Spring 2025

That's a wrap folks! We're finishing up our 2025 spring semester and the Carlson building is abuzz as we prepare for another commencement ceremony. In this bulletin, we look back at the hard work that was accomplished, the incredible presentations that were given, and the awards that were earned.

Spread the word! Invite colleagues to keep in touch with the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science by subscribing to the RIT Imaging Science Newsletter here.

It is slightly muggy, somewhat warm outside. That can only mean that commencement is upon us. We are the proud “academic parents” of 17 graduating seniors, three MS, and nine Ph.D. students. Now that puts a spring in your step, doesn’t it? They are the reason that we are here, after all. Congratulations to the class of 2025! Please see their names further down... I am sure that you again will come across them as they move and shake the imaging industry.

It has been a busy spring season. Dr. Grover Swartzlander landed the ultimate scholarship prize at RIT, the Trustees’ Scholarship Award. Dr. Dimah Dera was named the next Wiedman II Endowed Chair – congrats Dimah, here’s to great strides in explainable AI research. Alumnus Dr. Erich Hernandez-Baquero was named the RIT Distinguished Alumni award winner. Imagine RIT and the Industrial Associates (IA) event again exposed the public and industry to our science and students.

The IA is growing by leaps and bounds, spearheaded by Mrs. Jaclyn McKelvey, who is doing a stellar job at revitalizing the program. We thank our associates from wide and far, for taking part, interviewing students, and eventually employing the best and brightest. Small plug: Industrial Associate membership fees are used exclusively to offset event costs and then towards undergraduate student support, e.g., travel grants, publication costs, etc. So if you are reading this, have your company reach out to Jaclyn (jmmcis@rit.edu) and join the club!

And as a separate entry, all by itself: I am genuinely excited to announce that Dr. Benjamin (Ben) Chin has accepted our offer to become a part of the Imaging Science faculty. Ben was appointed after an extensive international search to add additional breadth to the Human Vision research in the Center. He specializes in the mechanisms involved in visual accommodation and other important eye movements. Ben is a strong fit for our Center - his skillset includes expertise in optometry, computational visual neuroscience, and physiological optics. He plans to start July 1, 2025, so keep your eyes peeled for new developments!

I am going to keep it short and call a halt, leaving you to peruse the details below. I am grateful to be a part of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science community. The Center has made a significant impact in the past and we have much, much still left to do. We actively are navigating project and student funding uncertainties, as various federal programs make adjustments. But I am not deterred, we will be imaging for many years still, in fact, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are excited by what is yet to come in all things “imaging chain”. As Churchill said “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Maybe one day we get there?

Cheers, until next time.

Jan van Aardt (jan.van.aardt@rit.edu; 585-475-4229)

Go Tigers!

Dr. Grover Swartzlander, Professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, has once again made us proud by receiving the 2024-2025 Trustees Scholarship Award!

"The Trustees Scholarship Award recognizes faculty who have demonstrated a strong record of academic scholarship over a sustained period." In addition, the recipient's scholarship must be integral to the students' educational experience, and fitting the following classifications: teaching/pedagogy, application, integration, or discovery.  

Dr. Grover Swartzlander was selected after evaluation by a college committee, review from the dean, and finally, selection by members of the Research, Graduate Education, and Faculty Excellence Committee of the RIT Board of Trustees. CIS is overjoyed to have faculty like Dr. Swartzlander who work to enhance the educational experience of RIT students.

Congratulations Dr. Swartzlander, pictured here with Ph.D. candidate Ryan Crum, College of Science Dean André Hudson, CIS Director Jan van Aardt, CIS Assistant Professor Bartek Krawczyk, and one of Dr. Swartzlander's first PhD students Kevin Gahagan.

John Wiley Jones Outstanding Student in Science Award 

Mason Wahlers, an Imaging Science senior, was honored with the John Wiley Jones Award this year. Mason has led multiple research projects with a focus on computer vision and optical engineering, and completed internships at both Corning and Boeing. He has been instrumental in the Imaging Science Club, helping to secure guest speakers including alumni, industry leaders, and even RIT President David Munson. 

Mason also helped mentor high school students as a teaching assistant for the Rochester Prep capstone project. Along with Dr. Dimah Dera, Mason introduced 6 high school students to foundational concepts in machine learning (ML), robotics, programming, and autonomous driving technology. Outside of academics, he is an avid runner and talented musician.  We can't wait to see where Mason's journey takes him next.

