Rochester Institute of Technology appointed the first Deaf woman dean of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. bit.ly/4v90Ix8

Never in all my life have I ever heard Ewing switch to patois. Its like he never left Jamaica...while Dybansta sounds like he has never been lol Happy Caribbean Heritage Month 😊

The Obama Foundation today announced a selection of spaces in the Obama Presidential Center that honor the civil rights and democracy leaders who inspired President and Mrs. Obama’s own leadership journeys and represent those “on whose shoulders we stand” as people across the country and around the world seek to advance progress, dignity, and inclusion in our societies. These spaces were made possible through the generous support of individual and institutional donors committed to advancing our democracies through belonging and action. The spaces announced today include: 🗳️Nelson Mandela Sky Room is a free, open-to-the-public sanctuary located on the highest level of the Museum building, offering sweeping views of Jackson Park and Chicago’s South and West Sides through excerpts from President Obama’s speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery Marches, rendered in five-foot-tall letters on the building’s exterior. ⚖️Thurgood Marshall Courtyard, nestled on the campus's Lower Level, is a “miniature park” and is made possible through the generous support of Peter and Maria Kellner. 🍃Rachel Carson Reading Garden, located just off the Library, is made possible through the generous support of Amy Goldman Fowler and Family.

The World Cup is the greatest quadrennial event. Go Brazil! #Seleção #Canarinha

Rochester Institute of Technology appoints Hassan Aziz as dean of the College of Health Sciences and Technology starting August 1. rbj.net/2026/06/12/rit-appoi…

Columbia University to reinstate SAT, ACT requirement in undergraduate admissions nydailynews.com/2026/06/12/c…

“…Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." Louis Pasteur Another red alert for American science | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

Today, President Dr. Bill Sanders, @RITPresident, and Provost Dr. Prabu David, @prabudavid, hosted a special celebration to thank and recognize the @RITtigers community for its outstanding work on the university’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) reaccreditation effort. In fall 2023, RIT began a university-wide self-study in pursuit of reaccreditation in spring 2026. This important work builds on RIT’s successful 2017 reaccreditation, when the evaluation team affirmed that RIT met all accreditation standards and requirements of affiliation. Special thanks to the reaccreditation co-chairs. Dr. Christine Licata, vice provost for Academic Affairs and accreditation liaison officer; Dr. Larry Buckley, associate professor and senior associate dean in the @RITscience; and Dr. Risa Robinson, Gleason Professor and program director of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Ph.D. program in the RIT Kate Gleason College of Engineering @_RITEngineering, for their exceptional leadership throughout this process. Thank you as well to all of our colleagues across the university whose dedication, collaboration, and commitment made this achievement possible. Well done! Onward and Upward!

On behalf of the @RITscience and myself, I am delighted to welcome Dr. Hassan Aziz to RIT as the new Dean of the RIT College of Health Sciences and Technology @RIThealthsci. Congratulations on this well-deserved appointment! We look forward to working with Dr. Aziz and our colleagues in CHST to advance research, innovation, and student success across RIT. Welcome to the Tiger Family! Hasan Aziz named dean of RIT’s College of Health Sciences and Technology rit.edu/news/hasan-aziz-name… via @RITTigers #RIT

Elle Barnes, PhD Rochester Institute of Technology @rittigers

Well done Dr. Barnes @EcoEvoElle!

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Elle Barnes @EcoEvoElle , Assistant Professor in the @RITscience, Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, on being named one of 12 recipients of the highly competitive Beckman Young Investigator Award from the Beckman Foundation @BeckmanFnd, the first BYI recipient in RIT’s history. This prestigious four year award will support Dr. Barnes’ research program, as well as the training and mentoring of student researchers working at the intersection of environmental, molecular, and computational biology. Her work seeks to answer fundamental questions related to the creation and maintenance of biodiversity across time and space by examining the complex interactions that occur among cells, organisms, and ecosystems. Using unisexual salamanders as a model system, Dr. Barnes and her team will develop molecular and computational tools to explore the eco-evolutionary consequences of "genomic gigantism” and diverse forms of reproduction in vertebrates. The Beckman Young Investigator Program supports the most promising early career faculty members in the chemical and life sciences, providing resources to advance innovative research with long-term impact. This recognition is a testament to Dr. Barnes’ exceptional scholarship, mentorship, and growing national reputation in the field. Congratulations to Dr. Barnes on this outstanding achievement and well-deserved recognition. We wish you all the best with your project.

