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Carmody McCalley

RIT will launch a new master's degree in biological sciences in fall 2027.

Hannah DeFelice’s research at RIT focused on how to improve animal welfare. The same research now takes her to Cornell University this fall to pursue her doctoral degree in biogeochemistry, the study of how living things interact with the physical and chemical environment.

Nature talks to Carmody McCalley, assistant professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, about climate models not accurately accounting for microbial activity in Arctic permafrost and Arctic lakes.

RIT is one of 14 universities from around the globe that have collectively been awarded $12.5 million from the National Science Foundation to launch a new Biology Integration Institute. It will focus on better understanding ecosystem and climate interactions—like the thawing of the Arctic permafrost—and how they can alter everything from the landscape to greenhouse gases.