Photo Spotlights

Members of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund join RIT President Bill Destler, NTID President Gerry Buckley and other dignitaries for the ceremonial groundbreaking of Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall on Oct. 14. The $8 million, 23,000-square-foot building is intended for research and innovation at NTID. The building is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013.

Donald Brinkman, research project manager for Microsoft Research Connections, thanks members of RIT’s Just Press Play project team and the School of Interactive Games and Media for their work. Brinkman visited RIT for the launch of Just Press Play on Oct. 13 in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Just Press Play is an interactive video game that helps students explore, uncover secrets, band together and seek a balance in their academic and social lives—all of which help to make a student “awesome.” RIT faculty, staff and students developed the game and it was funded by a $350,000 gift from Microsoft Research.

Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend features a performance by comedian Kevin Hart at 9 tonight and a talk by actor Michael J. Fox at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Both events are sold out, as is Saturday’s men’s hockey game against St. Lawrence University at 7:05 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena. It marks the first time an RIT men’s hockey game at the downtown ice-hockey rink has sold out more than two days in advance (last year’s homecoming game drew a record 10,556 fans, selling out on game day). “Having a sellout for the second consecutive year cements the idea that RIT hockey has arrived in the hearts and minds of the community,” says Lou Spiotti, executive director of RIT Athletics. “We’re proud to be able to bring this level of excitement and entertainment to our fans.” U.S. soccer star and Rochester native Abby Wambach will drop the ceremonial first puck, and she will sign autographs between the first and second periods. For more on Brick City Weekend, go to www.rit.edu/gcr/brickcity.

RIT/NTID alumni Sean Forbes, a rap musician; Matt Hamill, NCAA wrestling champ and former UFC contender; and Adrean Mangiardi, video director, took over the Frisina Quad on campus and enlisted student talent to film a music video for “The Hammer,” a movie about Hamill’s life, which was filmed in part on the RIT campus and which will be opening in select theaters nationwide on Oct 27th.

Hundreds of students attended the 11th annual NTID Job Fair on Oct. 12. More than 40 employers looking to fill summer co-ops and some permanent openings reviewed resumes and met with students.

President Bill Destler reads to the children at RIT’s Margaret’s House on Oct 11. The kindergarten class is participating in a national program sponsored by Pizza Hut, called “Read Along for Hunger.” The class has a goal to read 300 books. Margaret’s House provides full day care and education for children ages 8 weeks through kindergarten and after-school care for first- through third-grade children.

WITR-FM (89.7), RIT’s student-run campus radio station, joined more than 300 radio stations nationwide on Oct. 11 for College Radio Day, which aimed to highlight the importance of college radio stations to their campuses and surrounding communities. WITR marked the occasion by giving away bumper stickers, CDs, T-shirts and a guitar autographed by bands that have performed on “Rochester Sessions,” a WITR show featuring live music that airs 7-9 p.m. Sundays. From left, WITR members Joe Makowski, an applied networking and system administration major; Kevin Cosgrove, a second-year biotechnology major; and Eli Clampett, a second-year computer engineering major.

RIT’s Caroline Werner Gannett Project “Visionaries in Motion V” lecture series continued Oct. 10 with a talk by Ryan Knighton, author, screenwriter and professor, who presented “It’s Like, for Real: A Life in Autopathography.” Knighton, who gradually lost his sight after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at age 18, wrote his memoir about the experience and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal, Canada’s national award for the funniest book of the year. “Hilarious, unsentimental and feisty, Ryan Knighton engages both sighted and blind worlds with issues he has encountered at the crossroads of memory, storytelling, technology and the human body,” says Mary Lynn Broe, the Caroline Werner Gannett Professor of Humanities at RIT. The next speaker in the series is Fred Ritchin, author and professor of photography and imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, who comes to RIT Nov. 3.

Unique hand-blown glass pumpkins, gourds and other glass items such as vases, paperweights and drinking glasses were on sale during the annual Women’s Council of RIT fundraiser Oct. 8. The items were made by students and faculty from the School for American Crafts. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the School for American Crafts’ Visiting Artists Series as well as the Women’s Council scholarships. Items left over will be for sale 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Oct. 12 in the SAU lobby.

RIT hosted the sixth annual Western New York Restorative Justice Conference Oct. 6-7. The conference consisted of breakout sessions and panel discussions featuring leaders from organizations using restorative justice practices within the courts, classrooms and other community venues. Sessions also provided training on how to use these processes in agreement with the criminal justice system with a focus on saving costs and providing restitution and closure that can ultimately promote healing and build healthy communities. This keynote address featured, from right, Monroe County Court Judge Vicki Argento, Derek Miodownik, a conflict resolution and community justice expert, and David Soares, Albany County District Attorney, presenting “Making Systemic Change With Restorative Practices.”

A remote-controlled wheelchair developed by RIT students David Olney and Luticha Doucette transformed into a telepresence robot in the Center for Student Innovation on Oct. 7. A laptop attached to the wheelchair provided an audience at MITRE Corp.’s headquarters in Bedford, Mass., with a virtual tour of the center. The center’s director, Jon Schull, spoke at MITRE’s Innovation Brown Bag Lunch Series about the facility and the innovative, collaborative work among RIT students and faculty. As Schull spoke, students at RIT guided the robot around the center to give MITRE researchers a chance to visit the center, the new Rapid Prototyping lab, and the students.

Students can take a tour through the wine regions of the world with Lorraine Hems, a lecturer in the School of International Hospitality and Service Innovation. She’s been recognized for her extensive educational and community service programming about wines and spirits from around the world, and much of that information fills the pages of her new textbook, Passport to the World of Wines. The book covers the history of winemaking through the ages, as well as the uniqueness of wines from different countries. It is a practical guide about pairing wine and foods, hosting a tasting event and providing information about service and storage.