Rochester Institute of Technology appointed the first Deaf woman dean of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. rbj.net/2026/06/08/rit-names…

#OTD in 1948 my dad graduated from @Morehouse, a milestone that helped set the foundation for his leadership in the civil rights movement. His time there grounded him in purpose, discipline, and a lifelong commitment to justice. To this year’s graduates, may you leave with that same commitment to build, lead, and serve.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my PhD defense at @RutgersNB. As I reflect on that milestone, I’m reminded that the most important lesson I learned wasn’t scientific, it was about persistence. Early in my PhD, I spent nearly five years pursuing a research question that never produced the answer I was looking for. At the time, it felt like failure, especially since I had received an NIH Predoctoral Fellowship to support the project and my training. What I didn’t realize was that those five years were preparing me for the discovery that would ultimately define my dissertation. While investigating amino acid biosynthesis in plants, I helped identify a previously unknown pathway for lysine biosynthesis. The discovery reshaped our understanding of plant metabolism, informed efforts to improve crop nutrition, and later influenced my interests in antibiotic development and antimicrobial resistance. I still remember the moment the experiment worked. As I watched the data appear on the spectrophotometer screen, I knew immediately we had found something important. I ran into my advisor Dr. Thomas Leustek’s office shouting, “We got it! Oh my God, we got it!” The irony is that the discovery and writing the dissertation itself took about 8 months but the work that made it possible took five years. I share my journey with students, and they sometimes ask whether I regret spending so much time on a project that didn’t turn out the way I expected. My answer is always the same, I didn’t waste five years. Those years taught me the technical skills, resilience, creativity, and critical thinking that made the breakthrough possible. What looked like failure was actually preparation. Twenty years later, that’s the lesson I carry with me: the breakthroughs people celebrate are often built on years of work that appears to be going nowhere but learning is never wasted. Thank you to my mentors, committee members, labmates, UG and fellow grad students, collaborators, and especially my family for helping shape me as a scientist and supporting me throughout the journey. It's hard to believe it has been twenty years!

Walter Isaacson's "The Code Breaker" was a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening read. While I was already familiar with much of the science behind CRISPR and gene editing, what captivated me most was everything beyond the science, the rich backstory, the personalities, the relationships, and the human journey that shaped one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of our time. Through this book, I learned a great deal about Jennifer Doudna, not just as a brilliant scientist, but as a mentor, leader, and colleague. Isaacson provides a fascinating look at her path from a curious young student to a Nobel Prize-winning researcher. I was particularly struck by her philosophy regarding mentoring and training the next generation of scientists, her commitment to collaboration, and her thoughtful approach to collegiality within the scientific community. The book also revealed a considerable amount of drama that I had not previously known about in detail. The different players, the intense competition, disputes over intellectual property, competing claims of discovery, and the ethical debates surrounding gene editing added a compelling dimension to the story. Isaacson masterfully captures both the excitement and the tensions that often accompany groundbreaking scientific advances. What makes The Code Breaker especially powerful is that it is not merely a book about science; it is a book about people, their ambitions, values, rivalries, and aspirations. It offers a rare glimpse into how transformative discoveries are made and the complex human dynamics behind them. This story has all the ingredients of a great movie with visionary scientists, high-stakes competition, ethical dilemmas, and a technology with the potential to change humanity itself. I would love to see it adapted for the screen. I highly recommend The Code Breaker to scientists and non-scientists alike. Whether you are interested in genetics, innovation, leadership, or simply a compelling story, this book delivers on all fronts. Great read!

Flavia S. Fleischer named NTID dean rit.edu/news/flavia-s-fleisc… via @RITTigers #RIT

Congratulations to @RITscience faculty member, Dr. Tony Vodacek! Vodacek returning to Africa as Fulbright Scholar rit.edu/news/vodacek-returni… via @RITTigers #RIT