Electrifying Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes have the potential to be used for smaller and faster computer chips, but static electricity poses serious problems with nanoscale elements in a circuit.

Static electricity has long been a problem for conventional chips and electronic devices, but it's especially severe for nanotubes because of their extreme shape-nanotubes are often micrometers long and only a few billionths of a meter in diameter. The result of a small zap destabilizes the nanotubes, making them useless as a semiconductor.

To find out how severe the problem is, Pawel Keblinski, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Saroj Nayak, assistant professor of physics, combined quantum mechanics in theoretical computer simulations with classical electrostatics analysis. They found that the electrostatic charge is concentrated at the tube ends, which eventually destroys the entire nanotube.

The researchers then calculated the maximum charge the tube can adopt before its ends become unstable. Besides providing a guide to "safe" operational conditions for nanotubes, this so-called "tube charging" technique could be used to open nanotube ends without damaging them, allowing carbon atoms to react directly with other elements, such as oxygen, boron, and nitrogen.

Since carbon nanotubes in their purest form may not be the answer to building smaller, more efficient computer chips, the addition of elements such as nitrogen could provide new electrical characteristics to the tubes or could be used to increase the bonding between the tubes and other materials.

"It was exactly the same way with silicon technology. Silicon is not very useful in pure form. Other elements have to be added to provide proper electrical characteristics," says Keblinski.

Public Safety Issues Mail Handling Alert; Campus Community Urged To Use Caution

In response to the nationwide anthrax scare, Rensselaer's Department of Public Safety has issued an alert on the handling of suspicious mail.

The alert, defines suspicious mail as letters and packages:

• From someone unfamiliar to you.
• Have no return address.
• Have unusual weight, are lopsided or oddly sealed.
• Have strange odors or stains.
• May be marked "Rush," "Personal," "Confidential," etc.
• Show a city or postmark that do not match the return address.

"If you think it is suspicious, treat it as suspicious," says Public Safety.

Do not open suspicious mail. Call Public Safety immediately at ext. 6611. Off-campus, dial 911. The Public Safety officer will decide what further precautionary steps are to be taken, if any.

If you have opened mail that contains an unknown substance, cover the spilled contents immediately. Leave the room and wash your hands with soap and water. Call Public Safety immediately at ext. 6611; off-campus, dial 911. You will receive immediate directions and help.

The full directive and other information on Rensselaer's response to the anthrax scare and the events of Sept. 11 can be found at www.rpi.edu (click on "Campus Responds").

Forty-Nine Rensselaer Scholar-Athletes Named to UCAA All-Academic Team

The 2001 Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) Fall All-Academic Team was announced and a league-high 49 Rensselaer student-athletes were selected. Honored student-athletes must have at least sophomore athletic and academic standing, a minimum grade point average of 3.20, and must be considered a major contributor to their team.

Following are Rensselaer's UCAA All-Academic student-athletes, by sport.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
John Bonnett, Management
Duane Crammond, Chemical Engineering
Ryan Hevner, Mechanical Engineering
Justin Jablonowski, Materials Engineering
Mark Jensenius, Aeronautical Engineering
Matt Stokes, Information Technology
Pete Warrington, Computer Systems Engineering

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Kate Adams, Biomedical Engineering
Jen Barton, Chemical Engineering
Claire Lears, Engineering
Andrea Maggi, Computer Systems Eng. & Electrical Eng.
Jess Orsak, Biomedical Engineering
Cara O'Toole, Information Technology
Katie Roden, Architecture
Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran, Chemical Engineering
Jen Sullivan, Biomedical Engineering & Mechanical Eng.
Edith Werpachowski, Chemical Engineering

FIELD HOCKEY
Jenn Amyot, Math
Katie Coleman, Mechanical Engineering
Marie Grieco, Electronic Media Arts Communication

FOOTBALL
Marc Blevins, Management
Chris Comisky, Management
Tom Cuomo, Engineering
Mike Defilipi, Information Technology
Joe Gomez, Management
Tom Heusinger, Management
Alex Keel, Information Technology
Joe Prymas, Management
Tony Spackmann, Math
Ken Taylor, Engineering
Matt Verenini, Management
Tom Wallace, Engineering

