For the 2023-2024 academic year, Rensselaer’s Science and Technology Studies Department experienced significant growth with the addition of three new faculty members. Tankut Atuk, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research is situated at the intersections of public/global health, medical sociology/anthropology, social epidemiology, and sexual health. Adam Biggs, Ph.D., focuses on race, civil rights, and the history of medicine. Matthew Wolf-Meyer, Ph.D. is an anthropologist and historian of science and medicine in the U.S.

The Office of Graduate Education, in cooperation with the schools of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Architecture, have presented the 2024-25 Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Architecture Fellowship to the following students:

Chrysi Nanou, music fellow at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and member of Spira Quartet, will present a program of classical and contemporary pieces, including a world premiere composition by Mary Simoni, Dean of the RPI School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Tuesday, April 9, at noon.

Tracy K. Smith, 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her book Life on Mars, will speak at the 83rd annual McKinney Writing Award ceremony on Friday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The event is free and open to the public.

The Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is among the top in the country, according to the Animation Career Review.

Raquel Velho, Ph.D., associate professor and undergraduate program director of science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has recently published a new book, Hacking the Underground: Disability, Infrastructure, and London’s Public Transport System.

With misinformation and disinformation proliferating online, many may wish for a simple, reliable, automated “fake news” detection system to easily identify falsehoods from truths. Often with the help of machine learning, many scientists have developed such tools, but experts advise caution when deploying them.

No birthday party is complete without ice cream.That’s why Stewart’s Shops is helping Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute kick off its bicentennial year with a new name for the store’s “Fireworks” ice cream flavor. The freshly dubbed “Quantum Freeze” will hit stores February 5, 2024. 

Jaehoon Choi, a Ph.D. student in the Electronic Arts Department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, was selected as one of 10 young composers to develop and premier work at the prestigious Venice Biennale International Music Festival.