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Animation & Visual Effects: Master's Thesis Projects

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Animation Students At School of Visual Arts Reveal Their Upcoming Thesis Projects

By Cartoon Brew Connect | 03/30/2020 4:13 pm | Be the First to Comment!

The School of Visual Arts in New York City is offering a peek at some of its outstanding in-progress thesis projects from the school’s various animation-driven departments.

SVA’s innovative and practical graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education programs teach both traditional craft and the latest technology skills necessary for students to meet the needs of the industry. Read on to learn more about these amazing projects from the following departments:

BFA Animation

Learn traditional and digital 2d techniques in this drawing-intensive BFA program with an emphasis on storytelling.

BFA Animation thesis students Sunnie Moon and Vincy Guan decided on a collaborative film over curry dinner a year ago, to allow each other to focus on their strengths and make a visually appealing film. From then, they have been finalizing the story over a curry dinners as well!

In the Forest, We Grew is a story about two red pandas who set off to build their dream house together in a bamboo forest, only to find their differences are putting their relationship under strain.

The look of the film is inspired by vintage matchbox designs. “We found the shapes, texture, and limited color palettes in these designs to be very appealing and looked to expand on these potentials through our film.”

BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation, and Visual Effects

Master the creative, technical, and narrative skills necessary to work in the 3d animation and visual effects industry.

BFA Computer Art students Chrisy Baek, Daniela Dwek, and Maya Mendonca are teaming up on their thesis project, Hamsa.

In their own words, “ Hamsa treats the Israeli-Palestinain conflict through the lens of a Jewish Israeli girl. This is a message of love which aims to teach that humanity conquers all prejudices; at the end of the day, we are all the same.”

The team wanted to ensure that they remained true to their message and that their creative vision would not be compromised. This took time, research, and many iterations to ensure that the significance of the story was authentic and without bias. The creators chose the medium of 3d animation in order to reach a broader audience by using lighter visuals to address a serious topic.

Follow Hamsa’ s progress on their Instagram page.

MFA Computer Arts

A nationally ranked graduate program emphasizing creative experimentation and a multidisciplinary approach to making art and telling stories with computers.

Under the Dark Clouds is a thesis project by MFA Computer Arts student Kangmin Lim that combines many different mediums to tell a moving story about self-acceptance in a magical dream world.

Kangmin Lim is a mixed media artist who explores the idea of the visualization of a psychological home through dreaming. As an animator with a fine arts background, she tends to mix traditional and digital mediums to create imaginary words that reflect her consciousness and mental health issues.

In Lim’s own words, Under the Dark Clouds is “a 2d mixed-media fantasy animation about my own visit to an unconscious dream world. This film deals with the idea of self-acceptance, and how dreams reflect our unconsciousness. It uses digitally hand-drawn character animation, combined with watercolor stop motion and crayon drawings on a background. This idea is based on my own experience, but I want a lot of people to relate to this film and hopefully feel better after watching it.”

Check out Kangmin Lim’s work on her Instagram page.

Learn more about studying at SVA’s MFA Computer Arts , BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation, and Visual Effects , and BFA Animation at SVA.

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ANIMATION PROJECT DOMAIN: APPEAL IN MOTION CAPTURE ANIMATION (2015)

This thesis comprehends the appeal in motion capture animation. The problem in this study is that many books deal only with the definition of the appeal from the perspective of conventional animation, therefore, a phenomenological study was conducted. There are eight participants who are involved in this study to obtain the data. The study objectives are to study the problem of 'uncanny valley' in the movement of motion capture animation, examine the success of using the markerless technique in animation production and investigate the benefit of using motion capture in animation. The finding from this study are that motion capture do not have its appeal included in the animation because of the phenomenon of 'uncanny valley' that contributes to the animated character to be moving in the inappropriate way with regard to its visual design. Besides, the use of markerless technique, in general, does make the character moves accordingly to the human actor but remains inaccurate. Additionally, staging is one of the animation principles that has become the theme of the benefit in using motion capture. It helps in providing flexibility to form a desired look of cinematography. Nevertheless, the researcher hopes that more digital animating techniques can be produced like the animating technique using the simulation of marionette upon the animation character in order to have more perspective in studying the appeal in animation. The final year project can be viewed via this link: https://youtu.be/31bP2uR7ilw

