Tech influencer energized by Imagine RIT

When RIT students create video games, they don’t just mail it in. A team of students won the Grand Prize at GameFest 2025 for developing Pelican Post. The game is about a pelican mailman delivering mail to a small town of unique characters. Along the way, players help the town regain a lost sense of community. The narrative game, which is in the cozy genre that emphasizes low-stress and non-violence, is currently in development. GameFest, held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in April, is an annual showcase of student talent in game development. The competition brings together college students from around New York state and the Northeast to exhibit their games. Thirty games were accepted at GameFest this year. Three of the four finalists for the Grand Prize were games from RIT. “The quality of the games this year across the board, not just from RIT, was seriously impressive,” said Benjamin Snyder, visiting lecturer in RIT’s School of Interactive Games and Media (IGM). “What stood out to me the most was how intentional our teams were about the full experience, including updated websites, social media presence, and promotional materials. You could tell they had considered how people would encounter their games and how to keep that connection going. That big-picture mindset is going to serve them really well moving forward.” In addition to the Grand Prize, Pelican Post also won Excellence in Narrative Design and was a finalist for Excellence in Visual Art. Four other RIT student games were highlighted at the 2025 competition, including:Good Luck Valley — won Excellence in Visual Art and finalist for Excellence in Narrative and the Grand Prize Grim’s Coffin — won Excellence in Game Design and Grand Prize finalist Vessyl — finalist for Excellence in Game Design and Technical Excellence Echoes in the Mist — Technical Excellence finalist Grim's Coffin by Kevin-Insinna Snyder said that what makes the biggest difference for RIT students at competitions is that they tend to take opportunities and really run with them. “They don’t just treat their games as something they needed to make for a class—they treat them like they’re already in the industry,” said Snyder. “That mindset shift, from ‘this is a class project’ to ‘this is something I believe in,’ is what really raises the bar and changes the perception from ‘a game made by students’ to ‘a game made by developers who happen to be students.’” How Pelican Post delivered Pelican Post started as a game jam submission for the 2024 New Year, New Skills Game Jam. The game development event had the theme of “making connections.” ‌ Pelican Post In Pelican Post, players take on the role of Pepper, a young pelican who recently moved to Port Pleasant for a job as the town’s mailman. Through the job, players interact with and get to know the townsfolk and help them out. The creators said that small acts of kindness is pretty much in the mailman’s job description. In 2024, the team continued working on Pelican Post through RIT’s MAGIC Maker Program. The extracurricular program provides students with the funding, studio space, and mentoring support to manage their own digital media projects and prepare them for publication and investment readiness. “While the game was already visually impressive prior to the program, the majority of actual development happened during the Maker program,” said Jeremy Kotz, a third-year game design and development major from North Potomac, Md. “We worked incredibly hard to transform the game from a visual and conceptual demo into a full game demo with a complete vertical slice—a segment of the game that is polished, contains all core gameplay features, and is reflective of the final product we aim to create.” Kotz said that the team’s success at GameFest can be largely attributed to its efforts during RIT’s MAGIC Maker program. “Pelican Post stood out because we have a clear vision for the world we are creating and the experience we want players to have,” said Kotz. “Players were fully immersed in the cozy atmosphere of the game and we received an incredible amount of positive feedback.” ‌ The Pelican Post team includes Connor Petrei (top row, left to right), Rylan, Vanacore, Drew Genel, Jeremy Kotz, Ricard Halvorson, Cheryl Chang (bottom row, left to right), Joana Leong, and Jason Weinberg. The Pelican Post team currently includes development lead and game designer Kotz; visual lead Drew Genel ’25 (new media design); narrative lead Connor Petrei, a fourth-year game design and development major; composer Joana Leong, a fourth-year game design and development major; developer Ricard Halvorson, a third-year design and development major; developer Jason Weinberg ’25 (game design and development); developer Gale Ellis ’24 (game design and development); animator Cheryl Chang, a fourth-year film and animation major; and marketer Rylan Vanacore ’25 (journalism).  In the fall, several members of the team are bringing the game to their IGM Production Studio course, where they will get to continue creating content for the game. In the future, they hope to work with MAGIC to publish the game on Steam.

