Appointment of Associate Vice President for Research/Physical and Engineering Sciences

Memo to the Rensselaer Community from Francine Berman, Vice President for Research I am delighted to announce that Dr. Jon Morse, Director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, will join the Institute as Associate Vice President for Research/Physical and Engineering Sciences starting October 3, 2011.

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.

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