RIT’s main campus has welcomed six international Fulbright Program students for the 2025-2026 academic year. The Fulbright Program is a highly competitive international academic exchange program that aims to increase mutual understanding and to support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and other countries. More than 160 nations worldwide are involved in the program. The students noted the many areas of professional and personal development that the program provides, including networking, language skills, leadership, and adaptability. Esi Dervishi already has a master’s degree in business administration and experience working in human resources in her home country of Albania, but wants to expand her business acumen into more areas.She is majoring in hospitality business management at RIT. Dervishi appreciates the opportunity to learn from RIT professors who have expertise in the industry and the hands-on approach that RIT provides. “I’m not a big fan of just theory, so I appreciate the more practical approach to things,” said Dervishi. “The professors share their real-life experiences with us, making the lectures more insightful and engaging.” Outside of academics, the scholars have enjoyed joining groups and activities to become fully immersed in the campus community, and having the chance to explore the area. Fernando Diaz, a business administration master’s student from Panama, appreciates engaging with fellow students outside of the classroom. “Other than studying, there are a lot of activities,” said Diaz. “That’s what I love, the amount of clubs offered here. It doesn’t matter how niche your hobbies are, you can find a club or a group of people that have the same interests as you.” The Fulbright Program requires a rigorous application process. Diaz remarked that Panama had only two placements available for around 125 applicants. As one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world, numerous former scholars have gone on to become MacArthur fellows, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Nobel Prize winners. Diaz became familiar with the program through his professors at his university in Panama and learned more about it during an exchange program in New York four years ago. His goal then was to earn a Fulbright scholarship once he finished his undergraduate degree. Achieving that goal has been everything he hoped it would be. “Academically, socially, culturally, it has been amazing so far,” he said. “It’s very competitive, but that just reflects the quality of people you find in the program.” Diana Semionel joins RIT from Moldova and is pursuing a master’s in business administration. Her path to becoming a Fulbright scholar was a little different. As a non-traditional student, she already had professional experience but knew getting a scholarship for an advanced degree in the U.S. would be an amazing benefit. While initially it wasn’t the easiest to adapt, she said the people around her and the resources available at the university helped her persevere. Semionel is very grateful for the opportunity and hopes her experience can inspire others. “I feel like I’m finally one step closer to my dream,” she said. “I want to emphasize that anything is possible. It doesn't matter what age you are, where you are from, what your family situation is, who you are. Pursue your things and get the best from life.”  

Thousands of students, alumni, their families, and others have already registered to attend at least one of dozens of events Oct. 17-19 during Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend. Some events, such as the popular New York Dueling Pianos and Mt. Hope Cemetery historical tours, have reached capacity. But others, such as the Build-A-Tiger workshop, have added supplies to accommodate more participants due to higher-than-expected demand. Tickets are available for most events, including Emmy-winning animation veteran Dan Povenmire, co-creator and executive producer of Disney’s Phineas and Ferb, who will be this year’s Student Government speaker. He provides the voice of the evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz on the animated series and has amassed more than 7 million followers on Tik Tok and Instagram. He is also creator and executive producer of Disney’s original animated superhero series Hamster & Gretel. ‌ Provided Dan Povenmire, left, co-creator and executive producer of Phineas and Ferb, is this year’s Student Government speaker Oct. 18 during Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend. Comic Craig Robinson, from ‘The Office,’ takes the stage on Oct. 17. With more than 25 years of experience in directing, storyboarding and writing, Povenmire has worked on multiple critically acclaimed animated series including Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Simpsons, Rocko's Modern Life, and Hey Arnold! His talk is scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 18 in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. Comedian, actor, and musician Craig Robinson is scheduled for Oct. 17 in the Gordon Field House. Currently executive producer and star of Peacock’s Killing It, he’s best known for his portrayal of Darryl Philbin in The Office. Men’s hockey vs. Clarkson University is scheduled Oct. 18 at Blue Cross Arena, and two free women’s hockey games vs. St. Lawrence University are planned in the Gene Polisseni Center. A new clear bag, no backpack policy is now in force to enter the Polisseni Center during hockey games. “From comedian Craig Robinson to Emmy-winner Dan Povenmire, hockey, and family-friendly events, this year’s Brick City Weekend offers something for everyone,” said Lisa Stein, executive director for events and conferences at RIT. “It’s a fun and vibrant celebration that brings together the entire RIT community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and families alike.” On Friday, visitors are invited to the University Gallery’s Vignelli Center for a conversation and gallery tour with artist Keisha Scarville, ’98, and student curator Chinenye Ozowalu, a fourth-year photographic and imaging arts major, into the making of Call and Response, a photo  exhibit that explores memory, identity, and transformation through the layers of body, time, and landscape. The exhibit is on view through May 2026 in the RIT Photo Alum Gallery on the first floor of Wallace Library. Golden Circle events are planned, including a light breakfast, a tour of the SHED, VIP parking, and golf cart shuttles, for returning alumni from 1975 or earlier. Visitors are urged to sign up for text alerts for important announcements that may be issued that weekend. Text “BrickCity” to 888777 to receive updates. Reservations and tickets for all events are available from the Brick City website.

