Sustainability News

RIT is one of 14 universities from around the globe that have collectively been awarded $12.5 million from the National Science Foundation to launch a new Biology Integration Institute. It will focus on better understanding ecosystem and climate interactions—like the thawing of the Arctic permafrost—and how they can alter everything from the landscape to greenhouse gases.

RIT is again considered one of the nation’s best universities for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education-services company features RIT in the just-published 2021 edition of its annual book The Best 386 Colleges.

Natural gas-hydrates—crystalline compounds of gas molecules—are found in permafrost and marine sediments. While these gas hydrates can be used as alternative energy resources, they also pose a danger in terms of global warming. RIT researchers Patricia Taboada-Serrano and Yali Zhang developed a comprehensive model to better validate location of gas-hydrate deposits in marine sediments.

The Image Permanence Institute at RIT has received a grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for an unprecedented research project designed to identify the most cost-efficient and environmentally responsible methods of preparing paper-based collection objects for transit and display while maintaining preservation standards.

For Metaproject 11, senior industrial design students will spend the semester designing products for Staach, which focuses on functional sustainable design. Founded by Seth Eshelman '06 (industrial design/graphic design), the company designs and domestically manufactures sustainable products including furniture, interiors, and built structures.

A team of RIT researchers has been working to blast-clean some 360 door handles from buildings across campus to restore the surface copper. Copper has been found to have antibacterial properties that can kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.

Alissa De Wit-Paul has been added to the lineup of full-time faculty for the RIT Golisano Institute for Sustainability’s Master of Architecture degree program.

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP21) has announced its final selections for the 2020-2021 Community Grants Program.

CTV News talks to Nathan Eddingsaas, associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, about the presence of microplastics in the human body.

The Globe and Mail features work by Christy Tyler, associate professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, and Nathan Eddingsaas, associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science.

CNBC talks to Carlos Diaz-Acosta, associate professor of packaging science, about consumer behavior and food-waste education.

WROC-TV talks to Josh Goldowitz and Scott Wolcott, professors in the Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Environmental Management and Safety, about their research on a cost-effective and sustainable option for wastewater treatment for breweries.