Celebrating our RIT College of Science retirees for 2021-2022 | college of science

Congratulations to our 2021-2022 College of Science retirees! As faculty or staff, our retirees have played an essential role in the success of our college. Like all RIT retirees, they continue to be part of the Tiger family and have access to many things on campus, including:

  • RIT Academic and Social Events
  • Networking with other members of the RIT community
  • Continue to work with and advise RIT students, clubs and teams
  • Share all the benefits of being connected to RIT

Learn more about the role they played and their successful careers.

Joyce French retired after 23 years at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science (CIS). As a senior personnel specialist, she was responsible for hiring students in the department. Joyce’s top priority was always to ensure that CIS’s 100+ students were paid in full and on time.

Prior to joining the CIS administrative staff in 2002, Joyce worked in the CIS Silver Halide Research Laboratory as a research scientist for eight years. This work resulted in five publications with Rich Hailstone. Prior to joining RIT in the early 90s, she was a research technician at Kodak Research Laboratories working with silver halide materials for use in conventional photography. Joyce’s strong work ethic and dedication to students will be missed!


portrait of retired Karin HarrimanKarin Harriman retired from RIT in April 2022 after assuming the position of Associate Registrar for Course Planning and Enrollment at St. John Fisher College. Karin has been the Planning Officer for the College of Science since 2018.

Prior to joining COS, Karin served as Administrative Assistant to the Dean and Operations Coordinator in her roles at Saunders College of Commerce from 2012 to 2018 and served as Curriculum Archivist/Sr. Personnel Assistant at NTID from 2006 to 2012. Karin’s long and distinguished service at RIT enhanced every unit she served and RIT owes her a debt of gratitude for her diligent and collegial service throughout her career at laughs. We will keep fond memories of her and wish her the best in her future endeavours.


portrait of retired Jeff LodgeJeffrey Lodge, Associate Professor at the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences (GSoLS), retired after a long and distinguished 35-year career at RIT. Dr. Lodge with Drs. Irene Evans, Jean Douthwright and Robert Rothman led the implementation of the BS in Biotechnology program. Specifically, Dr. Lodge has been instrumental in developing and teaching a plethora of courses integrating hands-on experiential learning with a laboratory component, such as Food Microbiology, Wastewater Microbiology, Bioremediation, environmental microbiology and bioenergy, among others.

Dr. Lodge has also served as director of the master’s program in environmental science. Dr. Lodge provided impactful and quality service to the GSoLS, College of Science and RIT, and will be greatly missed by his students and colleagues. We wish him a happy retirement.


portrait of retiree Don McKeownDonald McKeown was project manager and researcher emeritus in the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory (DIRS). Don earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1982. He spent 20 years in the industry at Eastman Kodak supporting operations and leading technology development programs for loads useful for satellite remote sensing. Since 2001

Don has supported the DIRS lab with program development, program management, and system engineering for a wide variety of projects with a focus on airborne imaging systems (manned and unmanned).


portrait of retired Navalgund RaoNavalgund Rao joined the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT in the late 1980s. His teaching and research was in the areas of medical imaging, digital imaging, and signal processing, with an emphasis on ultrasound imaging. The main focus of his most recent research has been the development of photoacoustic imaging technology and its application to the management of thyroid, prostate and breast diseases.

This research was a collaboration between Rao and Vikram Dogra, MD, professor of radiology and urology in the Department of Imaging Sciences at URMC, where Rao held an adjunct position. RIT and UR hold a joint patent on Rao and Dogra’s prototype imaging device.


photo of retired David RossDavid Ross, Professor at the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences (SMS), is retiring after 16 years of teaching and research at RIT. David’s many contributions will leave a lasting legacy at the school. He was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Ph.D. program in mathematical modeling as well as the school’s current strategic plan and is known as a caring mentor to his students and colleagues.

His non-traditional academic career path, working as an applied mathematician in industrial companies before joining RIT, gave him a unique perspective and contributed significantly to students’ learning experiences. David’s contributions to the field will not end with his retirement, as he plans to continue his work using mathematical modeling in research related to the study of Alzheimer’s disease and oncology. We thank David for his many years with RIT and wish him the best in his future endeavours. David, you will be greatly missed!


portrait of pensioner Kalathur SanthanamKSV Santhanam, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, has retired after 24 years of excellent teaching, research and service. KSV has excelled in multidisciplinary electrochemistry/nanotechnology/sensor research, which has contributed to numerous on-campus collaborations.

He has held positions such as director of the graduate program in materials science and engineering (MS&E), coordinator of the RIT undergraduate summer research symposium, initiator of two five-year BS/MS programs of MS&E with Chemistry and Microelectronics, and creator of the RIT Materials Research Chapter. The Society’s Student Affiliate Program. Her research with undergraduate and graduate students has resulted in numerous well-cited publications and co-authorship of a number of textbooks, including “CLEAN ENERGY Hydrogen/Fuel Cells Laboratory Manual” and ” Introduction to Hydrogen Technology”. He was elected to the European Union Academy of Sciences as a Fellow in 2016 and has a US patent on graphene and another provisional patent on black brass. He will be missed at RIT and we wish him the best in his retirement.

We wish a very happy retirement to our retirees!

About Mark A. Tomlin

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