News by Topic: Interdisciplinary Studies

RIT will confer a record 69 Ph.D. degrees during commencement May 12, marking a 53 percent increase from last year.

Tiffany Brodner was named RIT’s inaugural executive director of the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED), following a national search. She assumed her new position in April. She will work closely with Michael Buffalin IV, who was appointed director of RIT’s makerspace within the SHED.

Thousands of visitors at the 2023 Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival got to see what’s on the horizon in the areas of technology, the arts, and design. Festivalgoers traversed RIT’s campus on Saturday, exploring more than 350 exhibits.

When the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) opens in the fall, the multi-use facility will create an entirely new learning environment for RIT faculty and students alike.

A new student agency called Technically Speaking is providing a valuable opportunity for RIT students to get first-hand experience in marketing and public relations. The group’s first major client was RIT’s Division of Marketing and Communications, and one of their projects was to capture the behind-the-scenes work of students getting ready for Imagine RIT.

Associate Professor Trent Hergenrader has led two study abroad trips to Portugal in the past, but this year he wanted to try something different. In January, he and 22 students traveled to Spain as part of a unique creative writing course. 

This year, in addition to MAGIC Spell Studios’ decade-long tradition of sending teams to the Game Developers Conference (GDC), it sent teams to PAX East for the first time.

Artificial intelligence, robots, glass blowing, drones, cybersecurity tours, and performing arts are just a sampling of what lies in store for the thousands of visitors expected at this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 29.

This year’s Imagine RIT festival will have a strong international presence thanks in part to three teams from RIT’s global campuses who will fly to the U.S. to present exhibits. Teams from RIT Croatia, RIT Dubai, and RIT Kosovo won a competition to present their exhibits in the Gordon Field House. 

RIT and the Seneca Park Zoo Society will hold a special event at the Port of Rochester from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 15, to educate members of the public on how they can address plastic pollution and showcase some of the latest technology in the field.

RIT is offering a graduate tuition scholarship to recent alumni seeking to expand their career potential through the university’s graduate programs. Alumni can enhance their skill set for the new economy through master’s degrees that build upon collaboration, analytical thinking, complex problem solving, and flexibility.

Students from engineering, game design, and 3D design will travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston April 3-5 to demonstrate PLANETS, a portable sensory device to help astronauts recover normal balance and movement on earth after an extended stay in space.