Photo Spotlights

At the RIT/NTID’s Health Care Careers Exploration Camp, deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students from all over the country experienced hands-on activities in health care careers—one of the fastest growing employment fields today.

TechBoyz and TechGirlz campers Zion Nelson, right, a home-schooled student from Midlothian, Va., and Saba Athineos from The Center School in New York City, enjoyed commanding a mission to Mars at The Challenger Learning Center, a high-tech, hands-on facility for space flight simulations located in the Strasenburgh Planetarium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. NTID’s TechBoyz and TechGirlz camps are designed to help students who are entering seventh, eighth or ninth grades in September learn about and consider jobs and careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Through hands-on activities, campers explore chemistry, computers, engineering and science. The camp is supported by the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

Twelve-year-old Weaver Holley takes off on a bike with volunteers supporting him during the annual AutismUp iCan Bike Camp, held July 25-29 at the Gordon Field House. The camp teaches individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disabilities how to ride a conventional bike without training wheels.

Pokemon Go is drawing students and others to campus to catch rare Pokemons. RIT has dozens of Pokestops to discover while also exploring the campus and its landmarks. Here, RIT students John Keefe, a third-year graphic design major from Wilton, N.H. and Erika Kallio, a second-year new media design major from Conesus, N.Y. play the game near The Sentinel.

A group of eighth-grade girls attended RIT’s Summer Math Applications in Science with Hands-on Experience for Girls (SMASH), held July 18-22. The program’s focus on mathematical sciences has been recognized by the Finger Lakes STEM Hub as an exemplary K-12 program in science, technology, engineering and math. Here, Amelia Crawford looks through polarizing filters and Lashawna Ellington peers through a glass prism during a hands-on activity.

Natalie O’Hern, a junior at Our Lady of Mercy High School, straps in Olivia Ager, a sophomore at Brighton High School, with some direction from third-year biomedical engineering student Pamelia Slattery. The Medicine and Human Disease weeklong camp offered by the Center for Bioscience Education and Technology included an afternoon at the RIT Ambulance, with demonstrations by volunteers there. Here they learn how to stabilize a patient for transport on a backboard.

Chevelle Sleaford, a fifth-year student majoring in film and animation and psychology from Shepherd, Montana, harvests some zucchini in the Foodshare garden on campus. The soilless garden uses a sustainable mix of vermiculite, COIR (coconut husks) and compost. Most of the squash, beans, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower plants were donated this year.

Graduate students share their experiences with students in RIT’s Research Experience for Undergraduate programs. Zachary Bittner, a PhD student in microsystems engineering, talks to the group about his research. The symposium, held on July 21, was sponsored by RIT’s CASTLE, or the Center for Advancing STEM Teaching, Learning and Evaluation.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students from all over the country are attending RIT/NTID’s Explore Your Future program to get hands-on exposure to possible future careers.

Sharitta Gross-Smith, assistant director of programmatic initiatives and student development for RIT’s Multicultural Center for Academic Success, was a featured speaker for the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship’s Career Development Day July 12. The event—for high school participants of the CUE’s Future Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (FBLE) 12-week summer program—included sessions on identifying a career path; networking; marketability; etiquette; and a “Dress for Success” business attire program presented by Macy’s. Information on RIT admissions and the Rochester City Scholars Program was also available to the students.

RIT faculty member Thomas Warfield performs during a press conference at the Little Theatre July 12, when more than 500 performances for the 2016 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival, Sept. 15-24 in downtown Rochester were announced. More than 100 of the performances—including all involving RIT—will be free.

RIT students Bharat Jangir, left, and Anu Sharma meet with Dana Wolcott, lead innovation coach, during the Saunders Summer Start-up Program, an intense summer program aimed at assisting entrepreneurs and innovators in developing their business concepts to a point where they are ready to begin to seek angel investment. The program, hosted by Saunders College of Business and the Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship, includes instruction relevant to startups, such as developing business concepts, customer discovery, business formation, intellectual property and investment capital. Each team receives a stipend, mentoring and coaching, and work space. The program culminates with Investor Day, set for Aug. 10, where each team will pitch its business to a group of investors.