Research News

Samuel Lum found several things in common with his faculty mentor, Robert Osgood, including excitement about research and a project that could save lives. Lum’s background in mechanical engineering technology and Osgood’s microbiology expertise in studying biofilms would be the kind of multidisciplinary approach that could lead to identifying the genes most likely responsible for hospital-associated catheter infections.

Before Elyse Rood started working on her senior physics capstone project, she didn’t envision herself working for a software company. But after the commencement ceremony on May 10, she is moving to Madison, Wis., to start a career as a technical solutions engineer at a healthcare software company called Epic Systems.

Emma Sarles ’17 (industrial design) has taken the road less traveled to become an engineer. Without ever earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Sarles has spent the last two years working toward a customized professional studies master’s degree that specializes in medical device engineering and applied biomaterials.

RIT environmental science students turned some heads when they stopped to pick white clover plants near a gas station along New York State Route 33A in October. But little did onlookers know that they were helping to conduct the largest evolution study outside of human genomics.

A faculty-researcher at Rochester Institute of technology has developed a prototype micro device with bio-sensors that can detect the deadly Ebola virus. With this type of device, those infected can be treated earlier, and the early detection process can potentially decrease the spread of infections.

Abraham Glasser, a fourth-year computer science major from Pittsford, N.Y, wasn’t certain where he would land after graduation. But he credits his co-op experiences at Microsoft and NASA for helping him determine that he didn’t want a typical 9-to-5 job. Instead, he realized that a career developing accessible technologies for deaf and hard-of-hearing people would fulfill a passion for research.

Optics and Photonics News features work by Mishkat Bhattacharya, associate professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Ramkumar, an RIT alumnus and former faculty member, had been serving as interim dean and was named to the permanent position following a national search. He assumes the permanent dean’s role immediately and said he intends to continue the college’s focus on producing highly talented, applied engineers and applied scientists who will make a difference.

Three high school students working in a science lab for the first time made a surprising discovery with an RIT professor. Now, the young women are co-authors on a scientific paper announcing a rare bacterium that kills e-coli.

Scientists have been floating designs for solar sails to propel spacecraft for decades, but a new approach being developed by an RIT professor could be the key to helping spacecraft photograph the poles of the sun for the first time.

While many people flock to warm destinations for spring break, two RIT experimental cosmologists spent theirs 6,800 feet high on snow-covered Kitt Peak at the Arizona Radio Observatory. They were deploying an instrument to a 12-meter telescope for a project called the Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping Experiment (TIME), which aims to study the universe’s first stars and galaxies.

Recognizing that the internet is not always secure, millions of people are turning to the Tor anonymity system as a way to browse the World Wide Web more privately. However, Tor has been found to have its own vulnerabilities. This has a team of faculty and students from RIT’s Center for Cybersecurity researching the extent of the problem and ways to address it.