Instruments designed by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology students to help children with disabilities won a top award Thursday at the 2016 Greater Rochester Excellence and Achievements in Technology Awards.
Erika Madison, Mariana Pinheiro and Doug Huang won the Student Achievement Award for Smart Toy, described by RIT as interactive instruments that “stimulate the senses of children with low-motor coordination skills through the use of textures, sounds, vibrations and light patterns.”
An RIT alumna also was honored at the awards ceremony, which was presented by Digital Rochester Inc.
Jill Eisenstein, executive director of Rochester RHIO, won the Technology Leader Award, which is presented to a technology business leader responsible for an IT department.
According to RIT, finalists with connections to the college were nominated in several categories, including four in the Student Achievement Award category, one for the Rising Star award and one for the Technology Innovation Award.
“We’re so proud that the work of RIT students and graduates is being recognized by the Rochester community,” Richard DeMartino, director of RIT’s Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor in Saunders College of Business, said in a statement.