Rochester Institute of Technology's internationally recognized School of Print Media will celebrate Gravure Day on Thursday, April 15, to promote the understanding of the gravure process and help students explore opportunities in gravure industries.

Among the day's highlights will be presentations from experts in the gravure printing industry. Activities go from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Frank E. Gannett Building, Neblette Conference Room, on the RIT campus. All events are free and open to the public.

The following is a rundown of the day's topics and featured speakers:

8:30-9:15 a.m.-"Predicting the Future of Printing, "John Seymour, mathematician, QuadTech Inc.

9:15-10 a.m.-"Gravure Cylinder Specifications," Chiawei Wu, engraving manager, Packaging Corp. of America

10-10:45 a.m.-"Implementing ISO 12647 International Standards," Elie Khoury, president, Alwan Color Expertise

11:15-noon-"Meeting the Challenge of Flexible Packaging," Robert Eller, new business manager, Exxon Mobil Chemical (retired)
Noon -1 p.m.-Lunch and remarks from Frank Cost, interim dean of RIT's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences

1-2 p.m.-"Gravure Education Foundation: What It Can Do for You," Bernadette Carlson, executive director of Gravure Education Foundation
"Gravure printing process serves publications, packaging and specialty product markets," says Bob Chung, Gravure Research Professor at RIT. "By bringing industry experts to the classroom, it gives RIT students an opportunity to listen and to interact with these experts directly. It also gives industry professionals a chance to learn about RIT's print media curriculum and its student body."

Robert Eller, one of the presenters on Gravure Day, adds: "For well over a decade, our relationship with RIT's School of Print Media has been an enormous asset for my new business group. Underlying this relationship is RIT's willingness to tackle real world problems and develop real world solutions for them. While a great deal of academic research begins with a series of simplifying assumptions to make problems more tractable, RIT has been willing and able to deal directly with the more difficult problems that industry faces on a daily basis. Gravure Day is yet another example of the way RIT engages industry to create mutual benefit for both parties."