Photo Spotlights

Eighth-graders from Fairport’s middle schools visited RIT Jan. 12 to experience a taste of what it’d be like to pursue careers in computing and technology. The students, who are in an all-female technology class as part of Fairport’s single gender class pilot program, were hosted by RIT’s Women in Computing group and Women in Technology group. From left, Allison Mahoney, Emily Davio and Christian Conner experiment with PicoCrickets with Alana Malina, a second-year graduate student in information technology.

Students from RIT’s hospitality, tourism and nutrition management program traveled to RIT Dubai to study the growing tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates. Before they started classes, they took in the sights and activities of the area. Evan Coyne (left) and Traci Earwood, third- and fourth-year tourism students, respectively, took a camel ride, bringing a little bit of RIT to the desert.

RIT students, faculty and staff choreographed and filmed a lip-dub video on Jan. 9 to be shown during FreezeFest, Feb. 4–6. The lip dub was a one-take, lip-sync music video to Survivor’s hit song “Eye of the Tiger.”

A Discipline the University Didn’t Know it Wanted, by Patrick Scanlon, professor of communication, offers readers “A Brief History of the Department of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology.” Scanlon traces the study of communication at RIT back to the late 19th century when communication was treated as “a tool to be handled with skill, as is the pencil, and hammer.” Then, beginning in the mid-1980s, a new degree program in professional and technical communication emerged. Over the course of the next few years, the department added degree programs in advertising and public relations and in journalism, and a graduate degree in communication and media technologies.

Gates Chili High School seniors, from left, Michael Leimberger, Brandon Garbacz and Zachary Goole, discuss a variety of pollution prevention initiatives with Anahita Williamson, director of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT. The students conducted a recycling campaign at their school and plan to donate the proceeds to the Pollution Prevention Institute. Williamson met with the group Jan. 6 to target the funds for specific uses.

Tim Dehm and Bethany Wong, both third-year packaging science students, were among the attendees at PackExpo, the national conference and tradeshow for industry professionals. As part of PackExpo, student teams from universities across the country compete in a design challenge. This year’s theme commemorated Earth Day.

Robert Verderame, a second-year information security and forensics major, has developed a library reservation system that has been named a Top 100 Product of 2010 by District Administration magazine, a leading publication devoted to public school administrators.

The exhibit “Our Favorite Things,” featuring personal collections from NTID faculty and staff, was on view at the NTID Dyer Arts Center.

Students, faculty and staff will return to campus after their holiday break. Classes resume Jan. 3.

Visitors to the RIT campus took to the ice during open skate hours at the Frank Ritter Ice Arena. The arena offers free skate every day. For hours and rates, call 585-475-2223.

RIT’s female a capella group, Encore, sang Christmas carols at “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” hosted by InterVarsity at Global Village on Dec. 16. Non-perishable food and winter clothes were collected to donate to the Open Door Mission.

At the end of the 2010 Formula SAE season, the RIT Formula Racing Team was ranked fourth in the world among 400-plus collegiate teams. As part of the group’s preparation for the upcoming season, the team hosted President Bill Destler last month for a walk-through in the machine shop in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. RIT Formula Racing designs and builds a new car each season to race in the U.S. and Europe.