Photo Spotlights

Filmmakers Willy Lindwer and Tom Linszen gave a talk on the making of their collaborative documentary film, Anna’s Silent Struggle, which will be featured in the Deaf Rochester Film Festival March 26-29. For more information on the Deaf Rochester Film Festival, including descriptions and schedules of screenings, workshops, panels and other activities, refer to ideatools.rit.edu/drff.

Country star Billy Currington performed March 21 in RIT’s Gordon Field House.

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Gallery r March 26 at an auction benefit at One Bausch & Lomb Place. 13 WHAM-TV news anchor Norma Holland will emcee the event, and each $150 ticket admits two guests and guarantees one work of original art from an RIT student, alumni or faculty member. Above is a bowl created by Ronald Pearson. The reception runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. with light hors d’oeuvres, desserts and cash bar, followed by the art drawing from 7 to 9 p.m. For tickets, call 475-5154 or 475-2733.

Dan Batcheldor, associate research scientist in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, has expanded the Hubble Space Telescope’s capability without the need for new instruments or billions of dollars. Batcheldor and his team improved the calibration of the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer to enable high-precision polarimetry, a tool used for reading scattered light when investigating active galactic nuclei and for finding proto-planets around very young stars.

RIT’s 2009 United Way Campaign kicked off March 19 in the SAU with a variety of fun-filled activities including celebrity scoopers at Ben & Jerry’s. The carnival event offered arcade games, a putting green, clowns and a Guitar Hero competition.

Eastman Kodak Co. CEO Antonio Perez participated in a March 19 discussion with RIT students, faculty and staff. Perez emphasized the importance of conviction over convenience, striving for continuous improvement, transparency and sticking to one’s principles. The event was sponsored by the E. Philip Saunders College of Business and focused on corporate responsibility. Perez discussed Kodak’s ongoing transformation within its industries and the company’s commitment to the environment and the community.

The Dyer Arts Center at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf hosts William Keyser: Sculpture and Painting, an exhibition, now through April 11. An artist reception will be held 5 to 7:30 p.m. March 20.

Devin Hamilton, a third-year mechanical engineering technology major, was recently featured in the online version of The Wall Street Journal about his unique use of Quick Glance eye-tracking software. He and classmate Beth Keifer work together on several class projects.

RIT President Bill Destler is now a banjo hero. Destler, one of the world's foremost collectors of antique banjos from the 1840s to 1920s, is bringing his collection into the 21st century with the help of students in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Destler is now the proud owner of 'Oh-No Banjo,' a simulated banjo game, based on the popular Guitar Hero music video game, created in a class led by David Schwartz, assistant professor of information technology. Here, he tries out the banjo with Alex Lifschitz, a second-year game design and development major. Other student team members include Michael Ey, Dominic D'Aniello, Sela Davis and Joe Pietruch.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter was on campus March 13 to announce new funding for a partnership between RIT and Delphi Corp. to commercialize solid-oxide fuel cells for military and commercial applications.

Students attending the Leary Elementary School’s Social Studies and Science Fair last week learned how to interpret colors seen in a thermal range. Joe Pow, associate director of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, explained the science behind it.

Students from RIT’s imaging and photographic technology program talked to elementary students and their parents at Leary Elementary School’s Social Studies and Science Fair about their upcoming flight aboard NASA’s Vomit Comet. The student team will test the feasibility of inkjet printing in zero-gravity.