RIT celebrates researchers’ achievements

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Elkin Jaramillo/RIT Photo Services

RIT honored researchers who served as principal investigators on active awards in fiscal year 2016 at an April 5 reception, as well as 18 recipients of Seed Funding Awards. Seed funding awards are $5,000 grants given to proposals written over the fall semester and refined over the course of a two-day Grant Writers’ Boot Camp.

Rochester Institute of Technology honored researchers who served as principal investigators on active awards in the fiscal year 2016 at an April 5 reception.

Also recognized were the 18 recipients of Seed Funding Awards and 11 new inductees in RIT’s PI Millionaires.

RIT investigators’ efforts led to a record $73 million in research funding last fiscal year, up from $62 million the previous year.

“RIT hit some significant milestones in 2016,” said Ryne Raffaelle, vice president for research and associate provost. “Our researchers are key contributors to several major collaborative research ventures, including seven Manufacturing USA institutes. We have developed a very nice pipeline for new researchers to establish their individual research agendas through seed funding, collaborate with our interdisciplinary research centers and make meaningful impacts nationally.”

Seed funding awards are $5,000 grants given to proposals written over the fall semester and refined over the course of a two-day Grant Writers’ Boot Camp. Proposals are reviewed by teams of peers and revised to better position awardees for external funding. The event was complemented by a poster display highlighting the accomplishments of last year’s seed funding awardees.

The 2017 Seed Fund award recipients are:

• Quang Bui and Manlu Liu, assistant professors in Saunders College of Business, for “The Impact of Health Information Technology Adoption: Another IT Productivity Paradox?”;
• Song Hui Chon, assistant professor in the College of Applied Science and Technology, for “Investigation of the effects of pitch, timbre, and intensity on frequency masking of complex tones”;
• Sorim Chung, assistant professor in Saunders College of Business, for “Beyond Page Design and Layout: Exploring the Role of Screen Size Variations as Retail Cues in Customers’ Online Purchase Experiences”;
• Michael Gleghorn, assistant professor in the College of Science, for “Developing Tools to Identify Polyriboadenylic Parallel Double-Helix Binding Proteins in Nature”;
• Luis Herrera, assistant professor in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Towards Robust DC Microgrids: Controller and Virtual Testbed Design”;
• Stan Hoi, professor in Saunders College of Business, for “Do Individual Traits of CEOs Matter in Debt Contracting? Evidence from CEO Narcissism and Bank Loan Pricing”;
• Hadi Hosseini, assistant professor in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, for “Efficiency and Truthfulness in Matching Under Uncertainty”;
• Rebecca Houston, assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts, for “Binge drinking and impulsivity: A multi-method study”;
• Sogol Jahanbekam, assistant professor in the College of Science, for “Applications of three Techniques in Graph Theory: The Discharging Method, The Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, and Computational Techniques”;
• Jeyhan Kartaltepe, assistant professor in the College of Science, for “Kinematics of Distant Starburst Galaxies – Evidence for Galaxy Mergers?”;
• Shal Khazanchi, associate professor in Saunders College of Business, for “Form and Function: The Dual Pathway Influence of Office Space on Work Relationships”;
• Rui Liu, visiting assistant professor in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Application of Audible Sound Signals for Tool Wear Monitoring and Workpiece Hardness Identification in Milling”;
• Qing Miao, assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts, for “Fuel Economy, Technological Change, and the Role of Public Policy”;
• Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, assistant professor in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, for “Better Bug Localization Through the Identification of Dependency Between Bugs”;
• Jennifer O’Neil, assistant professor in the College of Applied Science and Technology, for “Development of a Low-flow Nebulizer Device for use with a Human Powered Compressor in Resource Poor Settings”;
• Bryan Reinicke, associate professor in Saunders College of Business, for “Barriers to the Acceptance of Self Driving Cars”;
• Yasemin Yilmazel, assistant professor in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Thermophilic Bio-electrochemical Systems for Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Valuable Organic Compounds.”

Also recognized was a new class of PI Millionaires, a designation given to RIT researchers who have achieved funding of $1 million or more since 2000. Inducted as PI Millionaires were:

• Elizabeth Cherry, associate professor and director, mathematical modeling Ph.D. program, College of Science;
• Christopher Collison, associate professor, College of Science;
• Roger Dube, research professor, assistant dean for undergraduate research and interdisciplinary programs, College of Science;
• Matt Huenerfauth, associate professor, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences;
• Emmett Ientilucci, associate research professor, College of Science;
• Robert Krzacek, research staff, College of Science;
• Casey Miller, associate professor, director of the MS program in materials science and engineering, College of Science;
• Andrew Robinson, professor, director, astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. program, College of Science;
• Charles Ruffing, director, New York State Pollution Prevention Institute;
• Linwei Wang, associate professor, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences; and
• Eric Williams, associate professor, Golisano Institute for Sustainability

The event, in RIT’s Student Innovation Hall, was hosted by Sponsored Research Services, which has recognized 117 PI Millionaire researchers since 2001.

For more information visit the Research at Rochester Insitute of Technology webpage.