News by Topic: Creativity And Innovation

First came COVID-19, then came a massive construction project, and now after more than three-and-half years, RIT’s university library reopens with a new look and a new neighbor.

Turn big dreams into reality. That was just one piece of advice for the newest Rochester Institute of Technology students who attended the New Student Convocation on Aug. 24. The annual event included welcomes from administrators, the new Student Government president, and a lesson in adventure featuring RIT President David Munson.

In what has become a late summer tradition, President David Munson and his wife, Nancy, have returned to the screen with their latest “welcome back” video, this time tasked by a mysterious stranger to search the RIT campus and retrieve the legendary source of its creativity.

Nearly one in six of the more than 3,300 first-year and transfer undergraduates this year received a Performing Arts Scholarship from RIT. That brings the total number of scholars to more than 1,800 in the five years since the program began. The program encourages high school students involved in performing arts to continue their passions at RIT.

Preliminary construction of a modern research facility has been underway since mid-summer. The RIT Research Building, on the southwest side of campus near R Lot, will provide more laboratory space in science, computing, and engineering.

The RIT Tiger returned to the Quarter Mile on Aug. 11, following a three-year sabbatical on the edge of Fountain Park along the path to Global Village. A temporary perch near Hugh L. Carey Hall kept the tiger safe and accessible during the construction of the SHED.

Alumni from RIT’s photography programs joined forces to create a new film, Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

More than 158 students presented research discoveries conducted over the past spring and summer at RIT’s 32nd annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on Aug. 3.

RIT’s Launch Initiative won first place in the Space Dynamics Laboratory Payload Challenge this summer in Las Cruces, N.M. They were among nearly 6,000 students from 159 international collegiate teams at the annual competition that challenges students to launch solid, liquid, or hybrid rockets to altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet.

From building a cleanroom in his family home while he was in high school to becoming an entrepreneur and Ph.D., it is no wonder that RIT alumnus Matt Hartensveld is viewed as a future leader in the microelectronics industry. He was recently named SEMICON West 20 under 30 awardee, given by the organization to recognize the microelectronic industry’s brightest young leaders.

Tickets are available for ROC the Pitch, an annual entrepreneurship competition hosted by RIT’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship. The competition, featuring six local start-ups who will pitch their business plans to guests and a panel of judges, will be held from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at Hyatt Regency Rochester.

RIT’s MAGIC Center and MAGIC Spell Studios has formed a partnership with Foundry, a Rochester-based company whose mission is to empower institutional miners, staking customers, and blockchain entrepreneurs with the tools they need.