Dean of Architecture Alan Balfour’s new book, World Cities: Shanghai (Wiley, 2002), examines the history, culture, and politics of Shanghai that led to unprecedented growth in the last decade of the 20th century. Shanghai is Balfour’s third “World Cities” book, following New York (2001) and Berlin (1995).
As part of Rensselaer’s commitment to improving opportunity for women and underrepresented minority students, the Institute is developing educational partnerships with premier undergraduate institutions including Morehouse, Spelman, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Williams colleges.
U.S. News & World Report named five Rensselaer engineering graduate programs among the top 25 in the nation: The biomedical program ranked 18th, civil engineering 23rd, and electrical engineering 17th. Materials sciences, one of the oldest materials departments in the country, ranked 19th, and mechanical engineering continued its history of excellence with a ranking of 18th.
Pulickel Ajayan, professor of materials science and engineering, has discovered a molecular-scale welding method that may be the first step in creating ultra-strong materials or tiny chip circuitry. The breakthrough was featured in the Oct. 7, 2002, issue of Business Week’s “Developments to Watch.” Ajayan and his colleagues in Germany, Mexico, the U.K., and Belgium used irradiation and heat to form the junctions.