The University Magazine Fall 2014

Do you want to build a snowman?

Graduates play leading roles in creating hit animated films like ‘Frozen’

San Francisco opens its Golden Gate to alumni Brick City Homecoming highlights

FROM THE PRESIDENT A top 100 global university by 2025

Joshua Locke landed a job as a microelec- tronics-processing engineer at Texas Instru- ments. Hadjara Moussa, of Niger, is the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and a social entrepreneurship award from the U.S. Department of State. David Principe is already a principal investigator for two NASA-funded grant projects in astro­ RIT: The University Magazine physics. Chenae Laldee is Miss Black Deaf Executive Editors America and is pursuing a career empower- Deborah M. Stendardi, ing the black deaf community worldwide. Government and Community Relations I am in awe every year during commence­ Bob Finnerty ’07, University News Services ment ceremonies as our graduates venture Editor Mindy Mozer, University News Services into the world with confidence and poise. Contributing Editors RIT conferred degrees on nearly 4,000 Lisa Cauda, Development and Alumni Relations graduates in the Class of 2014, including Kelly Redder, Alumni Relations the impressive group noted above. Craig Smith, Development Cindy Sobieraj, Development and Alumni Relations I noticed two important milestones Alumni Relations Staff during ceremonies this year. RIT passed Art Director Cornell and is now the second largest Jeff Arbegast ’93, University Publications producer of STEM (science, technology, en-

Designers: University Publications gineering, math) degrees among all private Services Production Lamark/RIT Photo by Elizabeth Alexander Gartley ’07 universities in the nation. (Brigham Young Photographer is No. 1.) A. Sue Weisler ’93, University News Services Also, a record 28 graduates earned their I would like to see RIT become recog- Writers: University News Services doctorates. A doctoral program in engi- nized as one of the top 100 universities in Scott Bureau ’11 Michelle Cometa ’00 neering will begin this fall, becoming RIT’s the world within a decade. I don’t believe Susan Gawlowicz ’95 seventh Ph.D. program and joining astro- we can achieve the goal of being one of the Rich Kiley physics, color science, computing and infor- finest world universities by simply copying Greg Livadas Vienna McGrain ’12 mation sciences, microsystems engineering, what others are doing. To the contrary, we Marcia Morphy imaging science and sustainability. must develop our own distinct identity and Ellen Rosen We are witnessing a turning point in a reputation for excellence in important Copy Editor RIT’s history, and this brings me to the emerging fields. Marie Lang, University News Services Strategic Plan 2025. Emerging themes For example, I believe we are witnessing Multimedia Producer are developing as we craft the plan. a merger of two distinct disciplines in which David Wivell, University News Services These include: RIT holds very strong hands. These are Print Production Brenda Monahan, University Publications • RIT as a student-centric university. computer gaming and film and animation. University News Services The student population and the careers These two fields, along with our traditional 132 Lomb Memorial Drive for which we are preparing them are strength in imaging science, can position us Rochester, NY 14623-5608 in constant flux. We must stay ahead to be global leaders in the huge emerging Voice: 585-475-5064 Fax: 585-475-5097 of these changes. field of digital media. Email: [email protected] • Diversity with a broader meaning. I welcome your feedback. Email Office of Alumni Relations We must deploy our remarkable [email protected] or go to Crossroads 41 Lomb Memorial Drive diversity, not only ethnic, racial rit.edu/president/plan2025 for more Rochester, NY 14623-5603 Voice: 585-475-ALUM, Toll Free: 866-RIT-ALUM and social, but also programmatic, information. We are taking input through TTY: 585-475-2764, Fax: 585-475-5308 intellectual and experiential as an Sept. 30 with the goal of having the plan Email: [email protected] engine of innovation and creativity. approved by the Board of Trustees in Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, • RIT as a national research university. November. Help us chart the direction New York, publishes The University Magazine. RIT will soon be elevated from a of RIT for the next decade. Together, let’s RIT does not discriminate. RIT promotes and values diversity within its workforce and provides “master’s university” to a research continue to be in awe of our university. equal opportunity to all qualified individuals university by the Carnegie Foundation regardless of race, color, creed, age, marital status, as we increase the number of Ph.D. Cordially yours, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, veteran degrees we grant. This will eventually status, or disability. affect some of our rankings, such as U.S. News and World Report, and Vol.16, No.2, 102M-P1514-8/2014-LANE-JSA provide us with new opportunities. Printer: The Lane Press; Burlington, Vermont © 2014 Rochester Institute of Technology • Expanded global reach, identity and Bill Destler, President All rights reserved alumni engagement. www.rit.edu/president b | WINTER 2011-12 The University Magazine Fall 2014

Departments 2 Letters 4 On Campus 6 About Students 30 Tiger Talk 37 Alumni Activities 38 Class Notes

Other Features

8 Meet RIT’s hackers Hackathons help students get jobs and make a difference.

12 Teacher vs. former pupils The Brick City Homecoming hockey game will be a different kind of homecoming for RIT’s coaches.

16 A roadmap for airspace Corporate and university partners work to improve use of unmanned aircraft systems.

24 Moving West San Francisco Bay opens 18 its Golden Gate to alumni. Graduates play leading roles in creating hit animated films.

Cover At least eight graduates worked on Disney’s Frozen, which is the highest grossing animated film of all time. (Photo courtesy of Disney Animation Studios)

Find the free RIT: The University Magazine App in the App Store, Amazon Appstore and Google Play. Letters

Daughter of public speaking He was that way at home, too. He built a Those types of impressions don’t happen harpsichord from scratch in the ’60s that by accident. professor says thanks I have in my living room now. In the bench is Thank you for sharing the insights I opened my RIT a bag with every spare part he had left of others into what a remarkable man magazine (Spring 2014) over and a hand-written notebook tracking my dad, Ralph Gray, truly was. Some to the Letters page and my every minute he spent building, what each may remember that my mother, Josephine breath caught in my throat piece cost and even a list of the mistakes Gray, was an associate professor of language as I read “Remembering he found in the directions! This chart rivals and thought and conference techniques Ralph Gray, professor of any Excel spreadsheet I’ve seen. during that time period, too. Together they public speaking.” This quest for perfection was always sought to send every college student they Tears came to my eyes focused on bringing out the very best in touched out into the world with a command Ralph Gray as I read the wonderful each person he touched, whether it was a of the English language, knowing that it memories that Howard student or a daughter or son. I learned so would never fail them. Hansen ’67 wrote about him and the kind much from him and he directed my life in Elaine Gray Dumler ’75 (criminal justice) words written last November (Winter ways he never knew because we lost him 2013-14) by W.K. (Bill) Longcor ’69. too early in June 1976 at the age of 53. Why? Because Ralph Gray was my dad! Because of his inspiration and guidance, We welcome letters on subjects covered I actually had him as my professor for I started a speaking and training company in the magazine and of broad interest public speaking when I was a student at called Frankly Speaking Inc. in 1994 to to our readers. We edit for space, clarity RIT from 1971 to 1975. I, too, have many carry on the art of public speaking that and style. Email [email protected] or write to fond memories of his teaching style and the he loved. Recently in a talk I was giving I The University Magazine, University News memorable way he told stories, introduced referred to a demonstration I remember Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, material and that he was a perfectionist… him doing in class to illustrate the distance 132 Lomb Memorial Drive—Brown Hall, to the frustration of many of us students. between stars and planets in a galaxy. Rochester, NY 14623.

2 | FALL 2014 RIT appointed Enid Cardinal senior sustainability advisor for the university in 2011. Cardinal is a LEED-accredited professional with a Expert Advice background in socially responsible investing and environmental policy. Cardinal previously served as director of the Office of Sustainability at With Enid Cardinal Illinois State University. To watch her meRIT webinar, scan the QR code in the tree below with your smartphone or go to http://bit.ly/1mDLZ3a.

7 ways to reduce your carbon footprint

Sustainability is a high priority at RIT. As a When you do drive, try carpooling; you can tensive per calorie than grains or vegetables. university with more than 22,000 faculty, staff share expenses and reduce the wear and tear Going meatless once a week will reduce your and students, we recognize that individual on your car. Lastly, avoid idling whenever risk of preventable chronic health conditions actions are as important as our institutional possible—it gets zero miles per gallon. In like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obe- efforts. But as the buzz around sustainability fact, idling for one hour uses approximately sity, as well as your carbon footprint. In fact, and green products increases, it can be hard one gallon of gas. In other words, a vehicle according to the Environmental Working for individuals to know where to start. that idles for 10 minutes each day wastes Group’s Meat Eaters Guide, if everyone in the Here are seven simple steps that will get you more than a gallon of gas a week. U.S. avoided meat or cheese once a week, it well on your way without breaking the bank. would be the equivalent of taking 7.6 million 4. Try a low carbon diet—Your diet cars off the road. 1. Get rid of vampires—They are fine impacts more than just your waistline. For on TV, but energy vampires (or phantom average Americans, red meat makes up 11 5. Reduce, reuse, recycle—Greenhouse energy loads) drain your wallet. The aver- percent of the calories in their diet, but a gas emissions result from the production and age U.S. household wastes $100 per year in whopping 25 percent of the carbon emis- disposal of materials, and oftentimes the “standby” electricity consumed by devices sions. Ruminants like cattle and sheep release easiest actions are overlooked. Simple things that are off but plugged in. An easy solution is methane during their digestive processes, and like opting for reusable bags, having your to plug your computer, peripherals and home their manure releases methane as it decom- morning cup of coffee in a reusable mug rather electronics into power strips and shut them poses. As a result, red meat and other animal than a disposable one, or carrying a reusable off when not in use. products are considerably more carbon in- water bottle can add up. Recently, RIT switched to reusable to-go containers in Gracie’s 2. Invest in clean energy—The clean- dining facility, and in so doing avoided est energy is energy you don’t use. A home having to purchase 94,000 single-use to-go energy audit will help you to identify energy- containers that would end up in a landfill. saving projects around your house and the payback associated with each one. Once 6. Be a conscious consumer— you have exhausted your conservation Many businesses, large and small, opportunities, it may be time to start are actively working to reduce investing the money you are saving their carbon footprint. Support in renewable energy. In addition those companies by choos- to federal tax incentives, financial ing their products for your support is available through many purchasing needs over less state and local governments for conscious competitors. It will these types of projects. If you are enable them to continue to willing to pay a small premium advance their efforts and may for electricity, you can also request encourage their competitors green “e” certified energy through to follow suit. your local utility provider. 7. Magnify your impact—I 3. Don’t be idle—According to often hear the comment: “I’m just the U.S. Environmental Protection one person, how big of an impact Agency, passenger vehicles account for can I really have?” My answer: a huge 43 percent of all transportation-related impact. Beyond your personal actions, greenhouse gas emissions in the United think about the organizations you are in- States. So skip the treadmill or exercise bike volved with. Perhaps your workplace, church (which use electricity) and get your workout or child’s school could use your help/advo- by using more active modes of transportation cacy in advancing their sustainability efforts. like walking, biking or even public transit. The ideas above apply to organizations, too.

FALL 2014 | 3 On Campus

NOTEBOOK RIT starts Wegmans School of Health, Nutrition Big Shot No. 30 The next Big Shot is coming home to RIT. Big Shot No. 30 is scheduled for around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6. The subject? Sustain- ability Institute Hall— RIT’s 84,000-square- foot “living lab”—along with Louise M. Slaughter Hall and the surrounding quad. “This will be our first-ever computa- tional image,” said co-organizer Michael Peres. Computational photography refers to

image capture involving Weisler Sue Photo by A. processing and manip- RIT held a ceremony in April to kick off construction of a new Clinical Health Sciences Center, which will be home to the College of Health ulation techniques that Sciences and Technology. The center will include a primary care clinic—to be run by Rochester General Hospital—and the Wegmans School enhance or extend the of Health and Nutrition. The 45,000-square-foot facility expansion is at the north end of Louise M. Slaughter Hall. The Clinical Health capabilities of digital Sciences Center is scheduled to open in fall 2015. photography. Examples include panoramas. For updates, go to RIT has launched a school of health and Nutrition will add new degree whether program development, http://bigshot.cias.rit. and nutrition, which is charged programs and will research and ad- workforce development or new edu. with educating students on the role dress critical health issues, such as knowledge, to drive productivity of nutrition, exercise and behavior high blood pressure, cigarette smok- and profitability. Researchers set record modification in promoting healthy ing, high cholesterol and the host of The new school launched last A record 397 research- lifestyles. problems associated with obesity. spring with nearly 100 undergradu- ers secured funding The Wegmans School of Health What will make the school ates already enrolled in a pre-exist- for fiscal year 2013, an and Nutrition, part of RIT’s College unique, RIT leaders said, will be: ing minor in exercise management increase of 12 percent of Health Sciences and Technology, • A structure that is highly collab­ and a BS in nutrition management, over the previous year. was started with a $6 million gift orative and interdisciplinary, the latter of which has 410 alumni. RIT investigators’ from The Wegman Family Chari- bringing together the best of the It joined the college’s five other efforts led to $47 mil- table Foundation. university’s technological, cre- programs, which include biomedi- lion in research funding “We are greatly appreciative for ative and humanities disciplines cal sciences, diagnostic medical last year. The Wegman Family Charitable to develop effective programs. sonography, medical illustration, “A growing num- Foundation’s gift and their support • A focus that prioritizes the pursuit physician assistant, health systems ber of researchers are for RIT’s vision for this school,” of new knowledge through highly administration, as well as the MFA getting funding and said RIT President Bill Destler. applied research initiatives. program in medical illustration. producing impactful “Through its educational and • A commitment to producing Contingent upon state approval, results, in spite of the research programs, the Wegmans graduates who are well prepared the Wegmans School of Health and limitations in sponsor School of Health and Nutrition to provide leadership in health Nutrition will add a master’s degree budgets,” said David will have tremendous potential for and wellness. in health and wellness, a bachelor’s Bond, director of changing the current health climate • A connection to industry in exercise science and a doctoral Sponsored Research throughout the entire country.” that will ensure the school is program in applied nutrition. Services. The Wegmans School of Health addressing the greatest priorities, Susan Gawlowicz ’95

4 | FALL 2014 Campus building certified one of greenest in U.S. NOTEBOOK New minor created Sustainability Institute Hall, home challenging climate here in Western efficient than a standard building— RIT is launching the of the Golisano Institute for Sus- New York,” said Nabil Nasr, associ- exceeding the points in the LEED nation’s first interdis- tainability (GIS), has been certified ate provost and director of GIS. rating system’s “optimize energy” ciplinary minor in Leadership in Energy and Environ- “We are especially proud that our credit. Designed with the capacity free and open source mental Design (LEED) Platinum by building dedicated to sustainability to optimize daylight and energy software (FOSS) and the U.S. Green Building Council— has earned such a rare accomplish- savings, the facility has extensive free culture this fall. the highest standard that can be ment, which required tremendous data sensors and feedback loops The School of achieved in the rating system. t e amw or k .” where RIT will monitor and inform Interactive Games and With a score of 80 required to The GIS building was designed building operations. Media will offer the achieve Platinum level, the GIS by FXFOWLE in collaboration The building has only consumed minor for students building earned 89 out of a possible with SWBR Architects. LeChase about a third of the electricity it who want to develop 110 points from the council, which Construction Co. served as the has generated over the past year. a deep understand- named the RIT facility “excep- design-build team leader, Stantec The rest of the electricity is fed ing of the processes, tional” and rated it among the top 1 as civil engineering consultants and into the campus grid for use in practices, technologies, percent of all green buildings in the M/E Engineering for mechanical/ other campus facilities. In addition, and financial, legal and United States today. electrical/plumbing systems design. more than half of the building’s societal impacts of the “LEED Platinum is a significant As a result of the building’s water needs have been met using FOSS and free culture accomplishment for our multi- energy-efficient systems and high- recaptured rainwater stored in a movements. story research building, particularly performance facades, 400kW fuel 1,700-gallon tank in the building’s The 15-credit- given that it is such an energy- cell and the 40kW solar array, GIS basement. hour minor, open to intensive facility combined with our is designed to be 56 percent more Rich Kiley undergraduates across the university, includes three core courses from the B. Thomas Golisano RIT employs START-UP NY to bring jobs to Rochester College of Computing and Information Sci- RIT applied its under the START-UP NY economic ment initiative. The state approved ences and the College START-UP NY development program. two RIT-owned properties—40 of Liberal Arts. certification to McChord is founder and CEO Franklin St. and the Venture Cre- entice one of its of Datto, which he started in 2007 ations incubator in Henrietta—for Interim dean named alumni to open a while finishing his degree at RIT. the program. Jacqueline Mozrall ’87 New York office “I am very excited to be part of START-UP NY seeks to acceler- (industrial engineer- of his highly suc- RIT’s START-UP NY initiative and ate entrepreneurialism and job ing) was named in- cessful Con- to open Datto’s New York office in creation across the state. Under the terim dean of Saunders Austin McChord necticut-based Rochester,” McChord said. “As an program, businesses that create net College of Business. company. RIT graduate, I know the commu- new jobs, such as Datto Inc., will Mozrall, who was a Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo an- nity has the high-quality workforce operate tax free for 10 years—pay- professor and senior nounced in June that Datto Inc., needed to support our company’s ing no state income, business, associate dean of RIT’s launched by Austin McChord ’09 continued growth.” corporate, local, sales or property Kate Gleason College (bioinformatics), will open this Datto, based in Norwalk, Conn., taxes or franchise fees. “START-UP of Engineering, started summer on the fourth floor of RIT- has experienced exponential NY takes New York’s number one July 1. owned 40 Franklin St. in downtown growth and was listed on the Inc. liability—our tax capital reputa- She took the helm Rochester. 500 in 2012 and 2013. Last year, the tion—and turns it on its head by from dt ogilvie, who The company, a leading global company marked its fourth con- offering companies zero taxes for 10 became RIT’s Distin- vendor of award-winning hybrid secutive year of 300 percent annual years, as well as access to all the as- guished Professor of cloud-based intelligent business growth, with revenues approaching sets of the Empire State, particularly Urban Entrepreneur- continuity and backup, disaster and $50 million annually. the talent and research capabilities ship and chair of the recovery solutions, has said it will RIT was the first private of our world-class universities,” advisory board for create more than 70 new jobs in university admitted to the state’s Cuomo said. RIT’s Center for Urban exchange for the incentives offered START-UP NY business develop- Ellen Rosen Entrepreneurship.

