
- RIT community has free access to Bloomberg.com—Here’s how to registerRIT students, staff, and faculty now have free access to Bloomberg.com through January 31, 2026. Use your RIT email address to complete registration for the service, which provides access to important business and tech news, daily updates, and analysis. Subscribers also get access to Bloomberg TV live streaming, radio, videos, podcasts, and special content. This service is valued at $149 per year for an individual subscription. “Bloomberg.com is a premier platform for business, finance, and technology news, offering a wealth of resources that extend far beyond Wall Street,” said Hao Zhang, professor and the director of BS Finance program and MS Finance program. “For example, it delivers cutting-edge coverage on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, sustainability, space exploration, and digital innovation—topics that resonate strongly with RIT faculty and students in STEM disciplines. With RIT’s free access to Bloomberg.com, students and faculty/staff members across disciplines can leverage this resource to broaden their understanding of market-driven technological shifts and stay ahead in today's increasingly interdisciplinary world.” This complimentary access is a result of an interdisciplinary team of RIT students winning the 2024 Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge last fall. Evan Macko (finance), Carter Ptak (software engineering), and Rosa Kauffman (Japanese) comprised the winning “Tigers Trading” team. The trio outlasted a field which included 2,453 teams from 396 universities in 46 countries conducting simulated investing over six weeks. The student team’s participation in this trading competition was made possible by the Bloomberg Terminals donated by Mr. Frank Sklarsky, RIT Trustee and RIT’s 2024 Outstanding Alumnus. These terminals are industry-standard tools used by leading financial firms. Through these terminals, Bloomberg also offers access to a selection of certificate courses via the Bloomberg for Education portal, including Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC), Environmental Social Governance (ESG), and Bloomberg Finance Fundamentals (BFF). These courses are self-paced modules that provide guidance on navigating financial markets and teach core industry terminology. Students, regardless of major, with access to Bloomberg Terminals on campus also have access to these certificates. For more information and to register, go to https://infoguides.rit.edu/bloomberg.
- Graduate student creates educational guide about chemotherapy side effects for Colorado children’s hospitalCancer-free for nearly 20 years, RIT graduate student Bryona Hamilton seeks to educate patients, survivors, and family members about potential chemotherapy side effects that can occur decades after treatment. Hamilton will graduate this spring from RIT’s medical illustration MFA program after completion of her educational guide for the Children’s Hospital Colorado HOPE Cancer Survivorship Program in Aurora, Colo. “There is a lot of change and a lot of unknowns that happen as a pediatric cancer patient graduates to a teen survivor and then an adult survivor, and that led me to want to make an educational pamphlet for the HOPE clinic about how chemotherapy can cause heart damage,” Hamilton said. As a child, Hamilton was treated at Children’s Hospital Colorado for the blood cancer, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or ALL. Diagnosed before her second birthday, Hamilton underwent chemotherapy treatment until she was 5 years old.Bryona Hamilton This image shows Bryon Hamilton’s process work and the final heart illustration she created for the cover of an educational guide for cancer survivors. Her thesis project educates people about a side effect that can weaken the heart years after cancer treatment. The therapy drugs, Anthracyclines, can damage heart muscle cells and prevent the left ventricle from efficiently pumping blood from the heart, Hamilton said. She and other survivors rely on periodic echocardiograms, or cardiac ultrasounds, to monitor their heart health. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Hamilton saw the need for science communicators to translate complex medical information to the general public. With an undergraduate degree in cellular and molecular biology and a lifelong passion for art, Hamilton enrolled in RIT’s medical illustration MFA program, with an interest in pediatric cancer. “I think the best part of the program is my peers,” she said. “I had always felt a little outside of science and outside of art because I had a foot in both doors. To be able to come to a collective space where I’m around individuals who share that experience, that's really valuable to me.” Funds from an endowment established by Penny Kris-Etherton ’71 (food administration) for College of Health Sciences and Technology students will cover the debut printing costs for Hamilton’s pamphlet, called “Caring for Your Heart During Survivorship After Pediatric Cancer: A visual education guide on chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity.” A QR code printed on the pamphlet will lead to a 3D model of a heart cell that Hamilton built as an extra layer of education, she said. Bryona Hamilton This 3D modeled heart muscle cell shows where damage can occur from cancer therapy. “People can scan the QR code and it takes them to an interactive model of a heart muscle cell (cardiomyocyte),” she said. “They can spin it around and click on it. It gives them that visual and an anatomical understanding of what is being impacted.” Hamilton’s thesis advisory team includes her former pediatric oncologist, Dr. Brian Greffe, medical director of the Children’s Hospital Colorado HOPE Cancer Survivorship Program, who serves as her scientific content adviser. “Dr. Greffe helps answer my questions about the research,” she said. “He has helped me tailor the graphics and narrow the language for a very specific audience. It has been great to talk with him now as an adult because he treated me as a child. It’s been rewarding.” Hamilton hopes the materials she creates for the clinic will foster communication between patients and their care team. “I think it’s important for patients to advocate for themselves,” Hamilton said. “Cancer can make you feel lost sometimes. Equipping patients with knowledge, I’m hoping, is kind of like giving them a lantern.”
