Student Spotlights

Elena Fuentes Solano, Guerline Guerrier, and Buyi Owo-Odusi

Three Honors students attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS), which focuses on undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, graduate students and postdoctoral scientists in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), accompanied by CHST Professor Bolaji Thomas. All travel arrangements were funded through their respective programs and some students had an opportunity to present their research conducted at RIT. Honors students in attendance include McNair Scholars Elena Fuentes Solano (third-year) and Buyi Owo-Odusi (fourth-year), and CSTEP student Guerline Guerrier (fourth-year), all majoring in biomedical sciences. Be sure to congratulate them on their achievement! 

Fram Chair Award for Excellence in Applied Critical Thinking

The Fram Chair Award comes from Gene Fram's philosophy of encouraging students to engage with interdisciplinary and deeper thinking. Honors Student Sam Hebbar, KGCOE, was part of the winning Large Group team for their presentation: BEEBO - Robotic Arm for Education. The BEEBO provides an example of control systems that Biomedical Engineering students can watch, manage, and edit to better understand how Control Systems can be set up and applied in a Biomedical setting. A robotic arm is one of many examples of rehabilitative assistive devices.

Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars

The Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award celebrates the top 1% of undergraduate students who achieve academic excellence while also giving back to the community through civic or volunteer work, by conducting research, or being engaged in a co-op or work in their field of study. 

Learn more at the Office of the Provost's Website! Please see the list below for this year's Honors Students Scholars. 

The 2023-2024 Cohort includes:

• CAD: Allison Young, Annalise Wall, Chris Baron
• CET: Albert Petry, Isaac Vasquez, Jessica Cye, Sophie Bravo
• CHST: Ellie Warren, Mitch Burrall
• COLA: Caitlin McCabe, Elliot Bernacki
• GCCIS: Anh Nguyen, Anthony Loppolo, Kyle Mullen, Will Hoover, Will Trimble
• KGCOE: Ali Stambayev, Andrew Bernacki, Brendan Cappon, Jessica Gomez, Meleni Sarantos, Olivia McQuain, Rachel Hamilton, Ross Janezic, Sean Borkholder
• COS: Gabriella Gonzalez, Martina Videva, Myrra Small
• NTID: Cecilia Prefontaine
• SCB: Eddie Ditomasso, Kimberley Kaleta, Lydia Keffer, Najma Muhammad, Samantha Phillips, Tara Rakocevic
• SOIS: Jonathan Hacker, Lee Smith

2023 Community Impact Award 

The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement coordinates the application and/or selection process for the Community Impact Awards, awarding scholarships to students for serving and leading in their communities.

2023 Honors Award Recipients:

• Alfred L. and Ruby C. Davis Scholarship: Buyi Owo-Odusi
• Frederick Douglas Scholarship: Victoria Newson
• Walls Olson Memorial Scholarship: Elissa Sainthil

2023 Excellence in Student Life Award 

Since 1964, Excellence in Student Life Awards have celebrated undergraduate students who represent the guiding principles of engagement, scholarship and leadership and demonstrate a healthy balance of academic success and student engagement. Students selected for this honor have a high GPA and hold significant leadership positions within RIT-related activities. 

2023 Honors Award Recipients:

• CAD: Rachel Kogut, Serina Lin, Michael Perez-Gelinas 
• CET: Griffin Warntz
• COLA: Shane Lockhoof
• KGCOE: Ann Byerley
• COS: Gabby Orfanides, David Prichett 
• SCB: Michael Penna 

2023 Annual Student Writing Awards

Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Liberal Arts honored student achievements in writing which recognize exceptional student writers in our RIT community each year. 

2023 Honors Award Recipients:

Henry and Mary Kearse Writing Award

• Jenna Warren (COLA - Communication)
• Emma Eagan (COLA - International and Global Studies with Sociology and Anthropology)

Stan McKenzie Endowed Writing  Award 

• Abigail Block (NTID - ASL English Interpretation)
• Raina Freeman (GCCIS - Computing Science)

Fulbright Awardees

Established in 1946, the Fulbright prize is one of the most prestigious in academic circles and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, promoting cultural exchanges with more than 140 countries. Approximately 1,900 US students earn this award each year from around the country.

Past Honors Awardees:

• Matthias Hausman (Mechanical Engineering and International Global Studies)
• Victoria Scholl (Imaging Science)
• Kaylin Beiter (Biomedical Sciences)
• Rose Rustowicz (Imaging Science)

Goldwater Scholars

The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious national award for undergraduate students in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The award is based on academic merit and research experience, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their highest degree. 