Four RIT alumni and former student-athletes have turned locker-room bonds and an entrepreneurial drive into a growing company. Their venture, MULUS, began with a simple question: what if a bag could be tough enough for athletic pursuits, yet versatile enough for daily life? For founder Christopher Cherami ’11 (graphic design), the idea was struck during a family trip to the Jersey Shore. His sisters-in-law each carried a different style of bag—one a stiff rubber tote, the other a soft neoprene backpack. “I wouldn’t use either,” he recalled, “but if those two were combined, I knew I would.” After weeks of agonizing, his wife urged him to stop talking and start building, and before long Cherami was sketching prototypes and collaborating with fellow RIT lacrosse alumnus A.J. Tingle ’12 (industrial design) to shape the first MULUS model. ‌ Provided MULUS co-founders, from left, Christopher Cherami, Colin Jesien, and Jerry Ragonese during a jiu-jitsu training session, jokingly called their “karate weekends.” The venture quickly became a team effort as Cherami, a former men’s lacrosse player at RIT, brought in three Tigers alumni: fellow lacrosse alumni COO Colin Jesien ’06 (packaging science) and CMO Jerry Ragonese ’10 (photographic and imaging arts), as well as former RIT wrestler CFO Zach Greenberg ’06 (finance). Their approach to running MULUS is based on honest feedback and the trust that each teammate will carry their share of the load. “We’re always talking,” Greenberg said. “It might be a late-night group chat or a quick call between work meetings, but we’re constantly bouncing ideas around.” Their bond extends well beyond the company. The four still make time for traditions that grew out of their athletic roots, like their tongue-in-cheek “karate weekends,” when they meet up for jiu-jitsu training. Jesien likes to joke about how much fun it is to tell people he has a “karate weekend” planned, even if the workout is grueling. They also find ways to weave family and friendship together, whether it was through alumni lacrosse games, spontaneous road trips, or dinners with spouses and kids. Greenberg and Jesien are close, as Greenberg married into Jesien’s extended family. Behind the fun is serious progress. Each founder splits time between full-time careers and building MULUS. Greenberg is a product manager at Bloomberg, Jesien is the Director of Continuous Improvement at DYMA Brands, Ragonese wrapped up a successful professional lacrosse career and is the co-founder of the Face Off Academy and Pro Athletics, where Cherami spent over 13 years as a director and graphic designer. Cherami also works in franchising expansion and development for a private firm. The MULUS bag combines the structure of a rugged tote with the flexibility of a soft backpack, designed to carry everything from athletic gear to cameras and everyday essentials. Greenberg highlighted what makes the bag unique, noting that the design gives him confidence whether he’s carrying jiu-jitsu gear, hiking equipment, or camera gear worth thousands of dollars. “It’s different enough that it could be something people notice,” Greenberg said. “The style and components set it apart from other backpacks on the market.” Ragonese also described the brand’s personality in more playful terms. “The bag is that charismatic friend you can’t quite pin down,” he said. “One day he’s sailing in the Amalfi Coast, the next he’s at a networking event shaking hands and making everyone feel like they’ve known him for years. It’s just as useful for an athlete carrying gear as it is for a parent juggling diapers, snacks, and a good book.” Early runs of the bag were produced overseas, requiring careful planning around shipping costs and delivery schedules. Their collective goal was to build a durable product but keep it affordable for the market they wanted to reach. The unpredictability of that supply chain showed itself right away. One of the company’s earliest shipments was delayed for weeks after a major bridge accident in Baltimore shut down a critical shipping lane. The founders joke about it now, but at the time it was a true lesson of patience and perseverance. “We had this whole plan mapped out, and then suddenly everything was sitting on the water,” Jesien said. “It was a crash course in how little control you really have once a product leaves your hands.” MULUS gained traction last summer with a mention in Esquire and has continued to build word-of-mouth among athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. Cherami said the team is exploring new designs beyond the original backpack, from fanny packs and weekenders to outdoor gear such as beach chairs, shoes, and sunglasses. For the founders, the goal is creating a brand with staying power amongst a crowded market.