FALL 2014 | 5 About Students

Photo by Elizabeth Lamark / RIT Production Services

Student wins Emerging Talent award The 2014 Net Awards, which cel- traveled to London with Lana Ver- our judges because of how much ebrate the best in Web design and schage, the director of Women in she has achieved in the last year,” development, named a first-year Computing at RIT. After winning said Oliver Lindberg, editor of net software engineering student the the award, Lamere was surprised magazine. “Her Twivo app is very Emerging Talent of the Year. in London by Andrew Sears, dean impressive, especially when you Jen Lamere was the only wom- of RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano Col- consider she only started coding an nominated in the 10-person lege of Computing and Informa- a year ago.” category and the only nominee tion Sciences. Lamere also became Twitter’s from the U.S. “We couldn’t be more proud of youngest intern ever, working on The Net Awards are hosted by Jen and everything she has accom- the Crashlytics team for about 10 net magazine. The Emerging Tal- plished,” Sears said. “We cannot weeks the summer before starting ent of the Year award recognizes wait to see what she does next.” at RIT. up-and-coming developers and Before coming to RIT, Lamere It was there that she discovered designers under age 20 who have invented Twivo, an app that allows her love for client-side program- started to make their mark. Twitter users to block television ming. She returned to Twitter this Lamere received the trophy at a spoilers from their Twitter feed. summer for a second internship. Jen Lamere ceremony May 9 in London. She “Jen really struck a chord with Scott Bureau ’11

BY THE NUMBERS 32,000 2,700+ ABOUT IMAGINE Visitors who attended the one-day Students, faculty and staff who showcased Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity their innovative work at nearly 400 exhibits. RIT FESTIVAL Festival on May 3.

6 | FALL 2014 Celia Garland ’14 (glass and glass sculpture) looks for her parents in the audience before Academic Convocation. Nearly 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students received degrees in May. Garland started a job in June at Corning Museum of Glass. Corvette Showcase Challenge conquered

By his senior year, Dan Wang ’14 (advertising asking him to be involved in the contest. He photography) had photographed everything was given one day to create four images of the from puppies to motorcycle gangs. But he car. “Everything that I’ve been learning in the had never photographed a vehicle before. past four years at RIT culminated in what the The Houston native’s first attempt at put- challenge demanded,” he said. ting his commercial photography skills to Wang credits the help of his crew in mak- work was at the Corvette Z06 Student Show- ing the images such a success. Two are former case Challenge held by Chevrolet to help Tigers, Tim Zwicky and Ryan Jenq ’13 (ad- introduce the new supercar in April. Wang vertising photography), who were working in won with 56 percent of the votes from the New York City. Facebook contest and was awarded $5,000. Following graduation, Wang took a The contest gave three New York-based position with Scheimpflüg as a gaffer/Web college students the opportunity to shoot the media director in New York City. Scheimp- Imaging Digital Motors Creative May / General Photo by Brad 2015 Corvette before its public unveiling at flüg is a lighting and camera rental house Graduate Dan Wang photographed this Corvette the 2014 New York State Auto Show. that serves the photography and motion Z06 for a contest during his senior year. Both a professor at RIT and a representa- picture industry. tive from General Motors approached Wang Krista Bellardo ’14

10 650 6,538 Teams that participated in Dr. Destler’s S’mores served by the popular Facebook users who “liked” the event. annual Power Wheels and E-Vehicle Robotic S’more Maker exhibit. Autocross Challenge.

FALL 2014 | 7 Inside a hackathon

Kick-off Getting to work

13 hours of programming RIT Women in Computing hosted WIC Hacks on April 26. The hackathon was part of the 2014 International Women’s Hackathon and drew 68 female students from RIT, area high schools and other universities. The hackathon starts with interactive demo presentations from Intuit; Apple; Google; Constant Contact, an online marketing com- pany based in Massachusetts; and the digital music services Spotify and The Echo Nest. Shannon Trudeau, a third-year software engineering student, brainstorms ideas with her group, which formed after the women arrived. They decide to make a music quiz game they name Mixtery.

Arrival Participants register for the event on the RIT campus. They will make a software project that gets women excited about STEM careers, prevents distracted driving among teens or on something else that interests them.

Photos by A. Sue Weisler and Sean Sullivan 8 | FALL 2014 Download The University Magazine app to read a more detailed account of the WIC Hacks event.

Assistance from mentors Alumni participation

The team hits a roadblock, so Trudeau, left, and group member Margaret Joslyn, a student at SUNY Empire State College in Buffalo, get help from Paul Lamere of Spotify.

Laura Wieme ’09, ’13 (film and animation, computer science) attended the event on behalf of Apple, where she works as a senior software engineer.

Hackathons help students get jobs, make a difference

n a Friday evening after classes, the in hackathon refers to the problem solving RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Innova- last thing that Vickie Angie ’13 (new and exploratory programming that occurs tion and Creativity (MAGIC). media design) wanted to think about during these 12-, 24- or 48-hour coding But DeCausemaker said the event was Owas schoolwork. competitions, not someone who breaks into a still fun and they learned about open source “I needed a change of pace and I wanted computer system. software development, which is software that to be creative,” said Angie. “So I went with But hackathons are more than coding. anyone can modify and improve. some friends to the weekend They have become a way for students to Today, hundreds of students from across hackathon on campus.” impress future employers, give back to the the university partake in the two or three Within hours she was community and socialize. hackathons offered each semester. Since 2009, teamed up with six other “Hackathons provide our students with there have been more than 40 hackathons, students, and after a few crazy a number of unique opportunities that including women-only hackathons, hackathons ideas, a massive amount of junk complement and build on our curriculum,” to build whole video games in a day, hackathons Vickie Angie food and little to no sleep, they said Andrew Sears, dean of the B. Thomas to solve problems for NASA and hackathons had created a new product. Golisano College of Computing and Informa- to win prizes from Apple and Microsoft. During a five-minute presentation in front tion Sciences. “I’m always impressed by the Some hackathons take place only at RIT. of the more than 70 people at the event, the energy and new ideas that our students bring Others are part of bigger events. Earlier this team unveiled the prototype for Blink Band, to these big events.” year, RIT was the regional site of Global a bracelet that allows close friends to stay Game Jam, which had 23,198 participants at in touch by flashing whenever friends post New job fair 488 sites across 72 countries. something new to their social networks. An- That wasn’t always the case. Adjunct profes- “Beginning in 1999 and really taking off gie and the team took home the top prize in sor Remy DeCausemaker ’08, ’13 (applied in the mid 2000s, hackathons have become a the creative category at the American Greet- arts and sciences, professional studies) big part of entrepreneurship, innovation and ings Hackathon in January 2013. remembers setting up his first hackathon at entertainment for industry and universities,” Much like a marathon, in which runners RIT in 2009. The pizza was ordered, cans of said Stephen Jacobs, professor and associate cover a lot of ground on pavement over a energy drinks were within arm’s reach and he director of RIT’s MAGIC Center. limited period of time, hackathons allow was ready to stay awake for 24 hours of open Facebook, for example, has become computer programmers and others involved source government data aggregation. famous for its all-night coding workshops, in software development, including graphic “I think three computing students showed where engineers are free to create new proj- designers, project managers and interface up, and they only stayed for five or six hours,” ects unrelated to their day-to-day activities. designers, to cover a lot of ground on a soft- said DeCausemaker, who is also a free and Some of Facebook’s most popular features, ware project with a certain theme. The “hack” open source software research coordinator in including the “Like” button, Timeline and

FALL 2014 | 9 Inside a hackathon (continued)

Programming Final presentations

The Mixtery team codes on five computers using GitHub, a collaborative website that allows them all to contribute to the project at the same time. The groups present their projects. The Mixtery team wins the Best Use of The Echo Nest API award. Although Trudeau doesn’t anticipate continuing Mixtery, she sees the potential to use what she learned at WIC Hacks as a baseline for future projects.

Chat, were conceived during hackathons. to improve team play. formation after the catastrophic earthquake. “In just the last five years, the popularity of For Brown, the highlight of hackathons In 2012, RIT and Rochester community hackathons at RIT has exploded,” Jacobs said. is demonstrating his group’s final project in hackers helped to create a mobile version of One reason for the explosion is that hack- front of an interested and driven audience. At New York’s disaster preparedness website, af- athons are becoming a step in the interview the American Greetings event, he and other ter Superstorm Sandy took out many people’s process for employers. programmers created Data Buffet, a real-time home computers. The Cleveland-based company American monitoring service for server analytics. Data “People in the technology field often think Greetings held its first college hackathon at Buffet won first place in the Web category. that liberal arts and social science students RIT last year, said Mark Prugh, manager of are the only ones who can directly help other Web development at American Greetings Make a difference people,” Jacobs said. “Humanitarian hack- Interactive. For the last seven years, the com- Along with the excitement of a athons are a great way for our students to pany has routinely hosted hack days for its competition, hackathons allow build something and help solve real-world own employees to inspire them and get new participants to learn new skills problems.” ideas for the company, he said. The RIT hack- and give back to the commu- That continues to be the case for students athon was organized as a thank you to the nity. The iOS App Challenge, even after they graduate. Brandon Littell university for the numerous graduates and a weeklong hackathon hosted Brown said last January, Hudl hosted a co-op students who work with the company by Apple this winter, was a good excuse for two-day hackathon event on the 14th floor of and as a way to recruit new employees. Brandon Littell ’15 (game design and devel- the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. “American Greetings really values hack- opment) to learn Objective-C, the primary “Not only was it decked out with free athons because it gives us an opportunity to language used by Apple. goodies, but we got to work with developers see a student perform under pressure with Joined by two of his software engineering that had different expertise than our own and a deadline,” Prugh said. “We can learn more friends, Littell sought to get his feet wet in build anything we wanted that could benefit about a student’s abilities in their five-minute iOS development and have fun doing it. the company.” presentation than in a typical five-hour “We created WeFree, a calendar app that Angie, who now works with Nurun, a interview.” helps you see when your friends are free and global design and technology consultancy in Ryan Brown ’13 (applied networking shows how much time you have until your San Francisco, is excited to be attending the and systems administration) landed one of next event,” Littell said. “We actually came up company’s annual hackathon in September. the three interviews with American Greet- with the idea because we were having such a “It’s three days where the whole office stops ings after he participated in the company’s hard time figuring out when to meet to work doing client work and gets to create some- hackathon. on this hackathon.” thing new,” said Angie. “I think hackathons Brown ended up taking a job as a soft- In 2010, more than 15 Computer Science are important because they allow people’s ware developer with Hudl, a Lincoln, Neb., House students worked on a hackathon for passions to come out and help us remember company that makes high-tech tools for Haiti, in which they wrote a Python script to that we really love what we do.” coaches and athletes to review game footage better organize a database of public school in- Scott Bureau ’11

10 | FALL 2014 Meet some of RIT’s hackers third-year new media interactive develop- vation Trail to create Traffairious. The website ment student. “It’s like any sort of party you’d is a visual way for users to see the proximity g o t o.” of local schools to high traffic roadways. Nolan didn’t know much programming RHoKTheHood was a project that came before starting college. In his second year at out of the Random Hacks of Kindness hack- RIT, the Fairport, N.Y., native started using athon held at RIT in December 2013. Nolan the FOSSBox in the Center for Media, Arts, worked with student Mihir Singh to create a Games, Innovation and Creativity (MAGIC) Web application that allows users to see the as a quiet place to do homework. After inter- violent-crime rate on an interactive map. acting with other students there, he decided Nolan spent the spring semester and sum- to take a programming class with Remy mer months working as a software engineer- DeCausemaker ’08, ’13 (applied arts and sci- ing co-op at Amazon in Seattle. Mike Nolan started going to hackathons on ences, professional studies). “The more I got “It’s hard to tell what got me this job,” campus his freshman year and has since been to know Remy, the more I started becoming he said. “But when talking with the human to almost 15. involved in these hackathons,” said Nolan. resources person who pulled my résumé, she “You’ll be in one big room and you’re all At the 2013 Hack Upstate in Syracuse, said it was due to the projects I put on there. on your computers together, making jokes, N.Y., Nolan worked with DeCausemaker, A bunch of those projects were either started playing pranks and laughing,” said Nolan, a Hacks/Hackers Rochester, WXXI and Inno- or worked on at hackathons.”

RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Innova- game. “That’s a nice thing about a hackathon,” tion and Creativity (MAGIC). said Kotler. “You can cut off this one weekend “Because of my work in a lot of the and just get a ton of work done. It allowed FOSS@MAGIC hackathons, a startup com- us to really polish SkyTime and make it a lot pany asked me to come be their designer better.” when they competed in a few hackathons out The success of SkyTime gave Kotler the op- of town,” said Kotler on her trips to LAUNCH portunity to represent her team at the White Hackathon in San Francisco and Hacking House Champions of Change event in July Pediatrics in Boston. 2013, which highlighted civic hackers and When working with a startup or assisting honored the best projects to emerge from the technical teams at a hackathon, Kotler uses Hack for Change event at RIT that was part of her artistic skills to focus on user interface the National Day of Civic Hacking. Hackathons opened the door for Jenn Kotler design, logos or other visual project aspects. Kotler hopes to continue to participate in ’14 (medical illustration) to travel to events in One of the most successful projects Kotler hackathons throughout her life. Boston; Washington, D.C.; and California. has worked on is SkyTime, an educational “I think I really gained a working knowl- The Merrick, N.Y., native was introduced game designed to teach young students how edge about what it takes to make a product, to hackathons because of her job illustrating to tell time. It began as a class assignment specifically digital ones like apps and games,” and designing educational games with the with a team of students, who then used hack- she said. “I definitely think it was hackathons Free and Open Source Software initiative at athons as a way to continue working on the that gave me that knowledge.”

online forums and tutorials. and interact with technologies you aren’t Four years later, he put his skills to the test aware of that can help you with your project.” at the AT&T Rochester Civic App Challenge Saha took RocReport to Hack Upstate in Kick-off Hackathon in February. Syracuse, N.Y., in April, placed in the “Inno- “I had never been to a hackathon back vation and Creativity” category at the annual in India,” said Saha, a computer science Emerging Talk startup event in Syracuse later graduate student. “I thought it would be a that month and presented a final, working good idea to go find out what type of projects version of the app at the Rochester Civic App people work on there.” Challenge finals in May. Saha enlisted Ricky Laishram, a friend RocReport won third place in the new from home who is attending Syracuse Uni- civic app challenge category at the Civic versity. They created RocReport, a mobile App Challenge, which along with AT&T was When Debjit Saha was in his junior year of platform to report civic issues such as pot- supported by Digital Rochester, High Tech college in Mumbai, India, he acquired a new holes, broken street lamps and snow pile-ups. Rochester and Hack Upstate. hobby—mobile app and website develop- “I liked the amount of work you are able Saha and Laishram split the $1,000 prize. ment. Not wanting to switch his major from to get done in such a short amount of time,” electronics, he decided to teach himself using Saha said. “You also get to meet new people Stories by Krista Bellardo ’14

FALL 2014 | 11 Boston College Hockey Coach Jerry York coached both RIT Hockey Head Coach Wayne Wilson and Associate Head Coach Brian Hills in the 1980s.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson and Associate Head Coach Brian Hills will face their former coach on Oct. 18.

12 | FALL 2014 Teacher vs. former pupils Hockey coaches face mentor at homecoming game n Oct. 18, a probable sellout crowd Both Wilson and Hills agree that some New home for hockey of 10,556 orange-clad fans will pack of their coaching styles and tendencies have Blue Cross Arena for RIT’s con- come from what they learned from York. The men’s and women’s hockey teams Otest against perennial national powerhouse “Jerry allows you to play your game and will move into the Gene Polisseni Center Boston College, the focal point of Brick City is the most positive person I’ve ever been in time for the 2014-2015 season. Homecoming & Family Weekend. For RIT around on the bench; he never gets down,” Here are some highlights of the arena: Head Coach Wayne Wilson and Associate Wilson said. “I’ve definitely learned a lot from • 4,000 seats and additional standing Head Coach Brian Hills, there will be a differ- him and emulated certain aspects into my room for a total capacity of 4,300 ent sort of homecoming, forged 35 years ago own coaching style.” fans. The majority of the seating is in a small town in northwest Ohio. York is just as complimentary of his former reserved and there is an expanded Boston College is coached by Jerry York, pupils.“It’s great to see how both Brian and student section that is general college hockey’s all-time leader with 963 wins Wayne came in as young pups at Bowling admission seating. in 42 seasons split among Clarkson University, Green, matured into leaders for me on the • Exclusive seating, which includes Bowling Green State University and Boston ice, became great family men and have now club seating behind RIT’s bench, College. Both Wilson and Hills were a major become two of the most respected coaches in six luxury suites—four are attached part of York’s success at Bowling Green, college hockey,” York said. “They have both to the club lounge, an upscale full- having played for him in the early 1980s. done really great things, building RIT into a service hospitality area—and a VIP The trio helped Bowling Green re-emerge “player experience” box located as a national powerhouse, advancing to the next to the RIT bench where eight 1982 NCAA Quarterfinals and Central Col- fans can feel like they are sitting legiate Hockey Association Championship on the bench. game in 1983 before Hills, the university’s • Two full-service concession second all-time leading scorer, graduated. stands and multiple mobile kiosks In 1984, Wilson, a defenseman and captain, throughout the venue with addi- teamed with York to capture Bowling Green’s tional food options. one and only hockey NCAA Championship. • A new RIT Athletics Hall of Fame “Jerry is all about discipline, doing the highlighting the hall’s inductees right thing at all times like being on time, and RIT’s athletic history. always being clean shaven and respecting • A Barnes and Noble store where one another,” said Hills, who played for Wayne Wilson, left, and Brian Hills both played for Jerry fans can purchase Tiger gear. York at Bowling Green from 1979 to 1983 York at Bowling Green State University. They were a • Two high-definition video boards. and is entering his 10th season at RIT. “On major part of York’s success in the early 1980s. the ice, he let us play our style and taught Season tickets can be purchased at us how to win.” tremendous program.” www.rithockey.com or by calling the Wilson would come back to Bowling Like last year’s opponent, Michigan, Bos- Box Office at 585-475-4121. Green in 1989 and serve as an assistant ton College is a perennial power in Division coach for York until the latter left for Boston I hockey, having won five NCAA Champion- If you go College in 1994. Wilson and Hills are part ships and 24 trips to the Frozen Four. of a long line of former York players who Boston College has several National The Game: RIT vs. Boston College have become head coaches or team execu- Hockey League draft picks on its roster and Place: Blue Cross Arena, downtown tives at the collegiate and pro level, including will more than likely be a pre-season top-five Rochester Dan Bylsma (formerly with the Pittsburgh team when they arrive in Rochester. In Penguins), George McPhee (formerly with addition, Rochester natives Brian and Date: Saturday, Oct. 18 the Washington Capitals), Brian MacLellan Stephen Gionta and Chris Collins all played Time: 7:05 p.m. (Washington Capitals), Dave Taylor (St. Louis for York with the Eagles. Both Giontas play Blues) and George Roll (Nazareth College). in the NHL. “To be able to coach against him Tickets: RIT will play its annual home- “I had a great experience playing for is an honor,” Wilson said. “Jerry York embod- coming game at Blue Cross Arena for him and later coaching with him at Bowl- ies what college hockey is all about.” the eighth straight season. The game ing Green,” said Wilson, who enters his 16th Once the puck drops, however, friendships has sold out each of the last four years, season behind the bench at RIT with a 282- will take a backseat for two hours. “I talked with last year’s contest against Michigan 165-49 record. “Most importantly, he made to (Michigan coach) Red Berenson not too selling out 15 days before the game. This me a better person off the ice. He taught me a long ago and he said that the crowd and the year’s game is expected to sell out just as lot about discipline, following team rules, and atmosphere downtown last year was electric,” quickly. Alumni can purchase tickets at so many little things like seniors eating with said York. “We are really looking forward to www.rit.edu/brickcity or by calling the freshmen, and rooming with different team- this game and a loud, sell-out crowd.” Box Office at 585-475-4121. mates on every trip.” Joe Venniro

FALL 2014 | 13 October 16th-19th Over 150 activities to choose from, including new events & favorite traditions like 50th Year Reunion Activities, Tours, Golden Circle Luncheon, Athletic Reunions, Greek Reunions, Pumpkin Chunkin, Skate with the Tigers and more.

