Barton Hall, Rensselaer Union, and Rickey Sculpture To Be Dedicated

This week, the Rensselaer community will join in celebrating three major campus improvements: the gift of an outstanding sculpture by George Rickey, the dedication of a new residence hall named for Carolyn and Neal Barton '58, and the renovation of the Rensselaer Union.

Rickey Sculpture To Be Dedicated Thursday

The newest addition to the Rensselaer campus, a large, reflective, treelike sculpture created by former Rensselaer professor and internationally known artist George Rickey, will be dedicated Thursday, Sept. 21, at 5:15 p.m. on the Hassan Quad in front of the Greene Building.

The sculpture, Six Random Lines Excentric, is a gift from Rensselaer Trustee Nancy Mueller. By coincidence, Rickey resides in the boyhood home of Wanton Sweet Budlong, Mueller's grandfather, in East Chatham.

"This piece is very uplifting and very happy," Mueller said of Six Random Lines Excentric. "The way the arms dip and fall and rise again, it has a lot of positive energy. It adds sparkle, drama, and interest to the campus."

Rickey is a former adjunct professor of art in the School of Architecture and honorary doctor of fine arts recipient. He is widely known for his geometric mobiles, and is one of the originators, along with Alexander Calder, of the genre in sculpture.

Barton Hall To Be Dedicated Friday

The Institute's newest residence hall, Barton Hall, will be dedicated on Friday, Sept. 22. The campus community is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and barbecue luncheon in the courtyard beginning at 11:30 a.m. (RSVP for the luncheon to adamsd@rpi.edu.)

The new residence hall is named in honor of Neal Barton '58 and his wife, Carolyn. Neal Barton, who earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in metallurgical engineering from Rensselaer, is a longtime Rensselaer trustee who served as acting president from April 1998 until Shirley Ann Jackson took office in July 1999. He has received the Alumni Key Award and Demers Medal from the Rensselaer Alumni Association, and he is a member of the Stephen Van Rensselaer Society of Patroons.

Barton Hall received national attention recently in The Time/Princeton Review's annual "Best College for You" guidebook. "A new dorm, Barton Hall, is designed to mimic a modern business travelers' hotel, complete with fully wired conference rooms on each floor and work centers with fax machines, copiers and phones," said the guide.

Rensselaer Union To Be Dedicated Saturday

The Rensselaer Union dedication will be celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1:15 p.m. When the $9.3 million renovations are complete, the Union will feature a campuswide technology and telecommunications infrastructure that will rival any school in the country. The student lounge will accommodate wireless computing on its upper two levels, plus ubiquitous laptop connections. The Union also provides new environs for student clubs and government, the Archer Center, and the Union administration offices. The Rensselaer Union will be fully accessible to the handicapped. Since construction continues at the Rathskeller level, entrance to the dedication celebration activities for everyone will be from the McNeil level deck.

Saturday's events will include a formal program and ribbon cutting, music, tours, and a barbecue luncheon. The Rensselaer vs. Worcester Polytechnic football game will follow at 1:30 p.m. A post-game chowderfest at the Student Union will begin at 4 p.m. (RSVP for the luncheon and chowderfest to adamsd@rpi.edu.)

To see a computer-generated image of the Union, as well as interior photographs, go to www.rpi.edu/dept/cpfd/union.htm.

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Two Rensselaer trustees — Nancy Mueller and William Mow '59 — will be recognized for their gifts of $100,000 or more given in one year to the Rensselaer Annual Fund by the naming of two specially designed windows surrounding the collaborative classroom in the Troy Building.

A video featuring a "virtual unveiling" of the windows will take place during the annual Patroon Dinner at the Heffner Alumni House on Friday, Sept. 22. The window that portrays the image of the Rensselaer seal and flag will be dedicated to Nancy Mueller's late husband, Glenn Martin Mueller '64, in recognition of his exemplary alumni leadership.

The Rosa and William Mow '59 window depicts the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge is a fitting symbol of the role of William Mow, CEO of Bugle Boy Industries, and his wife, Rosa, in spanning the globe as emissaries for international relations for Rensselaer, says David Haviland '64, vice president for institute advancement.

Seven elaborate and colorfully etched windows were created when the interactive classroom was renovated in the 1997-1998 academic year. In May 1999, the first window was dedicated to Trustee Carl J. Thomsen '38. The window depicts the development of the integrated circuit at Texas Instruments, where Thomsen was a leader for 36 years. The remaining four windows also will be dedicated to other individuals who give $100,000 or more in one year to the Rensselaer Annual Fund.

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Curtis Priem '82 Named Entrepreneur of the Year
Keynote address scheduled for Friday

The Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship in Rensselaer's Lally School has named Curtis R. Priem '82 the William F. Glaser '53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year for 2000. Priem co-founded the NVIDIA Corporation in 1993, and has been the company's chief technical officer ever since. NVIDIA is recognized as the global leader in advanced graphics processing technology and has garnered the most awards in the history of the PC industry.

Priem will deliver a keynote address at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 22, in 308 DCC. A reception will be held for Priem at 10 a.m. Campus is invited to attend both the lecture and reception.

