Alexandria, VA (March 15, 2002)- RTI CEO Michael Ricciardi participated as a panel member for the Colorado Institute of Technology proposal evaluation symposium in Washington D.C. held on March 15, 2002. This panel was comprised of several leading educators and industry professionals. The purpose was for CIT to fund Information Technology initiatives in the State of Colorado in a non-partisan manner and provide objectivity to the evaluation process. According to program coordinator, John Louviere, CIT gathered insight from academia and industry by using this format.

Panel members included institutions like Virginia Tech, John Hopkins University, Connecticut University and industry members like RTI and The Virginia Center of Innovative Technology.

The panel forum was modeled after the National Science Foundation format. After the event, Mr. Ricciardi commented on his experience, "Participating in this event was very rewarding and having an opportunity to work with such distinguished members of academia was very enriching."