News

Food access is one of the largest social problems in the United States. The challenge of accessing healthy foods is especially pronounced in communities of disadvantaged populations. Research led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) proposes to develop a local food cooperation (LFC) program that integrates a state-level food hub network to enable the coordination of multiple regional food hubs, and regional farm to institution programs that address regional food insecurity and inequity.

Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFROTC) headquarters selected Cadet Spencer Davidson ’23, of Rensselaer’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 550, to attend the National Character and Leadership Symposium (NCLS) at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute led by Helen Zha, assistant professor in the Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been awarded a $745,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore sustainable alternatives to the synthetic textiles used in “fast fashion.”

Rensselaer’s Information Technology and Web Science program will host Know Your Value: Empowering Women in a Predominantly Male Industry at 4:30 p.m. on February 7, 2023 in Lally 102. It is the second of a series of three events geared toward women in the technology industry. Register online for this free event.

Mohammed Zaki, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor and head of the Department of Computer Science, has been named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellow. AAAS fellows are elected annually to recognize their extraordinary achievements in research, teaching, and technology, as well as in communicating science to the public. Election as an AAAS fellow is considered a lifetime honor. Past Fellows have included luminaries like Thomas Edison, W.E.B Dubois, Grace Hopper, Ellen Ochoa, Herbert Simon, and Steven Chu. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Deborah McGuinness has been elected a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) “for significant contributions to the semantic web, knowledge representation and reasoning environments, and deployed artificial intelligence applications.” AAAI is a nonprofit scientific society that promotes research in artificial intelligence and its responsible use. The AAAI fellows program recognizes people who have “made significant, sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will hold its 24th annual Black Families Technology Awareness Day on Saturday, February 4. The event, free and open to the public, is designed to introduce historically underrepresented students in grades K-12, their families, and educators to educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Are there other Earth-like planets? Is there extraterrestrial life? In the quest to find planets that orbit stars other than the sun, “Earth 2.0” is the Holy Grail. Earth 2.0 is a planet similar enough to Earth to enable the existence of life as we know it. It would be the right temperature for liquid water, and it would orbit a star with a steady supply of light. Ideally, it would be close enough that we could imagine going there or at least sending a probe to explore it.

In November, over 100 members of the Rensselaer community gathered for the Life Sciences Business Symposium presented by the Lally School of Management in collaboration with the Center for Career and Professional Development. The event included a panel discussion with representatives from Regeneron, Curia, and AngioDynamics, followed by a networking opportunity with 15 participating life science companies with internship, co-op, and full-time openings.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Fudong Han, Priti and Mukesh Chatter ’82 Career Development Chair in Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, has been awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for Electronic Transport in Sulfide-Based Lithium Solid Electrolytes. The NSF CAREEER award is presented to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors in the context of their organizations’ missions.