Campus News: Week of September 10, 2001

Entrepreneur of the Year: Mukesh Chatter '82

Mukesh Chatter '82, founder, president, and CEO of Axiowave, has been named the William F. Glaser '53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year by Rensselaer's Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship.

Chatter will deliver a keynote address on Friday, Sept. 21, at 9 a.m. in Room 308 of the Darrin Communications Center. The morning will begin with a networking reception at 7:30 a.m., followed by the Venture Business Plan Series.

Prior to founding Axiowave, Chatter was the founder, president, and CEO of Nexabit Networks Inc, a highly successful terabit switch/router company that was acquired by Lucent Technologies in July 1999. A noted systems architect, Chatter invented a scalable switching fabric technology that operates at multi-terabits per second. Chatter has a master's degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer.

Red Herring magazine recognized Nexabit Networks under Chatter's leadership as the company to lead the networking technology in the post-PC era. Additionally, Chatter was named one of Red Herring's Top Ten entrepreneurs in 1999. He has received similar coverage in numerous industry publications.

"When you're a small company, you go through three phases," Chatter once told Red Herring. "First they laugh at you, then there's jealousy, then there's guarded admiration. I suspect the fourth phase will be us saying, 'I told you so.'"

Rensselaer's Entrepreneur of the Year award honors successful entrepreneurs and role models.

Past recipients of the award include: Paul Severino '69, founder of Wellfleet Communications; Curtis Priem '82, founder of NVIDIA; Nancy Mueller, founder of Nancy's Specialty Foods, William Mow '59, founder of Bugle Boy Industries, and Warren Bruggeman '46, former vice president and general manager of GE's Nuclear Business Operations.

U.S. News Ranks Engineering 17
Rensselaer in Top 50 National Universities

Rensselaer's undergraduate School of Engineering has been ranked 17th in the country by the 2001 U.S. News & World Report "Best Colleges" guidebook. The annual rankings were released on Sept. 6 and can be found at www.usnews.com. Rensselaer was ranked among schools whose highest degree is a Ph.D, in a three-way tie for 17 with Texas A&M and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Rensselaer remains one of the top 50 schools in the country as determined by the U.S. News survey of 249 national universities offering doctoral degrees. The Institute tied at 48 this year with Pepperdine, Texas A&M, Univ. California-Santa Barbara, and University of Texas-Austin. Rensselaer was ranked 49th last year in a three-way tie.

Additionally, Rensselaer ranked as one of the top 50 "best values" in the country among national universities—sharing the 42nd spot with three schools: Clark University, St. Louis University, and Tulane University.

The Institute improved in several key statistical measures. The alumni giving rank rose from 61 to 48; the selectivity ranking went from 59 to 51. The percentage of freshmen in the top 10 percent in their high school class rose from 54 to 59 percent. Student/faculty ratio improved to 16 students per faculty member. Graduation and freshman retention rates rose to 75 and 91 percent, respectively.

The stories in this year's undergraduate guide focused on equipping students to choose and apply to college. Jim Stevenson, director of financial aid at Rensselaer, was quoted in the section called "Find the Money," about how to find scholarships and good jobs. Selected stories from the "Best Colleges" guidebook will be available in ensuing weekly editions of U.S. News & World Report.

$2.5 Million Boosts Rensselaer Research in Terascale Computing

The Department of Energy (DOE) has granted Rensselaer $2.5 million to advance fundamental research in terascale computing technologies.

The grant is Rensselaer's share as a major partner in the newly created Center for Terascale Simulation Tools and Technologies (TSTT). Terascale simulation involves the use of computers that are capable of doing trillions of calculations per second.

In the TSTT Center, Rensselaer is partnered with Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge, Sandia, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, and with the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The center will have $16 million in total funding.

(l-r) Joseph Flaherty and Mark Shephard

"Basically, Rensselaer will do some of the fundamental math and computer science research that will undergird new technologies for modeling climate, energy systems, and other applications," said Mark Shephard, a principal investigator in the new center along with Science Dean Joseph Flaherty. Shephard directs Rensselaer's Scientific Computation Research Center and is the Samuel and Elisabeth Johnson Professor in Engineering. Flaherty is Amos Eaton Professor of Computer Science.

The research funding is part of DOE's new Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program, which will create a new generation of scientific simulation codes.

"This innovative program will help us to find new energy sources for the future, understand the effect of energy production on our environment, and learn more about the fundamental nature of energy and matter," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Rensselaer Plan Update: Lally School of Management and Technology

The Lally School of Management and Technology plans to significantly enhance its national ranking among graduate management programs during the next three years, according to Robert Baron, interim dean of the school. The school's Performance Plan identifies entrepreneurship and innovation as areas in which it seeks to obtain top-10 status.

"Management schools are often evaluated on the quality and quantity of their MBA students," said Baron. "The Lally School will focus clearly on both of these issues, and will seek substantial improvement with respect to each in order to attain our ambitious goals. We see the education of working professionals as a key aspect of our MBA strategy."

Baron says the school will seek to double the number of full-time MBA students over the next three years. An office has been opened in Beijing, China, to support educational and research programs.

