Graduate students earn kudos at conference

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A. Sue Weisler

Margaret Bailey, professor of mechanical engineering in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, delivered the keynote address for RIT’s 5th annual Graduate Research and Creativity Symposium held July 23. Cash prizes were awarded to the top presenters.

Graduate students at Rochester Institute of Technology are known on campus for their research and innovation on topics spanning disciplines from math and science to engineering to the liberal arts. On July 23, a new group of graduate students were honored for excellence at RIT’s 5^th annual Graduate Student Research and Creativity Symposium.

Taking top honors—and a $500 cash prize—in the oral presentation category was Steven Barber, a graduate student in RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability from Honeoye Falls, N.Y., who presented “Enabling Students to Advance Sustainability by Developing Corporate Sustainability Plans and Metrics.”

The runner-up in the oral presentation category—and winner of $250—was Zack Fitzsimmons, a graduate student from the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who presented “Control in the Presence of Manipulators: Cooperative and Competitive Cases.”

The winner of the poster presentation session was Pedro Cruz Diloné, a graduate student in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, whose poster, “Initiatives to improve sanitation in the developing world: Identifying the factors preventing adoption of sanitation and their relevance to the redesign of a simple pit latrine,” helped him win a $500 prize.

The runner-up in the poster category was Michael Langenbacher, a graduate student in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts originally from Ithaca, N.Y., who presented, “Repeat Victimization in Rochester, N.Y,” and was awarded $250.

The final award of the symposium was given to the winner of the art exhibit, a first-time feature of the event. Aya Oki, a Master of Fine Arts graduate student in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences from Kitakatsuragigun, Japan, earned $500 for the glass creation, Plump Cheeks.

To see a video about the Graduate Student Research and Creativity Symposium, go to RIT’s University News YouTube channel. For more information about graduate studies at RIT, go to the RIT Graduate School website.