Photo Spotlights

New freshmen arrive at RIT during Move-In day 2011. An estimated 2,500 freshmen and 900 transfer students were welcomed. From left, Lenny, Liz, Linda and Jessica Kellner and Anthony Passerino. Jessica is the first-year student.

New freshmen arrive at RIT on Wednesday during Move-In Day 2011. An estimated 2,500 freshmen and 150 transfer students were welcomed. Here, RIT President Bill Destler lends a hand to Dan Bartz, a first-year student in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

President Bill Destler welcomed back RIT faculty and staff on Aug. 30 during remarks that traditionally begin the academic year. Other speakers included Jeremy Haefner, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs; Paul Tymann, chairperson of Academic Senate; Molly Johnson, chairperson of Staff Council; Greg Pollock, Student Government president; and Kevin McDonald, vice president for diversity and inclusion.

George Zion, chair of the cross-disciplinary committee for RIT’s calendar conversion initiative, says the university is making significant progress in transforming curricula to accommodate a change to semesters in 2013. The New York State Department of Education has already approved the redesign of most of academic programs.

Irma Girón, right, a biotechnology major, presented a poster at the annual meeting of the American Society for Plant Biologists, Aug. 6-10, in Minnesota, describing how the algae enzyme can be used as a target for algaecide. Girón has published two papers on the topic with RIT Professor André Hudson, left.

Sharon Morgan Beckford-Foster, visiting assistant professor of English, College of Liberal Arts, recently published her book, Naturally Woman: The Search for Self in Black Canadian Women’s Literature. The book is an exploration of the fiction and poetry of Canadian’s Caribbean writers.

Eliza Hammer, a third-year marketing student, was the lead fellow this past school year and a summer fellow a year ago at the Center for Student Innovation. As a summer fellow, she worked on a website for a clean-energy company that allows customers to show how they reduced their home’s carbon footprint. During the school year, Hammer designed a hydroponic system using polyvinyl chloride pipe. She loaned the system to The Harley School, a Rochester private school, so teachers could use it in their school garden. Hammer says RIT students are blessed to have facilities such as the Center for Student Innovation and the Rapid Prototyping Lab, which opened on an appointment basis last spring and is adjacent to the center in Global Village. There, students use three-dimensional printers and a laser cutter/engraver to produce prototypes.

Construction is moving along on the Golisano Institute for Sustainability. The facility was made possible through a $13.1 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and $10 million in funding from New York state.

What started as a class project for Experimental Filmmaking has made film student Ben Disinger the hottest young commodity within the glitzy music-video industry. Disinger’s creation has become the official video for the song “Virgin,” performed by the rock band Manchester Orchestra. The video has gone viral, appearing online and on network TV outlets like Fuse and mtvU. In July, it won Best Music Video at the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival, and Disinger earned Best Director honors.

Construction is moving along on the Golisano Institute of Sustainability. The facility was made possible through a $13.1 million grant from NIST and $10 million in funding from New York State.

RIT professor Callie Babbitt was presented the AT&T Technology and Environment Award by representatives from AT&T on Aug. 16.

Lil Kids on Campus, a six-week camp for children attending Margaret’s House Child Care Center at RIT, welcomed children from Julie Shahin’s kindergarten class at Rochester School for the Deaf on Aug. 12. All of the children enjoyed an outdoor carnival with games and activities and shared lunch together.