MANE News and Events

Announcements

The U.S. Department of Education (DoE) 2018 Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Program has awarded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute nearly $900,000 to support an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in aeronautical engineering and mechanical engineering.

On Tuesday, October 2, the seventh annual National Manufacturing Day (NMD) will be held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The day will once again feature a dramatic morning landing by the New York Army National Guard Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk landing (weather permitting) at 7:30 a.m. Participants will be able to get up close to the Black Hawk during the lab tour segment of the day’s schedule.  

A new research center focused on vertical flight has been launched at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Under the leadership of Farhan Gandhi, the Rosalind and John J. Redfern Jr. ’33 Professor of Engineering, MOVE—The Center for Mobility with Vertical Lift—will pursue cutting-edge research in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft technologies.

Institute News

Carbon capture technologies play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and factories, while harnessing carbon dioxide (CO2) for other energy production. With the support of a grant from the Department of Energy, Miao Yu, the Priti and Mukesh Chatter ’82 Career Development Chair of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will develop a novel porous material capable of capturing even very small concentrations of CO2 in the air and collecting the gas for further use
Even as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic makes many aspects of the future uncertain, a generous gift will ensure that first-year students in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute continue to receive a hands-on education.
Each year tens of millions of tons of plastic are sent to landfills, while another 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean. It’s an exponential problem that requires an environmentally friendly solution.
With many people stuck inside for months on end, the built environment has played a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. With support from a new National Science Foundation grant, a team of engineers and social scientists will study the ways in which that built environment mitigates or exacerbates the pandemic.
Anyone who has experienced a midafternoon energy slump or suffered from jetlag has felt the effects of their body’s circadian rhythm. This internal clock helps regulate many of our physiological processes, including sleep, metabolism, and even how the brain functions. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute anticipate a future in which a combination of smart wearables and algorithms assess each person’s circadian rhythm and provide personalized feedback as to what light, sleep, and work schedule would be ideal for their particular internal clock.
Cellphones, televisions, and computers all rely on the wireless spectrum, a series of signals that travel through the air by way of radio frequencies. Ever-increasing demand for this finite resource requires that policies and protocols aimed at coordinating spectrum use be updated and optimized.
TROY, N.Y. — Developing a physiological test for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one that measures certain components in the blood, has the potential to be a paradigm shift for diagnosing ASD. However, the large heterogeneity of how ASD affects individuals has long been viewed as a key obstacle to the development of such a test.
A new prize recognizing the work of engineers who promote social justice, human rights, peace, and environmental protection has launched with the help of two faculty members from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
TROY, N.Y. — More strategic and coordinated travel restrictions could have reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic, data confirms. The conclusion, available in preprint on MedRxiv, an online repository of papers that have been screened but not peer reviewed, stems from new modeling conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
In order to earn certification in general surgery, residents in the United States need to demonstrate proficiency in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic program (FLS), a test that requires manipulation of laparoscopic tools within a physical training unit. Central to that assessment is a quantitative score, known as the FLS score, which is manually calculated using a formula that is time-consuming and labor-intensive.