Related Papers

Seyed M. Tabatabaei

This paper overviews existing plausibility measures of 3D narrative animations with a focus on analyzing the realism of 3D characters and their performances. The main intent of this survey is to critically review factors that affect an overall perceptual sense of realism. Media literature addressing formal realism is connected to the technical facets of the 3D practice. This theoretical-technical bridge creates a case study database, from which a novel graphical system called The Character Plausibility Graph is proposed. The Character Plausibility Graph acts as an expanded edition of the well-known Uncanny Valley diagram, and depicts the relative effects of different formal visual elements on the character' sense of plausibility. The proposed graph is a dissection of a 3D character into its static and kinetic components and hence provides a visual tool to reflect upon the effects individually. This research concludes that stylization better serves the overall sense of plausibility than mere photo-realism or naturalism. It also reveals that performance of the characters and their animating method play a more significant role in the constitution of their realism, than their static design and rendering style.

Rachel McRae , Richard Hetherington

A qualitative inquiry of reviews of films featuring digital humanlike characters was performed by sampling user comments from three online reviewer aggregator sites: the Internet Movie Database, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The films chosen for analysis were: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (dir. Hironobu Sakaguchi and Motonori Sakakibara, 2001), The Polar Express (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 2004), and Beowulf (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 2007), all produced using CGI animation, together with A Scanner Darkly (dir. Richard Linklater, 2006) whose visuals are depicted by rotoscoping using Bob Sabiston’s Rotoshop software. The authors’ analysis identified individual differences in the viewing experience, particularly in relation to the uncertain ontology of the humanlike characters created using CGI (CGI-Humans). They found examples of reviews indicating an inability to distinguish between real and CGI-Human actors, observations of characters transiently exhibiting realism before returning to their artifice, and of characters being viewed as eerie (analogous to the uncanny valley), thus illustrating a complex and dynamic response to this phenomenon. In some situations, character uncanniness was related to the presence of an atypical feature such as movement of the eyes. Whilst specifically for Beowulf, perceptions became more problematic when there was familiarity with the actor playing the CGI-Human character, with some reviewers describing difficulties in categorizing the character as either real or animated. CGI-Human performances were also characterized by a lack of, or inappropriate, social interaction. Online reviewers did not perceive characters depicted using Rotoshop (Rotoshop-Humans) as eerie; rotoscoping was found to preserve, and possibly enhance, the natural social interactions between actors recorded from the live-action film which was used as the source material for the animation. The authors’ inquiry also identified user motivations for viewing these films and the importance placed by reviewers on the form of display when viewing the CGI films. They situate their interpretation of these findings in relation to Walton’s make-believe theory (Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, 1990).

Clare Louis

A Research Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Digital Animation at the University of the Witwatersrand (School of Digital Arts) Johannesburg, South Africa

Tuwhera Open Access (Auckland University of Technology)

Jason Kennedy

This research deepens our understanding, as animators, actors, audiences, and academics, of how we see the practice of acting in performance capture (PeCap). While exploring the intersections between acting and animation, a central question emerges: what does acting become when the product of acting starts as data and finishes as computer-generated images that preserve the source-actor’s “original” performance to varying degrees? This primary question is interrogated through a practice-led inquiry in the form of 3D animation experiments that seek to clarify the following sub-questions: • What is the nature of acting within the contexts of animation and performance capture? • What is the potential for a knowledge of acting to have on the practice of animating, and for a knowledge of animation to have on the practice of acting? • What is the role of the animator in interpreting an actor’s performance data and how does this affect our understanding of the authorship of a given performance? This thesis is interdisciplinary and sits at the intersection between theories of acting, animation, film, and psychology. Additionally, this thesis engages with phenomenology and auto-ethnography to explore acting in performance capture from the perspective of a single individual as the actor, PeCap artist, and animator. This type of first-person experience-based insight is often missing from purely theoretical discussions about acting in performance capture and animation, and helps to provide a clearer understanding of the contributions of each creative role to the final PeCap result. This research provides a strong basis for the necessity of a paradigm revision for how acting is produced within a PeCap context.

antonio pizzo

Characters in movies and video games are created (in whole or in part) with the help of motion capture. The essay describes the characteristics of this technology and aims to verify whether and how motion capture has influenced the actor's work. Using heterogeneous sources (websites, online magazines, newspapers and essays) the essay lists the most influential opinions and the most relevant issues within the debate about acting and digital technologies in pre- and post-production. Starting from few considerations on how the digital manipulation has heavily intervened on the final outcome of the actor's work, and taking into account the proliferation of entertainment in which the characters are a mix of live action and digital animation, the essay concludes with certain practical and theoretical considerations on how we might re-consider the actor’s tasks in these new production contexts. The paper is accompanied by an overview of the technologies used, and by a series of selected videos from the web. The essay features also an interview with John Dower, a director who has worked for the motion capture and video games and is co-founder of The Vault Mocap in UK

