TROY, N.Y. — Architect, entrepreneur, and author Dennis Shelden has been named the new director of the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — and he is joining the boundary-pushing organization at a critical moment for the future of the human-made environment.
TROY, N.Y. — Farhan Gandhi, the Rosalind and John J. Redfern Jr. ’33 Endowed Chair in Aerospace Engineering, has been elected to the Class of 2020 Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He receives this honor for “pioneering research and academic leadership in the areas of reconfigurable vertical lift, advanced rotary-wing configurations, and adaptive aerospace structures.” He will be inducted during a ceremony on May 19, 2020, and further honored on May 20 at the AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala — both in Washington, D.C.
TROY, N.Y. — Methanol is a versatile and efficient chemical used as fuel in the production of countless products. Carbon dioxide (CO2), on the other hand, is a greenhouse gas that is the unwanted byproduct of many industrial processes.
TROY, N.Y. — Partha Dutta, a professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, envisions a not-so-distant future where even the most remote parts of the world would have access to clean and renewable energy. His vision wouldn’t require a large power grid or expensive technology. Instead, he believes it could be accomplished using simple mirrors, local resources, and the sun. “I call this ‘engineering for a better world,’ which means that you have to use affordable, accessible, and adequate resources,” Dutta said.
As part of the inaugural class participating in The Arch at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, senior Anthony Mannino ’20, a physics major with a minor in economics, secured a fall semester away research opportunity at Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will be featured on an episode of “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” that will premiere on February 4, 2020.
A newly identified compound is a promising candidate for inhibiting the production of amyloids, the abnormal proteins that form toxic clumps, called fibrils, inside the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. As published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Communications, the compound — known as “C1” — uses a novel mechanism to efficiently prevent the enzyme gamma-secretase from producing amyloids.
The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Association of Research Libraries, and EDUCAUSE have announced that Francine Berman, the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named the 2020 recipient of the Paul Evan Peters Award, which “recognizes notable, lasting achievements in the creation and innovative use of network-based information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity.”
Studying the effectiveness of nuclear waste storage over time is an essential, but difficult, task. If it were to be done in real time, the research would take hundreds of thousands of years. In an article published this week in Nature Materials, a multidisciplinary team that includes Jie Lian, a professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, described what researchers learned when they simulated nuclear waste storage conditions over long stretches of time. Using their findings, the researchers also suggested strategies for improving the U.S. storage plan.
The Rensselaer Model Railroad Society is beginning the move into its new home at 258 Hoosick Street in Troy this spring semester. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student club, which was founded in 1947, is internationally renowned for its model railroad layout featuring detailed, historically accurate miniature versions of communities from Troy, New York, to the Canadian Border.