Meet the Professors

Meet the Professors

Michael Peres

Michael has been teaching at RIT since 1986. He loves teaching and working with bright and passionate young people. He is very experimental in his teaching and enjoys trying new things in the classroom using discovery learning activities. His primary area of expertise is biomedical photographic communications and light microscopy, but he also teaches courses in digital media foundations. He enjoys publishing and shares his work using traditional and social media channels. In the last 12 months, he published three new books including Images from Science 3, Snowflake Science Activity

Book, and Natural Science Imaging and Photography. When not working, Michael is fascinated with perennial gardening and photographing snowflakes in the winter. He really loves spending time with his family and dogs.

Students Share:

Michael is a wonderful professor and program director. He cares so deeply about his students and wants nothing more than to see them succeed. Michael is always more than willing to help his students in any way possible and will check in on them as if they were his own kids! He is easy to converse with, and excited about all of his students’ futures. He is a talented photographer and professor, and his love of capturing snowflakes will put a smile on your face!

Christine Heusner

Christine Heusner is a senior lecturer in the Department of Graphic Media Science and Technology. She teaches courses in photography, digital content management, imaging workflows, retouching, typography, and page design. She is an exhibiting artist, and her digital and photographic work has been shown internationally in public exhibitions. Prior to RIT, she worked in photographic studios specializing in commercial and portrait photography, design, and fine-art printing. Christine received her BA in Art with a concentration in photography from Elmira College and her MFA in Imaging Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Students Share:

Three words to describe Christine are lively, smart, and joyful. I don’t think she has ever been in a bad mood in her life! She loves to involve the class as much as possible and does a great job of ensuring that students understand the content she is teaching. She has years of experience, and offers a creative, hands-on learning approach to her classes. She goes out of her way to enrich the minds of her students. She is so personable, and always a pleasure to be around.

Jenn Poggi

Jenn Poggi is an assistant professor in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Prior to RIT, Jenn worked as a picture editor and deputy director of the White House Photo Office under President Barack Obama. Before working at the White House, she worked at the Associated Press, U.S. News & World Report and was a John S. and James L. Knight Fellow at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication. She was a member of the 2017 Women’s Executive Leadership Program at the Impact Center and currently serves on the board and faculty of The Kalish Visual Editing Workshop. In her free time, Poggi travels, runs, eats adventurously, and attends live performance of all sorts.

Students Share:

This is Jenn’s first year teaching in the program, and she has been a great addition. She has so much experience to share, which is so beneficial to MAAT students. Jenn is bright, kind, and extremely passionate about the class she teaches. She is a natural-born leader. She does a fabulous job of encouraging her students to reflect on themselves to grow as young professionals. Jenn is very approachable, a great speaker, and a great listener. She is a wonderful role model for her students.

Bob Rose

Bob Rose began working at RIT in 2015. As one of many professors who returned to RIT to pay his knowledge forward, Bob graduated with a BS degree in Professional Photography from RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. With more than 35 years of experience as a photographer, consultant, and educator, Bob has brought a wealth of industry experience and advice to share as examples in his classroom. He served as Editor-at-Large for Photo District News & Rangefinder magazines for 17 years overviewing new products and technologies. He also served as a consultant to photographic companies when making important business decisions. Bob has photographed on six continents and underwater in four oceans. He has published countless articles and has two patents to his credit. He was also the 2019 recipient of the prestigious Chuck Westfall Technical Education Award.

Students Share:

Bob is an incredible professor, with years of experience, stories, and knowledge. He will often crack subtle jokes in class and loves to understand what his students are passionate about. He will push students to apply what they learn in his class to the real world and their desired industry. The content he teaches is tough, but he is always willing to offer extra help. Bob ensures that his students are wellequipped for their futures. He truly wants to see all of us succeed.

Stephen Viggiano

Steve Viggiano has been at RIT since the early 1970s as a student, a professional staff member in the RIT Research Corporation, and now an assistant professor where he teaches programming, optics, and color reproduction courses. He became interested in printing and graphic arts when he was 10 years old. Process Photography–where huge sheets of film were exposed in giant camera negatives for printing plates–was a source of fascination. Most of his current research is in color and earned a Ph.D. in Color Science. His current research is studying extended-gamut RGB color spaces, models for color hardcopy with possible improvements in color encoding. Dr. V. is radio-active and holds the highest class of combined operator license/station license issued by the Federal Communications Commission. He communicates with radio amateurs all over the world and has earned several awards. His latest curiosity is a small steel guitar.

Students Share:

Dr. Viggiano is extremely smart. He will win you over with his goofy humor, and love of creating memes! He probably knows more about printing than anyone on this planet and he has fantastic stories about his experiences. He taught the first semester of our Capstone I course. He does a great job of keeping students on track and teaches the fundamentals of self-guided projects. I think everyone would agree that Dr. Viggiano doesn’t have a mean bone in his body!