Sophie Mobbs

This research explores different animation approaches to rendering observed emotional behaviour, through the creation of an animated artefact. It opens with an introduction to the research and the methodology chosen before progressing to a review of academic and practitioner-based literature associated with observed emotional behaviour. Building upon this foundation of literature, the thesis outlines how the artifact was created with a practice based approach drawn from Haseman’s cycle of creation, feedback, reflection and then creation. The main research question is augmented by a series of contributory questions that explore the research through iterations of animation drawn from a base of live action footage of observed emotional behaviour. These exploratory iterations progress though motion capture, rotoscopy and finally freeform animation. The completed artifact and its findings are explored first though a perception study and then a production study. This thesis is based on th...

Animation-an Interdisciplinary Journal

Jessica Aldred

Robin J S Sloan

MIDI '15 Proceedings of the Mulitimedia, Interaction, Design and Innnovation

Richard Hetherington

In a pilot study, participants were asked to watch sets of short movie excerpts featuring performances of a human actor, and 5 animated characters of varying human likeness and eeriness. After viewing, scales were used to estimate the believability of certain visual, motion and aural character traits and to gain an overall impression of how believable a character was perceived as being. Qualitative data relating to viewers assessments of character believability were also collected and analysed. The believability of facial and bodily appearance and movement was less in all the animated characters compared with the human actor, and perceptions of these characteristics for the more humanlike animated characters showed greater variability than those for a non-humanlike, eerie character and the human actor. However, overall perceptions indicated that all characters tested were regarded as believable rather than unbelievable, and that they were able to achieve some form of emotional engagement with most of the participants. Analysis of qualitative data indicated that other factors were important in influencing the judgement of character believability, particularly context, which could operate inside or outside the movie. These findings are discussed in relation to the criteria viewers use to determine the believability of animated characters, and future work is proposed to examine the importance of character believability in relation to the animated movie as a whole.

William Brown

Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf (2007) is the latest film made using motion capture technology, a film that tells the story of a hero’s quest to defeat a series of monsters. This article examines not only the thematic role of monstrosity in the film, but also the way in which the film’s very construction, through motion capture and CGI, can be understood as monstrous. That is, after Deleuze’s Cinema 2: The Time Image(1989[1985]), Beowulf can be understood as typifying a cinema that has seen a shift from montage to montrage, a cinema that shows. Analysing the aesthetics of monstrosity in Beowulf, the author also considers how the film’s motion capture synthespian performances can be understood as comic through Henri Bergson’s (1912 [1900]) theory of laughter, which suggests that humans laugh at mechanized human beings.

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The Master of Fine Arts degree in Expanded Animation Research and Practice (XA) is designed to provide an advanced level, self-directed education and research experience in the field of animation and digital media across industry, academia and the arts. The program welcomes individualist artists who are passionate about the art form, strive for excellence, are interested in social impact and share a commitment to significantly push boundaries in the field of animation.

The XA program’s goal is to nurture 21st-century animation professionals, leaders, directors and visionaries while exploring and innovating new forms of impactful animation research and academic excellence. The curriculum privileges flexibility, interactivity, creativity and research. Graduates design their own highly individual career pathways while maintaining an ability to draw from a wide variety of courses  in the School of Cinematic Arts and collaborate with other schools at USC through the arts, humanities, STEM and social sciences. 

The XA program foregrounds animation as a global journey of expression. Our research concentrations include Experimental Animation, Narrativity, Documentary Animation, Performance Gesture, Animation for Robotics, Virtual Humans and AI, Advanced Character Performance, Cinematic Installations, Fine Art Animation Practice, Gesture Movement, Sound Design, Dreams and Consciousness and Science Visualization.  

The Expanded Animation program is a future-facing MFA that focuses on diversity, critical thinking, community and aesthetically emboldened risk taking. The program faculty and  alumnx  advisory board draw from the LGBTQ+, Latinx, Black, Asian and API, international and feminist communities. Committed to mentoring each student’s unique and individual vision, the XA program emphasizes advanced animation practice bridging multiple disciplines and schools at USC and in Los Angeles (itself an international arts locus), as well as internationally through internships, residencies, academic research, teaching and exhibition opportunities.  

