Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has announced the addition of Thomas G. Capek ’86, senior vice president and chief engineer at Corning Incorporated, to Rensselaer’s Board of Trustees. Corning is one of the world's leading innovators in materials science and has a longstanding relationship with RPI supporting research, philanthropy, and student recruitment. Capek previously served on the Dean’s Leadership Council in RPI’s School of Engineering. As a Board of Trustees member, Capek sits on the Academic Affairs and Research Committee and the Student Life Committee.

We all remember 2020. At the grocery store, toilet paper shelves were empty. Cleaning supplies and disinfectants were treasured finds. Rattled consumers, concerned that they would run out of essential items, swiftly stockpiled products until they disappeared from shelves. In the media, it was referred to as “panic buying.”

Food access is one of the largest social problems in the United States. The challenge of accessing healthy foods is especially pronounced in communities of disadvantaged populations. Research led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) proposes to develop a local food cooperation (LFC) program that integrates a state-level food hub network to enable the coordination of multiple regional food hubs, and regional farm to institution programs that address regional food insecurity and inequity.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Teaching and Learning Collaboratory has awarded seed grants to teams developing innovative initiatives in Gameful Learning and Immersive and Embodied Learning.

As the demand for home deliveries from online purchases continues to increase, Cara Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Woojung Kim, a doctoral student in the same department at Rensselaer, recently published research showing that some, but not all consumers, will accept going to alternate delivery locations to get their packages rather than having them delivered directly to their front door.

In the first comprehensive study investigating the initial adoption and continuance intention of delivery services during a pandemic, Cara Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, found that over 90% of people who use online delivery services would likely revert back to their original way of shopping.

The Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment (CITE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will engage in research to advance understanding of the freight transportation industry in conjunction with the Super Truck 3 program at the U.S. Department of Energy.

José Holguín-Veras, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has received a 2021 Humanitarian Logistics Award in the category of Research and Academic Contribution from the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN).

Faculty from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute served as experts in an exchange of information about developments in the field of sustainable energy, large-scale environmental change, and innovative and interdisciplinary research into energy storage and smart systems in the built environment on a recent visit by two members of the U.S. Congress.

President Joe Biden is proposing a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure bill that would fund improvements to transportation, manufacturing, and digital infrastructure, among other projects. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the country’s first technological research university, are leaders in improving the sustainability, safety, and performance of transportation systems, energy systems, and wireless networks, among other areas.