News by Topic: Interdisciplinary Studies

The TAD Competition features 22 projects developed by current RIT students that have the potential to enrich many disciplines and expand the boundaries of technology, the arts, and design.

After going virtual for 2021, the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival is back in person and virtually, planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, on the RIT campus in Henrietta and online at the Imagine RIT website.

Walking into the extra-large classrooms in the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (the SHED) will be a new experience for students and faculty alike when the multi-use complex opens its doors in fall 2023. Faculty can preview the new learning environment during the 2022-2023 academic year by teaching in a large-capacity learning space designed to simulate the new active learning spaces in the SHED.

The course Honors Science and the Law: Biological, Ethical and Legal Perspectives emphasizes how science permeates the profession of law and concludes with a mock trial, giving students the opportunity to use scientific evidence like cell phone triangulation, medical assessments, and crash reconstruction in the context of a real case.

RIT is creating a School of Performing Arts to offer additional creative opportunities for thousands of students who wish to pursue their passions in performance while majoring in a range of other fields. The new school will be housed within RIT’s College of Liberal Arts beginning July 1, and a national search is underway for a director. 

Leigh Rubin, the syndicated “Rubes” cartoonist and RIT’s “cartoonist-in-residence” returns to the campus in person after a two-year virtual residency due to the pandemic. He’ll be speaking with students and offering a presentation and Q and A session, “Imagination through the eyes of RIT Cartoonist-in-Residence Leigh Rubin,” on April 19.

From robot waiters to river otters, RIT’s Graduate Showcase will cover a wide variety of topics representing graduate scholarship from the university’s Henrietta and global campuses. The symposium, held April 7, will feature oral presentations in the morning and poster presentations, demonstrations, and visual exhibitions in the afternoon.

RIT will highlight graduate student scholarship during the 14th annual Graduate Education Week and Showcase, April 4–8. The theme of this year’s symposium is “Redefining Possibilities–Graduate Students on the Move.”

RIT’s team will develop the technology needed for a point-of-care diagnostics system built on integrated photonics. Capable of accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, the new system could reduce the need for expensive equipment and specialized expertise to better inform care decisions in underserved, resource-limited communities.

Working with the city’s departments of Data Analytics and Environmental Services’ staff, undergraduate engineering students built a prototype solar monitoring system. It will provide needed information about snow build up on the city’s busiest streets and provide real-time data to staff to open high-traffic areas safely and efficiently.

The National Institutes of Health are funding RIT scientists to explore vesicular stomatitis virus’s (VSV) potential for treating prostate cancer. Associate Professor Maureen Ferran from the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences secured a three-year, $451,718 Research Enhancement Award (R15) grant from the NIH to investigate prostate cancer cells’ susceptibility to the virus.

Organizers of RIT’s Creative Industry Days saw an increased number of companies, students, and industry participants over last year, as the 17th annual event went virtual for the second consecutive year.