Established in 1990 by William F. Glaser '53, the award honors Rensselaer alumni and others who are successful entrepreneurs and role models for Rensselaer students.

The award also helps to bring the world of entrepreneurship into Rensselaer classrooms where award winners share their experience, encouragement, and wisdom with graduate and undergraduate students.

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President's Town Meeting Examines Next Steps in the Rensselaer Plan

Declaring her intent to "jump start the Rensselaer Plan," President Shirley Ann Jackson has announced that she and her leadership team have identified the Plan's "first-year highest priorities" to be immediately implemented.

The priorities are planning for the construction of a Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and for an Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center; the creation of constellations in biotechnology and information technology; and a thorough evaluation of the first-year experience of students, faculty, and staff at Rensselaer.

In process and management, the priorities are a revised budget process; a review and revision of intellectual property policies; a review of tenure standards for faculty; and a review of hiring and promotion criteria for faculty and staff.

The president made her announcements during a town meeting attended by some 300 members of the campus community on Sept. 7. The town meeting was also Web-cast and seen on the campus cable system.

"The Rensselaer Plan defines more than 140 tasks, goals to be achieved. All are important, but some, we have decided, have an immediate priority. By definition, the highest priorities will be funded," Jackson said.

The president noted that fund raising was up 20 percent over last year, reaching a total of $43 million in 1999-00. Research funding increased 15 percent. Jackson said John Tichy, professor and chair of mechanical engineering, has been named to head a committee to plan for the Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center. Lucas Johnson, president of the Union, will join that group; others will be named soon.

Plans for the Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center and for the new Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies will be well under way by the end of the year, Jackson said.

Since the Board of Trustees approved the Rensselaer Plan in May, each school and administrative division has been devising its own Performance Plan - the next step in realizing the goals of the Plan. The Performance Plans define the proposed means of achieving the Institute's goals over the next three years. Drafts of the Performance Plans are due Oct. 27. Guidelines for performance planning are available at www.rpi.edu/web/President/Plan/performance.html.

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Rensselaer has reorganized its graduate school to provide improved services for graduate students.

Prospective graduate students now will be served in the Admissions Building across from the Rensselaer Union. Current graduate student needs are served by the Graduate School, which has been relocated to Room 6301 of the Walker Laboratory. These changes reflect Rensselaer's commitment to providing appropriate support at each stage of a student's relationship with Rensselaer, according to Teresa Duffy, dean of enrollment management.

Bill Jennings, in addition to his duties as vice provost for professional and distance education, is serving as interim dean of the Graduate School and is responsible for all academic and curriculum issues associated with current graduate students. His office remains in CII 4011 and he can bereached at ext. 4795 or jenniw@rpi.edu.

Current graduate students with academic questions and issues are encouraged to stop by the new location for the Graduate School or to contact either Dennis Gornic, assistant dean of the Graduate School, or Celia Paquette, administrative assistant, at ext. 6488 or gradschool@rpi.edu.

Duffy is responsible for all aspects of enrollment for graduate, undergraduate, and professional programs. Her office is located in the Admissions Office and she can be reached at ext. 6143 or duffyt@rpi.edu. All questions from prospective graduate students should be directed to the Admissions Office at ext. 6216 or admissions@rpi.edu.

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EAMRI Relocates to DSES

With the formal conclusion of funding from the NSF in August, the Electronics Agile Manufacturing Research Institute (EAMRI) has become a research center within the Department of Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems (DSES). Robert Graves, professor of DSES, will continue as director.

EAMRI was created in 1994 under a $5 million grant from the NSF with a focus on network-based information technologies to support electronics design and manufacturing at the board level. It was initially organized as a research center within the former Design and Manufacturing Institute and later in the Center for Integrated Electronics and Electronic Manufacturing (CIEEM). EAMRI has been responsible for business-to-business e-commerce development and the initiation of a spin-off company housed in Rensselaer's Incubator Center.

The EAMRI plans to continue in the electronics area and also expand its interests into broader design and manufacturing areas.

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Greater Accuracy for Retinal Laser Surgery

Researchers at Rensselaer won a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research that will greatly improve the accuracy of retinal laser surgery.

Badri Roysam, associate professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering, Chuck Stewart, associate professor of computer science, and graduate student Hong Shen have developed a fast algorithm that will precisely pinpoint locations on a retinal mosaic, or map, in real time.

This state-of-the-art technology, which will be used during laser surgery, can grab a retinal image from a microscope every 33 milliseconds, locate blood vessels (or landmarks), index them, and find those same features in real time on a mosaic of those images.

"This is like having a spatial positioning system like GPS, but for the eye," said Roysam.

In addition to the NSF funds, the National Institutes of Health provided $196,663 in research support.

Roysam, Stewart, and Chris Carothers, assistant professor of computer science, plan to use some of the money to develop a preliminary design for a laser surgery instrument that uses computer vision technology. They hope to have a prototype in the next two years.

Roysam and his colleagues also plan to create a Web server where ophthalmologists from around the world can upload retinal images. These images will be processed by the server. The user can then download higher resolution mosaics of the retina and movie-like animations that can help detect changes in the retina.

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