Additional priorities include a focus on the school's professional master's degrees, and the full- and part-time Ph.D. in management. Together with Rensselaer at Hartford, Baron says, the Lally School will focus on cross-cutting research areas, especially those relating to technological entrepreneurship and innovation management, management of high-performance organizations, and environmental management and policy. Additionally, the school will expand its research on the impact of technology on employees.

"Our mission is to develop technically sophisticated business leaders who are fully prepared to guide their organizations through a very turbulent period when technology is producing fundamental changes in everything businesses do," Baron said.

Tom Apple Named Dean of Graduate Education

Thomas Apple, professor and chair of chemistry, has been named dean of graduate education.

As dean of graduate education, Apple will have Institutewide oversight of the doctoral and master's degree programs. He will be responsible for assuring the overall quality of the graduate programs and assisting the academic schools in achieving their graduate education and academic missions. He also will coordinate the review of all existing and new graduate programs, administer graduate education policies, and provide administrative oversight to the graduate school. Apple will continue to teach and do research.

"Professor Apple is an extremely well-qualified candidate with extensive experience in graduate education and research. He brings with him an outstanding record of scholarship and interaction with graduate students along with considerable administrative experience," said President Shirley Ann Jackson.

"The Rensselaer Plan envisions a tremendous expansion of our research enterprise and an enhancement of the quality of our graduate programs," said Apple. "We are committed establishing Rensselaer as a leader in biotechnology and information technology, and to developing programs that will attract the best and brightest students. I am fortunate to follow in the footsteps of Bill Jennings, who has laid the foundation for growth and change in the graduate school."

Apple received his B.S. from Penn State University in 1976 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1981. Prior to joining the Rensselaer faculty in 1991 he was a professor at the University of Nebraska.

He has served on advisory panels at the National Science Foundation in Analytical Chemistry, in Chemical Education, and in Nanomaterials. He also participated in the review of the Department of Energy's program in Heterogeneous Catalysis. Apple was awarded the Rensselaer Trustees Outstanding Teacher Award in 1996.

Bone-Replacement Research

The patented nanotechnology research of two Rensselaer faculty members is unique in that it focuses on biomedical applications and could lead to revolutionary improvements to hip and other bone replacements.

Richard Siegel, Robert W. Hunt Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center, pioneered the development of nanoceramics more than a decade ago. Recently, he and Rena Bizios, biomedical engineering professor, have investigated the potential of nanoceramics and nanoceramic/polymer composites as bone implants.

In their research, Siegel, Bizios, and their students use nanoceramics (alumina, titania, or hydroxyapatite, the chief mineral component of bone) alone or in various combinations with such polymers as polyactic acid or polymethlyl methacrylate. The goal is to create cytocompatible formulations (materials compatible with cells) with enhanced mechanical properties.

Highlights of the research in progress include the finding that the nanoceramic formulations promote enhanced and select interactions of osteoblasts (bone-forming cells). These interactions include cell adhesion, proliferation, and deposition of calcium-containing minerals, an indication of new bone formation in a laboratory setting. In addition, compared to the constituent compounds, the nanocermic/polymer composites exhibit enhanced mechanical properties.

"These are models for creating novel implant materials. We're not only looking at mechanical behavior, but how living cells interact with materials," Siegel said. "Cells interact very differently with nanoscale materials. They react selectively and in the right way."

Nanotechnology uses molecules and atoms to make nanometer-size (billionth of a meter) building blocks for new materials. Called "nanophase" materials, they are made up of particles much smaller than those found in ordinary substances and have different properties from standard metals and ceramics, and, therefore, can be used for many new applications.

Public Service Internship Program Adds Team-Based Approach

To increase the connection between Rensselaer students and the local community, the Public Service Internship Program has added a more in-depth, team-based internship program, according to Director Nancy Campbell.

Campbell says the new approach will be a more meaningful experience for interns while providing nonprofit organizations with much-needed help.

"We're really working to create sustainable relationships with the community and integrating the university more into Troy," Campbell says. "At the same time, community partners gain a dedicated team of interns with a variety of skills."

The groundwork for the enhanced PSI began last year with a pilot program called "Community Informatics Internships." Five interns remodeled, wired, and installed a computer network system for the new Sally Catlin Resource Center, a facility at the YWCA in Troy for low-income and disadvantaged women. The center opened in March.

"It's really an innovative kind of pedagogy," Campbell says. "We're essentially answering the question: 'How do you connect your education with real-world scenarios while you're still in school?' It's a great hands-on experience."

Campbell is expecting another team of interns to continue where the first group left off by finishing an online women's resource guide, and developing computer club programs at the center. Interns also will teach the women basic computer and Web design skills.

Among several other team-based PSI projects being developed is a collaboration with the South Troy Neighborhood Association and the Institute for Cultural Analysis in South Troy to create a CD-ROM to promote home ownership in the city.

Several other projects are also being developed through collaborations with the City of Troy, the Ark Community Charter School, and the South Troy Health Center. Although the focus is on team-based internships, individual internships will still be supported, Campbell says.