Photo Spotlights

RIT students, faculty and staff gathered for the first Gray Matter discussion for the semester on Sept. 15. Gray Matter is a discussion series designed to promote critical exploration of provocative topics related to higher education and the RIT campus community. The topic was “Failure, Fear & Fault? What’s Wrong with YOU?” and was co-sponsored by the Fram Chair for Applied Critical Thinking. The next conversation, “What Is RIT’s Official Opinion on Politics? ...and what if you disagree?”, is Sept. 22 in the MOSAIC Center.

Alessa Edwards, center, a third-year ASL interpreting major at RIT from Syracuse, N.Y., is joined by Lora Alatise (left) and Caryl English (right), students from the University of Rochester, in an acoustic step dance at the ALANA Collegiate Association’s Welcome Back Bonanza. The event welcomed incoming freshmen with entertainment, food and dance. The students shown here are members of Delta Sigma Theta, a sorority that includes RIT and UR students.

Norbert Holowat, a third-year civil engineering technology student from Williston Park, N.Y., gets drenched with muddy water by Paul Fowler, a fourth-year civil engineering technology student from Rochester, N.Y. Hundreds of students get dirty to raise money for Hillside Family of Agencies at the 22nd annual Mud Tug. The event is put on by Phi Kappa Psi and Zeta Tau Alpha.

Hundreds of students get dirty to raise money for Hillside Family of Agencies at the 22nd annual Mud Tug. The event is put on by Phi Kappa Psi and Zeta Tau Alpha.

WADAIKO, Japanese Taiko drummers, took the stage at the Fringe Festival Sept. 15. Most RIT events are at the Little Theatre during the sixth annual KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival through Sept. 23. For a schedule of additional RIT Fringe events, go to www.rit.edu/fringefest.

Second-year College of Imaging Arts and Sciences glass students Rachel Strittmatter from Harrisburg, Pa. and Ethan Townsend from Oahu, Hawaii, assisted visiting glass artist Masahiro Sasaki. Over two days at RIT, Sasaki demonstrated his techniques and presented a lecture to students in the glass program. His visit is part of the visiting artist lecture series.

Pulitzer-prize winning historian Heather Ann Thompson of the University of Michigan is visiting RIT Sept. 14 to discuss her book on the 1971 Attica Prison uprising, Blood in the Water. She gives a public talk that evening in Ingle Auditorium at 4:00 p.m.

Elaine Donmeyer, left, a third-year film and animation major from Allentown, Pa., and Emrys Brown, a fourth-year illustration major from Babylon, N.Y., experiment with digital performance art at The Frameless Labs Festival Sept. 13. The festival, hosted by RIT’s MAGIC Center, was part of the Light and Sound Interactive conference and featured 10 augmented and virtual reality projects created by RIT students, faculty and international developers. The conference, co-hosted by RIT and University of Rochester, focused on the use of light and sound in some of the world’s fastest growing technologies.

Jiakai Lyu, a graduate student in optics at the University of Rochester from China, stopped at the RIT exhibit during the first-ever Light and Sound Interactive event, a three-day conference, expo and career fair focused on light- and sound-based technologies and their applications. Song Hui Chon, a visiting professor in electrical, computer and telecom engineering technology at RIT, provided information at the booth.

Yi Sern, an exchange student from France majoring in mechanical engineering, writes a message on a display for National Suicide Prevention Week. RIT’s Counseling & Psychological Services group is hosting the display and encouraging students and others to write letters of hope. The display will be outside the SDC Thursday and outside the August Center on Friday. All times are 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

David Messinger, professor and director of RIT’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, explains advanced imaging techniques used to digitally preserve and study historical artifacts of cultural significance at the inaugural Light and Sound Interactive conference on Sept. 12. LSI, a three-day conference, expo and career fair focused on light- and sound-based technologies and their applications, was a joint venture between RIT and University of Rochester and was held in downtown Rochester.

Rochester art appraiser Roz Goldman had her book signed by co-authors Alan (left) and Paul Singer. The University Gallery held a reception and book signing for Arthur Singer: The Wildlife Art of an American Master on Sept. 8. On Sept. 14, at 5:30 p.m., the gallery will host John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of ornithology, who will speak about the importance of art in ornithology. For information about the book published by RIT Press, go to: https://www.rit.edu/press/arthur-singer.