Research Awards and Recognition

RIT has been recognized as a doctoral university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education since 2016 because of its growing research activity.

Major Grants

September 17, 2024

Golisano awards RIT $10 million

B. Thomas Golisano announced Tuesday that he plans to award Rochester Institute of Technology $10 million. The gift is part of $360 million that the Paychex founder is distributing to nonprofit organizations across upstate New York.
August 8, 2024

NSF awards RIT nearly $3 million to advance semiconductor technologies

The award is part of the NSF’s Research Traineeship Program (NRT), a national initiative to better prepare master’s and doctoral students for the interdisciplinary talents required in semiconductor chip development. The grant will provide 20 doctoral student fellowships to advance research in the much-needed field of semiconductor technologies.
March 19, 2024

Amy Engelbrecht-Wiggans recognized with 2024 National Science Foundation CAREER Award

By exploring the point at which fiber composite materials begin to deteriorate and how the environment affects material, Amy Engelbrecht-Wiggans, an RIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering, believes there is a way to ensure longer-term reliability. To answer these questions, Engelbrecht-Wiggans received a National Science Foundation Faculty Career Development Award (CAREER).

NSF CAREER Awards

2025

Shima Parsa

For "Jamming and Phase Transition of a Suspension of Soft Particles in Porous Media"

2024

Amy Engelbrecht-Wiggans

For “Understanding Fiber Bundle Failure Mechanics for Ultra-high Reliability Applications”

2024

Bing Yan

For “Computation-efficient Resolution for Low-Carbon Grids with Renewables and Energy Storage”

2023

Hanif Rahbari

For “Toward Reliable and Quantum-resistant Connected Vehicle Security”

2022

Daniel Krutz

For “Investigating the Use of Empathy-Building Interventions in Experiential Computing Education”

2022

Poornima Padmanabhan

For “Chirality and polymer thermodynamics: frustration and amplification”

2021

Pratik Dholabhai

For “Interface-mediated Ionic Transport in Mismatched Complex Oxide Heterostructures: Role of Misfit Dislocations”

2021

Rui Li

For “Co-evolution of Machine Intelligence and Continuous Information”

2020

Mehdi Mirakhorli

For “Synthesizing Architectural Tactics”

2020

Michael Murdoch

For “Computational Model of Perceived Color and Appearance in Augmented Reality”

2019

Ben Zwickl

For “Learning to Solve Problems in context-rich environments: A Naturalistic study in STEM Workplaces, research labs, project-based and lab courses”

2018

Jing Zhang

For “Development of High-Efficiency Ultraviolet Optoelectronics”

2016

Amlan Ganguly

For “Energy-Efficient Datacenters with Wireless Interconnection Networks”

2015

Casey Miller

For “Magnetocaloric Effect in Metallic Nanostructures”

2015

Mishkat Bhattacharya

For “Theory of Optomechanical Nanorotation Sensing – Approaching the Quantum Regime”

2014

Linwei Wang

For “Integrating Physical Models into Data-Driven Inference”

2013

Callie Babbitt

For “Environmental impacts of reusing, recycling and disposing of lithium-ion batteries after they have been used in electric vehicles”

2010

Seth Hubbard

For “Strain Balanced Quantum Dots for high Concentration Photovoltaics”

2010

Reynold Bailey

For “Graphics: Gaze Manipulation”

PI Millionaires

Since 2000, RIT has recognized 206 principal investigators and researchers who have achieved $1 million or more in funding by inducting them into a class of “PI Millionaires.”

Current faculty in this group include:

RIT awards researchers seed funding of $5,000 for proposals written during the fall semester and later refined over the course of a two-day Grant Writers’ Boot Camp.

Yewande Abraham

For “Creating Informed and Engaged End Users in High-Performance Campus Buildings for Improved Energy Efficiency and Enhanced Comfort”

Nasibeh Azadeh Fard

For “Monitoring and Improving Length of Stay and Readmission Rates Using Learn Management Techniques”

Makini Beck

For “Advancing Culturally Relevant STEM Learning Experiences for Underrepresented Students”

Kyle Dunno

For “Development of Bioplastic Packaging Solution for the Transport of Apples”

Rui Li

For “A Principled Model Selection Method for Deep Learning in Protein Function Analysis”

Yangming Lee

For “Robotic Collaborative Perception and object Manipulation for Effective and Affordable Elder Care”

Nishant Malik

For “Integrating dynamical systems and machine learning to study paleoclimate data”

Michael Mior

For “Benchmarking Integration of Relational and Non-Relational Data Systems”

Alexander Ororbia

For “Neurocognitively-Motivated Conversational Assistants Based on Distribution Representations”

NIH Boot Camp Seed Funding

RIT also offers an advanced boot camp focused on the National Institutes of Health. Participants in the NIH Boot Camp submitted proposals for seed funding to help develop competitive proposals or revise proposals to specific NIH programs in the coming year. 2019 awardees will receive up to $10,000 and include:

Jason Kolodziej

Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Elizabeth Ruder

College of Health Sciences and Technology

Michael Schertzer

Kate Gleason College of Engineering