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Paul Morrow, who will graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 17, has come a long way from his days as an elementary school student, pulling apart his mother's cassette player. The talented young physicist has developed two innovations that could vastly improve magnetic data storage and sense extremely low level magnetic fields in everything from ink on counterfeit currency to tissue in the human brain and heart.

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Today's video games serve a multitude of functions ranging from entertainment to exercise and even education. Now, three graduates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Class of 2008 have created a game with an even more important purpose"”to foster independence among disabled individuals.

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Even before Weixiao Huang received his doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his new transistor captured the attention of some of the biggest American and Japanese automobile companies. The 2008 graduate's invention could replace one of the most common pieces of technology in the world"”the silicon transistor for high-power and high-temperature electronics.

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A dual major in design, innovation, and society, and mechanical engineering, Rensselaer graduate Sarah DiNovo has developed a next-generation law enforcement badge that incorporates the bulky safety features that officers typically carry on their bodies and in their cars into a state-of-the-art wearable network.

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It's not every day that you meet someone who builds next-generation rocket engines "“ from scratch "“ for fun. But Phil Bracken, who will graduate this month from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a major in aeronautical engineering and a clear goal of becoming an astronaut, is doing exactly that.

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Laura Wontrop knows all about cars and trucks. In fact, after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this month, the 21-year-old mechanical engineering major will join automotive giant General Motors as a vehicle definition engineer, and play a key role in solidifying the design of next-generation concept cars.

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Graduating senior Jeffery Martin has put his basic knowledge of sugars to exceptional use by creating a lab-on-a-chip device that builds complex, highly specialized sugar molecules, mimicking one of the most important cellular structures in the human body "” the Golgi Apparatus.

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During the month of May, more than 1.5 million high school students in more than 100 countries will be sharpening their pencils and stocking up on pens as they prepare to take the annual College Board Advanced Placement exams. To help reduce their stress and anxieties, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Class of 2008 graduate and budding entrepreneur Chris Keenan offers a solution"”a free online study resource to help students tackle the AP courses and exams.

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The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary boasts 22,000 pages of definitions. While that may seem far from succinct, new research suggests the reference manual is meticulously organized to be as concise as possible "” a format that mirrors the way our brains make sense of and categorize the countless words in our vast vocabulary.

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The mysterious death of patients around the world following a routine dosage of the common blood thinner, heparin, sent researchers on a frantic search to uncover what could make the standard drug so toxic. A researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was among a small group of scientists with the expertise and the high-tech equipment necessary to determine the source of the contamination.

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In an ever-changing world of increased turbulence, uncertainty, and global competition, how can today's business leaders learn, grow, adapt, and lead through unknown business challenges? Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of Management & Technology today hosted an inaugural program titled "Forum on Business, Technology, and Ethics." The program focused on the theme of leadership in controversy.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a road map that brings academia and the semiconductor industry one step closer to realizing carbon nanotube interconnects, and alleviating the current bottleneck of information flow that is limiting the potential of computer chips in everything from personal computers to portable music players.

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A group of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are working to change engineer video game characters with the capacity to have beliefs and to reason about the beliefs of others. The characters will be able to predict and manipulate the behavior of even human players, with whom they will directly interact in the real, physical world, according to the team.

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In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have begun to change the way we see the world. Now, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student has developed a new type of LED that could allow for their widespread use as light sources for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) on everything from televisions and computers to cell phones and cameras.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have demonstrated that liquids embedded with nanoparticles show enhanced performance and stability when exposed to electric fields. The finding could lead to new types of miniature camera lenses, cell phone displays, and other microscale fluidic devices.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Polyset Company have developed a new inexpensive, quick-drying polymer that could lead to dramatic cost savings and efficiency gains in semiconductor manufacturing and computer chip packaging. Along with allowing enhanced performance and cost savings for conventional photolithography processes, the new material should also enable a new generation of lower-cost, on-chip nanoimprinting lithography technology.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University have created the darkest material ever made by man. The material, a thin coating comprised of low-density arrays of loosely vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes, absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light and one day could be used to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of solar energy conversion, infrared sensors, and other devices.

