Computing and Information Sciences News

RIT senior scientists Aaron Gerace and Matthew Montanaro were presented with the USGIF Academic Achievement Award at the GEOINT 2019 Symposium for their work on the Landsat 8 satellite.

The National Science Foundation received more than 800 idea submissions for the NSF 2026 Idea Machine competition. Entries were judged and 33 are still in the running for the grand prize, including a submission from an RIT team on Integrated Human Machine Intelligence.

Six moving-media projects by students in RIT's new media design and visual communication design programs were honored in the Motion Design Education Summit Fest competition. There were more than 300 submissions from around the world. 

Kyle Diller, a fifth-year computer science student from East Windsor, N.J., developed a plug-in application for the molecular visualization program UCSF ChimeraX. The application is currently under development at the University of California at San Francisco. Diller’s plug-in allows users to display an atomic structure as if it were a movie so they can see how the structure changes.

An RIT alumnus received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award in computer engineering to help drones assist with search and rescue operations in difficult terrain such as dense forests or steep mountains where GPS might not be reliable. Andrew Ramsey ’18 (computer engineering), ’18 MS (computer engineering) will conduct research at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt as part of a project to research innovative ways to determine the location of a drone in a low-cost and reliable manner.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 15: Esports are surging in popularity, and RIT’s collegiate esports teams are making an impact in the growing field. With multiple championships and national rankings under their belt, the Esports program is looking to take things to the next level. Evan Hirsh, president of RIT Esports, talks with the team’s adviser, Chad Weeden, about the rise of competitive video gaming and the university’s teams.

John Dodd, an instructor in RIT’s College of Art and Design for more than 40 years, is the sixth recipient of the Edline M. Chun Award for Outstanding Teaching and Service. The award, named in honor of the late RIT adjunct professor Edline Chun, has been given annually since 2014 to a faculty member who exemplifies excellence and dedication in teaching to an affiliated school in the College of Art and Design.

A team of Hearthstone players represented RIT and joined 20 other top colleges at the first-ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship. RIT became one of the top four teams in the country and the three RIT student players received $7,500 in tuition scholarships.

This year, more students will graduate from RIT’s international campuses than ever before. RIT’s campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo are expected to award degrees to more than 500 students, up from 369 degrees granted in 2017-18.

A team of RIT students has become one of the best collegiate Hearthstone teams in the nation, making it to the ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship May 10-12 in Houston. RIT beat out nearly 500 other collegiate Hearthstone teams to get to the first-ever ESPN esports event.

The main topic of conversation during Scott Brink’s co-op interviews was almost always about cybersecurity competitions. Luckily, Brink has thousands of hours invested in hacking competitions from his time at RIT. Brink, a 2019 graduate of RIT’s computing security program, credits those cybersecurity competitions and student clubs with helping him succeed in the major.

Aditi Khazanchi came to RIT with three goals in mind. “I wanted to learn how to design inclusive experiences that empower people around me; gain industry experience; and learn from cultures outside of my own,” said Khazanchi, who grew up in New Delhi, India. Check, check and check.