To help people stay as happy, healthy, and productive as possible during the current pandemic, the Strategic Communications and External Relations team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has released “The Rensselaer Guide to Living and Working Well While Social Distancing.”

Many members of the Rensselaer community are actively engaged in developing effective interventions to combat COVID-19, and others are doing their part to fight the pandemic by staying safe and working at home. While this temporary working and living arrangement presents new and unexpected challenges, effective strategies for addressing them can be found within the expertise housed at Rensselaer.

The “Guide to Living and Working Well While Social Distancing” is a free, downloadable collection of useful tips from a range of Rensselaer experts on relevant topics including how to use lighting to manage anxiety and improve sleep, how to maintain focus while working from home, and how to eat well without making frequent trips to the grocery store.

“These are practical, research-based tools that can significantly enhance the experience of being stuck at home during this time,” said Richie Hunter, the vice president for strategic communications and external relations at Rensselaer. “It helps that the guide itself is easy to read, looks great, and is imbued with a sense of creativity and fun.”

For those looking to take a much-needed break, the guide offers a lengthy list of recommended board games and video games, including those made by Rensselaer alumni and faculty, courtesy of faculty from the highly ranked Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program at Rensselaer. It also includes suggestions for how to host a virtual café from the faculty who helped establish the interdisciplinary minor in well-being at Rensselaer.

The guide is just one example of how Rensselaer faculty, students, and staff have responded to COVID-19 in ways that benefit the larger community. Through a national consortium, the Institute has offered access to AiMOS, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, in support of research related to the new coronavirus disease.

Rensselaer has also made available the expertise of world-class faculty in data, artificial intelligence, networking, therapeutic interventions, materials, public health, and other critical areas. The Institute has a particular focus on epidemiological data analytics, interventional therapeutics, and personal protection equipment.