News

TROY, N.Y. — When Grant Cochran crosses the stage during Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s 200th Commencement this May, he’ll have completed more than just his undergraduate education. As the final of six brothers to attend the school, Cochran’s graduation marks the end of a 15-year family dynasty at Rensselaer. Following in the footsteps of older brothers Andy ’95, Chris ’98, Dan ’99, Evan ’02, and Flynn ’04, the Kent, Wash., native enrolled at Rensselaer in 2000.

$100 million partnership will create world’s most powerful university-based computing center Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in collaboration with IBM and New York state, has announced a $100 million partnership to create the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputing center, and a top 10 supercomputing center of any kind in the world. 

Troy, N.Y. — By stacking layers of ceramic cloth with interlocking nanotubes in between, a team of researchers has created new composites with significantly improved properties compared to traditional materials. The “nanotube sandwiches,” which are described in the May 7 online edition of the journal Nature Materials, could find use in a wide array of structural applications. 

Three Teams from Rensselaer and Union College Compete Against Each Other in Annual Competition

Troy, N.Y. — A symbol of the Capital Region’s 19th-century industrial heritage is getting a facelift, courtesy of a decidedly 21st-century technology. Using a state-of-the-art “rapid prototyping” system, undergraduate engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are partnering with local industry and preservationists to restore the long-lost letters to the façade of the Burden Iron Works Museum in South Troy, once home to an industrial complex that could produce 51 million horseshoes per year.

TROY, N.Y. — Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have engineered nanoscale materials that are blood compatible using heparin, an anticoagulant. The heparin biomaterials have potential for use as medical devices and in medical treatments such as kidney dialysis.

Trustees Cite Transformational Progress Made Under The Rensselaer Plan

TROY, N.Y. — Two driven Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute science students who will participate in the university’s 200th Commencement on May 20 are speeding up their education. Part of a new accelerated Ph.D. science program at Rensselaer, Jordan Mader (chemistry and chemical biology) and Amanda Lund (biology) are on track to finish their bachelor and doctoral degrees in seven years, two ahead of average. Both Mader and Lund finished a bachelor of science degree in three and a half years last December and have already begun their Ph.D. work.

Troy, N.Y. — Architecture students in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Community Planning course are inviting Troy residents to join them in a walking tour of the William Street alley between Broadway and the Little Italy section of Troy, on Saturday, May 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is designed to inspire and promote a revitalization of alleys as neighborhood resources.

Troy, N.Y. — As nuclear power returns to the energy agenda in the United States and continues to grow in popularity around the world, the need for engineers and scientists in all sectors of the field grows as well. Educating the next generation of nuclear engineers is a key step toward filling this gap, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is leading the way. Rensselaer’s 200th Commencement on May 20, 2006, will offer a glimpse at some of the future leaders in academia, government, and the nuclear industry.