youth players at the Tiger Hockey School held at the Gene Polisseni Center this week. Boys and girls tested out a big-time arena in the school’s 16th year of operation.

Research assistant Aaron Schweinsberg, left, associate professor Jie Qiao and fourth-year imaging science student Zachary Mulhollan experiment with a new kind of wavefront sensor in the Laboratory for Advanced Optical Fabrication, Instrumentation and Metrology in RIT’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science. Research conducted in the lab helps to advance optics hardware.

Third-year industrial design student Taylor Clow, left, led a group of prospective students and parents around campus on July 24 during RIT’s 25th annual College & Careers program. Students entering their senior year of high school tour campus and the residence halls and take workshops on the types of programs RIT offers. The next program is offered Aug. 7-8.

A team of RIT students, under the direction of RIT’s Center for MAGIC and in collaboration with the Global Literacy Project, developed a tablet-based educational game to teach children around the world to read. Youngsters from Margaret’s House play tested the game to help the RIT students gather feedback on their product. From left, RIT student Jacob Westerback observed Ethan Koon and Ryan Heckman playing the game.

A New York-based consortium, led by SUNY Polytechnic, RIT and the University of Rochester, has been awarded a multimillion-dollar federal investment to create a national photonics center. The award, issued under the federal government’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), was announced today by Vice President Joe Biden and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a news conference at a SUNY Polytechnic facility at Canal Ponds in Greece.

Area girls enjoyed the excitement of the Alka-Seltzer Blast design activity at the recent Everyday Engineering Camp. The activity is a mini-rocket launch using film canisters, alka seltzer tablets, water and a fuselage that the girls make and decorate. They also will measure the angle and height of the launch as a way to understand the basics of aeronautic engineering. Hosted by RIT’s Women in Engineering program, the 7-9th graders will be onsite all week in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, working with RIT female engineering students, faculty and teachers from regional high schools. From left, Ellie Fairchild, Claire Yioulos, Maddy Marcus and Olivia Schaefer work on their rockets.

Middle-school students Kiernan Boland, left, Nick Burch, center, and Lia Donahue make a batch of chocolate chip cookies during the Bioscience Camp for Kids, “Chemistry in My Cookies?”. The camp was held from July 20 to 24 at RIT’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.

Middle-school students Jasmine Nichols, left, Tessa Brown, center, and Ariely Cortes make a batch of chocolate chip cookies during the Bioscience Camp for Kids, “Chemistry in My Cookies?”. Instructor Lisa Zeller, in the background, checks the oven. The camp was held from July 20 to 24 at RIT’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.

General Motors donated two heavy-duty industrial robots to RIT’s College of Applied Science and Technology on July 22. Steve Finch, plant manager of GM-Tonawanda, participated in the dedication event, highlighting the prospects of RIT’s students using the robots to learn more about next generation manufacturing and automation.

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.