Photo Spotlights

Some of RIT’s newer research participants are getting a helping hand. The Office of the Vice President for Research has awarded more than a dozen seed-funding grants of $5,000 each to support proposed research initiatives. The awards result from the faculty members’ participation in the annual Grant Writers’ Boot Camp program. Recipients of this year’s seed funding awards include (top row from left) Hans Schmitthenner, Hinda Mandell, Ivan Puchades, Wei Le, (bottom from left) Jennifer Adams, Susan Lane-Outlaw, Christine Monikowski and Patricia Taboada-Serrano. They’re joined by David Bond, director of Sponsored Research Service (bottom right).

Michael Ruhling, associate professor of fine arts/music and conductor of the RIT Orchestra, leads a rehearsal. Students from a variety of majors participate in the orchestra and take it for course credit. The group’s winter concert, with the Rochester Medical Orchestra, is Feb. 25 at the Hochstein School of Music Performance Hall, 50 N. Plymouth Ave., Rochester.

Mike Every’s fascination with the physics of spinning liquids has given his career an early start. The second-year physics major discovered a way to centrifugally cast telescope mirrors and caught the attention of an astronomer at California Polytechnic. Every was invited to present his research at a conference in Hawaii, Jan. 20-22, and to contribute to a book being written about the subject.

Gallery r’s Invitational Exhibit of faculty and students from the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences opened Jan. 12 and is on view through Feb. 19. Gallery r is located at 100 College St. in Rochester and will be participating in the First Friday openings on Feb. 3.

Sam Campanaro ’57 (illustrative photography) is best known for this famous photograph 15 Babies, which he shot in 1983 for a Kodak Colorama campaign. Here, Campanaro points to his grandson, who was one of the models for the shot. Campanaro worked for Eastman Kodak Co. for 42 years and continues to make pictures today.

John Eades ’93 (industrial design) opened a sandal factory in Geneva, N.Y. Vere Sandal Co. opened in August 2010 and is one of only a few companies making sandals in the United States. Read more about Eades in RIT: The University Magazine.

Student entrepreneurs and innovators from around the country collaborated on ideas to bring potential earth-saving technologies and products into the marketplace. RIT’s Center for Student Innovation hosted the Sustainable University IdeaLab workshop Jan. 4-8. Led by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, students learned how to develop and commercialize products and innovations that address sustainability issues. Student teams with the best ideas may receive seed grants up to $1,000.

David Eckler ’83 (printing management) is the owner of Dock 2 Letterpress, a commercial letterpress business in Webster, N.Y.

Tony Zanni ’07 (graphic design) is the creative partner at Dock 2 Letterpress, a commercial letterpress business in Webster, N.Y.

New faculty member Michael Schrlau joined the Kate Gleason College of Engineering this fall and has been working to balance classroom activities, research and department tasks. He talked to undergraduate engineering students about his research about unique strategies using nanotubes to study cells, tissue and larger biological systems.

Josh Turner, left, technology director of Kosovo Wind Gardens, works on a mold for a turbine blade in RIT’s composites lab. Turner is receiving assistance on the product from Rob Aldi, a graduate student in manufacturing and mechanical systems integration. Kosovo Wind Gardens is a venture that plans to construct and sell wind turbines to individual homes, businesses and farms in the vast rural areas of Kosovo.

Imaging science graduate student Kelly Canham used spectral imaging equipment last December in Oaxaca, Mexico, to support Professor Bill Middleton’s archeological research. Canham won the use of a spectralradiometer through the Alexander Goetz Instrument Program, along with David Messinger in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science and Middleton in the College of Liberal Arts.