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Campus
News: Week of Dec. 11, 2000
Multidisciplinary
Design Lab Dedicated
The new O.T.
Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory, located in the high
bay area of Rensselaer's Jonsson Engineering Center, was dedicated
on Thursday, Nov. 30. Donors Robert Swanson '58 and his wife,
Cynthia Shevlin, were honored for their gifts to the facility,
which will house state-of-the-art technology for teaching design.
 Swanson,
a Rensselaer trustee, and his wife offered $750,000 to Rensselaer
if the Institute could raise an additional $750,000 for the MDL's
construction. The challenge was successfully met, and, in recognition
of their gift, the facility was named to honor Swanson's father,
the late O.T. Swanson.
"Today's
engineers most often work in teams," said President Jackson
at the dedication. "This laboratory will simulate the work
environment that Rensselaer graduates can expect to find as they
begin their careers. Here, students from different disciplines—and
from different schools—will work as a team, taking a project
from its initial design, through prototyping, and on to manufacturing.
Here, students will learn real-world technical skills from faculty,
from other students, and from industry representatives through
collaborative techniques."
"Here,
students from different disciplines—and from different
schools—will work as a team, taking a project from its
initial design, through prototyping, and on to manufacturing.
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— Shirley Jackson—
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Now retired,
Swanson was executive vice president and director of Mobil Corporation
and Mobil Oil Corporation. He had responsibility for Mobil businesses
in the Asia/Pacific region, Africa, and the Middle East, as well
as for Mobil's chemical and technology activities. Swanson also
was Mobil's executive steward of global diversity and inclusion.
A Rensselaer trustee, Swanson has been an active volunteer as
a former Key Executive and as a volunteer for the Archer Center
for Student Leadership Development. He has also served as an Annual
Fund volunteer, and he has received the Alumni Key Award.
Committee
to Plan for New Biotechnology Center
President
Shirley Ann Jackson has appointed a committee to develop a program
and work with the architect on the design of the new biotechnology
and interdisciplinary studies center at Rensselaer.
President
Shirley Ann Jackson has appointed a committee to develop a
program and work with the architect on the design of the new
biotechnology and interdisciplinary studies center at Rensselaer.
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Co-chairing
the committee is Ted Mirczak '66, acting vice president for administration,
and Art Sanderson, vice president for research.
"The
president wants us to consider all of the goals to be accomplished
by a center like this. How does it fit into the Rensselaer Plan?
How does it best accommodate the constellation in biotechnology
and other researchers, as well as students? We are not architects,
but we will be working with architects," Mirczak said.
Also serving
on the committee are Jonathan Dordick, professor and chair of
chemical engineering; John Fisher, director of network support
services; David Haviland '64, vice president for institute advancement;
Oliver Holmes Jr., acting senior director of campus planning and
facilities design; John Salerno, chair of biology; Michael Shur,
professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering; Richard
Siegel, Robert Hunt Professor of Materials Science and Engineering;
and Robert Spilker, professor and chair of biomedical engineering
and G.P. "Bud" Peterson, provost (ex-officio).
President
Jackson instructed the committee to "ascertain the nature
of the research activities expected to occur in the building and
make recommendations for the program scope, which will be centered
around the constellations, and appropriately link to other existing
research strengths."
President
Jackson has said she expects groundbreaking by late 2001 or early
2002.
New
Committee to Enhance Diversity
To enhance
diversity at Rensselaer, a five-person committee has been
established to assist in the recruitment and retention of
underrepresented minority and women faculty.
"The
goal of PEERR (Partners for Equality and Excellence in Recruitment
and Retention) is to create and maintain a faculty composition
that affirms our mission to be a world-class technological
research university," said Deborah E. Nazon, assistant
provost for institute diversity.
To
enhance diversity at Rensselaer, a five-person committee
has been established to assist in the recruitment and
retention of underrepresented minority and women faculty.
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The members
of the committee, selected by their deans, are David Bell,
associateprofessor of architecture; Rena Bizios, professor
of biomedical engineering; Ellen Esrock, associate professor
of language, literature, and communication; Jorge Haddock,
professor of management; and Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, professor
of biology and interim dean of science.
PEERR
is part of a larger effort to recognize the value of diversity
at Rensselaer. With the assistance of Curtis Powell, vice
president of human resources, it will encourage already-existing
search committees "to widen the net a bit and make the
most of the search process," Nazon said.
