“In the News” June 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.
06/29/09
NASA Selects New Astronauts for Future Space Exploration
SpaceRef.Com
After reviewing more than 3500 applications, NASA has selected nine men and women for the 2009 astronaut candidate class. They will begin training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, in August. One of this select group is Rensselaer graduate Gregory R. (Reid) Wiseman, Lt. Commander U.S. Navy, 33, of Virginia Beach, Va.; born in Baltimore; test pilot; Department Head, Strike Fighter Squadron 103, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, based out of Oceana Virginia.
Read the story, which was also covered by WVEC.Com.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
06/28/09
Moon Magic: Researchers Develop New Tool To Visualize Past, Future Lunar Eclipses
PhysOrg.Com
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method for using computer graphics to simulate and render an accurate visualization of a lunar eclipse. The model uses celestial geometry of the sun, Earth, and moon, along with data for the Earth’s atmosphere and the moon’s peculiar optical properties to create picture-perfect images of lunar eclipses.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
06/24/09
RPI athletics' future in sites
The Times Union
Rensselaer Polytechic Institute is completing the first phase of the East Campus Athletic Village, including a basketball arena and a connecting multipurpose stadium, both expected to be ready by the beginning of the school year. The football team will hold its home opener in the 5,200-seat stadium on Sept. 12 against Endicott. Then an official ribbon-cutting ceremony will be performed on Oct. 3 during the school's Hall of Fame and Reunion Weekend.
Read the story.
06/21/09
Futurist pinpoints world's top ten long-term challenges
ZDNet
In his recent commencement address to the 2009 graduating class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Peter Schwartz outlined ten top world challenges that the graduates should consider to make an impact. Schwartz is a business strategist, futurist, and author of The Art of the Long View. He said that today’s number-one challenge — and opportunity — is to develop a long-term solution for our energy needs.
Read the story.
06/23/09
Ex-astronaut heads science camp at RPI
The Troy Record
Bernard Harris Jr., a 52-year-old veteran of two Space Shuttle flights, is trying to open up the world to young students in the place he was in 40 years ago. Through a partnership between his non-profit organization and ExxonMobil, 30 science summer camps are being held for middle schoolers across the nation, including one at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Read the story.
06/19/09
Why the Eyes Have It
The Wall Street Journal
Mark Changizi, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Vision Revolution, asks why the brain works the way it does. According to the Wall Street Journal review, ‘‘His ideas about the brain and mind are fascinating, and his explanations for our habits of seeing are, for the most part, persuasive.”
Read the review and the excerpt.
06/17/09
Dodd lauds CT universities for participation in the Yellow Ribbon Project
Stamford Plus Magazine
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) commended Connecticut independent colleges for responding to his call to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program. Earlier this year, Dodd sent a letter to eligible Connecticut schools, urging their participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, a program that provides scholarships to military veterans who served after September 11, 2001 to attend independent institutes of higher education. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was among those schools.
Read the story.
06/16/09
Engineer is honored for helping to develop e-mail
Boston Globe
Two American engineers who were instrumental in developing e-mail and mobile phones on Wednesday won one of Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias awards for revolutionizing the way people communicate. The 2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research went to Raymond Tomlinson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Class of 1963 , and Martin Cooper for their work in developing e-mail and cell phone systems in the 1970s — "among the greatest technological innovations of our time."
Read the story, which was also covered by AP, The Canadian Press, Business Wire, and numerous other media outlets.
06/12/09
Lighting up lives in South Asia
Times Union
Nearly a dozen men from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center as part of an initiative to create a similar facility in Sri Lanka that will benefit eight countries in South Asia.
Read the story.
06/12/09
Plasma Waves Studied for New Electronics
Live Science
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.
06/12/09
Scientist close to realising contraceptive pill for men
The Times of India
An American researcher has for the first time come up with insights into what changes occur within sperm after it enters the female reproductive tract. Mark Platt, an assistant professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, says that his findings provide important clues into the still-mysterious process of capacitation, the process by which sperm acquire the ability to fertilize an egg, including why some otherwise healthy males might encounter fertility issues.
Read the story, which was also covered by The Examiner.Com.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
06/09/09
Screens And Your Health
Forbes.com
Sleep disruptions become more frequent as people age, and some studies have found that up to half of all people over the age of 65 have trouble sleeping. Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center said in a statement that they, and scientists elsewhere, have demonstrated that blue light is effective at stimulating the circadian system when it is used with the right "light intensity, spatial distribution, timing, and duration."
Read the story, which was also covered by AHN, and the InventorsSpot.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
06/03/09
Laser boosts light bulb efficiency
Guo says that, over the entire visible spectrum, the efficiency rose from roughly 50% to 100%. However, Shawn Lin, a photonics researcher at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is not so sure. “The higher emissivity is over visible and near-infrared wavelengths, which means it would generate a lot of wasted heat — 80 to 95% — in the infrared regime,” he says. If there is wasted heat, adds Lin, the researchers could reduce it by further nano-structuring.
Read the story.
06/02/09
$746K in stimulus steered to Albany for research
Business Review
A trio of Albany, N.Y. area research institutions will share in $745,506 in stimulus funds. The grants, to Albany Medical College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Wadsworth Center are part of $9.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money to be distributed to medical researchers in New York state.
Read the story.
06/02/09
DARPA awards TriQuint $16.5m GaN extension
compoundsemiconductor.net
The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have awarded a GaN development project led by TriQuint Semiconductor a further $16.5 million. Defense contractor giants Lockheed-Martin and BAE Systems are also involved in the two-year extension, while academic expertise in device physics and modeling is provided by Michael Shur from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Jesus del Alamo from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Read the story, which was also covered in Semiconductor Today (England)
