News

TROY, N.Y. — The shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE) has been a persistent problem for medical and other front-line workers as they battle the COVID-19 pandemic at close range day after day. A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a potential solution: a machine that uses ultraviolet (UVC) light to sterilize thousands of protective masks each day, rendering them safe for reuse.

In a new episode of Why Not Change the World? The RPI Podcast, leading figures from the team behind AiMOS, the powerful new supercomputer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, explain how machines like it are transforming research and society.

TROY, N.Y. — On a typical April day, Jackie Pelham would spend most of her time in a lab coat and goggles. Working at a laboratory bench, she would examine proteins found in the body. But lately, Pelham has traded her lab coat for a laptop and her lab bench for a desk in her home. Rather than observing biochemical processes, she is poring over previously collected data. Somewhat unexpectedly, even to her, Pelham sees this temporary trade-off as an opportunity.

TROY, N.Y. — An interdisciplinary team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is answering a national call for solutions to the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) available in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researcher Malik Magdon-Ismail tailored the robust machine learning models he is developing for the COVID pandemic to work with sparse data points, like those available during the early phase in a pandemic or in smaller cities, which ordinarily make trend-spotting difficult.

In the latest episode of Why Not Change the World? The RPI Podcast, leading experts in lighting and bone health reveal how their research tackles Alzheimer’s disease in new and unexpected ways.

Are mushrooms the building material of the future? What can people do to address the opioid epidemic? These and other questions are all explored in the latest season of a podcast recorded and produced at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Originally launched in the fall of 2019, Why Not Change the World? The RPI Podcast brings together leading experts from different disciplines to discuss the interconnected challenges facing humanity around the globe. All episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and other major podcasting platforms.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is donating 5,000 surgical masks to Mount Sinai in New York City and 2,500 masks each to Albany Medical Center and St. Peter’s Health Partners in the Capital Region. These contributions to the fight against COVID-19 have been made possible through the generosity of the parents of international students at the Institute.

Nathan Meltz, a senior lecturer in the Department of the Arts in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently awarded an Honorable Mention for his entry in the Four Rivers Print Biennial, a national juried exhibition.

To help people stay as happy, healthy, and productive as possible during the current pandemic, the Strategic Communications and External Relations team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has released “The Rensselaer Guide to Living and Working Well While Social Distancing.”