The Expanded Animation program is a three-year, six-semester degree and requires a minimum of 50 units: 30 units are prescribed sequential courses in Expanded Animation with an additional 20 units of electives from the School of Cinematic Arts, 6 of which must be from a prescribed list. A thesis project is required for the MFA degree.

Prior knowledge of fundamental animation concepts and techniques is recommended. Admission is granted once a year in the fall; there are no spring admissions. Approximately fifteen students will be enrolled in each incoming class.

For more information on the application deadline, see  cinema.usc.edu/admissions .

The Graduate School Two-Thirds Rule

The school requires 50 units minimum to graduate from the MFA in Expanded Animation program, and two-thirds must at the 500-level, not including 4 units of CTXA 594a    and CTXA 594b    Master’s Thesis.

Requirements for the MFA in Expanded Animation

Year one, first semester.

• CTXA 501 Animated Art and the Principles of Motion Units: 2
• CTXA 522 Advanced Animation Research Seminar Units: 1
• CTXA 540 Survey of World Animation Units: 2
• CTXA 544 Art of Animation Units: 3
• CTXA 579 Expanded Animation Units: 2

Year One, Second Semester

• CNTV 530 Cinematic Ethics Units: 1
• CTXA 535 Writing and Story Art for Vision and Motion Units: 2
• CTXA 547 Expanded Animation Production I Units: 3
• CTXA 561 Theory and Practice in Contemporary Animation Units: 2

Year Two, First Semester

• CTXA 545 Cinematic Animation - the Art of Motion in Virtual Space Units: 2
• CTXA 560 Animation Sound Design Practice Units: 2

Year Two, Second Semester

• CTXA 537 Applied Expanded Animation Units: 2
• CTXA 591 Expanded Animation Pre-Thesis Seminar Units: 2

Year Three, First Semester

• CTXA 594a Master’s Thesis Units: 2

Year Three, Second Semester

• CTXA 594b Master’s Thesis Units: 2

Six units from the following:

• CTAN 452 Introduction to 3-D Computer Animation Units: 2
• CTAN 564L Motion Capture Fundamentals Units: 2
• CTAN 565L Motion Capture Performance Units: 2
• CTCS 500 Seminar in Film Theory Units: 4
• CTCS 505 Survey of Interactive Media Units: 2
• CTCS 510 National/Regional Media Units: 4
• CTCS 511 Seminar: Non-Fiction Film/Video Units: 4
• CTCS 518 Seminar: Avant-Garde Film/Video Units: 4
• CTCS 564 Seminar in Film and Television Genres Units: 4
• CTCS 677 Cultural Theory Units: 4
• CTCS 688 Advanced Methods and Approaches Units: 4
• CTXA 410 Audio Design for Animation and Immersive Media Units: 2
• CTXA 423L Visualizing Science Production Units: 2
• CTXA 470 Documentary Animation Production Units: 2
• CTXA 524 Contemporary Topics: Animation Dreams and Consciousness Units: 2
• CTXA 525 Gesture Movement for Animation Units: 2
• CTXA 550 Stop Motion Puppet and Set Design Units: 2
• CTXA 551 Stop Motion Performance Units: 2 *
• CTXA 575 Cinematic and Media-Based Installations Units: 2
• CTXA 584 Cinematic Animation - Previs Laboratory in Virtual Space Units: 2 *
• CTXA 588 Animation for Virtual Characters, Robotics and AI Units: 2 *
• CTXA 590 Directed Research Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
• CTXA 592 Master Class in Expanded Animation Units: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• CTXA 599 Special Topics Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
• IML 420m New Media for Social Change Units: 4
• IML 456 Nature, Design and Media Units: 2
• IML 555 Digital Pedagogies Units: 4

* Prerequisite required.

Total Required Units: 36

*A minimum total of 14 elective units must be taken.

Cinematic Arts Electives

To complete the 50 units required for the MFA in Expanded Animation, students are required to take a minimum of 14 School of Cinematic Arts elective units. 

Thesis Project

In order to begin work on the thesis project, students must first successfully propose their project to a committee of MFA Expanded Animation faculty. Their proposal is prepared during the spring semester of their second year as part of their pre-thesis class CTXA 591   . A thesis project can be a collaboration with other graduates, departments or schools.

In order to pass the pre-thesis class, the thesis proposal must be presented and approved by the thesis committee at the end of the fourth semester. If the student elects to change their thesis proposal, they will need to arrange for an additional meeting with the committee to seek the committee’s approval. Throughout the pre-thesis and thesis years of study, students will meet regularly with an MFA Expanded Animation faculty adviser to develop and refine the proposal and discuss the progress of their work. The adviser will be a member of the thesis committee.

