News by Topic: Student Experience

Tayton T. Troidl, a fifth-year film and animation student, received the inaugural award for Best Documentary Student Filmmakers: East Region at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Student Film Awards. The award ceremony celebrates African American, Asian American, Latino, and women student directors.

Scientists uncovered what they believe to be the first astronomical map. The discovery, outlined in recent studies published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy and the Classical Quarterly, was made in part thanks to multispectral imaging conducted by researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

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.

Hundreds of millions of people around the globe are engaging in electronic sports, called esports. It’s a billion dollar industry, where fans watch as their favorite professional and amateur players take each other on in some of the most popular video games. Since starting an esports club in 2016, RIT has become one of the nation’s largest and best collegiate esports programs.

Caroline DeLong, professor and undergraduate program director of psychology, and a team of researchers at RIT and Carnegie Mellon University are exploring the idea of engaging children with STEM skills through the lens of interacting with animals. They are working with a group of olive baboons at Rochester’s Seneca Park Zoo.

During the 15 weeks between spring and fall semester, RIT students are finding ways to embrace new challenges. Some are taking the stage and performing. Others are winning club championships. For many, summer is a time to get work experience and participate in research projects, traveling abroad, and helping others while pursuing their passions.

Fifty years ago, Title IX set the stage for change. But the reason why RIT now has more women faculty, administrators, coaches, and exemplary students is that women acted. Prior generations of women invested their careers to make RIT a better version of itself, including winning two transformative grants from the National Science Foundation focused on gender equity.

New data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed that the structures of galaxies in the early universe were much more diverse and mature than previously known. RIT Associate Professor Jeyhan Kartaltepe said that JWST’s ability to see faint high redshift galaxies in sharper detail than Hubble allowed the team of researchers to resolve more features and see a wide mix of galaxies.

The best white hat cybersecurity students will work to phish and exploit their way to a championship trophy at the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) global finals Jan. 13–15. The event is the culmination of the world’s largest offense-based collegiate cybersecurity competition, hosted by RIT.

Eight first-year RIT students have been selected to become the university’s first Disability Leadership Scholars to advocate and to educate about disabilities.

Students shared artwork that communicated social issues that are important to them during the Sociological Imagination Art Fair, part of Assistant Professor Wenjie Liao’s Foundations of Sociology courses.

Microsystems engineering Ph.D. student Katelynn Fleming is hard at work making new discoveries on the moon. But her ultimate goal is to use technology to help all of us on Earth. Fleming recently won a 2022 NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) award and will work at NASA centers as part of the visiting technologist experiences.