Aidan Miller (Biochemistry) is a 2024 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Miller, who is from Rochester, N.Y., is one of 438 recipients out of 1,353 nominees and has engaged in research in the laboratories of Lea Michel, professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, and George Thurston, professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Most recently, Miller has studied the biochemical and biophysical analyses of cataract-causing mutations in certain proteins through NMR spectroscopy and light-scattering, presenting his research at the national meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2024. 

Emily Mahoney (Chemistry BS) is a 2021 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Mahoney, who is from Cazenovia, N.Y., conducted research in the laboratory of Hans Schmitthenner, research faculty in RIT’s School of Chemistry and Materials Science, since her freshman year. The research focuses on synthesizing targeted molecular imaging agents for the detection of various cancers, including a dual-dye system for use in enhanced photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer.

 Quinn Kolt (double major in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science) is a 2021 recipient for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Kolt, who is from Solon, Ohio, has worked on a variety of mathematical research, including projects on an upper bound for a cyclic sum of probabilities with mentor Professor James Marengo, methods for stochastic inverse problems with mentor Professor Akhtar Khan, direct methods for the time-harmonic viscoelastic scalar wave inverse problem with mentor Assistant Professor Olalekan Babaniyi, and Legendre transformations with mentor Professor Emeritus David Farnsworth.

Honors Student Government Members

CHST Senator: Sammy Deol

Cross-Registered Senator: Emma Kane

ACA President: Guerline Guerrier

Gavin Palmer

Honors Student and Electrical Engineering major Gavin Palmer was a co-winner of the 2024 Ovation Performing Arts Showcase! Paired with Brandon Faunce, the two performed a cello rendition of "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson. 

Anh Nguyen

Computer Science Student Anh Nguyen was selected for the 2024 DAAD RISE Germany Scholarship, which landed him a research position at the Dusseldorf University of Applied Sciences this past summer. He spent 10 weeks researching data analysis and explainable AI, particularly dimensionality reduction. 

Siobhan Gannon and Eryk White

Honors students Siobhan Gannon and Eryk White (Film and Animation) won special recognition for their short film, Limelight, at the Ithaca Short Film Festival (Best Animation) and at the Virginia Emerging Filmmakers Festival (Official Selection) with many festivals still to be decided. This work, created as a senior animation capstone, depicts a retired game show host struggling to let go of his glory days gone by. In an allegorical journey through the game show’s sound stage, Siobhan and Eryk address the challenge of what to do when the limelight fades away.

Albert Hynes and Ashley Alt

Honors students Albert Hynes and Ashley Alt were part of a team of eight RIT CyberScholars from the NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program placed first and 11th at the University of Arkansas's RazorHack cybersecurity competition on the weekend of Oct. 27. The competition tested their skills in penetration testing, cryptography, steganography, buffer overflow attacks, web attacks, and physical security. The CyberScholars also presented on topics such as covert communications and AI ethics, earning high praise for engagement from the University of Arkansas’s CyberHogs club. Albert was a member of the first-place team, and Ashley was a member of the eleventh-place team. 

Asa Horn and Massimo Marino

Asa Horn and Massimo Marino were part of a team of cybersecurity students that placed third in the Hivestorm collegiate cyber defense competition on Oct. 16. Teams compete by securing provided virtual machines, accumulating points for removing malware and other infections, correcting misconfigurations, mitigating vulnerabilities, and disabling vulnerable services.

 Patrick Dwyer

Honors student Patrick Dwyer competed in the 2024 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Competition. This competition is a thirty minute head-to-head debate style tournament. Teams of two will assume one of two sides in a predetermined case that balances ethics, engineering, and business. In 2024, the case was concerning a NASA near earth orbit asteroid detection system that was having technical issues prior to launch. Patrick partnered with fellow student Adrian Ricketts and faculty advisor Dr. Mario Gomes. They finished as semifinalists among over 70 competing schools.

Ariel Cthwe and Leah Torregiano

Honors students Ariel Cthwe and Leah Torregiano were part of a team of Game Design and Development students that won the Nexus Award in the November WolfJam. Their team, Hook Car Man Fan Club, was recognized for the best project that features a strong connection or theme related to influencers. Their game, Scare Parts, was inspired by a 4chan Tumblr repost story where the original author wrote a horror short story. Gameplay involves two roles–Driver and Support–and both must trust each other to escape through the woods from the cursed Hook Hand Car Man.