The Imaging Science Newsletter
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Welcome to our new, short-format newsletter! I have been told that I have 276 words, of which I just wasted 21. So, I have tried to set the rest to Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire”, with very little success (no thanks to AI).
A cold and wet spring in Rochester. Even so, the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science keeps its rhythm and pace. MISHA is spreading like wildfire: We have 25-30 “Multispectral Imaging Systems for Historical Artifacts” in use around the world, each extending the reach and deepening the impact. New builds now stand at Princeton, Dartmouth, the National Library of New Zealand, Washington University in St. Louis, and Case Western Reserve University. Next are two MISHA placements in Iraq, backed by the Whiting Foundation. Ten seniors are graduating. Every one of them has a job or graduate school plan. They leave with momentum and direction, with purpose and promise, and with the next chapter already in view. Inbound are 13 first-year students and two MCC transfer students. New talent arrives with fresh energy and promise. That is a strong class for the Center and another meaningful step in the push to grow both the undergraduate and graduate programs. The pipeline is strengthening and the outlook brightening. Dr. Dimah Dera won a prestigious NSF CAREER award: “AdaptTrust: Adaptable, Trustworthy and Uncertainty-Aware Learning in Intelligent Sensing Technologies.” It is a major honor, and one that brings distinction and recognition to the Center. The Industrial Associates program now includes seven full-time members: The Aerospace Corporation, Apple, Circle Optics, Corning, Peraton, RTX, and NextCorps. It is a strong circle of partners, a widening network, and a durable base of support. We also have four guest members in the program = more perspectives that shape the discussion and more ideas to strengthen the whole. The message is clear, the market is near, and the momentum remains strong. Two major challenges remain, plain and pressing: RIT is facing budget pressure from the enrollment cliff (a nationwide decrease of 13% in first-year enrollment); that headwind is real, and it impacts decisions related to new faculty and staff hires. International graduate enrollment is down because of visa restrictions and shortfalls in national science funding. Even so, the Center continues to extend offers, supported by internal strategic funds. The strain is real, but the work moves forward.
Well, that was terrible cadence and rhyme, I won’t quit my day-job (426 words, after all). Suffice it to say – we are doing well and are positively adjusting to challenges. Long live Imaging Science!
Always feel free to drop me a line at jan.van.aardt@rit.edu.
Until next time…Go Tigers!
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Focusing on color: How the eye chooses which wavelength to see best
Dr. Benjamin Chin latest paper has just been published in Science Advances.
The paper investigates ocular accommodation, how the human eye changes the power of the lens within it in real time. Chin and his team measured a systematic relationship between ocular accommodation and the spectrum of light entering the eye.
According to Dr. Chin, "By modeling this relationship with a biologically inspired computational model, we validated a detailed, quantitative account of how color-processing pathways in the visual system guide accommodation. Our results yielded intriguing insights, including the possibility that the visual system avoids focusing short-wavelength (blue) light during accommodation."
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Holistic Continual Learning under Concept Drift with Adaptive Memory Realignment
Alif Ashrafee, a third-year Imaging Science Ph.D. candidate, recently had his paper accepted in Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR). Alif was able to accomplish this while working in the MLVision Lab under the guidance of his advisor, Dr. Bartosz Krawczyk.
Read the Paper >
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Combining AI and drones to make removing land mines faster and safer
Sagar Lekhak, Imaging Science Ph.D. student, and Dr. Emmett Ientilucci, Gerald W. Harris Endowed Professor, have teamed up to focus their research on drone-based, multisensor imagery and artificial intelligence to improve the speed, accuracy and reliability of land mine and unexploded ordnance detection.
Research Here >
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| Freshman Imaging Project
This year the first year Imaging Science and Motion Picture Science students have created digital interactive replicas of a cuneiform tablet and papyrus. The virtual representations of the historical artifacts allow users to interact with them through web-based interfaces. The goal was to create a novel “Disney-like” display system.
