Research News

RIT's researchers are improving healthcare for marginalized populations, explaining mysteries of the universe, battling anemia, and making autonomous driving systems more secure. Meet four of them.

Work by Risa Robinson and members of the Respiratory Technologies Laboratory completely shifted how e-cigarette analysis is done and became an industry model. Through this new viewpoint, the team recorded harmful emissions that were not otherwise seen in a lab setting, and this data contributed to FDA policies and regulations about e-cigarette usage today.

Bing Yan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, is building a more coordinated system to manage different variables affecting grid energy generation, storage, transmission, and distribution—from extreme weather events to the addition of solar and wind power. 

RIT's Center for Detectors has been chosen by NASA for two research programs: Early Stage Innovations (ESI) and Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT), with the hope of helping future spacecraft find new discoveries in the vast universe.

For more than 30 years, Robert Rothman has led hundreds of RIT students on tours to the Galápagos Islands to observe the wildlife and landscape that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Rothman’s A Paradise for Reptiles, an homage to the 19th century scientist, is an accessibly written guide for anyone interested in Darwin, the Galápagos, and reptiles in general.

An engineering researcher at RIT has discovered the means to process data using DNA. Amlan Ganguly, computer engineering department head in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and researchers at the University of Minnesota, designed a microfluidic integrated circuit to perform complex operations through artificial neural network computations on data stored in DNA.

The ancient astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first scientist to document the theory that the sun is the center of the universe in his book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). That first edition book, along with a delicate manuscript from astronomer Johannes de Sacrobosco, that is contrary to Copernicus’ groundbreaking theory, has now found a permanent home at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Each year, RIT welcomes nearly 2,000 students from more than 100 countries to its campus. The draw of a top-notch STEM education, along with a nationally ranked co-op and internship program and an increasing global reach with numerous opportunities for programmatic exchanges, gives students the chance for real-world work experiences and career focus.

Ahmad Kirmani’s research is helping to expand and improve space exploration through understanding how the metal-halide perovskite, the next-generation printable semiconductor, reacts to harsh extraterrestrial conditions and self-heals in those conditions.

RIT is set to welcome researchers and educators from across the U.S. and North and South America during the 2024 a2ru national conference. The conference will take place Nov. 14-16, and session proposals are being accepted online with a deadline of March 15 to submit.

RIT scientists will be the lead researchers on a $1.8 million NASA grant to study electromagnetic signals from merging supermassive black holes.

Motivated RIT freshman Brayden Levangie wastes no time designing his own curriculum to advance his AI and robotic research while at college. Levangie is a first-year student in RIT’s School of Individualized Study from West Boylston, Mass.