News by Topic: Co-Op And Careers

Commencement ceremonies for more than 4,100 RIT students begin today and continue through Sunday, enabling graduating students to don their regalia, walk across a stage, and be acknowledged by administrators for their milestone achievements despite a global pandemic.

More than 50 students are expected to earn their Ph.D. degrees by the end of June. The hooding ceremony, which will also include Ph.D. recipients in the class of 2020, is May 15.

Registration is open for RIT’s four summer sessions, where more than 350 courses in over 90 disciplines will be offered. Undergraduate and graduate students can take advantage of two five-week sessions and a 10-week session. Graduate students can also enroll in a targeted seven-week session.

Nearly 60 students will graduate this May from the College of Health Sciences and Technology’s clinical programs—physician assistant BS/MS, diagnostic medical sonography BS, and the echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) certificate program. These students spend the final year of their programs immersed in practical work experience at clinics and hospitals in the region.

Laura Discavage originally wanted to go to an out-of-state college, but RIT’s engineering program intrigued her. She learned about RIT while growing up from her mom, Maria Burgio ’87 (computer science). And after a conversation with a family friend about his work as an industrial engineer, she applied to RIT, and found the community she was seeking.

While she’ll look back on the pandemic as a most challenging time, graduating new media design student Stephanie Liu also takes pride in knowing how well she rose to the occasion. At the culmination of her internship with Amazon Web Services, the Chicago native was offered a full-time position as a user experience (UX) designer, starting in July.

Yudong Yan, a 2021 graduate of RIT’s Master of Architecture program, which uniquely fuses architecture with sustainability within the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, has landed his first job with Strabala + Architects.

Kamille Davis may have followed her brothers to RIT, but she is a leader in her own right. As the third in her family to graduate from the mechanical engineering technology program, Davis set her own pace early—excelling in classes, on the basketball court, in the laboratory, and in the community.

Multidisciplinary Senior Design is a required, two semester, design-based course for engineering students. Currently, more than 400 students are working on 80-plus projects.

Undergraduates aren’t the only students taking advantage of RIT’s co-op and internship program. Across the university, Ph.D. students are securing prestigious work experiences to provide important gateways to careers in industry, foundations, and government.

The impact of COVID-19 on national and global supply chains has dominated discussions in boardrooms and at dinner tables since the beginning of the pandemic. While this unprecedented global health crisis has created many challenges, it has also presented RIT faculty and students with opportunities to apply theoretical supply-chain scenarios to solve real-world problems.

A new addition to the heart of Rochester’s Downtown Innovation Zone—RIT’s Venture Creations technology business incubator—is designed to enhance the synergy between the vibrancy and resources of the city and the region’s newest start-up companies.