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Two theoretical physicists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have uncovered what they believe is the long-sought-after pathway that an HIV peptide takes to enter healthy cells. The theorists analyzed two years of biocomputation and simulation to uncover a surprisingly simple mechanism describing how this protein fragment penetrates the cell membrane.

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More than 11,000 high school students have filed applications to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, according to numbers released today by Rensselaer Admissions. The record number of applications for 2008 is up 10 percent from the previous year, and it is more than double the number received just three years ago in 2005.

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It turns out that our math teachers were right: being able to solve problems without a calculator does come in handy in the "real" world. Two theoretical physicists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have used what they call "pen-and-paper math" to describe the motion of interstellar shock waves "” violent events associated with the birth of stars and planets.

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As telecommuting and other forms of virtual work become increasingly popular, what happens to the workers who are left behind in the office? A new study by a management professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that the prevalence of telecommuters in an office can adversely impact coworkers who do not telecommute in terms of their job satisfaction and likelihood that they will leave the company.

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Recent innovations in optics and imaging have landed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor E. Fred Schubert and doctoral student Brian Schulkin on the 2007 Scientific American 50 "“ the magazine's prestigious annual list recognizing outstanding acts of leadership in science and technology from the past year.

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Developing fetuses are extremely sensitive to radiation, which poses an impossible dilemma for expecting mothers in need of screening or treatment for cancer. Now researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new set of modeling tools that could enable safer, more accurate, and more effective radiation therapy and nuclear medicine imaging procedures for pregnant women.

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A new biochip technology could eliminate animal testing in the chemicals and cosmetics industries, and drastically curtail its use in the development of new pharmaceuticals, according to new findings from a team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, and Solidus Biosciences Inc.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new way to seek out specific proteins, including dangerous proteins such as anthrax toxin, and render them harmless using nothing but light. The technique lends itself to the creation of new antibacterial and antimicrobial films to help curb the spread of germs, and also holds promise for new methods of seeking out and killing tumors in the human body.

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Leslie Hayden's research into deep Earth interactions has led to some important findings, particularly for someone so new to the field, and the scientific world is paying attention. Hayden, a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is first author on a paper to be published in the scientific journal Nature. The findings will be published in the Nov 29, 2007 edition of the journal.

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Today's corporate leaders are increasingly aware that growth and success depend on a company's ability to tap external sources of innovation. Yet many find it difficult to translate that knowledge into action. A new book co-authored by a professor from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a professor from Northwestern University presents multiple models that companies can customize to fit their particular circumstances.

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Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have transformed a polymer found in common brown seaweed into a device that can support the growth and release of stem cells at the sight of a bodily injury or at the source of a disease.

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is leading a $3 million research project that will pair two of the world's most powerful supercomputers to boost the safety and reliability of next-generation nuclear power reactors. The three-year project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, will call upon a diverse team of researchers and institutions to create highly detailed computer models of a new proposed type of nuclear reactor.

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Researchers in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Social and Behavioral Research Lab (SBRL) are leading a study to investigate potential environmental, lifestyle, and medical variables that may contribute to the onset of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

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Blocks of carbon nanotubes can be used to create effective and powerful pressure sensors, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Taking advantage of the material's unique electrical and mechanical properties, researchers repeatedly squeezed a 3-millimeter nanotube block and discovered it was highly suitable for potential applications as a pressure sensor.

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A polymer chemist from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the recipient of a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a partnership between American and Korean researchers. Chang Y. Ryu, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology, will oversee the $2.5 million grant that will bring together engineers, scientists, and graduate and undergraduate students from top U.S. and Korean universities.