The Center rolled out the 2023-2024 Annual Report in March! Our Center has evolved in recent years and this report illustrates all the student, staff, and faculty contributions that continue to make our Center such a thriving community. If you missed it, take a look now to catch up now.

Stavros Viron is graduating this May with his Bachelor's degree in Imaging Science from RIT, building on his Associate of Applied Science degree in Optical Systems Technology from Monroe Community College (MCC). Stavros was awarded the Salvador Anchondo, Jr. Memorial Scholarship which supports students who transfer from MCC to RIT. Stavros is a member of the Imaging Science Club, a previous camp counselor at Oswegatchie Educational Center, and has been a Homebuilder for Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage. He's planning on entering the optics and photonics industry, and finishing off the semester strong with his senior research project: Next-generation multi-sensor development.

The Center for Imaging Science was well represented at the American Geophysical Union 2024 Conference. CIS is proud to participate in a conference that's mission is "to support and inspire a global community of individuals and organizations interested in advancing discovery in Earth and space sciences and its benefit for humanity and the environment." The following Ph.D. students had the opportunity to present their research during the poster session at the conference in December 2024.

Manisha Das Chaity, Evaluating the Influence of Imaging Spectrometer System Specifications on
Ecosystem Spectral Diversity Assessment

Elphas Khata, Low-Cost Radiometer for Validation of Landsat's Higher-Level Thermal Products

Sagar Lekhak, Advancing Landmine and UXO Detection: A Comparative Analysis of UVA - Based and Handheld Metal Detectors"

Nayma Binte Nur, Enhancing Wetland Soil Property Estimates with UAS Hyperspectral Imaging in Preparation for the NASA SBG Mission [and] Advanced Radiative Transfer Inversion Techniques for Improved Soil Moisture Estimation Using Hyperspectral Data

Mohammad Saif, Assessing multi season table beet root yield using unmanned aerial systems

The Center is thrilled to announce that Dr. Dimah Dera, has been appointed as the Frederick and Anna B Wiedman II Endowed Chair!

"This prestigious endowment, established in 1999 through the generous support of Frederick Wiedman Jr., honors and supports Dr. Dera’s achievements and trajectory in research, scholarship, and teaching excellence at RIT and beyond. Her appointment also acknowledges her current and proposed work in mentoring undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-docs, and engagement with the professional community outside of RIT." 

"Dr. Dera’s scholarship in modern machine learning is advancing innovative solutions across diverse fields, including healthcare, remote sensing, and cybersecurity. Her work is shaping the future of machine learning, and we are incredibly proud to have her as part of our COS community. This endowment will support Dr. Dera in continuing her scholarship, teaching, training, mentoring, and service programs to our community." - André O. Hudson

Dr. Dimah Dera mentored 6 high school students during the RIT Rochester Prep High School (RPHS) student capstone project. This capstone introduced students to foundational concepts in machine learning (ML), robotics, programming, and autonomous driving technology. Over the course of a semester, the students combined hardware and software elements using an Arduino educational robot kit to build, program, and test their demo of autonomous vehicles.

In February the students presented their project to a packed audience at RIT. It has been a pleasure to watch the students apply their technical skills and develop critical thinking skills.

CIS Graduate students presented their research during the RIT Graduate Student Showcase on April 10, 2025, representing the wide scope of work that happens on a regular basis in the Center. 

Deepak Kandel, Adaptive Robust Continual Learning based on Bayesian Uncertainty Propagation

John Fernandes, Ultrafast laser-enabled surface structuring of SiC

Hannah Gallagher, Mapping Coastal Ecosystems: Insights from Melding Hyperspectral and LiDAR Data Models

Thomas Dickinson, Automated 6DOF Satellite Pose Estimation from Resolved Ground-Based Imagery

Akif Qadeer, Optical Differentiation Wavefront Sensor powered by deep learning

Akib Mohammed Khan & Mason Wahlers, Robust Bayesian Vision Transformer for Image Classification

Cyril Otieno, Femtosecond laser fabrication of scattering patterns inside glass substrates

Derek Oliwa, Ultrafast Laser Inscription of Waveguides and Linear Periodic Structures in Nd:YAG

Mogere Mogere, Scanning Electron Microscopy Noise Classification Using Machine Learning

Featured in the May IEEE Rochester Section Newsletter, Dr. Emmett Ientilucci hosted the 2025 IEEE Rochester Section Joint Chapters Meeting! "The Joint Chapters Meeting was held at the RIT Inn & Conference Center on March 25. There were two parallel presentation tracks of two technical presentations each, a poster session, a reception for networking, and a banquet with the keynote speaker. The JCM was organized by several IEEE Section members, headed by Dr. Emmett J. Ientilucci. More than 60 people attended." 

