Israa Ameen Thiab is a Ph.D. student in the Golisano Institute for Sustainability and a visiting assistant professor of management in the Saunders College of Business. Thiab earned her undergraduate degree in her native Jordan and her master’s degree in Sweden before coming to RIT. Since 2008, Thiab has been an active practitioner in the field of sustainable business and contributed to several programs and initiatives focused on sustainable solutions in Jordan and more recently the United States. For the last two years, Thiab’s research has aligned with the ASEAN Circular Entrepreneurship project, a program that works with partners across ASEAN member states to provide education on circular economy principles. What sparked your interest in sustainability and the intersections between circular economy, entrepreneurship, and gender? My interest in sustainability began when I was in my teens. Growing up in Jordan, I witnessed firsthand the challenges of resource scarcity and pollution, from water shortages to biodiversity loss. When I was 15 years old, I joined a local volunteer organization focused on the preservation of nature, and I decided that this would be my purpose. Before moving here, I started my own consulting firm in Jordan. I found out what it meant to be a female entrepreneur, especially in a conservative culture where traditional gender roles are more strictly observed. I also became curious about whether the gender aspect had any influence over the choice of business model an entrepreneur would create or the way entrepreneurs decide to run their business. So, the angle I chose for my research really was rooted in personal experience. How did you get involved with the ASEAN Circular Entrepreneurship project? My involvement with the ASEAN Circular Entrepreneurship project began as an extension of my work in Jordan where I delivered specialized training in circular entrepreneurship to young aspiring entrepreneurs. Through my role at the Competitive Sustainability Center (CSC), which had received a grant to implement a similar program in the ASEAN region, I collaborated with partners to develop training programs, curriculum, and entrepreneurial support structures, suited to the socio-economic context of the region, and aimed at accelerating the transition to a circular economy in the region. One of the most fulfilling aspects has been working directly with local universities in the region to customize an online training curriculum, made accessible to all our partners. This curriculum aimed to develop the capacity of educational institutions and entrepreneurial ecosystems, to train their entrepreneurs to develop circular business models, and establish circular start-ups that can thrive economically. This experience has been incredibly rewarding. Working with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and academic institutions across ASEAN has allowed me to witness diverse approaches to circularity. Additionally, it has reinforced the importance of public engagement in driving meaningful change. You teach a few classes at RIT, as well as a Summer Sustainability program. How has your role as a visiting assistant professor impacted your research, or vice versa? I believe that teaching is my true calling in life. I enjoy every minute of it. At RIT, I engage with students who are eager to explore sustainable business models, and their diverse perspectives often challenge me to refine my own understanding of circular economy applications. Conversely, my research enriches my teaching by bringing real-world case studies and data-driven insights into the classroom. One of my main goals as a professor is to equip students with practical skills—whether through business modeling, innovation strategy, or business management exercises—so they leave with actionable knowledge they can apply in their future careers. Whatever they learn in my classes, as it pertains to circular economy, will be of benefit to them whether they start their own businesses or join an existing one. What do you hope to achieve with your research, and how do you see it shaping policies or business practices in the future? My research aims to bridge the gap between sustainability and entrepreneurship, providing evidence-based insights that can inform and/or change entrepreneurial ecosystems, business strategies, and policymaking.  In the future, I hope my research will help inform government policies that prioritize sustainable business incentives and entrepreneurial training programs. Additionally, I want to see large corporations integrating circularity into their supply chains in a way that benefits smaller enterprises, especially those led by women and minority entrepreneurs. Ultimately, I see my work as contributing to a fundamental shift in how businesses operate—moving away from linear, wasteful models toward regenerative, circular systems that drive both economic opportunity and environmental resilience.

