News

Troy, N.Y. - Three companies affiliated with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will vie to win the $100,000 Business Plan Competition at the Summit in Tech Valley in Albany next week. Crystal IS Inc., Evident Technologies Inc., and Orca Gear Inc. will present their business plans to a panel of national venture capitalists on Tuesday, April 29. The winner will receive a cash prize of $100,000 and professional advisory services from several firms. About the Companies

Troy, N.Y. - Governor George E. Pataki has announced that Rensselaer will manage the Upper Hudson Satellite Center that will be part of the Rivers & Estuaries Center on the Hudson - a world-class institute for the study of rivers and estuaries. Columbia University will manage the Lower Hudson Satellite Center. The central Rivers & Estuaries Center will be located at Dennings Point in Beacon, N.Y. The Upper Hudson Satellite Center will be located on the waterfront in South Troy.

Albany, N.Y. - Alan Goldberg, president and chief executive officer of First Albany Corporation, received the first Education Vision and Innovation Award from the Hudson Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities (HMACU).

Troy, N.Y. - The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 10 accepted the request by SEIU Local 200United to cancel the secret ballot election, scheduled to take place at Rensselaer on April 15. The NLRB accepted the union's request with the stipulation that the union cannot seek another petition for an extended period of time.

Troy, N.Y. - Rensselaer art students have spent the semester collaborating with Rensselaer and Princeton electronic arts faculty on a major multimedia project called "Transfizzle." The multimedia performance combines dance, chamber music, video, and the latest in high-tech wearable computer gear, including an electronic glove. "Transfizzle" will take place on Wednesday, April 23, at 8 p.m., at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street in Troy. It is free and open to the public.

Troy, N.Y. - A foursome of Rensselaer MBA students who formed Orca Gear Inc., a company that integrates technology into recreational apparel, won the Tech Valley Collegiate Business Plan Competition Wednesday. The contest, which was open to all area college students, was sponsored by the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship in Rensselaer's Lally School of Management and Technology.

Troy, N.Y. - World-renowned neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson will be the featured speaker at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's 197th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17. The ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Harkness Field on campus followed by a festive celebration picnic held on the '86 Field.

Troy, N.Y. - Rensselaer students enrolled in a course called Community Planning Workshop will hold an open public forum on April 8 from 3:15 to 6:15 p.m. at the Doyle Middle School for local teens to discuss the development of an area skatepark. Rensselaer students have joined forces with the Rensselaer County Skatepark Community Partnership (RCSCP) to collaborate on the planning of the county-wide facility for local youth.

Troy, N.Y. - Two hundred undergraduate and graduate students from around the country will be at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from April 3-6 for the 17th annual National Conference of Black Physics Students (NCBPS). Students gather each year at a world-class university to interact with other African American graduates, undergraduates, and working physicists. To Inspire and To Learn

Troy, N.Y. - Lakshmi Santhanam, a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is searching for molecules with properties that may someday be used as medicines able to pre-empt the damaging inflammatory response involved in atherosclerosis. Santhanam, a chemical engineering student working with Jonathan S. Dordick, the Howard P.