News

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jian Shi, Ph.D., associate professor of materials science and engineering, as well as physics, applied physics, and astronomy, has won the prestigious 2023 IEEE Ferroelectrics Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes “the important contributions of young scientists/engineers in reference to their contributions to fundamental research, integration, application, or education.” Recognizing only one or two exceptional scientists in the relevant field each year, this highly competitive award serves as a prestigious accolade for independent scholars under or at the age of 40.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Steven Cramer, William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering, and Todd Przybycien, professor of chemical and biological engineering, will contribute to a three-year research program led by faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that aims to design the world’s first fully integrated, continuous mRNA manufacturing platform. Both Cramer and Przybycien are members of Rensselaer’s Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. The platform is part of an $82 million effort funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

It is only natural that, when students consider career options, they ask friends, family, and colleagues in their prospective fields for advice. They may hear about job opportunities, wage expectations, career paths, hiring processes, and more. In the end, that information may inspire and excite, or it may turn students off from the field entirely.

A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has illuminated a new possibility for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in research published in Communications Biology.

The Undergraduate Program and the Teaching and Learning Collaboratory have awarded seed grants to four teams testing new pedagogical approaches or technologies that will impact student learning. The purpose of a seed grant is to develop a project to the point that it is competitive for external funding. 

Rensselaer’s Lighting Research Center congratulates recent doctoral graduate Akila Udage, Ph.D., who has been awarded the 2023 IESNYC Thesis Award from the New York City chapter of the Illuminating Engineering Society. Dr. Udage’s doctoral thesis, titled “Design Analysis of 3D Printed Internal Cavity Lens for Lighting Applications,” demonstrated innovative research into the design and manufacturing of internal-cavity flat optics for LED lighting systems using 3D printing technology.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) researchers Amir Hirsa, professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, and Patrick Underhill, professor of chemical and biological engineering, have received a new three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for $452,847 to study the physics of protein solutions using the ring-sheared drop module aboard the International Space Station.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Catherine Royer, Constellation Chair Professor of Bioinformatics and Biocomputation at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and professor of biological sciences, has received a grant of over $400,000 from the National Science Foundation to investigate enzymes from organisms living in deep sea environments.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Alexander Hiland, senior lecturer in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, recently judged a unique debate competition. Students from the Bard Prison Initiative competed against the team from Harvard University in a rematch of a debate that took place eight years ago and garnered international media attention and inspired a PBS documentary. The Bard Prison Initiative provides college opportunities for incarcerated students, and its debate team actually won against the top-ranked Harvard team in that match in 2015.

Will Pepi, a Ph.D. candidate in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE) in Industry City, Brooklyn, presented his paper, “Modeling Indoor Botanical Fresh Air Generation” in the Biowalls and Biofiltration poster session at the ASHRAE conference in Tampa on June 28. Pepi then traveled to Miami, where he spoke about his research on designing with plants to CASE’s industry partner, the global architecture firm OBMI, at their Miami office.