TH Dinner & Dancing at the Presidents’ Alumni Ball Honoring RIT Alumni A. John Bartholomew ’60 and 17 Patrick Talty ’92, ’02 & Lisa Talty ’91, ’97.

Horton Distinguished Speaker TH Student Government presents the annual speaker series. Visit the website to see this year’s speaker! 18

TH Check out our new home! Open house and tours at the new 18 Gene Polisseni Center.

Cheer on the Tigers! TH Men’s hockey takes on Boston College at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester! 18

TH Wrap up your weekend! Brick City 5K Fun Run and Walk followed by 19 Family Brunch.

RIT Presidents’ Alumni Ball Honorees Comedian Bill Cosby Thursday, October 16th The Cosby Show star brings his stand-up act to campus to kick off the weekend! Presented by the College Activities Board.

Speaker Jerry Green eld Friday, October 17th Saunders College of Business proudly presents the Gasser RIT Brick City Homecoming #RITBrickCity Sign up at rit.edu/brickcity Lecture Series featuring the enterprising co-founder of Hotels book fast & many events sell out early! All seats in Blue Cross Arena are assigned; tickets for all other events are general admission. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. 14 | FALL 2014 October 16th-19th Over 150 activities to choose from, including new events & favorite traditions like 50th Year Reunion Activities, Tours, Golden Circle Luncheon, Athletic Reunions, Greek Reunions, Pumpkin Chunkin, Skate with the Tigers and more.

TH Dinner & Dancing at the Presidents’ Alumni Ball Honoring RIT Alumni A. John Bartholomew ’60 and 17 Patrick Talty ’92, ’02 & Lisa Talty ’91, ’97.

Horton Distinguished Speaker TH Student Government presents the annual speaker series. Visit the website to see this year’s speaker! 18

TH Check out our new home! Open house and tours at the new 18 Gene Polisseni Center.

Cheer on the Tigers! TH Men’s hockey takes on Boston College at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester! 18

TH Wrap up your weekend! Brick City 5K Fun Run and Walk followed by 19 Family Brunch.

RIT Presidents’ Alumni Ball Honorees Comedian Bill Cosby Thursday, October 16th The Cosby Show star brings his stand-up act to campus to kick off the weekend! Presented by the College Activities Board.

Speaker Jerry Green eld Friday, October 17th Saunders College of Business proudly presents the Gasser RIT Brick City Homecoming #RITBrickCity Sign up at rit.edu/brickcity Lecture Series featuring the enterprising co-founder of Hotels book fast & many events sell out early! All seats in Blue Cross Arena are assigned; tickets for all other events are general admission. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. FALL 2014 | 15 Tim Southerland ’14 (mechanical engineering) launch- es a quadro-copter, a model drone, controlled by Peter Pietrantoni ’14 (mechanical engineering). Agamemnon Crassidis, an associate professor in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, watches. Photo by A. Sue Weisler 16 | FALL 2014 Designing a roadmap for U.S. airspace Corporate and university partners become part of national plans to improve use of unmanned aircraft systems

Gale winds shear off roofs during hurri- and in remote sensing and imaging from RIT’s Using unmanned aircraft could provide canes. Floods damage homes and properties. Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science. multiple benefits not only for companies that Improving the time it takes to assess dam- “This is a significant opportunity to expand can increase assessment activities and keep age after a natural disaster can be done with use of remote sensing and imaging and make representatives off unstable roofs or other unmanned aircraft systems. that imaging accessible to a broader constitu- structures, but also for consumers who rely Although unmanned aircraft systems are ency. In some disaster situations, especially on insurance adjustments after crises. Im- associated with military and law enforcement with states or counties with tight budgets, ac- proving the time to complete an assessment applications, there’s been a shift in thinking cess to low-cost imaging is big for them,” said means better recovery from disasters. about using them for activities as varied as Donald McKeown, distinguished researcher Unmanned aircraft are more than remote- property assessments, crop surveying, rescue in the Center for Imaging Science. controlled model planes. Today, they consist operations and wildlife monitoring, said The team has already received testing and of complex systems for collision avoidance, Agamemnon Crassidis, associate professor of development requests since the December automated controls and navigation; they mechanical engineering in RIT’s Kate Glea- announcement. One of those came from also integrate imaging systems to gather and son College of Engineering. Pictometry and Steve Schultz ’89 (computer process data. RIT researchers have already Crassidis will bring that big-picture vision science), chief technology officer for the been developing aspects of these technologies of the varied uses for unmanned aircraft company that focuses on geo-referenced and can contribute to improving unmanned systems to NUAIR, the Northeast Unmanned aerial image capture and data analytics. aircraft systems. Aircraft System Airspace Integration Re- More than a year ago, Pictometry merged Regulations currently do not permit search Alliance. NUAIR is a group of more with Eagle View Technologies. The company unmanned aircraft above 400 feet without than 40 companies and universities in New had been using Pictometry’s imaging systems certification, and these allowances are given York and Massachusetts selected in December to generate roof reports. primarily to law enforcement or the military. 2013 as one of six Federal Aviation Adminis- “It’s very difficult to tell detailed informa- The FAA has directed new test site teams tration test sites in the U.S. tion about roof conditions from traditional like NUAIR to contribute recommenda- The alliance will conduct research to aerial views,” said Schultz, an RIT Trustee. tions about how corporate and commercial improve current unmanned aircraft tech- “We can fly high enough and get high-reso- unmanned aircraft can be part of already nology and recommend safe integration of lution images to provide the details, but it is crowded skies. The Northeast corridor where unmanned aircraft in the national airspace cost prohibitive over a wide area. But doing NUAIR will operate has some of the high- system. Seventeen universities are involved this with an unmanned aircraft system, over est volumes of air traffic to control. with RIT and Massachusetts Institute of Tech- individual homes, if needed, can get a more In addition to benefits of new technology nology as regional academic leaders. accurate reading. Underwriters can essential- and clearer regulations of industry processes, “One of my key roles is to bring the universi- ly manage their risk, and using (unmanned unmanned aircraft systems have the potential ties together to see what kinds of research they aerial vehicles) can help them do that.” to impact the economy, opening up market are doing and how we can use that research,” Pictometry plans to contract with RIT for opportunities, said Crassidis. The need for said Crassidis, who will also serve on NUAIR’s improvements to its obstacle avoidance tech- system components, low-cost sensors, plat- board of directors. He specializes in aircraft nology, to create a comprehensive system that forms, autonomous control algorithms, sense- control systems and has worked for aerospace would fly over the perimeter of a designated and-avoid systems and advanced imaging pro- companies such as Calspan, an affiliate of the area and capture the images necessary to create cessing methods offers opportunities for both Flight Research Facility in Buffalo, N.Y., a roof model. Upon landing, the system would local companies and universities. According specifically part of the team that designed flight upload the raw data to the company’s server to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Sys- simulation systems for jet fighter pilots. to generate a roof report for the client, ideally tems International, UAS may provide 100,000 RIT is well positioned for this work with while the client is still onsite. Schultz believes new jobs in the U.S. and more than $82 billion expertise in sensor and aeronautic system it is a viable goal and the system design and in economic outcomes by 2025. development from the Kate Gleason College processing capability are being developed. Michelle Cometa ’00

FALL 2014 | 17 At least eight graduates worked on Disney’s Frozen, which is the highest grossing animated film of all time. (Photo courtesy of Disney Animation Studios)

Graduates play leading roles in creating hit animated films like ‘Frozen’

little bit of RIT lives inside the Oscar- and clothes move in natural ways, creating visual effects in 2013, and Disney’s Paperman, winning movie Frozen, the highest backgrounds, supervising artists and light- which won best animated short film in 2013. grossing animated film of all time. ing shots in many of today’s most popular And more alumni work is in the pipeline, It’sA in the characters, the costumes and the animated movies. including LAIKA’s The Boxtrolls (September), palaces. Dozens of graduates have worked or are Disney’s Big Hero 6 (November) Dream- There’s also some RIT in the mob of currently working at Walt Disney Animation Works’ Home (2015), Blue Sky’s Peanuts townspeople in The Simpsons Movie, the city Studios in Burbank, Calif.; Blue Sky Studios (2015) and Disney’s Zootopia (2016). buildings in Rio 2 and the lighting in Epic. in Greenwich, Conn.; LAIKA outside of An RIT graduate helped make the hair on Portland, Ore.; and DreamWorks Animation Making magic the characters in this summer’s How to Train in Glendale, Calif. Spaull said most of the students who enroll Your Dragon 2. Another came up with the “If it comes from Disney or Blue Sky, there’s in RIT’s School of Film and Animation mechanisms that allowed Pascal the chame- going to be a screen credit for several RIT have known since they were little that they leon in Tangled to stick out his tongue and alumni,” said Malcolm Spaull, administrative wanted to make movies. The school each year curl his tail. A third alumnus planned the chair of RIT’s School of Film and Animation. receives almost 500 applications for 65 spots. facial performance of characters in Coraline. They can claim at least three Academy After students complete their first year, they RIT graduates are making an impact in Awards. Along with the best animated feature can then decide if they want to specialize in the thriving animated film world. They are film Frozen, graduates have worked on Life live action or animation. setting up characters, making their hair of Pi, which won an Academy Award for best Brittney Lee ’06 remembers thinking about

18 | FALL 2014 Graduates worked on the 2012 Disney hit Wreck-It Ralph. David Suroviec ’06 helped create antagonist King Candy and Sour Bill. (Photo courtesy of Disney Animation Studios)

Graduates are currently working on Disney’s Zootopia, which is scheduled to come out in 2016. (Photo courtesy of Disney Animation Studios)

David Suroviec ’06 and Brittney Lee ’06 contributed to the movie Frozen, which won an Academy Award for best animated feature film.

being an animator when she was growing up powers have left the kingdom in perpetual in Sharon, Pa. “I loved to draw and general winter. A mountain man and his pet reindeer, performance arts,” she said. “As I got older, Sven, accompany her on the journey. I figured out that animation involved all of Lee helped bring the snow queen’s magic those things.” to life and is behind the interior of the ice She moved to San Francisco after gradu- palace Elsa builds while singing “Let It Go.” ating and landed a job at a small gaming She designed the snowflake that emits from company animating and designing. But her Elsa’s foot and the columns, ceiling, balcony goal was to work for a feature animation stu- and chandelier of the palace. dio, so after 2½ years she started freelancing “We were trying to keep it all consistent, and worked on her portfolio. She was hired at so since I worked on her snowflake, they Disney in the fall of 2009. asked me to do the interior of the palace so As a visual development artist, Lee helped it would all feel like it made sense.” design the 3D computer-animated world of Lee first made the snowflake out of paper Frozen. The film, inspired by Hans Christian before drawing it digitally. The palace was a Brittney Lee ’06 designed the ice palace in Frozen. She Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, is about challenge, she said, because writers were still first created the snowflake at the base of the palace. a princess, Anna, who goes on a journey to working on the story as they were designing. (Photo courtesy of Disney Animation Studios) find her sister, Elsa the Snow Queen, whose They didn’t know, for example, how long Elsa

FALL 2014 | 19 would be there and how the palace would be of his tasks was to go through past seasons Curious Pictures. He was told he could help used. Lee also worked on both the characters of The Simpsons television series and pull out with lighting or materials. and their costumes. The art director wanted cameo characters for background scenes. “I just told him lighting because that’s what Frozen to feel like a grand musical, and Hasman eventually became a production came to my head that I wanted to do between elaborate costumes were a key ingredient coordinator on the film, overseeing a team those two things,” he said. “They sat me down to making that happen, she said. that was in charge of painting all the back- in front of a computer and said OK, light this Frozen was the first film Lee worked on grounds and another team that worked with shot. I did and they really liked it.” from concept through production. She had color models. In February 2010, he got a job at Doodle smaller roles on the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph After working on the movie, Hasman Pictures Studios in Connecticut working and in the shorts Paperman and Get a Horse! was hired to work on The Simpsons Ride for on Lego animations for commercials and Frozen was also the first film Jim Hasman Universal Studios in Florida and Califor- websites for four months. He then went to ’01, a production supervisor, worked on from nia. From there, he landed his dream job at Nickelodeon where he worked on the Nick Jr. the very beginning to the very end, including Disney, working on The Princess and the Frog, show Team Umizoomi. helping with advertising and marketing. The Ballad of Nessie short, Winnie the Pooh, He managed to get a temporary job working Hasman started working with the visual Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice Christmas on the film Rio as a lighting assistant. Blue Sky development team overseeing the creation TV special and then Frozen. asked him to come back as a lighting temp for Ice Age 4: Continental Drift and he was hired full time in May 2012. As a full-time employee, he has worked on Epic and Rio 2. In Epic, a 2013 film about a teenager who enters another world and fights for good, he had the record for the most lit shots—94, he said. Lighting comes near the end of the anima- tion process. Tzeremes positions lights that affect how characters and the background look. He makes a shot look rainy or sunny, for example. Before Tzeremes adds lights, Isaac Holze ’10 works on background scenes. Holze started at Blue Sky shortly after graduation. He had worked at Blue Sky on Horton Hears a Who! on a temporary basis while he was a student. He was assigned to Rio when he returned full time, making the background look like a real environment. After that was Ice Age 4 and Epic. “For me, Ice Age 4 was a nice chance to be part of what our studio is most famous for currently.” Jim Hasman ’01 has a long list of movie cred- “I grew up loving Disney movies and to its, including the Disney classics Winnie the be a part of these movies, they are timeless,” Pooh and The Princess and the Frog. (Photos he said. “When I go back to Rochester and courtesy of Disney Animation Studios) people come up and say, ‘I didn’t know you worked on that,’ it is an amazing thing. You sometimes forget that people all over the of environments and characters. After artists world are watching these films.” drew the characters and environments, they were sent to modeling to be made into 3D East and west sculptures on a computer. Hasman ran the While Hasman was working his way into environmental modeling department. the industry on the West Coast, several RIT Hasman also knew as a child growing up graduates were breaking into animation on in Webster, N.Y., that he wanted to work in the East Coast. this field. “I used to draw all the time and my Christos Tzeremes ’09 didn’t immediately mom used to say, ‘Someday you are going to find a job in his field after he graduated, so work for Disney,’ ” he remembers. he started working in fashion in New York He took a gamble after graduating and City. He worked for corporate Gap, lighting moved with his wife and 3-year-old son to showrooms where Gap representatives from California to pursue that goal. around the world could select clothing to After three months, he found a job as a stock their stores. He used his background writer for a production company that had a in 3D lighting on the job. contract with the Fine Living Network. His Tzeremes became interested in lighting Isaac Holze ’10, left, and Christos Tzeremes ’09 are first step into animation was a job with Film while on an internship in New York City for working on Peanuts at Blue Sky Studios. The movie is Roman working on The Simpsons Movie. One the production and entertainment company scheduled to come out in November 2015.

20 | FALL 2014 Epic was one of his favorite films to work on because it was a challenge creating at least a half dozen different worlds, one of which was in a deep-forest setting. For that movie, based on the book The Leaf Men by William Joyce, Holze and other members of his de- partment went out in the woods to give them reference for the forest background. Holze continued to do backgrounds for Rio 2, helping to build the city Brasilia and working on two of the song sequences. Holze and Tzeremes are currently working on Peanuts. In that world, Holze said, they have learned less is more and they are working hard to stay true to Charles Schulz’s designs. “It has been fun to look at those comic strips and learn design elements and compo- Scott Vosbury ’04 worked on Life of Pi, which won an Oscar for best visual effects in 2013. sition elements from him,” he said. Ferris Webby ’07 is also working on Peanuts at Blue Sky, where he started last September. Webby worked at DreamWorks Unpredictable, rewarding profession Animation for four years as a rigger, which is Scott Vosbury ’04 turned a quiet street Now, she works at Disney Animation the person who adds a skeleton to characters. in Boston into a giant disaster scene, Studios as a look development artist and He tells the computer how and where a char- with cars falling out of the sky and an is working on Zootopia. acter’s body should bend and move as well eight-story parking garage collapsing in “I just enjoy creating things and see- as its facial expressions. R.I.P.D. ing them come to life,” she said. He worked on the 2011 film Puss in Boots In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Former Rhythm & Hues employee and on Turbo. He did some of the hair work Smithsonian, he was one of the artists Chris O’Connell ’00 also works at in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and worked who helped make the octopus come Disney as an environ- on Captain Smek in Home, coming out in alive and cover Ben Stiller in goop. And ment modeler, which March. in X-Men: First Class, he was respon- means he creates the Webby left DreamWorks so he could get sible for digitally transforming Jennifer environments the art- back to the East Coast to be closer to family. Lawrence into Mystique. ists design. “I know RIT graduates are showing up more Vosbury did this as a digital composi- O’Connell has and more at studios, and I’m hoping it will tor at Rhythm & Hues and was one of Chris O'Connell moved around in the continue that way,” he said. several RIT graduates industry, working at a game com- who worked there pany in Los Angeles, the film company One frame at a time before the company ImageMovers Digital in San Francisco Along with computer-generated animation, filed for bankruptcy working on A Christmas Carol and Mars graduates such as Adam Fisher ’10 are leaving last year. While at Needs Moms, MPC Moving Picture Co. their mark in the stop-motion world. Rhythm & Hues, he, in Vancouver and Sony Imageworks. Jen Stratton Fisher’s first job was with LAIKA working Jen Stratton ’05 and He has been at Disney for about two on the 2009 Academy Award-nominated film Rich Enders ’02 worked on Life of Pi, years and worked on the main castle Coraline as an animation which won an Academy Award for best and trading post in Frozen, among other production assistant. He visual effects in 2013. environments. “I feel lucky to be a part was offered the job working The film and animation world is of it, to be able to work on it,” he said. on the facial performance unpredictable, but RIT graduates are He also worked on the environments of the characters while he drawn to the profession because they in the soon-to-be-released action-come- was still a student, so he are passionate about sharing their work dy adventure Big Hero 6. Adam Fisher put his education on hold with people around the world. As for Vosbury, he is now freelanc- and took a leave of absence. Stratton started at Rhythm & Hues ing. He hopes to take his visual effects “Coraline was amazing,” he said. “There was in 2006 as a texture painter. Texture experience, which also includes work so much excitement at the studio because it was painters get gray computer models of on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s their first feature film. There was incredible the characters, props and environments End, Transformers and Hot Tub Time talent from all the great stop-motion films.” from the modelers and add color and Machine (to name a few), and one day When that film ended, Fisher finished his texture to them. Stratton was a texture be a visual effects supervisor. thesis and worked for a commercial studio in painter on Evan Almighty, Alvin and the “I love working on movies,” he said. the area. He went back to LAIKA to work on Chipmunks, The Incredible Hulk, Night “It’s rewarding to have your friends, ParaNorman (also nominated for an Oscar) at the Museum: Battle of the Smithson- family and peers be able to easily experi- for 20 months, where he and two others ian and Yogi Bear. In Life of Pi, she was ence what you have poured your life animated all the faces for the film. He also a texture lead and was involved with into the last six months to a year.” worked on soon-to-be-released The Boxtrolls, developing the look of the meerkats. Mindy Mozer

