From a variety of locations in the Capital Region, and throughout the country, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty, students, and staff are pressing their knowledge and machinery to work making personal protective equipment for those on the front lines of the pandemic.
Women are underrepresented in leadership positions throughout the information technology industry. While more and more women are earning degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math — or STEM — fields, they don’t necessarily pursue careers in IT, because they don’t see opportunities for growth. New research from the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute published in Information Systems Research examines how gender affects the likelihood of promotions in the context of the IT industry.
Deva Chan, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is leading a team that will study the role that biomechanics plays in the production and function of hyaluronan in an effort to learn more about the factors that affect joint health and osteoarthritis. This research is being supported by a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award.
With a recent grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), planning is underway for a new center that will bring researchers from business, computer science, engineering, and law together with public and private sector representatives for interdisciplinary collaboration around cyber and financial technologies.
In research published today in Advanced Functional Materials, a team of engineers, material scientists, and physicists demonstrated how a new material — a lead-free chalcogenide perovskite — that hadn’t previously been considered for use in solar cells could provide a safer and more effective option than others that are commonly considered.
The shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE) has been a persistent problem for medical and other front-line workers as they battle the COVID-19 pandemic at close range day after day. A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a potential solution: a machine that uses ultraviolet (UVC) light to sterilize thousands of protective masks each day, rendering them safe for reuse.
With the support of a newly awarded National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant, two Rensselaer researchers plan to examine ways to equip N95 respirator masks with antiviral properties and the ability to withstand sterilization. These improvements would better protect health care workers and enable the current supply of masks to last longer.
“There are no simple, robust, general tools that, for example, officials in Albany could use to make projections,” said Magdon-Ismail, a professor of computer science, and expert in machine learning, data mining, and pattern recognition. “These models show that the projections vary enormously from one city to another. This knowledge could relieve some of the uncertainty that is around in developing policy.”
A new data visualization tool examines how and why COVID-19 impacts regions differently. Using daily updated data, COVIDMinder compares community risks, mediation tools, and outcomes related to COVID-19 by state across the United States, and by county within New York state.
An instrument currently aboard the International Space Station could grow E.coli bacteria in space, opening a new path to bio-manufacturing drugs during long term space flights.
From Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, the stories of prosperous, young innovators drive the American economic narrative. However, the truth is that older business entrepreneurs may be just as well suited to success. And older women are far more successful at launching a business than their younger counterparts.
In research recently published in Acta Biomaterialia, a team of mechanical engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated a new technique for creating an in vitro model for studying tumors that is more complex and, therefore, closer to what cancer cells may encounter in the body.
The temptation for businesses to use artificial intelligence and other technology to improve performance, drive down labor costs, and better the bottom line is understandable. But before pursuing automation that could put the jobs of human employees at risk, it is important that business owners take careful stock of their operations.
Since the late 19th century, scientists have understood that, when heated, all materials emit light in a predictable spectrum of wavelengths. Research published this week in Nature Scientific Reports presents a material that emits light when heated that appears to exceed the limits set by that natural law.
Tens of thousands of reservoir and dam systems are being operated in communities across the United States, ensuring access to reliable sources of water. That access, however, isn’t a guarantee. Altered rainfall patterns driven by global warming, increased urbanization, and growing populations are setting up parallel increases in demand for water and energy. Sustainable approaches to managing these systems are a critical part of the solution. To that end, mechanical engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are developing a better understanding of how water and sediment flow through reservoirs and dams, in the hopes of making that process closer to earth’s natural dynamics. Their work is being supported by a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant.
Without ever needing to step outside of a classroom, a college dorm room, or a quiet nook in a library, civil engineering students can now transport themselves into the field where they must take measurements, make observations, and understand the impact of the environment on their designs, and their designs on the environment. This unique pedagogical approach is being made possible by an immersive mixed reality experience developed through a collaborative effort by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University, and Olin College. Now, with the support of a $2.5 million multi-institution grant from the National Science Foundation, it will be implemented at dozens of universities across the nation.
A team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, led by Suvranu De, the head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, is developing a virtual reality-based training device that can help train medical professionals to perform endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty procedures. The device, known as a ViBE — or Virtual Bariatric Endoscopic — simulator is being supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Physicist Esther Wertz has been awarded a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award to investigate nanometer-scale metal structures that will control light at the quantum limit, one photon at a time. Her work will contribute to the creation of a single photon transistor.
In research published in Science Advances, Xavier Intes, a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer, joined a multidisciplinary team from Northeastern University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to demonstrate a methodology that combines the bioprinting and imaging of glioblastoma cells in a cost-effective way that more closely models what happens inside the human body.
The U.S. Department of Energy is investing $74 million dollars in research to develop and test technologies and construction practices that will help “improve the energy performance of the nation’s buildings and electric grid.” The Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) Center, housed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will receive more than $2.8 million as part of this nationwide effort.
