Campaign Quarterly Update: February 2019

This is the second in a series of updates from RIT’s Senior Leadership on the $1 billion blended campaign, Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness. We are pleased to provide a snapshot of a few of our success stories to date in the area of research funding.

As a blended campaign, all research grants received by RIT count toward our $1 billion goal. We are grateful to the work of RIT’s faculty and research-supporting staff for their work in increasing RIT’s stature as a research university.

The third pillar of Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness calls for the university to improve the world through research and discovery. Over the last decade, RIT has steadily increased in stature as a research institution, and recently the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning elevated RIT to “R2” institute status. This places RIT in the top 6 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S. for a “high research activity” designation.

The number of research grants received by RIT faculty has grown significantly in the last five years: in fiscal year 2018, RIT garnered a total of $78 million in research funding, up from $47 million in FY 2013.

Here are a few examples of the impressive work supported through research grants that are Transforming RIT:

NASA Space Telescope Science Institute funds NTID astrophysicist study of dying stars

A revolutionary technique developed by NTID astrophysicist Jason Nordhaus could allow for a better understanding of the fates of solar systems when their stars cease to shine. With the help of a three-year grant from NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute, Nordhaus has developed a system of complex 3D super-computer algorithms able to pinpoint the existence of previously undiscovered planets and celestial bodies associated with dying stars.

An NTID assistant professor of physics and a program faculty member in RIT’s astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. program, Nordhaus is also is a member of RIT’s Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, whose simulations of merging black hole binaries were used by the LIGO Project to confirm the breakthrough detection of gravitational waves from binary black holes in space.

This summer, Nordhaus will work with several deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing students at NTID to study four systems for which Nordhaus has comprehensive data obtained over the past two decades. They are hoping that their 3D computer simulations will help determine which planets survive the death of their parent stars and which are ultimately destroyed.

National Science Foundation grant supports innovation and commercialization

RIT, through the Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has been a proud participant in the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program and National Innovation Network (NIN) since 2014.

The I-Corps program supports early stage commercialization of products in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program provides funding for academic teams to work with an entrepreneurial/industry coach and a curriculum that enables a robust customer discovery, business model development and minimum viable product development process.

Beginning in 2018, two I-Corps grants have been received; one in support of the innovation teams, and one that enabled RIT to launch the NSF Deaf Innovation Bowl.

NSF’s I-Corps program offers two designations.

• I-Corps University Site designation is for universities to provide “internal” I-Corps training to STEM students and faculty. Each team receives training, a coach and access to $3,000 to advance its technology concept.
• I-Corps Node designation, which can comprise one university or a group of universities, is for “external” I-Corps training for STEM faculty.

The Simone Center and RIT possess both Site and Node designation. RIT was designated as an NSF University Site in 2014 to conduct internal training, and in 2016, RIT received Node designation as part of the Upstate NY Alliance partnership formed with Cornell University and University of Rochester.

National Institutes of Health grant may offer new hope for kidney patients

The number of individuals entering end-stage kidney failure is increasing by 5 percent each year, driving high costs and higher patient challenges from the increased need for dialysis. Despite significant advances in medical technology and materials, dialysis technology and treatment has not changed much in the last two decades. New nano-membranes, just one of the initiatives in RIT’s personalized health care technology research agenda, may offer hope to these patients for improved treatment and better lives.

Tom Gaborski, RIT associate professor of biomedical engineering, is developing these flexible structures made from porous materials for more precise cell filtration and analysis to detect diseases. Gaborski’s team is taking a dual approach in that evolution, testing and improving the nanofabrication process, and at the same time, evaluating the impact of the new nano-porous membranes—more than 1,000 times thinner than a human hair—on applications such as hemodialysis. The new membranes could be part of a wearable system that goes anywhere the patient does and helps continuously maintain proper water balance.

Gaborski says the membranes have many potential applications in medicine. “With support from the NIH grant, RIT is researching fabrication of ultrathin nano- and micro-porous membranes that may not only solve the needs of researchers studying the basic biology of barriers, but also scientists and engineers investigating drug discovery and stem cell differentiation.”

New America Cybersecurity Initiative supports human-centered cybersecurity research

Josephine Wolff, assistant professor of public policy and faculty affiliate of the Department of Computing Security, serves as a bridge between the technology world and social sciences. Through her work observing and questioning cyberattacks of the past, she hopes to uncover lessons for the future.

“A lot of today’s cybersecurity incidents are actually taking advantage of technology that we already know how to fix,” said Wolff. “Oftentimes, the failure is in the decision making.”

By looking at a series of cybersecurity incidents over the course of the past decade, Wolff is tracing their economic effect, legal aftermath, and their impact on the current state of technical, social and political lines of defense. Through funding from the New America Cybersecurity Initiative, a nonpartisan think-tank, she is publishing her research as a book.

“It’s a dangerous narrative to say that all you need to do is update Wi-Fi encryption and you’re all set,” Wolff said. “I ask, who do we hold responsible for ensuring this security—the retailers, the credit card companies, the software developers or maybe the hardware manufacturers?”

Wolff has also looked at who is bearing the cost and how they try to make sure someone else ends up with the bill. Her research explores financially motivated breaches, cyber espionage incidents and revenge-motivated breaches. She is also observing how insurance has emerged around cybersecurity and how companies implement safety measures, such as two-factor authentication.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant aims to make science education more inclusive

In June 2017, College of Science faculty, staff and students launched a five-year plan to foster a more inclusive environment across the college. The Inclusive Excellence (IE) initiative will increase infrastructure, resources and expertise to strengthen inclusion in STEM education—embracing perspectives, strengths and insight from a multicultural base of faculty, staff and students in the College of Science. Included in this population are transfer students and first-generation students. Over the five-year project timeframe, the intent is to build community with multiple opportunities for discussion and formal and informal peer-collaboration. The goal is to engage 70 percent of the College of Science faculty (including new hires), and a majority of students in project activities, which will lead to campus-wide participation. The focus is on three distinct areas that support successful student experiences: research/mentoring, classroom practice/teaching and informal community.

To learn more about Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness, how you can get involved or to make your campaign gift, please visit rit.edu/transformingRIT. And watch for future updates on how philanthropic and government grant dollars are transforming RIT.