Campus.News: Features

Using experimental and mathematical models, Natacha DePaola and a team of biomedical engineering researchers are examining how blood flow causes changes in the circulatory system. Her research could lead to a better understanding of how atherosclerosis develops.

DePaola is an associate professor of biomedical engineering and director of the laboratory focused on biofluids and cellular bioengineering. Her aim is also to understand the dynamics of cell behavior and cell interactions at the arterial surface in early atherosclerosis, an arterial disease that can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Atherosclerosis develops where branches or sharp curves in the arteries create disturbed blood flows.

Studies by DePaola and her collaborators at the Institute for Medicine and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania have shown how disturbed blood flow disrupts communication among the endothelial cells that line the arteries.

"The novelty of our research approach resides on the fact that the biological emphasis is in cell dysfunction and that the fluid dynamics emphasis is in the complex flows found at atherogenesis-prone sites of the human vascular system," says DePaola, whose research in this area is backed by a five-year grant of $1,360,000 from the National Institutes of Health.

Her group also is tackling research related to the breakdown in the ability of the endothelium to serve as a barrier, vascular cell interactions, signaling mechanisms, and the development of new biomedical instrumentation that includes biosensors and bioreactors for the study of mammalian cell function and the engineering of functional human tissue. These research activities are sponsored by the NIH, the National Science Foundation, and the Whitaker Foundation.

Seven citizens spoke up at the Troy City Planning Commission's public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) filed by Rensselaer. Comments at the Oct. 2 hearing came from neighborhood residents, community leaders, and the Rensselaer County Green Party.The DEIS is part of a required State Environmental Quality Review of the Institute's proposed new building construction.

Most respondents raised concern about the possible impact of the construction project on traffic, parking, auto emissions, noise, and light pollution. Concerns about the appearance of the parking garage and boiler plant stacks were also raised.

Despite having a few reservations, representatives of the arts community and the Troy City Schools praised project goals and urged project approval.

The Planning Commission will announce its response to the DEIS after a careful review of Rensselaer's plans and the public response.

Written comments will be gathered by the commission through Monday, Oct. 15. Members of the Rensselaer community are encouraged to review the DEIS and present comments in writing to the Planning Department at City Hall.

Faculty from the Lally School and staff from Professional and Distance Education (PDE) are working with their counterparts at Tec de Monterrey (Mexico), the leading technological university in Latin America, to jointly develop a new Organizational Behavior course that will reflect cross-cultural issues and the impact of globalization on corporations. This work is being funded by a curriculum development grant from the General Motors Technical Education Program.

"We are a cross-cultural, virtual work team creating a course that, in part, teaches folks how to work in cross-cultural, virtual work environments."
—Sue Bray—

The new course will be taken by GM employees as part of two Rensselaer degree programs offered at GM—an M.S. in engineering science with a concentration in the management of technology (MOT) and an M.S. in management. In addition, Tec de Monterrey (TEC) will now join a list of top universities providing distance-delivered courses to GM to satisfy degree requirements for the MOT program. Over the past several years, Rensselaer and GM have expanded the successful MOT program to Mexico, where Mexican engineers at five sites now are enrolled.

According to Sue Bray, assistant dean for strategy and development for PDE, a team from Rensselaer and TEC is redesigning the Organizational Behavior course and a pilot course will be taught this spring.

One interesting feature of the course redesign, Bray says, is that faculty from six continents, selected by GM, have reviewed the team's work to bring international perspectives. "We are a cross-cultural, virtual work team creating a course that, in part, teaches folks how to work in cross-cultural, virtual work environments," said Bray.

William Jennings, vice provost for professional and distance education, says that Rensselaer is GM's largest university supplier and is considered to be the benchmark provider in many regards. At the March 2001 graduation at GM, seven of nine "Value-Add" awards given to graduates for contributions to GM based on course work were won by Rensselaer graduates.

Faye Duchin, dean of humanities and social sciences since 1996, is stepping down as dean. A nationwide search for a replacement has been initiated, and Duchin will stay in position during the search.

According to President Jackson, the dean will be responsible for providing academic leadership, developing new academic initiatives for the school, and enhancing the quality of the faculty, students, and staff.

The search committee members are: Gary Gabriele, undergraduate education (chair); Lee Odell, LL&C; Joseph Walther, LL&C, Linda Layne, STS; Yingrui Yang, PPCS and DSES; Caren Canier, Arts; Brent Goldfarb, economics; Larry Feeser, civil engineering; and Issom Herron, mathematics. In addition, Curtis Powell, vice president of human resources, will work with the committee on the search.

Members of the Rensselaer community are urged to send suggestions or nominations to Gary Gabriele.

