Research News

When the coronavirus pandemic spread to the United States, RIT faculty member Dr. Laurence Sugarman asked his students to apply their knowledge of placebos and the power of suggestion to the unfolding health crisis.

A federal grant matched by New York state and RIT is enabling university researchers to study a competitive solution to polyethylene mulch and identify a more sustainable alternative to conventionally used plastics in farming.

Ke Du and Blanca Lapizco-Encinas, both faculty-researchers in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, worked with an international team to collaborate on the design of a next-generation miniature lab device that uses magnetic nano-beads to isolate minute bacterial particles that cause diseases. This new technology improves how clinicians isolate drug-resistant strains of bacterial infections and difficult-to-detect micro-particles such as those making up Ebola and coronaviruses.

Mehdi Mirakhorli, an assistant professor of software engineering, has earned a prestigious National Science Foundation award to develop new technologies that can make software architecture design more intuitive, particularity for novice programmers and new learners.

Michael Murdoch, an assistant professor of color science, received a prestigious National Science Foundation award to research how the human visual system perceives a mix of augmented reality and real-world content.

A heart monitoring solution developed in a Rochester Institute of Technology engineering lab is helping to provide individuals with early signs of COVID-19 symptoms during the 2020 crisis.

RIT is leading an effort involving local companies and healthcare experts to produce a prototype ventilator designed to help meet the continuing surge of respiratory cases as a result of the coronavirus.

Researchers from RIT’s Future Photon Initiative, in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, have produced the Department of Defense’s first-ever fully integrated quantum photonics wafer.

The LiveAbility Lab is a partnership between RIT and the Al Sigl Community of Agencies, a collaborative network of organizations in Rochester that serves children and adults with special needs. The lab, which is located on Al Sigl’s Wolk Campus, opened in 2018. The goal is to develop a pipeline of accessible technology projects that are conceived at RIT and take root at the LiveAbility Lab on their way to development in the marketplace. 

RIT’s K-12 University Center is leveraging the university’s strength in experiential learning and career readiness in a new partnership with the Army Educational Outreach Program. RIT will receive $14 million to expand the Army’s apprenticeship programs and cultivate a STEM-literate workforce that reflects the nation’s demographics.

Gears make the industrial world go ’round. And RIT engineering faculty and doctoral students are working to keep them moving efficiently.

RIT's Thermal Analysis and Microfluidics Lab is celebrating 30 years of contributing to the fields of fuel cells, microfluidic systems and infrared imaging.