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Troy, N.Y. — The incoming Class of 2011 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute promises to be an exceptional group, with the average SAT score up almost 20 points from the previous year, and more than 65 percent of the students coming from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. The high-achieving group also includes a significant increase in the number of women, the national and international profile of the student body, and those who are interested in new areas of Rensselaer’s expanding curriculum.

Thomas Friedman delivers the 2007 Commencement address. Photo by Rensselaer/Kris Qua Author and columnist addresses more than 1,470 students at Rensselaer’s 201st Commencement

  IBM Blue Gene computer Partners provide sneak preview of powerful university-based computing facility

Troy, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to bond materials that don’t normally stick together. The team’s adhesive, which is based on self-assembling nanoscale chains, could impact everything from next-generation computer chip manufacturing to energy production.

Troy, N.Y. — More than 1,470 students will receive degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, May 19, at 9:30 a.m. on the Harkness Field. They represent the next generation of leaders and innovators in fields ranging from engineering to architecture, from fine arts to science, and from business to the military.

Troy, N.Y. – Since his freshman year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Zane Van Dusen has played in 13 bands — and he founded 11 of them. A vocalist who also plays five instruments, the New York City native has been expressing himself through music for years. Now he has combined his lifelong passion with a keen set of technical and computing skills to create a device that allows all people, regardless of physical mobility, the opportunity to experience music’s positive effects.

Troy, N.Y. — Armed with a microscope, sharp eye, and knack for design, Caitlin Piette isn’t shy about letting her creative side influence her work in the laboratory — and vice versa. A senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Piette will graduate May 19 with a major in biology, bioinformatics, and molecular biology. She takes just as much pride in her award-winning biology research as her role in the growing of Rensselaer’s student-run campus arts and music venue, Ground Zero.

TROY, N.Y. — To educate and nurture today’s would-be entrepreneurs, universities across the country face a difficult question: Can innovation, risk-taking, and originality be taught in the classroom? For more than 180 years, students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have been developing technologies, creating innovations, and forming business ventures to translate scientific discoveries into practical applications. Now the Institute is continuing to push the boundaries by broadening the definition of what it means to be an entrepreneur. 

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson has been elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. The honor puts her in the company of some of history’s most distinguished scholars — a noteworthy membership that includes the founders of the American republic and more than 260 recipients of the Nobel Prize.

Troy, N.Y. — Matthew Pelliccione came to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a freshman in 2003. After only four years, he is leaving with two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree, and a set of prestigious fellowships to continue studying physics at Stanford University.