“In the News” July 2009
Following is a selection of news media stories about Rensselaer people and programs. The stories are listed by date, with the most recent articles first. Note that some publications may require subscriptions or logins to access individual articles online. Additionally, archived links may change or be available online for a limited time.
07/30/09
Faking the Golgi
GenomeWeb Daily New
Researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Robert Linhardt developed a prototype of an artificial Golgi complex based on a digital microfluidic chip. The researchers then used the chip to modify heparan sulfate chains. "This represents the first enzymatic modification of an immobilized substrate in a digital microfluidic device and a critical first step in the creation of an artificial Golgi," the researchers write.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
07/30/09
What are “platforms for collaboration”
Examiner.Com
In an article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Satish Nambisan (Associate Professor, Lally School of Management & Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) focuses on three types of platforms for collaboration. The Examiner.Com gives some brief excerpts.
Read the story.
07/29/09
The Lure of Learning
STEMming the Tide
Brooklyn Eagle
New York State is deeply concerned about how our students are doing in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas. Recently Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, distinguished scientist and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, convened a large group to begin charting what could become a blueprint for the New York State STEM Learning Network. In a world that is increasingly “flat,” the United States has lost much of what kept us easily ahead of other countries. If we are to remain strong, and if the core of the American Dream is to stay alive for our children, we need to get serious about what the Carnegie Report suggests and what Dr. Jackson is trying to mobilize. There’s no better place to start than here in New York, and public television is an eager partner in all such efforts.
Read the story.
Remarks by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson at Empire State STEM Education Initiative
07/29/09
Laser Propulsion: Wild Idea May Finally Shine
Space.Com
New laser propulsion experiments are throwing light on how to build future hypersonic aircraft and beam spacecraft into Earth orbit. Indeed, a "Lightcraft revolution" could replace today's commercial jet travel. Passengers would be whisked from one side of the planet to the other in less than an hour. Furthermore, beamed energy propulsion can make flight to orbit easy, instead of tenuous and dangerous. That's the belief of Leik Myrabo an aerospace engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Read the story, which was also covered by Next Big Future.
07/28/09
Energy-efficient lighting
The Sun Daily - Malaysia
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new type of light-emitting diode (LED) that may provide better lighting with less energy. The new polarisation-matched LED, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, exhibits an 18% increase in light output and a 22% increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.
Read the story.
07/28/09
Scientists develop new tool to visualize past and future lunar eclipses
Gaea Times - Kolkata,West Bengal, India
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US, have developed a new method for using computer graphics to simulate and render an accurate visualization of a lunar eclipse, whether in the past or in the future.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
07/26/09
Billy Fuccillo’s drive is H-U-G-E
The Daily Gazette
Jeffrey Durgee, associate professor of marketing at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said auto dealer Billy Fuccillo’s snappy catch phrase helps him build brand identity. Brand consistency also makes his commercials successful. When Fuccillo says “huge,” he is referring to a huge selection or huge savings, but he is physically huge, his voice is huge and his personality is also huge, Durgee said. “If he was a small person saying ‘huge’ it would be less effective than his saying ‘huge,’ ” Durgee said.
Read the story.
07/26/09
Engineer’s memories stretch to the moon
The Reflector
Lawrence “Larry” Nichols worked on missions such as Apollo 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. He also worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. Though he received his degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and compiled quite the resumé (his first job out of college was working on the Atlas missile program), Nichols cites luck for the reason he got involved working on the lunar modules.
Read the story.
07/26/09
In Malta, a landmark on the road to innovation
The Times Union
New York State Senator Charles E. Schumer comments on the ground breaking for GlobalFoundries' $4.2 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility. "The new facility is going up in the heart of one of America's new innovation hubs, Tech Valley, where we have made visionary investments in building a technology cluster. Here you'll find the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the IBM Technology Alliance. Tech Valley is filled with creativity, and will help turn America's boldest ideas into reality."
Read the story.
07/24/09
Why Support for Israel Shrinks
The Palestine Chronicle
According to Steve Breyman, Associate Professor Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer, the decline in support for the Israeli government is a direct consequence of growing public awareness of official Israeli policy and behavior. Neither the policy nor the behavior are new, and vary little regardless of which parties or coalition is in power. What’s new is that objectionable Israeli behavior is much harder to hide (if not to continue to deny) in this age of computer networking.
