Research News

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.

Drones are adding a new level of precision to agriculture, giving farmers digital tools for cultivating better and more profitable crops.

Current Image Permanence Institute research initiatives include projects that will inform the recovery of water-damaged inkjet prints in cultural institutions that have experienced water emergencies, and improving preservation environmental management strategies.

Images of plastic bags and bottles clogging beaches and oceans have some calling for a ban on all such products. But packaging experts say it’s not that easy to eliminate a highly effective material. Instead, researchers at RIT are looking to strike a balance: Find a way to produce plastics that retain their best qualities and yet are more environmentally friendly.

When it comes to identifying creative ways to mitigate food waste, researchers at RIT have been managing a full plate of innovative initiatives over the last decade.

New Atlas reports that NASA will fund a diffractive lightsails research project by Grover Swartzlander, professor in RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

R&D Magazine talks to Mishkat Bhattacharya, associate professor of physics, about his research to create a laser for sound.

Cleveland.com cites research by Matthew Hoffman, associate professor of applied and computational mathematics, and Eric Hittinger, associate professor of public policy. 

RIT honored researchers who served as principal investigators on active awards in fiscal year 2018 at an April 11 reception. Also recognized were the 20 recipients of Seed Funding Awards and 12 new inductees in RIT’s PI Millionaires.