Imaging Science undergraduate seniors Danny Klosinski, Bobby Mancini, Ryan McDonald, Parker Mei, and Karla van Aardt along with their advisor, Carl Salvaggio, presented a keynote address at the Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping X conference at the SPIE DCS 2025 symposium in Orlando, Florida on Monday, April 14. 

Their talk, Longwave thermal infrared atmospheric correction using in situ scene elements: The multiple altitude technique revisited for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) summarized a reimagined technique from the 1970s for atmospheric correction of thermal infrared imagery collected, not from manned aircraft, but from drone platforms.

This technique was developed as part of a research-based special topics class in which the students:

Not only was this a wonderful set of experiences for the student during their research, they produced an exciting new technique that requires no knowledge of temperatures within the scene for correction, and results in prediction of target temperature with mean absolute errors around 1K. 

The students had a great experience presenting their work to an international audience focused on the use of sUAS systems to assist in the field of precision agriculture and phenotyping.  

Imaging Science students, Karla van Aardt and Bobby Mancini, traveled to the Rice Rivers Center to collect data for their "sUAS Remote Sensing" course. Along with research scientists from the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Nina Raqueño and Timothy Bauch, the students collected imagery using one of the laboratory's thermal infrared cameras to validate an ad hoc atmospheric correction technique developed last semester. This technique could make it far easier for scientists, engineers, and farmers to collect high-quality temperature data on the ground, greatly enhancing applications such as solar panel failure detection, water management for agricultural fields, and heat loss analysis from commercial and residential buildings.

Congratulations to Tiyasa Sarkar (Imaging Science Ph.D. student) and Pankhuri Shukla (CS grad, great graphics enthusiast) on winning BRICK HACK 11 and WicHacks 25!! They developed an app for artists/game developers to predict how a scene would look under different positions of the sun and developed a game that uses gaze tracking to kill viruses, using python, pygame and open cv.

Aiming for Lighter Light Sails

Physics speaks to Grover Swartzlander, professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, about solar sails

Professor helps to bring machine learning to indigenous communities

Indigenous communities in Kenya and Ecuador have access to machine learning technology to help combat human-wildlife conflict and climate change thanks in part to a new partnership that includes RIT

Interdisciplinary collaborations drive innovation in cultural heritage preservation

RIT’s interdisciplinary collaborations enrich research across the university and beyond. Two of these collaborative projects recently received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of a total $22.6 million in grants given to support humanities projects across the nation.

2024 Distinguished Alumni Award: Erich Hernandez-Baquero

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Erich “HB” Hernandez-Baquero (Ph.D Imaging Science, ’00) was honored with the RIT Distringuished Alumni Award. This award is presented to alumni who has brought distinction at the highest levels to their college or RIT through professional, community, or philanthropic achievements. Hernandez-Baquero is the Vice President of Space Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance at Raytheon, an RTX business.

The RIT Industrial Associates Program is working to bridge academia and industry by bringing together industry leaders, students, and faculty. This program is striving to help our students and faculty adapt to industry needs and interests, while providing industry partners with educational insights and networking access.

We are committed to applying imaging science to tackle challenges and make breakthroughs in a variety of fields. These include machine learning, artificial intelligence, aerospace, environmental science, and national security, as well as motion imaging, entertainment, photography, and consumer electronics.

During the first week of April, the Center Welcomed our Industrial Associates (IA) members to Rochester for three days of student centered activities:

Save the date for the next Symposium!!

2025 Fall Industrial Associates Symposium: October 23, 2025

The Carlson building opened its doors again this April for Imagine RIT. Imagine RIT is where creativity meets innovation, creating a festival that showcases the wonderful talents of our community. The Center for Imaging Science was able to feature 10 unique exhibits: 

RIT Imaging Science

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