FALL 2014 | 21 Graduates at Blue a film about an orphaned boy raised by un- Sky Studios are derground cave-dwelling trash collectors who working on the tries to save his friends from an evil extermi- 2015 film Peanuts. nator. Most recently, Fisher has been working (Photo courtesy of in Los Angeles as a stop-motion animator on Blue Sky Studios) an Amazon Prime show called “Tumble Leaf” for preschoolers. Fisher physically poses 8-inch puppets on a miniature set and then takes a picture with a camera plugged into a computer. Twenty- four frames later, he has created one second Graduates at Blue of animation. He films 8 to 10 seconds a day, Sky Studios have which is a lot in the stop-motion world. also worked on “It’s a lot like if you see a 6-year-old playing Rio, Rio 2 and Epic. with Legos and G.I. Joes—they are making (Photo courtesy of them move around and acting out scenes,” he Blue Sky Studios) said. “We get to do that all day.” Greg Smith ’06 also worked at LAIKA on Coraline in the research and development group on toolsets and processes. In 2009, he began working at Disney. His first film was Tangled, where he rigged Rapunzel’s best friend, Pascal the chameleon. He also worked Several alumni on clothing and hair—not a small task in the helped make Rapunzel story. the 2009 film Smith, who was involved with both Coraline. Student Government and Reporter magazine (Photo courtesy while at RIT, became a rigging supervisor of LAIKA) on Wreck-It Ralph overseeing the setup of all the characters in the movie and supervising about a dozen people. He also was a rigging supervisor on Frozen. Because the animation world is small, graduates keep in touch and help each other find positions. Many even work together on films. Hasman said he and Lee worked to- gether for eight months on Frozen before they realized they were both RIT graduates. Adam Fisher On Wreck-It Ralph, Smith supervised ’10 animated David Suroviec ’06, who rigged the char- the faces in acters King Candy and Sour Bill. Suroviec ParaNorman. came to Disney in 2011 after rigging Tomb (Photo courtesy Raider characters for a video game com- of LAIKA) pany. (Suroviec and Lee moved to California together and were married in 2012.) Suroviec also worked on Paperman and rigged Sven the reindeer in Frozen. He is now doing Smith’s job as a rigging supervisor on Zootopia, and Smith has moved up to an as- sociate technical supervisor on the film. The first time Suroviec and the other art- ists saw the completed version of Frozen, he said, they knew it was something special. But they had to wait a few weeks before the rest of Graduates at the world would know, which was tough. Disney worked “That’s my favorite part, when the movie on Big Hero 6, is done and we can see the reaction of people coming out who are enjoying it,” Suroviec said. “It’s this November. validation of all that hard work. Having the (Photo courtesy success Frozen did is incredibly validating. of Disney Anima- All that hard work was worth it.” tion Studios) Mindy Mozer

22 | FALL 2014 Faculty serve as supporting cast to flourishing film alumni

One professor received a technical Oscar for his work as an imaging scientist on a revolu- tionary motion picture film. Another faculty member is a stop-motion animator who has contributed animation to several feature films, including Coraline and Chicken Run. A third is a prolific filmmaker who has been honored at the Cannes International Film Festival. Add to that an editor of films seen on HBO, a Hollywood writer and producer and a director of more than 400 television commer- cials for big-name companies, and you begin to get a picture of the faculty comprising RIT’s School of Film and Animation (SOFA). Despite their varying experience, the 17 full-time professors and several adjuncts share a common purpose: to educate and inspire budding film enthusiasts before send- Associate professor David Long was part of a group of chemical engineers and imaging scientists from Kodak who ing them off as creative professionals in the in 2008 received the Scientific-Technical Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. motion picture industry. “We try to nurture filmmakers—not Carroll’s The Walrus and the Carpenter—back Loops breakfast cereal. The RIT professor has necessarily specialists—so that our students when both attended RIT. Spaull now serves made the transition to independent animated have the ability to continue to grow in their as administrative chair of SOFA, which he films—many of which promote social change. careers,” said Tom Gasek, a self-described joined in 1980. He is currently working on a compila- “animation gypsy” and stop-motion director “This is not your typical film school or tion film project that will feature not only and animator. He has helped in the creation faculty,” said Spaull, himself a filmmaker and his work but also that of 24 other animators of a number of claymation favorites along documentarian who earned his MFA in from eight countries—including RIT col- with TV commercials of yesteryear featuring cinematography from RIT in 1979. “We want leagues Gasek and Carl “Skip” Battaglia, an the anthropomorphized California Raisins our professors to be active practitioners— award-winning experimental filmmaker and and Wallace and Gromit. whether it be in live action, animation, sound, animator for more than three decades. At the “Many of the large studios want special- imaging science. If you’re going to teach it, Cannes Film Festival years ago, Battaglia’s ists because they have lots of people and they we want you to know it from experience.” Academy Leader Variations won best short want everybody to be very good at one thing,” David Long, an associate professor, was film and the “Prix du Jury” (the Jury Prize)— he added. “As a faculty with many different part of a group of chemical engineers and considered the third most prestigious award insights and experiences in this industry, we imaging scientists who developed the Vision2 at the French Riviera festival. understand that strictly specializing in one color negative films that in 2008 received the “All of us are creating pieces using the thing can be a dead-end road for a creative Scientific-Technical Academy Award from theme, ‘How I start to fly,’” Larson said. life.” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and “It will be interesting to see how designers Gasek won a Student Academy Award near Sciences—better known as the Oscars. from different cultures come together to the start of his career with partner Malcolm Actress Jessica Alba presented the statuette share their stories.” Spaull for their animated version of Lewis to Long and his fellow team members. Not unlike how SOFA faculty members “This is a unique place,” said Long, who from a wide variety of backgrounds bring serves as chair of SOFA’s BS program in together their passion for the film industry— motion picture science—the only film school and now teaching. in the country to offer one. “Before I came One such faculty member, Cathleen to RIT, I was an imaging scientist at Kodak. “Cat” Ashworth, is a noted documentarian We have a distinctive make-up in SOFA and who has been producing video artworks, a focus on filmmaking and technology here documentaries and educational program- that enables us to produce not only film­ ming for more than 25 years. Widely known makers but contribute to the technical trades for seeking innovative ways to communicate and the research of new technologies that visually, Ashworth’s early works combined are going to be used by industry.” video, performance and installation art— Brian Larson is an animator and designer often from a personal point-of-view. whose credits include the TV series South “Cat once did a documentary on beekeep- A camera and a bit of the set can be seen in this shot of Park and commercials with the Keebler Elves, ing—and now she has become a beekeeper a buffalo that professor Tom Gasek animated for Tony the Tiger of Frosted Flakes fame and herself,” Spaull said. Aardman Animation’s Creature Comforts USA. Toucan Sam, the cartoon mascot for Froot Rich Kiley

FALL 2014 | 23 Moving West

Gregory Koberger ’10 (information technology) was a Web developer at Mozilla from 2010 to 2012. He and friends launched Phileas & Fogg in 2013.

San Francisco opens its Golden Gate to RIT grads

About 2,000 alumni call the Bay Area home, and that number is steadily growing. No surprise: The region is a worldwide epicenter for innovation and technology. RIT grads fit right in.

hey hold key positions at leading great. There’s so much cross-pollination. companies including Apple, Google, “It’s the culture,” he said. “It draws a certain Facebook, Adobe, Levi Strauss, Cisco personality type—people who say ‘I want to Systems,T Intel and Flickr. In addition, many make my mark, I want to do something special.’” alumni have taken the entrepreneurial path RIT graduates have been heading west for and are involved in successful startups. many years—to California in general and the “It turns out there are a lot of alumni in the Bay Area in particular—but recently the num- Bay Area,” said Christopher Haupt ’88, ’95 bers have increased from a trickle to a steady (computer science), who moved to California stream, said Manny Contomanolis, associate in 1994. The founder and CEO of Mobirobo, a vice president and director of RIT’s Office of Web, mobile and game development startup, Cooperative Education and Career Services. Haupt worked for Adobe Systems for more “The relationships with employers take time than a decade, ultimately as director of engi- to develop. I would say, in the past five years Christopher Haupt ’88, ’95 (computer science), right, neering. we have firmly established ourselves. and his longtime friend Darin Krauss ’88 (medical “The cool thing about the Bay Area is “Co-ops are the key,” he added. “The com- informatics) started Mobirobo in 2007. there’s a tremendous amount of energy. It’s panies can test out individual students, but

24 | FALL 2014

Kevin Surace ’85 (electrical engineering technology) Current position: CEO of Appvance (www.appvance.com), a provider of Web app validation software and Ed Wolf ’09 (computer engineering) has been a technology partner at Facebook since August 2013. services. Appvance’s technology identifies scalability and security issues in business and consumer apps for large organizations including PepsiCo, Best Buy and McKesson. they also test out RIT. The co-op students are Gregory Koberger ’10 (information tech- Career path: Surace served as chair- our most effective ambassadors.” nology) also moved to the Bay Area for a job man, CEO and president of Serious En- In the past five years, 248 California com- with a high-profile technology company. He ergy (formerly Serious Materials) from panies, predominantly in the Bay Area, hired was a Web developer at Mozilla from 2010 to 2002 to 2012. The company received 708 co-ops who completed 1,173 co-op work 2012. widespread acclaim for developing and assignments. “I liked working at a full-time job, manufacturing innovative, energy-effi- “The companies will go where the talent but . . . I was young, single. I decided if I was cient building materials and software. is,” Contomanolis said. “It’s a testimony to ever going to do something entrepreneurial, “We built a team of 420 people while the quality of our people. Once the first this was the time to do it.” delivering high-tech materials, prod- co-ops and grads prove themselves, the Koberger and a few friends launched ucts, software and services to 70,000 companies come back to the well. And that’s Phileas & Fogg (phileasandfogg.com) in projects including the Empire State happening.” 2013. The format is a “traveling company” Building and New York Stock Exchange allowing workers to take on a variety of proj- and thousands of homes.” Land of opportunity ects while experiencing different countries Surace, who has been awarded 23 One recent arrival is Ed Wolf ’09 (computer and cultures—what Koberger calls “quirky U.S. patents, was named Inc. magazine’s engineering), who moved to the Bay Area adventure.” Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009. The in August 2013 for a position as technology In fall 2013, Koberger and three friends following year, CNBC named him one partner at Facebook. spent three months in Costa Rica, each of 15 Leading Innovators for the Next “I work in the intersection of engineering working on various projects primarily for Decade, and the World Economic Fo- and business,” Wolf said. “I work with people companies they had previously worked with rum named him a Tech Pioneer. across the entire company to understand in the Silicon Valley. Before joining Serious Materials, their needs and then build and implement “I know the risks in any startup,” he said. Surace held executive and technical po- the technologies that make their jobs more “Statistically speaking, it would probably fail. sitions with Perfect Commerce, General seamless.” But I didn’t want to look back later and feel Magic, Air Communications, National Since graduating from RIT, Wolf has like I didn’t take the chance to do something Semiconductor and Seiko-Epson. worked as a software engineer for Fidelity that mattered.” Remembering RIT: “My solid educa- Investments and as an IT business analyst/ Plus, he said, it is not difficult for someone tion and experience that I received at product manager for Time Inc. in New York with strong technology skills to find work in RIT have allowed me to lead teams City. He also was product manager at a New the Bay Area. in many different fields with equal York City startup, Long Tail Video. “I like that it’s a culture where you can expertise, passion and vigor.” Surace has Wolf loves his job and the Bay Area. “Out leave a company, stay friends with the people, served as an RIT Trustee since 2007. here, it’s a lot of hard work, it’s competitive, start something on your own, go back. It’s the challenging, a lot of very smart people focused kind of culture where you’re encouraged to Currently resides in: Sunnyvale, Calif. on making technology better. It’s a lot like RIT.” try new things.”

FALL 2014 | 25 Moving

West “They brought us out for interviews and it seemed very glamorous. It wasn’t hard to convince us,” said Stewart, now senior direc- tor, Software Services for Genetic, Medical, and Applied Sciences at Thermo Fisher Scien- tific Corp. Prior to joining the company last year, he worked at Oracle for 10 years, most recently serving as senior director of applica- tions development. The Bay Area has much to offer, he said. “Career-wise, the variety of companies that need skills like I have is unbeatable,” said Stewart. “And for cultural and outdoor activities, there’s nothing you can’t do within a four-hour drive.” Brown, likewise, has found the Bay Area professionally and personally rewarding. She is founder of ProjectZone, a consulting company that helps companies implement information technology. She previously was a program manager for Johnson & Johnson and was co-founder of a successful profes- Rachel Lepkowski ’09 sional services firm, JAS Systems. (industrial design) Stacey Katz Brown ’86 (industrial engineering) is Brown and her family, who live in San founder of ProjectZone. She knew before starting Current position: Packaging designer Jose, are active in numerous community and college that she wanted to live in California. at Everett Graphics, Oakland (www. philanthropic organizations. In November everettgraphics.com) since April 2013. 2010, she was elected to San Jose’s Cambrian She is pictured above with her personal School District Governing Board. Giving design projects. Early arrivals back is important, she believes. Classmates Stacey Katz Brown ’86 and Brian “Even before RIT, I knew that I wanted Career path: Lepkowski worked Stewart ’86 (both industrial engineering) are to end up in California,” said the New York for packaging companies in Buffalo among RIT’s Bay Area pioneers. They went to City-area native. “Even the bad weather is and Texas before moving to the Bay work for ASK Computer Systems right after good. It’s beautiful here. The cultural diversity Area. In her current job, she works on graduating from RIT. The company, a pioneer is second to none. And in the technology projects for companies in the food and in manufacturing and business software, had industry, this is the ‘if you can make it there, beverage, health and beauty, medical been recruiting at RIT for just a few years. you can make it anywhere’ place.” and technology industries. Everett has developed packaging for Williams- Sonoma, Monterey Mushroom, AMD and others. “I love it. It’s an awesome field to be in.” On the Bay Area: Lepkowski has wanted to live there since high school. While on vacation visiting friends in the area, she lined up an interview and got the job. “People are wonderful. The weather is great. We’re near the ocean. There’s always something to do.” Remembering RIT: “I wanted to go to RIT since I was little.” She changed her major from industrial engineering to industrial design with a minor in pack- aging design. “The way I learned to think about things at RIT put me in the right frame of mind to be successful. I have a different way of approaching things—design, creative and technical —that gives me a good leg up.” Currently resides in: South Berkeley near Emeryville Henry Navas ’74, ’77 (MBA, accounting) was lured to Silicon Valley in 1983 after working full time for Xerox Corp. for more than 12 years. He retired in 1991 from Cisco Systems, where he worked as controller and treasurer.

26 | FALL 2014

Chris Zacharias ’04 (new media/information technology), left, and Jeremy Larkin ’01 (new media) founded Imgix, a service that makes images look better on the Web. Grads solve problem, create business ou can surf the Web on a desktop lem,” added Zacharias, a Rochester native. provides seed money, advice and connections computer. Or a laptop, smartphone “The way the Web is moving, all the sites are for promising startups. or tablet. No matter what device you heavily image-focused. At the same time, the Larkin, a native of Colorado, had worked use,Y or what brand, you expect the pictures to big thing that has changed is the growth of for several companies in the Rochester area, look good. mobile and personal devices, all different including Logical Solutions and Xerox, before That is no easy task, but a San Francisco sizes, configurations. Apple Retina, Android, co-founding Form Collective Ltd. in 2006. company started by two RIT graduates Nooks, Kindle . . . It’s kind of going insane.” That company provided Web and mobile intends to “make the Internet better by Imgix took root in 2011, a year after application development and also did providing smarter, faster images.” Imgix Zacharias left an enviable position as senior consulting work for clients including (Imgix.com) is a service that instantly sizes, Web developer at Google/YouTube. Wegmans, Bausch & Lomb, Carestream, crops and formats images from customers’ Leaving was not an easy decision. For Kodak and Cornell University. websites, optimizing the images for viewing starters, “Google is absolutely the best place “I was looking for the next thing to do on a variety of devices. in the world to work and they do pay very when Chris got in touch with me.” Larkin As traffic to a website grows, said CEO and well.” In three years at the company, he had moved to San Francisco to team up with his co-founder Chris Zacharias ’04 (new media/ been very successful. Among other projects, friend in 2012. information technology), companies face the Zacharias conceived of, built, and launched They’ve taken on a huge opportunity and a problem of making images available on many YouTube Feather, a light version of the big challenge, both say. “There is sizeable platforms simultaneously. Imgix allows website that allows it to load quickly in parts content that has to be moved quickly all over customers to cache their entire image archive of the world with slow Internet connections. the world,” Larkin noted. and manipulate size, cropping and other He didn’t have another job lined up; in Imgix, which obtained venture capital functions with no speed loss to users. fact, he wasn’t quite sure what he would do. funding last year, now has eight employees, “We were trying to solve a problem that However, “Given my plans for my life, I including Miguel Cardona ’04, ’13 (new had plagued us personally,” said Jeremy realized there was only a small window where media design, industrial design), lead Larkin ’01 (new media), co-founder and I could reasonably afford to take big risks,” designer. They are hiring, but cautiously. CTO. “We wanted to make more beautiful Zacharias wrote in a blog post (blog. “For me,” Larkin said, “the big motivator images available on the Web. The technology chriszacharias.com/cruise-ships). is having self-direction over what I’m doing. for imaging (on the Web) was stuck in the At the suggestion of a friend, Zacharias It’s rewarding to be able to bring something ’90s. We wanted to figure out how to create wrote a business proposal that was accepted new—and very much needed—onto new technology, push the boundaries.” into a three-month program at Y Combina- the Internet.” “Everyone is looking to solve this prob- tor, a Silicon Valley business accelerator that Kathy Lindsley