Award-winning comics artists will discuss their art, characters, and publishing careers during an exhibit opening and book-signing event at RIT. ‌ Emelia McCalla An exhibit at RIT features comics artists Briana Loewinsohn, Thien Pham, and Gene Luen Yang. The Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT is hosting the free exhibit and talk Self-Published Worldwide: The Minicomics and Graphic Novels of Briana Loweinsohn, Thien Pham, and Gene Luen Yang, beginning at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9, in Ingle Auditorium in the Student Alumni Union. The conversation will be moderated by Daniel Worden, RIT Professor and Cary Fellow in Comics Studies. A reception and book signing will follow on the first floor of the Wallace Library and in the Cary Collection’s Kubert Lounge and Gallery on the second floor. The three artists got their start in the 1990s and 2000s by self-publishing their minicomics. The exhibit features comics they donated to the Cary Collection. Each of the artists has won recognition for their graphic novels and memoirs:Loewinsohn is the author of the critically acclaimed Ephemera: A Memoir. Her most recent graphic novel, Raised By Ghosts, has been nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Young Adult Book.   Pham is the author of the graphic novel Sumo and the artist of Level Up, written by Yang. In 2024, Pham’s book Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam received the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Graphic Memoir.   Yang is the creator of many comics and graphic novels, including American Born Chinese, Dragon Hoops, Superman Smashes the Klan, and Dark Horse Comics’ Avatar: The Last Airbender series. His most recent work, Lunar New Year Love Story, a collaboration with LeUyen Pham, won several Eisner Awards, including Best Graphic Album. In 2016, Yang received a MacArthur Fellowship. Contact Steven Galbraith, curator of the Cary Graphics Arts Collections, at 585-475-3961 or skgtwc@rit.edu, for details about the talk and exhibit.

Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases follow a pathway in the human body. It starts at the molecular and cellular levels, and through a series of complex interactions can lead to the development and progression of disease. At RIT, a new project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is using artificial intelligence to map the full journey of illnesses and discover entirely new disease pathways. If successful, the RIT research could transform how scientists understand disease and speed the discovery of new drugs and treatments for some of today’s most pressing health challenges. Rui Li, associate professor in RIT’s Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, received a nearly $1.8 million grant from the NIH for his project to advance research at the intersection of statistical machine learning and computational biology. Working with students, Li will design new machine learning models and techniques that enable disease pathway discoveries. The challenge for Li is to create a holistic view of a complex molecular network of genes that are not well connected. If those genes have problems, it can have a cascade of effects. Atypical activities of these molecules, and their interactions, can contribute to disease. “Using machine learning, we can identify new disease-associated molecules and biomarkers that could be potential therapeutic targets,” said Li. “This information is crucial for developing new drugs and could help caregivers.” A second challenge is that diseases manifest differently in different body tissues, such as nervous tissue or muscle tissue. For example, disease-associated molecules that could collectively lead to one disease, like Parkinson’s, will manifest differently in different parts of the brain. Li explained that current deep learning techniques are limited because they encode independently. Experts can make an average, but it will lose the uniqueness of the pathway making it hard to know how one molecule affects another. “I propose a hierarchical model to capture the uniqueness at the local level, while also sharing complementary information at the global level,” said Li. “We will allow it to aggregate information from its neighboring nodes, which mimics what happens in the human body.” Li’s recent NIH grant will support a new methodology developed to model molecular network data and its topological structure. For efficiency, these methods will integrate deep learning techniques with probabilistic inference. The effort is powered by RIT’s Lab for Use-inspired Computational Intelligence, which Li directs. Four Ph.D. student researchers— Mahendra Singh Thapa, Paribesh Regmi, Sicy Ruochen Shi, and Jeevan Thapa—are currently helping analyze more than 100,000 molecular interactions. “I’m fascinated by how perfectly our biological systems work, from tiny molecules to the whole organism,” said Thapa, a computing and information sciences Ph.D. student from Nepal. “I enjoy using machine learning to uncover hidden patterns and explore the mysteries of biology.” The NIH-funded research will have two stages. First, the lab will conduct comprehensive studies of about 500 diseases, focusing initially on cancer, cardiovascular disease, and immune system disorders. Next, the work will expand to larger-scale applications across diverse disease types. “I’m really excited to be working in this area and with Professor Li because it combines my passion for machine learning with important questions in computational biology,” said Regmi, a computing and information sciences Ph.D. student from Nepal. “I enjoy the challenge of developing algorithms that can not only advance AI research but also contribute to real-world impact in health and medicine.” The five-year award comes through the NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award program, which supports new and early-stage investigators developing innovative approaches to biomedical challenges. The project is called "Large-scale Disease Pathway Discovery by Integrating Tissue-specific Molecular Networks via Hierarchical Bayesian Inference on Graph Neural Networks".

