That much is known. But the road signs that direct traffic on the highways—collectively known as the cytoskeleton—are a mystery, and now the subject of research for Lee Ligon, associate professor of biology.

Ligon has been awarded a five-year $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to unravel one thread of the mystery, testing whether a particular feature scientists have observed on the molecular highways—called “microtubules”—could be serving as a directional sign for traffic. Misdirected traffic results in long delays in the delivery of vital intracellular cargo, particularly in nerve cells that extend the full length of the body, and has been observed in conjunction with several neurodegenerative diseases.

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	Laurie A. Leshin, Ph.D. Dean of the School of Science

On behalf of our faculty, staff and students, I welcome you to the Rensselaer School of Science.

We are absolutely dedicated to driving the interdisciplinary frontiers of science through research and education. These aren’t just words to us. Within our School we work collaboratively every day to discover answers to humanity’s most compelling questions, to define new fields of study, and to invent solutions to global challenges. We do this working seamlessly across disciplinary boundaries, bringing the best of all fields together to advance science.

In the Rensselaer School of Science, we embrace our educational mission on equal footing to our research mission. Research and education come together in our students—our undergraduates engage in extensive hands-on, experiential learning, and most experience discovery first-hand through research. Our graduate students are driving interdisciplinary frontiers along with our faculty. After leaving Rensselaer, our students are highly employable; over 17,000 Rensselaer School of Science graduates power innovation and discovery around the world in industry, non-profits, government and academia.

Whether you’re a current or future undergraduate or graduate student, a research collaborator, or an alum, we hope you’ll enjoy our revamped website which highlights our dedication to science and discovery for the betterment of humanity. It is this dedication that brought me to Rensselaer—after checking us out on the Web, I hope you’ll come to campus and experience it, too!

The Dean’s Page