Rochester Institute of Technology Science and Mathematics News

Biomedical sciences at RIT is more than a major—it’s a pathway to medical school and future careers. Recognizing the need for connection beyond the classroom, students founded the Biomedical Sciences Student Association to create a strong peer network and collaborative environment.

RIT’s new Research Building officially opened its doors Dec. 2, and inside, faculty and students are gearing up to usher in a new era of discovery on campus.

Through Into the ROC, a program that introduced nearly 8,500 RIT community members to the region since 2016, students have explored, volunteered, and built lasting community ties.

BiRed Imaging, co-founded by Professor Satish Kandlikar, blends infrared camera capture, numerical simulation, and artificial intelligence-driven algorithms to accurately detect the presence, size, and location of tumors. The revolutionary process spares patients painful breast compression, radiation exposure, false alarms, and unnecessary anxiety.

The goal of libraries, museums, and archives around the world is to safeguard historical documents, but some objects can deteriorate with time. RIT’s Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) lab is using funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a relatively low-cost system that makes cultural heritage imaging methods more accessible.

RIT researchers are zeroing in on quantum photonics, the creation, control, and detection of light. Photonics has long been a specialty of the university. RIT led the team that developed the first quantum photonic wafer, which is key to the future of mass-produced quantum communication systems.

Nearly 2,500 students who engage in spiritual programs and services on campus now have a unified voice in the Interfaith Council, the university’s newest organization.

Backed by an award from the National Institutes of Health, Assistant Professor Stefan Schulze is using his expertise in the structure and function of proteins to work with a bacterial pathogen commonly associated with antibiotic resistance.

Lions, tigers, and bears—that’s the everyday reality for Seneca Park Zookeeper Brenna De Angelis ’16 (biology), a Rochester native who now works with the animals she grew up visiting.

Researchers will soon use eye-tracking to show how deafness impacts vocabulary knowledge and reading as well as how deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who have historically shown lower than average reading outcomes, develop into highly skilled readers.

The Climate and Sustainability Leadership Program brings together students across all majors to learn through campus discussions and hands-on experiences with Rochester-area partners. The goal is to create leaders in sustainability.

Forward-thinking faculty; curriculum that fuses technology, the arts, and design; and a legacy of priming students with a maker mentality helped RIT’s School of Film and Animation maintain its place on TheWrap’s list of Top 50 Film Schools of 2025.