Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) researchers are part of a multi-institution team working to bring rubber production to the United States and better secure the supply chain for this critical material.

Wei Bao, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won the Early Career Program (ECP) Award and Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) Award from the Department of Defense to study superconductors and cavity quantum materials, respectively. The two awarded grants, which total nearly $700,000, will allow Bao to further his research into the unique properties of quantum materials and lay the foundation for practical innovations in the decades to come. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Gwo-Ching Wang, Ph.D., Travelstead Institute Chair, is the 2025 recipient of the Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics from the American Physical Society (APS). Wang is being honored for “pioneering contributions to the development and use of electron diffraction techniques to study surfaces, growth-front ordering, and two-dimensional materials.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has signed a letter of intent with Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani), one of India’s leading technological universities, to establish academic cooperation and offer joint educational programs and research initiatives. The development marks a significant step towards enhancing worldwide academic engagement between two premier institutions in the fields of engineering, science, and technology.

Imagine tires that charge a vehicle as it drives, streetlights powered by the rumble of traffic, or skyscrapers that generate electricity as the buildings naturally sway and shudder. These energy innovations could be possible thanks to researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developing environmentally friendly materials that produce electricity when compressed or exposed to vibrations.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Martin A. Schmidt ’81, Ph.D., has been appointed to the CHIPS Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC). This group of leaders from industry, academia, federal laboratories, and other areas provides guidance to U.S.

Today, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Hokkaido University of Japan announced their plan to explore collaborative opportunities in semiconductor education and research contributing to semiconductor workforce development initiatives. 

Our nation’s security depends on the effective detection of nuclear materials at our borders and beyond. To address this challenge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) physicist Moussa N’Gom, Ph.D., is leading research aimed at developing a quantum sensing probe to detect and characterize special nuclear materials precisely and without contact. Special nuclear materials are only mildly radioactive but can be used in nuclear explosives.

On April 26, seven Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute undergraduate students showcased research projects in the areas of materials science, computer modeling, chemical engineering, and more at a symposium held at Corning’s Sullivan Park Science & Technology Center just outside of Corning, New York.

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.