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Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 39: Nicole Scott, director of RIT’s Native American Future Stewards Program, and Abigail Reigner, a second-year mechanical engineering student who is the regional student representative for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, discuss life as Native Americans in higher education, learning about Native cultures, and some of the unique ways RIT partners with tribal nations and organizations.

A one-credit workshop allowed RIT students to examine ways of sharing more accurate depictions of a complex topic. The class culminates in an exhibition that opens Nov. 5. 

David Borkholder, Linwei Wang, Caroline Easton, and Adam Smith, part of RIT's Personalized Healthcare Technology signature research initiative, recently won a Catalyst Award from the National Academy of Medicine for their project, “Improving Health for the Aging through Daily Vital Signs Monitoring.”

RIT classes for spring semester will begin Jan. 25. The semester will also include three “recharge” days and one reading day prior to final exams. The last day of classes for spring semester will be Wednesday, May 5, with final exams running May 7-13. Commencement is scheduled for May 14-15.

While the pandemic touched RIT locally, Ruben Proano, associate professor of industrial engineering, saw it from a global perspective, as part of a year-long sabbatical at UNICEF in Copenhagen, Denmark. His work extended ongoing research on making the vaccine market more affordable and profitable.

Virtual reunions, interactive programs, talks, a 5K, e-Sports, and even Tiger Trivia are just some of the dozens of events slated for Tiger Alumni Week, beginning Monday for RIT alumni, students, families, faculty, and staff.

Toilet seats with high-tech sensors might be the non-invasive technology of the future that could help reduce hospital return rates of individuals with heart disease. A joint project by researchers at RIT and the University of Rochester Medical Center will determine if in-home monitoring can successfully record vital signs and reduce risk and costly re-hospitalization rates for people with heart failure. The five-year, $2.9 million venture is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

RIT’s Future Photon Initiative (FPI) and L3Harris have entered into a new industry partnership to develop quantum technologies. The partners will begin developing next steps for experiments and analysis focused on quantum information processing for communication, sensing, and computing.

Linwei Wang has been named the new director of the Personalized Healthcare Technology signature research initiative at RIT, and Adam Smith has been named Creative Director, a new position with the group.

Over the past several days, RIT has been tracking some connected cases of COVID-19 stemming from a student who traveled out of the Finger Lakes region. This has resulted in a slight uptick in positive cases on campus, and the campus alert level has moved to Yellow.

WHAM-TV reports on the Fully-Integrated Toilet Seat (FIT Seat) research led by Dave Borkholder, a professor in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, in collaboration with the University of Rochester Medical Center funded by a new 2.9M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

Professor Rajendra Raj and Associate Professor Xumin Liu have received a National Science Foundation award to develop a hands-on data science course for non-computing majors. The course will first be offered at RIT and then across the country, in an effort to promote computing for all.