News

Troy, N.Y. — More than 450 area students and their families came to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today to participate in the eighth annual Black Family Technology Awareness Day. The workshops, designed to spur young people’s interest in pursuing careers in science and engineering, were hosted by Rensselaer’s Office of Institute Diversity. Rensselaer’s Black Family Technology Awareness Day is part of a nationally celebrated week of the same name. The theme for 2006 is “Preserving Our Legacy Through Technology.”

New composites could remove buzz from speakers, sting from golf clubs Troy, N.Y. — A new study suggests that integrating nanotubes into traditional materials dramatically improves their ability to reduce vibration, especially at high temperatures. The findings could pave the way for a new class of materials with a multitude of applications, from high-performance parts for spacecraft and automobile engines, to golf clubs that don’t sting and stereo speakers that don’t buzz.

Leaders of New York’s major research universities and institutions today called upon lawmakers in Albany to act quickly and establish a state fund to support stem cell research.

TROY, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered an alternative way to produce heparin, a drug commonly used to stop or prevent blood from clotting. The findings could enable the current supply of the drug — now extracted from animal organ tissue — to be replaced or supplemented by the synthetic version. The new process also can be applied as a tool for drug discovery, according to the researchers.

Institute to host forum on innovation and economic development Feb. 3 Troy, N.Y. — Following the State of the Union address by President George W. Bush, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson has urged Congress and the Administration to move quickly to enact a comprehensive, fully funded national innovation agenda. 

Troy, N.Y. — Calling for a renewed national focus on science and technology, in an open letter to President George W. Bush Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson has urged the President to use the State of the Union to outline a national agenda to “spark a legacy of innovation.” 

Troy, N.Y. — A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Purdue University, and the Russian Academy of Sciences has used sound waves to induce nuclear fusion without the need for an external neutron source, according to a paper in the Jan. 27 issue of Physical Review Letters. The results address one of the most prominent questions raised after publication of the team’s earlier results in 2004, suggesting that “sonofusion” may be a viable approach to producing neutrons for a variety of applications. 

TROY, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management and Technology will kick off its fourth annual business plan competition on Feb. 1 with a workshop aimed at teaching area college students the fundamentals of writing a successful business plan.

Several scientific studies have determined that light on the eye’s retina is the primary synchronizer of human circadian rhythms, the biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours. Both the visual system and the circadian system respond to light as it is processed through photoreceptors in the retina.

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ranks among the top 25 “most connected campuses” in the country, according to a Princeton Review survey. Describing the campuses on the list as “the closest to the cutting edge,” Forbes.com released the rankings today.