News by Topic: Creativity And Innovation

The speedy “elevator pitch” has become an essential component of selling one’s business idea to potential investors. RIT’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship recently gave local entrepreneurs the opportunity to compete—in five minutes or less—for the grand prize in the Pull Up & ROC the Pitch competition.

Kenzie Moore, a fifth-year electrical engineering technology major from Los Gatos, Calif., volunteered with the Engineering Up afterschool program, partnered with the Rochester City School District (RCSD), which engages K-12 students in STEM-related fields.

A pair of RIT students who played a rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” on their cellos won best performance and a $1,000 prize in this year’s Ovation: RIT Performing Arts Showcase, held Friday night in Ingle Auditorium.

Students in Campus Ecology explored how culture, art, science, and design influence their views and understandings of nature. They also discussed how interdisciplinary collaboration and leaning into the intersection of technology, the arts, and design could improve communication and understanding of ecological concepts and sustainability goals.

RIT’s makerspace capacity has grown exponentially from a crowded room on the fourth floor in an engineering building to three floors in the centrally located SHED. New last fall, the SHED complex showcases different kinds of making and learning under one roof—in workshops, performing arts spaces, and extra-large classrooms designed for active learning.

An engineering researcher at RIT has discovered the means to process data using DNA. Amlan Ganguly, computer engineering department head in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, and researchers at the University of Minnesota, designed a microfluidic integrated circuit to perform complex operations through artificial neural network computations on data stored in DNA.

The Rochester Beacon talks to Tiffany Brodner, executive director, Student Hall for Exploration and Development, about the new Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) and its impact as the campus' creative hub.

The ancient astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first scientist to document the theory that the sun is the center of the universe in his book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). That first edition book, along with a delicate manuscript from astronomer Johannes de Sacrobosco, that is contrary to Copernicus’ groundbreaking theory, has now found a permanent home at Rochester Institute of Technology.

RIT students will have a chance to show their talents and compete for cash prizes during Ovation: RIT Performing Arts Showcase, from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 2 in Ingle Auditorium in the Student Alumni Union, as a part of FreezeFest.

Members of RIT Dubai’s Racing Tigers take a life-long passion in sailing, pair it with academic knowledge, and then compete on the world stage, all while working to create a sustainable future with clean-energy technologies.

More than 500 incoming students this academic year received a performing arts scholarship, which were created to enable musicians, dancers, actors, and even students with experience in technical theater to continue to pursue their passion for performance while at RIT. To date, some 1,800 students have received scholarships in the five years they have been available.

RIT is set to welcome researchers and educators from across the U.S. and North and South America during the 2024 a2ru national conference. The conference will take place Nov. 14-16, and session proposals are being accepted online with a deadline of March 15 to submit.