Photo Spotlights

T. Alan Hurwitz, dean of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, shows his RIT spirit and jokes with students while he makes good on his promise to dress for a day in RIT colors, one result of a recent NTID fundraising auction to benefit students with financial need. Some 35 items were auctioned, raising more than $4,000.

The RIT Players and the Department of Fine Arts in RIT's College of Liberal Arts performed The Exception and the Rule: A Brecht Show last month, celebrating the influential 20th century playwright Bertolt Brecht. The two-part production began with a documentary-style presentation of selections from Brecht’s drama and poetry from the period, 1928-38, including three scenes from Fear and Misery in the Third Reich. Shown here are Nate Jentsch as a Nazi Storm Trooper and Andrew Gibson, playing the character of a chauffer.

The Great Jeans Giveaway at RIT gathered 215 pairs of jeans that no longer fit someone to celebrate National Eating Disorder Week by the RIT Women's Center. All donations will be given to the YMCA to help women in need. The week focused on self-image to free women and men from destructive dieting.

RIT dedicates the IT Collaboratory Research Building, a project made possible through a $14 million grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR). Among those taking part in the March 3 ceremony were (from left to right) Don Boyd, RIT vice president for research; Mike Morley, president of RIT's Board of Trustees; Joseph Morrelle, state assemblyman; Jim Alesi, state senator; Russell Bessette, executive director of NYSTAR; Albert Simone, RIT president; and John Kelly, senior vice president of technology and intellectual property at IBM.

Eliot Spitzer, New York attorney general, speaks with local media during a visit to RIT's Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies on March 2. Spitzer is campaigning for governor, and he told local business leaders about his plans to revitalize the upstate New York economy. He says an emphasis on science and technology offers the best opportunity for altering the economic landscape.

A group of 30 first-year engineering honors students recently participated in decidedly ‘low-tech’ competition. The object of the first “Tip-a-Can” event was to design a device, housed within a closed cylindrical container, that would automatically tip the can as close as possible to 60 seconds after the start of a timer. Eight teams of students—including, from left, Eva Ames, Jimmy LaPointe and Thom Siegwart—created improvised contraptions using such everyday, inexpensive items as egg timers, duct tape and mouse traps.

Jeffrey Rubin, director of substance and alcohol intervention services at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, is among the latest members to join RIT's Million Dollar PI Club. Ten new inductees were honored Feb. 22 for receiving sponsored funding of $1 million or more since 2000. The presentation was made during an annual reception for the university's principal investigators, sponsored by the Office of the Provost. In 2005, RIT researchers were awarded more than $32 million in grants.

Rachel Belter, a first-year mechanical engineering technology major and member of the RIT Formula SAE Racing Team, cuts chassis tubes for this year’s racecar. Belter is one of four females on this year’s team—an all-time high for the group. The team is preparing for its first race of the season, this May, in Pontiac, Mich.

Among the computer-controlled senior design projects demonstrated by RIT computer engineering majors on Feb. 16 was a remote-controlled surveillance vehicle, shown above held by William Burgdorf, a fifth-year student. With him are project teammates Tom Fisher and Eleni Binopolus-Rumayor, also fifth-year students. The battery-operated truck is controlled via an Internet connection.

Piano instructor Julie Ruhling gives Ben Hughes, second-year information technology major, a private lesson on the music program's newly rebuilt Steinway. The piano will feature prominently in the upcoming "All Mozart" recital celebrating the 250th anniversary or Mozart's birth. The free concert will take place at 1 p.m. Friday, March 31, in the Student Alumni Union Music Room, A120.

RIT student Kelly Brown, left, shares a laugh with “little sister” Tiffany as they try their hand at the ESPN Interactive Experience in the RITz Sports Zone. Brown is among five pioneering RIT students initiating a program sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Rochester. The effort—matching “little brothers and sisters” with RIT student mentors—is intended to provide each pair with the opportunity for one-on-one interaction during twice monthly gatherings on campus.

Jennifer Friede, RIT Bachelor of Fine Arts candidate and NTID student, will showcase her artwork, Self Portrait, Deaf Culture, 2004, at the Senior Fine Arts Studio Exhibition: Spring Fever, at Gallery r which runs through March 18.