News by Topic: Technology, The Arts, And Design

Students from across the College of Art and Design gathered to showcase their wearable sculptures on Oct. 5 as part of the annual Charrette student design challenge. Each year, students enrolled in foundations courses within CAD are asked to create a wearable sculpture over the course of one week. Look for RIT designs in the 2023 Rochester Fashion Week lineup on Thursday.

Jake Adams, a lecturer in RIT’s School of Interactive Games and Media, mixes his backgrounds in fine arts and interactive media to create digital holographic comics, or holocomics. Using a specialized Lightfield holographic display from the company Looking Glass, the comic books become 3D holograms with sound, animation, and interactivity.

Tom Connor, former vice president of creative marketing at Walt Disney Co., has been appointed assistant provost at RIT. In addition, Connor, an alumnus of RIT’s School of Film and Animation, has also been named the Paul and Francena Miller Chair in International Education and will serve as a professor of practice in RIT’s College of Art and Design.

Dozens of young scholars will convene at RIT next year as the university hosts the next a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit. The student participants will work in interdisciplinary teams from across the a2ru network to create arts-integrative projects responding to the theme “PLAY: The Impact of Play on How We Create and Relate to the World.”

Nearly 4,000 RIT students looking for co-ops, internships, or full-time employment are attending RIT’s University-wide Career Fair today in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. Recruiters from more than 250 local, regional, and national employers are on hand, including General Dynamics, National Grid, Moderna, Redcom, Penske, Liberty Pumps, Wegmans Food Markets, and Samsung, among others.

On Sept. 29, fourth-year packaging science major Kassidy Burrows, along with fellow packaging science majors Baylee West and Daniel Pinigin, will travel to Binghamton University to present their research at the “Keep it Fresh!” Student Packaging Research Symposium.

Many creators are hesitant to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) as part of the artistic process. Opting to dive in head first, industrial designers Juan Noguera and Paolo Cardini are interested in the new technology’s potential to provide more autonomy for traditional artisans across the globe.

Hundreds of people attended a performance by an RIT-related act during the first week of the 12-day Rochester Fringe Festival, with students, faculty, and staff contributing music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, in downtown Rochester. And nearly 20 other RIT-related performances are scheduled later this week.

Comics fans have a super friend in RIT and a new place to pay homage to legendary DC Comics artist and educator Joe Kubert. The Kubert Lounge and Gallery opens to the public this fall at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection in RIT’s university library. Marvel Comics artist and RIT alumnus Adam Kubert ’81 donated his father’s archive to inspire young artists.

RIT is ranked 98th as a “National University” in the 2024 edition of U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, jumping seven spots from last year. This list of 443 includes the nation’s best research universities that also offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.

Gardening, piracy, and contemporary art are just three of the varied topics students will delve into over this semester as part of RIT’s General Education curriculum.

In his welcome to the community for the start of a new academic year, RIT President David Munson asserted the university is well positioned to thrive while laying out “challenges, opportunities, and vision” for RIT’s future.