The mentor relationship with my faculty members in Saunders College of Business was far tighter than I would’ve imagined. Professor Philip Tyler was a mentor during my MBA studies and remains a great professional contact and personal friend. In fact, his impact has spanned generations, as he also became a mentor to my daughter, Julie, when she attended RIT.

Kevin Gavagan ’79 (MBA)

The ability to think critically gives us the power to consider fully and make well-rounded decisions for ourselves and for our world, and there is no more important work than that. Critical thinking is, and should be, part of the fabric of RIT. We must continue to lead by example through our teaching and scholarly efforts and by creating opportunities that encourage and support the growth of critical thinking in all we do.

Professor Jennifer Schneider Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking

As students head into the world on internships and jobs, we want them to be prepared to interact with communities that have a very distinct sense of identity and place but are also dealing with myriad economic and cultural changes.

Professor Lisa Hermsen Caroline Werner Gannett Endowed Chair

Holding the Bausch & Lomb Endowed Professorship gives me the time and discretionary funds to explore new areas of research. This freedom is essential in aggressively expanding research in my laboratory, and also enables RIT to offer highly valuable research experiences to a broader range of graduate and undergraduate students.

Professor David Borkholder ’92, Bausch & Lomb Endowed Professor

I started with thoughts from my own life and the job discrimination I’ve experienced because of my deafness. Soon my idea was no longer about what I wanted. It was about what it can do for the world. It became a social responsibility.

Ryan Hait-Campbell ’14 (new media design), founder and CEO of Motion Savvy

These students—all from different majors, interests, and disciplines—came together to improve sign language [working on the Motion Savvy team]. Like any good entrepreneur, Ryan is savvy, highly focused, and hungry.

Gary Behm ’81 (electrical engineering technology), National Technical Institute for the Deaf, associate professor of engineering and director of the Center on Access Technology

Undergraduate research was such an important part of my education at RIT. It made a tremendous difference in preparing me for my graduate studies and for my work here at NASA.

Julia Barsi ’97, ’00 (imaging science), Instrument Engineer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Undergraduate research has given me opportunities that I couldn’t imagine. I have traveled to distant countries, worked directly with top researchers from around the world, and taken on challenging projects that really built my portfolio of research experience and skills.

Luke Shadler ’17 (physics)

Experiential learning is a key factor in our students’ success, and working on real research as an undergraduate is the most important experience future scientists will have. Fellowships have a huge impact on the university’s ability to support more students doing more research in the coming years.

Professor Darren Narayan director of undergraduate research, College of Science

I’m so proud to support undergraduate research. As an RIT alumna who went on to receive a Ph.D. in biological research, I know that early experiences such as these can make all the difference.

Susan Appleby ’88, (molecular bioscience and biotechnology), donor to Undergraduate Research

It was real research. RIT invested in me. I got a lot out of my fellowship and my degree and I’ve been very successful in my career ever since.

Eric Kuckhoff ’84 (chemistry), vice president of Cargill, Inc., past president, RIT Alumni Association

I received tuition support from RIT’s Alumni Legacy Scholarship. Today, I am loving my career as a physician assistant, and as an alumna, I now give back to RIT to help pass on the same legacy to current students.

Heather L. Schoenberger ’04 (physician assistant)

RIT is a fantastic case study of using machine translation and speech recognition to make classrooms inclusive. They customize it by teaching these systems the specific subjects. Think about what it can do for an inclusive classroom.

Sataya Nadella CEO, Microsoft