News by Topic: Interdisciplinary Studies

Scientists began conducting research at the Tait Preserve of RIT for the first time this summer. Researchers from the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory were the first to use the site, collecting data using imaging technology flown on unmanned aerial systems, or drones.

Analytical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, resiliency, and flexibility are among the top skills needed for emerging careers by 2025. Anticipating these rapid changes in the workplace—further accelerated by lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—RIT is seizing on the opportunity to guide students to “new economy majors” that are multi­disciplinary, transformative, and future-focused.

Design work on the multipurpose Innovative Maker and Learning Complex continued after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the campus in March. The current plan is for work on the foundation to start in spring 2021, and the building to open in fall 2023.

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.

WXXI’s “Connections” program features Hannah Davis, visiting lecturer in the School of Individualized Study.

There are several unique classes being offered in the spring across RIT's colleges. While some of the classes are for specific majors or require prerequisite classes, some of the courses are being offered as general education classes.

RIT's Cary Graphic Arts Collection has received a donation of books and printing equipment from the estate of a noted historian of typography and early printing technologies. Stephen Saxe was an expert on American type foundries from the 19th century and a founding member of the American Printing History Association.

RIT’s Multidisciplinary Senior Design program began last fall with more projects for engineering student teams than expected, despite the pandemic. From collaborations with other universities and NASA to an anthropologist needing a robotic model of a dinosaur tail, all the projects represent innovative technologies built with sustainable, user-friendly designs.

Dan Gabber, digital fabrication specialist in RIT’s College of Art and Design, has developed a creative solution for users of chemical respirators who also must protect against the spread of COVID-19: valve covers.

The Quietus reviews Neoliberal Nonfictions: The Documentary Aesthetic from Joan Didion to Jay-Z, written by Daniel Worden, associate professor in the School of Individualized Study.

When Carla Stebbins redesigned the health systems management MS degree, she included a culminating travel course in Sweden for her students to observe a different approach to health care. Stebbins, program director, built the online hybrid program to educate health care leaders to navigate a quickly changing field and widen their perspective. Even though COVID-19 canceled the trip, Stebbins found a solution

RIT will celebrate graduate research during the 13th annual Graduate Education Week and Showcase: A Vision into the Future. The virtual event—Nov. 16 to 20—creates a platform for sharing and exchanging ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic, with pre-recorded and live presentations, demonstrations, visual exhibitions, and an alumni panel discussion.