RIT Celebrates Class of 2007 Clinton to Address Graduates
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Special Commencement Edition Rochester Institute of Technology news&eventsMay 18, 2007 Clinton to address graduates RIT celebrates Class of 2007 Honorary doctorate will be bestowed RIT is ready for a memorable conclusion to the academic year William Jefferson Clinton will be with its celebration of the 122nd the keynote speaker at RIT’s 2007 annual Commencement. Graduating Academic Convocation, part of the students, their family and friends, university’s 122nd Commencement. and the entire campus community A graduate of Georgetown Uni- will converge for a weekend of pride versity, he won a Rhodes Scholarship and excitement May 25-26. to Oxford University in 1968. He re- Activities kick off with Academic ceived a law degree from Yale Univer- Convocation, 10 a.m. Friday, May sity in 1973 and, shortly thereafter, 25, in U Lot. Tickets are required for entered politics in Arkansas where he admission to this ceremony. served as state attorney general and, During Academic Convocation, later, two terms as governor. Clinton RIT President Albert Simone confers was elected president of the United degrees on more than 3,500 under- States in 1992 and again in 1996. graduate and graduate students. His accomplishments as president Additionally, the university welcomes include increasing investment in President Bill Clinton as the event’s education, providing tax relief for keynote speaker (see related story). working families, helping millions “President Clinton’s lifelong com- of Americans move from welfare to mitment to public service, including work, expanding access to technol- his tireless dedication to humani- ogy, encouraging investment in tarian and philanthropic activities underserved communities, protect- President Bill Clinton will be the speaker since leaving the White House, offers A. Sue Weisler | photographer ing the environment, countering the at this year’s Academic Convocation. inspiration to a new generation These graduates, from RIT’s Class of 2006, join an alumni population that, this year, grows threat of terrorism and promoting preparing to make its mark on a to more than 100,000. peace and strengthening democracy citizen service; and racial, ethnic and global society,” states Simone. “We’re around the world. religious reconciliation. very honored to welcome the former Foundation of Japan, will each for graduating honors students, as After leaving the White House, Following Hurricane Katrina in president back to RIT, and we look receive an honorary doctorate of well as faculty members who won Clinton established the William J. August 2005, Clinton and President forward to humane letters during the ceremony. outstanding teaching awards. Each Clinton Foundation with the mission George H.W. Bush established the hearing his Sasakawa is acknowledged as the RIT college, including the American to strengthen the capacity of people Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to assist insights for primary advocate for the founda- College of Management and Tech- in the United States and throughout survivors in the rebuilding effort. our 2007 tion’s funding of the Postsecondary nology in Croatia and the American the world to meet the challenges of Clinton also served as United Nations graduates.” Education Network International, University in Kosovo, has chosen global interdependence. To achieve Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. Clinton commonly called PEN-International, an undergraduate student to serve this, the Clinton Foundation is Clinton will receive an honorary and Yohei at RIT’s National Technical Institute as college delegate. These delegates focused on four critical areas: doctorate of humane letters during Sasakawa, for the Deaf. represent their colleges on stage dur- health security, with an emphasis Academic Convocation, which takes chair of Other highlights of Academic ing the official conferral of degrees on HIV/AIDS; economic empower- place at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 25, The Nippon Yohei Sasakawa Convocation include recognition Class of 2007, page 12 ment; leadership development and in U Lot. n Graduation schedule Senior project sheds new light on the RIT campus Friday, May 25 Academic Convocation, 10 a.m., It’s a green light, but it doesn’t signal talk to the light.” (The enthusiastic U Lot (tickets required) “go.” That’s because it’s “green” envi- Gmeinder is as comfortable talking College of Liberal Arts, 1:30 p.m., ronmentally, not in hue. ‘tech’ as she is at explaining what it Ritter Arena To most passersby, the wind- means in layman’s terms.) College of Applied Science and powered walkway light—the only The 13-pound, 400-watt-output Technology, 2 p.m., one of its kind on campus—and its wind turbine—made of aircraft-qual- Gordon Field House and telltale “flutter-effect” sound have ity aluminum alloy castings—can Activities Center gone largely unnoticed, guesses Jessie generate power from as little as a National Technical Institute Gmeinder, a fifth-year mechanical en- breeze of