Photo Spotlights

Black History Month kicked off Jan. 22 with music, performances and food. The event is presented by the Center for Campus Life and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. Here, Carl Atkins, professor in the College of Liberal Arts, leads the African Percussion Ensemble.

Germain Fenger is a doctoral candidate of RIT’s Microsystems Engineering program. He expects to graduate in May 2013.

The Native American Future Stewards Program celebrated the scientific contributions and research of faculty and students and the science of the Three Sisters—the combined intercropping of corn, beans and squash—during Native Innovation Day on Jan. 18. Here, Roger Dube, research professor and director of RIT’s Science Exploration Program in the College of Science, presents on the Ganondagon White Corn Project.

Samuel Sandoval, an information technology student, spends about three hours a week working on DeafTechNews, a website he launched in 2010 that covers issues related to deaf technology products, assistive technology and video relay services. To see Sandoval’s work, go to www.deaftechnews.com.

The RIT cycling team, which has about 30 racing members, is split into three main components: a mountain team, a road team and a cyclocross team. The cyclists compete in races throughout the school year across the northeastern U.S. as part of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference of USA Cycling Collegiate.

Computer science graduates and IBM developers Stephan Roorda, shown here, and Randy Horwitz visited RIT Jan. 15 to show off IBM’s Watson, the Jeopardy! champion and supercomputer. Roorda and Horwitz hope to hire RIT students for co-ops at IBM.

Cory Barber is vice president of RIT’s bowling club and has bowled three perfect (300) games. The presence of a bowling team at RIT had an impact on Barber’s decision to come here for college.

RIT’s Center for Campus Life, Division of Student Affairs and others are hosting the 4th annual FreezeFest celebration on campus Feb. 1-3. FreezeFest giveaway events are held through January at various locations on campus. From left, Chelsea Triebwasser and Danielle Fanara received hot/cold tumblers before they ran out.

LiDestri Food & Beverage, a Rochester-based company that produces 2 million jars of sauces, dips and beverages daily, has turned to the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability for help in recycling the plastic linings from containers of tomato products. To read more, go to www.rit.edu/news/magazine_story.php?id=49562.

Jennifer “JD” Harper works on architectural drawings in Slaughter Hall. She’s one of 10 students in the first class of RIT’s new Master of Architecture program. The program, which launched in fall 2011, focuses on the areas of sustainability and urbanism. To read more, go to www.rit.edu/news/magazine_story.php?id=49566.

Construction began for the future Gene Polisseni Center. The arena will be the home of the men’s and women’s hockey teams and is expected to be open for play in Fall 2014.

Melissa Shukoff, a fourth-year biomedical science student, is part of RIT’s 49-member equestrian team. The team practices throughout the year and participates in horse shows that are part of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. To read more about RIT club sports, go to www.rit.edu/news/athenaeum_story.php?id=49637.