One of the perks of having friends in high places is the “behind-the-scenes tour,” and this past weekend, the Rensselaer community got a multimedia tour from some very well-placed friends: the Rensselaer School of Science Dean Laurie Leshin, and three Rensselaer alumni, all of whom are working on NASA’s Curiosity Rover mission, currently roving the surface […]

A new study from professor Mariana Figueiro at the Rensselaer Lighting Research Center is lighting up the Internet with news that nobody wants to hear: your phone, computer, tablet, and other back-lit devices may be keeping you awake at night. Here’s why: Looking at a back-lit display for two hours can trick your brain into producing […]

(Senior Hannah Fix wrote this excellent post for The Approach to tell us about her educational outreach work with Professor Patrick Underhill. Enjoy!) My name is Hannah Fix, I am a  senior undergraduate studying aeronautical and mechanical Engineering. I work with Professor Patrick Underhill on the “Fluid Dynamics Demo Kit: Fluid Physics on the Road” […]

Now that NASA rover Curiosity is safely on the ground, it’s starting to take its bearings and perform its mission—analyzing the rock and soil of the Martian surface for clues to the planet’s past, particularly with regard to the presence of water, and the potential for habitability. As a member of the science team that’s […]

At 1:32 a.m. Eastern time, the NASA rover Curiosity safely touched down on the surface of Mars after a journey of more than 300 million miles and a harrowing descent from orbit, complete with parachutes, rockets, and the perilous “sky crane manuever.” As a member of the science team for Curiosity, Rensselaer Dean of Science Laurie […]

Given the technical challenges that stand in its way, the “holodeck” (as envisioned on Star Trek:The Next Generation) may not actually arrive until the 24th century. But that’s not stopping a group of Rensselaer researchers with the under—construction Emergent Reality Lab (one of them a former Star Trek producer) from exploring how the elements of a good holodeck program […]

I’m Michelle Riedman, a civil engineering (structures) graduate student working with Professor Christopher Letchford and Professor Michael O’Rourke. We are currently conducting a research project for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) entitled “Determining the Remaining Fatigue Life of In-Situ Mast-Arm Traffic Signal Supports.” Harry White is the NYSDOT project manager while my […]

As part of the celebration surrounding last week’s announcement that physicists had discovered the Higgs boson particle—a subatomic particle which is theorized to imbue elementary particles with mass—the Albany Times Union interviewed Rensselaer’s own Professor of Physics Jim Napolitano about the finding. In the article in which he is quoted, Napolitano helped explain the importance of […]

June 22 marked a special milestone for scientific and medical research on the Rensselaer campus, with the opening of the New York State-funded Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research. The new facility is located in the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). New York State Department of Health Commissioner Nirav Shah and Rensselaer President […]

Here’s a question: If we assume that if I win the lottery I will be poor. And I win the lottery. Am I poor? Logically, the answer is “yes.” It’s not an intuitive answer, but the conclusion does follow the assumptions. This premise—that the conclusions must follow the assumptions—is the basis of “deductive reasoning,” a skill taught […]