News

$1.8 million NIH grant supports research to study links between lighting, sleep, psychosocial stress Troy, N.Y. — Scientists have long known that the human body runs like clockwork, guided by a circadian system that responds to daily patterns of light and darkness. Now a team of researchers is developing a personal device to measure daily light intake and activity, which could allow them to predict optimal timing for light therapy to synchronize the circadian clock to the 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress.

(Updated September 4, 2007)

Troy, N.Y. — As summer temperatures cool in the United States, fewer mosquitoes whir around our tiki torches. But mosquitoes swarming around nearly 40 percent of the world’s population will continue to spread a deadly parasitic disease — malaria. Now an interdisciplinary team led by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found a key link that causes malarial infection in both humans and mosquitoes.

Rensselaer presidential event to feature five national leaders in science and technology

Troy, N.Y. — Susan P. Gilbert, a renowned expert in cell biology, biophysics, and nanoscience, will join Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the head of the Biology Department on Sept. 1, 2007. Gilbert joins the Rensselaer faculty after 12 years at the University of Pittsburgh.

Troy, N.Y. — James M. Tien, the Yamada Corporation Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will leave the Institute to accept a new position as dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Miami. Tien, a Rensselaer alumnus, was founding chair of the Department of Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems (DSES) and currently holds a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering. He will assume his new role in Miami on Sept. 1.

Discussion among 2007 Commencement honorees tackles “knife-edge” issues

Troy, N.Y. — For the eighth year in a row, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been counted among the top 50 universities in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. The Institute was ranked 44th among all national universities and listed as one of the top 25 colleges in the publication’s “Great Schools, Great Prices” category.

Nataliya Lyzikova serves as manager of business development for Yuzhnoye, an international company from the Ukraine. The company sought to enter U.S. markets in order to commercialize more than 300 former defense technologies.

Troy, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new energy storage device that easily could be mistaken for a simple sheet of black paper.