College of Science News
Mathematical Modeling Ph.D.

Mathematician Edward Lorenz used the butterfly effect to explain chaos theory in the 1960s. Now, decades later, a team from RIT has developed a method to predict chaos using less data, fewer parameters, and a more user-friendly format.

RIT alumnus Adam Giammarese’s work in chaos theory has earned him the Edward N. Lorenz Early Career Award, an annual recognition by the publication Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science.

Nastaran Nagshineh, a Ph.D. candidate at RIT, successfully bridged the Rochester and Dubai campuses, paving the way for future international students. Nagshineh is one of 67 Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate.

The Amazon rainforest is a unique region where climatologists have studied the effects of warming and deforestation for decades. With the global climate crisis becoming more evident, a new study is linking the Amazon to climate change around the rest of the world.

Four RIT faculty members are opening up soft matter physics, sometimes known as “squishy physics,” to a new generation of diverse scholars. Moumita Das, Poornima Padmanabhan, Shima Parsa, and Lishibanya Mohapatra are helping RIT make its mark in the field.

RIT will confer a record 69 Ph.D. degrees during commencement May 12, marking a 53 percent increase from last year.

Professor Ernest Fokoue from RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences is teaming up with the Rochester Police Department (RPD) to use statistical machine learning to analyze body-worn camera footage and help improve police training.

From fireworks to woodburning to modeling fire behavior, Jenna Sjunneson McDanold’s love of fire has fueled her growth as an artist and a mathematician. As part of her studies as mathematical modeling Ph.D. student, Sjunneson McDanold has been working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

RIT is growing its Ph.D. offerings, adding one new program in the fall of 2023 and two in 2024. This fall, Saunders College of Business will offer a Ph.D. in business administration. In 2024, the College of Liberal Arts will introduce a new doctoral degree in cognitive science and the College of Science will launch a Ph.D. in physics.

Assistant Professor Olalekan Babaniyi is developing new mathematical techniques that could lead to improvements in applications ranging from medical imaging to predicting how fast ice flows into the ocean.

Dean Sophia Maggelakis will be leaving RIT to become the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Maggelakis joined RIT as an assistant professor in 1990, became head of the School of Mathematical Sciences in 2001, and became dean of the College of Science in 2010.

Scientists from RIT and Cornell University have teamed up to explore cartilage tissue’s unique properties with the hopes of improving osteoarthritis diagnosis and treatment. The team published a new paper in Science Advances outlining their findings.