3° with Michael Jensen

Michael Jensen is a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer. We ask him about his work: Q: What problems are you trying to solve? A: My research revolves around heat transfer, whether in large-scale heat exchangers, such as what might be found in a chemical process plant, or at […]

Guest Blogger Tyler Hopf: We’re Not in CANsas Anymore

(Rensselaer Architecture student Tyler Hopf wrote this post about a team of Rensselaer students who are putting their skills and talents to a good cause in the Albany round of the nationwide CANstruction fundraising event.) My name is Tyler Hopf and I am the captain of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute CANstruction team.  We are the […]

Guest Blogger Laurie Leshin: Messengers from Space – Friend or Foe?

(In the wake of this morning’s headlines about a meteorite blast in Russia, the Institute’s own Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science and space science rock star, wrote this post for The Approach. Enjoy!) This morning people in Russia got a loud reminder that Earth isn’t really a blue marble floating peacefully in […]

Google Doodle Salutes Famous Alumni George Ferris

Whenever anyone remarks at the wonder of a Ferris wheel, they are indeed invoking the genius of a Rensselaer engineer. George W.G. Ferris is among the most notable alumni of our university, and there’s certainly an argument to be made that his is the most widely-recognized name of all the Institute’s graduates. Today, Google paid homage to […]

In The Lead

With a mix of electronic arts, computer science, and one of the best game design programs in the country, Rensselaer students produce a regular fount of polished, professional video games, and we hear regularly from students and graduates of the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program who’ve made good in the game design world. (To see some of those […]

Watson at Rensselaer

Campus is still abuzz from last week’s announcement that IBM will give a version of its Watson system to Rensselaer. The computer rose to fame in early 2011 after if defeated the two all-time human champions of the quiz show Jeopardy!. The Internet is also abuzz with the news, and our own Jim Hendler is […]

Guest Blogger: Samantha Scibelli

(High school senior Samantha Scibelli – named yesterday as one of 40 finalists in the prestigious pre-college Intel Science Talent Search 2013 – wrote this excellent post for The Approach, to tell us about her research  with Professor Heidi Newberg. Enjoy!) My name is Samantha Scibelli, I am currently finishing up my senior year at […]

Robonaut Checks In

News sites were abuzz today with a fun update from 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. NASA on Monday released new video footage of its friendly-faced robotic astronaut, Robonaut 2, working aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has been running tests and experiments with R2, as the robot is called, since it […]

Fast and Furious: The Hacker Olympics

Often times, when we think of the Olympics, the image that comes to mind – well at least to me – are the series of sport events held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports between organized team of athletes. At Rensselaer, it’s a different story. Student members of the Entrepreneurship Club are […]

The NASA Connection

One of the perks of having friends in high places is the “behind-the-scenes tour,” and this past weekend, the Rensselaer community got a multimedia tour from some very well-placed friends: the Rensselaer School of Science Dean Laurie Leshin, and three Rensselaer alumni, all of whom are working on NASA’s Curiosity Rover mission, currently roving the surface […]

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