FALL 2014 | 27 Moving West Photo by Celeste Noche Photo by Celeste Mike Lewis ’09 (computer engineering) Current position: Software engineer, Airbnb (airbnb.com), a community marketplace where people can find lodging. Career path: After graduation, Lewis worked as a software engineer at Lutron Ushi Patel ’00 ’01 (printing management, MBA) is creative director for BoominGroup and author of Brave the Electronics, working on the company’s Unknown, a book of poetry that recently won gold at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards. Quantum commercial lighting control system. He moved to New York City in 2010 and joined Oyster, where he helped develop software for a consumer Building RIT’s brand hotel-booking website. He sold his car While many grads are doing just that, RIT talented, smart people,” she said. “A con- to start his own company, EventLo.com, can’t yet claim major brand recognition in nection to RIT can be a great door-opener. and then co-founded Fondu, an online the Bay Area. However, among the general public in the community for sharing restaurant “In the Bay Area, RIT is not known,” said Bay Area, RIT is not a household name. reviews. “We launched at Techcrunch Henry Navas ’74, ’77 (MBA, accounting), We need to work on that given the tremen- Disrupt and raised $575,000 in funding. adding an emphatic “dammit.” dous opportunity present here.” We were night and day on Fondu for Navas, retired Cisco controller and trea- Eugene Fram, emeritus marketing profes- about two years.” Fondu was sold to surer and a member of the RIT Board sor from Saunders College of Business and Airbnb and Lewis moved to San Fran- of Trustees, believes RIT’s focus—“preparing Bay Area resident since 2008, agrees. “Our cisco to work for the company in 2012. grads for real work”—is critically important grads are all over the Valley from Google “The culture is incredible here: work to Bay Area employers. “We offer serious and Apple to startups. We’re well known hard, play hard and world class at what technological education for mature people. and respected in certain niches.” we do. It’s a great place to be working.” Our graduates are ready to work. He has some ideas about how to expand “Silicon Valley is dying for manufacturing RIT’s reputation. “I think what builds the On the Bay Area: “San Francisco is the engineers. We could offer programs there— reputation of an institution is the reputation best city I’ve lived in so far. For technol- they would be over-subscribed. We have of the faculty. We need to get faculty mem- ogy, the level of talent here is amazing. to stand up and crow.” bers out here, meeting the press, visiting You can learn a lot very fast.” Navas added, “Graduates like Ed Wolf, companies, giving talks. We’ve got to build Remembering RIT: Lewis said the who can work at the intersection of engineer- a faculty presence out here.” computer engineering program, with ing and business, are in constant demand. Meanwhile, individual alumni armed its emphasis on hardware and software, They need to have superior critical thinking with excellent skills and pride in their alma has proven very useful. “One of the skills.” mater are carrying the banner for RIT. things I loved about RIT was that all Recently an anonymous alumnus donated “When I say I graduated from RIT, people of my friends were very technical and $3 million to RIT to establish a chair in criti- think I said MIT,” said Jeffrey Clarkson ’03, hands-on. Everybody was always work- cal thinking. The chair will support the use of ’05 (microelectronic engineering), an R&D ing on something.” critical thinking approaches throughout the engineer at the Marvell Nanofabrication Currently resides in: Hayes Valley, San curriculum. Laboratory at UC Berkeley. Francisco Because of the contributions of alumni “I tell people RIT is one of the top-produc- and co-ops, RIT has an outstanding reputa- ing colleges, and I am living proof of that. The tion in certain pockets of the Bay Area, said educational background I bring is second-to-

To read more Ushi Patel ’00, ’01 (printing management, none and has allowed me to be successful in MBA), creative director, BoominGroup an environment that is known for its innova- Scan to read about more (boomingroup.com). tive drive and entrepreneurial competitive- alumni in the Bay Area or “Among people who know about RIT, ness. RIT should be recognized for this.” visit http://rit.edu/UXdbX. we have a great brand, known for really Kathy Lindsley

28 | FALL 2014 It’s much more than a donation. It’s my legacy.

“I didn’t realize when I left RIT that I was leaving with anything other than a bachelor’s degree. As I fast forward to today, I see that RIT gave me lifetime skills. I have become a ‘systems thinker,’ a teaching machine. I’ve often asked myself— what can I do to give back? I have been involved at RIT through lecturing, mentoring, and hiring RIT students. Now, I’m giving back by including RIT in my estate plans.” —Steve Matteson, BS Engineering ’77

 A thoughtful gift supports deserving RIT students as they prepare for successful careers. Did you know that . . .

/ You can make a gift that actually increases your income and reduces your taxes? / You can make a gift that provides you a stream of income when you retire? / You can donate your house, take a deduction, and live in it for the rest of your life? / You can name RIT the beneficiary of your IRA and avoid double-taxation? / You can make a gift that costs you nothing now by including RIT in your will?

As Steve has done, you too can create your legacy. Make your mark To create your legacy, please contact Robert Constantine, Director of Planned Giving at 800.477.0376 or [email protected]. Visit us online at rit.planyourlegacy.org.

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Tiger Talk Becki the Car Hunter

For the past four years, Becki Chernoff ’00 learned a lot from my boss, JG Francis, (mechanical engineering) has specialized about what to look for and how to find in finding vintage Mercedes-Benzes for cars, the questions to ask. It has proven to Mercedes Motoring in Glendale, Calif. In be a useful skill out in the world because January, she also started her own company not everybody knows how to do that. under the name Becki the Car Hunter out Work Experience of her home in Los Angeles. She counsels There are a lot of used Mercedes out there but • Mercedes hunter for Mercedes prospective car buyers on what kind of car they aren’t well preserved. They aren’t im- Motoring and self-employed is right for them, hunts for the car, sched- possible to find but it takes a lot of search- car hunter ules an inspection, negotiates the price ing to find the really, really nice ones. and arranges for shipping if needed. The • Applications engineer for QMC Skaneateles, N.Y., native also sells cars for I wanted to branch out on my own. I’m 36; it is • CAD design engineer for Hi-Lex, clients, which includes preparing the car time for me to do my own thing aside from window regulator company for sale, listing it on various websites and just looking for classic Mercedes. I had talking with buyers. Here are her thoughts already helped friends find cars for years. I on how she landed in this niche business. would look online for them, go with them Advice to see cars, help them get a good deal. It • “You can get a better deal from a I started with engineering because I was good comes second nature to me and I have private owner than you usually can at math and science and my dad is an engi- learned even more about the trade search- from a dealership, but you have to neer as well. Around my senior year, some- ing for Mercedes, so I figured why not try ask the right questions when you are one who was going to RIT with me had a to do my own thing and help people find buying from a private party.” good friend who worked at Cadillac, and I any kind of car. talked to him on the phone and I went to • “The fewer owners a car has had, the visit Detroit and he showed me around the They will ask me for a specific car or they will better.” area. I wanted to work in the auto industry. say, ‘I need a new car and I need it to do • “Always get a Carfax (vehicle history I always liked cars growing up because my this, this and this. I need to be able to go report) on the car if the car is new dad would take me to car shows. camping. I need something really reliable. I enough to have one.” need a second car that is showpiece.’ There There were definitely classes where I was one are all different criteria and I will talk them • “Always get a car inspected by an of two girls in the class. There weren’t through it and help them figure out what independent mechanic before you many at all. It didn’t ever bother me that they might want or what I can see them buy it.” there were only a couple of girls. I was in—kind of like a car therapist. comfortable in that environment. Contact The thing that boggles my mind is that people (After graduating), I moved to Detroit and start- buy homes and there are real estate agents • Beckichernoff.com ed working at a window regulator supplier to help them with the biggest purchase of in the auto industry. Then I started work- their life. The second biggest purchase for ing for a software company. Their software people is usually a car and there is no one was used at all different automotive plants, to help the middle-of-the-roaders. and I got stationed at Ford Motor Co. for about nine years. I was the help desk for I am a car hunter. Basically mechanical the software. engineering is advanced problem-solving, and I feel like I have applied that and then After working at Ford for many years, I was some to my life. I am constantly trying eventually laid off, which was fine because to solve problems and find solutions to I was ready to leave Detroit at that time. everything. I always enjoy learning new things and working with people and help- I had been working for a friend finding Mer- ing them. cedes at a business called Mercedes Motor- ing in Glendale, Calif. I had been doing it It’s a weird niche job for sure. It’s totally ran- long distance and I decided to move out dom. I just love cars so much that it’s like I here to Los Angeles to work in person kept doing what I was interested in until it full time. turned into this bizarre career that I love.

Here I find vintage Mercedes-Benzes, mostly I feel really fortunate that the thing I am diesels from the ’70s and ’80s. I scour the most interested in is able to bring an country for the best of the best. I have income.

30 | FALL 2014 Becki Chernoff ’00 uses her mechanical engineering degree to hunt for cars.

Photo by Michael Darter FALL 2014 | 31 Alumni Updates

Award-winning cinematographer Michael Slovis ’76 worked with School of Film and Animation students on lighting techniques when he visited RIT in May. Photos by A. Sue Weisler Life is good for ‘Breaking Bad’ cinematographer

ichael Slovis ’76 (professional in the New Jersey State Teen Arts Festival, which earned him two more Emmy nomina- photographic illustration) had Slovis was invited to attend RIT. By the time tions. The drama was shot on 33mm film. just returned to New Jersey from he was a senior, Slovis had run out of photog- Slovis also photographed the pilot of ABC’s Mtraveling abroad when he got the call to shoot raphy classes to take, so he signed up for one Castle, Fringe on Fox, Royal Pains for USA a television show he had never heard of in film class. Network, Rubicon for AMC and Running New Mexico. “I made a really awful, horrible, unwatch- Wilde for Fox. “I said, ‘No, thank you. I don’t really want able movie,” he said. “But I was bitten. I really In 2010, he became a member of the to travel away from home,’ ” he said. was hooked and I started watching movies American Society of Cinematographers. After he hung up, his wife, Maria, asked and I started becoming film literate.” For the past year, he has focused exclusive- him who called. “She said to me, ‘Is it called He enrolled in film school at New York ly on directing, a career he began engineering Breaking Bad?’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s it.’ She goes, University and after graduating got a job as since directing one episode of Ed, as well as a ‘Stop. Turn around. Call them right now.’ ” an electrician and assistant cameraman on few episodes of CSI and Breaking Bad. Slovis did, was messengered the first film sets. This summer, he directed two episodes of season and from the first image knew it was a One of the first films that got him noticed Game of Thrones, which will air next year. project he wanted to tackle. AMC’s Breaking was Party Girl, a hit at the 1995 Sundance “It was a hard decision to make, but I Bad became the “pinnacle of creativity” for Film Festival. Other independent films and just didn’t know what to shoot after Breaking the Emmy-award winning director of pho- direct-to-DVD work followed. Bad,” he said. “It was that good. And it was tography, who developed his love of visual After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, that good of an experience.” storytelling as an undergraduate at RIT. Slovis decided he wanted to stay closer to Slovis said he considers himself to be the Slovis became interested in photography as home. He took a job in television working on luckiest man in the world and he uses what a child using his mother’s Kodak Tourist fold- Ed on NBC followed by CSI: Crime Scene In- he learned at RIT— such as sensitometry and ing camera. His grandfather taught him how vestigation, for which he won the 2006 Emmy basic photo sciences—on a daily basis. to process and develop film in a homemade Award for outstanding cinematography and “I get to do what I love to do,” he said. darkroom in the basement of his home. was nominated again in 2007. “How many people can say that?” After one of his photographs was a finalist He began shooting Breaking Bad in 2008, Mindy Mozer

32 | FALL 2014 Adena Thomson ’12, ’13 earned one of the highest scores in the world on the CPA exam. She now has time for hobbies, such as playing violin. Photo by A. Sue Weisler Saunders grad gets top scores on CPA exam

dena Thomson is definitely a degree and is in her second year of employment at “Rochester has been good to me, and I cer- above average. the firm’s Pittsford, N.Y., location. “The exams tainly think my award speaks to the quality of The RIT alumna, who attended are daunting to say the least, so I’m grateful the accounting program and the accounting SaundersA College of Business as an account- that all the time I spent studying paid off— professors at RIT—combined with work- ing major, maintained a 4.0 GPA to earn her and now I can look forward to the next phase ing for a home grown firm like The Bonadio undergraduate degree in 2012 and achieved of my career.” Group. The knowledge it takes to perform the same repeat performance of academic Thomson has worked hard to find support well on a comprehensive test like the CPA excellence for her MBA degree a year later. and stability. Born in Farmington, Pa., she was exam is a combination of on-the-job learning And now Thomson has scored the trifecta. raised by parents who follow a rural way of life and academic learning.” She earned one of the highest overall scores in a Christian religious community similar to William Dresnack, associate professor in the world and has been recognized by the Amish and Mennonite sects. She was uprooted and area head of accounting and finance at American Institute of Certified Public Ac- several times before deciding to leave at age Saunders College, said Thomson’s latest ac- countants as a top Uniform CPA Examination 17—leaving family and personal possessions complishment is well deserved. performer and recipient of the 2013 Elijah behind. While juggling several jobs to “I don’t think anyone who knows Dena Watt Sells Award. continue her education, she found roots at was surprised to hear about her CPA exam Thomson was one out of 55 of more than RIT and in Rochester. Her sister, Kara (who score,” said Dresnack. “Everyone who has 94,000 candidates taking the test who at- also left the commune), is a licensed practical worked with her says the same kind of tained a cumulative average score above 95.50 nurse at University of Rochester Medical things—‘She’s one of the best students I ever across all four sections of the CPA exam in Center and is studying to be a pharmacist. had; she’s incredibly smart.’ the 2013 calendar year—and passed on the With the steady combinations of work and “Dena is a superstar in intellect, but also in first attempt. study—“and not much sleep”—Thomson is character and attitude. The icing on the cake “When I found out in March, they held ready for some rest and relaxation. “I’m look- is that she is a genuinely nice person, one of a party in celebration for me at work,” said ing forward to some down time after work the ‘good guys.’ Even greater things are com- Thomson, who is employed as a staff accoun- and on weekends; I enjoy playing violin, golf, ing for her, beyond any question.” tant at The Bonadio Group’s tax department volleyball and softball,” she said. Marcia Morphy

FALL 2014 | 33 Thomas Provo ’10 opened a restaurant a year ago in Mount Morris, N.Y., after working in Boston and New York City. Photo by A. Sue Weisler Family ties pull graduate into restaurant business

homas Provo ’10 (hospitality and ser- Palace Hotel as its food and beverage man- vice management) remembers helping ager. It was while he was on vacation from the behind the counter and eating family job that Provo visited his hometown 25 miles dinnersT as a child at his grandfather’s diner in south of Rochester and his father showed him Mount Morris, N.Y. an empty building available for rent that used The diner was a gathering spot in the vil- to be a bar. lage of 3,000—a place where everyone knew “I started making some plans after I went each other. back to New York City and decided it was Provo has both emulated and updated something I wanted to go for,” he said. that model with his Charred American Bar + He applied for grants and was awarded a Grill, which opened a little more than a year New York State Community Development ago on Main Street in Mount Morris. Block Grant and a Livingston County Sign Weisler Sue Photo by A. “It was in my blood to go into hospitality,” and Facade grant. He got a loan from the Charred American Bar + Grill specializes in stuffed he said. “It was something I knew, something local bank and updated the building. burgers. For details, go to www.charredbar.com. I understood.” The restaurant became part of the The road home took Provo through two resurrection of the village led by New York big cities. After he graduated from RIT, he developer Greg O’Connell, who purchased attracts customers who are visiting the nearby joined Marriott’s management development downtown property in the late 2000s and Letchworth State Park. The model worked so program and was placed in a suburb of Bos- renovated it—bringing new life to Main well in its first year that Provo this summer ton. When that program ended, he moved to Street Mount Morris. was able to open a sandwich and pizza shop New York City where he was able to find a job More than a year after being opened, Provo next door to the restaurant. with the food service company SSP America said he is happy with the results. He hosts “When I’m here I don’t feel like I’m at running a coffee shop, sandwich shop and a beer and wine tastings from area breweries work. I enjoy what I do,” he said. “This has Buffalo Wild Wings. and wineries weekly, which he said brings in been my dream.” Then he went to work for the New York the younger population. His restaurant also Mindy Mozer

34 | FALL 2014 Get Involved Contact Matt Garver at [email protected] to become an admissions volunteer.

