Computing and Information Sciences News

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.

RIT is silencing the doubters, winning its second Collegiate Starleague Dota 2 Grand Finals Championship April 28. The student team bested a bracket of North America’s 32 top universities to take home the $10,000 grand prize.

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.

Five alumni from RIT’s College of Engineering Technology were honored with Rising Star awards during a campus reception last month. Given to alumni who graduated from CET within the past five to 10 years, the awardees were recognized for outstanding achievements early in their careers, for significant public service contributions and in helping to advance the careers of new professionals.

This year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation began Friday evening, with scores of university students letting their talent shine in front of an appreciative crowd during Dr. Munson’s Performing Arts Challenge. First place went to The Roar’s for a rousing rendition of “Feeling Good,” which the band patterned after a Michael Bublé performance of the song.

RIT’s cyber defense team took home third place at the 2019 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, held April 23-25 in Orlando.

The Women’s Council of RIT awarded 13 students with scholarships at the Women’s Council Scholarship Award Luncheon at Liberty Hill on April 17.

Animation Career Review has again named RIT one of the top game design schools in the country. RIT ranked fifth on the list of Top 50 Game Design Schools in the U.S. and second in New York state.