- Students explore leadership roles in sustainability through RIT pilot programJade Lewis did not expect to spend a weekday morning on a casual walk in the woods, searching for maple trees. The first-year environmental science major from Scranton, Pa., was standing alongside a group of students as an instructor pointed out subtle differences in leaf shape and bark structure. They were learning about maple sugaring, a process in which sap is collected and made into maple syrup, and how large-scale production impacts the environment. “At first, I wasn’t sure how this connected to sustainability,” Lewis said. “But then we started talking about the maple sugaring industry and it really made me see how everything ties back.” For Lewis, moments like this highlight the effectiveness of the RIT Climate and Sustainability Leadership Program. which gives incoming students the tools to eventually lead the charge in sustainability and climate action. In its inaugural year, the program begins with an orientation at the start of the fall semester and lasts throughout the academic year. It offers an experiential learning approach through interactive workshops, conversations with sustainability advocates, and hands-on activities that challenge students to think critically about sustainability challenges and solutions. The group is carefully selected by RIT Sustainability and comes from a range of academic disciplines, reflecting the idea that sustainability is a universal issue that intersects with business, technology, design, and beyond. “This program, like many great things at RIT, was designed with a cross-disciplinary approach in mind,” said Neha Sood, director of Sustainability. “Our desire is for students to understand they don’t need to have ‘sustainability’ in their degree program title to make meaningful, positive impact. We believe everyone can play a role in sustainability and climate action work.” Before joining the Climate and Sustainability Leadership Program, Martin Bassett understood the concept of climate change and sustainability, but it wasn’t at the forefront of his life. The mechanical engineering student from Fort Lee, N.J., applied for the program on a whim. Within weeks of the joining, his perspective began to shift as he met people from various backgrounds.Provided First year student Jade Lewis, center, enjoys a day of kayaking on Canadice Lake with Enid Cardinal, Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning and Sustainability, right, and other members of the Climate and Sustainability Leadership Program. Students learned about the history of the Finger Lakes and its significance as the source of freshwater for Rochester. “There are people from all over—computer science majors, business students, even someone from Alaska,” said Bassett. “I don’t think I’d have met these people otherwise.” “It’s interesting to hear different perspectives,” Lewis said. “Even though we all cared about sustainability, we like to think about it in different ways.” Hands-on opportunities give students an escape from the typical cadences of classwork and a chance to explore the Greater Rochester region. Along with learning about maple syrup production, the group has participated in gardening projects at the Tait Preserve and kayaking on Canadice Lake. “I didn’t know much about gardening, but we learned about the area and how sustainability ties into it,” Bassett said. “It was cool to actually plant something and see sustainability in action instead of just talking about it in a classroom setting.” On a recent trip, the group went on a tour of Rochester, visiting the site of the future High Falls State Park in Rochester’s downtown area, the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park, and the M.K. Ghandi Institute for Nonviolence. The experience provided another opportunity for students to understand how social and economic issues affect sustainability. “Sustainability can often feel unapproachable to those who aren't directly involved in it,” said Spencer Griebel, a fourth-year cybersecurity and computing and information technologies major and student adviser to the program. “Getting a group of students from a wide variety of backgrounds and introducing them to local community-led sustainability initiatives has led to some great discussion and self-discovery. I think our program is uniquely suited to inspire change-makers by encouraging all types of students to get involved.” “I always thought the science was the important part,” Lewis admitted. “These trips have helped me to understand how much sustainability is shaped by economics, policy, and how people interact with the environment. We’ve learned a lot about local efforts this year and its taught me to show up, both in Rochester and in my community back in Scranton.” For Bassett, one of the biggest takeaways so far has been the opportunity to go outside of his comfort zone and add sustainability into his career goals. “Sustainability is such a relevant topic—especially since I’m studying engineering,” he said. “It’s opened a whole new industry for me to explore. It’s a great way to get my foot in the door for sustainability-focused companies, even in industries like oil and gas that are shifting toward greener solutions. Climate change and global warming affect everyone, so having a program like this is important.”