In research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrate how they can overcome a persistent challenge known as dendrites to create a metal battery that performs nearly as well as a lithium-ion battery, but relies on potassium — a much more abundant and less expensive element.
In an article published today in Science Advances, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers detailed how they designed and synthesized a unique material with controllable capabilities that make it very promising for future electronics.
Telecommuting has long carried a stigma that employees who work remotely have difficulties rising in their career. New research from the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute finds that the reality is more positive than previously feared.
Naloxone, a life-saving drug that can rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose, should be in every first-aid kit and medicine cabinet. That is the conclusion Nancy Campbell reached after years of research and dozens of interviews with scientists, drug users, and activists in the United States and abroad.
Sergio Pequito, an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is looking to transcribe the brain’s complex dynamics into new data models that can help researchers better understand how the brain and human cognition work. This is being supported by a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
With the support of a recent $3 million grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Mariana Figueiro is perfecting a treatment she developed for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias that helps to regulate sleep and reduce symptoms of depression — and requires no drugs, only light.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute team $15,000 for an app called MortalityMinder, which identifies social conditions contributing to declining life expectancy at a community level.
Architect, entrepreneur, and author Dennis Shelden has been named the new director of the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — and he is joining the boundary-pushing organization at a critical moment for the future of the human-made environment.
Methanol is a versatile and efficient chemical used as fuel in the production of countless products. Carbon dioxide (CO2), on the other hand, is a greenhouse gas that is the unwanted byproduct of many industrial processes. Converting CO2 to methanol is one way to put CO2 to good use. In research published today in Science, chemical engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how to make that conversion process from CO2 to methanol more efficient by using a highly effective separation membrane they produced. This breakthrough, the researchers said, could improve a number of industry processes that depend on chemical reactions where water is a byproduct.
Partha Dutta, a professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, envisions a not-so-distant future where even the most remote parts of the world would have access to clean and renewable energy. His vision wouldn’t require a large power grid or expensive technology. Instead, he believes it could be accomplished using simple mirrors, local resources, and the sun.
As published today in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Communications, a novel compound — known as “C1” — uses a novel mechanism to efficiently prevent the enzyme gamma-secretase from producing amyloids, the abnormal proteins that form toxic clumps inside the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease.
In an article published recently in Microgravity, a Nature Journal, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrate a unique method for studying the mechanisms behind the formation of amyloid fibrils associated with diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Four experts in diverse aspects of artificial intelligence have joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as part of the Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration (AIRC), a recently formed joint initiative of Rensselaer and IBM Research.
Two-dimensional semiconductors, particularly those made of a class of material known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), hold exciting potential for a range of current and future technologies, like solar cells, LED lights, and quantum computing. A recently awarded National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant will allow a chemical engineer from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to — along with his team — explore novel uses of TMDCs in an optoelectronic device, which uses light to create electricity.
As the lithium-ion batteries that power most phones, laptops, and electric vehicles become increasingly fast-charging and high-performing, they also grow increasingly expensive and flammable. In research published recently in Energy Storage Materials, a team of engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how they could — by using aqueous electrolytes instead of the typical organic electrolytes — assemble a substantially safer, cost-efficient battery that still performs well.
In a series of articles, including one published today in PLOS ONE, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explain how they have developed and demonstrated a series of algorithms that can analyze biometric information recorded by a smart device and then recommend the best combination of sleep and light to help a person readjust their circadian rhythm.
While most people enjoy giving and receiving gifts throughout the season, there’s increasing concern over the rise in congestion, emissions, and energy consumption associated with an influx of deliveries. A new survey conducted by a research team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute indicates that some online shoppers are open to receiving packages in another way, if it would help offset this growing problem.
Power generation, the heat in our homes, air-conditioning, even the manufacturing of some of the products we use each day rely on evaporation and condensation processes. Improving and controlling these phase-change phenomena could increase energy efficiency across a vast number of industries. Shankar Narayanan, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is leading a team that will be supported by a new NSF CAREER grant to study how evaporation and condensation processes can be improved or controlled at the micro level.
Many technologies that are essential for daily life — from communications to GPS navigation to weather forecasting — rely on the thousands of satellites that are orbiting Earth. When those satellites run out of gas and stop working, there’s not much that can currently be done to fix them. It’s a costly, time-consuming, and increasingly problematic reality as broken-down satellites become part of the growing population of space debris. A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, led by Wen, are working with NASA on a solution: a robot that could capture a satellite in space and pull it in to dock, where it would refuel.
Ge Wang, the Clark and Crossan Endowed Chair of biomedical engineering and director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
By folding snippets of DNA into the shape of a five-pointed star using structural DNA nanotechnology, researchers have created a trap that captures Dengue virus as it floats in the bloodstream. Once sprung, the trap lights up. in the most sensitive test for the mosquito-borne diseases yet devised.
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