Environmental Studies and Sustainability News

RIT was recently awarded $2 million as part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” program to focus on creating jobs in the high-demand areas of infrastructure and transportation.

Brian Landi and Katie McConky have been named department heads of the chemical engineering and industrial and systems engineering programs in the college. Both bring extensive teaching, research, and company experience to the academic leadership positions in the engineering college.

On Sept. 29, fourth-year packaging science major Kassidy Burrows, along with fellow packaging science majors Baylee West and Daniel Pinigin, will travel to Binghamton University to present their research at the “Keep it Fresh!” Student Packaging Research Symposium.

Natali Valdez, assistant professor at Purdue University and Presidential Fellow at Yale University, will visit RIT to share her research on social and political factors surrounding maternal medical policy as the featured speaker for the 2023 Eugene H. Fram Signature Lecture in Critical Thinking.

Nearly one in six of the more than 3,300 first-year and transfer undergraduates this year received a Performing Arts Scholarship from RIT. That brings the total number of scholars to more than 1,800 in the five years since the program began. The program encourages high school students involved in performing arts to continue their passions at RIT.

The new undergraduate students come from 48 states (all but Iowa and Wyoming); Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Guam; U.S. Virgin Islands; and 47 countries, with the largest contingent coming from India, Canada, and China. In addition, there are 927 new graduate students.

Jennifer Schneider, a faculty-researcher at RIT and expert in hazardous materials and community resilience, recently joined two national organizations to investigate and guide improved standards for use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and technologies. 

Next-generation manufacturing tools provide engineering students hands-on experience with the equipment used in real-life production processes.

Assistant Professor Yewande Abraham is part of a team developing a virtual reality-based learning environment to improve middle school students’ interest in STEM fields, specifically the evolving construction industry.

Rochester Prep High School's graduating class includes 91 students who will either continue their education or join the workforce. Eighty-five students from RIT's partner charter school will attend college in the fall, and eight of them will enroll at RIT. 

Many of the RIT students who received the first Performing Arts Scholarships four years ago are preparing to take the stage one last time as they graduate this week.

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