RIT launches Albert J. Simone Innovation Series

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David Borkholder and Denis Cormier

Rochester Institute of Technology is launching a speaker series to introduce the investment and business community to innovative and entrepreneurial research being conducted by the university’s faculty.

The Albert J. Simone Innovation Series, an invitation-only event, kicks off Feb. 28 with brief talks by three faculty members, followed by a networking reception.

“We want the business and investment communities to see that RIT is a place that is producing innovative technology that can be commercialized,” said Ryne Raffaelle, RIT’s vice president of research and associate provost. “We want to engage them, so they can see the talent here and explore the possibilities. We have some outstanding faculty doing cutting-edge research here at RIT.”

The speakers will be introduced by RIT President Emeritus Simone. The series is named in his honor to recognize his work to invigorate research at the university.

Speaking to the invited guests will be:

• David Borkholder, associate professor of electrical and microsystems engineering in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. Borkholder will discuss his work leading a team of RIT researchers that designed, engineered, tested and produced technology being used by U.S. troops to measure the traumatic effect explosions have on the brain and body. This research resulted in the formation of a company, BlackBox Biometrics™, which is commercializing the device.
• Denis Cormier, Earl W. Brinkman Professor in RIT’s industrial and systems engineering department in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and one of the premier researchers in the area of advanced printing devices and technologies. Cormier specializes in additive manufacturing, which is more commonly known as 3-D printing. His talk will highlight RIT’s additive manufacturing research and development involving printed electronics, as well as strategic partnerships with business. Cormier’s work in the lab is at the cutting edge in the research, development and production of conductive inks, printed sensors and related technologies, and could play a key role in regional and global economic development.

• Anne R. Haake, associate dean for research and scholarship at the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Haake, RIT’s first National Science Foundation Expert in the foundation’s Division of Biological Infrastructure, specializes in biomedical informatics and human computer interaction. She will discuss the use of “human centered computing” in content-based image retrieval systems, work that could greatly improve how images are used for prognosis and diagnosis of disease.

A second installment of the series will be scheduled for early Fall 2013.

Anne Haake