News by Topic: Creativity And Innovation

Since opening six years ago, RIT’s Battery Prototyping Center has nearly doubled its research and development projects with battery manufacturers from Boston to Silicon Valley. More industries are exploring designs for commercial quality lithium-ion batteries and seeking experts at the center to provide research about the development of different styles of batteries.

For RIT students, the learning doesn’t stop when classes end. In 2021, three student teams took what they’re learning and used it to win national and international competitions in cybersecurity, racing, and design.

When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)—the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope—becomes operational this year, Jeyhan Kartaltepe will co-lead a team of nearly 50 researchers to map the earliest structures of the universe.

Three faculty members who chose to start their research careers at RIT received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards in 2021. Their research aims to advance the foundations of machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, and clean energy.

RIT is contributing to Rochester’s revitalization efforts in a significant way, bringing a creative energy and economic development acumen translating into important arts, cultural, educational, and economic opportunities for the city.

RIT business students can expect major changes to Max Lowenthal Hall, home of Saunders College of Business, after the completion of a more than $20 million expansion and renovation project in fall 2023.

RIT has an emerging new hotspot for interdisciplinary research about 25 minutes from the main campus. The Tait Preserve includes a 60-acre lake and a private mile of Irondequoit Creek adjacent to Ellison Park, offering endless opportunities for research, education, and conservation activities.

Gap Year Entrepreneurship Fellowships allow students to take time off from classes to focus on their growing business, new product, or compelling social innovation opportunity. In addition to the finances, RIT supports the students with mentoring and progress toward a degree.

When we drafted a new vision statement for RIT’s Strategic Plan in 2018, the realities of a global pandemic were only a hypothetical part of our crisis training and preparation. While the university continues to carefully navigate the challenge of COVID-19, we have simultaneously never taken our eye off the plan’s goals and objectives as we envision our future.

RIT today announced the official launch of its online Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degree. RIT’s new online degree is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board and is being offered in partnership with 2U Inc., the parent company of global online learning platform edX.

Wallace Library’s first floor is undergoing extensive demolition and renovation this winter, and the makeover will be stunning. The library building will reopen to the RIT community in fall 2023, along with completion of the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) and the Monroe Hall renovation.

Forbes features Sean Petterson '13 (industrial design), CEO of StrongArm Technologies.