PEERR
will help organize a speaker series of senior and junior scholars.
They will encourage the schools to cultivate senior scholars
both as speakers and potential "long-term allies"
in recruitment.
The committee
will also assist Nazon in organizing a "grow-your-own"
faculty plan that would track and encourage Rensselaer graduates
of color to return as faculty.
"This is all part of a campus-wide diversity plan for
faculty, staff, and students, designed to provide the university
community with a welcoming climate for all," Nazon said.
Search Engine for Campus News
You can
now search for a wide variety of news items about Rensselaer
using a search engine in place on the Rensselaer home page
at www.rpi.edu
as well as from any page in Campus.News.
By entering
a name or topic, you can search for items that have appeared
in the following formats: Campus.News, the former Review,
and the Rensselaer Magazine. In addition, the search
engine will return press releases and selected news clippings
that are resident on the Marketing and Media Relations Web
site.
"We
hope that the new search capability will make it easy and
convenient for the entire campus to locate useful, up-to-date
information about people and programs at Rensselaer,"
said Nancy Connell, director of Marketing and Media Relations.
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National
Memorial Quilt Displayed at the Chapel + Cultural Center
 A
portion of the nation's AIDS Memorial Quilt was on display
at the Chapel + Cultural Center last week. Sponsored by the
Gallagher Health Center, the quilt was presented for public
viewing Dec. 1 to observe the 13th Annual World AIDS Day.
Sewn
by individuals across the nation, the 12-by-12 foot panel
is one of 44,000 pieces that commemorate the lives of those
who have died of AIDS.
In its
entirety, the quilt is 792,000 square feet or the equivalent
of 16 football fields. It weighs more than 50 tons. Materials
used include Barbie dolls, cremation ashes, motorcycle jackets,
needlepoint, paintings, and wedding rings.
About
850,000 people in the United States are infected with HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS, according to the American Association
for World Health.
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A Desk, a Phone, and a Dream
People
think it's complicated for student entrepreneurs to start
a business, says Bela Musits '75, director of Rensselaer's
Incubator Program. But all it really takes is a desk, a phone,
and a dream.
"People
think it's complicated for student entrepreneurs to start
a business. But all it really takes is a desk, a phone,
and a dream."
— Bela
Musits '75—
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That
concept, and the fact that the Incubator is 100 percent full,
sparked thecreation of the "RPIdea Lab"—a room
filled with desks, phones, fax machines, a reference library,
computers, Internet access, and, of course, the requisite snack
and soda machines. The RPIdea Lab is housed within the Incubator
Center, located in the J-Building.
Up
to 300 students who take entrepreneurship courses at Rensselaer
will be able to use the lab as their business address, to meet
with venture capitalists, and to mingle with those entrepreneurs
who run the 28 companies within the Incubator.
"This
concept takes office-sharing to new heights," says Musits.
"We hope the RPIdea Lab will become ground zero for students
who otherwise might be trying to operate businesses out of their
residence hall rooms." University policy discourages students
from running businesses from their rooms.
The
last available office space in the Incubator was taken by two
students who run ProductivityNet, a company that won $20,000
in the Lucent-Rensselaer Business Plan Competition. ProductivityNet
operates out of an old shower stall.
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Victorian
Stroll Showcases Student Designs
 This
fall, nine teams of first-year Architecture students and students
in Product Design and Innovation worked with the Troy Waterfront
Farmers' Market to develop storage systems for sidewalk vendors
to transport and display their products. The projects were displayed
at the 18th annual Victorian Stroll in downtown Troy, Sunday,
Dec. 3.
"This
is a great local outreach project. It gave the students an opportunity
to interview a client population that would not be considered
mainstream," said Frances Bronet, associate professor of
architecture and one of the faculty members working with the
students. "The Troy Waterfront Farmers' Market represents
a project that is rooted in the everyday, but sometimes hidden,
experience," Bronet explained.
The
projects included the Market Monkey, a set of bags worn like
a backpack to carry produce purchased at a market; the haulU,
a u-shaped trailer/display system that can be attached to any
vehicle; Wing-IT, an instant tent that attaches to a car roof
rack and provides better shelter than the average market shelters;
the Show'n Go, a clamshell-shaped storage and display unit that
provides nearly 4,000 cubic inches of storage space; and the
Easier-Up, a canopy that deploys with an action similar to that
of a Victorian-era roll-top desk.
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