Rochester Institute of Technology - Research

Research

RIT's research programs are rapidly expanding. The total value of research grants to Institute faculty for fiscal year 2007–2008 totaled $48.5 million, an increase of more than twenty-two percent over the grants from the previous year. The Institute currently offers six Ph.D. programs: Imaging Science, Microsystems Engineering, Computing and Information Sciences, Color Science, Astrophysical Sciences and Technology, and Sustainability.

In 1986, RIT founded the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, and started its first doctoral program in Imaging Science in 1989. The Imaging Science department also offers the only Bachelors (BS) and Masters (MS) degree programs in imaging science in the country. The Carlson Center features a diverse research portfolio; its major research areas include Digital Image Restoration, Remote Sensing, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Printing Systems Research, Color Science, Nanoimaging, Imaging Detectors, Astronomical Imaging, Visual Perception, and Ultrasonic Imaging.

The Center for Microelectronic and Computer Engineering was founded by RIT in 1986. The institute was the first university to offer a Bachelor's degree in Microelectronic Engineering. The Center's facilities include 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of building space with 10,000 square feet (930 m²) of clean room space; the building will undergo an expansion later this year. Its research programs include nano-imaging, nano-lithography, nano-power, micro-optical devices, photonics subsystems integration, high-fidelity modeling and heterogeneous simulation, microelectronic manufacturing, microsystems integration, and micro-optical networks for computational applications.

The Center for Advancing the Study of CyberInfrastructure (CASCI) is a multidisciplinary center housed in the College of Computing and Information Sciences. The Departments of Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, Imaging Science, and Bioinformatics collaborate in a variety of research programs at this center. RIT was the first university to launch a Bachelor's program in Information technology in 1991, the first university to launch a Bachelor's program in Software Engineering in 1996, and was also among the first universities to launch a Computer science Bachelor's program in 1972. RIT helped standardize the Forth programming language, and developed the CLAWS software package.

The Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation was founded in 2007. The CCRG comprises faculty and postdoctoral research associates working in the areas of general relativity, gravitational waves, and galactic dynamics. Computing facilities in the CCRG include gravitySimulator, a novel 32-node supercomputer that uses special-purpose hardware to achieve speeds of 4TFlops in gravitational N-body calculations, and newHorizons, a state-of-the art 85-node Linux cluster for numerical relativity simulations.

The Center for Detectors, was founded in 2010. The CfD designs, develops, and implements new advanced sensor technologies through collaboration with academic researchers, industry engineers, government scientists, and university/college students. The CfD operates four laboratories and has approximately a dozen funded projects to advance detectors in a broad array of applications, e.g. astrophysics, biomedical imaging, Earth system science, and inter-planetary travel. Center members span eight departments and four colleges.

Recently, the Center for Biotechnology Education and Training (CBET) has been established. The facility was created to train future employees in the field of biotechnology as well as to promote research in the vast field of biosciences, including bioinformatics, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, and biochemistry.

RIT has collaborated with many industry players in the field of research as well, including IBM, Xerox, Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle, Siemens, NASA, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In 2005, it was announced by Russell W. Bessette, Executive Director New York State Office of Science Technology & Academic Research (NYSTAR), that RIT will lead the University at Buffalo and Alfred University in an initiative to create key technologies in microsystems, photonics, nanomaterials, and remote sensing systems and to integrate next generation IT systems. In addition, the collaboratory is tasked with helping to facilitate economic development and tech transfer in New York State. More than 35 other notable organizations have joined the collaboratory, including Boeing, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Intel, International Sematech, ITT, Motorola, Xerox, and several Federal agencies, including as NASA.