Read the story, which was also covered by Foreign Policy.
07/22/09
Low Noise Top Gate Graphene Transistor is Demonstrated
Nanotechnology Now
A team of researchers from the University of California - Riverside (UCR) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) built and demonstrated the first top gate graphene transistor, which satisfies the low-noise requirements for graphene practical applications.
Read the story.
07/21/09
Open source DS software starting to bubble up
Ajax World
There are at least a couple of projects around truly free open source software on to the DS marketplace. The newer, and probably more interesting of the two, is Concerto — interesting because it comes out of one of the better known and respected engineering schools in the US, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The project is the work of a skunkworks tech group associated with RPI's Student Union, and has been in development for more than a year. It only runs still images, not video or Flash, but does include support for RSS feeds. The target user base is other university campuses and institutions.
Read the story.
07/20/09
Do Elite Colleges Produce the Best-Paid Graduates?
The New York Times
A recent blog on the New York Times Web site sees money spent on a Rensselaer undergraduate education as an excellent investment. The business blog Economix compares the median mid-career (minimum 10 years out of school) salary for Rensselaer graduates with other universities.
Read the story, which was also cover by The Times Union.
07/17/09
Political Pranksters Say Latest Climate Venture Is Not Hot Air
Fox News
An Internet-based group of activists who specialize in political pranks say they’re seriously determined to expel all the hot air surrounding the highly combustible issue of climate change. "It's kind of an extreme sport, an extreme eco-sport," said Igor Vamos, who works as an associate professor in the art department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. "We're a group of creative activists. Our goal is to make trouble where trouble can help."
Read the story.
07/13/09
Massive Fake Quake Will Shake 6-Story Condo
Wired Science
A massive simulated earthquake will rock a six-story wooden condominium to the brink of collapse Tuesday, during one of the largest shake-table experiments undertaken to date.The simulation, which will be webcast live July 14 at 11 a.m. EDT on the National Science Foundation website, is designed to test how a mid-rise wood-frame building would stand up to shaking from an earthquake around magnitude 7.5. Civil engineer Michael Symans of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute helped design the test building.
Read the story which was also covered by SmartBriefs, Gizmodo.com, and The Times Union
Read the Rensselaer news release.
07/07/09
Seeking a Light Approach to Elderly Sleep Troubles
The Wall Street Journal
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are searching for practical ways to alleviate the sleep troubles that plague many elderly people by adjusting the lighting where they live. Difficulty with sleeping can contribute to overuse of sleep medications. Mariana Figueiro, the director of RPI’s “light and health” program, is looking to apply research about the relationship between light and the 24-hour internal body clock, known as circadian rhythm.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
07/05/09
Incandescent Bulbs Return to the Cutting Edge
The New York Times
According to the New York Times reporter, physics professor at Rensselaer, Shawn-Yu Lin, is seeing improved incandescent performance by using a high-tech, iridium-coated filament that recycles wasted heat. “The technology can get up to six to seven times more efficient,” Lin said.
Read the story. which was also coverd by Adz Materials
07/04/09
Automation Takes On Fuel Cell Manufacturing
Automation World
Fuel cell technology holds potential to become a significant alternative energy source for powering equipment ranging from laptop computers to automobiles. But for many applications, fuel cells today are not cost-effective, due in part to relatively high manufacturing costs.
Read the story.
07/03/09
Troy mixed-use project stimulated by $7.3M from Recovery Act
The Business Review
Federal stimulus money will soon fund roadwork in Troy that will open a parcel for mixed-use development, one of the newest stimulus-backed projects in this region. The $7.3 million construction is the most expensive of the nine Capital Region projects that Gov. David Paterson announced this week. Meanwhile, other area stimulus projects are being bid or nearing the start of construction. The Troy project involves shifting portions of lower Congress and Ferry streets near the performing arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Read the story.
07/02/09
Athletic Village takes shape at RPI
The Troy Record
In the next couple of months, construction will be completed on Phase I of the $114 million dollar project that will bring RPI student-athletes into the next generation of competition.
Read the story.
07/01/09
Plasma Waves Studied for New Electronics
Red Orbit
William Stillman, NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) fellow at Rensselaer, gives a first hand account of his research in terahertz radiation.
Read the story.