seven miles per hour or for the Deaf, 4 p.m., Ritter Arena gineering major in the Kate Gleason from wind gusts of up to 30 mph. Kate Gleason College of College of Engineering and member (At speeds higher than 30 mph, an Engineering, 5 p.m., of a team of RIT students that de- electric brake stops the blades to Gordon Field House and signed and, last month, installed the prevent overcharging the battery and Activities Center illuminator as part of a senior-design over-revving that could damage the College of Science, 6:30 p.m., project. blades and bearings, and to keep elec- Ritter Arena But being in the limelight wasn’t A. Sue Weisler | photographer trical components safe from a current the students’ aim. Rather, their Jeff Hoover, left, Jessie Gmeinder and Chris Chaput, fifth-year mechanical engineering majors spike.) A photocell—a device that Saturday, May 26 project—one of seven in a new in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, are part of a 10-person team that designed a wind- detects daylight—turns on the light College of Imaging Arts and sustainable design and product- turbine-powered walkway light as a multidisciplinary senior-design project. The light, turbine after dark (just like most streetlights). Sciences, 9 a.m., Gordon Field House and development track for multidisci- and control box were permanently installed near F Lot and Cross Campus Drive last month. None of it would be possible Activities Center plinary senior design—focused on without a sturdy lamppost and B. Thomas Golisano College of exploring the capabilities and limita- balmy April afternoon. As if on cue, the whir of the 46-inch diameter concrete base—both provided, at Computing and Information tions of sustainable technologies on a gusty wind kicked up, causing the rotors mounted 17 feet above their no cost to students, by RIT Facilities Sciences, noon, the RIT campus and determining carbon-fiber-composite-reinforced heads. Behind the padlocked door Management Services, which assumes Gordon Field House and their feasibility for widespread use. blades of an AIR-X wind turbine of the control box are an ammeter, guardianship of the light after stu- Activities Center atop a lamppost to rotate into a blur. analog and digital voltmeters, and dents graduate this month. Addition- E. Philip Saunders College of Air supply The resulting flutter—no louder two 12-volt deep-cycle batteries that ally, James Watters, RIT senior vice Business, 3 p.m., Gmeinder, the chief engineer on than the engines of most passing are connected “in parallel”—both president for finance and adminis- Gordon Field House and the 10-person team of mechani- automobiles on Cross Campus accepting power generated by the tration, approved project funding Activities Center cal engineering and industrial and Drive—was barely discernible. wind turbine and supplying power of $3,500. (The project is currently See page 2 for parking and shuttle details. systems engineering students, and Pedestrians using a pathway to the 20-watt light-emitting diode under budget, Gmeinder notes with a Additional information is available at Jeff Hoover, a fifth-year mechanical adjacent to F Lot probably notice (commonly termed LED) lamp. Or, sense of satisfaction. ) www.rit.edu/commencement. engineering major, recently showed the large control box mounted near as Gmeinder explains, “The turbine RIT is looking at numerous ways off the walkway light on an atypically the bottom of the post more so than talks to the batteries and the batteries Wind-powered light, page 12 New on campus Viewpoints Scholarship and Research Milestone The yearbook makes a President Simone Meet this year’s outstanding Microelectronic comeback, page 3 defines student success, educators—recipients of engineering marks page 3 distinguished Eisenhart Awards, page 4 25 years, page 11 May 18, 2007 | 1 | www.rit.edu/newsevents 2007 College Delegates College of Applied Science and Technology College of Liberal Arts David Peretz , from Wynnewood, Pa., will graduate with a B.S. in Ruth Simmons, from Rochester, is completing her B.S. in urban and mechanical engineering technology. A member of the RIT Honors community studies with a concentration in Spanish language and culture Program and recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship and a minor in culture and communication. The recipient of many awards Award, Peretz completed several co-ops, including one with EMPA in and scholarships, Simmons completed a co-op position at the University of Dubendorf, Switzerland, and served as a senior member of the aero- Rochester’s Urban Fellows Program. Through this program, she worked for design team. He has extensive engineering project experience in the City of Rochester conducting research for Councilman Dana Miller and bioengineering, robotics, mechanical and materials testing, and failure attending seminars to learn about history, politics and inequalities in urban analysis. After graduation, he will pursue his passion to design, develop areas. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology to research and invent in his field of mechanical engineering.