News
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

RIT has modernized its approach to recruiting faculty members to improve representation. Assistant Professor Eli Borrego, pictured above, is an expert in the genetics and biochemistry of plant-microbe and plant-insect communication and ecology, and he was introduced to RIT through the Future Faculty Career Exploration Program.

To build understanding of faculty compensation systems and improve conversations around salary, several RIT faculty members are sharing their experiences with a National Science Foundation-funded multidisciplinary research team. The team’s goal is to significantly expand knowledge of best practices for faculty compensation to a broader community in higher education and provide insights to guide compensation practices.  

John McNicholl, a 2021 RIT graduate from Commack, N.Y, has launched a new game—Deceiver—that is now available on Amazon and at Shop One on campus and was recently incorporated into RIT’s New Student Orientation program as an icebreaker.

As part of new faculty orientation, RIT’s College of Engineering Technology and Kate Gleason College of Engineering hosted a pilot workshop to introduce KEEN: Engineering Unleashed and its entrepreneurial mindset—a national initiative to advance engineering education.

RIT faculty-researchers will develop a game-design training system that could help astronauts maintain balance, motor skills, and other cognitive functions while in space. NASA, in partnership with the National Space Grant Foundation, has selected six university teams, including RIT, to develop innovative design ideas that will help NASA advance and execute its Moon to Mars exploration objectives.

Laura Discavage originally wanted to go to an out-of-state college, but RIT’s engineering program intrigued her. She learned about RIT while growing up from her mom, Maria Burgio ’87 (computer science). And after a conversation with a family friend about his work as an industrial engineer, she applied to RIT, and found the community she was seeking.

The virtual Futurists Symposium featured a collection of RIT alumni tapped to present an insider’s look into the future of industry as it relates to technology, art, and design. The symposium was held via Zoom during the May 1 Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

Multidisciplinary Senior Design is a required, two semester, design-based course for engineering students. Currently, more than 400 students are working on 80-plus projects.

For two years, RIT student Matt Ryan has worked with RIT’s FoodShare program, which is dedicated to serving and supporting the RIT community by providing free food to students in need.

The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers has named Nabil Nasr, associate provost and founding director of RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, and Iris Rivero, head of RIT’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, as Fellows, an honor that recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering.

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 graduate programs are among the best in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report annual statistical survey of graduate programs.