Research News

Researchers from RIT and six other universities are teaming up to build synthetic neurons and a programmable network of such neurons in an effort to better understand the rules of life. The project is part of the National Science Foundation’s “Big Ideas” initiative— 10 bold, long-term research and process ideas that identify areas for future investment at the frontiers of science and engineering.

Terra Daily features research by Nima Pahlevan ’12 Ph.D. (imaging science).

Ifeoma Nwogu, an assistant professor of computer science, received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award and grant for her five-year project to study human behavior by using machine learning techniques to analyze and find patterns in the many signals that individuals display during social interactions.

Scientists are currently building the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will conduct the most ambitious all-sky survey of the universe to date, and RIT is thinking about ways to mine through the treasure trove of data it will produce.

WROC-TV talks to student Justin Gallagher and Professor Don Figer, director of the Center for Detectors, about a sensor technology that may contribute to finding other planets.

Alexandria Shumway was selected to do research abroad over the summer through the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) RISE program, or German Academic Exchange Service. Through this program, the fifth-year bioinformatics and computational biology (BS) and bioinformatics (MS) student traveled to Kiel, Germany, to complete her research at the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel.

Abby Rolston became aware of the amount of plastic waste that is thrown away each day while working as a veterinary assistant. Today her research is focused on the degradation of blended polymers provided by the Packaging Science Department at RIT.

CBC News talks to Matthew Hoffman, associate professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences, and Christy Tyler, associate professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, about microplastics.

RIT had its second best year ever in sponsored research funding and a record year for research expenditures in fiscal year 2019. RIT received 366 new awards totaling $74 million in funding, and expenditures grew to $58 million.

NASA is awarding a team of researchers from RIT and Dartmouth College a grant to develop a detector capable of sensing and counting single photons that could be crucial to future NASA astrophysics missions. The extremely sensitive detector would allow scientists to see the faintest observable objects in space, such as Earth-like planets around other stars.

Researchers have helped develop a new technique for quantifying entanglement that has major implications for developing the next generation of technology in computing, simulation, secure communication and other fields. The researchers outlined their new method for measuring entanglement in a recent Nature Communications article.

Scientists have mapped the DNA of bacteria found within a chronic disease affecting grapevines, a feat they hope will ultimately help protect the multibillion-dollar grape industry that produces juice, jelly, wine and other important products.