News by Topic: Alumni

Mohammed Mostajo-Radji ’11 (biotechnology) was appointed as Bolivia’s first ambassador for science, technology and innovation in February. He is typically based out of Silicon Valley, helping to encourage technology investment in Bolivia. But on March 19 he flew back home at the request of Bolivia’s interim president, Jeanine Áñez, to help coordinate his country’s efforts to combat COVID-19’s spread.

RIT and SUNY ESF researchers received a patent for green wall technology that will provide craft breweries cost-effective and sustainable options for wastewater treatment.

Founded by a group of RIT Alumni, the grassroots organization looks to put homemade masks and other protective equipment in the hands of Western New York front line workers.

A game design and development company, a mobile app that identifies resources for mental health support, software that monitors power line losses and line health, and a company developing an affordable wind turbine for building rooftops are the newest members of RIT’s Venture Creations technology business incubator.

RIT plays a starring role in the April virtual wedding of Zahal Kohistani ’15 and former Tiger Thomas Doolittle. The couple met while they were students living in Global Village. Their first date was at SpringFest. They got engaged in front of Salsarita’s. They celebrated their engagement at the Joseph M. Lobozzo Alumni House. And they were married on Zoom by Kelly Redder, executive director of the Lobozzo Alumni House.

Victoria Maung ’20 MFA (medical illustration) is capping her college career with a Fulbright grant that will give her an international experience and a connection to her Southeast Asian roots. With the help of RIT Global, Maung, won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach high school in Malaysia.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 37: Printing, a storied industry, continues to see an evolution. RIT alumnus Henry Freedman and Professors Robert Eller and Bruce Myers discuss the strength of the industry, the rise of inkjet printing and the role RIT plays in developing professionals who can take the printing industry to the next level.

The Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT is marking Geek Pride Day with a public online lecture combining two RIT specialties that draw students from all over the world—video games and graphic communication.

All current RIT graduate students are invited to pit their problem-solving skills against each other in a university-wide competition. The Office of Graduate Education is holding online semifinals for the Graduate 3-Minute Presentation Competition. Contestants are asked to address a societal problem in a three-minute YouTube video, using their research, thesis or project, or creative work.

LaVerne McQuiller Williams, senior associate dean of RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, has been named interim COLA dean effective June 1. McQuiller Williams succeeds Dean James Winebrake, who is leaving RIT on June 30 to become provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. 

The Democrat and Chronicle features Arkady Belozovsky '94 (applied computer technology), '97 (small business management), a sign language interpreter for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus briefings.

RIT photojournalism alumna Chloe Coleman ’13 was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team announced last week. Coleman, a photo editor with The Washington Post since 2014, helped the newspaper staff win the top prize in Explanatory Reporting.