"Open up your mind. Open up your senses," says Johannes Goebel. "You've got to be open to new things." As director of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Goebel promises plenty of "new things" are headed our way when the ribbon is cut and the doors are opened to the brand spanking new $200 million facility on Friday. . . . The massive building houses four world-class, state-of-the-art, high-tech performance spaces — a 1,200-seat concert hall, an intimate 400-seat theater and two highly flexible black-box performance venues. . . . Of course, EMPAC is much more than just a performing arts center. In addition to the four major performance spaces, the building also houses four work studios for artists in residence, a rehearsal hall, a cafe, professional audio and video production studios, and a research suite.
Read the story.
09/26/2008
Sound forces liquid lenses into faster focus
New Scientist
Using sound to manipulate low-cost liquid lenses could improve the small cameras built into mobile phones, say U.S. researchers. . . . Amir Hirsa at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, points out that the Varioptic lens and other existing liquid lens technologies must use brute force to overcome surface tension and refocus a liquid lens. The force involved sends ripples through the droplet that must dissipate before a clear image can be taken. That means liquid lenses aren't suitable for fast focusing. To get around this problem, Hirsa and Carlos Lopez, also at Rensselaer, tried using sound to quickly focus liquid lenses instead.
Read the story, which was also covered by Yahoo! India, Technology Review, Scientific American, United Press International, Electronics Weekly, and Gizmodo.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
09/23/2008
Art and Science, Virtual and Real, Under One Big Roof
New York Times
On a hillside overlooking this college town on the banks of the Hudson, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has erected a technological pleasure dome for the mind and senses. Eight years and $200 million in the making, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, or Empac, resembles an enormous 1950s-era television set. But inside are not old-fashioned vacuum tubes but the stuff of 21st-century high-tech dreams dedicated to the marriage of art and science as it has never been done before, its creators say — 220,000 square feet of theaters, studios and work spaces hooked to supercomputers.
Read the story.
09/16/2008
Seeking the power to heal
Times Union
When researchers combined the anticoagulant drug heparin with cellulose, they came up with a membrane that could be used in kidney dialysis or other filtering applications. It was also a step toward developing what has become known as a 'paper battery,' basically the membrane strengthened with carbon nanotubes that, when folded over, could function as a capacitor or battery, once an electrolyte was added. Robert Linhardt, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, credited students at the school with the observations that led to the device. Linhardt delivered the opening address at NanoBioTech 2008, a conference held Monday at RPI.
Read the story.
09/15/2008
Blues busters
The Edmonton Journal
To maximize the benefits of natural light, the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., suggests opening the blinds as wide as possible when you wake. If it's still dark, head for the brightest light in the house to boost your body's natural alarm clock. Natural light encourages the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that decreases aggression and improves mood. It also suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that makes us feel sleepy.
Read the story.
09/15/2008
The Capital Region makes, the world takes
Times Union
An artistic ferment is taking place at the grass-roots level. . . . The creative platforms of
the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at RPI and the Contemporary Arts Center at Woodside in Troy/Riverspark will soon network our region with the rest of the world. EMPAC, scheduled to open in October, is like no other performing arts center in the world. Its concert hall, theater and two studios are designed as first-class performance venues but they have supporting features that will attract artists, researchers, engineers and others from around the world to develop new artworks and innovations for the 21st century. The connection between arts and technology is happening at RPI in new and exciting ways. Troy is likely to become the Silicon Valley of arts, embracing a wide number emerging technologies that can be applied creatively.
Read the story.
09/11/2008
Nanotechnology coming soon to IMAX
ZDNet.com
This winter, nanotechnology will be coming to an IMAX theater near you. A 40-minute movie, ‘Molecules to the MAX,’ will start its career on giant screens. This movie has very peculiar characteristics. First, it has been produced at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) by the director of the university’s nanotechnology center. . . . At least, you can be sure that the screen appearances of the Oxy, Hydro, Hydra and other molecules will be scientifically accurate. And this new movie has used lots of computer time as it took 50 hours to render a frame in the high-definition IMAX format. With 24 frames per second, this represents almost 3 million hours of computer time — more that 300 years.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
09/10/2008
Interdisciplinary by design
Mechanical Engineering Magazine
Design is ubiquitous. Engineers, architects, and industrial designers all practice it, but who studies design — the verb, not just the noun? . . . In terms of valuing design, Dean Nieusma, assistant professor of science, technology, and society at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, stressed the importance of recognizing and understanding how power is manifested through disciplinarity when planning interdisciplinary endeavors. Since different knowledge domains grant different levels of authority to the various approaches to design, we must recognize and confront problems that can arise when striving for equal partnerships with disciplines where design is more marginalized (i.e., has less authority).
Read the story.
09/10/2008
Shining a light on how much light is too much light
R&D Magazine
Scientists in the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed the first ever comprehensive method for predicting and measuring various aspects of light pollution. The method, called Outdoor Site-Lighting Performance (OSP), allows users to quantify — and thus optimize — the performance of existing and planned lighting designs and applications to minimize excessive or obtrusive light leaving the boundaries of a property. Until now the conversation about light pollution has been just that — a lot of talk with no data, says Mark Rea, LRC director and principal investigator on the project.
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
09/08/2008
Energy action plan for the next president
Minnesota Public Radio
Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Vice Chair of the Council on Competitiveness, will speak before a live audience at the National Press Club about an energy action plan for the next president, which includes ideas about how the U.S. can reach energy security, stimulate job growth and protect the environment.
Listen to the broadcast.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
09/08/2008
A mind of its own
Times Union
Unlike most 4-year-olds, Edd Hifeng is, to be honest, pretty dull. He's not much for conversation, and he doesn't play, giggle, sing or daydream. But to those eager for the day when artificial intelligence is more than a topic for far-fetched movies, young Edd is fascinating indeed. See, Edd is an invention of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He thinks like a 4-year-old boy, at least in some respects, but he's not a 4-year-old boy. He's a virtual child with reasoning ability — and he's a noteworthy advance toward the development of real artificial intelligence. "He's a step toward this kind of dream," said Selmer Bringsjord, director of the Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Lab. "But not the first step."
Read the story.
Read the Rensselaer news release.