The proposal itself will include a written treatment of the project with a discussion of similar work in the field and its relationship to the proposed project. It will describe esthetic issues to be explored and specific techniques to be employed in its realization. It will also include storyboard or visualization documentation, budget, and schedule, in addition to supporting materials created by the student demonstrating his/her/their ability to pursue the project. The faculty committee will make comments and decide whether the student may go forward with his/her/their project. Upon acceptance, the student will begin work on the project, otherwise revising the proposal and meeting again with the committee.

A mid-residency review of the thesis project will take place in the first semester of the final year of study. The student must show that deadlines set in the proposal have been met and that progress consistent with the proposal has been made. The committee may, if necessary, suggest modifications to the project, which the student is then obligated to implement.

In the final year, students concentrate on their thesis projects, completing research, production and post-production. The student’s thesis will be presented to the committee upon completion

Completion is defined as a fully rendered, animated work with a completed soundtrack (guide mix acceptable). In the case of installation or gallery work the piece must be mounted in a suitable space with all sound and animated components completed and functional.

In the case of an interactive, VR, AR or AI driven work the piece must be fully functional with completed animation, sound, programming, and interactivity.

In addition to completion of the thesis project the student must provide the thesis committee with written and visual documentation of the research. This will be documented as a website or PDF. The documentation will comprise the following and could include a publishable research paper:

Artist’s statement and/or research paper Learning objectives - focus of research Type of project – animation, installation, AR, VR, AI, interactive etc.

Research presentation in what format/medium the project will be seen Script and storyboard or conceptual drawings if applicable Style approach, including source references for image shot structure etc. Sound design and references

Collaborators - if any Audience - who is it intended for and who will benefit from the research Budget 

Marketing and distribution plan 

Criteria for successful completion include: 40 percent originality, 40 percent quality of execution and 20 percent research documentation.

Grade Point Average Requirements

A grade point average of at least 3.0 (A= 4.0) must be maintained in all USC course work toward the master’s degree. Courses in which a grade of C- (1.7) or lower is earned will not apply toward a graduate degree. Courses below a C must be repeated. 

Students must maintain satisfactory progress toward their master’s degrees at all times. The time limit to complete all requirements is three years from the first course at USC applied toward the Master of Fine Arts degree. Course work more than seven years old is invalidated and will not be applied toward the degree.

Class of 2024

Congratulations Class of 2024!

Congratulations to the College of Art and Design's newest graduates! As the Class of 2024 gets set to make its creative mark on the world, we celebrate its ingenuity and countless accomplishments.

Animation by Priscilla Nascimento '24 (3D digital design)

Total degrees to be conferred in 2024 across the College of Art and Design

List of graduates

Number of undergraduate candidates

Number of graduate candidates

Congratulations to the Class of 2024! I am so proud of your growth and resilience during your time here at RIT! When you first started your college journey, you had to navigate your way through a time of great uncertainty as the world battled a pandemic.

You faced the unexpected head-on and created personal and professional connections, celebrated successes and milestones, and hopefully made memories that will last a lifetime. I am always amazed to learn about how our alumni are out in the world making an impact! And you are officially joining the ranks of our incredible College of Art and Design alumni. I look forward to what is next for all of you. Go Tigers!

Todd Jokl Dean College of Art and Design

Photos of the Convocation and Commencement ceremonies (hover over image for credit)

Sophia Scaravillo (undergraduate)

Sophia is graduating with a BFA in photographic imaging arts with a concentration in advertising photography . A photographer and production designer, their passion for photography became a way of exploration of how they process themself and the world around them. Sophia was given the honor of co-producing the Vignelli Center for Design Studies' Beyond Fashion show at RIT, gaining valuable industry experience. They have been brought on as a production designer on multiple films, notably the award-winning short film, Pyggie , that has entered the international film circuit.

Diane Catsburrow Linnet (graduate)

Diane will be graduating with an MFA in film and animation with a concentration in 2D animation. She earned her BA in studio art at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. A storyteller, filmmaker, and animator, she strives to tell stories about people. She has worked as an animation intern at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, and as a contract animator for Cartuna in Brooklyn. At RIT, Diane wears many hats: she is the producer of AniMAGIC, where she manages student productions of client projects, a graduate teaching assistant to classes and workshops, and was a concept artist for the multi-year game development project, That Damn Goat . Her most recent film production Tadpole — an immersive animated short — took her to film festivals in the UK and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. In her non-spare time, she enjoys journaling these vibrant adventures in her biweekly Instagram cartoons.

