Photo Spotlights

Brian Durkin, a photojournalism student at RIT, photographed the Polar Plunge at Ontario Beach Park on Feb. 9. More than 2,000 people participated in the event and raised about $250,000 for Special Olympics New York.

More than 600 volunteers, including about 100 RIT students and 150 alumni, provided the primary light source for the 29th Big Shot image while RIT photographers shot an extended exposure of one of Rochester’s natural and iconic spectacles at High Falls.

John Resig ’05 (computer science) spoke with students on Feb. 7 about how his recent work with Khan Academy is changing how people learn how to program. Resig, the creator of jQuery, a JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML, now works at Khan Academy, an educational website. His talk titled, “Hacking CS Education at Khan Academy,” looked at the structure of the platform and the implementation of the real-time JavaScript editor system.

Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of social news and entertainment website Reddit, stopped by RIT Feb. 7 to give a talk about harnessing the power of the web for good. The entrepreneur and activist spoke about his new book and talked with special guest RIT alumnus John Resig ’05 (computer science).

Students lined up for FreezeFest giveaways, shirts and pens, on Feb. 5. Here, Daniel Nwosu, a mechanical engineering technology student, just missed getting a shirt before they ran out. Becca Delaney, assistant director of marketing and event services, said there will be more giveaways before the FreezeFest weekend. The upcoming event includes entertainment, a 5K run, sledding, ice sculpture and more. RIT’s 5th Annual FreezeFest is Feb. 21-23.

Kim Kolb, a Ph.D student in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, and Brandon Hanold, an engineer in the Center for Detectors, prepare to test one of the detectors grown on silicon wafer substrates.

Over intersession, six undergraduates and eight graduate students from RIT’s School of International Hospitality and Service Innovation traveled to Dubai for a study-abroad experience. From left to right are Qian Chen, Amanda Krol, Chloe Williams, Zelma Collazo, Dan Xie, Devin McDermott, Tianwei Jiang, Samir Saad, Saleh Aljubaili, Stefan Woerner, Zachary Trombley, Abdulmalik Aljurbua, Matthew Krause and Ruobing Kong. Students will give presentations on their week in Dubai from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 at Henry’s Restaurant in Eastman Hall.

Created by RIT graduate Eric Irish, the TigerSafe app enhances traditional blue light offerings with voice and text capabilities, GPS location tracking and reporting services. The idea for the app came when Irish began working with RIT Public Safety Investigator Tony Yazback, left, to look for ways to increase the office’s modern technology presence.

RIT Student Government hosted its annual Super Bowl party in the Gordon Field House on Feb. 2. The game was projected and captioned on giant screens. The free event included food, prizes and giveaways.

Students lined up for FreezeFest giveaways, scarves and bobbles, on Jan. 30. The upcoming event includes entertainment, a 5K run, sledding, ice sculpture and more. RIT’s 5th Annual FreezeFest is Feb. 21-23.

Nearly 1,500 people attended RIT’s annual Expressions of King’s Legacy celebration on Jan. 30 and heard keynote speaker Tavis Smiley talk about a Martin Luther King Jr. many may not have known.

Smiley recognized the artists and speakers who came before him in the celebration including Whitney Morrison, an Eastman School of Music student, and RIT students Michelle Sason, LaKeishia Brown and Alexis Harris, members of RIT’s Mental Graffiti. One of the highlights of the program was 11-year-old Curtis Babers, a fifth-grader from Houston and winner of a regional oratory competition.

Calling King a great American, Smiley said that most people have an image of King as a benevolent dreamer and advocate for civil rights. He also saw King as a visionary whose emphasis on racism, poverty and militarism are as relevant today as they were in the 1960s.

“Whether we agree or not, the future of the democracy is linked to how seriously we take the legacy of Dr. King,” Smiley said in his address. The NPR talk show host, author and an advocate for racial and social equity, Smiley quoted King as someone who believed in justice for all and service to others.

“I think having Tavis visit our RIT community and connect with our local Rochester community over prevalent issues of today (compared with issues in our nation’s past), provides a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect, recalibrate ourselves, revitalize our weary souls from past fights, and recommit ourselves to the important issues of today that will undoubtedly impact our tomorrow,” said Kevin McDonald, RIT Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, a key sponsor.

This event marks the 32nd Expressions event presented at RIT and continues a tradition of recognizing King’s influence with music, dance and oratory.

The Rochester-Finger Lakes Middle and High School Art Exhibition in Bevier Gallery begins with an awards ceremony from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Jan. 31 in RIT’s University Gallery and an opening reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Bevier Gallery. The exhibition features nearly 180 student art submissions and is hosted by RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. The show runs through Feb. 24.