Computing and Information Sciences News

Niantic has donated $400,000 to create a new research lab at RIT that’s focused on location-based games. In the Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab, researchers will work to better understand how people interact with location-based games and how they can be used for good.

As part of a new $20 million National Science Foundation grant, RIT computer science professor Richard Zanibbi is using artificial intelligence to accelerate experimentation in chemistry, including finding more efficient ways to create solar cells.

Nabiha Raza’s software engineering career started at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan. Today, she is getting her Masters in Computer Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York and in her last semester at RIT. She researched how wearables can detect spinal cord reflexes and was twice an intern at Aruba. Her interest lies in networking, distributed systems and cloud computing. In January 2021, Nabiha will be joining us back as a full-time software developer engineer for the High Touch Services Team. She’s also a big home improvement and home automation fan!

The Cybersecurity Visiting Student Research program brought together 12 graduate and undergraduate students throughout the summer to explore new cyber research and share their cultural experiences. Visiting students came from Italy, the Netherlands, India, Taiwan, Poland, United Kingdom, and the U.S.

COVID-19 has challenged the university to consider an even more creative academic portfolio with blended, online, split A/B, and flex class options. To prepare for in-person instruction, RIT has upgraded academic buildings and classrooms. And physical distancing and face coverings, required of faculty and students in classrooms, together provide some of the greatest protection against the spread of COVID-19.

The unexpected transition to remote learning during the spring semester challenged faculty across RIT to experiment, create, and deploy new methods of instruction to ensure student success. As the university gears up for in-person and online classes—or a combination of both—faculty members are applying a wide range of lessons learned from the spring to keep academic momentum moving forward in the fall.

RIT’s MAGIC Center and Vicarious Visions (VV), a game studio well-known for some of the industry’s most iconic franchises, have signed a partnership agreement that will include new collaborations and scholarship opportunities for students in RIT's Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences and College of Art and Design.

Engineering technology and computing students at RIT found ways to reduce energy consumption at the university’s Margaret's House Child Care Center. Members of RIT’s student chapter of National Electrical Contracting Association (NECA) worked this spring with child care staff as part of the annual NECA Green Energy Challenge, an annual student design competition.

A new 15-week program at RIT is teaching people all the skills they need to start a new career in cybersecurity. Starting in July, learners can enroll in RIT’s Cybersecurity Bootcamp, an immersive hands-on training course that will prepare them for critical entry-level roles in the cybersecurity workforce. The program aims to help professionals from all backgrounds and abilities set themselves up to transition into an in-demand career.

Matt Huenerfauth, a professor and expert in computing accessibility research, has been named director of RIT’s iSchool (School of Information). Huenerfauth takes the helm Aug. 1 from Stephen Zilora, who is stepping down after eight years of leadership.

Two visionaries in the fields of advertising, marketing and communications have been named co-recipients of the 2020 Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award, presented by RIT’s Saunders College of Business. Sue Butler and Tracy Till are the first joint female recipients in the award’s 35-year history.

Researchers at RIT have developed MathDeck, an online search interface that allows anyone to easily create, edit and lookup sophisticated math formulas on the computer. Created by an interdisciplinary team of more than a dozen faculty and students, MathDeck aims to make math notation interactive and easily shareable, and it's is free and open to the public.