News

Three Saunders programs prepare students to pioneer innovation using technology and leadership.

RIT will confer honorary degrees to four outstanding individuals at its 2022 commencement ceremony on May 6: Kimberly Bryant, founder of the nonprofit organization Black Girls CODE; Josephine King Olsen, former director of the Peace Corps; G. Peter Jemison, a member of the Heron clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians; and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine.

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.

RIT’s Albert J. Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, created to help students invent and problem solve through experiential learning, offers multidisciplinary student teams a stipend for the unique opportunity to examine their businesses and, for some, move them to the next level of development.

Accomplished alumni are returning to campus to discuss the future of technology, art, and design as part of the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival on April 23. The Imagine RIT Futurists Symposium is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Wegmans Theater, RIT MAGIC Center. It will also be available to watch as a livestream.

Circle Optics, a member company of RIT’s Venture Creations technology business incubator, has earned two significant investments totaling $800,000 to further advance its panoramic imaging technology. As a result, the company enters the second quarter with $2.5 million in total contract awards.

RIT’s College of Art and Design hosted a dedication ceremony on Friday marking the recent completion of a “transformational” renovation of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and honoring the alumnus whose gift made it possible. The event honored Chance Wright ’18, ’19 and his mother, Pamela Mars Wright, whose $3.5 million gift fueled the renovation and reconfiguration of the third floor of Gannett Hall.

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.

Leaf Corcoran ’11 (computer science), who founded itch.io—an online marketplace for indie game developers in 2014—is one of the key organizers behind an online campaign that has raised more than $5.6 million to benefit the people of Ukraine.

More than 2,200 RIT students donned business attire to meet with recruiters from 160 prospective local, regional, and national employers during Wednesday’s university-wide career fair inside the Gordon Field House.

Two member companies at RIT’s Venture Creations business incubator are continuing their upward trajectory with the help of two multimillion-dollar investments: Casana, a healthcare technology firm that is reinventing in-home health monitoring, and Owl Autonomous Imaging (Owl AI), which is developing monocular 3D thermal imaging and ranging solutions for automotive active safety systems.

Saunders College of Business is increasing their efforts to promote women in business with the Women’s Leadership Summit, which aims to connect women, allies, alumni, and current and prospective students from the RIT and NTID community and to allow them to share career journeys and to develop new leadership skills and mindsets.