RIT researchers set record

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A record 397 Rochester Institute of Technology researchers secured funding for fiscal year 2013, serving as either principal or co-principal investigators on active research, an increase of 12 percent over the previous year.

RIT honored its researchers at an April 25 reception, during which it also recognized the 15 recipients of Seed Funding Awards, as well as 16 new inductees in RIT’s PI Millionaires.

“Research at RIT is especially exciting right now,” said David Bond, director of Sponsored Research Services. “A growing number of researchers are getting funding and producing impactful results, in spite of the limitations in sponsor budgets.” RIT investigators’ efforts led to $47 million in research funding last year.

The event also highlighted “Seed Fund Awards,” $5,000 grants awarded by RIT to researchers who completed its Grant Writer’s Boot Camp last fall. Each participant came with a proposal for seed funding which were reviewed by peers.

The Seed Fund award recipients are:

• Sarah Burns, assistant professor of political science, College of Liberal Arts, for “The Capitalist Peace: A Montesquieuan Approach to American Foreign Policy”
• Shu Chang, Melbert B. Cary Jr. Distinguished Professor Media Sciences, School of Media Sciences, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, for “Using 3D Printing to Study Materials Microstructures”
• Pamela Conley, associate professor of liberal studies, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, for “Studying Deaf Geographies Abroad”
• Elena Fedorovskaya, Paul & Louise Miller Distinguished Professor, School of Media Sciences, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, for “Collaborative transmedia documents: concepts and feasibility”
• J. Scott Hawker, associate professor of software engineering, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, for “Software Engineering Capability Assessment and Improvement for Scientific Software Developers”
• Matthew Ganter, research scientist, Office of the Vice President for Research, for “Lithium ion Battery Porosity Engineering using Micro needles to Enhance Ionic Conductivity”
• Bonnie Jacob, assistant professor, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, for “Three –label graph infection: a generalization of a protocol for controlling large quantum networks”
• Mindy Magyar, assistant professor of design, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, for “Case Study of Co-design: University Students Designing for and with Senior Citizens”
• Sildomar Monteiro, assistant professor of electrical engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Efficient Inference in Conditional Random Fields for Spectra-Spatial Classification of Hyper spectral Imagery”
• Mehran Mozaffari-Kermani, assistant professor of electrical engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Composite-field Based Reliable and Secure Cryptographic Architectures for Extremely Constrained Environments”
• Rico Peterson, assistant dean and director, NTID Access Services, for “Learn with Us: An Innovative Program for Nurturing and Developing Educational Interpreters”
• Raymond Ptucha, assistant professor of computer engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Manifold Based Sparse Representation Framework for Interactive Agents”
• Christopher Schauerman, research scientist in the Office of the Vice President for Research, for “Life Cycle Inventory Assessment of Battery Manufacturing Process”
• Michael Scherzter, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Design of a digital micro fluidic device for point of care medical diagnostics”
• Audrey M. Smerbeck, assistant professor of psychology, College of Liberal Arts, for “Development, Validation, and Preliminary Standardization of a Measure of Restricted Interests in Children with High Functioning ASD”

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

• Margaret Bailey, professor, mechanical engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, senior faculty associate to the provost for ADVANCE
• Jean-Louis Bigourdan, research scientist, Image Permanence Institute
• Vincenzo Buonomo, senior program manager and instructor, Center for Quality and Applied Statistics, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
• David Forbes, associate research professor, NanoPower Research Labs, Golisano Institute for Sustainability
• Scott Franklin, professor, College of Science, Science & Mathematics Education Research Collaborative
• Michael Gartley, assistant research professor, Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, College of Science
• Anne Haake, associate dean for research and scholarship, professor, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
• Richard Hailstone, professor, Center for Imaging Science, College of Science
• Joseph Hornak, professor, Center for Imaging Science, College of Science
• William Jones, executive director, Venture Creations incubator;
• Robert Kremens, associate research professor, Center for Imaging Science;
• Robert Matesic, senior project manager, Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies
• P.R. Mukund, professor, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
• S. Manian Ramkumar, professor, manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology, College of Applied Science and Technology
• Jennifer Schneider, professor of civil engineering and technology and environmental management, College of Applied Science and Technology
• Robert Teese, professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science

The event, in RIT’s Student Innovation Hall, was hosted by Sponsored Research Services, which has recognized 89 PI Millionaire researchers since 2001.