RIT faculty, staff, and students now have full access to Overleaf, an intuitive online platform that makes it easier to write, edit, and collaborate on scientific documents. The software is used by leading academic institutions around the world. Through RIT’s enterprise subscription, members of the RIT community can use the full breadth of Overleaf’s tools. The program is a cloud-based LaTeX platform that offers real-time collaboration and simplifies the process of writing and editing scientific documents, such as research papers, grant proposals, and theses. It also includes templates for academic journals, theses, and conference papers, which help streamline the writing process and ensure compliance with publication standards. To access Overleaf, go to the RIT Overleaf website. New users can sign up with their RIT email and password. For those with an existing account, visit the Overleaf commons subscription help page for instructions on how to link your personal account to the RIT subscription. Manuela Campanelli, distinguished professor of astrophysics and John Vorous Endowed Professor, notes that Overleaf will help ensure research is of superior quality and efficiency. “We are immensely thankful to RIT for giving our researchers access to Overleaf's institutional version,” said Campanelli. “Overleaf's real-time collaboration and comprehensive version control features, reminiscent of GitHub, make teamwork, like what we do at the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, effortless and significantly enhance our productivity in academic writing. We are eagerly anticipating the benefits of the upgraded version, and are grateful that Overleaf enabled us to continue using it without disruption during the overleaf transition period. This is a tremendous asset as we prepare to publish new scientific papers and proposals.” Access to Overleaf was led by RIT’s Information and Technology Services and the Procurement Services Office to enhance research productivity, collaboration, and academic excellence. For more information on Overleaf, go to the Overleaf support page or the RIT Service Center Overleaf knowledge article. Issues with the platform should be directed to support@overleaf.com.

A NASA mission that aims to explore the origin and history of structures in the universe is set to launch in early 2025 with help from RIT. NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory, or the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, will provide an all-sky spectral survey of galaxies and stars providing scientists with data never before received. SPHEREx also will explore the origin of water in planetary systems. Michael Zemcov, associate professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, is co-investigator on the mission, having helped design, build, and deploy the instrument. By using optical and near-infared light, SPHEREx will create a map of the entire sky in nearly 100 colors through the visible and infared parts of the spectrum, far more than has ever been done before. “The three science cases the SPHEREx team is interested in speaks to the biggest questions we have as astrophysicists,” said Zemcov. “How did we get here? What was the early universe like? How did life originate?” As Zemcov explained, scientists will not just have an image of the entire sky, but they will be able to map the three-dimensional position of all the galaxies in the universe, examine what conditions were like just after the Big Bang, and understand how water gets into solar systems. “It’s unlike anything we’ve ever had in astrophysics,” said Zemcov. “This is really the first time we’re getting all that information at once, and it ends up being an enormous data hypercube, and we’re taking that data and making it public really quickly.” Zemcov and his team at RIT have expertise in how the instrument works and how to make sure the data are accurate and useable. Gathering the robust data and making it quickly accessible will help astronomer around the world solve age-old questions about the universe. SPHEREx is led by principal investigator Jamie Bock from the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The team also includes members from UC Irvine, Ohio State University, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Argonne National Laboratory, and Johns Hopkins University. For more information on NASA’s SPHEREx mission, go to the mission’s website.

