News

Troy, N.Y. — E. Fred Schubert, a pioneering semiconductor researcher and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University, has been appointed Senior Distinguished Professor of the Future Chips Constellation at Rensselaer. Internationally renowned for his work on semiconductor doping and light-emitting diodes, Schubert was selected for his sustained record of innovative research, excellence in teaching, and significant technological advances over his 20-year career. Schubert’s tenure will begin Sept. 3.

Troy, N.Y. — A $1 Million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles will establish the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Terahertz Science within a new Center for Terahertz Research at Rensselaer.

Troy, N.Y. — Robert E. Palazzo, who previously served as professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Kansas, has been named professor and chair of the biology department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition to teaching and research, Palazzo has worked with several public service organizations including New York's own Wadsworth Center, the state laboratory dedicated to science in the pursuit of health.

Troy, N.Y. — Selmer Bringsjord, director of the Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning (RAIR) Lab and professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named chair of the Department of Cognitive Sciences. Bringsjord, a Rensselaer faculty member in the same department for 14 years, specializes in the logico-mathematical and philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence.

Troy, N.Y. — Donald Siegel, a distinguished professor in England, has been named chair of the Economics Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Siegel was professor of industrial economics at the University of Nottingham in England. His research interests are the economics of technological change; university technology transfer; productivity analysis; and corporate social responsibility.

Troy, N.Y. — Michael Century, a former teacher at McGill University and art-and-technology consultant from Canada, has been named chair of the Arts Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Partnership With IBM Will Position New York as a Leader in Information Technology Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with generous support from IBM, is forming a $33 million research center that will create an information technology infrastructure so advanced that it can handle any level of Internet traffic, data storage, and new scientific challenges that require immense computing power, such as bioinformatics.

Troy, N.Y. — Wolf von Maltzahn, vice president of biomedical engineering at the Whitaker Foundation, has been named the new associate vice president for research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute beginning in August. Von Maltzahn is also appointed as professor in the department of biomedical engineering.

Troy, N.Y. — Shanghai, a city of commercialism and consumerism, is a place where any Westerner would feel at home. Yet underneath this facade of coffee houses and fast food restaurants lies the regimented order of Communism that controlled a physical and economic transformation unparalleled in urban history.  

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has received $1.2 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve undergraduate science education through the development of new biotechnology-related courses and student and faculty exchanges with other universities. A total of $80 million was given to 44 research universities across the country.