Keynote Speaker

Alumna and prominent designer Patricia Moore '74 was RIT’s 2024 Academic Convocation and College of Art and Design Commencement keynote speaker! She also received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Bright Futures

Kyra Allen (advertising photography) and Char Miller (graphic design)

Blending photography and design

Dylan Bennish (electrical engineering)

Making a screen-printing breakthrough

Jackie Drozd (graphic design and illustration) and Bari Hayden (graphic design)

Serendipity and creativity: Destined for RIT

Quinn Freidenburg (photojournalism)

Rocking and rolling: RIT's renaissance man

Honey Gardharia, Phoebe Huey and Ipek Koprululu (visual communication design)

Receiving international recognition

Amanda Giglia (visual arts-all grades)

Making her mark

Emma Herz Thakur (ceramics and illustration)

Creating connections between art and history

Nathan Irving (motion picture science)

Forging a path in creative technology

Saige Kanik (animation)

Preserving the legacy of RIT stop-motion animation

Kat Kauffman (fine arts studio)

Contemplating 'music as medicine'

Athena Lemon (School of Individualized Study)

Celebrating Black history through old family photos

Diane Catsburrow Linnet (film and animation)

Taking film festivals by storm

Paige Manley (3D digital design)

Using art to aid a NASA mission

Spider Martins (glass)

Challenging stereotypes through art

Emma McCarthy (illustration)

Bringing whimsy and beauty to Booth Hall

Timelapse of the mural creation

Share your decorated caps and commencement moments on social using #RITartdesigngrad and #RITgrad

Tiger Wisdom

Alumni share their words of encouragement for RIT's newest graduates

Picture Perfect

Capture the excitement of graduation by taking photos at hand-picked campus locations

Spring Exhibitions

Each spring,  RIT's galleries  and other locations showcase thesis and capstone work by graduating students across the College of Art and Design's wide portfolio of undergraduate and graduate programs. Below is a collection of highlights from some of the exhibitions and screenings! *Hover over an image for photo credit.*  

Faculty, students and staff across RIT are annually recognized for their outstanding efforts in and out of the classroom with awards from the  Office of the Provost . Additionally, the College of Art and Design gives out  end-of-year awards . This year's honorees were:

Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching

Hye-Jin Nae Associate Professor, School of Design

An individualized approach to teaching earned Nae RIT's highest honor for tenured faculty.

Distinguished Professor

Michaël Amy School of Art

The Distinguished Professor designation is the highest academic title at RIT and is given to faculty who have exhibited a record of sustained excellence over the course of their careers. 

Outstanding Graduate Student Award

Paige Smith Industrial Design MFA

Awarded annually to an MFA, MS or MST candidate in the College of Art and Design.

Staff Recognition Award

Sharon Kompalla-Porter Assistant Dean for Student Services

The award recognizes a College of Art and Design staff member for their outstanding contributions within the college and RIT campus community.

Edline M. Chun Award

Amelia Hugill-Fontanel Associate Curator, Cary Graphic Arts Collection

The Edline M. Chun Award for Outstanding Teaching and Service recognizes an adjunct faculty member who has shown excellence in teaching and provided exemplary service to their affiliated school and the college.

Romano Prize

Atia Newman Associate Professor, School of Film and Animation

The Frank J. Romano Prize for Publishing Entrepreneurship is given to a College of Art and Design faculty member/team who works with students to create innovative publications using new technologies and/or workflows.

Pfizenmaier Award

Piper Charron Animation student Christine Banna (mentor) Senior Lecturer, School of Film and Animation

The Irene Pfizenmaier Award for Excellence in Graphic Expression is given each year to a student recipient, who selects a faculty mentor to share the honor with.

Photo by Clara Riedlinger

Gitner Family Prize

Amy Adrion Assistant Professor, School of Film and Animation

The award is given to a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in an area related to graphic communication who has been judged to have made an outstanding contribution to their profession.

Thumbtack Award

Clay Patrick McBride Senior Lecturer, School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

The new award recognizes efforts, big or small and against all odds, by College of Art and Design faculty and staff.

Tiree Walker Manager, Fab Lab

Retirements

Professor, School of Film and Animation

Mary Lavender

Senior Staff Assistant, School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

Stephen Scherer

Lecturer, School of Design