Rochester Institute of Technology students are using a new technology to capture an old experience. Their virtual reality app simulates printing on a 19th-century cast iron hand-press that once belonged to British designer William Morris. ‌ Graphic Arts Collection/RIT This screenshot from RIT’s VR historical printing press introduces users to the pressroom. The 19th-century Printing Press Experience VR is free on Steam, a digital distribution platform, where users can purchase, download, and play video games. The app teaches students, scholars, and anyone interested in printing history and graphic design to print on the digital “twin” of the Kelmscott/Goudy Albion printing press housed at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT. The Cary Collection curator, Steven Galbraith, sees a growing role for virtual reality technology in libraries and museums. “Simulating a rare artifact like the Kelmscott/Goudy Press helps expand teaching and research possibilities to more people,” Galbraith said. “It triggers imagination and curiosity.” ‌ RIT Steven Galbraith, curator of RIT’s Cary Graphic Arts Collection. The Kelmscott/Goudy Albion printing press draws visitors from around the world to the Cary Collection, Galbraith said. People travel to see the 1891 press owned by Morris, a leader of the British Arts and Crafts movement and founder of the Kelmscott Press. Frederic Goudy, an American type designer and typographer, later acquired the press and shipped it to New York. (The Cary Graphic Arts Collection also includes The Frederic W. Goudy Collection.) Students and faculty from RIT’s 3D digital design program gamified the hand press using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, a 3D graphics software tool for use with HTC Vives Virtual Reality hardware. The student-centered project illustrates RIT’s integrated approach to technology, the arts, and design, and the benefit of collaboration. Galbraith and Shaun Foster, RIT professor of 3D digital design, have worked together for a decade on various historical and interactive projects involving RIT students. “Creating novel uses for access to archival and historical objects for learning is an interest of mine,” Foster said. ‌ RIT Shaun Foster, RIT professor of 3D Digital Design New developments in interactive gaming technology make it possible to simulate the physical process of putting paper on the press, inking a brayer, and rolling it over the set type. The app enables the user to turn the “rounce” handle and pull the bar to make a printed impression and virtually print a proof sheet from The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the most famous book published by William Morris’ Kelmscott Press. “Books such as the ‘Kelmscott Chaucer,’ as it is more commonly called, influenced generations of fine-press printers who expanded the art of the book and aspired to the highest design standard,” Galbraith said. The VR experience includes haptic feedback in the controller to mimic sounds and tactile pressure of inking a roller or pulling a handle, for instance. The software also features diegetic interfaces as a new element within virtual reality that enables pop-up credits and prompts, Foster said. “I think that while the app will stand on its own, what's even more important is that it has a lot of leading proof-of-concept technology and interactive design built into it that is significantly ahead of its time,” Foster said. Epic Games credentials confirm Foster’s place at the forefront of his field as an artist and an educator of rapidly changing 3D digital design technology. ‌ Cary Graphic Arts Collection/RIT The VR experience of the Kelmscott/Goudy Albion printing press extends access to the historical printing press housed at RIT. Several RIT students contributed to the project in its various stages of development. Boyu Xu, a 2018 graduate from RIT’s media arts and technology MS program, built the initial 3D model of the Kelmscott/Goudy press for the Cary Collection. (His 3D press can be seen on SketchFab, a platform for sharing 3D and augmented reality experiences.) Between 2021 and 2022, other RIT students rebuilt the 3D model for use in virtual reality, and Aidan Grant, a 2023 graduate of the 3D digital Design program, built the interactive experience. “My job was basically to take the model, trim it down because it was ultra-high definition, and make it interactive in VR to guide a user through it,” said Grant, a virtual reality software engineer at TRU Simulation, located near Tampa, Fla. Grant built a spectator screen within the program to engage onlookers. It allows them to manipulate the virtual camera to see through the headset in use or independently explore the scene. (Grant provides a technical breakdown at Aidan Grant - VR Historical Printing on their ArtStation portfolio.) Epic Games featured Grant’s project in the 2023 Unreal Academic Partner Student Showcase and in its student sizzle reel. The annual showcase highlights some of the best student-made games using Unreal Engine software. Another RIT student—Hunter Ostrander, a 2024 graduate from the 3D digital design program—added final details to the app, including additional menus, sound effects, and optimizations. Foster and Grant consulted about the app prior to approaching Steam. To see Grant’s animated video of the Kelmscott/Goudy press, go to Work - VIRTUAL CARY COLLECTION The Cary Graphic Arts Collection has a special connection to the Kelmscott/Goudy press, which it bought at auction at Christie’s in 2013. In addition to Morris and Goudy, Melbert B. Cary Jr.—the namesake of RIT’s special collections library—owned the press from 1932 to 1941. Cary was the director of Continental Type Founders Association and proprietor of the private Press of the Woolly Whale.

Engineering technology faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology are addressing a green skills shortage through a new project to make sustainability concepts a more integral part of undergraduate engineering education. Integrating the development of eco-friendly practices with social and economic facets of sustainability, could further transform engineering education by equipping future engineers with the skill set required for the profession today, said Ashish Agrawal, assistant professor in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology, who is leading the three-year project.  “Sustainability is often taught as a standalone concept. However, if we are doing engineering design projects we need to think about sustainability as it relates to each step of the design process,” said Agrawal. “We also need to integrate sustainability within various courses and understand that it shapes a student’s identity as an engineer.” Through the new content, the team will explore how specific interventions such as problem-solving activities, case studies and capstone projects that incorporate sustainability concepts influence students’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior. First-year to fifth-year undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in the data collection for this project. Other CET faculty involved on the project team and experts in various areas of sustainability are Lisa Greenwood, associate professor, environmental, health and safety; Amanda Bao, professor and interim department chair, civil engineering technology;  Yewande Abraham, associate professor of civil engineering technology; and Lucio Salles de Salles, assistant professor of civil engineering technology.   The project team developed content for 10 engineering and applied science courses in CET’s civil engineering technology, environmental health and safety program, and in the electrical and computer engineering technology program. Each intervention being developed will have all three sustainability dimensions—environmental, social and economic. “That is important especially for the theoretical aspects of courses,” said Salles de Salles. “Sometimes the students are doing design calculations, and they may not see how these are linked to sustainable dimensions. They will face this once these students start to work. No one designs a building without taking into consideration the social, environmental, and economic aspects.” RIT has a long history of recognizing the impact of sustainable practices and the changing demands of the engineering profession. The university’s engineering programs are ABET accredited and include recognition of sustainability principles. This project is one means to continue meeting the requirements as well as address industry demands for a workforce skilled in these practices. “These students are going to be the future professionals and by doing these interventions, we are telling them that this is also engineering. As they do the work, they have to think of sustainability from all dimensions, and that this is all part of being a professional,” said Agrawal. The group received a National Science Foundation grant for the project “NLI: Research Influence of sustainability-focused course interventions on students’ engineering identity development.” The research funding of nearly $350,000 is from the NSF’s Division of Engineering Education and Centers. Foundational preparation for the new project is based on the Engineering for One Planet Framework, a national initiative supported by the Lemelson Foundation to prepare graduating engineers, regardless of disciplines, with the skills, knowledge, and understanding to protect and improve environmental and social systems.

