Photo Spotlights

It mysteriously appeared during Brick City Homecoming, but then it disappeared almost as quickly as it came. The tiger's sweater is back in the custody of Stevie Hegge, the student who knitted the garment that briefly adorned the sculpture along RIT's Quarter Mile. The sweater was swiped during homecoming. But, in a strange turn of events, an anonymous tip led to its retrieval. Read the details in John Follaco's latest entry to The Tiger Beat blog.

RIT President Albert Simone, center, receives the 2006 Civic Award from Paychex senior vice president Martin Mucci and Rochester Business Alliance president and CEO Sandy Parker. The award, created in 1965 to honor community leaders for their profound contributions to the quality of life in Greater Rochester, was last presented in 2000. Simone will retire July 1 after 15 years as president of RIT.

Sam McQuade, graduate program coordinator in RIT's Center for Multidisciplinary Studies, presented his book, Understanding and Managing Cybercrime, Nov. 9 in Wallace Library as part of the “Meet the Authors” series. McQuade engaged the RIT community in a discussion on the history and the complexities of cybercrime.

Kathy Routly and Thaddeus Hopkins were two of the volunteers who helped continue the tradition of “Midnight Breakfast” Friday, Nov. 10. The breakfast, created as a way for faculty and staff to demonstrate support to students as they prepare for their final exams, was held from 10 p.m. until midnight at Gracie’s in Grace Watson Hall.

Steven Davis, an RIT computer engineering major, watches his opponent’s move in a game of LAReGo, as teammates Seth Groder and Elizabeth Fehrmann observe. The updated game, a computerized version of Go—a centuries-old board game developed in Asia—uses a camera and computer to track and log players’ moves. It was developed as a computer engineering senior-design project and was demonstrated on Nov. 2. Other projects included a computer-assisted puzzle solver, an interactive piano tutor, a real-time floor-plan generator, virtual target practice and others. For more information, visit www.ce.rit.edu/research/projects/2006_fall.

Twenty-one middle and high school girls visited RIT for the annual Expanding Your Horizons conference on Oct. 21. They took part in hands-on activities showing how engineering is used in the real world — including projects related to bioengineering, bridge design, manufacturing process simulation and rock climbing. Above, participants work on an exercise in which they built structures made out of paper and tested them to determine how much weight they would hold (one team’s structure supported 68 pounds). Sponsored by WE@RIT, Expanding Your Horizons aimed to encourage and nurture girls’ interest in engineering, science and math. Workshops for parents helped them support their daughters' studies. For more, visit www.rit.edu/~women/EYH.php3.

State-of the art manufacturing machinery was showcased at an open house for RIT’s Brinkman Manufacturing Lab on Nov. 2. Shown above is Shane Wing, an applications engineer with Morris TriState, a Lancaster, N.Y.-based machine tool distributor.

Andy Guthrie, second-year information technology student, and Karen Marenus serve up some sizzling specialties at the new Mongolian Grill, located in RIT's Gracies dining hall. In order to "Mongo," customers select the vegetables of their choice, a form of protein (meat, seafood or tofu), an oil, a sauce, and a choice between rice or noodles. Grillers take care of the rest. RIT Food Service managers say Mongolian Grill serves about 500 customers a day.

David Shields, lead engineer—power quality, electric distribution engineering, Rochester Gas and Electric Corp., discussed power systems and power distribution in an RIT electrical engineering class, Oct. 27 — exposing students to careers and opportunities in the area of power distribution systems and sparking their interest in a field they may not have considered. The presentation was sponsored by the ST@R Project—Stay Tech @ RIT—organized by Edward Brown, assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

Volunteers fanned out across campus on Oct. 26 to help "Raise Our Annual Responses" as part of ROAR Day. The first-time event was designed to encourage additional support for the Fund for RIT from faculty, staff and students. More than 500 gifts were made at 11 locations.

RIT alum Sharon McKenna ’01 (MFA graphic design) was at RIT's Campus Connections bookstore for a book signing and reading of her first book that she wrote and illustrated, “Good Morning Sunshine: A Grandpa Story,” on Oct. 30. This touching story tells of a special bond between a young girl and her grandpa. No matter how bad or sad she feels, her grandpa seems to know just how to make everything right.

Students, faculty and staff from the computer science department treat themselves to some Halloween fun. The textbooks were set aside and the Halloween costumes came on for the department's Halloween party on Oct. 26. More than 100 people attended the event. It gave everyone a chance to get together and have some fun before the start of final exams.