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Circadian clocks, which drive circadian rhythms, are entwined with many essential systems in living things including plants, fungi, insects, and even humans. Because of this, disruptions to our circadian clocks are linked to higher disease rates in humans, including certain cancers and autoimmune diseases. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jennifer Hurley, Ph.D., Richard Baruch M.D. Career Development Chair and Associate Department Head of Biological Sciences, has dedicated her career to understanding the mechanisms that allow our circadian clocks to keep time.

Darío Gil, Ph.D., IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research and a member of the Board of Trustees for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), has been elected chair of the National Science Board (NSB).

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have fabricated a device no wider than a human hair that will help physicists investigate the fundamental nature of matter and light. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, could also support the development of more efficient lasers, which are used in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing. 

From building the Brooklyn Bridge to sending humans to the moon, much has changed in the world since Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was founded 200 years ago in 1824.

On Friday, May 17, 10 Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (AFROTC) cadets from Detachment 550 will be commissioned into the U.S. Air Force or Space Force in a ceremony at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC). Detachment 550 serves as a host unit for cadets at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and 22 regional cross-town colleges and universities. Six out of the 10 commissioning cadets are graduating from RPI.

On Friday, May 17, 2024, 11 prospective Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduates will be commissioned as Ensigns in the U.S. Navy. The Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) program was established at Rensselaer in October 1941 and is charged with developing young men and women morally, mentally, and physically for the rigors of service as officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Career and Professional Development introduced its new Peer Career Advisor (PCA) program during the Fall 2023 semester, culminating in a successful inaugural year in Spring 2024. This student-support initiative has provided a platform for current RPI students to foster community and offer career guidance to peers across all majors and academic levels, encompassing both undergraduate and graduate students.

Brianna Casey ’26 is one of 40 undergraduate students nationwide to be selected for NASA’s Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-Generation Scientists) internship program. The program supports the Europa Clipper mission, with the goal of determining whether Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has “conditions suitable to support life.” Scientists predict that an ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy shell, so massive that it is bigger than all of Earth’s oceans combined.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has established a new master’s degree program that will prepare students for careers of biomedical data science, a fast growing engineering specialty.Those with expertise in biomedical data science are already in high demand, and that demand will  continue to rise in the future, said Juergen Hahn, Ph.D., head of the Biomedical Engineering Department.

In a ceremony that featured a reading by Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, winners for the 83rd annual McKinney Writing Contest at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were announced on April 19.