MEN'S SOCCER
Scott Bauer, Management
Chris Bohren, Engineering
Brian Clark, Biomedical Engineering
Luke Gentile, Architecture
Nick Ruggio, Information Technology

WOMEN'S SOCCER
Heather Bauby, Biology
Laura Feeney, Engineering
Kelly Fogarty, Biomedical Engineering
Amy Gontarek, Mechanical Engineering
Susan Gonyea, Civil Engineering
Andrea Hamill, Chemical Engineering
Jill Vanis, Electrical Engineering

TENNIS
Michelle Casey, Management Info. Systems
Jessica DePalma, Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication
Victoria Gardner, Management
Alex Koch, Mechanical Engineering
Thais Triehy, Environmental Science

Lally School's "Techno-MBA" Ranked Among Top 25 by ComputerWorld Magazine

In its fourth annual survey, Computerworld has ranked the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer among the top 25 schools around the country in techno-MBA programs.

Today's top techno-MBA programs "focus on providing tools to drive strategic thoughts to manage business," the weekly print and online publication for IT professionals states. "The overriding theme is of shifting the focus away from technology products and systems and placing the emphasis squarely on the business's bottom line," the publication adds. "That ability to distinguish between what's technologically possible and what's feasible in terms of the marketability, financing, and profitability of technology-driven business initiatives is at the heart of all the curriculums in all of Computerworld's top 25 MBA programs."

One major criterion for the rankings was how well programs relate to solving real-world technological problems. Many of the top schools "work with companies to give their students access to new technologies and new business problems that could be solved with technology," the publication says.

"I'm especially pleased that we were ranked so high in a survey that places a lot of emphasis on solving practical problems. We view that as one of our real strengths, so it's wonderful that it has been recognized in this way," says Robert A. Baron, interim dean of the Lally School.

For the survey, ComputerWorld reviewed information about various MBA programs, and campus recruiters nationwide were asked to nominate their favorite based on their experience in hiring graduates from those programs. ComputerWorld also asked other universities to nominate the best techno-MBA programs nationally, other than their own programs, based on the quality of the curricula in those programs.

Roysam New Head of CenSSIS

Badri Roysam, professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering, has been appointed principal investigator of the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS), effective Oct. 1.

Roysam takes over from James Modestino, professor of ECSE, who will leave Rensselaer at the end of this semester to join the University of Miami as professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Modestino has provided the technical and administrative leadership for the center since its formation last year as part of an NSF Engineering Research Center led by Northeastern University in Boston.

Roysam will be responsible for the technical direction of the research work, as well as the day-to-day administration of Rensselaer's portion of the center. He will be the primary technical interface between Northeastern and the other partner universities, which include Boston University and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez.

Through subsurface sensing, scientists are able to identify and picture what is happening under the skin, beneath the crust of the Earth, below the surface of the ocean, and in other regions that are not directly and easily accessible. Rensselaer researchers are already developing applications in subsurface sensing to advance the detection of breast cancer, land mines, oil deposits, and pulmonary edema.

Rensselaer Brings Students Back From Rome; China Programs Not Affected

As U.S. military action began in Afghanistan and in the face of potential retaliatory acts against groups of American students in countries that are allied with the United States, Rensselaer asked all 16 students in its Roman Studies Program to return to Troy.

The action was prompted by an official U.S. advisory that said the State Department "has received information that symbols of American Capitalism in Italy may be targeted for attack in the next month."

"We knew that we would have little or no ability to protect our students once some hostile act took place," said Eddie Ade Knowles, vice president for student life. "The time to act was before anything happened. We could not downplay or ignore the potential for retaliatory acts against American students living and studying together in countries that have supported America in the battle against terrorism."

Housing, meal plans, and admission to classes were immediately provided to the returning students who had planned to spend the entire fall semester in Rome as part of the School of Architecture's study abroad program.

Rensselaer's spring 2002 educational programs in China, sponsored by the School of Architecture and by the Lally School of Management and Technology, will continue as planned. The State Department, the Institute, and other universities see little danger of retaliatory acts against American students in China as the result of current hostilities in Afghanistan.

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