News

RIT’s Inclusive Excellence program will host a virtual discussion with acclaimed author, journalist, and activist George M. Johnson, whose work explores the intersectionality of topics including race, sex, gender, and culture, on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

RIT Professor Scott Franklin has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. The fellowship is a selective and prestigious recognition by peers for outstanding contributions to physics.

The National Science Foundation awarded RIT’s College of Science a three-year, $587,000 Building Capacity in STEM Education Research grant. The grant is part of a $1 million collaborative project that aims to extend the impact of the Professional development for Emerging Education Researchers (PEER) field school model to hundreds of emerging education researchers.

Callie Donahue ’18 (biotechnology and molecular bioscience) is helping to test thousands of compounds on human cells infected with live samples of coronavirus in search of medicine that can be effective in deterring the virus’s infection and replication cycle.

Ifeoma Nwogu, an assistant professor of computer science, received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award and grant for her five-year project to study human behavior by using machine learning techniques to analyze and find patterns in the many signals that individuals display during social interactions.

RIT had its second best year ever in sponsored research funding and a record year for research expenditures in fiscal year 2019. RIT received 366 new awards totaling $74 million in funding, and expenditures grew to $58 million.

RIT is helping more students from nontraditional pathways get hands-on experience in scientific research early in their academic careers through a unique summer program focused on mentorship.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 20: Learning assistants bring a different perspective to a student’s educational experience. At RIT, the Center for Advancing STEM Teaching, Learning & Evaluation trains undergraduates to be learning assistants, and facilitate small-group or other interactions in the classroom. Dina Newman, associate professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, and recent biology graduate Gretchen Horst talk about how the program works.

Before Elyse Rood started working on her senior physics capstone project, she didn’t envision herself working for a software company. But after the commencement ceremony on May 10, she is moving to Madison, Wis., to start a career as a technical solutions engineer at a healthcare software company called Epic Systems.

RIT is inviting scholars from across the globe for a workshop this summer to foster innovative research in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education with a focus on developing junior and emerging researchers.

Assistant Professor Ben Zwickl has earned a prestigious National Science Foundation award to explore how lab-based, project-based and work-based learning environments can teach sophisticated problem-solving skills not attainable in lecture courses.

Understanding how elephants use their trunks to pick up small objects could lead to robots designed with flexible hands or grippers, according to a new study that includes research by RIT scientist Scott Franklin.