Phillip Phan, the Warren H. Bruggeman '46 and Pauline Urban Bruggeman Distinguished Associate Professor of Management, has been named research director of the Paul J. '69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship in the Lally School of Management and Technology. Robert Baron, interim dean of the Lally School, is interim director of the Severino Center.

Phan, an international expert on entrepreneurship, will lead the effort to enhance academic research in entrepreneurship. High-quality, peer-reviewed research is a hallmark of top-ranked business schools, Phan says. The Lally School was recently ranked 13th in the country for entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report.

Rensselaer students benefit from a close-knit network and support system for nascent entrepreneurs through the award-winning Incubator Center, the Technology Park, and the Office of Technology Transfer.

Bolstered by a recent $1 million gift from Trustee Mike Herman '62 and the Herman Family Foundation, Rensselaer will infuse entrepreneurship throughout the curriculum. Phan said he hopes to seek additional funding to create national visibility for entrepreneurship research.

"Rensselaer will be the only school in the country that requires all of its undergraduate students to have an entrepreneurship experience in their first year," Phan said. "Infusing entrepreneurship throughout the curriculum will create Rensselaer graduates who can combine technology with economic opportunity to create and build globally competitive businesses. With these skills, they will form the backbone of the new economy."

Artbyte magazine's September/October 2001 "Digital Art School Guide" listed Rensselaer as one of 33 schools around the country whose programs are "hatching new worlds with the latest digital toys."

Artbyte is a global publication that focuses on digital arts and culture. The magazine has ranked Rensselaer as one of the few schools around the country to offer an M.F.A. degree in digital arts, a growing field that merges information technology with art, design, music, cinema, and the Web.

"Whether they choose to pursue the life of a fine artist or head into commercial business, they (students) are at the top of their class," says Artbyte writer Rachel Egenhoefer. "Besides being blessed with technical know-how, they graduate with problem-solving and critical thinking skills to boot."

The magazine states that digital arts programs, like those offered at Rensselaer, are evolving quickly. "Nearly every school boasted new facilities and equipment, faculty expansion, and record graduating classes," the magazine says.

For the first time ever, total research awards to Rensselaer exceeded $50 million in fiscal year 2001. This includes research funding from federal, state, corporate, and foundation sources. In addition, five new NSF CAREER award winners were announced, and six major center grants were awarded or renewed by federal agencies during the year.

Currently, one of the major accomplishments of the Office of the Vice President for Research is the naming of Rensselaer as the recipient of a $10 million NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. The center, called the Center for Directed Assembly of Nanostructures, is headed by Richard W. Siegel, and will develop new materials and devices that are created at the scale of the simplest building blocks of matter.

The Office of Research has been active in coordinating these major funding efforts, and provides faculty with information, resources and infrastructure about research funding and programs. A new exploratory research seed program has just received 72 proposals from faculty for innovative research projects. Cost sharing of proposals has been dramatically increased through a tuition waiver program as well as increased institutional matching, especially for interdisciplinary programs.

The Office of Research is working with faculty committees to search for constellations of chaired faculty. Rapid progress on the design of the new biotechnology and interdisciplinary studies center will lead to groundbreaking in early 2002. Facilities needs for information technology research are under discussion.

"We have made great strides toward meeting the goals of the Plan," said Art Sanderson, vice president for research. "The NSF CAREER winners, new state-of-the art facilities, and high profile research centers will greatly enhance our effort to recruit and retain the best faculty and students and will increase our research capabilities."

Art Sale To Benefit Survivors of Terrorist Attacks

Larry Kagan '68, professor of arts, is among a group of artists contributing to a charity art sale to benefit survivors of the World Trade Center attacks. His artwork will be on exhibit at the O.K. Harris Gallery Oct. 26 through Nov. 3.

Kagan specializes in light as a drawing medium. His elaborate shadow "sculptures," which seem to be derived from nothing more than tangled metal, are cast by light as it strikes meticulously maneuvered structures of steel.

Provoking immediate recall of the Twin Towers, Kagan's piece, titled "Evolution," is composed of two rectangular prisms. One lies flat and the other leans on the first at an angle as if in the process of raising itself.

"It is not a new piece, but I thought that it might be relevant for the occasion," says Kagan.

The benefit exhibitions will take place in galleries across New York City; the show is collectively called "I Love New York."

"Disbelief goes on hold at the sight of these images that look like objects drawn on a wall... They are actually shadows cast by ingeniously maneuvered structures of steel that seem nothing but intricate tangles of loop curves, bends and angles," wrote New York Times writer Grace Glueck. "Shadow is supposedly illusion, but Mr. Kagan's skills make it eerily substantive."

An exhibition of work by Kagan was reviewed by The New York Times Feb. 4. The show, "Substance and Shadow," was mounted at the O.K. Harris gallery in New York City Jan. 15 - Feb. 12.