Kenneth Holley ’02 visited the Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy this spring to talk with high school students about RIT. Photo by Shannon Taggart ’98 Changing the story one college fair at a time

enneth Holley’s ah-ha moment came York City that provides vocational training, accepted-students events. while giving an introductory speech he has helped hundreds of teenagers get to Holley not only donates his time, but he for New York City Toastmaster’s club the next level through job and leadership has encouraged other alumni to participate, Kin 2008. workshops. Before that, he worked as a real Garver said. In March, for example, he re- Holley ’02 (information technology) talked estate portfolio manager for Sibcy Cline cruited six graduates to accompany him to an about the importance of community—not Realtors in Cincinnati and in the information accepted-students event in New York City. just being a part of a community but develop- technology field for AXA Equitable and Citi- “Families love to see alumni at these events,” ing it and supporting it. Audience members group in New York. He was named a “Forty Garver said. “They can have real conversations told him that the speech inspired them, and Under 40” award winner by the Cincinnati with them about their experiences at RIT.” Holley knew his mission in life was to moti- Business Courier in 2011. The conversations are Holley’s favorite vate others and lead by example. Holley got involved in RIT as an alumnus part, especially at college fairs. He said he One way he has done that is by being an in 2008 after he moved to Cincinnati. He answers the questions he can about RIT (how undergraduate admissions volunteer for his attended an alumni event before a Cincin- many sports teams are there, what is RIT alma mater. Over the past five years, he has nati Reds game and before he knew it, he was known for) and sends them to the admissions represented RIT at events in the New York helping to organize other events, including staff for more information. City area and in Cincinnati. a college fair at Xavier University. He began His goal, he said, is to help change the “I’m attending college fairs on behalf of representing RIT at other college fairs in the story for high school students, especially RIT where students who look like me have Cincinnati area and in New York after he those who grew up in the South Bronx. an opportunity to see me, have an opportu- returned to the city in 2012. “Basically you want those after you to be nity to dream bigger,” he said. “They have an Matt Garver ’99 (applied arts and scienc- able to do better than you did,” said Holley. opportunity to connect with a university that es), assistant director in the Undergraduate “All I’m doing is taking the time and running can help open up so many doors for them.” Admissions office and coordinator of alumni with it. I know if it wasn’t for those before me, Holley has become somewhat of an expert admissions volunteers, said Holley is one of I wouldn’t be able to do the things I am doing on opening doors. As a career adviser for 715 alumni who volunteered in admissions right now.” Fedcap, a not-for-profit organization in New last year at college fairs, spring receptions and Mindy Mozer

FALL 2014 | 35 Alumni Awards

Outstanding alumnus has long history of giving

Shortly after A. John to be associated with them,” he said. knew,” he said, laughing. “That’s the problem, Bartholomew ’60 (busi- As a high school student in Webster, N.Y., I have forgotten it.” ness administration) Bartholomew planned to attend Syracuse Bartholomew has been active with RIT’s graduated, a Phi Sigma University and play football. Nathaniel Rochester Society for more than Kappa fraternity brother “My senior year of high school, I stopped 30 years, has served on the Saunders College asked him to volunteer growing. I was really, really small, so that of Business Advisory Board and continues for his alma mater. went out the window.” to be involved with his fraternity. He and his The job was calling He applied to RIT’s business school instead wife, Mary, also have developed a scholarship other alumni and asking and was accepted, he said, because the dean program with the college. In 2011, he was for money for a new was impressed he had been an Eagle Scout. recognized as a Saunders College Distin- John Bartholomew campus that was going After college, he began selling office equip- guished Alumnus. to be built in Henrietta. ment, medical supply equipment and insur- He is also active with the local Alzheimer’s Bartholomew admits that the task wasn’t ance before joining his family in the senior Association and EquiCenter, which provides his favorite volunteer assignment, in part be- health care field. therapeutic horseback riding. Horseback riding cause records weren’t always complete in the He is now in his 51st year as a nursing is his hobby. He thanks his wife and son, John ’60s. But it did set in motion more than 50 home administrator, owner and operator of Bartholomew II, who will be taking over the years of giving of his time and talent to RIT. the Bartholomew Health Care Group, a net- family business, for giving him time to Bartholomew will be honored for his on- work of four senior communities in Western volunteer. going support with the Outstanding Alumnus New York. In 1985, the New York State Chap- As part of his duties on the NRS execu- of 2014 award at the Presidents’ Alumni Ball ter of the American College of Health Care tive board, Bartholomew still helps RIT with on Oct. 17 during Brick City Homecoming & Administrators named him Nursing Home fundraising. But there’s a big difference this Family Weekend. Administrator of the Year. time: “They don’t make me use the telephone “Knowing some of the past recipients, “I like to say I have forgotten more than any m ore .” people I admire a great deal, I am very proud most nursing home administrators ever Mindy Mozer

Volunteers of the Year see results of their efforts

Lisa Talty likes to tell people that she and her Inc. (now known as IDI Billing Solutions), husband, Patrick, are the alumni who never had ties to the computing college. He is now went away. the company’s vice president of operations Lisa ’91, ’97 (packaging science, MBA) and chief security officer. started attending RIT in 1987. Patrick ’92, ’02 In 2003, he became involved with the (criminal justice, MBA) took a few years off Information Technology Advisory Board, has between degrees and finished in the Execu- taught classes in Saunders College of Business tive MBA program 15 years later. They are and has been on the Nathaniel Rochester active supporters of the Nathaniel Rochester Society Executive Committee and is an NRS Society. They both have been adjunct profes- committee chairman. In 2008, he became an sors. And they volunteer their time whenever Alumni Association board member. they can. Lisa also began volunteering in 2002 with The Taltys are RIT’s Volunteers of the Year the Capital Campaign Committee, attend- Lisa and Patrick Talty for 2014 and will receive the award during ing the kickoff event a few days before their the Presidents’ Alumni Ball on Oct. 17 during daughter, Clare, was born. our enthusiasm for the university and how it Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend. She has taught as an adjunct professor in benefits from donors,” Lisa said. “Who wouldn’t want to be involved in an packaging science since 2003 and has been Patrick said that they volunteer because entity like RIT?” asked Patrick. “It’s exciting active with the Packaging Industry Advisory they can recognize the results of their work in to be involved in something that is growing.” Board. She put her career as a packaging areas such as increased alumni contributions Patrick began his volunteer work after engineer on hold to be a stay-at-home mom. to scholarships and alumni involvement. completing his MBA in 2002, working on Patrick and Lisa have three children: Clare, “It doesn’t go into some black hole. You development activities for the B. Thomas 11; John, 8; and Colleen, 6. can see a quick rate of return,” he said. “You Golisano College of Computing and Informa- “In our volunteer capacity, we are cheer- don’t have to wait years to see your impact.” tion Sciences. His employer, Info Directions leaders for RIT and try to show and explain Mindy Mozer

36 | FALL 2014 Regional Alumni Activities

A B

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Austin May 24. Thanks to host Scott baseball game as the Red Sox battled Desarra ’64; Maria Paris ’97; Edward Alumni gathered at Clive Bar for happy Saldinger ’91. the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Cain ’71; Tom Camiolo ’72; Ronni hour on May 28. Camiolo ’74; Richard and Jenna Denver/Colorado Springs Philadelphia Davis; Alex Ludwinek ’05; and Chris Bay Area On June 7, alumni spent the afternoon Alumni attended their annual Phillies Paliouras-Pierce ’92, ’97. On May 24, alumni gathered for an touring Sports Authority Field and game as the team battled the Washing- More than 50 alumni and guests evening of baseball at AT&T Park as having lunch at Wynkoop Brewing Co. ton Nationals on July 13. enjoyed tours and tastings at Black the hometown Giants battled the Thanks to hosts Dave Belden ’04 and Button Distilling and Rohrbach Brew- Minnesota Twins. Jen Belden ’04. Pittsburgh ing Co. on May 20. Alumni gathered on April 2 at the More than 150 alumni came back to Buffalo Houston Copper Kettle Brewing Co. to create campus to take part in the J.P. Morgan On June 21, alumni from Buffalo and On May 29, alumni gathered at 3rd their own Tiger Brew. Thanks to hosts Corporate Challenge on May 29. Rochester took a tour of Lockport Floor for an “end of spring” happy Phil Amsler ’12 and Kirk Striebich Alumni and guests enjoyed Sunday Caves. hour. ’89. brunch at Mario’s on June 1 with RIT’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Charlotte Jacksonville Portland Alumni joined Candi Boston ’09 at Alumni got together for happy hour On June 26, alumni participated in a Seattle the new BB&T Ballpark as the Knights and dinner at Pusser’s Caribbean Grille discussion with RIT President Bill Des- Alumni gathered for a special presenta- battled the Rochester Red Wings on on June 5. Thanks to organizer Harry tler. Thanks to Sara Weiner-Collier ’97 tion from RIT President Bill Destler June 5. Drake ’66. for helping to plan this event. on June 24. Thanks to host Robert Watson ’12. A Chicago B Milwaukee Rochester Alumni gathered at Red Ivy in Wrig- On April 5, for their first event as a Alumni and friends enjoyed First Washington, D.C. leyville for Paint Nite on April 3. They Milwaukee alumni group, alumni gath- Friday at Gallery r and a performance Alumni attended a Washington Na- ate, drank and painted their Chicago ered at Lakefront Brewery for a private at the Blackfriars Theatre on April 4. tionals game against the Atlanta Braves Skyline masterpieces. tour and tasting. Thanks to hosts Sharyn Duffy ’87 and on June 21. Thanks to hosts Carlo Shirley Murphy ’81, ’95. Costino ’04, ’07 and Phil Jones ’02. Connecticut New York City More than 700 alumni stopped in On May 10, alumni got together for Alumni gathered on April 29 at Pranna the Alumni Oasis during this year’s C Reunions lunch and a brewery tour and tasting Restaurant for a special event with Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativ- More than 150 alumni and guests came at Thomas Hooker Brewery. Thanks RIT President Bill Destler. Thanks to ity Festival. Thanks to Diane Jackling back to Rochester May 2-4 for Alpha to hosts Carla Juhas ’88 and Andrew organizer Pavlin Hristov ’12. ’86; Michael Pollock ’77; Karen Bar- Sigma Alpha’s 50th Reunion. Lamb ’06. On May 15, alumni attended the rows ’04; Eve Razis ’81; Bary Siegel The RIT Jazz Ensemble held an Subway Series game between the New ’66, ’68, ’75, ’87; Brent Palmer ’98; alumni reunion May 9–11. More than Dallas York Yankees and the New York Mets Gary Mendola ’85; Sean Brown ’92; 25 alumni returned to campus and Alumni gathered for the fifth Annual at Citi Field. Lorraine Cerone ’02; Sharyn Duffy more than 150 people attended the Sailing on Lake Lewisville event on On June 29, alumni took in another ’87; Shirley Murphy ’81, ’95; Richard concert on Saturday night.

FALL 2014 | 37 international exhibition. The show fea- 1963 tured 237 paintings selected from 2,825 1974 Class Notes David Haberstich ’63 (GAP), curator entries by 1,700 artists. Andrea Ptak ’74 (FAA) has been self- of photography at the National Museum employed as a publishing professional of American History, Smithsonian 1967 since 1980 and is currently serving a Key to abbreviations Institution, served as curator for an term as vice president of the Northwest exhibition to celebrate the 50th anni- Independent Editors Guild. She also CAST College of Applied Science versary of the museum. The exhibition, writes a blog on “living an imperfectly and Technology “Continuity and Change: Fifty Years of sustainable life” under the moniker CCE College of Continuing Education Museum History,” opened to the public The Green Queen of Moderation at in May. He will celebrate his 50th anni- thegreenqueenofmod.com. (now CMS) versary as a Smithsonian staff member CHST College of Health Sciences in November. 1975 and Technology Andrew Davidhazy ’67 (GAP), ’69 Stephen Gulack ’75 (SCB) retired May 1964 (FAA) and several retired photo faculty 24 from Golden Memories Transportation CIAS College of Imaging Arts and Sciences William Derycke ’64 (KGCOE) is and friends got together for lunch at in Rochester as tour coach operator. He vice president, engineering at J.W. MacGregor’s on March 27. had previously early-retired from the CLA College of Liberal Arts Consulting Inc., where he is responsible County of Monroe (N.Y.) Department CMS Center for Multidisciplinary Studies for developing business relationships 1970 of Public Safety communications and with railways, metro properties, con- James Langone finance in August 2002. SCB Saunders College of Business struction companies and systems con- ’70 (GAP), tractors throughout the U.S. and Canada photo­grapher 1976 KGCOE Kate Gleason College of Engineering to advance the technology and service and Springfield COS College of Science for the transportation industry. Technical Community College FAA Fine and Applied Arts (now CIAS) Donald Kingston ’64 (SCB) is serving professor, was pre- in his third term on the Duck (N.C.) sented the Dorothy GAP Graphic Arts and Photography Town Council. He was first elected as Jordan Pryor Award (now CIAS) mayor pro tempore in 2009. He retired on April 2. The GCCIS B. Thomas Golisano College of from his business career as a vice presi- award honors a member of the commu- Computing and Information Sciences dent/officer of Kelly Services Inc. in the nity whose life has had an impact both Washington, D.C., area in 2007. inside and outside of the college. NTID National Technical Institute for the Deaf William 1972 Colin Butler ’76 (FAA) built furniture Kinney ’64 and musical instruments after graduat- SVP NTID “Summer Vestibule Program” (GAP) wrote ing. One of his instruments was chosen and self-pub- to be in a show at the Smithsonian. An lished an auto- article about his instrument led to a call biographical from a celebrity asking him to build an About Class Notes adventure story entrance gate for security purposes. Class Notes are edited for space, about his life. Today, he has built more than 1,000 gate Sanctuary con- systems for clients of high-end homes to clarity and style. Share details and tains pictures very strong crash-resistant gates that he photos of special occasions and about his travels developed, built and patented. The pic- professional achievements in your on board the ture shows one of four crash-resistant boat he built in his backyard. For details, gate systems he was commissioned to life by going to www.rit.edu/ go to www.billkinney-photopainter.com. build for the White House. aluimni/news. 1966 Harvey Duze ’72 (GAP) created a book Harry Drake ’66 (GAP), along with of his father’s black and white photogra- other alumni and RIT’s Office of phy. Profits are being donated to the Alumni Relations, has started an RIT Alzheimer’s Association in memory of alumni group in the Jacksonville, Fla., his father, Joseph H. Duze. To learn area. The initial gathering was for drinks more, go to http://bit.ly/1o72t9o. 1934 and hors d’oeuvres at the Chart House Restaurant in Jacksonville. 1973 Jonathan Atkin ’73 (GAP) writes that a Laurence Goldberg ’76 (GAP) writes curated show that the members of House LS had their produced by 45-year reunion on June 14. Activities American included a Duke of Madness Euchre Photographic Tournament, campus tour, dinner and Artists of Los brunch. Angeles has accepted an 1977 image he pro- duced aboard the SS United States. The exhibition was shown at the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art in April and then at three advertising agencies in Los Angeles.

Cheryl Fausel ’66 (FAA) was accepted Elizabeth (MacLean) Leader ’73 (FAA) into the International Shenzehn has three pastel artworks featured as Watercolour Biennial that took place part of an art and science exhibition Mildred (Whiting) Whaley ’34 (FAA) Dec. 10, 2013, to Jan. 10, 2014. The exhi- at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska shows off her new RIT coffee mug at her bition was in Shenzehn, just north of from February through September. Katherine Clem ’77 (CCE), ’88 (FAA) 100th birthday party. She lives in Hong Kong, at the Shenzehn Art Her work focuses on the issue of trash will have an exhibit called “P is for Greenfield Center, N.Y., with her family. Museum and is a government-sponsored­ in the landscape. Places” in her multimedia art gallery

38 | FALL 2014 iGalleryKathyClem in Rochester Thomas Taber ’88 (CCE) has accepted as part of the hospitality program. Oct. 29 through Dec. 5. For details, 1983 the position of instructor of lighting He is married to Marybeth (McCarthy) go to www.iGalleryKathyClem.com. Raymond science and design at the Construction Fuhrman ’92 (FAA); they have twin sons. Grosshans ’83 Education Foundation Division of Philip Turner ’77 (GAP) accepted (CAST), direc- Northlake College in Irving, Texas. Joy Parker ’91, a position at OpenText in Waterloo, tor of business Courses will be held in the evening to ’92 (GAP) sub- Ontario, Canada, as major incident strategy, Center coincide with Taber’s full-time position mitted a per- manager. He was employed at GXS for Advanced as a lighting representative with The sonal video to as an operations engineer. Energy Studies, Lighting Alliance in Dallas. Madonna’s Art has been for Freedom Robert Whiteside ’77 (FAA) exhib- selected as 1989 project called ited the painting Lily Dale in the Main the Energy Elaine Coughlan-Gifford ’89 (COS), ’92 Terminal Street Art Gallery in Clifton Springs, Education (KGCOE) has been a Harvard employee Freedom, and it N.Y. “Flora” was a juried exhibition of Advocate award winner. The award for 20 years as of 2013 and in February was picked in botanical-themed artwork. recognizes noteworthy achievements attended the Centennial Celebrations with December by in energy, nuclear energy or an environ- the Stars, an appreciation event in honor Madonna and 1979 mental field. of employees’ contributions to Harvard. David Blaine as Mitchell Fisher ’79 (CAST) celebrated She has appeared and been acknowledged the winner. She gave the $10,000 award 35 years with the same company, Unisys Mark Winans ’82, ’83 (GAP) was pro- in more than 200 medical journals. to the Greater Rochester Muscular Corp. (originally Burroughs), working moted to chief manufacturing officer Dystrophy Association and the ALSA, as a software engineer. from vice president at Advance News­ 1991 Upstate ALS chapter. (Editor’s note: Ms. papers based out of Wilmington, Del. Parker was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 Michael Way ’78, ’79 (SCB) is the and died July 12.) assistant corporate controller/assistant 1985 corporate treasurer and corporate officer Christine (Franklin) Drennon ’85 1993 at Burrows Paper Corp. in Little Falls, (GAP), director of Trinity University’s Thomas N.Y. Burrows Paper manufactures light- Urban Studies Program, has been Blake ’92, weight specialty papers and converts named the 2014 recipient of the Marilyn ’93 (GAP), paper into quick-service restaurant J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award by the the digital point-of-sale packaging products. Urban Affairs Association and SAGE project Publications. The national award manager 1981 acknowledges Drennon’s record of for Boston scholarship and engagement and her Sharon Coates ’86, ’91 (SCB) of Public Library, commitment to addressing issues of Zaretsky and Associates is one of three was named direct concern to urban communities. founders of Project Scion who were rec- a Library ognized in February by the Monroe Journal “Mover 1986 County Legislature for their volunteer and Shaker” for Lawrence Kosson ’84, ’86 (GAP) and efforts. Project Scion, www.Project- his contributions to the library industry. his business partner, Tim Drake, of The Scion.org, is a collaboration of land- Roots Agency are dual winners this year scape designers, local business owners, Joseph Brennan ’93 of the 2013 North American Performing area artists and neighborhood groups (FAA) is sharing Arts Managers and Agents Award for seeking to transform vacant city lots this piece from Excel­lence as Agent in the Performing Arts. into resident inclusive green spaces. Brennan Designs Nancy Cohen ’79, ’81 (FAA) was that symbolizes love, highlighted by the International Robert Martin ’90, ’91 (GAP) accepted purity and growth. Foundation for Women Artists. a position at Colorado Mountain College For more, go to www. Go to http://ifwartistsblog.wordpress. in Glenwood Springs, Colo., as director brennandesigns.net. com/2014/01/27/interview-nancy- of the Isaacson School for New Media. cohen/ for more information. He was employed at Eagle County Schools as senior system administrator. David Filiatrault Donis Flagello ’81, ’81 (GAP) has been ’93 (CAST) was appointed president, CEO and COO of 1992 named CTO of the Nikon Research Corp. of America. Softgate Systems, He has served as an NRCA fellow for David Lysack ’86 (KGCOE) is CEO and where he is responsi- the past five years and assumed his new founder of CSpeed, which won the 2013 ble for the strategy, role on April 1. He has more than 30 Best Innovation Award for its LightWave development and the years of experience in the semiconduc- Radar system to mitigate interference from day-to-day manage- tor industry, encompassing manufac- wind turbines near airports and airfields. ment of the Softgate turing, development and research, and Systems technology platform including holds two-dozen patents. 1987 http://PayXchange.net. William Plutnick ’87 (GAP) in February 1982 launched a professional services company. Jason Berry ’92 (FAA) invented Michael Henry Susan Figaro The business performs accurate laser and RaceDots. After years of competing ’93 (CAST) Grace ’82 probe portable CMM measurement for and ruining expensive cycling jerseys, has been (SCB) was reverse engineering and quality inspection. he decided he needed a way to attach mountaineer- named the numbers that would keep his jerseys ing for almost Distinguished 1988 intact. Each RaceDot is composed of 25 years. He Dietitian for Chetan Kamdar ’88 (COS) is now asso- a strong, patent-pending, two-piece started with 2014 by the ciate director, IT Business Relationship magnetic assembly that locks together the Grand New York State Management, Development Sciences, to securely hold a race number in place Canyon and Dietetics BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. without pinholes. Berry is founder and progressed to Association. director of Gripped Films. For more, Machu Picchu The association Mary Karol (McCarthy) Matchett ’88 go to www.racedots.com. in Peru, Mount recognized (CLA) received an Education Doctorate Kilimanjaro in Grace’s outstanding service to the in Executive Leadership from St. John Andrew Fuhrman ’92 (CAST) of Applied Tanzania and NYSDA and the profession of dietetics Fisher College on May 11, 2013. She was Industrial Technologies of Richmond, Va., in February at its annual confer­ence on April 25 in also nominated to be the student speaker has been made an on-site sales represen- summited Rye, N.Y. Grace is a member of the at the Ed.D. program’s hooding/award tative for Dominion Virginia Power in Aconcagua in Argentina. At 22,840 feet, Better Me wellness team in the RIT ceremony by cohorts for her leadership Richmond. He is also adjunct faculty with it is the tallest mountain in the Western Department of Human Resources. in the program and in the community. J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Hemisphere.