Rochester City Ballet is teaming up with Rochester Institute of Technology to present “Visionary,” a four-piece showcase of classical and contemporary movement, including a world premiere version of Boléro. One of the show’s productions features eight students from RIT’s School of Performing Arts Dance Collective. “Visionary” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. Feb. 23 in RIT’s Robert F. Panara Theatre, a theater the ballet company regularly performed in 20 years ago. Tickets may be purchased through RIT’s University Arenas. “RIT’s School of Performing Arts has been actively building relationships with organizations in Rochester as we seek to provide our students with access to the city’s rich cultural offerings,” said School Director Erica Haskell. “We are also eager to welcome local audiences to our new performing arts venues on campus.” Haskell called RIT’s partnership with Rochester City Ballet multifaceted. Students are not only performing in “Visionary,” they have also performed in the ballet’s The Nutcracker performances. “Company dancers teach a number of our courses in the SHED dance studio, including our audition-only Dance Collective,” Haskell said. “We look forward to exploring new collaborations as our connections to Rochester City Ballet and other organizations grow.” Katherine Duffy, one of the company’s dancers and an adjunct professor of ballet for RIT’s School of Performing Arts, said she enjoys working with the dedicated dance students. “They truly love the art form,” Duffy said. “Every time I throw choreography at them, they watch it and come in knowing it and ready to move on and explore more. We’re all excited about this opportunity.” Sixteen members of the ballet company will perform in the mixed bill, which offers an opportunity for both dance enthusiasts and newcomers to experience a diverse range of artistic voices. “Visionary” will also feature Birth of Angels and Agua Fresca, offering different choreographic styles. Shannon Purpura is the show’s choreographer and Megan Kamler is a soloist in the production. Both are also adjunct professors of dance at RIT. Duffy, a 2024 graduate of RIT’s School of Individualized Study who focused on non-profit management, now teaches at RIT. She’s also a dancer and director of development for the ballet company. She hopes more ties with RIT can be established in the future. “We are becoming a part of the community through outreach and involvement with the students,” she said. “We’re working toward more collaboration, where we have professional dancers on campus and students in our performances.” One of the eight RIT students in the production is Katie Miller, a third-year chemistry major from Eagan, Minn. She is a Performing Arts Scholar, has a minor in dance and has been involved in performing arts with RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf since her first semester. “This will be our first large-scale production together,” Miller said. “Being able to watch the Rochester City Ballet dancers is incredible. They give me something to aspire to. Working alongside them is even better. I have to push myself harder than ever before, but have also achieved more than I ever imagined I could. Dancing alongside professional company members is more than I ever dreamed.” Miller started dancing when she was 3 and has trained in many styles of dance over the years, “but ballet has always had a special place in my heart,” she said. “I enjoy and admire the great strength it takes to make the dance look easy and beautiful.” Miller looks forward to the performances and hopes the audience will appreciate the RIT students in it are scientists and engineers and pursuing academically rigorous degrees. “We are also here to create art and enjoy the beautiful things in life,” she said. Duffy hopes audience members, whether they are seasoned veterans or watching their first ballet, come away with feeling that “Rochester City Ballet is energized, fresh, and ready to be part of the community. We love Rochester and this new relationship with RIT is exciting.”

RIT 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 found in the Sklarsky Center for Business Analytics, established by 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.

Cancer-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.”