News by Topic: Interdisciplinary Studies

Spectrum News features an RIT panel on police body camera footage and talks to John McCluskey, professor of criminal justice, and student Peyton D'Anthony.

The crown jewel of RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction & Creativity, MAGIC Spell Studios brings together the university’s academic strengths in game design and development, film and animation, and digital media, with a commercialization focus that provides Hollywood-scale virtual production experiences for students and clients.

As students head to class each day, a new showpiece is rising at the center of RIT’s campus. The Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED)—which was first announced in 2017 and funded in part by a $50 million gift from alumnus Austin McChord ’09—is a multi-use complex that will showcase RIT’s technology, the arts, and design. The SHED is on track to open this fall.

RIT Press has added new titles to its two signature monograph series on comics studies and the Arts and Crafts movement: Romanticism in Comics: Faith, Myth, and Mood and The Splendid Disarray of Beauty: The Boys, the Tiles, the Joy of Cathedral Oaks—A study in the Arts and Crafts Community.

Some people categorize themselves as right-brained or left-brained when describing what they excel at—whether they are more analytical and practical, or more creative and artistic. Both sides have their value, and Maddy Schoenfeld ’20 (metals and jewelry design) believes that combining the analytical and creative can elevate a small business.

RIT is offering a new master’s degree in artificial intelligence (AI). The program begins in fall 2023 and enrollment is now open. The Master of Science degree aims to prepare students from diverse educational backgrounds to become well-rounded AI professionals.

WROC-TV talks to Brian Tomaszewski, professor of geographic information systems, and James Fugate, assistant professor in NTID’s Department of Engineering Studies, about their research on improving emergency communications.

The Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) and the renovated Wallace Library will reopen in less than a year. Work has begun to schedule the fall semester classes that will be held for the first time in the SHED complex, and Joe Loffredo, RIT associate vice president for Academic Affairs and registrar, is leading the effort to assign the classrooms in Wallace Library.

Developed and taught by Assistant Professor Peter Pincus, the course Josiah Wedgewood’s Legacy is a unique meld of art history, philosophy, and ceramics education and encourages students of all majors to explore and learn freely through experimentation and trial and error.

Scientists believe bats first transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to humans in December 2019, and while the virus has since evolved into several variants such as delta and omicron, a new study by scientists at RIT indicates the virus is still highly transmissible between mammals.

Essential emergency services play a key role in saving lives when snowstorms blanket the Northeast or a wildfire erupts out West. However, many communities are still being left out and face communication barriers during emergencies. At NTID, a team of researchers is studying how to identify and bridge gaps in emergency management resources and services for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community.

Tina Cannaday Chapman DaCosta ’04 MS, ’14 MFA is using her parents’ life stories to teach important lessons about diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fall 2022, the director of RIT’s Diversity Theater program released Dear Eleanor, her second short film based on her parents’ lives.