News

Troy, N.Y. - Although the Internal Revenue Service has significantly improved its internal processes since it implemented its first major information technology (IT) system in the 1960s, the agency has spent billions of dollars over the years on mainly unsuccessful IT initiatives. Mark Nelson, a Rensselaer management professor, recommends tips that can help such a huge organization streamline processes, increase efficiencies, potentially save billions of dollars, and prevent a cycle of multiple IT failures.

Troy, N.Y. - Entrepreneur magazine has named the technological entrepreneurship program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of Management and Technology one of the 25 best entrepreneurial programs in the nation. The magazine's "Top 100 Entrepreneurial Colleges and Universities" feature is slated for the April 2003 issue, and will appear on newsstands March 25.

Troy, N.Y. - Rensselaer has been awarded a five-year $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an International Materials Institute (IMI) for Materials Informatics and Combinatorial Materials Science. It is one of the first centers of its kind to be awarded funding by the NSF.

Troy, N.Y. - Omkaram "Om" Nalamasu, professor of materials science and engineering and director of Rensselaer's Center for Integrated Electronics (CIE), has received a $1 million grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Faculty Development Program.

Troy, N.Y. - Georges Belfort, professor of chemical engineering at Rensselaer, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Belfort, the Russell Sage Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rensselaer, was elected for his advances in bioseparations using membrane filtration, affinity processes, and membrane bioreactors for biotechnology. He joins the NAE as one of 77 new members and nine foreign associates.

Troy, N.Y. - Robert J. Linhardt, a world-leading carbohydrate chemist, has been appointed a senior constellation chair in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering at Rensselaer. "Dr. Linhardt is an outstanding scientist who is highly regarded for his intellect and his scholarship," said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. "Dr. Linhardt's collaborative spirit, his abilities as a consummate educator, and his visionary research will add a new dimension to the exciting advancements in biotechnology research at Rensselaer."

Troy, N.Y. - The public is invited to a series of free presentations hosted by Michael Century, chair of the arts department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Focused on various themes in media arts, such as televirtuality, hypermedia, and relational architecture, the presentations will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. on campus in West Hall, room 212. Each topic will include a demonstration and analysis of pioneering works of media art. Century will draw on rare audio-visual documentation.

Troy, N.Y. - The mind works in mysterious ways, and one Rensselaer researcher and his colleagues have created a computer automation tool to help solve those mysteries, speed understanding of how the brain develops, delve more deeply into brain function at the cellular level, and make more reliable conclusions.

Troy, N.Y. - Executives from 10 area biotechnology firms will discuss the state of the industry in the Capital Region at the "Showcase of Local Biotechnology Companies" on Wednesday, Feb. 5 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Rensselaer's Heffner Alumni House. Immediately before and after the event, Rensselaer's Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship will host half-hour networking sessions for attendees and participants.

Troy, N.Y. - Researchers searching for information about highly complex systems, such as the spread of diseases, the rise and fall of financial markets, or cell-phone communication networks, benefit from large-scale networked computer simulation. These simulations are frequently implemented using large networks of computers that break down the problem into many parts. Tackling weighty problems, bit by byte, allows the simulation process to run faster - sometimes.