News

Watch the movie trailer! Movie unveiled for campus community, set for global release in 2009

Rensselaer researchers use computers to find keys to stabilizing proteins

It’s something of an understatement to say Shekhar Garde has an eye for detail.  A global leader in his field, Garde works to shed new light on the hidden world of atoms and molecules. Equipped with state-of-the-art advanced imaging, molecular modeling, and computer simulation tools, he is a high-tech archeologist who scrutinizes nanoscale landscapes in search of clues, patterns, and systems that could lead to a better understanding of the most basic building blocks of life. 

When a promising cancer drug reached clinical trials in the 1990s, researchers were disappointed by the debilitating side effects that limited the trials. The drug inhibited a family of enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Now, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have shown that creating drugs that inactivate a different part of the MMP enzyme could have the capacity to target the tumor without the damaging side effects. Their findings, which hold promise for improved cancer therapies, were published Feb.

More than 900 area students and their families came to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today to participate in the 11th annual Black Family Technology Awareness Day. The event, designed to spur young people’s interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, (STEM) fields and the arts, was hosted by Rensselaer’s Office of Institute Diversity and the Office of Academic Outreach Programs. Rensselaer’s Black Family Technology Awareness Day is part of a nationally celebrated week of the same name.

Observatory joins NASA public outreach program Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute invites members of the community to the Hirsch Observatory to view planets, stars, and galaxies with the observatory’s 16-inch telescope. The observatory will be open to the public every Saturday evening through November from 8-10 p.m. as part of its annual open house program starting the evening of Feb. 7, 2009. Anyone from the community is invited to come learn about our universe from Rensselaer students and faculty. Children are welcome.

In these difficult economic times, everyone is seeking a better way to manage their personal finances. And at a time when even the newly elected president can’t be separated from his wireless device, two undergraduates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed an open source solution that combines smart personal financial management with your smartphone. 

New IMAX movie “Molecules to the MAX” to be released in 2009 It was the mischievous grins and sparkles in her colleagues’ eyes that reinforced to Linda Schadler that she was on to something good.

Applications have increased more than 117 percent since 2005 More than 12,000 high school students have filed applications to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, according to numbers released today by Rensselaer Admissions. Applications are still being counted, but the current record total represents a growth of more than 117 percent since 2005, when the Institute received just over 5,500 applications. 

Researchers at Rensselaer have developed a new method for controlling the conductive nature of graphene. Pictured is a rendering of two sheets of graphene, each with the thickness of just a single carbon atom, resting on top of a silicon dioxide substrate.