FALL 2014 | 39 Tiger Love

Robert and Susan Pearson met in 1980 after Susan borrowed his calculator. Robert gave her a new calculator, pictured above, the following Christmas. Photo by A. Sue Weisler Borrowed calculator adds up to love

usan Greuber was in electromagnetic tion), worked at RIT in photographic science fields theory class in the summer of and instrumentation, what today is called 1980 when she needed to borrow a sci- imaging science. entificS calculator. Her roommate’s Great Dane Although the calculator introduced them, had taken a bite out of her own. the couple didn’t start dating until after the She asked classmate Robert Pearson if quarter ended. Their first outing was a trip she could use his. “I wasn’t going to say no,” with other classmates to Red Creek (now said Robert about the request from one of MacGregor’s) to celebrate the end of finals. only two women enrolled in his electrical They were married in the fall of 1982. engineering cohort of about 90 students. “I After graduating, Robert worked in electri- looked at hers and it appeared that a bear had cal engineering in Maine for one year before chewed on it.” being offered a teaching job at RIT. He is now Robert and Susan Pearson in 1980. Thirty-four years later, the Pearsons are the director of microelectronic engineering still together and RIT continues to be a part programs at RIT. of their lives. Susan worked in the field for a company Susan also keeps a memento of their early Susan ’82 (electrical engineering) came to in Victor, N.Y., until their first son, Hazen, days together. Robert gave her a new scien- RIT after studying at Corning Community was born in 1985. They have two other sons, tific calculator their first Christmas together. College for two years. A professor there was Benson and Roger. (Benson graduated from “I still have the calculator,” she said. “And I an RIT graduate and suggested that she and RIT in 2012 with a degree in film and anima- still use it.” three other classmates transfer to finish their tion.) Susan now works at Pinnacle Lutheran Mindy Mozer education. School in Henrietta. The Odessa, N.Y., native was able to get a Susan said she doesn’t get to campus much full-time job working in the electrical engi- these days even though they live close by. But neering technology department calibrating Robert keeps a reminder of her time at RIT. About Tiger Love lab equipment and attended school part time. A few years ago he found a calibration sticker There are more than 4,600 RIT alumni couples. Robert ’81, ’86 (electrical engineering) initialed by his wife on an old power supply. If you have a suggestion of a couple to feature, grew up in Henrietta and his father, Milton He keeps the power supply with the sticker in email us at [email protected]. ’64 (photographic science and instrumenta- a display case outside his office.

40 | FALL 2014 Sarah Klein ’00 (CAST) has joined the Daniel Sax ’05 (CIAS) received an MBA 1995 RIT environmental health and safety 2005 from the Kellogg School of Management Renee Fleming ’95 department as the EHS compliance spe- at Northwestern University. He will be (SCB) was pro- cialist for RIT’s Facilities Management working as a consultant for Accenture in moted to assistant Services. She is excited to be back at RIT. IT Strategy and Transformation based vice president and in Chicago. personal trust Virgil Young ’00 administrator at 1st (CAST) has com- Brian Tajuddin ’05, ’05 (GCCIS) was Source. She has 15 pleted all curricu- promoted to principal software engineer years of experience lar requirements at Amazon. at 1st Source, most for the Executive recently as a finan- Master of Science 2006 cial consultant in the 1st Source Asset in information Advisor Group. systems technol- ogy program at 1997 George Washington University School Reinhard Koch ’97 of Business. EMSIST program graduates (CIAS) has success- also earn CIO University Certification fully completed a two- as the curriculum directly addresses fed- Marc-Anthony Arena ’05 (SCB) is year distance learning eral executive core competencies deter- president of Teknosophy LLC in course and graduated mined by the General Services Rochester. Teknosophy was founded in as database developer Administration and the Chief 2011 and specializes in home and small- from Fernakademie in Information Officer’s Council. business relief of computer woes. Over Hamburg, Germany. He lives in the past few months, he has established Frankfurt, Germany, and works as a 2002 his first retail location, hired his first research engineer with the printing Joseph Parise ’02 (SCB) has accepted full-time tech­nician and created a divi- press manufacturer Manroland Sheetfed. a position as HR Manager for Allergan sion called Streamplicity, which will spe- in Irvine, Calif. He has relocated to cialize in custom home theater PC Brian Roes ’97 (SCB) Newport Beach, Calif. installs. Marcel Kohler ’06 (SCB) and Judith accepted a position at Buholzer are happy to announce their Cooper/Haims Advisors 2003 marriage on Dec. 13, 2013, in St. Moritz, LLC in Rochester, Switzerland. They live in Zollikon, N.Y., as financial Switzerland. consultant. He was employed at Ashford Joseph Pawelski ’06, ’07 (KGCOE) Advisors LLC as chief and his wife, Amanda, started operating officer. Overland Distillery in Loveland, Colo., in 2009. Their only product Marcy Schuler ’97 (CIAS) was is Trinity Absinthe, which he began promoted to supervisor, production experimenting with while working at The Integer Group in Lakewood, on his master’s in thermal fluids Colo. Integer creates strategic market- Katie Linendoll ’05 (GCCIS) created engineering at RIT. For details, go ing solutions for clients in categories an app with weatherman Al Roker to www.overlanddistillery.com. that include retail, beverage, packaged Justin Drawbaugh ’01 (NTID), ’03 and Steve Lunny, an interactive media goods, telecommunications, home and (GCCIS), information technology spe- designer and animator. Al’s Weather 2007 shelter, automotive aftermarket and cialist, Defense Logistics Agency Rokies App, available in the App Store, power sports. Information Operations in New is a cartoon-style game that incorporates Cumberland, Pa., is the winner of the real-time weather. Linendoll is an Emmy 1999 Department of Defense Outstanding Award-winning TV host and technology Mark Schmidt ’99 (SCB) has been pro- Employee with a Disability Award for contributor to the Today show. moted to partner at Sirchia & Cuomo 2013 and the 2013 DLA Outstanding LLP, a Central New York accounting and Employee with a Disability Award. He consulting firm. has also been selected as one of the 2014 Careers & the Disabled magazine’s 2000 Employee of the Year award recipients. Heidi Felix ’00 (COS) graduated from the Doctorate of Health Sciences pro- 2004 Calvin Eaton ’07, ’09 (CAST) opened gram at A.T. Still University on March Derek Brinkmann ’04 (GCCIS) and his first retail bakery and storefront: 7. She also was named a Distinguished his business partners launched Citadel The Gluten Free Market and Bakery on Fellow of the American Academy of Studios to create the next generation of Monroe Avenue in Rochester. The mar- Physician Assistants. role-playing games with Shards Online, ket also supports locally produced and a sandbox RPG in development for PC. sustainable products. For details, go to In the multiplayer online game, players http://theglutenfreechefblog.com. can explore an ever-expanding universe with deep lore and dynamic environments. Erhardt Graeff ’07 (CLA), ’07 (GCCIS), a master’s student at the MIT David Fetzer ’04 (COS) completed a Media Lab, was admitted to the Ph.D. fellowship in abdominal imaging at the program for fall 2014. He was also University of Pittsburgh Medical Center awarded MIT’s 2014 Benjamin Siegel and started as an assistant professor prize for the best student paper in sci- of radiology at the University of Texas ence, technology and society. Southwestern, Dallas. Michelle N. (Lipchick) Putney ’05 2008 Maren Hess ’00 (COS), ’01 (SCB) has Jill Spaeth ’04 (CIAS) was the only (GCCIS) and Joseph Putney are happy Matthew Boswell ’08 (CLA), ’08 (SCB) joined Campbell University as assistant woman selected of five nominees for to announce their marriage on Feb. 5 in was promoted from a senior to a manager provost for institutional research, assess- AIGA’s 2014 national board of directors Ocho Rios, Jamaica. RIT alumni in on the healthcare/tax exempt west team ment and accreditation. Previously, she based on nominations from the profes- attendance included the maid of honor, at The Bonadio Group in Rochester. was the director of assessment, institu- sional organization for design members, Brittany Lipchick ’09 (COS); Adam He is a Certified Public Accountant. tional effectiveness and compliance at chapter leadership and design opinion Zeitlen ’05 (CIAS); and Jake Zangrilli Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pa. leaders. She will serve for three years. ’05 (GCCIS).

FALL 2014 | 41 Carl Kelso ’09, ’09 (KGCOE) moved to Jeffrey Powless ’10 (SCB) was pro- Seattle in April and started a job with moted to a senior accountant on the Amazon in May. He married his fiancée, tax team at The Bonadio Group in Emily, in June. Rochester.

Josa Hanzlik ’08, ’08 (KGCOE) is a sixth-year biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate at Drexel University. She won the Whitaker Fellowship to conduct research in the Netherlands at Radbound University. She started her year abroad in April.

Mary Martha Pulick ’08 (CAST) is Jay Ruzicka ’10 (CIAS) is marrying working as an administrative assistant Jacqueline Bono on Aug. 16, 2014. for a family business. Kiersten (Shinrock) Blankley ’07, ’09 Balmeri Martinez ’09 (KGCOE), ’09 Lynde Scott ’10 (CIAS) accepted a posi- Alexander Salsberg ’08 (CIAS) founded (NTID) and Albert Blankley ’09, ’12 (CAST) and Carlos Artilez ’09 (CAST), tion at The Integer Group in Lakewood, Dead End Street LLC with a friend in (COS) celebrated their wedding Nov. 9, (KGCOE) are happy to announce their Colo., as a designer. 2013. The company released an iPhone 2013, in Rochester. The couple was marriage on May 4, 2013, in Punta game called CapClash: The Caption joined by alumni Kate Starr ’07 (CIAS), Cana, Dominican Republic. They live in 2012 Contest. The free game allows players to Stephen DeVay ’10 (GCCIS), Greg Kohl Santo Domingo. Amanda Chu ’09 Ahmed Almradi ’12 (KGCOE) is work- turn their photos into shareable memes. ’10 (GCCIS), Ryan Burst ’10 (GCCIS), (KGCOE) was one of the bridesmaids. ing on a Ph.D. at the School of Electrical For details, go to http://capclash.com. Kyla Burst ’11 (CHST), Joe Kim ’09 and Electronic Engineering, The (COS), Kari Calenzo ’11 (CIAS), Teraisa Crystal Phan ’09 (NTID) had a BFA University of Manchester, UK. Kevin Tierney ’08 (GCCIS) was Chloros ’11 (GCCIS), Allie Ellis ’10 exhibition April 14-25 at Tahoe Gallery appointed assistant professor in the (CIAS), Kristi Griffith ’09 (COS), from Prim Library at Sierra Nevada Ashley department of Business Information Andrew Harris ’11 (NTID), Andrew College in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. Kostreva ’12, Systems at the University of Paderborn Rachunok ’05 (GCCIS), Shawn Carr ’03 ’14 (SCB) has in Germany. (GCCIS), Candi Carr ’05 (CIAS), Amar Reynolds ’09, ’12 (CAST) been hired as Brian Mayzak ’08 (GCCIS), Kimi accepted a position at Pactiv LLC in an assistant Katie Timm ’07 (NTID), ’08 (SCB) Lasser ’10 (CIAS), Margaret Velez ’11 Canandaigua, N.Y., as production accountant received a master’s in human resource (GCCIS), Kaelyn Rogers ’11 (CMS), supervisor. Reynolds was employed at for the small- management at Indiana Wesleyan Shannon Davies ’13 (NTID), Pamela U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs as a business advi- University in 2012. She works for Romano ’12 (CIAS), Jackie DeVay ’10 veterans claims examiner. sory team at Department of Defense-Defense (CLA), Kathy Hall ’68 (CCE) and The Bonadio Finance Accounting Service as an HR Elisabeth Chogich ’17 (CHST). Ana Siliezar ’08 (NTID), ’09 (CAST) Group. specialist. was married to Charles R. Sterling ’05, James Brooks ’09 (SCB) is one of three ’07 (SCB). Roy Peterson ’12 (CLA) graduated Geoffrey Will ’08 (KGCOE) was co-founders of a men’s accessories from the police academy and passed his granted licensure to practice as a profes- brand in New York City called Bedford 2010 certification exam. sional electrical engineer in the state of & Broome. He founded the company Jeremy New York by the University of the State with Nathan Coleman ’09 (SCB) and Hinckley ’10 2013 of New York, Education Department John Barbagallo ’09 (GCCIS). They (SCB) has Erin O’Brien Office of the Professions, effective work with photographers Kyle Dorosz been hired as ’13 (SCB) January 2014. ’08 (CIAS) and Ross Thompson ’08 an assistant has been (CIAS) and graphic designer Nathan accountant hired as an 2009 Bachmann ’08 (CIAS). Go to www. for the health- assistant Wail Al bedfordandbroome.com to learn more. care/tax accountant Hamid ’09 exempt west for the (CIAS) team at The commercial started free- Bonadio team at lancing in Group. The Bonadio Saudi Arabia Group. after gradu- Erin Mooney ating and ’10 (CIAS) last year accepted a joined a production team and produced position at Are you moving? the whole motion graphics elements for Eric Mower If your address changes, you can the Saudi Aramco feature film Book of + Associates make sure you continue to receive Sand. The film won the Honorary cate- in Syracuse, The University Magazine by report- gory in the prestigious Webby Awards N.Y., as a ing your new address to the Office (Internet Oscars) as the first Saudi and graphic of Alumni Relations. Send an foreign film to earn this award. designer. email to [email protected] or call Kirsten Canfield ’09 (CLA) created She creates the office toll free at 866-748-2586. Geoffrey Anderson ’09 (GCCIS) the Dr. McCleery Lobo Wolves Digital both print and digital materials for a Written change of address notifica- received a MySQL Community Award Archive (www.mccleerywolves.com) variety of applications. tions can be sent to the Office of for “Community Contributor of the year to preserve the story of Dr. E. H. Alumni Relations, RIT Crossroads 2014” for his work organizing and mod- McCleery’s wolf pack of Kane, Pa. Francis Mule ’10 (CLA) was admitted Building, 41 Lomb Memorial Drive, erating #DBHangOps, a bi-weekly com- The archive is the culmination of her to the Bar of the Commonwealth of Rochester, NY 14623-5603. munity hangout discussing all things ongoing research that began during Massachusetts on Nov. 25, 2013, and Alumni can also keep in touch MySQL. For details, go to www. her first year at RIT. the Bar of the State of New York on Jan. through the Online Community. dbhangops.net. 23, 2014. Go to www.rit.edu/alumni.

42 | FALL 2014 Tiger Cubs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Bruce Taylor ’79, ’79 (GAP) Mario Figueroa ’02 (COS) and Dean Ganskop ’06, ’10 (GCCIS) Ryan Collier ’12, ’11 (SCB) 1 is proud to announce the birth 8 Nancy B. Figueroa are proud to 16 and Megan Ganskop are proud 21 and Keziah Collier ’02 (SCB) of his first grandchild. Cohen Michael announce the birth of a baby boy, Mario to announce the birth of a baby girl, welcomed the arrival of their first baby Buote was born Feb. 4, 2013. Figueroa III. He was born on Dec. 26, Mikaela, born on April 18, 2014. She daughter, Charlotte Grace Collier, born 2013, in Troy, N.Y. joins big sister Sydney. Oct. 3, 2012, in Rochester. The Colliers Daniel Cavanagh ’01, ’08 relocated to Charlotte, N.C., in January 2 (KGCOE) and Julia Cavanagh Carrie Gale ’99 (NTID), ’02 (CIAS) Jennifer (Henning) Miller ’06 2014 after Ryan accepted a promotion are proud to announce the birth of a 9 and Ryan W. Gale ’01 are proud 17 (CIAS) is proud to announce the with regional accounting firm Elliott baby girl, Celia Marie. She was born to announce the birth of a baby boy, birth of a baby boy, Cole, born June 18, Davis PLLC, and Keziah accepted a relo- on Aug. 13, 2013, in Providence, R.I. Finn W. He was born on Oct. 11, 2013. 2013. cation offer with United Technologies.

Richard Konopczynski ’01 Benjamin Meunier ’02 (CIAS), Caitlin Pionessa ’06 (CAST) and 3 (CAST) is proud to announce 10 ’03 (CAST) is proud to announce 18 Andrew Pionessa ’06 (KGCOE) the birth of his sixth child, a baby girl, the birth of a baby boy, Jackson are proud to announce the birth of a Layanah Noel, born Dec. 17, 2013. Benjamin, born Nov. 27, 2013. baby boy, Maxwell Giuseppe, born Dec. 27, 2013. He joins big sister Sarah. Nicole Marousek ’01 (CIAS) Nathan Copp ’04 (SCB) is proud 4 and Matt Biscuiti are proud to 11 to announce the birth of a baby Elizabeth Spivak ’06 (KGCOE) and announce the birth of twin girls, Lena boy, Harrison, born July 3, 2013. Todd Spivak ’05 (GCCIS) are proud and Charlotte, born Nov. 12, 2013, to announce the birth of a baby boy, in New Haven, Conn. Molly Enjem ’04 (KGCOE) and Zachary, born on Jan. 5, 2014. 12 Stefan Enjem ’04 (KGCOE) are Wade Stiell ’97 (CAST) and proud to announce the birth of a baby Ashlee McLoughlin ’07 (CIAS) 5 Keayva (Edwards) Stiell ’99 girl, Olivia, born Feb. 4, 2014. 19 and Doug McLoughlin ’07 (CAST) are proud to announce the (CAST) are pleased to announce the birth of a baby girl, Nori Isabella. Kimberly Feitl Brophy ’04 (COS) birth of their son, Lucas Gray. He was She was born on Nov. 13, 2013. 13 and Justin Brophy ’06 (CIAS) are born on March 27, 2014, in Sleepy proud to announce the birth of a baby Hollow, N.Y. Kathleen Klik ’99 (CIAS) boy, Jameson, on March 20, 2014. 6 and Brenton Klik are proud Kyle Sortore ’08 (KGCOE) is proud to Tiger baby bib to announce the birth of a baby boy, 14 Stefania LoMonaco Palozzi ’04 announce the birth of a baby boy, Miles If you are a graduate of Liam Ellis. He was born on Sept. 7, (CAST) and Alberino Palozzi are Eric. He was born on Sept. 3, 2013, in RIT and you have recently 2013, in Reston, Va. proud to announce the birth of a baby Rochester. boy, Fabio. He was born on Oct. 3, 2013, had a child join your family, 7 Laura Oberlander ’00 (CLA) and in Rochester. He joins big sister Lucia. 20 Joshua Stetson ’08 (CAST) and request your free future Lance Oberlander ’97 (KGCOE) his wife, Christina, welcomed their RIT tiger baby bib at are proud to announce their adoption of Ashley (Waltz) Walker ’07 (SCB), baby boy Austin Joshua Stetson into the a baby boy, Samuel Drake, born on Dec. 15 ’05 (CIAS) and Joseph Walker are world on Dec. 26, 2013, in Rochester. www.rit.edu/alumni/ 31, 2013, and adopted on Jan. 2, 2014. proud to announce the birth of a baby updateinfo/babybib.php. girl, Nia Elethea, on Feb. 8, 2014.

