RIT Industrial Design Student Wins Prestigious Merit Award

Sam Aquillano, a fourth-year industrial design student a Rochester Institute of Technology, was selected by a jury of professional designers as the Northeast District Student Merit Award winner at the Industrial Designers Society of America district conference held April 25.

Aquillano bested students from 10 other colleges and universities in a decisive victory, winning in both the quantitative and qualitative criteria. Competing schools included Pratt Institute, Syracuse University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

As district winner, Aquillano will receive an expenses-paid trip to represent the Northeast district and RIT at the national IDSA conference at Pasedena, Calif. in October. He also receives three years of professional membership to IDSA upon graduation.

This latest victory caps a long list of other honors for Aquillano, also named an RIT Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar and winner of RIT’s IDSA Student Merit Award. He also maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Aquillano is a resident of Marietta, Ga.