News by Topic: Interdisciplinary Studies

RIT’s Ph.D. programs continue to grow. Today, RIT enrolls more than 450 doctoral students, including a record 112 new Ph.D. students who started last fall.

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.

The trial-and-error process of artisan crafts like throwing clay on a pottery wheel or carving a wood sculpture is something that students outside of RIT’s art and design programs may not be familiar with. Through a new program called RIT Art Experience (ArtEx), students from across the university can enjoy hands-on creative exploration with a variety of artistic media ranging from ceramics and wood to molten metal and glass.

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.

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.

Photos from past internships, events, and research projects at Genesee Country Village & Museum stretch from floor to ceiling in the new Wehrheim Gallery on campus. Located on the first-floor of the new Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED), the Wehrheim Gallery will be used to highlight work done as part of RIT’s partnership with GCV&M.

Come explore inside the SHED (Student Hall for Exploration and Development) during an open house for the RIT community.

An interdisciplinary team of RIT students finished No. 1 in North America and third globally in the Bloomberg 2023 Global Trading Challenge, marking the first time the university has participated in the international competition.

That Damn Goat, a game created by nearly 60 students and faculty at RIT, is now available for purchase on Steam. The students and faculty who have worked on the game come from across RIT’s nine colleges, making it a truly multidisciplinary effort.

Resistance Mapping is a local, collaborative digital humanities project focused on how Monroe County, N.Y., has been shaped by histories of institutional racism and collective community resistance. Scholars and students affiliated with RIT’s humanities, computing, and design program and the University of Rochester’s Digital Scholarship at River Campus Libraries helped create a website to host the educational content.

The Athenaeum Games—a domestic science fair held Dec. 7 in the RIT Archives—showcased 19th century skills and technology that RIT students learned about in the class Hands on History: Examining RIT’s Domestic Science and Arts Program.

With its five extra-large classrooms, seven makerspaces, performing arts studios, and glass box theater, the $120 million SHED complex is made for a new generation of RIT students who see themselves as makers and doers, performers, and active learners.