News by Topic: Corporate

Alumnus Nick Conn’s vision for a one-of-a-kind smart toilet seat that will improve the health of people around the world has made giant leaps toward becoming a reality with the help of one of RIT’s most generous patrons, Austin McChord.

Move over, Silicon Valley. Rochester, N.Y., can be the next great American technology hub.

Eric Avar ’90 (industrial design), Nike’s vice president and creative guide of innovation design, has been selected as a 2021 commencement speaker on May 14 and 15. Avar, who was honored with the College of Art and Design Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, joins Andrea Ghez—a 2020 Nobel Prize winner in physics—as the university’s first-ever dual commencement speakers during a two-day celebration of the Class of 2021.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 47: RIT’s Theme Park Enthusiasts started as a casual group of roller coaster fanatics. Today, they have won national design competitions and have found co-ops and jobs in the field of theme park entertainment. Travis Faircloth, current club leader, talks to alumnus and former member Robert Cybulski, CAE Analyst at Roush Industries, and Michael Deneau, vice president of Entertainment Engineering at Roush Industries. They share insights about the growth of the club and what it takes to succeed in a very competitive and rewarding industry.

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I)—led by RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability—has developed a free, interactive toolkit that municipalities can use to design, implement, and manage food waste programs at the local level.

Researchers at RIT are using augmented and virtual reality as part of a modern training platform to help address the skilled labor shortage in manufacturing. Using artificial intelligence and augmented or virtual reality applications as a training strategy can support novice trainees and retain the knowledge of master machinists and manufacturing engineers.

RIT’s packaging science program recently received an equipment donation for its Packaging Dynamics Laboratory that will increase its academic and professional training options in safe-guarding shipped products.

When Teknic challenged a co-op student team from RIT to produce a configurable, automated machine that would use its newest motion and I/O controller called ClearCore, team members responded with a robotic bartender that automates the drink-making process.

RIT’s Creative Industry “Day” drew a wide range of talent seekers from companies such as Amazon, Forbes Media, and Microsoft last week, as the 16th annual event went virtual Feb. 22-26 this year due to the pandemic.

IBM is making a more than $3.3 million in-kind donation to RIT to help enhance cybersecurity capabilities in the university’s new Global Cybersecurity Institute, as well as support security training and competitions for students.

Shaun Foster is leveraging $160,000 from an Epic Games MegaGrant to explore and develop dynamic virtual content that is opening the eyes of RIT faculty and students—and many others—to Unreal Engine’s myriad, multi­disciplinary possibilities.

For too long, cybersecurity has been an afterthought. In a preemptive strike on cyber­security threats across the world, RIT has created the Global Cybersecurity Institute (GCI). Late last fall, the GCI opened the doors to its 52,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility on campus. With the institute, RIT is on its way to becoming one of the best places in the world for cybersecurity education, training, and research.