Hridiza Roy combined computer graphics with imaging science and anchored it in computer science. The result is a winning skill set that landed Roy a competitive 12-week summer internship at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Roy will graduate May 10 with a double major in individualized study and computer science and a focus on graphic programming for 3D animation. “My dream job is writing code for the artists of animated movies,” Roy said. Roy’s résumé elevated her above thousands of applicants competing for one available internship with Disney’s Environment Tools team. This group is responsible for creating the code behind the natural elements in Disney’s animated films. Roy discovered RIT’s School of Individualized Study (SOIS) during her first year, and it streamlined her education by connecting her to faculty in the College of Art and Design and the College of Science. A Khan Academy course she took while in high school introduced her to Pixar Animation Studios and the math, physics, and computer science behind the Toy Story movies. “It was the perfect intersection of all my interests, and I knew at that point that I wanted to work in that industry, and I knew I wanted to create my own major,” Roy said. SOIS helped her navigate across college boundaries, said James Hall, dean of University Studies and executive director of SOIS. “Hridiza has been an absolute role model for using SOIS as a platform to focus and individualize a challenging interdisciplinary course of study.” Roy paired her individualized program with computer science to build her math, physics, and coding skills. “There is a lot of overlap, but I’ve had to go out of the computer science program to find what I really want to do because computer graphics or graphics programming is a very niche field,” she said. Rapunzel’s hair depicted in the movie Tangled inspired Roy’s SOIS capstone project, a requirement for graduating SOIS students. She wondered why the character’s voluminous hair had no knots and discovered that tangles rarely occur in animation. “That makes sense because who wants to see knots?” Roy said. “But maybe there’s an artist who wants to show realistic hair and maybe they would find it useful to have a tool. I spent my semester developing a hair simulation and I had to do it on the GPU (graphics processing unit) because if you have 100,000 hair strands, you need efficiency.” In another ongoing project, she is collaborating with a student in the RITGraph club, which Roy revived, to automate the appearance of brush strokes on digital objects. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Wild Robot popularized a style that is cumbersome to achieve, she said. The painterly look is in demand and Roy is building a tool that simulates painted brushstrokes by measuring light reflecting from the paint in different applications. She has applied for an RIT Gap Year Entrepreneurial Fellowship, administered through SOIS, to continue working on the project following her internship at Disney studios. In addition to creating her own curriculum, Roy benefited from the Napier Leadership Experience, SOIS’ signature networking program created by Partners & Napier. She was a 2022 Napier Fellow and learned professional networking and social media. “Every time I go to a conference, I set a goal for myself to talk to a certain number of people,” Roy said. “SOIS has been monumental for me. It’s not just because I could choose my own classes, but it’s also because of the connections I made through it.”

Lana Verschage, director of Diversity Initiatives and Women in Computing in RIT’s Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, is the 2025 recipient of the Edwina Award. The award was given at a celebration April 17. The Edwina Award, from the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Resource Center, is given to a faculty or staff member for significant contributions to enhance gender diversity and inclusiveness at RIT. It was named for Edwina Hogadone, who was appointed dean of the College of Business in 1960. She was the first female dean at RIT and the first woman to lead a business school in the United States. “I’m genuinely surprised and honored to be recognized,” said Verschage. “To be seen in this way—by peers, colleagues, and students—is incredibly affirming and motivates me to keep pushing for positive change.” As the first full-time director of Women in Computing (WiC) in the computing college, Verschage has helped grow and sustain the student organization and community that connects people across the university and beyond. In her time, WiC has grown from 10 members to more than 60 and secured more than $900,000 in funding. “I’ve always believed that representation matters—not just in who is present, but in who feels like they truly belong,” Verschage said. “When I first entered the computing field, I saw firsthand how isolating it could be for women and marginalized groups. That experience fueled my passion to create inclusive spaces where students not only see themselves reflected but also feel empowered to thrive.” WiC is dedicated to promoting the success and development of women and all gender minorities in their academic and professional careers. To assist all students, Verschage supported the creation of an Allies committee to discuss gender-related issues in computing and host/support events to help encourage resolution. “One of the first things I think of when I reflect on Lana’s leadership is empowerment,” said Gina Shevchuk, assistant dean for Student Success in GCCIS. “I admire how she grew WiC from a small idea into what it is today by empowering our students to take the lead. The structure of WiC enables the students to lead committees which effectively put the power of the mission right into the hands of the students it aims to serve.” With WiC, Verschage has helped create the impactful WiCHacks program—RIT’s first all-women and gender minority hackathon. The 24-hour collaborative programing event regularly gets more than 200 participants from across the northeast. The group has also offered Girl Scout Badge Days in computing. Verschage serves as the inaugural Title IX Deputy Coordinator for GCCIS and oversees the Computing Organization for Multicultural Students. She was also instrumental in creating ROCGirlHacks, a mini-hackathon for middle and high school students, that inspires the next generation of tech enthusiasts. “The Edwina Award holds special meaning because it recognizes not just effort, but impact,” said Verschage. “It’s a reminder that while this work can be challenging, it matters.”