News
Department of Mechanical Engineering

RIT has appointed two new members to its board of trustees: Britta MacIntosh ’89 (mechanical engineering) and Richard “Chip” Davis.

Joseph Vazquez is a third-year mechanical engineering student from Rochester and is a part of the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) at RIT. Last summer, Vazquez conducted research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Faculty researchers received a new grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a system that improves passage of tacit knowledge from skilled machinists to those coming into the field.

Joseph Vazquez '24 spent his summer making life-long connections and conducting research in optics and photonics at the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP).

Adam Foster, a Ph.D. student in mechanical and industrial engineering from Villennes-sur-Seine, France, is a team member on PrisAM, a student-owned business.

Ph.D. student Jade Myers, who uses 3D print technology to develop upper and lower limb prostheses for amputees, was a top three winner of the nTopology-EOS 2022 Responsible Part Challenge, an international design competition.

RIT students participated in this summer’s Studio930 design consultancy, an interdisciplinary studio that focuses on the development of assistive healthcare solutions by leveraging the use of technology, art, and design. The 10-week long summer experience concluded with a student exhibition inside RIT’s LiveAbility Lab, a close partnership between RIT and the Al Sigl Community of Agencies. 

More than 1,000 openings in the Finger Lakes region for skilled machinists are projected in the coming years. Local academic researchers and industry partners are developing new training options to fill the expected gaps—integrating gaming and virtual reality to appeal to a younger generation of manufacturing professionals.

NASA announced new funding for a project led by RIT alumni, faculty, and students that could power spacecraft to orbit the sun’s poles for the first time. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program will provide funding to the Diffractive Solar Sailing project led by Amber Dubill ’20, ’20 MS of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Risa Robinson was appointed to the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. Robinson, department head of mechanical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, brings extensive research in the area of fluid dynamics, particle inhalation and toxicological effects of various tobacco products and nicotine delivery devices.

Twelve alumni from RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering were honored with alumni awards during a reception at the Joseph M. Lobozzo Alumni House last month.

More than 1,500 students from 100 national and international collegiate race teams competed June 2-5 at RIT’s Gordon Field House and the Hogback Hill Motocross site in Palmyra, N.Y. Several teams aced the course, but at the end of the weekend, RIOT Racing, RIT’s Baja race team, conquered the field.