- Interdisciplinary collaborations drive innovation in cultural heritage preservationRIT’s interdisciplinary collaborations enrich research across the university and beyond. Two of these collaborative projects recently received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of a total $22.6 million in grants given to support humanities projects across the nation.Provided Juilee Decker, David Messinger, and other collaborators developed a low-cost multispectral imaging system for historic artifacts (MISHA) during a previous NEH grant project. Here, the pair discuss the system with their team of three undergraduate students who work in their Cultural Heritage Imaging Lab. Many of the grants—including the two received by RIT—make “significant investments in the fields of conservation science research and training to help find better ways to preserve materials and collections,” according to the NEH press announcement. Emma Richardson, director of research for RIT’s Image Permanence Institute (IPI), and Changfeng Ge, professor in the Department of Packaging and Graphic Media Science, received $342,000 to support their investigation into the application of phase change materials (PCMs) in collections care. Juilee Decker, professor and director of the museum studies program, and David Messinger, professor and Xerox Chair in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, received nearly $350,000 to support community education and training in multispectral imaging for historical artifacts, marking the next phase of their ongoing work to develop a low-cost multispectral imaging system, MISHA. Sustainable innovation in collections care Ge and Richardson aim to find a cost- and energy-efficient solution to climate control needs for historic artifacts and archival materials by exploring the use of PCMs as a sustainable preventative conservation measure for temperature control. They first collaborated on a research project aimed at assessing the performance of sealed frame packages used to transit paper-based objects. The data indicated that big swings in temperature presented the most significant change within the microclimate, which was contrary to the field’s widely held assumption that humidity posed the greatest threat to objects during transit. Because the data was unexpected, Richardson and her team consulted Ge’s knowledge of packaging science. That collaboration inspired them to work together on this new project to explore how PCMs might provide a solution to microclimate control in museums, libraries, and archives. “PCMs are used a lot in medical and pharmaceutical packaging. Some of those products, like vaccines, need to maintain a temperature between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius,” said Ge, co-principal investigator. “The temperatures in a transit can change drastically from day to night, and seasonally. PCMs help us control the microenvironment in that packaging.” Richardson emphasized that not all objects are vulnerable to fluctuations in temperature. The goal of this research is to provide guidelines and flexibility for sustainably maintaining acceptable environmental conditions for storage, display, and transit of at-risk objects. “Historically, the field of preservation has attempted to maintain near-constant temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius and 50 percent relative humidity surrounding objects, but it is very expensive to maintain these conditions, and it comes at an environmental cost,” said Richardson, co-principal investigator. “However, the vast majority of museum and archive collections can be safely exposed to some degree of dynamic change to their environment, and we’re very keen to ensure that people understand that some change is fine, but it is dependent on the context and sensitivity of the objects at hand.” Some of the variables they will test include determining which PCMs, if any, would be suitable for use in collections care and preservation; examining the effectiveness of this application of PCMs over time; and simulating short-term temperature changes in a variety of microclimates that could be seen in the field, including sealed frame shipping packaging, vitrine displays, and storage enclosures. At the end of the funding period, Ge and Richardson aim to provide cost-effectiveness and risk analyses to inform guidelines for adoption by collections care professionals, as well as an online webinar to share their findings with industry professionals. The research team carrying out this work include Ge, Richardson, and the following scholars from IPI: ; Emily Bernal, sustainable preservation specialist; Marvin Cummings, research scientist; and Meredith Noyes, research scientist. Cultivating communities of practice Decker and Messinger are embarking on the next phase of their work to develop and disperse a relatively low-cost Multispectral Imaging System for Historic Artifacts (MISHA). On the heels of a previous NEH preservation and access research and development grant, this new education and training grant will help them expand access to MISHA and cultivate communities of practice across the