TROY, N.Y. — A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researcher has been awarded a five-year, $947,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how proteins behave under pressure. Angel Garcia, senior constellation chaired professor in biocomputation and bioinformatics, seeks to address gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the role of water pressure in protein structure and function that could aid in the understanding and treatment of disease.

Troy, N.Y. — In celebration of National Engineers Week 2006, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hosted a day of hands-on engineering activities Feb. 25 for more than 250 area Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The day’s events were organized and run by Rensselaer undergraduate and graduate engineering students.

Troy, N.Y. — A delegation of experts in technological entrepreneurship from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will travel to China for symposia on innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology commercialization.

Troy, N.Y.

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today announced a $1 million scholarship gift commitment from Jeanne and Frank Fischer ’64, in support of Renaissance at Rensselaer: The Campaign for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Jeanne and Frank Fischer ’64 Scholarship will become part of the Rensselaer endowment, and income from the gift will be used to provide significant scholarship support directly to students. 

Troy, N.Y. — To provide essential data for the rebuilding of the ravaged levees in New Orleans, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be studying small-scale models of sections of the flood-protection system. The researchers will replicate conditions during Hurricane Katrina by subjecting the models to flood loads, supplying important information to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepare the city for next hurricane season and beyond.

Troy, N.Y. — Alhussein Abouzeid, assistant professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Abouzeid will use the projected five-year, $400,000 grant to investigate dynamic wireless networks with applications in environmental sensing, disaster response, and connecting homes within a community. 

Troy, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design.

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.