A record number of RIT students has been awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to pursue cultural exchanges and research opportunities abroad. “We are so pleased that our talented students continue to be recognized by earning these distinguished fellowships and scholarships,” said Jenny Sullivan, director of Education Abroad and International Fellowships. “This is a testament to the high level of dedication and commitment to their studies, as well as the importance of immersing oneself in different cultures and learning environments. These experiences will undoubtedly contribute to their short-term and long-term successes.” The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State is a competitive, merit-based scholarship that allows U.S. students to gain proficiency in a variety of languages and cultures, skills that are important to their academic and career development. This year’s Gilman scholars studying in Japan are Jeremiah Henderson, an applied modern languages and culture – Japanese option major; Ignacio De Orbe, a game design and development major; Samir Samal, a computing exploration option major; Lilly Anastasia Radon, a game design and development major; and Emily Francisco, a computer engineering technology major. Gilman scholars studying in Croatia are Joshua VanNostrand, a management information systems major; Louis Jon LaGambino, a mechanical engineering technology major; Mamadou D’Elhadj Bah, a web and mobile computing major; Breanna Litviak, a hospitality and tourism management and marketing major; and Kelsey Luke, a new media design and computational mathematics major. Jaimison Grimes, an industrial design major, and Ashley Locatelli, a cybersecurity major, will study in Italy; and Delana Perkins, a civil engineering technology major, will study in Greece. Additionally, several students have been awarded other prestigious international fellowships and scholarships. The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) Research Internships for Science and Engineering assists students with research in Germany. This program is an opportunity for students to gain practical research experience and students are paired with a German university and a German Ph.D. student on research projects in the fields of science and engineering. This year’s awardees are Nicholas Atteck, a biomedical engineering major, and Anna Piccione, an artificial intelligence MS major. The Critical Language Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students to help fund a language-intensive study abroad program for one semester. This year’s recipient is Ava Inkseep, a cybersecurity and applied modern language and culture – Chinese option double major, who will study Chinese language through Dalian University of Technology in China. The Fulbright Canada Mitacs Globalink fellowship program gives U.S. students the chance to be part of a 10- to 12-week research summer internship under the supervision of Canadian university faculty members in a variety of academic disciplines including science, engineering, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences. This year’s participants are Ezra Bernstein, a computer science major; Jacqueline Driehaus, an environmental science major; Victoria Prendergast, a biomedical engineering major; Leah Robinson, a biotechnology and molecular bioscience major; and Valentine Webster, a psychology major.

RIT’s partnership with Rochester Prep High School has reached a milestone this year with the 10th anniversary of the partnership and the eighth graduating class. This year, 100 students will graduate from RPHS, and 13 of them will attend RIT to study biochemistry, engineering, photography, computer science, and other disciplines. Eleven of the students are Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars, The seniors shared their future plans with the community at a May 23 event at the high school. In addition to RIT, students will attend Boston College, Johns Hopkins University, University of Notre Dame, and Wellesley College, among many others in New York and out of state. Kadence Wilson, the student-elected speaker at the event, has enrolled in RIT’s biomedical engineering program. “When I came to Rochester Prep, every year we’d go to RIT to see faculty and to see what they were doing,” Wilson said. “I was in the STEP program, and I did the Capstone project. When I go to RIT, I already know what to expect.” Counting the Class of 2025, RPHS will have graduated 613 students during the last decade. According to Rachel Dominic, director of College Counseling at RPHS, 67 students have enrolled at RIT since the first graduating class in 2018. ‌ Pete Schuck/RIT Photo Rochester Prep High School senior Evangeline Simmons will study English at RIT in the fall. Those numbers are bound to rise with the incoming class of 270 ninth graders. The growth spurt results from Rochester Prep expanding to three middle schools. Jeff Allen, RPHS director of operations, said the staff will grow from 59 to 75 to accommodate the influx. RIT’s support through the K-12 University Center has given students on-campus experiences and has fostered opportunities for them to sit in college classrooms and conduct research with faculty and RIT students through the Capstone program, and for a few, to co-author three research papers with faculty. RIT’s partnership has helped students conceptualize college, according to Allen. “To have those experiences is incredible.” In 2013, RIT Board of Trustee member Ronald L. Zarrella funded the partnership between RIT and Rochester Prep High School to increase the number of Rochester city students who attend college and complete their bachelor’s degree. The public charter school, managed by the Uncommon Schools charter network, opened for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Rochester Institute of Technology has been recognized as one of the best game design colleges in the nation. RIT was ranked No. 5 on the Animation Career Review list of Top 50 Game Design Schools and Colleges in the U.S. and No. 2 in New York state. The 2025 rankings considered more than 150 colleges with game design programs. The annual rankings are created by Animation Career Review, an online resource for aspiring animation, game design and development, graphic design, and digital art professionals. The list also named RIT the No. 3 game design master’s degree program, No. 4 bachelor’s degree program, No. 4 private school in the nation, and No. 3 game design school on the East Coast. “RIT Games involves a growing portfolio of game-related academic programs and opportunities for students to explore all aspects of games,” said David Schwartz, director of RIT’s School of Interactive Games and Media (IGM). “We specialize in game development and game design in computing and the arts. We also offer opportunities that apply in many other industries.” Animation Career Review noted that RIT offers several paths for aspiring game designers. Future game-makers can choose between 12 bachelor’s degrees, a four master’s degrees, minors, and an accelerated five-year BS/MS option. In classes, students explore animation, interactive media, user interaction, and math, in addition to electives that specialize in narrative, engines, audio, and graphics. ‌ In Echoes in the Mist, players are the last remaining knight in a dark overrun seaport. RIT students created the game as part of a game design and development master’s capstone course and plan to continue development for release on Steam.   The ranking also highlights RIT’s emphasis on experiential learning experiences that provide students with an opportunity to learn on the job in real-world industry settings. With help from the cooperative education program, graduates of RIT’s game design and development programs have started careers at companies including Electronic Arts, Cartoon Network, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Google, and Microsoft. The university offers Creative Industry Days—a series of networking events with major companies and studios, where students can engage in panel discussions and portfolio reviews. Participating companies have included Walt Disney, Epic Games, and Adobe. Many students, alumni, and indie developers from the Greater Rochester area go on to develop and publish their games through RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios. The studio also has a growing portfolio of client work that provides students with the opportunity to work on professional projects before they graduate. The Animation Career Review 2025 Game Design Rankings website has the complete game design school rankings. The ranking looked at academic reputation, employment data, admission selectivity, depth and breadth of programs, value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness, graduation rate, and retention rate. Learn more about RIT’s offerings in Game Design, Development, and Arts.

