When most people think of crystals, they picture suncatchers that act as rainbow prisms or the semi-transparent stones that some believe hold healing powers. However, to scientists and engineers, crystals are a form of materials in which their constituents – atoms, molecules, or nanoparticles – are arranged regularly in space. In other words, crystals are defined by the regular arrangement of their constituents. Common examples are diamonds, table salt, or sugar cubes. 

We all remember 2020. At the grocery store, toilet paper shelves were empty. Cleaning supplies and disinfectants were treasured finds. Rattled consumers, concerned that they would run out of essential items, swiftly stockpiled products until they disappeared from shelves. In the media, it was referred to as “panic buying.”

There are more than 80,000 sheep and lambs living on over 2,000 farms in New York State. Their wool has many uses including clothing, carpets, furniture, bedding, insulators, fertilizers, and more. However, about 10-15% of wool is wasted during the sorting and cleaning processes. Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are aiming to turn that waste into a new profit source for farmers, and produce an eco-conscious, high-performance yarn in the process.

Building on novel experiments with amyloid fibrils — a type of protein aggregate associated with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s —  a new set of experiments using serum albumins, the primary constituents of blood protein, was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in March aboard SpaceX 27. This is the fourth time the experiment is being conducted on the ISS.

Steven Cramer, professor in the Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named Institute Professor, one of the highest and most prestigious honors bestowed upon a Rensselaer faculty member.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF) launched a new higher education course to help address semiconductor industry education and workforce development needs. The course, Topics in Microelectronics Manufacturing, is targeted toward advanced undergraduates and early graduate students and has already attracted high enrollment. This course, co-taught by James Lu, curriculum chair of RPI’s electrical, computer, and systems engineering (ECSE) department, and a team of leading industry experts from GF, aims to introduce students to the state-of-the art chip manufacturing technologies and to amplify their interest in chips-centric careers.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Daniel Gall has been named the Robert W. Hunt Professor of Metallurgical Engineering. Gall, a professor in the department of materials and science engineering and a world-renowned expert in advanced materials for computer chip interconnects, focuses on developing atomic level understanding of thin film growth and on the electronic and optical properties of advanced materials. He is studying electron transport in nanowires and epitaxial metal layers and is renowned for his work on the resistivity size effect and its impact on interconnect lines in integrated circuits.

Steven Cramer, the William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering and a professor in the Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “scientific and technological advances leading to new chromatographic materials, processes, and predictive tools for the purification of biopharmaceuticals.”

A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute led by Helen Zha, assistant professor in the Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been awarded a $745,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore sustainable alternatives to the synthetic textiles used in “fast fashion.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has a long history of training the next generation for career preparedness. With signing of the $250 billion CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S. need for career preparedness has never been greater. The new BYOND – Build Your Own NanoDevice — curriculum at RPI is an interdisciplinary program that invites students from the School of Engineering and the School of Science to work side by side in the lab and classroom. The increasing demand for nanotechnology and semiconductors creates a need for more advanced cleanroom operations. At RPI, the Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room (MNCR) facility within the Center for Materials, Devices, and Integrated Systems (CMDIS) is offering the BYOND program for undergraduate students to start building a foundation and training for this career path.