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A leading expert in Web research, Deborah L. McGuinness, joins Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an endowed chair of the Tetherless World Research Constellation. One of the creators of the Web language that is ushering in the next generation of the World Wide Web"”the OWL Web Ontology Language"”McGuinness is widely known in her field. She joins the senior constellation chair, James A. Hendler.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have won a competitive $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to identify the perfect combination of technology and financial incentives that could help alleviate daytime traffic congestion and boost economic growth in New York City.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new technique for identifying and repairing small, potentially dangerous cracks in high-performance aircraft wings and many other structures made from polymer composites. Once a crack is located, engineers can use a simple new method to seal the crack with a 70 percent recovery in strength.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a razor-like material that is truly on the "cutting edge" of nanotechnology. Called nanoblades, these first-of-their-kind magnesium nanomaterials challenge conventional wisdom about nanostructure growth, and could have applications in energy storage and fuel cell technology.

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A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background. The team's findings will be published in the September 2007 edition of the journal PLoS Genetics.

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Geochemists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are challenging commonly held ideas about how gases are expelled from the Earth. Their theory, which is described in the Sept. 20 issue of the journal Nature, could change the way scientists view the formation of Earth's atmosphere and those of our distant neighbors, Mars and Venus. Their data throw into doubt the timing and mechanism of atmospheric formation on terrestrial plants.

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George Makhatadze is a designer. But instead of expensive jeans and haute handbags, he is creating custom proteins that could improve everything from medication to detergent. Makhatadze is bringing his expertise in biology, chemistry, and computation to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a chaired professor in the Biocomputation and Bioinformatics research constellation.

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Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed tools to help solve two of the main problems slowing the progress of stem cell research "” how to quickly test stem cell response to different drugs or genes, and how to create a large supply of healthy, viable stem cells to study from only a few available cells.

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sandia National Laboratories, and a select group of other institutions signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the National Institute for Nano-Engineering, or NINE. The partnership has been driven by concerns over the health of America's science and engineering education and capacity for innovation, as highlighted in the 2005 report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."

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Scientists have long known that the human body runs like clockwork, guided by a circadian system that responds to daily patterns of light and darkness. Now a team of researchers is developing a personal device to measure daily light intake and activity, which could allow them to predict optimal timing for light therapy to synchronize the circadian clock to the 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress.

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As summer temperatures cool in the United States, fewer mosquitoes whir around our tiki torches. But mosquitoes swarming around nearly 40 percent of the world's population will continue to spread a deadly parasitic disease "” malaria. Now an interdisciplinary team led by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found a key link that causes malarial infection in both humans and mosquitoes.

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To celebrate the grand opening of the world's most powerful university-based supercomputing center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host a presidential colloquy Sept. 7 featuring five of the country's foremost leaders in science, technology, and innovation.

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Susan P. Gilbert, a renowned expert in cell biology, biophysics, and nanoscience, will join Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the head of the Biology Department on Sept. 1, 2007. Gilbert joins the Rensselaer faculty after 12 years at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have developed a new energy storage device that could be mistaken for a simple sheet of paper. The nanoengineered battery is lightweight, flexible, and geared toward meeting the design requirements of tomorrow's electronics and implantable medical equipment.

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A key discovery at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could help advance the role of graphene as a possible heir to copper and silicon in nanoelectronics. Saroj Nayak, an associate physics professor, has worked for two years to determine how graphene's extremely efficient conductive properties can be exploited for use in computer chips.

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student Phillip Bracken scored a front-row seat June 8 to watch the space shuttle Atlantis take off and embark on its 11-day mission. Bracken, a senior aeronautical engineering major, also partook in VIP tours of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center. These memorable experiences were unexpected perks, he said, of his summer internship at the NASA Academy at Goddard.

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The ability of carbon nanotubes to withstand repeated stress yet retain their structural and mechanical integrity is similar to the behavior of soft tissue, according to a new study from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. When paired with the strong electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes, this ability to endure wear and tear, or fatigue, suggests the materials could be used to create structures that mimic artificial muscles or interesting electro-mechanical systems, researchers said.

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The new supercomputer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been ranked seventh in the world, and it is the most powerful of any system based at a university, according to the 29th edition of the closely watched Top500 list.