James G. Gould, president and co-founder of Alesco Advisors LLC and an RIT alumnus, has been named as the 2025 recipient of the Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award, presented by Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology. The award, established in 1984, is presented annually to a Rochester-area entrepreneur who has enhanced the regional economy through innovative business leadership. The recipient is selected by a committee of area civic leaders, business leaders, former awardees, and RIT faculty and staff, symbolizing the important connection between RIT and the Rochester business community. Gould will be honored at the Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award Luncheon from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, inside the Susan R. Holliday Center on campus. Registration remains open until May 30. Gould, who graduated from RIT with his master’s degree in accounting in 1985, co-founded Alesco in 2000 with a vision to offer objective, fee-only investment advisory services tailored to the needs of institutions and individuals. Under his leadership, the Pittsford-based firm has grown steadily, managing billions in assets for clients across the country, while remaining deeply rooted in Western New York. “I’m proud of what we do for our clients,” Gould said. “Our mission is simple in that we just try to help others. We have a talented group of professionals who enjoy working with one another and with our clients.” Gould added that early credibility was one of the firm’s biggest hurdles, especially having to navigate early troubles like the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis. “There’s always a gap you have to bridge when you’re starting from scratch, especially at that time,” said Gould. “But in hindsight it was a blessing in disguise. There were a lot of investors at the time who felt that they were ill-served, and we were able to tell our story and open some doors. Our investment philosophy resonated, and that carried us further than we imagined.” Alesco Advisors operates across three distinct business lines, each designed to meet the unique needs of its clients. The firm’s high-net-worth practice offers personalized wealth management services to individuals and families. Its Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) practice supports nonprofit organizations, including endowments and foundations, as well as corporate accounts, by providing strategic investment guidance. Alesco also manages a robust retirement plan business, advising on both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) programs. Gould and his Alesco team are also widely recognized for their community engagement. Gould served on the boards of many regional nonprofits and educational institutions like ROC2025 (OneROC), Al Sigl Center Foundation, Catholic Charities, and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation. Gould, whose Odessa, N.Y., farm upbringing paved the way for his future success, consistently promotes civic responsibility as an essential part of business leadership. “Our exposure to the not-for-profit community has made us aware of the needs of the communities we serve,” he said. “We see the good work that they’re doing and want to help out with gifts of time and treasure.” Gould said receiving the Vanden Brul Award is considerably humbling and inspiring. “Herbert Vanden Brul was an amazing person,” Gould said. “He was a renaissance man, successful in law, real estate, and communications.  And he was very philanthropic. He checks all the boxes of what it means to be a community leader. To be recognized as someone following even part of that path is a tremendous honor.” Prior to founding Alesco Advisors, Gould served in leadership roles at Clover Capital Management, as a sales representative for IBM, and was a financial analyst at Xerox. He resides in Pittsford with his wife, Ann. They have four daughters and 11 grandchildren. Saunders College will also honor three RIT students with the Herbert W. Vanden Brul Student Entrepreneurial Award. This award, established in 2019, recognizes outstanding RIT undergraduate or graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to become successful entrepreneurs. The students will find out their placement of finish at the awards ceremony on June 10.Will Gamroth, a computer science major from Mercer Island, Wash., is the co-founder of Tacoma Web Design and SEO, a web design firm which serves over 34 clients across the United States. He also works as a software engineer intern for FM Global. Benjamin C. Hart, an MBA student from Rochester, N.Y., is the founder of Hart Homes, a real estate investment company focusing on the revitalization of urban Rochester with affordable housing. He also serves as the president of RIT’s Real Estate Club. Joshua Michaels, a marketing major and entrepreneurship minor from Far Rockaway, N.Y., is the founder of OnCall, a digital healthcare platform which connects qualified nurses to nearby healthcare facilities. He also serves as the founder of RIT’s Black Artists & Records Society and the president of the Personal Finance Club. “Jim exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit, ethical leadership and dedication to the Rochester community that the Vanden Brul Award was created to honor,” said Saunders College Dean Jacqueline Mozrall. “We are also proud to honor Will, Benjamin, and Joshua, for their creativity and work ethic—representing the future of innovation and entrepreneurship." Past Vanden Brul award recipients include Marc Fiore, president and founding owner of Mindex;  Dwight “Kip” Palmer, a fifth-generation CEO of Palmer Food Services and the Palmer Family of Companies; Susan R. Holliday ’85 (MBA), former president, publisher, and owner of the Rochester Business Journal; and E. Philip Saunders, Saunders Management Co. Inc., and the namesake of RIT’s Saunders College of Business. Information about the Vanden Brul award is available on the Saunders College website.

Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology developed new artificial intelligence techniques to extract and visualize information from standard-of-care biomedical data, providing a means for clinicians to better diagnose diseases and determine interventions. The new techniques could also improve image-guided therapies, including surgeries, and minimize invasive procedures because of these refined imaging details. “The future of medicine is not necessarily about acquiring more data but rather having access to effective tools to make use of the data, and this is where biomedical computing plays a critical role,” said Cristian Linte, professor of biomedical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. “Imaging accounts for the majority of biomedical data has transformed diagnostic and interventional medicine from a subjective, perceptual skill based on physicians’ experience to an objective science driven by large-scale, heterogeneous data.” Computer-integrated diagnosis and therapy is an emerging field dedicated to improving disease detection and treatment. Linte and members of his research team, including Imaging science doctoral students Bipasha Kundu, Bidur Khanal, Zixin Yang, Nakul Poudel, and Richard Simon, detailed results of this work in several publications, including the April 2025 proceedings of SPIE Medical Imaging 2025. Biomedical visualization has evolved from anatomical drawings to a standard tool to aid diagnosis, plan treatment options, and monitor therapy. Before biomedical data can be visualized, the raw biomedical imaging data needs to be processed. Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical image analysis has led to significant advances, but several challenges still exist, Linte said.  AI models rely on large amounts of expert-annotated data for training, which requires time and expertise of clinicians to curate data. User variability also poses a significant barrier for accurate AI algorithm development. Internal operations and relevance of test data acquired for training of AI models are also not well understood, making predictions difficult to explain.  “Many physics-based biomedical models are hampered by their computational expense, which constitutes a major setback to clinical adoption, limiting their use as interactive simulation tools for therapy planning or monitoring,” Linte said.  “AI techniques, on the other hand, can learn from large patient-specific datasets, so combining data science with physics-based models has the potential to yield more accurate and more computationally efficient simulations.”  Researchers in Linte’s lab have effectively combined biomedical imaging, computing, modeling, and visualization for computer-integrated diagnosis and therapy. They contributed to the development and validation of robust AI computational imaging informatics tools to advance computer-integrated diagnosis and interventional data science by addressing a broad range of diseases, organ systems, and minimally invasive therapy applications.  “We believe that effective utilization of biomedical informatics to develop versatile biomedical computing and visualization tools will lead to solutions that enable more accurate and timely disease diagnosis and less invasive therapies. These tools will help lay a foundation for advances in computer-aided diagnosis and therapy across a wide spectrum of diseases and organ systems that can impact a larger patient population,” said Linte, who has a background in mechanical and biomedical engineering as well as imagining science. He teaches in RIT’s engineering college as well as the Chester F. Carlson Center, specifically in the areas of biomechanics and biomedical thermo-fluids and conducts research at the intersection of biomedical imaging, computing, and visualization. Research in Linte’s Biomedical Imaging, Modeling, Visualization and Image-guided Navigation Laboratory is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation. Its research focus remains on biomedical artificial intelligence tools for diagnostic and intervention data science. Most recently, he was awarded nearly $2.4 million by the NIH for a five-year competitive renewal of the research grant on Biomedical Computing and Visualization Tools for Computer-integrated Diagnostic and Therapeutic Data Science to support innovation, training, and mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students in the lab, many of whom have gone on to serve in prestigious national labs, hospitals, and research organizations. “Mentoring and training high caliber students who will join tomorrow’s biomedical and academic workforce constitutes by far the greatest impact of our careers as academics and scientists and we’re thrilled to see them succeed,” said Linte.