News by Topic: Grants

Two RIT students have won Google Ph.D. Fellowships for their work as some of the most promising young academics in the world. Emily Kuang and Allahsera Auguste Tapo—both in the computing and information sciences Ph.D. program—will receive full tuition, a stipend, and Google research mentorship as part of their fellowships for up to three years.

RIT business students and faculty have experienced a number of major enhancements to Max Lowenthal Hall since the start of the fall semester, as the home of Saunders College of Business nears completion of a multi-million dollar expansion and renovation project.

RIT was recently awarded $2 million as part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” program to focus on creating jobs in the high-demand areas of infrastructure and transportation.

RIT is receiving $500,000 from the Google Cybersecurity Clinics Fund to train new cybersecurity professionals, while providing services for public good at the same time. The funding from Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, is part of a $20 million collaboration with the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics that Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced in June.

RIT reached another record year in sponsored research awards, attaining more than $94 million in fiscal year 2022-2023. Some key areas of research include nanotechnology, optics and imaging science, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, and growth in life sciences and health fields.

Gabriel Diaz, associate professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, and his team are aiming to understand the effects of cortical blindness on the processing of visual information used to guide behavior, like driving a vehicle. Cortical blindness affects nearly half a million stroke patients in the United States each year.

Researchers are improving non-invasive treatment options for degenerative disc disease, an ailment that impacts 3 million adults yearly in the U.S. Using state-of-the-art gene editing technology in mesenchymal stem cells, the researchers will add to the growing field of regenerative medicine, the process of producing cellular therapies to alleviate pain and lack of mobility.

Qian Xue, associate professor of mechanical engineering in RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering and recent NSF CAREER Awardee, is exploring how the varied sizes, shapes, and directions of whiskers on harbor seals can correlate to better sensor technologies. 

Recent graduate Mikey Gambino ’23 (ceramics and industrial design) has been named as one of the 2023 Windgate-Lamar Fellows and received a $15,000 grant to fund his studio ceramic practice. Every year, the Center for Craft’s Windgate-Lamar Fellowship selects 10 graduating college seniors with exemplary skill in craft for the fellowship award.

RIT Certified, the university’s professional training and workforce development division, is marking a year since the organization’s launch last summer. Dennis Di Lorenzo, executive director, provides an update on RIT Certified’s growing number of program offerings and where the future of workforce and professional education is headed.

RIT is one of 34 U.S. colleges and universities to be awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) Program. RIT received $35,000 for its initiative European Deaf Culture: A Pilot Program in Community Engaged Learning.

Researchers from five colleges at RIT are testing a new way to deliver mental health therapy to people struggling with alcohol/drug addiction and aggressive behavior. RIT is running a randomized clinical trial with the Food and Drug Administration to test the therapy platform “RITchCBT” as a tool for treating people whose substance use disorders have led to intimate partner violence.