Environmental Studies and Sustainability News

Professors Clyde Hull and Eric Williams measure plastic waste in Trinidad and Tobago in an attempt to manage the problem of plastic pollution. 

By researching sustainable systems today, RIT student Ibrahim Cisse hopes to make an impact in the world tomorrow.

Funding from the long-time corporate partner will support two innovative packaging centers at RIT: the American Packaging Corp. Center for Packaging Innovation, a comprehensive teaching, research and testing laboratory; and the Center for Sustainable Packaging. Both centers are located in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology.

Four multidisciplinary student teams got the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to potential investors at the RIT Student Accelerator Investor Demo Night earlier this month, each one hoping to jumpstart its ventures and transform its commercial concepts into real companies.

Ridding waterways of microplastics, delivering water to remote villages experiencing drought, and better ways to remove salt from water were just a few of the clean-water research projects recently presented by undergraduate students as part of RIT’s Grand Challenge Scholars program.

Undergraduate students from RIT ROC-ed the Project during a local project management competition to increase awareness and volunteer services for Rochester’s M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. Their solution, “The Common Source,” took top honors recently in the annual ROC the Project competition, a regional challenge for college students.

The RIT Graduate Showcase symposium highlighted the university’s signature blend of technology, the arts and design, with research topics varying from carbon nanotubes to neutron stars to wooden toys and film.

RIT will use a substantial gift of real estate in Penfield to expand the university’s research and educational offerings in ecology, agriculture, sustainability and other fields. Amy Leenhouts Tait and Robert C. Tait have gifted to the university their 177-acre property, which will be dedicated as the Tait Preserve of RIT.

Construction Dive talks to Amanda Bao, associate professor in civil engineering technology, about typical bridge design procedures.

A graduate culture is taking root at RIT with more Ph.D. students on the main campus than ever before, and the Office of Graduate Education is building on the momentum.

Tim Webber ’97 (civil engineering technology) helped design one of the largest YMCA facilities in the country: the Schottland Family YMCA, in Pittsford, N.Y. Webber is vice president and director of civil engineering at LaBella Associates, an international architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm in Rochester.

For the last several decades, volunteer groups have played a pivotal role in keeping RIT’s curriculum relevant and current with the latest industry trends. The groups of 10 to 30 leaders from a wide variety of companies come together a few times a year to offer their insights for RIT faculty and staff in nearly every college.