Product-Development Presentations and Commencement this week at RIT

Office walls of six area firms will soon to be adorned with diplomas belonging to elite technical specialists in product development.

Master’s degrees will be conferred on 24 graduates of Rochester Institute of Technology’s product development graduate program at a commencement ceremony, 10 a.m., this Saturday, Nov. 17, in the Louise M. Slaughter Building. Jim Stoffel, vice president and chief technical officer for Eastman Kodak Co., will be the guest speaker. A reception at 11 a.m. will follow the ceremony.

This year’s graduates are sponsored by Xerox Corp., Kodak, Bausch & Lomb Inc., Goulds Pumps, Veeco-CVC and Cliftronics Inc. Students will present their Capstone projects this Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, Nov 14 and 15. Some of the topics include:

An Analysis of Strategy and Capabilities of Corporations in Upstate New York

Practical Guide to Assessing Organizational Readiness for Capitalizing on Virtual Teams

Selecting Winning Product Ideas in Mature Manufacturing Companies

Technology Clusters—Improving Technology Transfer

Launched in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999, RIT’s product development master’s program, one of only four in the United States, seeks to help companies prepare technical specialists for leadership roles in product development. Studies emphasize cross-functional, end-to-end product development and integrated systems perspectives to conceive, create, launch and support complex products. A collaboration of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering and College of Business, the program’s curriculum integrates business and technical elements and links formal education with ongoing research and industrial practice.