News

• The Department of Engineering in the School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science is a recipient of a sub-award grant from the National Science Foundation –Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) program. The project is titled “Increasing Student Access to Industrial and Scientific Equipment Training through Authentic Remote Learning Experiences." The total grant award for this three year project is $523,766 with RMU’s share being $74,995. In addition to the funding, RMU will receive hardware, software, and technical assistance from the industrial company involved - Realbotics. Arif Sirinterlikci, university professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, is the co-principal investigator of this project along with faculty from Community College of Allegheny County and California University of Pennsylvania.
   
• Sign up for the Top Secret Colonials' upcoming Gaming Marathon, this weekend, which is open to non-students and students alike. This semester's 48 hour Gaming Marathon will benefit the Best of the Batch Foundation. The Best of the Batch Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1999 by former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch. Best of the Batch Foundation provides year-round educational programming to more than 3,800 children ranging in ages from 4 to 18, across 22 school districts in eight western Pennsylvania counties. A donation of $10 is required to register, and you must have a Discord tag to register. You can register here, and read the rules and regulations here. Those who would like to donate but do not wish to game can do so here. 

Upcoming Events

• Today, March 26, the Women’s Leadership and Mentorship Program presents RMU’s Fifth Annual Women and Transformational Leadership Symposium. This full-day event features women leaders in our region and topics that impact the region's move toward gender equity and the advancement of women.

  This year’s keynote speaker: Bandanda Rana from Nepal is a passionate lifelong advocate for women’s rights and gender equality. Her experience spans decades in the area of violence against women, gendered conflict transformation, peace building and engendered media through the different organizations and networks she has founded and led. She is a member of the UN CEDAW Committee since 2017, the first Nepali woman to be elected to this position. She was the Vice Chair of the Committee from 2018-2020 and is the focal point for women peace and security. She has recently been nominated to the UNFPA High Level Commission on ICPD+25 for three years. She was also a member of the UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group (2012-2015). This year’s keynote speaker presentation is co-sponsored by the WLMP and the Center for Global Engagement. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more and register here: rmu.edu/wtls

  The WTLS will include an AAUW Work Smart Salary Negotiation Workshop This workshop, sponsored by the City of Pittsburgh and the Gender Equity Commission, is part of the city’s efforts to close the gender wage gap. AAUW created this workshop in an effort to train 10 million women by the year 2030 to advocate for fairer wages and benefits, and to feel confident advocating for what they are worth. To learn more about this effort please visit: https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/salary/work-smart/pittsburgh/ This workshop is free and open to anyone.

• The Department of Arts and Humanities, in cooperation with Ashcast Theatre, will present The Importance of Being Earnest, a trivial comedy for serious people in zoom calls on Friday, March 26 and Sunday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. The production is being live-streamed to Youtube and is available without charge. Oscar Wilde's classic comedy is reimagined as a serious of Zoom calls between characters portrayed by current RMU students and alumni. Starring Kyle Wittenrich, Kim Guzman, Brandon Keller, Maddie Leschak, Johnna Lefebvre, Ciara Adams, Ryan Collins, with Michael Goffus as Lady Bracknell!

  This production is sponsored by a grant from the RMU Faculty Enrichment Fund. Streaming information is available from director Barbara Burgess-Lefebvre at lefebvre@rmu.edu.

• You are invited to the Fifth Annual Research & Gants Expo which is being held virtually from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, March 31. This annual event encourages research and provides a venue for sharing research and grant project work at RMU. 21 research and project work will be showcased by our Faculty, Staff, and Students at this event. Students are highly encouraged to attend and will receive SET credits (Professional Development Portfolio). The virtual event will be delivered in 30 minute sessions. To view the schedule and pre-register (highly encouraged) please Click Here. 

• The Center for Innovation and Outreach invites you to attend our third Virtual Innovation Speaker Series event, featuring Rayid Ghani. Please feel free to invite your classes to this event (SET credit is available for students): "Doing Good with Data Science: Fairly and Equitably," Rayid Ghani, Distinguished Career Professor in the Machine Learning Department and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, at noon on Friday, April 9.

  During this installment of our Speaker Series, Rayid Ghani will explore doing good with data science. Can Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Science help prevent children from getting lead poisoning? Can it help reduce police violence and misconduct? Can it increase vaccination rates? Can it help cities better prioritize limited resources to improve the lives of citizens and achieve equity? We’re all aware of the potential of ML and AI but turning this potential into tangible social impact, and more importantly equitable social impact, requires cross-disciplinary teams and methods.  He will discuss lessons learned from working on 50+ projects over the past few years with nonprofits and governments on high-impact public policy and social challenges in criminal justice, public health, education, economic development, public safety, workforce training, and urban infrastructure. He will highlight opportunities as well as challenges that need to be tackled in order to have social and policy impact in a fair and equitable manner. Please register in advance for this event using this link.

  Weekend Sports

• Friday, March 26
  • Softball vs. Oakland (doubleheader), 2:30 p.m. - Watch and listen on the RMU Gameday App
     
• Saturday, March 27
  • Softball vs. Oakland (doubleheader), noon - Watch and listen on the RMU Gameday App