FALL 2014 | 43 Tigerhood of the Traveling Banner 1 adds RIT touch to weddings

fter Michelle Gerson-Wagner got ments you would rather forget and, above all, engaged, she turned to Pinterest in it makes you treasure the people you have in search of wedding inspiration. your life.” AOne pin in particular would spark what is For Kelly Metz Davis ’05, ’08, ’13 (business, now a growing tradition among RIT/NTID accounting, professional studies) and her hus- alumni weddings—Tigerhood of the Travel- band, Mark Davis ’04 (computer integrated ing Banner. machining technology), having the traveling The post was a picture of a bride and banner at their wedding was a way to show groom, surrounded by all of their college their piece of RIT/NTID history. The couple friends, holding a banner printed with their met through a mutual friend during their alma mater’s name. freshman year after he caught her eye at a flag “I saw this pin and immediately knew I football game on campus. They were married just had to do the same thing,” said Gerson- on Oct. 19, 2013, in West Seneca, N.Y. Wagner ’08, ’14 (communications, service “It enhanced our wedding experience be- leadership). “I had over 20 alumni, both cur- cause we realized that without RIT/NTID, we rent and to-be-confirmed, for my wedding wouldn’t have the wonderful friends in our 2 and had to get a picture of all of us together.” lives as we do now,” said Metz Davis. But she didn’t wait for her own special day As for Gerson-Wagner, her wedding on to get the banner traveling. As a staff member Sept. 15, 2013, was the sixth alumni wedding in the NTID Office of Admissions and a to be part of the new tradition. She met her member of the NTID Alumni Association husband, Jason Wagner, online and the two Board of Directors, she shared the idea with were married in Rochester with more than 20 quite a few others, who then asked to borrow alumni in attendance. the banner for their own weddings. “RIT was my home for so many years and When word of the idea continued to it still is,” said Gerson-Wagner. “My guest list spread, Gerson-Wagner decided to create a included mentors, my current supervisor, my Facebook group to get more alumni involved. best friends and my co-workers. It just felt The group, which now has more than 270 right to have the banner there.” 5 members, also serves as a place for partici- Krista Bellardo ’14 pants to share their final photo. After the first wedding on May 6, 2013, the banner made its way to eight more RIT/NTID weddings that year. For 2014, Gerson-Wagner Here’s how the banner works expected more than 15 weddings. Due to this Michelle Gerson-Wagner ’08, ’14 sends increase in popularity, she now has three ban- the banner to the provided address free ners, all purchased from the RIT bookstore, to of charge. avoid any scheduling conflicts. A professional picture of all RIT “Alumni getting married love it,” said guests with the bride, groom or both (if Gerson-Wagner. “I really believe it brings both are alumni) holding the banner back all the fun memories when they get must be taken. together to celebrate a special couple, but in The name of the couple, their RIT essence, it’s often a mini RIT reunion.” class years and wedding date is signed For Kiersten Shinrock Blankley ’09, ’09 on the back of the banner. (psychology, sign language interpreting) After the wedding, the banner is sent and Albert Blankley ’09, ’13 (biology, public back to Gerson-Wagner to pass on to the policy), more than a quarter of their wedding next couple. 7 guests were RIT alumni. Having met when A copy of the high-resolution image is living on the same residence hall floor in sent to Gerson-Wagner once obtained by 2005, including the banner at their wedding the couple and is posted to the Facebook allowed them to celebrate their time at RIT page. and the people who made it so special. For more information on how Tiger- “When you assemble everyone for the hood of the Traveling Banner works or photo, you realize how much of an impact to reserve the banner for your wedding, RIT still has in your life today,” said Shinrock visit the Facebook page at http://on.fb. Blankley. “It reminds you of all the special me/1qPVpxV. memories, funny stories, embarrassing mo-

44 | FALL 2014 1 West Seneca, N.Y. Kelly Metz Davis ’05, ’08, ’13 (business, accounting, professional studies) and Mark Davis ’04 (computer integrated machining technology) were married Oct. 19, 2013. Thirty-three alumni attended. 2 Cle Elum, Wash. Ashley Nini and Michael Nini ’05 (computer aided drafting technology) were married Aug. 24, 2013. Seven alumni attended. 3 Honeoye Falls, N.Y. Sarah (Exley) Ozimek ’08 (professional and technical communica- tion) and Mark Ozimek ’09 (mechanical engineering) were married Aug. 24, 2013. About 25 alumni attended. 4 Rochester, N.Y. 3 4 Michelle Gerson-Wagner ’08, ’14 (communications, service leadership) and Jason Wagner were married Sept. 15, 2013. About 25 alumni attended. 5 Sandusky, Ohio Kristi Wesson ’08, ’10 (graphic media, deaf education) and Jon Wesson ’09 (business) were married Sept. 7, 2013. About 40 alumni attended. (The banner accidentally was left on the party bus so the photo was shot the next morning with a T-shirt.) 6 6 Peoria, Ariz. Jessica Mikolay Madsen ’04, ’10 (art and computer design, secondary education of students who are deaf or hard of hearing) and Scott Madsen were married March 15, 2014. Twenty-seven alumni attended. (The banner didn’t make it to them in time.) 7 Cleveland, Ohio Lauren Bain Millikin ’06 (social work) and Dan Millikin ’01 (psychology) were married Nov. 2, 2013. About 40 alumni attended. 8 Littleton, Colo. Chelsea (Bruha) Nichols ’11, ’12 (business management, MBA) and 8 9 Andrew Reid Nichols ’11 (business management) were married Aug. 31, 2013. About 15 alumni attended. 9 Rochester, N.Y. Kiersten Shinrock Blankley, ’09, ’09 (psychology, sign language interpreting) and Albert Blankley ’09, ’13 (biology, public policy) were married Nov. 9, 2013. Thirty alumni attended.

FALL 2014 | 45 How will you make your mark?

“I was born in Bhutan and moved to Nepal with my family as an infant, where we spent 16 years in refugee camps. We had no basic comforts, like water or electricity. Today I call Rochester home, and when I walk across RIT’s campus I realize how fortunate I am to be here and it’s all thanks to donors like you.” —Gopal Sapkota ’15

RIT donors make daily academic excellence and outstanding student experiences a reality. Your support helps students—like Gopal— realize their dreams. As a scholarship recipient, Gopal knows first-hand how incredibly valuable donors are to the RIT family. Your annual support helps thousands of students by giving them the opportunity to make an impact one day in their own communities and beyond.

Make your annual gift at rit.edu/gopal

Make your mark

To make a gift, visit rit.edu/gopal or call 800.477.0376 or 585.475.5500 Find us on Facebook.com/RIT.Alumni Follow us on Twitter @RIT_Alumni RIT remembers Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli, whose the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. RIT when they donated their archive. Vignelli Center for Design The center’s goals are to advocate design R. Roger Remington, RIT’s Vignelli Studies placed RIT onto the excellence at RIT and beyond through Distinguished Professor of Design, said international forefront of innovative programming. the design world has lost an icon. design studies, died in Man- Fiercely devoted to the Modernist “As we move forward at the Vignelli hattan on May 27 after tradition, Mr. Vignelli’s designs focused Center for Design Studies, our task is to a long illness. He was 83. on simplicity through the use of basic extend his legacy of excellence in everything Massimo Vignelli In 2010, Massimo and geometric forms in all his work. His we accomplish,” said Remington, a longtime Lella Vignelli donated their extensive career influence spanned from package design to friend. “We remember Massimo as a wonder- archive to RIT. houseware design and from furniture design ful colleague and teacher. He was beloved by The collection of the Vignellis’ work over to public signage. his students. His advice to them was: ‘If you their 40-year career is the major resource at The Vignellis were honorary trustees of design it right, it will last forever.’ ”

In MEMORIAM Alumni Anne T. Jardas ’51 (SCB), Helen L. Stira ’60 (CCE), Bruce William Tougas ’72 Kenneth Edward Wood ’79 2007 Feb. 3, 2014 April 4, 2014 (CCE), April 17, 2014 (SCB), Feb. 18, 2014 Daniel C. De Boyace ’07 1933 Emmajean (Campbell) Weis (CIAS), April 10, 2014 Ruth (Espenmiller) Werts ’51 (SCB), Feb. 1, 2014 1961 1973 1980 ’33 (FAA), March 15, 2014 Robert J. Gill ’61 (KGCOE), John G. Chase ’73 (SCB), Anita Alano ’80 (FAA), Jan. 2008 1952 March 19, 2014 April 11, 2014 11, 2014 Darren K. Hansen ’08 1936 Frederick J. Rauner ’52 Joseph G. Yahn ’61 (CCE), Gregory B. Fager ’73 (SCB), Robert Julian Ocque ’80 (CAST), Jan. 14, 2014 Salvatore F. Di Schino ’36 (COS), March 27, 2014 Feb. 12, 2014 Jan. 7, 2014 (CCE), April 6, 2014 (KGCOE), April 16, 2014 William R. Schlegel ’52 Richard C. Neubauer ’73 2010 Chadbourne V. Hickey ’36 (KGCOE), March 23, 2014 1963 (CCE), April 6, 2014 1981 Shannon M. Wachal ’10 (FAA), Jan. 7, 2014 Herman F. Thomas ’52 Howard L. King ’63 Matthew P. Stanzione ’81 (CAST), Feb. 14, 2014 (CCE), Jan. 14, 2014 (KGCOE), Jan. 4, 2014 1974 (CCE), March 21, 2014 1940 Clarence W. Goddard ’74 2011 Leona (Walker) Choffin ’40 1953 1964 (CCE), Jan. 5, 2014 1983 Gabrielle E. Oberti ’11 (SCB), March 29, 2014 Virginia (Fox) French ’53 Jurij Sobolewskij ’64 (CCE), James R. Messer ’74 (CCE), Michael Scott Mattone ’83 (CIAS), Feb. 13, 2014 (SCB), Feb. 11, 2014 Jan. 26, 2014 Jan. 24, 2014 (CAST), April 3, 2014 1942 Milton Pearson ’64 (GAP) Linda J. Sichak ’74 (COS), Eileen Doris McMahon ’81, Faculty and staff Milford A. Rahn ’42 1954 May 5, 2014 March 31, 2014 ’83 (CCE), March 26, 2014 (KGCOE), March 22, 2014 Richard P. Sandle Sr. ’54 Ronald Vattimo ’83 (CCE), Frank Annunziata, professor (CCE), March 5, 2014 1965 1975 Feb. 20, 2014 emeritus in the College 1943 Richard N. Price ’65 (SCB), Anthony R. Vasile ’65, ’75 of Liberal Arts, Jan. 12, 2014 Doris (Kent) Aurich ’43 1955 Feb. 15, 2014 (SCB), Feb. 8, 2014 1984 (SCB), March 8, 2014 C. Peter Oestreich ’55 Gary John Duffey ’84 Sharon Brock, former custo- Kenneth Mathews ’43 (FAA), Jan. 27, 2014 1968 1976 (GAP), Feb. 12, 2014 dian in Facilities Management (KGCOE), March 26, 2014 Robert S. Swan ’68 (CCE), John G. Cronin ’76 (CCE), Services, March 31, 2014 1957 Feb. 6, 2014 1986 Charles R. Straubing ’43 Jan. 24, 2014 Richard Floberg, former Samuel H. Fruscione ’52 Michael Lee Shiffer ’86 (KGCOE), April 11, 2014 Wayne Meister ’76 (SCB), film and television professor, (CCE), ’57 (CAST), March 1969 (NTID), March 18, 2014 March 16, 2014 March 15, 2014 1946 7, 2014 Paul D. Frahm ’69 (GAP), Maxine R. Back ’46 (FAA), Stanley C. Odymala ’57 Feb. 26, 2014 1977 1990 Jennifer Hayes, interpreter on Jan. 20, 2014 (CCE), Jan. 12, 2014 Peter Kubarycz ’53 Harry A. Dieter ’77 Margaret C. Mercado ’90 the Liberal Arts interpreting Robert E. Smith ’57 (KGCOE), ’69 (CCE), April (KGCOE), Jan. 4, 2014 (SCB), April 1, 2014 team, Jan. 30, 2014 1948 (KGCOE), Jan. 12, 2014 6, 2014 Bruce C. Federation ’77 1991 James Papero, former adjunct Gerald Jordan ’48 (COS), (CAST), Feb. 26, 2014 1970 Joy Parker ’91, ’92 (GAP), instructor in the Division of April 1, 2014 1958 Vivian (Mallison) Ging ’77 Donald T. Hosenfeld ’70 July 12, 2014 Student Affairs, March 19, Ethan H. Seymour ’48 Maribeth (Romberg) Aloia (FAA), March 6, 2014 (COS), Feb. 11, 2014 ’58 (SCB), Feb. 23, 2014 (CCE), March 31, 2014 2014 Albert D. Rickmers ’70 David E. Kuney ’77 (SCB), 1995 Marilyn (Searle) Woodward Donald E. Dambrowski ’58 Jan. 10, 2014 Jennifer A. Hayes ’91 Milton Pearson, former prin- ’48 (SCB), April 5, 2014 (CCE), Jan. 7, 2014 (CCE), March 26, 2014 Ronald J. Walls Jr. ’70 Patricia (Dixon) McGrath (NTID), ’95 (CCE), Jan. cipal imaging scientist at RIT 1949 1959 (SCB), Jan. 23, 2014 ’77 (CLA), April 2, 2014 30, 2014 Research Corp., May 5, 2014 Richard W. Schuler ’77 Joel David Spector ’95 James F. Roome ’49 (COS), John M. Avery ’59 (CCE), Albert D. Rickmers Sr., 1971 (CCE), Jan. 31, 2014 (CIAS), Jan. 14, 2014 Jan. 17, 2014 April 9, 2014 former professor in School Albert H. Schultze ’71 Mark R. Warda ’77 Frederick J. Bauer ’59 of Graphic Arts and 1950 (CCE), March 2, 2014 (KGCOE), Jan. 27, 2014 1996 (GAP), Feb. 16, 2014 Photographic Science, Irving Fine ’50 (CCE), April Walter Arthur Roberts ’96 Joseph N. Crawford Jr. ’59 1978 March 26, 2014 14, 2014 1972 (CCE), Feb. 13, 2014 (CCE), Jan. 10, 2014 Jean Laurelle Ermatinger Norton V. Smith ’50 (GAP), John L. Crisafulli ’72 (CCE), Jack Smith, former vice Arthur C. Grimaldi ’59 ’78 (CCE), April 13, 2014 1997 Feb. 8, 2014 March 17, 2014 president for communications, (CCE), Feb. 8, 2014 Michael J. Millow ’72 Jared M. Van Volkenburg Werner F. Wehling ’50 1979 ’97 (CAST), March 4, 2014 May 13, 2014 (KGCOE), March 7, 2014 1960 (CCE), March 18, 2014 Thomas Patrick Bresnahan Edward Steffens, professor Stewart A. Nichols ’60 Danny G. Ritter ’68, ’72 1999 ’79 (CCE), Jan. 6, 2014 emeritus in the Department 1951 (CCE), March 25, 2014 (KGCOE), Feb. 9, 2014 James D. Willoth ’79 (COS), Ralph D. Bryant ’99 of Hospitality and Service Robert Hinman ’51 (GAP), Harold E. Plummer ’60 Kenneth L. Stickle ’72 March 28, 2014 (NTID), Jan. 29, 2014 Management, May 22, 2014 Jan. 23, 2014 (CCE), April 12, 2014 (CCE), Feb. 25, 2014

No. 13, August 2014 RIT (USPS-676–870) is published 15 times annually by Rochester Institute of Technology, One Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14623-5603, once in March, five times in June, once in July, seven times in August, and once in November. Periodicals postage paid at Rochester, N.Y. 14623-5603 and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to RIT, Rochester Institute of Technology, One Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14623-5603.

FALL 2014 | 47 from the Archives 2004

Photo by A. Sue Weisler The first Tiger Walk in 2004 welcomed students to campus. Today, students wear brown and faculty, staff and parents wear orange to show school spirit. Tiger Walk turns 10

ncoming first-year students this fall will and noisemakers. attendees were encouraged to wear orange, participate in the 10th annual Tiger Walk When new students pass by, the crowd cheers an initiative that was introduced by Grow and as part of New Student Convocation. and high-fives them as the Pep Band performs James Macchiano ’06, ’09, who was then the IStarted by RIT men’s baseball Head Coach and Ritchie makes a special appearance. “It acting Student Government president. That Rob Grow ’88 and the office of Alumni Rela- has been seen by the RIT faculty and staff as tradition has continued. “On that one day all tions, the first Tiger Walk was held in the fall a great way to show that they are here for the of the Field House has a true feeling of RIT,” of 2004 and drew only a small crowd. Today, students, that students are the priority at Macchiano said. “It is important to let new faculty and staff from various departments, RIT,” Grow said. students know how much we appreciate them current students and family members flood In 2006, to increase school spirit, new and that they have truly chosen a unique the Quarter Mile with homemade posters students wore brown T-shirts while all other school with a unique experience.”

48 | FALL 2014 Can we count on YOU? Give every year—make an impact every day.

Calling all RIT fellow alumni. Our gifts, those that we make as alums every year, help to ensure that current and future students receive the quality RIT education that we received. No matter the size, our gifts—combined with the gifts of fellow alumni—make a significant impact in the lives of RIT students.

/ 200 alumni x $5 gifts = book scholarship for two or three students / 100 alumni x $10 gifts = sponsors an undergraduate research project / 100 alumni x $25 gifts = two laptops for the library to loan to students for study / 353 alumni x $100 gifts = a year’s scholarship support for one student Our alumni gifts make an impact. We need all alums to make a gift each and every year. Can we count on YOU to make an impact? Make your mark. Make your gift—today. rit.edu/makeagift

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