Photo Spotlights

A New York-based consortium, led by SUNY Polytechnic, RIT and the University of Rochester, has been awarded a multimillion-dollar federal investment to create a national photonics center. The award, issued under the federal government’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), was announced today by Vice President Joe Biden and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a news conference at a SUNY Polytechnic facility at Canal Ponds in Greece.

Area girls enjoyed the excitement of the Alka-Seltzer Blast design activity at the recent Everyday Engineering Camp. The activity is a mini-rocket launch using film canisters, alka seltzer tablets, water and a fuselage that the girls make and decorate. They also will measure the angle and height of the launch as a way to understand the basics of aeronautic engineering. Hosted by RIT’s Women in Engineering program, the 7-9th graders will be onsite all week in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, working with RIT female engineering students, faculty and teachers from regional high schools. From left, Ellie Fairchild, Claire Yioulos, Maddy Marcus and Olivia Schaefer work on their rockets.

Middle-school students Kiernan Boland, left, Nick Burch, center, and Lia Donahue make a batch of chocolate chip cookies during the Bioscience Camp for Kids, “Chemistry in My Cookies?”. The camp was held from July 20 to 24 at RIT’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.

Middle-school students Jasmine Nichols, left, Tessa Brown, center, and Ariely Cortes make a batch of chocolate chip cookies during the Bioscience Camp for Kids, “Chemistry in My Cookies?”. Instructor Lisa Zeller, in the background, checks the oven. The camp was held from July 20 to 24 at RIT’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.

General Motors donated two heavy-duty industrial robots to RIT’s College of Applied Science and Technology on July 22. Steve Finch, plant manager of GM-Tonawanda, participated in the dedication event, highlighting the prospects of RIT’s students using the robots to learn more about next generation manufacturing and automation.

Eight-year-old Kendall Smith of Pittsford, N.Y., left, and 9-year-old Eve Miller of Utica, N.Y., work on programming their robot at RoboCamp @ RIT. The weeklong day camp lets students design, build and program robots. This camp is enriched with mini-projects and goals that promote teamwork and creativity. Along with the mini-projects, instructors teach the students some of the fundamental aspects of robotics and programming.

The Summer Math Applications in Science with Hands-on (SMASH) Experience for Girls held at RIT the week of July 13 broke barriers to mathematics that often keep girls from entering STEM fields. From left, eighth-graders Morgan Hardy, Sarah Winfree and Mia Vena look through polarizing films during a hands-on activity.

Ten-year-old Montana Rooksby takes off on a bike with volunteer Shaan Bhamra during the annual AutismUp iCan Bike Camp, held July 13-17 at the Gordon Field House. The camp teaches individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disabilities how to ride a conventional bike without training wheels.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students from all over the country were on campus in mid-July for RIT/NTID’s Explore Your Future career exploration camp. This program provides hand-on career awareness activities for students as they begin to think about college.

Game design and development majors Jacob Westerback (left), Kyle Zarnoch and David Amata work to create Remy and the Book of Rhymes, a video game to help children learn to read. The team is working throughout the summer to bring their game to life, as part of the new Co-Up program. The MAGIC Center and Simone Center initiative allows students to earn cooperative education experience while working on projects that lead to start-up products and commercial activities.

Will Wells, right, a senior at Pittsford Sutherland High School, develops a map for gaming during Kids on Campus. Hundreds of students in grades 5-12 are attending one or two weeks of STEM-based day camps on the RIT campus. The goal is to teach students subjects that will inspire them to think about possible careers involving that subject. With him is camp instructor Mitch Dehond, left, of Gates, N.Y., who attended Kids on Campus for seven years before attending RIT, where he’s currently an industrial design major.

From left, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost Ryne Raffaelle and Program Manager for the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship (CUE) Ebony Miller gave Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul a tour of the facility’s new space. The center is located in an historic building in downtown Rochester’s business district.