Meet the artist To celebrate their exhibition “of what might yet (have) be(en),” alum Lois Bielefeld will give an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, in the University Gallery. A reception will be hosted from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 9. See event details Lois Bielefeld ’02 (photographic illustration) finds inspiration in documenting domestic homelife, children’s tea parties, Sunday pasta lunches, and other personal moments. Capturing portraits from these unassuming scenes of everyday life comprises much of their portfolio. “I want to understand why we do what we do and what motivates us. Not just for big decisions or actions, but for the mundane and minutia of life,” said Bielefeld. “I think it's those minuscule daily decisions that create a person and fleshes out who we are.” Bielefeld, based in Milwaukee, Wis., is a senior photographer at Quad, a marketing experience company. After graduating from RIT, Bielefeld worked in New York City before moving back to Milwaukee in 2010. They have worked for commercial clients like Kohls, JCPenney, and Von Maur. In 2012, after solidifying their place in the world of commercial photography, Bielefeld began to lean back into personally meaningful projects. One of those projects, “of what might yet (have) be(en),” is on display in RIT’s University Gallery through Oct. 19. The exhibition is a culmination of three of Bielefeld’s interrelated bodies of work centered on gender identity: of what might yet (have) be(en); Androgyny; and I bring you a piece of horizon. Bielefeld aims to prompt exhibition viewers to think critically about their views of gender and consider the importance of supporting and protecting transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. “I believe that differences should be celebrated and embraced, but they are often feared,” they said. “One of my goals is that the person looking at my work will start reflecting on their own lives, and that it helps them understand other people’s experiences a little bit more.” ‌ Lois Bielefeld Lois Bielefeld stressed that she is not an expert in gender studies, but she wanted to listen and make space for people to share elements of their lived experience. Above is a portrait of Bielefeld from their House, Hold series from 2020. In 2013 and 2014, Bielefeld photographed 57 individuals for the series Androgyny. While working on the series, Bielefeld met Avery, a second-grade student who self-identified as a tomboy. Bielefeld was struck by Avery’s confidence and self-assuredness, and they decided to document his and another student’s collaboration with their teacher to create a gender inclusivity unit for their class. Creating that documentary video, titled Girl, Boy, Both, prompted Bielefeld to continue working with Avery for a new series, I bring you a piece of horizon, where Avery is photographed and interviewed every year on his birthday. This year marked Avery’s 19th birthday and the 12th portrait in the series. To create “of what might yet (have) be(en),” Bielefeld reconnected with the people they photographed for Androgyny, as well as five current RIT students, to take new portraits. The exhibition features a selection of portraits, short films, and immersive audio recordings, and it is the first time I bring you a piece of horizon has been shown in a public gallery. Exhibiting at their alma mater was a full-circle opportunity for Bielefeld because of the impact RIT had on their life. “My daughter was born in Rochester and when I became a mom, RIT supported me through that,” said Bielefeld. “It felt right to bring this work to campus.” ‌ Lois Bielefeld Two portraits included in the “of what might yet (have) be(en)” exhibition. On the left is a portrait of Cam taken in 2025. On the right is a portrait of Valentine taken in 2025. RIT Photo House, supportive and passionate faculty members like Denis Defibaugh and Allen Vogel, and the “immense and immersive” photography culture also contributed to Bielefeld’s fond memories of RIT. Bielefeld said many highlights of their career stemmed from their personal artistic practice. In 2015, Bielefeld was named the first winner of Museum of Wisconsin Art’s Artist-in-Residence Program and spent three months living and creating art in Luxembourg. In 2023, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) accessioned 10 photographs and three video works by Bielefeld into its permanent collection. The biggest “mega-moment” of their career, Bielefeld said, involved a deeply personal series titled To commit to memory. The work focused on their parents’ relationship with their home and everyday life and explored how religion added a “simmering intensity” and “chasm of ideological difference” to their family dynamic. Thank you Jesus, for what you are going to do, a video from the series, was selected for The National Portrait Gallery’s triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2022. The “mega-moment,” Bielefeld said, was having their mom and daughter watch the video work together in the National Portrait Gallery. To see more of Bielefeld’s work, go to their portfolio website. Go to the University Gallery website and opening reception event page for more information about the exhibition and artist talk on Oct. 9.