News

The speed at which heat moves between two materials touching each other is a potent indicator of how strongly they are bonded to each other, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Additionally, the study shows that this flow of heat from one material to another, in this case one solid and one liquid, can be dramatically altered by “painting” a thin atomic layer between materials. Changing the interface fundamentally changes the way the materials interact.

Tarek Abdoun, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and associate director of Rensselaer’s Center for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (CEES).

A “smart” power strip that boosts energy efficiency, a simple water treatment and sanitation solution for people in developing countries, and a solar-powered brick maker are among the winning ideas in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s spring 2009 Change the World Challenge contest.

Semiconductor and integrated circuit pioneer Michael Shur, the Patricia W. and C. Sheldon Roberts ’48 Chaired Professor in Solid State Electronics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS).

Peter Schwartz ’68 Commencement Speaker Renowned Futurist Peter Schwartz ’68 to deliver Commencement Address

Nanobiotechnology expert Ravi Kane has won the 2009 Young Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Biochemical Technology.

Francine Berman Cyberinfrastructure expert Francine Berman joins the Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor James Crivello, of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, was awarded the 2009 Herman F. Mark Senior Scholar Award by the Polymer Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award is one of the highest honors that a polymer researcher can receive and recognizes outstanding research and leadership in the field.

Whitney Coleman '10 (photo by Daria Robbins/RPI) On Thursday, April 2, the Curtis R.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this month is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the founding of two outstanding departments: electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. The world-renowned departments, known for both the ingenuity of their researchers and quality of their students, will hold campus events to commemorate their 100-year histories and to look forward toward to another century of innovation and excellence.