Photo Spotlights

Scholar John Stauffer, second from right, discussed the power of abolition images at the Douglass Lecture, April 5. A Harvard University professor, Stauffer recently edited a new edition of Frederick Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom. Here, he chats with Rich Newman, associate professor of history, right, and two RIT students.

Emily Higgins, far right, from Pittsford Middle School, and Caitlin Maeder, far left, from Merton Williams Middle School in Hilton, experiment with Lego kits they programmed with help from RIT student Kira Mikels. The girls explored careers in engineering and used Lego kits to design and build amusement park rides at the "Park & Ride" workshop, April 15-17.

Flames emerge as iron is melted in a special furnace for the "Big Pour" event on April 16, sponsored by the School of Art. During the day-long event, liquid iron was melted at a temperature of over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, then poured red-hot over specially designed sculpture molds. Students will then touch-up their creations before putting them on display.

Almost 1,700 RIT students voted in Student Government elections held April 12-15. And while "Arhnold" received a couple of votes, next year's president will be Sheila Sarratore, with vice president David Blonski. Here, a student votes on laptop computers set up in the Student Alumni Union.

Sparks fly as the Steel Bridge team finishes up construction. The team travels to SUNY Buffalo on April 24 for regional competition. RIT hopes to best competitors using an innovative new cable-stay type design.

Does concrete float? Members of the Concrete Canoe team prove that it does, getting their hands dirty molding the aggregate mixture for this year's canoe. The team travels to SUNY Buffalo for regional trials of the National Concrete Canoe Competition on April 24. RIT has won the event four times since 1997.

Brandon Remler (right), sales manager for Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc., views the winning portfolios from this year’s Fuji Scholarship competition. Kris Kowal (left) from Canton, Mich., earned $2,000 as the first-prize winner, and Quincy Scott from Gary, Ind., was awarded $1,000 for second prize. Both students are advertising photography majors in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Judging for the scholarships was based on visual quality, craft, presentation and creativity.

Jeff Broomhead, fifth-year mechanical engineering major and RIT mini-Baja team project manager, gets airborne on a test run on April 9. The CAST-supported team competes in the Mini Baja Brazil in São Paulo this weekend and three national contests this spring.

RIT alumna Kerstin Navik, ‘95, a graduate from the professional and technical communication program in the College of Liberal Arts, was the guest speaker at the Conference for Undergraduate Research in Communication held at RIT on April 8. Navik works at Paychex Inc. as a user-interface designer.

Barbara MacCameron, language and literature lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts, facilitates a book discussion on Leif Enger's Peace Like a River on April 8. The discussion, held in Wallace Library's Idea Factory, was the culmination of the If All of RIT Read the Same Book program during which hundreds of RIT faculty, staff and students read and discussed the book.

The RIT Brick City Singers perform during the fourth annual Night of A Cappella which they hosted on April 3 in Ingle Auditorium. Also performing at the near-capacity show were the MIT/Wellesley Collete Toons, The WPI Interstate 8 and the Cornell University Class Notes.

Richard Aab, right, president of RTA Associates and RIT trustee was the keynote speaker for the College of Business' inaugural Entrepreneurs Conference on March 26. He and Steven Sauer, left, chief executive of Business Methods Inc., spoke to nearly 160 attendees about risk taking and economic vision for our community.