globe. Decker said that, while it seems obvious, the people conducting the research have a significant impact on what is selected to be imaged. “If you’re a well-endowed institution like the National Gallery of Art, the works from which you’re choosing are ‘museum-worthy’ acquisitions,” said Decker. “When you put these tools in the hands of individuals across an entire swath of professions, the selection of objects is much greater and more diverse. It’s about inverting the canonicity around what is worthy to be imaged.” The pair will partner with the following institutions to increase awareness, expand access, and empower more individuals to use this technology:The Society for Imaging Science and Technology. The Digital Scholarship Section of the American Library Association. The American Institute for Conservation’s Imaging Working Group. The Rare Book School, based at the University of Virginia. Under this grant, they are developing two avenues for learning and engagement in cultural heritage imaging. One is an online, asynchronous course focusing on cultural heritage imaging literacy that will launch later this year through RIT Certified. The other is a series of on-campus workshops focusing on the use of the MISHA system. “The long-term goal is that RIT plays a role internationally in helping people learn more about their own cultural heritage,” said Messinger. “The interdisciplinarity of this research is a big part of our success. You really must bring both sides to the table; the science and technology side, and the humanities.” Efforts to cultivate these communities, both nationally and internationally, began prior to this grant. Their previous NEH grant, funded in 2020, yielded a growing community of MISHA users worldwide, now numbering approximately 15 institutions. One of these is in Croatia, where current Fulbright Scholar Izzy Moyer ’24 (museum studies) delivered a MISHA system to The State Archives in Dubrovnik. In addition, a grant from the Whiting Foundation allowed for the deployment of two MISHA systems to Colombia. In the states, Tom Rieger ’74 (photography), formerly the head of digitization at the Library of Congress, helped the team form a partnership between the Library and RIT. The MISHA team has also partnered with the Cary Graphic Arts Collection, the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, NTID’s Dyer Arts Center, and RIT Libraries’ Digitization Lab on campus. Email misha@rit.edu to learn more.
- Eva Navarro among list of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2025RIT Professor Eva Navarro López was named one of the world’s most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI) ethics. She was selected for the list of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics–2025 by Women in AI Ethics. Navarro is a leader in hybrid dynamical and cyber-physical systems. Along with her expertise in computational neuroscience, neuro-inspired computing, data science, and collective intelligence, Navarro is an AI activist. Listen Now Navarro was featured in episode three of the AdvanceRIT “Trailblazing Women at RIT” podcast series, which offered a behind-the-scenes look at her career and groundbreaking contributions. Listen to the episode on Spotify. “I’m honored to be nominated for this list and to make an impact on the world with my AI research,” said Navarro, who is a computing and AI professor in the School of Interactive Games and Media at RIT’s Golisano College of computing and Information Sciences. “I believe that the future of AI lies in diversity of both people and ideas.” Women in AI Ethics is a global initiative that increases recognition, representation, and empowerment of women and other marginalized groups that have been historically underrepresented in the tech industry. The group aims to address any harms of powerful AI technologies and ensure the benefits from AI are distributed equitably to all, not just a select few. The 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list is published annually to highlight pioneers as well as rising stars from diverse backgrounds.Navarro developed her career in industry and academia in four different countries—the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., and Spain. At RIT, she is establishing the Artificial intelligence and DAta science (AiDAs) Research Lab. Navarro is an honorary senior research fellow at The University of Manchester, where she applies network and data science to analyze social and urban dynamics. She is also a member of the advisory council for Gender Music Tech and has been recognized at Spain’s “Guide to Women Leaders of the Business Ecosystem.” She is part of AI Mexico, which promotes AI education and its responsible adoption by industry, and TechnoLatinas, a community that brings together technologists and scientists to advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion. She is a member of the International Panel on the Information Environment, an expert of the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab, and co-founder of ACM-W Europe and ACM womENcourage.
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