Photo Spotlights

Twenty-one middle and high school girls visited RIT for the annual Expanding Your Horizons conference on Oct. 21. They took part in hands-on activities showing how engineering is used in the real world — including projects related to bioengineering, bridge design, manufacturing process simulation and rock climbing. Above, participants work on an exercise in which they built structures made out of paper and tested them to determine how much weight they would hold (one team’s structure supported 68 pounds). Sponsored by WE@RIT, Expanding Your Horizons aimed to encourage and nurture girls’ interest in engineering, science and math. Workshops for parents helped them support their daughters' studies. For more, visit www.rit.edu/~women/EYH.php3.

State-of the art manufacturing machinery was showcased at an open house for RIT’s Brinkman Manufacturing Lab on Nov. 2. Shown above is Shane Wing, an applications engineer with Morris TriState, a Lancaster, N.Y.-based machine tool distributor.

Andy Guthrie, second-year information technology student, and Karen Marenus serve up some sizzling specialties at the new Mongolian Grill, located in RIT's Gracies dining hall. In order to "Mongo," customers select the vegetables of their choice, a form of protein (meat, seafood or tofu), an oil, a sauce, and a choice between rice or noodles. Grillers take care of the rest. RIT Food Service managers say Mongolian Grill serves about 500 customers a day.

David Shields, lead engineer—power quality, electric distribution engineering, Rochester Gas and Electric Corp., discussed power systems and power distribution in an RIT electrical engineering class, Oct. 27 — exposing students to careers and opportunities in the area of power distribution systems and sparking their interest in a field they may not have considered. The presentation was sponsored by the ST@R Project—Stay Tech @ RIT—organized by Edward Brown, assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

Volunteers fanned out across campus on Oct. 26 to help "Raise Our Annual Responses" as part of ROAR Day. The first-time event was designed to encourage additional support for the Fund for RIT from faculty, staff and students. More than 500 gifts were made at 11 locations.

RIT alum Sharon McKenna ’01 (MFA graphic design) was at RIT's Campus Connections bookstore for a book signing and reading of her first book that she wrote and illustrated, “Good Morning Sunshine: A Grandpa Story,” on Oct. 30. This touching story tells of a special bond between a young girl and her grandpa. No matter how bad or sad she feels, her grandpa seems to know just how to make everything right.

Students, faculty and staff from the computer science department treat themselves to some Halloween fun. The textbooks were set aside and the Halloween costumes came on for the department's Halloween party on Oct. 26. More than 100 people attended the event. It gave everyone a chance to get together and have some fun before the start of final exams.

Dozens of RIT alumni employed by Harris Corp.’s Rochester-based RF Communications Division attended an Oct. 20 ceremony where the firm announced two gifts, totaling $410,000, to RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. The gifts will fund construction of the Harris Corp. Computer Engineering Design Center—slated to open next spring—research in RIT’s Radio and Space Science Lab, and support the college’s Women in Engineering program. Harris Corp., which employs nearly 350 RIT alumni, is one of the top nationwide employers of RIT engineering graduates and the largest employer of RIT engineering co-op students.

Above, from left, are RIT professor Margaret Bailey, College of Engineering Dean Harvey Palmer, RIT President Albert Simone and Dana Menhert, president of Harris Corp.’s RF Communications Division.

Michael Percia, left, Luis Gutierrez and Kat Springate, students at the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, spruced up Ricky Thompson's Hudson Avenue store-front on Oct. 21. The students were part of an RIT contingent turning out for one of the City of Rochester's Clean Sweep programs.

A brief poetry reading and art exhibit will be held to celebrate the publication of RIT English professor Anne Coon's Henry James Sat Here and Via del Paradiso. The event will take place 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County in the Kate Gleason Auditorium at 115 South Ave. Henry James Sat Here, shown above, features nine poems by Anne Coon with images by Kurt Feuerherm.

Alan Nye, professor of mechanical engineering and advisor to RIT’s Formula SAE race car team (second from right), and Dave Hathaway, Department of Mechanical Engineering operations manager (far right), were honored Oct. 7 for their service to RIT’s Formula team. At a Formula team alumni reunion celebration, held during Brick City Homecoming, each received a plaque recognizing “15 years of dedicated guidance and support to RIT’s Formula SAE Racing Team.” With them are Harvey Palmer, dean of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering (center), Nye’s wife, Nancy BB Meyer-Nye, and Lynn Bishop ’93 (B.S. mechanical engineering), a founding member of the first Formula team.

Students from RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences captured playful moments like this one at Strong-National Museum of Play as part of a national educational initiative with Adobe Systems called Project: Photoshop Lightroom. The students’ challenge was to document a unique cultural aspect of the Rochester community. They received access to the entire museum for a day, photographing visitors, employees, the museum’s collections, exhibits, and architecture. World-renowned photojournalist Colin Finlay worked one-on-one with students during the photo shoot. To view the final portfolio, visit projectphotoshoplightroom.com and click on 'projects.'