Among the many challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presented, disruptions in health care were among the most impactful. The pandemic was large-scale, lasted over two years, and resulted in millions of hospitalizations and 1.2 million deaths in the United States alone. Meanwhile, routine medical services were affected by the pandemic: Patients avoided health care visits for fear of contracting the virus; stay-at-home policies left patients without routine care; and there was a limited supply of services.

On July 18, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and NORDTECH will host a day-long Workforce Development Summit on the RPI campus that will bring together government, industry, nonprofits, and academic partners to address education and workforce development in chips and semiconductors critical to the prosperity and security of the nation. 

At its annual meeting in May 2024, WAMC elected Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s James Hendler, Ph.D., to its Board of Trustees. At RPI, Hendler is the director of the Future of Computing Institute, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web, and Cognitive Sciences, and director of the RPI-IBM Future of Computing Research Collaboration.

The Undergraduate Department and the Teaching and Learning Collaboratory are excited to announce the winners of the 2024 seed project call for proposals. The purpose of the seed projects are to develop a project to the point that it is competitive for external funding. The projects test new pedagogical approaches or technologies that will impact student learning. The grants are in partnership with funding from Undergraduate Education and the Teaching and Learning Collaboratory. And to this point, we wish to extend a big congratulations to this year’s winners!

Gabriel Jacoby-Cooper ’24 was awarded the Glenn Martin Mueller ’64 Prize at Rensselaer’s School of Science Commencement brunch. The annual prize was established to honor Glenn Martin Mueller, former Rensselaer Trustee and a 1964 RPI graduate. A leading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, Mueller was a champion of the entrepreneur, funding many successful start-up companies. The prize is given to a computer science major who is deemed to be the most entrepreneurial.

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).