News
Edward Hensel

  • February 9, 2024

    researcher watches as college student adjusts a vape pen on lab equipment.

    Team’s research method becomes industry model

    Work by Risa Robinson and members of the Respiratory Technologies Laboratory completely shifted how e-cigarette analysis is done and became an industry model. Through this new viewpoint, the team recorded harmful emissions that were not otherwise seen in a lab setting, and this data contributed to FDA policies and regulations about e-cigarette usage today.

  • March 29, 2022

    people working on a jet in a hangar.

    6 Hot Jobs for Engineering Graduate Degrees 

    U.S. News and World Report talks to Doreen Edwards, dean of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and Ed Hensel, associate dean for research and graduate studies, about the benefits of graduate degrees in engineering.

  • August 15, 2019

    logo for RIT intersections: the RIT podcast.

    Podcast: Electronic Cigarette Research 

    Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 21: Are electronic cigarettes really a healthier alternative to tobacco products? Risa Robinson, head of RIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, talks with Edward Hensel, associate dean, about their unique research methods into how these devices are used and how they affect users’ health.

  • May 6, 2019

    Female student poses in lab.

    Graduate takes unique path to become a well-rounded engineer

    Emma Sarles ’17 (industrial design) has taken the road less traveled to become an engineer. Without ever earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Sarles has spent the last two years working toward a customized professional studies master’s degree that specializes in medical device engineering and applied biomaterials.

  • March 6, 2019

    Researcher holds device that measure cigarette smoke

    User behavior is key in RIT’s e-cigarette research that is meant to inform FDA regulations

    Risa Robinson has taken a different approach to assessing e-cigarette usage, and it’s turned up some attention-getting results. Robinson studies users in their own environments, puffing on their own e-cigarettes, rather than on test machines in lab settings. And what she’s found is that they are puffing as much, if not more, than traditional cigarette users, resulting in potentially higher exposure to harmful substances.