Photo Spotlights

Some 200 students from Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women in Rochester visited RIT Jan. 17 for a daylong enrichment experience. The girls were able to design video games in the MAGIC Center lab, learn about engineering models and conduct simple science experiments. They also toured campus and were able to ask questions to RIT female students studying in these areas. The day was sponsored by RIT’s MAGIC Center and University Center for Engaging K-12.

RIT professors from the College of Health Sciences and Technology gave third-graders a glimpse of the field of biomedical sciences during a visit to the Park Road School in the Pittsford Central School District on Jan. 10. Biomedical sciences professors Douglas Merrill, above, and Robert Osgood gave 75 students a crash course in DNA. Merrill, Osgood and Tamra Werner, CHST alumni director, worked with the students to extract and isolate strands of their genetic code in tiny glass pendants. Osgood’s DNA necklace exhibit is a perennial favorite at the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, held this year on April 28.

Approximately 130 Residence Life advisers made blankets as a volunteer activity Jan. 15. The completed blankets were delivered to the Willow Domestic Violence Center and CURE Childhood Cancer Association.

Eastman School of Music student Jonathan Rhodes performed at RIT's first Let Freedom Ring: Commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration today. RIT students, faculty and staff assembled in Ingle Auditorium for a program honoring King's life and work on his birthday. Next Thursday, Jan. 25, RIT will host the 36th annual Expressions of King's Legacy celebration, featuring BET News host and CNN political contributor Marc Lamont Hill as keynote speaker, with additional performances by Rochester soul band Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People and poet Reenah Golden.

Performance group Dangerous Signs performed at the Let Freedom Ring: Commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration today. RIT students, faculty and staff assembled in Ingle Auditorium for a program honoring King’s life and work on his birthday. Next Thursday, Jan. 25, RIT will host the 36th annual Expressions of King’s Legacy celebration, featuring BET News host and CNN political contributor Marc Lamont Hill as keynote speaker, with additional performances by Rochester soul band Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People and poet Reenah Golden.

RIT professors from the College of Health Sciences and Technology gave third-graders a glimpse of the field of biomedical sciences during a visit to the Park Road School in the Pittsford Central School District on Jan. 10. Biomedical sciences professors Douglas Merrill, above, and Robert Osgood gave 75 students a crash course in DNA. Merrill, Osgood and Tamra Werner, CHST alumni director, worked with the students to extract and isolate strands of their genetic code in tiny glass pendants. Osgood’s DNA necklace exhibit is a perennial favorite at the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, held this year on April 28.

Brett Levac, a second-year electrical engineering student from the University of Minnesota, conducts an experiment during the Workshop on Dynamics of Excitable Systems this week. The workshop introduced students to using biology, math and engineering disciplines, especially electrophysiology, for understanding the heart’s functions. Through lectures and collaborations, 17 students from RIT and other universities learned how mathematical models and computer simulations can advance research in medical cyber-physical systems and lead to future cardiac therapies. Elizabeth Cherry, associate professor in the RIT School of Mathematical Sciences and director of the mathematical modeling Ph.D. program, led the outreach effort associated with her National Science Foundation grant, Cyber Physical Systems: Frontier, Collaborative Research: Compositional, Approximate and Quantitative Reasoning for Medical Cyber-Physical Systems.

Nate Hedden, a second-year computational math student at RIT and Ula Widocki, a fourth-year applied math student at The College of New Jersey, work on an experiment during the Workshop on Dynamics of Excitable Systems this week. The workshop introduced students to using biology, math and engineering disciplines, especially electrophysiology, for understanding the heart’s functions. Through lectures and collaborations, 17 students from RIT and other universities learned how mathematical models and computer simulations can advance research in medical cyber-physical systems and lead to future cardiac therapies. Elizabeth Cherry, associate professor in the RIT School of Mathematical Sciences and director of the mathematical modeling Ph.D. program, led the outreach effort associated with her National Science Foundation grant, Cyber Physical Systems: Frontier, Collaborative Research: Compositional, Approximate and Quantitative Reasoning for Medical Cyber-Physical Systems.

Sovantharith Seng, a computing and information sciences Ph.D. student from Cambodia, is beginning research into the social engineering attack known as phishing. He is conducting a study with a simulated Facebook interface to understand and detect phishing with social media companies.

Students were inducted into Delta Phi Alpha (National German Honor Society) with a ceremony, a short cultural segment of poetry and then a reception. From left, Associate Professor Emeritus Wilma Wierenga (honorary member); Emmalynn Todd, an Imaging Arts and Sciences major from Oakton, Va.; Matthias Hausman, an Engineering major from Jenkinstown, Pa.; Christie Agbalessi, an Engineering Exploration major from Abidjian, Ivory Coast; and Jeanette Forbes, a Computing Science and Game Design and Development major from Ashburn, Va.

Seniors Jessica Glaz, right, and Amanda Olsen, left, lead the undefeated RIT women’s basketball team (7-0) into action tonight at perennial power No. 9 University of Rochester (9-1) at the UR Louis Alexander Palestra this evening at 5 p.m. RIT has out-scored its opponents by an average of 30 points per game in its first seven games this season. The Tigers are home this weekend, taking on William Smith College Friday and Rensselaer Saturday.

Marisa Cohen, a first-year biomedical engineering major from Newton, Mass., practices her violin in one of several music rooms in the College of Liberal Arts. Cohen is a member of the RIT Orchestra and also takes private violin lessons at RIT.