A group of middle school students from the Greater Amsterdam School District got a taste of college life as part of a program offered by the Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education this summer. The students spent a week on campus learning how to build and program robots and working together to put their robots […]
Great communication about science neatly and elegantly explains immensely complex concepts (think: Neil DeGrasse Tyson at his best) in language that non-scientists can understand and relate to. Great communication about science is also really difficult to do. Science is messy, complex concepts are interconnected, and knowledge is constantly growing and changing. The nature of a […]
Rensselaer researcher Carlos Varela has developed a computer system that detects and corrects faulty airspeed readings, such as those that contributed to the 2009 crash of Air France flight 447. Their approach to detecting errors could make autopilot systems safer and could also be applicable in many systems that rely on sensor readings. Varela spoke […]
On Thursday, July 24, Wiseman and fellow Astronaut Steve Swanson will be speaking live with the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee from the International Space Station. Watch the conversation live at 11 a.m. or follow it on twitter using the hashtag #LiveFromSpace. In just 140 characters NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman is bringing his 167,000 […]
(Rensselaer doctoral candidate Andrew Zonenberg explains how his research led him to create the “world’s smallest comic strip” by using focused a ion beam to carve the drawings onto a strand of his girlfriend’s hair in this great guest post.) As a doctoral candidate — working in with Professor Bülent Yener, director of the Data Science Research […]
Student game designers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and other schools including Champlain College and Rochester Institute of Technology gathered at EMPAC Saturday to showcase a vast array of video games they had designed at the 10th annual GameFest. This was my first GameFest and I was so impressed by the sheer number of games on […]
How many individual zebras are represented in this collage of 10 photos? If we were looking at human faces, most of us would have little trouble differentiating between multiple photos of the same person, and photos of different people. But when it comes to wildlife, people are easily stumped. Not so for computers. If the […]
Rick Mastracchio, a 1987 graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a NASA astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station, took questions from Rensselaer students Friday. The event was coordinated with Mastracchio’s three alma maters – Rensselaer, UConn, and University of Houston-Clear Lake. Six students from each institution were selected to ask Mastracchio questions and the […]
(Rensselaer civil engineering students shared some thoughts about their experience at the 2014 Geo-Wall competition, held this February in Atlanta by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Rensselaer team placed third!) Every year, Rensselaer Professor Tarek Abdoun encourages his students to form a team and participate in the GeoWall competition, which is held annually […]
(Rensselaer senior Lynnette Lacek and junior Colleen Lamberson, co-presidents of university’s chapter of the Global Medical Brigades, wrote this guest post about their recent work in Panama.) In January, Rensselaer’s chapter of Global Medical Brigades traveled to the Darien Province in Panama to provide medical care to the indigenous Embera and Wounaan tribes. It was […]