Research Here >
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CIS News and Announcements |
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Akif Qadeer, Imaging Science Ph.D. student, receives Optica's Harvey M. Pollicove Memorial Scholarship
Akif conducts his thesis research in Dr. Jie Qiao's laboratory on ultrafast-laser-based fabrication of precision micro-optics. This scholarship supports students with a passion for designing, fabricating and assembling optical components and systems, and supports their future career in the optics manufacturing industry.
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Jake Stevens, Imaging Science alumnus, receives Emerging Leader Award
Jake Stevens ’19, received the College of Science Emerging Leader Award. An RIT imaging science alumnus, Stevens is the co‑founder of Luminal, a software company building a compiler that helps teams run AI models faster and more efficiently on modern hardware. He previously built and sold an e‑commerce app and worked at Apple on the company’s camera architecture team.
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Cooper O’Connell-Williams, fourth‑year Imaging Science student, receives John Wiley Jones Outstanding Student in Science Award
Cooper O’Connell‑Williams is a fourth‑year Imaging Science BS student with a concentration in remote sensing. Cooper has gained technical experience through internships at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Raytheon, where he developed image processing software, graphical user interfaces, and data analysis tools.
At RIT, he has served as a C++ teaching assistant and completed a senior capstone project focused on atmospheric correction of thermal imagery collected from small unmanned aerial systems. He also holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification.
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JD Parkes, Imaging Science alum, named a 2026 Henry Crown Fellow
JD Parkes, Founder & CEO of Parry Labs, was named a 2026 Henry Crown Fellow:
The Henry Crown Fellowship brings together a select group of accomplished, values-driven leaders who are committed to addressing some of the world’s most complex challenges. Fellows are recognized not only for their entrepreneurial success, but for their drive to create meaningful, lasting impact.
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Erich Hernandez-Baquero, Imaging Science alum, has been nominated as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration
This role helps lead how the U.S. develops and acquires critical space systems. We’re proud to see Imaging Science alumni bring decades of experience across the Air Force, intelligence community, and industry to this position and help to shape the future of space.
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Dr. Dimah Dera receives NSF CAREER Award
Dr. Dera’s project, Adaptable, Trustworthy and Uncertainty-Aware Learning in Intelligent Sensing Technologies, focuses on developing machine learning frameworks that can reliably adapt over time while explicitly modeling uncertainty. The goal is to enable intelligent sensing systems that are more robust, interpretable, and dependable in real-world, dynamic environments. These advances will support impactful applications in areas of medical imaging, autonomous systems, and environmental monitoring, where reliability and decision confidence are critical.
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Celebrating the 2026 Center for Imaging Science Graduates
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Bachelor of Science
Undergraduate program coordinator, Dr. James Ferwerda
William Barden
Alejandro Jeffrey Boxx
Troy A. Church
Josephine Clapp
Michael Eric Coval
Therese Sheila Georgia
Adele L. Jones
Eleanor Charlotte Nixon
Cooper O'Connell-Williams
Tobey James Palmer
Gian-Mateo Tifone
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Master of Science
Graduate program coordinator, Dr. Anthony Vodacek & Dr. David Messinger
Ramesh Bhatta
Felicity Chan
Aisha Ysabel Lao Co
Adam Henry Cohen
Sagar Lekhak
Robert-Jason Pearsall
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Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Graduate program coordinators, Dr. Anthony Vodacek & Dr. David Messinger
Ryan Matthew Crum
Advisor: Grover Swartzlander, Ph.D.
Jace T. Kirkendall
Advisor: Michael Gartley, Ph.D.
Nayma Binte Nur
Advisor: Charles Bachmann, Ph.D.
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MISHA Summer Seminar
Learn about MISHA in-person: June 7-13, 2026 at RIT
For more information, email: misha@rit.edu!
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| Industrial Associates Event Week
November 4: RIT Symposium
November 5: Faculty meetings and UR symposium for dual members
November 6: Interview Day
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